jaime in india

2004-02-20T11:21:00.000-08:00

2003-11-06T10:37:00.000-08:00

right well I am off o sri lanka for the day. Am leaving now (00:30) and flying out of chennai at 04:00. Arrive in sri lanka around 06:00ish, leg it to the Indian high commission, hand in form, hang around for god knows how long, collect visa, back to the airport and catch the 19:00 flight back reaching chennai at 9ish, then on to Minoti's place and then the 07:00 train out to Vellore for the weekend with Nix, Raoull, Minoti and Chiku.

Well, thats the plan anyway. There is abit of political termoil going on in sri lanka so that may prove interesting. The visa place may not issue me with a visa the same day which would mean the whole weekend in Colombo, possible. Oh well, fingers crossed.

Hope you all have a good weekend and shall post when I am back.

word safe

jaime

2003-11-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

Well thank you to remy for getting the pics up, hope you like.

jaime

2003-11-05T08:57:00.000-08:00

Photos from India

Nice on of the theatre. It doesn't look too big but it can hold over 150 sitting people..

Taken from the shallow end ( which is about 3 feet deep), you can see the dorms on the right hand side.

pool with theatre in background. The end nearest is the deep end and you can just about see "ACTS" written on the bottom, the eep end is over 8 feet deep, fansatic for diving, in actual fact i've dived off boththe railings on the bridge and jumped out of the tree you can just see on the left. in line with the bridge on the right is where the showers will go, one will have to shower before on enteres, plus, at the top of the nearest ladder you can see the foot dip. You can also see the pebble filled channel that, (when the pool overflows which it does constantly) channels all the water away ont the fields. Behind the theatre (between it and the perimeter wall) is where our 2 story water tank and filtration unit will go, it will ost another 2 grand.

Here we see the frame of the covered dining area with the kitchen painted white in the background (dorms to the left)

Here we have the doms. each building has 2 seperate rooms (with the entrances at the far right and far left) Each building has shower and toilet which are situated at the far the end.

Here we have a pic of the still unfinished seating area at the end of the path, it will have a few benches and a sand floor once it is completed. As you can see dorms to the left, pool to the right.

ACTS main entrace, explains itself really.

inside theatre, again self explanitory, big mirror to the left, marble window sills, lights etc.

Jaime and nalatumbi (worker) chilling out on the scaffold on the outsied of the perimeter wall. We were making the wall higher to house the showers for the pool you can see that section is higher than the rest of the wall.) God that scafolding is rickity.

big Buddha shrine (Colombo, sri lanka). very large buddha shrine made out of thousands of lihgts in colombo.

Swimming session one evening with some of the guys

Samy & Christi (Kodikanal).

jaime & kids after a night of spinning with HOP equipment. Venila is the one to the left of me, Subramani is infront of her.

Thank you Home of Poi, jaime, Ambika (right of jaime) & Kids thanking the HOP people for their donation

Prathiba (left) and Poornima (right) poorni's leaving party.

Jaime and poorni dressed up for rohids thingy in Jerry and Suresh's house, Bombay

Jaime and prathiba chiling out in bombay

from left, chintu and jordan, jaime, divia, prathiba, rohid (bow tie) jerry and nikita (behind rohid), iggy, joel, poorni, suresh

poorni's leaving party, from left.
Poorni, Raoull,
(back row) mia, bu, ashwini
(front row) nix, minoti, tripty, prathi, di

Geoffries performing crew independance day
from right
jaime, peter, boopie, poorni, john, prathiba, ? some other dancer who filled in for Ashwini that night.

2003-10-27T07:23:00.000-08:00

ASSOCIATION OF RURAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICE (AREDS)

Renganathapuram, Karur District, Tamil Nadu 639 108, INDIA

Phone: 0091-4324-350618, Fax: 350617

Email: areds@sify.com

Project Title: AREDS Children Theatre School ACTS

A programme for Dalit Children Empowerment
A community, which has been experiencing exclusion for centuries

Introduction

Social movements, especially Dalit and Women movements, from the micro level get expanded to macro and have their significant attention in global scenario. But the status of children remains unchanged particularly in the life of Dalit and rural children. Even Government and schools does still not guarantee the access to quality education, exposure, nutrition, health care and socialization to the Dalit and rural children. The school syllabuses are not helping the children to build their capabilities on one side and on the other it excludes the life experiences and hidden talents.

AREDS, for past 24 years works for the liberation of Dalit and women. This experience has sharpened the thrust to take up the initiative of Children’s Theatre school to work for the liberation from the childhood. AREDS believes that the standard value based education with interaction and integration at such an impressionable age will alleviate prejudice on in their lives. AREDS strongly believes that the education through cultural and fine arts will bring a definite change in their life.

Art is nothing but the way of expressing ones own experiences of self, family and community. This will enhance the capacity to challenge the realities with confidence and hope.

This project was designed in such a way to create opportunity for the children to express their own experiences and talents through theatre arts. The facilities includes a pool, dorm entries, kitchen facilities, covered outdoor dining area, toilets, showers, outdoor benches and tables will be able to be used, on appointment, by groups of individuals wishing to study or partake in current workshops and classes Such workshops will include

Sessions with AREDS Playback Theatre Company

Street theatre

Music workshops (Drumming etc)

Dance workshops

Performing arts

It shall also be host to meetings including things like Self-help groups, educational meetings, small conferences and seminars on aspects of the work done at AREDS and other organizations. Many others, although largely dedicated to the needs and education of the children, will enjoy these facilities.

Logical frame work

Programme Packages

Programme packages includes
· Sessions with AREDS Play back Theatre Company
· Street theatre
· Music workshops
· Dance workshops
· Performing arts
· Competitions
· Capacity building and Brain storming

Component for Self-sufficiency

This facility will also be avail to NGOs, and Human rights Activities to find a space for reflection and dialogue from whom the fee will be collected to have the course. There is a growing need among the NGOs and Human rights activists as a family, as a people to come together to have discussions. This will reenergize them to take peoples actions and Human rights actions. The money collected from the NGOs will be saved to meet out its expenses.

Financial constraints

We have raised credit from the Bank to construct the infrastructure to be provided for this Theatre Programme. We will be happy and appreciate any kind of generous contributions (donation) to repay this credit. However small or big, will ease our financial constraints, and reach out our objectives.

The Credit availed from Bank for the infrastructure includes
1. Training Hall: Rs. 500,000 (approx. ₤ 6666)
2. Dormitories (2): Rs. 500,000 (approx. ₤ 6666)
3. Mini Swimming Pool: Rs. 1,500,000 (approx. ₤20,000)
4. Dining and Kitchen: Rs. 250,000 (approx. ₤3333)
Total Rs. 2,750,000 (approx. ₤36,665)

2003-10-27T01:48:00.000-08:00

Hello,

It’s been a really quiet few days in a sense. Not literally cause people have been setting off fire crackers left right and bloody centre, it almost seems quiet without them. Apparently in Chennai it’s been really noisy. Was on the phone to a few of the Chennai crew the other day and I couldn’t hear what they were saying half the time cause of the noise of fire crackers. Nix even had a set chucked at him whilst on his bike, that’s the problem with young people now-a-days, no respect (good god did I just say that, must be getting old). Funnily enough there have been no reports on the TV of people getting hurt which always seems to happen around bonfire night in the UK> Sure people do get hurt, they must do, you should see the size of some of these crackers, they’re bloody massive.

Well apart from that not much going on. We had Friday and Saturday off and everyone’s getting a bit restless cause there’s no work going on etc. Yesterday myself, Christi and Samy went up to the site to do some planting. I had a swim; we did a load of planting around the theatre etc. It all gonna look so nice a few months down the line when everything is done and the plants have grown a bit.

The whole place is nearly done and now most of the work to be completed is specialized work that needs to be done by other groups of people like plumbers, electricians etc. We agreed that when I finally talk to the people from the street children organisation in Chennai I should say I am able to start work in December although arrangements will have to be made for me to be able to get off work to attend occasions such as the inaugurating ceremony of the ACTS program.

Speaking of the inauguration ceremony, it has been agreed that I should take a group of the kids from the village and teach them how to do poi properly so that by the time of the inauguration I will have choreographed some type of thing to be performed infront of all the attendee’s.

Last night myself and Christi sat down with a bunch of kids that had agreed to be taught and then do some performing work. In all there were 8 of them ranging from 4th to 8th standard (school wise) that’s from the age of 10 to 15ish: they were:

· Venila
· Prathiba
· Kasthuri
· Mohan
· Subramani
· Prasanth
· Mangayarkarasi
· Sundaresan

So the deal is to get all these guys up to a standard where they can do some stuff at the inauguration ceremony in December. If the inauguration is to be in the evening then what I’ll do is arm them all with some glow sticks & glow poi cause it looks better and means all you really have to do is wave them around to get the desired effect, not that I’m saying that they are not going to get good, in actual fact some of them have already got down (kinda) the basic weave and are attempting some more complex move. There only problem, like a lot of people that start learning poi, is the automatic assumption that if you spin fast it looks better than if you spin slow. This in mind they are tearing around like mad men.

That’s about for the time being but thought that some of you may be interested to see a copy of the ACTS proposal and a copy of the proposed business card aimed at getting me more performing jobs.

OK, hope your all ok and stuff. And just to let you all know my blog is now about 100,000 words long, not bad huh.

jaime

2003-10-24T03:11:00.000-07:00

Hello, hope yall cool ‘n’ groovy?

