India Day 2 -Clothes, Cricket and the Night train

Today was "find some clothes" and "watch some cricket" day, before making our way to Nizamuddin Station to catch the Dehra Dun Express to Sawai Mandhopur where we will be spending 4 days, hopefully seeing at least one tiger on the 5 excursions planned out to the  Ramthambore .National Park.

There were big screens around Delhi where people could watch the game live, the atmosphere was terrific! Men on mobiles listening in, cheers everytime a ball was bowled. People with Indian flags painted on their faces.  By the end of the day, I had become quite educated about the game, having taken absolutely no interest  all my life!  We watched the game unfold as we ate our first curry of the holiday, the waiters managing to be very attentive despite the obvious distraction!  Any conversation with them put on hold momentarily if a cheer arose from the stadium! Thanks Chris for the quick overview of both teams and players that you gave us last week, it was a good starting point.  (Thanks too for the result which we learned on waking this morning, Sunday) the game still in progress as we waited to board the train last night with the score at 146 :3, (or near enough!) dodging around the jovial spectators watching on the screen erected at the railway station. 

As it was, the train was an hour late, which for me meant people watching without hopefully drawing too much attention to myself.(!)A commuter train arrived  and off jumped a  small boy who must have been about 8-10, I guess, difficult to say as Indian kids are smaller than English ones.  He was obviously quite savvy about all things railway, sat himself down on the platform with a cup of hot water and teabag plus wrapped wafer all of which he had been holding as he leapt off the moving train, proceeded to dip the tea bag and sit  cross-legged in the shadows....It was 11pm, the platform teeming with people and railway porters carrying cases (note, plural) on their heads whilst negotiating flights  of steps and bestrewn bodies.  Rag pickers even younger than the small boy, jumped on to the rails, carrying white hessian-type bags over their shoulders, little boys and girls who should have been tucked up under duvets with their cuddly toys, streetwise children who had known no other life...

This isn't my picture, I found it online, but it gives you an idea of what I mean.

The train arrived, the longest passenger train I have ever seen and somewhere within its carriages was a compartment prebooked for us....After walking up and down, getting on and then getting off again, the stress within me was beginning to build. Then we saw a wonderful sight, a man with a list, the list that was to be slapped on to the outside of the 1st class carriages which would tell us what we needed to know!  Trouble was it was pitch dark by then, so a mobile was used as a torch and much relief ensued (from the girls, at least!) to see our names and the info that we were in Compartment F.  The boys took the top bunks and we arranged our bedding and backpacks.  Having no suitcases to haul around definitely had advantages! And so to bed, but to be honest,not really to sleep, although we all agreed, we must have slept a bit in stages, unlike some of the other passengers who were piled into carriages further down the train, with small children.  As I lay in my bunk, I  thought about  Puja  who is now 6 years old, who was born on a train just like this one, the Puja express (which is how she got her name- which means worship) on Good Friday 2005, She was thrown down the toilet and left on the rails to die.  However the slum  community that lined the side of the railway track where she lay, soon heard her newborn cries.  As this slum, Mayapuri was a slum where asha  www.asha-india.org worked the woman soon set to cleaning her up and caring for her needs.  I met her when she was 4 days old....today she is a lively little girl much treasured by the family who have adopted her.

There was something rather rhythmical about the swaying and clatter of the train through the night. I've never slept overnight in a train, unlike the other three, so it was a little thrill!

Arrival in Delhi, two lessons learned

Been challenged by some of the concepts around living a more minimilist lifestyle, recently. There are so many views on what this means for different people in terms of what possessions are inportant to us, how we spend our time, our money, how we invest in people, what do we mean by work, the list goes on and on. I've read many different blogs and opinions and gradually I'm forming some of my own. At some point I want to write about some of the different aspects I am exploring on this as I am certain it is part of something bigger that I am discovering. I think I will find it helpful to walk some of it out on here and invite your comments.

I am sensing that this time in India, away from my usual routine, will open my eyes more to some of the "something bigger". Within one hour of arrival, I learned two important lessons.

Our cases didn't arrive with us. Somewhere they languish in Paris haven't missed the connecting flight. We will be reunited with them in 48 hours, they are being sent down to the tiger reserve where we are heading tomorrow evening on the overnight train. So hopefully by Sunday, we won't be washing our clothes every day! Interestingly, I packed two spare days of clothes in my hand lugguage...something I have never, ever done....but felt I ought to this time.... So, how much do we really need to survive? It will an interesting two days! Baggage enquiries have given us some emergency toiletories and a white T shirt each. We may have to have a photo shoot!