Right well it’s been an odd 2 weeks. First off, unfortunately, Ravi (the engineer whose company is in charge of building ACTS) father passed away some time last week and therefore all the guys at the site legged it back to Tritchy to attend the funeral etc. This meant that (apart from Monday 20th when the painter returned) the end of last week and the whole of this week have been no work days for Jaime. The guys were meant to be returning the middle of last week but seeing as Diwali is this weekend they were obviously given permission to hang around (they all come from Tritchy of the surrounding area) until the weekend holiday was over.

So, that said there ain’t much to report at the moment. Ain’t been at the site much but a few things have been done. There is now a path between the covered dining area and the kitchen which has been painted, incidentally, a lovely shade of white. The inside of the kitchen has had a few worktop foundations put in and concrete shelves on which marble slabs will eventually go. Also, the ramp that one passes over from the road, through the gate has been completed.

That was done last week. I had gone up to the site with Augustine at about 5 to do some swimming as the pool had just been filled with new water. We arrived to find everyone still working, laying g concrete for the ramp. They said they were only going to swim when they had finished. I ended up helping them out and not getting to swim cause by the time we finished it was dark, cold and raining.

I have been up to the site a few other times for other purposes. One night we went up for a swim. I took fire equipment and kero, much to the horror of Ambiga, and ended up doing some stuff. This was at the time when I thought I would be doing some performing in Chennai for Diwali, thought I had better get some practice in. The guys seemed to like it, Ambiga didn’t and the minute I got back started roasting me about a few sooty singe marks on my arm. She even went as far, at one point; to tell me that no matter how hard I tried it would be impossible to get any Kero this month. When asked why she said she was worried I’d make myself ill by drinking the stuff.

We have had Manu, Sam and Chella staying as well. They were all up last weekend discussing AREDS stuff and having meetings well into the night, was nice having people around, they all seemed very happy with ACTS progress although none of them came swimming.

Sri Lanka is being organized by Iggy and his travel agent. The plan is to catch an evening flight across, in the first week of November, stay in a hotel and the next day hand in the visa form, pick up the visa and the4n fly back that evening. This will, hopefully, make the whole thing quite cheap, around 120 squid. One thing that have noticed is that on the bottom of the visa application form it states that if one stays in India for a period longer than 1 year you have to submit yourself to a full medial. Why, I ask, what the hell is that going to achieve?

It may not come to this as I have just found out that my year ticket cannot be refunded, extended or postponed by the travel agent I bought it off or my travel agent over here. The only thing that I can do now is, as it states on the Emirates website, is to o to there office and try, no beg and even grovel if need be, that they refund at least some of my return ticket. It’s worth a shot and if that doesn’t work then there is a distinct possibility that I shall be returning to the UK in January.

If I should manage to get a refund on my ticket then we have made some progress with finding me work after I finish with ACTS. Christi spoke to a dude about what I wanted to do afterwards and he has had a word with an organisation called Anbu Illan which translates roughly into Love House or something like that. It’s a religious based organisation based in Chennai that deals with street children etc. They sound really good, have to give them a call to discuss stuff. They were singled out of all the street children organisations as they may well offer accommodation with a voluntary placement which would be great. Will keep you updated on that one however you can find more info if you just click here

____________________________________________________________________
Diwali (Deepavali) the festival of no sleep

Right, well as I have already mentioned several times this weekend is known as Diwali and it is, apparently, the happiest and the noisiest festival in the Hindu calendar. Allow me to explain.
Basically from what I can gather this festival is kinda a cross between bonfire night and Christmas with the added bonus that it’s a religious festival where as some could argue Christmas has lost it’s religious meaning. Apparently it lasts 5 days, at night people night all these oil lamps to show Rama the way home from exile (where and why he was in exile I have no idea), they also like to play with fire works and crackers, not cream crackers mind you, loud crackers hence “the festival of no sleep”, which it has been
Re-christened by me. As well as playing with fire and dangerously loud explosive devises people partake in a whole host of activities which go a little something like this:

• Day 1: - (23rd) House is cleaned thoroughly, chalk drawings, called rangolis, are plastered all over people’s doorsteps.

• Day 2: - Today (being 24th) is dedicated to Krishna’s victory over Narakasura (some legendary tyrannical dude). In the south people get up before dawn, have a bath in oil and then put on a load of newly bought cloths. This is why every single cloths shop in this whole country is always MOBBED around this time of year, everyone guys new cloths. This is also why every second advert on the TV is dedicated to special offers at silk houses and cloths shops. Unfortunately the kind of cloths I’m interested in are not really present in Karur so I treated myself to a new phone cover and when I go up to Chennai I’m gonna get a stupidly massive pair of jeans made, well, one must follow the local custom, when in Rome huh.

• Day 3: - (25th) OK, today people spend their time worshipping Lakshmi who is the goddess of wealth. This is traditionally seen as the beginning of a new financial year as far as businesses are concerned.

• Day 4: - (26th) Day four commemorates the coming of some guy called Bali who was, apparently, a friendly demon (think “Casper the friendly ghost” meets Sauron). Basically this dude shows up and Vishnu put him in his place.

• Day 5: - (27th) Day 5 is slightly weird. All the men go and visit there sisters so they can have tikka put on there heads. And before anyone asks, tikka is defined as

“mark devout Hindu’s put on their heads”

and is a powder, not a type of chicken curry. Diwali has also become known as the “festival of sweets” and sweet giving is now as common as oil lamps and fire crackers.

So, I here you ask, where do fire crackers come in. Well, they don’t really seem to fit in anywhere apart from the fact that they suddenly become available around this time of year (kinda like Cadbury cream eggs & mini eggs at Easter) and people like setting them off ALL THE TIME throughout the 5 days and this includes stupidly ridiculous time of the morning when people should be sleeping, not running around setting off fire crackers. Apparently in Chennai there is a by-law stating that they may not be set off in residential areas (i.e. the entire bloody city) between the hours of 10pm and 6am. Unfortunately, we are not so lucky here. They were going off all yesterday and three guesses what woke me up at 4 this morning.

So basically that’s Diwali. Apparently there was a big celebration in Trafalgar Square so you guys do have it, kinda, although I imagine it just gets mixed in with bonfire night.

(Speaking of which, and sorry to change the subject, but I heard that a tube derailed itself at Camden the other day. Thank god no one was killed (as far as I know) but I hope that all my London people (especially those in North London and Camden, you know who you are) are all ok, kinda started panicking when I heard. Sure you’re all fine.)

There are other advantages obviously. The TV has improved somewhat from the usual stuff and is now showing films back to back as well as lots and lots of Diwali specials.
Unfortunately everything is still in Tamil and the one thing that this holiday needs is that stupidly massively large double edition of the Radio times that graces our presence every Easter and Christmas.

Safe’ios

jaime

2003-10-14T08:35:00.000-07:00

Bloody hell its like a UK bus stop at the mo, you wait 2 months for 1 and then 3 come along within the space of a few days. Sorry.

Right well as I said I got back from Chennai on Thursday (9th) morning having been in Chennai a week. I was there cause john had asked me to do 5 days of performing (1 glow and one fire per day from the 1st to the 5th) for the opening of an amusement park in the city. However, by Monday they still hadn’t confirmed so it was decided that I should go up just incase they confirmed at the last minute and my presence was required.

I left the village on Tuesday night accompanied by Samy who was heading up to Chennai as he was due to fly out to Lebanon and then on to Europe for business on the 2nd. The train journey was pretty uneventful, very little sleep as usual. When I arrived in Chennai I met Samy on the platform (he was in AC I was in non AC), he headed off to the girls flat. Iggy had told me that he would send his driver and when after half an hour he hadn’t turned up I headed off to his flat in an auto.

Wednesday day consisted of hanging around the flat. I had taken some photos of the site that Samy wanted to take to Europe, as part of a proposal to raise funds for ACTS, so I took an auto to Adyar and handed them in for developing. I returned an hour later, picked them up, took them to Prathiba’s house to give to Samy and then back home.

Wednesday was Chiku’s birthday which, in Indian terms can only mean one thing, surprise party. The venue was Minoti’s and Tripty’s flat. I got picked up from Iggy’s by Bu, Nix, Johnty and Di and we headed off to the party stopping briefly at a shop to pick up some supplies.

We arrived at the house and found Raoull outside, we lit the candles on the slightly mangled cake and legged it I to surprise him.

The party went along the usual lines. Alcohol, food, conversation, always a good combination. We all sat round talking about stuff, Nix was auditioning for the lead in Greece so Bu taught him some dance steps, a few people had a go on my poi and we all settle down to some serious drinking and chatting. Conversation was varied. We talked about David Blaine, magic in general (I explained some tricks that they had seen people do and I had learned about what with living with James the Magician for a year at university), Nix and Minoti are big lord of the ring fans, not the movie but proper lord of the rings fans. We talked about the Silmarilion, the differences between the books and the movies, the general concept of them leaving out so much stuff from the movie and changing certain parts. Minoti produced an original copy of the Silmarilion which was wicked, fold out maps and everything. We talked about many many things till quite late. I was constantly given glasses of rum and coke by Tripty and when everyone went to bed we sat up until 6ish talking about everything under the sun as one usually does when alcohol has taken control of the conversation.

At about 7 I decided enough was enough; between us we had drunk quite an alarming amount of rum. We both headed downstairs to get me an auto. Was feeling a little wobbly but nothing major. I got in the auto and headed off back to Iggy’s arriving at about 8ish to fins the guys already up. I was knackered, I excused my self and crashed into bed and slept till about 4ish. Had lunch and then due to the fact that I wasn’t feeling particularly good, went back to bed and go up at around 6 and spent the evening with the guys.

Thursday was pretty uneventful, tried to establish whether anyone was up to anything which they weren’t (they all have exams at the moment).

Friday day was also pretty normal. I downloaded a shit load of music on the computer, messed around on the keyboard, TV etc. In the evening I called everyone up to see what they were up to and was asked by Nix to come out to a venue where he and Ameeth were playing and do some glowsticks. I got an auto to Nix’s flat and waited for them to turn up. There was some major festival going on so the traffic in town was dreadful. They arrived, got ready and then we al legged it out at about 7:45 which was kind odd seeing as Nix and Raoull’s band were meant to be playing at 7:30. We bundled into a van and sped off in rush hour, temple going, chennai traffic, stopped off briefly at one of the guys houses so he could pick up some stuff, were mobbed by a large group of kids when they saw my glowsticks and then made our was slowly to the venue which I known as the vineyard.

The vineyard is a small underground room with a stage. It is run by a Christian organisation and is actually under a modern church. It hosts a lot of Chennai’s rock events which are mainly centered around college bands and inter-college competitions like the one we all went to in Pondicherry a few weeks earlier. We arrived at about 8:45 to find Minoti and Ameeth waiting for us in the car park, we bundled the stuff out of the van and ran for it.

The band was just finishing. Tripty showed up and the guys set up and then played, Raoull on guitar, Nix on drums and vocals and Johnty on bass. They were really good although everyone admitted that the sound quality of the place was worse than usual. They did a few great system of a down covers and a brilliant cover of Born to be wild along with some other stuff they had written.

When they finished the prizes were handed out as this was party of a 5 month competition called “Underground, Last Band Standing” which was being sponsored by Pepe jeans. They guys won some stuff but I can’t remember what.

Once the prizes had all been handed out the overall winning band (who I’d seen in Pondicherry) did another awful cover of “Killing in the name” with the variation of “hey you I won’t do what you tell me” and then Nix, Ameeth and unwind took to the stage to perform the events finale.

There performance didn’t go as well as Pondi, infact they were all a bit pissed off at the sound quality. I did some spinning on 2 songs, first off for a 40 second guitar solo and then for the same song I did in Pondi, the difference being I stayed on for the whole song. It seemed to go down well. Infact I heard more than one person from the audience shouting something along the lines of “go on Jaime” which was odd cause all the guys I new were in view and non of them said anything, must have been someone else, safe. Few people came up afterwards and shook my hand, the guy who runs the place gave me his card and said it would be good to se me down here when I move to Chennai, that was nice of him.

We packed up and headed out to the car park, bundled into the van with a bag of jam and banana sandwiches. The deal being you take a load on your way out and give them to homeless people on the way home, nice idea huh.

The plan was to head off to a party at a guy called Steve’s flat; he’s from Holland and was leaving for home the next day. I got invited out with Di and Tripty to a nightclub but was way too tired to take them up on it.

We arrived at the dudes very very plush flat to find a load of people sitting around, drinking and chatting. We set our selves up in the kitchen and chilled.

I met Steve who was really nice but very drunk. Me, Raoull, Minot’s and Nix sat around talking, some dude had all his hair cut off, everyone got drunk (I didn’t drink), we made chocolate icing, watched Raoull blow very cool smoke rings, talked about many issues and about 3 decided to call it a night and head home.

The guys dropped me back at Iggy’s having spent quite a while trying to find the place plus trying to find someone to give the banana sandwiches to, I said fare thee well and headed inside to get some sleep.

Saturday was quite a busy day. Having established what people were up to I headed over to Nix’s flat where him, Raoull and Minot’s were chilling out. Having got ready we all headed out to lunch having decided to go with Indian food and not fried chicken. We headed off to a restaurant as it started raining, ate a thoroughly enjoyable meal of rice (well duh), samba, curried very hot beef and an assortment of other bits and pieces and then headed off to a place known as cake something or other which, having had a discussion on my last visit about the wonders of cheesecake, I had been told did a fantastic bit of cheesecake at the weekends. Unfortunately, even though it was the weekend, no cheesecake, apple pie, and a very good one at that, had to suffice and satisfy my already very full stomach. After this we headed on back to Nix.

We arrived back and headed immediately down to an internet café down the road to check mail. After that we headed back to the flat, settled ourselves down and when Chiku, Bu and Di turned up watched “finding nemo” which I must say is an absolutely fantastic film, even more so than “toy story” and “monsters inc,” which is saying something cause Monsters inc rules.

After that everyone headed off home, I hung around for a bit and then caught an auto back to Iggy’s only to find them out at Rex’s. Having called them and established where their draw full of take away menu’s was (cause lets face it, everyone has one) and then having established that no-one was up to anything what-so-ever (they all have exams) I called up Domino’s and ordered a very large 15 inch bbq chicken pizza. It arrived, I paid more than first expected and managed to procure myself a small 8 inch bbq chicken pizza for free, and I settled down in front of “Shrek” (and then much later on “the fast and the furious,”) had dinner and then went to bed when the guys returned home.

Sun consisted of two things. In the afternoon (after the guys had all gone to church) we all headed off (Iggy, Chintu, Jordan, Joel and Mulla (the kids new child minder who had taken up residence in the flat) to Chintu’s grandparents house as it was the wedding anniversary of one of her relatives and they were having the usual; family get together and meal. I met a load of Chintu’s relatives, sat down and ate some damn fine biryani, ate cake, chatted to a few people and then headed home at about 3ish as the guys had to be at a wedding reception in the evening and needed some shut eye, also Iggy had basket ball, as usual.

I spent the afternoon chilling. All the WCC (the college Prathiba, Di, Minoti, Tripty go to) guys had exams the next day. Bu who attends the college Miss Poornima went to (speaking of which she is getting along very well in Leiden) also had exams so everybody was at home studying. I spent the evening watching “star wars. phantom menace.”

Monday morning was spent on the phone to around the world travel agents and SS music. Having sent all my tickets details etc to this travel agent they said they would look into the possibilities of me getting it extended/refunded etc. I also sent them details of my next planned Sri Lanka visa mission trip which they said they would organize. It was at this point that I learned a very valuable lesson. In India if you don’t push people to take care of the stuff assigned to them it never gets done. The guys hadn’t even looked at my ticket and had no idea I was meant to be going to Sri Lanka. I had told them it was rather urgent seeing as I wasn’t sure if I was meant to be traveling back in October due to some complicated ticket transfer with the airline. The guy who handles all the AREDS stuff had been ill and had delegated his tasks to another bloke who had equally no idea. Feeling slightly frustrated at this lack of progress I called up the producer at SS music who had made the program I had been shown performing and being interviewed, which, incidentally, got aired a few weeks back but I unfortunately missed due to a perfectly timed power cut. He as said if I called him we would meet up and he would give me a copy of the video. He suggested he call me on Tuesday evening to arrange a meet that night.

In the evening the guys went to yet another wedding, I stayed at home, hadn’t been invited, and watched “star wars attack of the clones”

Tuesday was slightly more productive and slightly less moronic. Nix, who was / is going through a bit of a crisis, and we met up for lunch in the fried chicken place and must have spent at least and hour and half eating and talking about certain issues. Having finished a very large, seriously better than KFC burger, rice (even in fast food joints you can always get rice), fries and coke we headed off on Nix’s bike back to the flat and spent the whole of the afternoon listening to kick ass music (mainly refused, raised fist) watching seriously amusing death and black metal music video’s (plus a few others including the almighty “cemetery gates” by Pantera), watching Jackass and talking. The guy from SS music never called, he stood me up, just further proof that you have to push people before anything actually gets done.

At about 6:30 I took my leave, caught an auto back to Iggy’s having been to they were taking me out to dinner, safe, and got ready.

We headed off leaving the kids in the capable hands of Mulla, to a Chinese restaurant called Mainland China which was, I must say, seriously plush.

We ate, talked, and drank beer and wine. The food was pretty damn fine, the alcohol much appreciated and the company first rate. One cannot complain really.

After soup, appetizers, a seriously large bowl of gorgeous noodles and several kingfishers and a bottle of wine later headed off back to the car and then back home.

These guys immediately said they were going to turn in so I said goodnight and managed to catch an auto back to Nix’s flat having said I would be back at some point.

I arrived to find Nix and some chick settling down infront of the computer. It was decided that although Kangaroo Jack and finding Nemo looked most amusing, Anger management looked like a must so armed with a mug or beer and a bean bag we watched the movie which turned out to be seriously funny if not a bit far fetched and OTT. After this it was time for yet more South Park including the David Blaine cult, the take of off Children of the Corn and the sex education episodes which provided yet more comic relief. At about 2 I called a taxi and headed back home.

Wednesday was a rather hectic day. My train tickets had arrived for that evening. I had spent a lot of the morning on the phone to the travel agent who finally decided to tell me that the reason I couldn’t talk to the guy I needed was because he was ill again and back on leave, fantastic. I gave up and have since told them not to bother with any of my requests; I’ll get someone else to do it, namely Iggy’s travel agent who is, apparently / hopefully alot more reliable. I also called up the SS music guy who made no comment about his no-show the previous day. I suggested that I could come up to his office and collect the video, I figured it would be harder for him to wriggle out of that, he agreed and told me to be there around 4ish.