On our way to the guest house, we passed a tragic scene, two young lads looked as if they had come off a motor bike, It seemed as if they had died at the scene. A small crowd had formed by the side of the road and one lad was being picked up and manhandled into a car....Poverty, what choices? Horrible...no 999, no ambulance, no one to do resus, no one to say don't move him, he could have a fractured spine....A stark reminder...somewhere families are in shock.....Welcome to Delhi......so terribly sad.....Tonight I will pray for comfort for those that have loved them. Sorry to bring a downer on this first blog but this is all part of what I need to grasp...

Long day, been up since 02:30, so will turn in now, the adventure continues tomorrow!

Grand-ish Designs!

 Okay family and any others who have expressed an interest as to the goings on down the bottom of the garden....

The overview as a starter! You can't actually tell from this angle how much flatter the garden is in that area now, as opposed to the originally sloping aspect. You can see the two chicken houses on the right (one is empty at the moment but we intend to buy some more chickens in May/June )and matching greenhouses on the left. Some ideas we have are to try and create different "rooms" in the garden and to discover more about introducing Permaculture into our thinking as we continue to plan for the next stage. The earth in the foreground will be grassed over for now.

http://www.heathcote.org/PCIntro/4Principles.htm

Railway sleepers made into stairs and walls, creating a rustic feel.  By the time I am at the bottom of these, I can hardly be seen from the house!

The area with the sun dial is going to become a pond which we hope will encourage frogs who in turn will eat the slugs on the vegetable patch....we live in hope!!!

We won't get the glass into the second greenhouse, this year, but it will still be used for climbing peas and french beans in the meantime. You can see the Columnar apple, pear and greengage trees now have their own raised bed.  This area in the foreground will be grassed over.

A little path created so that we get walk between both chicken houses. We will be buying a water butt to catch the rain off the roof which will be used for the chicken's water. It will be situated on the far paving slab where the roofs meet. I'm hoping that the sweetpeas I've planted in the pot will climb up and look beautiful as well as smell divine!  They are supposed to be highly fragrant.  I never seem to be that successful with them, but every year I try again.   They are my favourite summer flower!

Rhubarb is on its way, as are the climbing peas, just about visible!

Three redesigned deeper than before (to redistribute some of the extra soil) raised beds.

A few bulbs to start us off.  We will buy a sack in the autumn and get planting for a really beautiful show next Spring.

The Gunnera has been repositioned, it is already thriving on the new site.  It will look like this:

Well hopefully not nearly as huge!!!!!

Dolly our Cream Legbar who lays blue eggs.

Connie, our Silverlaced Wyandotte and Xena our Light Sussex, aged 6 years and still laying most days!

The sundial that we found in the garden when we moved in, back in 1987, at last has a place to stand after all this time!

The sweetpeas beginning!

And finally, Mabel who now has a retirement home where she can keep a beady eye on what we're watching on TV! Not too impressed when she decides to wake us up some mornings...our bedroom is just above!

Hope this gives you a little idea of the beginnings!

"We making a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give"

Apparently someone called Norman MacEwan said those words!

Picked up a book in Oxfam recently. You know when you hesitate over a book and put it back on the shelf, then reach for it again, flick through a few more pages...return it to the shelf...wander off..but you can't quite put it out of your mind? This was the scenario and I knew it was a book I needed to learn from, so I listened to the inner voice amd paid the £2.49 knowing that it was an investment in understanding a subject that held important challenges right across every area of life. The title?

"The Power of Generosity" by Dave Toycen (President and CEO of World Vision, Canada)

Such Chapter headings as:

Generosity: What is it?
Who are the Generous?
The Power of Generosity to overcome obstacles
  "          "           "     stimulate Personal Growth
  "            "         "  Does it make a Difference?
"          "            "       on the Road to Justice
"           "         "    to make Peace
"            "            "    What Lies Behind?
"              "         "    : Money
Failure:    A Personal Testimony
The Power of Generosity: How to get it
"              "        "   in a World of Change

Challenging and timely stuff indeed! I've just finished the Peace chapter and the poem below is quoted from there. Just thought to start the day with it!

"He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In !

From the poem " Outwitted"
— Edwin Markham

What is enough?

On the road to simplicity and contentment, there are always questions to be asked.....

 The story of the Mexican fisherman

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.  Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna.  The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.

The Mexican replied, “only a little while. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”


The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos.  I have a full and busy life.”

The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”

The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”

To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”

“But what then?” Asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”

“Millions – then what?”

The American said, “Then you would retire.  Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”