I called up everyone and tried to arrange meeting up with people before I left. I arranged to meet Di, Tripty, Minoti and Bu in a coffee house in one of Chennai’s many shopping centers and having spent half an hour running around trying to get my auto dude and finally having to ask Chintu’s mum to translate to another guy where I needed to go I was finally in an auto and heading off in what looked like the totally wrong direction.

Thankfully it was the correct direction and at about 2:30 I arrived Coffee Day o find the guys already indulging in food and coffee.

We were there for over an hour talking about stuff like exams blah blah. They all spent a large proportion of it telling me just how unreliable people are in this country and the chances are that if I were indeed to travel all the way to Triplican to the offices of the SS music people the guy would have probably stood me up again. I put up the defense that all they needed to do was to have a little faith in people at which point they all laughed, I stuck by it though and said that I was going no matter what. After this we headed downstairs, had a large group of morons shout something at me, got really annoyed that people can be so arrogant (especially large groups of Indian men, apparently it ain’t uncommon) and bundled into the back of Bu’s car and sped, as fast as we could considering Chennai afternoon traffic, off in the direction of Adyar, Nix and Iggy’s flats.

They dropped me off, I said goodbye, headed in doors and then pretty much immediately called an auto and legged it over to Nix’s having just been reminded by him that I had left some stuff at his the previous night having just decided to face defeat and not bother going to meet a guy who I had been told was very unlikely to actually honor our agreement and actually turn up.

At Nix I collected my stuff, said fare well to Nix and Chiku and Johnty who had just showed up and legged it back downstairs into my waiting auto who didn’t seem to pleased having been kept waiting for half an hour.

Then it was back home by 5:45 and the usual mad rush to pack, prepare food for the journey, tidy up, record a few albums (U2’s greatest hits) all before my auto turned up at around 7. I said my goodbyes, offered Mulla her room back and jumped into an already moving auto and sped off in the direction of Chennai Egmore train station, onto a train and began yet another uneventful journey which in the end saw me sitting by an open window watching India fly past at about 2 o’clock in the morning. Picked up and driven home, went to bed and didn’t get up till very late having not slept at all.

Well, am now back in the village and back at work so here’s an update.

The project, as I am sure you are all aware, has not only over run time wise but budget wise as well. We have been faced with a load of problems that were not budgeted for. The biggest on of these is the pool. When you fill up the pool you have 4 days until it turns the colour and consistency of vegetable soup (not “cream of” mind you, I’m talking bits here people, big bits). The only apparent solution is to get a water filtration, oops, I’m sure we would have thought about this before hand.

Anyway, we have written out a proposal appealing for funds to pay back bank loans and will hopefully be sending them out to businesses etc all round India, Samy ahs taken it to Europe and I said I would try and send a load out round the UK. If anybody has any (and I do mean ANY) ideas on organisations/businesses I could send this to then PLEASE PLEASE email me. I don’t care how ridiculous you may think they are it doesn’t matter, its worth a try, the more people I send this thing to the more chance I have of getting some cash and contributing to this thing. Idea’s people, PLEASE.

So, the site, well everything is pretty much finished. I know I would usually give you a list of things that have been finished but seeing as there is so much I thought I would give you a list of things that still have to be done, which is, thankfully, a lot shorter. Oh yeah, thank you very much to Remy for getting my diagram put up, thought it may be useful for you to see what the thing actually looks like.

Things to be done:
• The kitchen is being worked on at the mo, work surfaces are being concrete in,
and plastering (of sorts) is being done. It now has a roof and will soon have a flag stone floor, plumbing etc will be added later by the right people. The path leading to the kitchen is also in the process of being laid.
• The covered dining area has still to be finished. We need to cover the entire structure with chicken mesh so that plants can be added and will eventually cover the entire structure making a living shelter type thingy.
• The whole site has pretty much been leveled out with sandy soil to counter the clayish soil that the site is made up of. There are still a few bits and pieces to be covered.
• The gates have been added and a ramp leading up to and away from them is being constructed so cars and vehicles can enter.
• There is still a hole in the wall up near the farm which has to be bricked up; up till now it has been used as access for bull carts and tractors dumping soil etc.
• The rock and water feature has to be constructed.
• The showers for the pool have to be added and the tiling done.

Well, that’s about it. It’s always the little things that take the longest to do.

In other news I gashed my figure on some corrugated roofing and had to have a tetanus shot which was nice. Have been doing a bit of swimming and some fire practice for reasons that shall become apparent.

For some unknown reason, the village and the surrounding area’s seem to be infested with dragon flies. There are THOUSANDS of them man, its crazy ass stuff, they’re everywhere, in big swarms that look like black clouds, it very odd. I’ve been hit by a few whilst on the back of a bike, the best thing to do and the best piece of advise I can give you should you ever be in such a situation is to wear sunglasses and whatever you do, keep your mouth firmly closed.

So that’s about it for now. Nothing really going on at the mo but there is plenty coming up.

Samy is in Europe at the moment and Christi having returned from Sri Lanka and Japan has buggered off somewhere else. We have Manu and Shaku coming for a week starting on Thursday. The weekend after that (24th) I am going up to Chennai again as its Divali, some fire work festival or something. John may have some work for me which is why I have been practicing fire. After that I will hopefully have some interview with organisations in Chennai about getting some work with street kids in the city, fingers crossed. So around 29th I have to hot foot it back to Renganathapuram as Godwin (AREDS accountant) a friend down here is getting married in Tritchy on 30th and we are all going, its gonna be wicked, my first Indian wedding, safe.

After that I have to leave immediately for Chennai again because there are a couple of Home of Poi fire performers coming down to Chennai and I said I would hook up with them. Then I have to stay in Chennai until the 6th / 7th and then fly out to Colombo, Sri Lanka to get another visa and then hopefully fly back the next morning. Unfortunately due to all the shit going on in Sri Lanka you ain’t allowed to stay in the airport at night so I shall have to find somewhere to crash to wait for my flight.

SO, it’s all a bit manic. There is also talk of me coming back to visit for Christmas but will keep you informed on that one.

Anyway, hope your all ok.

Safe

jaime

oh yeah.
Thanks to:
*remy for getting this pic up, much appreciated:
*mimi for the merchandise, fantastic:
*Dad and Sally for the list of Indian Rotary clubs, ear plugs (will make train journeys so much better) and Music, brilliant:
*mum for the money:
And yeah, think thats it.

safe

jaime: of the sausage eating old people conspiracy.

2003-10-13T10:26:00.000-07:00

Paintings from India

Jaime has used Paint on the computer to produce a colourful map of the ACTS site.

View from directly overhead with roofs etc. removed to ease viewing

2003-10-10T05:39:00.000-07:00

Right, hello, sorry it?s been so long but as you will see things have been quite hectic. This one is a bit long (sorry), over 20,000 words and covers over 2 months, and sorry if there are a lot of mistakes but I kinda could be bothered to read through the whole thing before I posted it.

Well, after the madness that was the 6th, I?ve just been working. Amol (Poorni & Prathi?s maid) is ill and not doing to well at the mo so ?hope your ok and get well soon Amol.?

On Friday (8th) evening Poorni headed back to Chennai. Having watched ?Bowling for Columbine? in the evening myself, Poorni, Sagayam (Samy?s brother), Godwin & Raja headed out to Karur station. I was all a bit emotional for that lot. Poorni was leaving Karur for the last time before going to uni, leaving was obviously a little weird and slightly emotional, understandable. Anyway, we got to Karur station at about 21:45. Took a pic of the two of us under the ?Karur central station? sign for ?past times? value and went into the station. There was some fight going on outside. They got on the ?late? train and went, we suddenly realised that we didn?t have platform tickets, which means a fine of R.S 100 each on the way out, plan B. We walked down the platform and quickly escaped through the fence.

Headed back to the village with a few stops on the way, was strange, Massive attack?s ?blue lines? blaring out the jeep, Godwin lit a cigarette, the smell of fag smoke, the music and wind blowing through the open windows brought back a million memories at once. Concerts, gigs, the garden house, the hope & Anchor, The Cutty Sark, nights out, clubbing, London, Bristol, Norwich, all in one massive wave of past times. It was very very odd indeed.

________________________________________________________________________
Politics

When I first arrived here I tried very hard to keep up with what was going on on the political scene. I tell you, it ain?t easy. There are so many parties and so many people that it?s all very confusing. This plus that fact that 99.999% of the news reports are in Tamil make it nearly impossible to actually keep up with what is going on. In Tamil Nadu, however, I have managed to get a general idea of what is going on. There are two main people. The chief minister in charge of this state (otherwise known as the big fat green woman, cause she is big and fat and always wears green) is part of the ruling party called the BJP who, from what I gathered, are fundamentalists and generally a nightmare. The main opposition in this state is a big fat yellow dude (I?ll leave you to work out why) who always wears sun glasses (not because he is trying to be cool as I initially thought but because he has seriously oversensitive eyes) who belongs to the opposition party. This guy?s son is known as Stalin, I know this cause we drove past him doing a rally just outside the village one night.

Before I go any further there is something you need to know about politicians in this country. They are al seriously corrupt, no acceptations, and they are all bastards (from what I gather). Obviously some are worse than other, the big fat green woman is a lot worse than the big fat yellow dude but the big fat yellow dude is still not a nice man at all.

Anyway, this big fat green woman is a total nightmare. Some of the things she has done since I have been here are simply amazing. One of the most recent actions she has done was to order a large, colonial building, being the home of one of the best universities in the south of India, knocked down to make way for her own headquarters. In British terms this would be the equivalent to the Labour representative for Oxforshire knocking down the dreaming spires of Oxford Uni so he could build a modern Labour headquarters. How ridiculous is that. After much protest this didn?t happen but that ain?t the point. This merely proves that this woman is, quite frankly, a nutter.

The latest thing she did astounded me beyond belief. On the beach in Chennai there is a large stage and public meeting area. It has been used by many many political parties to hold rally?s, talks, protests etc. Even the big fat green woman has and does use it for such purposes. It is used for public gatherings, meetings, conferences etc etc. It?s a seriously big well known Chennai landmark used by many.

Just before I left for Chennai the news reported that this massive stage and statue next to it had disappeared in the middle of the night. It had just vanished leaving behind a large empty space, no ruble, no remains no nothing. People were stunned. A lot of people seemed to think that they were merely in the wrong place. There were several interviews with people who said they pass by this place walking their dogs, exercising or driving to work on a daily basis and this morning they all thought they had taken a wrong turn because this big stage had just disappeared. After a while it became apparent what had happened. There was footage of the thing being knocked down in the middle of the night whilst know one was on the beach. The big fat green nut bar had ordered it demolished during the night. Can you believe it? This would be, and I ain?t kidding here, the UK equivalent of Londoners waking up one morning to find that Trafalgar square was no longer there. It?s that serious. The funny thing about all this is there is no justifiable explanation as to why she had this stage demolished. It was used as much by the leading party as by anyone else. It?s almost as if she just felt like pissing everyone off for no apparent reason; well believe me, it worked. Everyone is seriously, seriously pissed.
________________________________________________________________________

I left for Chennai on Sunday (10th) night. Raj dropped me off at the station. The train was late, as usual, and we didn?t leave till about 11. Another sleepless train journey. Why is it that I always seem to sleep on the top bunk but never when I?m on the bottom bunk?

I arrived in Chennai late at about 8:30 and was met by the driver who I had ordered the night before. Due to the fact that Amol was ill, Poorni and Prathi were both running around like mad people and the fact that I hadn?t stayed with them in a while I stayed at Iggy?s, arriving at about 9. Poorni is obviously very busy finalizing everything before she leaves for uni. Prathi, apart from dealing with college and all her commitments within it is also (with John, Boopie, Ashwini and Mia) in training for the cultural college dance competitions. She is going to college till 2 and then dancing and choreographing till late at night. I don?t know how they all have the strength.

Having been in the flat an hour or so john called up and asked if I would like to do a glow stick performance at a pub in chennai as part of their Independence Day (15th) celebrations. He and his dance troupe (Poorni, Prathi, Mia, Ashwini Boopie and Peter had already been hired to do some dancing. John had choreographed a dance for all the waiters to do and also had a close up magician doing table performances. I said yes of course. The problem was that getting glow sticks in such a short time would be difficult. I ordered them immediately from home of poi and had to pay an extra 10 squid to have them couriered over. They didn?t turn up in time but what had turned up was the stuff home of poi was donating to acts. This included 7 sets of normal poi, 2 sets of electro (battery operated) poi and a shit load of spare batteries, extra lights, twirly ribbon thingy?s that acrobats use and some pens. Its fantastic to have some stuff we can use, and, it pulled me out of the hole I was in cause now if the glowsticks didn?t turn up I could use the electro-poi.

In the evening Chintu, Iggy, the kids and myself headed over to Maggie and Tibbs place. Anne had just returned from a weekend away with Iggy to Bangalore. We got the house at like 7ish. Maggie and Tibbs, Rex and Anne were all upstairs. Having said hello to the grandparent we headed up. My god it was odd seeing Anne. To be honest, even though I?m staying with her family and spending time in places and with people she grew up with it very rarely occurs to me that these people are related to her. I have to remind myself that this is her family so seeing her in a place where I had spent time was just really odd but really lovely. We spent the evening with them. Poorni and Prathi turned up later and we all ate.

Me and Anne spend a lot of time talking about what?s going on t home. She gave me a shit load of stuff from my mum (thanks for all that by the way, its fantastic) and generally chilled out chatting and drinking archers and lemonade. She seemed slightly confused when told by Rex that even at the party in Bombay I had refused beer on a regular basis, its true. I haven?t been drinking at all. All the parties and all the nights out I haven?t drunk a thing accept with rex on our three day road trip. The only time I?ve drunk apart from that is with Poorni on that fateful night, and a few beers with Luke, Laine, Walter and Lieve in Karur and that?s it. In the past 8 months I have drunk less alcohol then I usually would on an average night out in England (I can feel Brigham getting slightly worried, at this point, for my welfare.) And the really odd thing is I ain?t really bothered apart form missing the odd pint of Guinness every now and then. My liver is quietly rejoicing.

Anyway, getting of the topic at hand. The night was really lovely, good company, good conversation, several new toys including 2 new hats, 4 books, astro juggling balls and some new music, all good. We departed at about 11ish and headed home.

Tuesday evening was pretty much the same. We went over to Tibbs and Maggie?s place, ate an spent the evening saying good bye to Anne having spent the previous evening saying hello. Me, Chintu, Anne and Maggie spent a while sitting in the kitchen chatting. It was by all accounts very odd. The amount of time me and Anne have done exactly the same thing at home in Norwich meant that the whole scenario was really bizarre. Anyway, we took leave at about 10 and headed back to Iggy?s.

The next few days all seemed to follow the same kinda pattern. I spent the morning at Iggy?s just chilling out and then went out shopping, coffee?ing with Poorni in the afternoon. We had a pair of jeans made for me which involved me going to pick them up on Saturday afternoon on my own in an auto and then heading back to the flat. This may not seem like such a big deal but when have only been out with other people its generally quite a scary concept. The auto guy was called Shanka and his English was surprisingly good. We talked about England, the weather and him transferring occupations from mechanic to auto driver. He, like a lot of people I seem to meet, wanted to go to the UK to work and quizzed me about ticket prices, visa?s and explained how American visa?s were infinitely easier to get than UK ones, not to sure if this was true but it sounded right. He dropped me off at fountain plaza, waited 5 minutes whilst I legged it in to pick up my jeans (which are fantastic and only cost 6 squid) and then drove me to Iggy?s, where he gave me his mobile number and said he would make a mental note of there the flat was just in case I needed picking up from there again. Always useful thing to have when I start venturing out on my own, at least he knows where the flat is cause I have no idea.

On Thursday morning john picked me up at 12ish and along with him, Boopie and Poorni we headed off to a five star hotel which has a pub in its basement known as Geoffrey?s. I had met the GM of the pub at Poorni?s party and he had asked whether I could be brought in to do some stuff. We got to the hotel and had a look round the place. The hotel was pretty damn nice. The pub was really wicked. It was a cross between a trendy yuppie bar, and old English pub and an American diner. The bar was very modern looking with blue lights etc; the pub had tables running down both sides and a row of high tables with tall stools running down the middle. There were old English pub bits and pieces around like frames newspaper articles, small statues of Miles Davies, old framed beer adverts, pics etc etc, was really wicked.

We spent the afternoon watching the waiters practice their dancing, a few had their own routines to do including one bottle pinning cocktail mixing dude who lit the end of his bottles, was pretty damn good. John was a bit worried that the ceiling was a bit low for me to do my stuff, it was but there was a raised ceiling line above the dance floor so as long as I stayed within it I would be fine, easier said then down when y0ur spinning in circles and all the lights are out. I did some practice runs infront of a few of the managers, other people and the dancers which went down very well. After the first run several people rushed up to shake my hand, was kinda cool.

After a while me john and Poorni were called up into the hotel lobby to meet the GM dude who wanted to discuss some stuff. I had been told that if I was asked anything specific about money, doing both fri and sat night etc just to say that it should be discussed with john, leave me out of it. The GM said that he had been very impressed with the party show and wanted the same. He was a bit worried about the glowsticks would fly off (one did at the party). I assured him that in 4 years of doing glow sticks it had never happened apart from that one time. I would safety line them so it son chord did break there would be a back up to keep the sticks intact. John asked if he wanted me to do Saturday night as well. He looked straight at me and said he did but, ?I was very good but very expensive.? This was news to me. We hadn?t even talked money. I was very amused. We returned to the bar having decided that they would see what the audience thought on the first night and then make a decision based on their reaction as to whether I would perform Saturday.

At about 4 we headed up to the hotel restaurant and had lunch, club sandwiches, very good club sandwiches. Then we headed off and me and Poorni were dropped in town where we had shopping to do, money to exchange and films to develop.

On Friday I chilled out at Iggy?s and then made my way over to the girls flat to find Mia and Ashwini getting ready, Prathi asleep and Poorni out with Chintu having their hair done. Chintu was going tom come to the pub but decided not to at the last moment.

Friday night was generally totally mad. Me, Poorni, Prathi, Mia and Ashwini arrived at the hotel in a taxi and went straight down to the bar. Apon arrival we were greeted by all the waiters (having spent quite a bit of time with them so far) and management. Me, john, Boopie, Poorni and Prathi had a reserved table so we settled down to eat and drink (all on the house). After a while we were asked to join the GM and his wife at their table. That was really odd, I felt a little out of place but I was great cause everyone new who the GM was and therefore were obviously wondering who the hell we were.

Later on Dia, Minoti and Bu turned up. The waiters dance went down fantastically although it did mean no service for a few minutes which no one seemed to mind. The guys did some dancing which also went down very well. The place was packed. The DJ was banging out Hindi-pop tunes, which weren?t that bad at all actually, and seem to all be dance/trance orientated. The press were there, several photographers and two TV camera crews. At about 9:30 I was told I was on. We had picked a song by Safri Duo which I can?t remember the name of but you?ll all probably know. All the lights were put up; I stepped up and did my stuff. It seemed to go down well but for the fact that unlike with the waiters and the dancers there were very few screams of support and clapping. I have been told since by many people that this was due to the fact that people were generally slightly tripped out having not seen anything like this before. I hope this is the case, I think it is judging on the amount of compliments I got.

________________________________________________________________________
My 15 minutes

Having finished I returned to my seat and was immediately approached by a young woman. She said she was a VJ (these guys call the people who introduce music video?s on TV a Vj?s, not presenters. Robbie, don?t worry, I gave all the guys a full explanation of the proper job of a Vj) on the south Indian equivalent of MTV. She and her crew had been very impressed with what they had just seen, could they interview me. Mmm, difficult one. They decided that the place was to noisy and escorted me outside into the hall where two camera crews were waiting armed with big halogen lights, large reflective boards a those funny microphones that look like a stretched hamster stuck on a pole. She just said she was going to ask mew some questions blah blah blah and then we begun.

After about 2 seconds of filming they decided that my hat was pulled down to low and they couldn?t see my eyes. This is a common complaint but seeing as I was going to be on TV I felt it necessary to compromise. They suggested that I turn it backwards. I CANNOT BELIEVE I DID A TV INTERVIEW WITH A HIP INDIA MUSIC CHANNEL WITH A CAP ON BACKWARDS. GOOD GOD what was I thinking, I must have looked like a total twat. Anyway, She asked a few questions, they stopped a few times to readjust where we were standing, asked me to turn the poi on etc etc and when everything was finally in order the interview ran a little something like this.

She introduced me as Jaime from London (I usually tell people I live in London, firstly because it?s the last place I properly lived and secondly because it?s a hell of a lot easier to say London then to say Norwich and then have to explain where it is,) and then went on to say how I did this amazing thing called poi which I had just performed at this independence day celebration. I lost count of the number of times she said absolutely amazing, she lost count of the times she said absolutely amazing cause she ended up saying ?I know I keep on saying absolutely amazing but there really isn?t any other word for it? or something along those lines.

She then asked me what it was. I explained that it was an old Mouri game that had gradually worked its way into hippy and club culture. I explained that there were several variations including fire and that glowsticks were predominantly used in night clubs. She asked me how I started doing poi. I said that I had seen people doing poi at festivals, had asked what they were and had taken it from there; I had begun to do it seriously when I worked for a brief time in a London nightclub. I had been doing poi now for nearly 4 years and learned a lot of stuff by being involved with, and meeting lots of people from the Home of poi online community. She then said that the viewers at home would have to judge for themselves what they thought of it but that they were likely to find it ?absolutely amazing.?

We then cut, at which point I was informed that my entire performance would be shown when this piece was aired. We went straight back into it and she asked what I had on my hands. I had totally forgotten that I had henna on my hands and didn?t realize what she meant. She took one of my hands and held it up to the camera saying that it was really cool, when and why did I do it. I explained that I was only visiting chennai from Karur and had done it before I came up. I said that I thought it was great to be able to decorate yourself in such a way and not have to worry about it being permanent. She said she thought it was really cool, I said thank you. She then asked what I thought of Indian music. I said that I really liked (the modern stuff) but that initially I had had a few worries about poi?ing to such music cause I wasn?t used to it but that I had had no problems and had really enjoyed it. That was about it. She said that she hoped I had a good evening and what did I think of the night so far. I said it had been a great night so far and looked very promising. She said that was all they had time for and did the old ?thank you very much, well done, this is Blah blah for SS music wishing you a happy independence day? or something to that effect.

Then came the really odd part. They wanted to get some shots of me with my glowsticks. I held them up to my face and they shoved both cameras? right up close, like an inch of o away from my nose. They then asked me to reposition my glowsticks cause I was holding them up in the shape of a V and this was the logo for their rival company. After about 5 minutes of obscene close ups, shots from above my head and below my face they said they had all they needed. The producer gave me his card and said he was very impressed.

That was it, my 15 minutes. I returned to my table and was instantly told by the GM that the women would be hot after me, unfortunately this prediction never materialized.

The rest of the night was spent talking to Dia, Minoti and Bu, Watching Boopie down 9 B52?s and other alcoholic drinks, watching the waiter?s dance, watching john and his crew dance and generally chilling out. Later on in the evening I was informed that the management would like me to do Saturday night as well as apparently it had all gone down rather well. Safe.

As the evening drew to a close the camera crews were busy interviewing the management and doing introductory pieces for the night. They interviewed john as he had organized the entire night entertainment. Everyone was knackered accept me. At about 12:30 we were about to head off when the management said we could all have dinner I the hotel restaurant. The gang (me, Poorni, Prathi, john, Boopie (now quite drunk and being very amusing), Mia, Ashwini and peter) headed off to the restaurant. I didn?t eat, I had been feeling a little sick since doing poi. We all talked about the evening and about 2 all eight of us squeezed into john?s car, good lord knows how we managed that. Everyone was exhauster. Prathi, Mia and Ashwini had been dancing non stop for the past week or so in preparation for their completion, john hadn?t stopped working as he had been choreographing these guys, the waiters and holding his usual dance class, Poorni had been running around getting stuff ready for uni. I was the only one who didn?t want to sleep, infact, I wanted to go out clubbing.

I was dropped back at Iggy?s at about 3 and, to my surprise; he was still up watching some baseball movie. We talked about the evenings events, I went to bed.

All in all a fantastic night. All performances were went down without a hitch, all the hard work had paid off, me and john had been interviewed by a major south Indian music channel, I had been offered at least another one performance to celebrate Geoffrey?s anniversary with the possibility of doing some more stuff when the an appropriate event came up and the whole thing was going to be repeated in less than 15 hours. Safe.
________________________________________________________________________

Saturday night was pretty much the same is a little quieter. I arrived at the girls flat at about 6:30 to find Prathi and Mia getting ready. Poorni was still out. From what I could tell they were getting ready until we left at about 8:45. We didn?t get to the hotel until 9:15 which was slightly worrying seeing as they were all due to dance at 9:30. The GM and his wife were not around, john and the guys had arrived about 10 minutes before us (which was great cause we all thought we were about to get a bollocking for being late). The place wasn?t as full but the atmosphere was still good. The waiters danced, the guys danced, everything went down without a hitch.

I went on at 10:30 to a dance remix of Dire Straits ?money for nothing? (sinful I know). It went down well, I think. My heart was going like the clappers, I felt a bit sick, probably due to lack of food. The evening was generally a lot more relaxed. Another girl had come along to replace Ashwini who was apparently feeling a little under the weather, to be honest I ain?t really surprised when you consider the amount of dancing those three are doing.

John was acting as host for the night and at one point put it to the crowd that they had to judge who was a better dancer, him or his brother. They both got up and started strutting their funky stuff. I have b\never really seen these two dance but believe me, they can dance, good god they can dance. After a few minutes of identical moves each one took to the floor individually and started pulling off individual moves most of which were pretty damn impressive. Nobody came out on top, nobody won.

The evening was packed pull of people doing stuff, prizes getting given out, line dancing classes where members of the audience were pulled up and shown a few simple moves etc. There was a close up table magician going around doing tricks. He was very good but having lived with a professional magician of a higher standard for a year I kinda knew what was going on most of the time, although I must admit a few things he did had me stumped. Don?t worry James; you?re still my favorite ha ha.

Later on in the evening I was approached by some dude who congratulated me on my performance. He said he worked for Sri Lanka airlines, I said I flew with them when I went over to get my visa renewed; he said to give him a call next time I did to get a great deal. Still trying to work out whether the guy was being really nice, was drunk or was just one of things people say knowing full well the other person is never going to take them up on it. He said he didn?t have a card on him but told me his name, I had forgotten by the time I got back to my table, oopps.

At about midnight everyone ordered food, I wasn?t hungry. Whilst everyone was talking the manager came up and gave us all some vouchers for some shop in Chennai, john came up with the news that they had been asked to perform in Canada, negotiations are going on as we speak. John decided to take me, Mia and this other girl back home and let the others get taxis. After a heated debate on whether marriage made two people even more committed to each other and whether it gives people another reason to work stuff out I was dropped back at Iggy?s at about 2. As I was walking though the gate in the pissing it down rain john ran up and gave me an envelope saying that bit wasn?t much, that I probably usually charge a fortune but thanks. Let?s just say I wasn?t disappointed. Cheers john, you?re a chap. Thanks for asking me man, really enjoyed myself, anytime my friend.
________________________________________________________________________

Sunday was just spent relaxing. I was meant to be going out but for reasons that escape me I didn?t. In the evening
________________________________________________________________________
School plays

On Monday (17th) afternoon at about 5ish me and Poorni headed of to St Michaels School to attend their annual parent?s celebration day and school play.

We had spent the day shopping and just doing stuff that needed to be done. What with being paid I had taken Poorni and Prathi out for lunch to Kenzo?s an Italian/American bugger bar. We had been basket ball shopping, jewelry shopping for ear rings and finger rings (as a leaving present from Prathi to Poorni, a very nice, diamond studded platinum piece, they tried to temp me with the men?s selection, think I?ll just stick to flesh tunnels as rings) and had spent some time looking for a doctors surgery where Poorni could get more holes put in her ears. Prathi had legged it after lunch to go and do yet more dancing at which point me and Poorni had legged it back to Iggy?s to get the spare invitation from Chintu for the school event. We had then taken an auto back to the girls flat, found my glowsticks which were late, one missing and another broken, spent half an hour on the phone and then legged it out the door, as Samy and Christi were arriving, for fear of being late.

This is the school that Jordan and Joel (Iggy & Chintu?s kids) attend. The school is all laid out around a central open green area with a massive stage at one end. This area was packed with parents. The good thing about this country is they can have all their assemblies, plays and events outside without worrying about the weather; this was a strange concept to me.

The evening was to finish at about 9 and would include prize giving, singing and 2 performances one by the kinder garden (how American) in which Jordan was to play a goldfish, and one by the rest of the school (ages 5-16) in a rendition of ?The King and I,? In which Joel was playing the part of one of the kings children. Like most of these events, no matter which country you?re in, the only really interesting parts and the ones which include children that you know. This meant that the speeches etc were all a little tedious but watch able. It was very hot and most people were just staring blankly a head and fanning themselves madly. After a while Jordies piece came on and I must say it was brilliant. Lots of colourful outfits, obviously well rehearsed and put together. Most enjoyable, although from the distance we were sitting at it was a little difficult to locate Jordy on a stage full of brightly dressed children especially seeing as his costume covered his whole body and all you would have been able to see was his head.

Just after this Prathi and Samy turned up and after a few more boring bits ?The King and I? begun. Having just spotted Iggy on a first floor walkway above us I legged it up there to get a better view and I must say I was very very impressed. The sets were fantastic, the music and singing first class, the acting brilliant considering the age of all the kids and the costumes stunningly colourful. I really enjoyed it. It was like watching a professional performance. People would have paid money to see this in England. What made it al so good was the thought that it was put on by the kids. I remember my school plays and they were funny but never any good on a serious level. I think the main difference was the set and costumes which in this case were top class and in our case are usually just cardboard cut outs and things brought from people?s homes.

Anyway, all in all a really lovely night. The girls and Samy left early to go and get Poorni?s ears pierced (done by a doctor, just a normal GP, very odd I though. If I asked my GP to pierce anything he?d look at me as if I had three heads). Which was a shame cause they missed the best part. After picking up Joel, preventing Jordan from getting run over a few times in the car park and talking to other parents and Maggie and Tibbs, we headed back to the house, had dinner and went to bed. I watched some movie, I think it was Lord of the rings Fellowship of the rings? and was totally disgusted at how much they missed out and changed having just finished reading the book for the fifth time since arriving in this country. Have just started on Bill Baileys ?notes from a small island? and am loving it.

Just while we are on the subject of schools and stuff do you know that these guys have a national teacher?s day? I have no idea why and what the purpose of this extra day is suppose to actually achieve but thought it kinda nice if not a bit odd. In the UK teachers always seem to get a rough ride. They get paid bugger all and seem always to be being blamed by parents and a host of other people for not doing their jobs properly rather than being praised and worshipped for devoting more time per day with people?s kids than most parent do.
________________________________________________________________________

?I try to remember my favorite things, and then I don?t feel, so bad.?

Right, we all know the scene in ?Sound of Music? when all the kids start crapping themselves at the thunder storm, yes. Well this actually happened one night in Chennai. I was woken up at some ungodly hour of the morning to find my room flooded in light. I had no idea what the hell was going on, then I realised that there was a thunder storm going on right above the house. But this wasn?t any old storm, oh no, this was apocalyptic stuff man. The lightning was incredible. I actually counted and at one point for about 15 minutes my room was never dark for more than 4 seconds. This was pretty impressive but absolutely nothing in comparison to the thunder. I?ve never heard anything like it in my life, it was frightening. The house felt like it was shaking. It sounded like the heavens were seriously splitting open. I can?t really explain it but put it this way. I had pillows wrapped round my head, not to try and get back to sleep but to make the noise a little less petrifying. It was incredible and I was shitting myself.
________________________________________________________________________

Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday were not particularly eventful. I followed the same pattern of staying in, in the morning, going out with Poorni in the afternoon etc. On one night I went round to dinner at the girls, Samy and graced us all with a massive batch of Biryani, which was fantastic. John graced us with his presence at about 10:30 I left in a cab at about 00:45.
________________________________________________________________________
Fare thee well

As I am sure you are all aware, if you have been reading this thing regularly, Poorni (the daughter of Samy and Christi (who own and run AREDS) is buggering off to Leiden, in Holland, to do an MA in English something. She leaves Chennai on Sunday 25th for Bombay or Delhi (depending on where they send her visa, and on Thursday 21st I took leave of her for the last time. She picked me up at Iggy?s at about 2:30 and we headed off to a large shop called Wills Lifestyle. We had all been given vouchers by Geoffrey?s and this would be the last time I would have the opportunity to spend mine as they run out in a few weeks. We took an auto to the shop and spent 30 minutes browsing.

It wasn?t really my kind of shop. Everything was a little formal for my liking plus it was all really pricey. However there were some things and in the end I settled on a nice tight black t-shirt (cause ain?t got enough tight t-shirts ha ha.) With the discount voucher and the 40% off it was a bargain which was great cause I had already had a pair of jeans made and bought a small bag and was a little funny about spending any more money on this trip.

After shopping we called in briefly called in at an STD, ISD phone booth so Poorni could call uni and inquire about her visa which has still not materialized, slightly worrying seeing as she leaves in a few days. Then we headed off to Coffee day to reminisce about the last 8 months. We chatted away, I gave her advise about university in Europe and how even though lectures and seminars are important it is compulsory to fit in at least 4 hours of drinking every day. She is doing an MA in English and is also thinking about doing a diploma in anthropology as well as getting a job teaching English to degree students. I tell you, when it comes to studying both these girls have got the knack. I feel very stupid seeing as I found it difficulty completing one year of a law degree. Poorni is younger than me and already has a degree, 2 diplomas and is about to embark on an MA, another diploma and then a PHD after all that. Not only that but she will be doing the MA and diploma, in Holland, in a year. How, may I ask?

Anyway, after my drinking, socializing ?Oh my god how are you going to manage all this with all your other commitments? lecture she began to spill what she is best at, advice.? We talked about what I was going to do after ACTS and both decided that a change of scenery would probably be a good idea, chennai and a job of some sort sounded promising (pretty much what everyone else thinks). After an hour of talking, one mochachino frappe, a very large cold coffee topped with cream, a shit load of chocolate sauce, coffee beans and an espresso shot (they never ever make coffee strong enough in Indian coffee houses) we headed out to a waiting auto and sped off back to Karpagam Avenue and Iggy?s flat. There we mused over how a tape recording deck could switch itself off whilst recording something we had set up before departing, compared purchases, as we always do, and then headed off down the street to get her an auto home.

I must say at this point that this was quite an emotional moment. This wonderful woman had been there my entire trip. We have been out coffee? ing, shopping more times than I can remember, since I have arrived, we have spent time with each other in Karur, Chennai and Bombay, I have stayed with her many times, we have been in constant contact since day 1 on January 20th when a very sheepish slight scared Jaime emerged from his bedroom at Iggy?s flat. She has been there to listen to me rabbit on about numerous issues, has given sound advise many times, has written me letters, sent me e-mails, done me drawings, bought me presents in the shape of English jam, framed pictures, cloths and many other things. She has taken me to the cinema, she has called me at least once every few days, when I?m not in Chennai, to see how I?m doing. She organized me a birthday cake flowers and present on my birthday, she has ordered me numerous cars to and from locations, and she has met me at ridiculous times of the day in railway stations. She has put herself out SO MANY TIMES. She has helped me adapt to life in India better than anyone ever could and she has been there every single bloody time I needed her. I apologise for bombarding you with such a list but it is very important to realize what this woman has actually done, and to point out that you do not find this kind of friendship very often, if ever.

I am very very lucky to have met and made such a good friend especially when you consider that that it has all been done in a less than 8 months, 90% of which we weren?t even in each others company. I love her to bits, I am going to miss her like crazy and I wish her all the luck in the world as she embarks on this very exciting trip. Poorni, I hope you have an utterly brilliant time; I have absolutely no doubt that you are going to do fantastically both academically and socially. I know exactly what you?re doing at this point. You?re sitting there, reading this, saying, and I quote, ?you better shut up right now otherwise your going to get a good ass whipping!? Because of this I?m going to stop and move onto something else, that and the fact that I?m finding it a little difficult keeping the keyboard in focus.
(The amusing part being I would say goodbye another three times.)

After this rather emotional departure I went back to the flat and started packing. I seemed to have acquired a lot more stuff. I had glowsticks, a massive box of stuff from home of poi, glowsticks form home of poi, several purchases made in Chennai and a shit load of stuff brought over by Anne. Having packed I recorded some music and spent the last hour or so chatting to Chintu. At 6:30 I suddenly realised I didn?t have a mode of transport to the station, I then realised I didn?t have any cab numbers so I called Poorni. I was hoping that are fare well would be a little more dramatic than me having to call and hour later to ask for Taxi numbers but it had to be done. At 6:45 Chintu called a cab which, at 7:00 still hadn?t shown up. My train was leaving at 7:45 and Chennai rush hour traffic. I then realised that I hadn?t arranged transportation from Karur to the village, oopps, OK, organizing stuff in advance ain?t one of my strong points. At 7:00 as the cab idea was scrapped for a known auto driver who had just dropped someone off in the same building I called Poorni again to ask her to get someone to pick me up in Karur having decided not to call AREDS due to the fact that lengthy, cross language explanations would take up more time than I had. She was quite distraught to find out that I hadn?t left but in true Jaime, denial, deluded, naivety I calmly explained that I had loads of time. I legged it downstairs, said goodbye, lugged my enormous bag (borrowed from the guys to store all the extra stuff I had) into the back and sped off towards Chennai Egmore street.

Oh ye? of little faith, plenty of time. We arrived at 7:25, I hung around, found the train, boarded and begun yet another train journey to Karur quietly reflecting on the trips events and very aware that the next time I would see Poorni was in a coffee house in Amsterdam.

For once, no snoring, bliss, still not a huge amount of sleep though. The train was late and I arrived in Karur at 5ish having been up, just to be on the safe side, at 3:34. Bloody trains. I exited the station, dumped the bag and once the car park had totally cleared of every living soul, apart from the people sleeping in it, began to get a little worried that my arrival had not been forewarned. Then I realised that Raja and Godwin were both in a jeep a few yards away and had been asleep.

Got back to the village at 5:30 and crashed.
________________________________________________________________________

Room 101

For those of you not familiar with this concept (and show) I will give you a quick idea on what it?s all about. Basically it?s where one is given the opportunity to banish 5 things, pet hates, into Room 101 from where they cannot escape. Not all things make it. On the TV one has to persuade Paul Merton to get rid of these things for good or, a frequent occurrence, put forward to an audience vote. So I thought I?d offer up 5 of my pet hates about India hoping that they will all be banished to Room 101 forever.

1. Wildlife: By this I certainly don?t mean all wildlife but there are certain creatures which I just feel serve no real purpose on this earth. I have nothing against many of the animals I come into contact on a daily basis. I don?t mind the bats, lizards, frogs, millipedes, cows, goats, crows, budgies, infact, I quite like some of these things and endeavor to bond mildly whenever I come into contact with them but there are some of God?s creations that I just cannot stand. Cockroaches are one of these creatures. Can someone please explain to me what possible purpose cockroaches serve? They don?t do anything, they don?t contribute to anything, they ain?t even cuddly or cute which is the excusable. All they do is scurry around, freak me out and beg to be squashed, decapitated or battered to death with a spatula, ladle or any other kitchen implement that is near at hand (I even squished one with a liquidizer the other day.

Roosters are another thing I don?t really get. Fine, they obviously have some part to play in that they play a part in keeping a species from extinction but apart from that all they do is crow and that?s my main problem with them. Why do they crow, what is the purpose apart from annoying me, waking me up and keeping me awake when I?m trying to get to sleep? It?s not like they just do it in the morning as a kind of alarm clock which is always seen as having a more romantic appeal than an alarm clock. They crow ALL BLOODY DAY. I can?t escape it. They are there when I wake up, they are at work (what with it being a farm) they are there when I return and they are still bloody crowing as evening fades when they suddenly decide to stop. This would be of some conciliation apart from the fact that the minute they stop the dogs begin, but don?t even get me started on the dogs.

2. People who snore on trains: This, as I am sure you are aware if you read this regularly, really pisses me off. I am currently reading Tony Hawks ?Hitchhiking round Ireland with a fridge? (a truly fantastic book by the way) and it appears that I am not alone on this one. He has the same experiences in a hostel. He has several ways of dealing with this. His first being that suicide is the easiest was out which is ditched after he realizes that it is likely to wake people up. He then point out that there is no cure save on. People have tried drugs, funny nose parches, remedies and a million and one other ways of preventing this mind numbingly annoying habit and as far as he, and I am concerned, the only real way to combat snoring is the death of the snorer. Suffocation is the obvious methods, accidentally holding the pillow over someone?s face. He then comes to the conclusion that, even though it is the best methods in such circumstances, strangulation would be a lot more satisfying.

3. Decaffeinated coffee: This needs little explanation. As we all know, one the best thing about coffee is that it contains the essential stimulant caffeine. It kick starts you in the morning, it keeps you awake and improves your concentration when you need a little help (i.e. when you?re trying to watch a Tamil movie). It gives you a boost and generally keeps people going when their bodies start waving a little white flag and if it weren?t for coffee there are millions of people who, I am sure, would generally find everyday life (especially working life) just that little more difficult to bear. So why, I ask, do they have to remove the one ingredient that makes coffee so great. Granted it has other pro?s such as its pleasing aroma, its pleasant taste when pumped full of mounds of sugar and gallons of cream, or milk which ever you prefer, it comes in many varieties, different beans, flavors concoctions, mocha?s, cappuccino?s, espresso?s to name just a few but you can?t try and convince me that when you knackered, worn out and tired and you get offered a cup of coffee you immediately say ?yes? because you want to sit back and savour the flavour, no, you need you caffeine hit.

This week has been a little odd but not really to eventful. I?ve been working alot and not doing much else except reading ?Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix? which I managed to pick up on a trip into Karur, paperback edition (which ain?t been released yet) for less than 3 squid which is odd seeing as, even in chennai, it costs more than a tenner, not bad huh. Anyway, finished it in a few days, really enjoyed it, in actual fact I loved it, oh dear.

The site, well a lot has happened. The pool is finally finished and is in the process off being cleaned with a nasty chemical cleaner. The covered dining area has finally been put up. Pretty much everything has been painted a really nice, dark brick red colour. The path is in the process of being laid with very large, thick granite flag stones. A kitchen is in the process of being built up against the far wall which separates the site and the farm and the perimeter wall has pretty much been finished apart from a large whole where a large set of really gorgeous, huge red metal gates will go, unfortunately the hole is in the wrong place so we are going to have to tear down part of the wall but that shouldn?t take to long.

Pondicherry
At the beginning of the week (1st) I was having a txt conversation with Dia (one of the crew in Chennai). She mentioned that Nix (from the party) band was playing at the weekend in Pondicherry at a college competition. They were all going up to Pondi for the weekend to see the competition and take advantage of the stupidly cheep alcohol (tax free, litre of beer (not shit beer) cost about 40 pence) like they do every year. The plan was a little vague but having had several conversations with several people they all led to me being sat on platform 1 of Karur train station at 10:30 on Wednesday (3rd) night waiting for a train to chennai which was, as usual late. The plan was still a little muddles but went along the lines of, get to chennai, meet Poorni, get picked up by a big group of people most of whom I didn?t know and some of whom I knew very little, get a bus to Pondicherry, meet up with some more people, stay in Pondi for the weekend at some unknown location, get spannered and listen to lots of music courtesy of colleges in the Tamil Nadu area, safe.

Well, I arrived in Chennai at 7 and took a cab to the girls flat where, as usual, I found Prathiba running around like a mad man trying to get to college and Poorni asleep. I settled down in front of the TV with a coffee, provided by the very thoughtful Miss Amol and a stack of series 9 friends DVD?s, bliss.

At some point Poorni emerged, got ready and at about 12 we headed out the door to do some shopping, get some coffee and drop off some stuff at Iggy?s place before 3 when I had to be back at the flat to be picked up.

Having spent 2 hours out which entailed wondering around food world on my own for more than half an hour looking for electrol whilst people tried to sell me shampoo (why in gods name would I need shampoo, drinking a seriously good fruit shake outside, using the nearest cash machine and conversing with Poorni as to why oh why someone decided, on picking up a grapefruit, that it reminded them of a grape, we headed off to Iggy?s where we had lunch and left in a hurry at 3pm, oops.

We legged it back to the flat, I packed and managed to get outside in time to find Dia, Minoti and a guy called Chicku waiting. We drove off to Di?s where we spent an hour or so chilling, talking etc. Bu (the party) turned up and we headed off to the bus stop where we met up with two more guys, Ameeth and Johnty. The buses came and went, all of them were rammed full of people and would let you on if you were the size of a rake. After much um?ing and ah?ing, calling taxi firms and generally avoiding the issue of having to get on a bus that resembles a can of sardines. After all this we finally squeezed onto a bus that quite frankly couldn?t have taken anymore people. Not only were all the seats full but, as with all Indian buses, the walkway was like a mosh pit at ozz-fest.

The next three hours were spent standing, trying to squeeze in further as the conductor who, to be honest, probably couldn?t even spell I.Q. rammed more and more people into the ever decreasing breathing space. Conversation was mainly about how people?s legs were going numb, English universities and how long to go. After a few hours we managed to get a seat and five of us managed to cram onto a seat that should have seated 3, stuff that, just sitting down was a blessing.

At about 8ish we finally arrived in Pondicherry and met up with Nix and Raoull who had driven up in a van. We piled into the back of the van and set off on a mission to fins food and alcohol, not necessarily in that order. We got pulled over by the police for parking in a non parking zone, and then drove off to the college where the completion was to take place to register ourselves for passes so we could get in the next day. This completed we drove off to find food and stopped of at American diner style joint which served everything from pizza?s to dosa?s. The bus trip had given me a blinding headache and I was toying with the idea of sacrificing a night of alcohol consumption to get rid of this headache. The headache prevailed and just before we ate I took some ibuprofen (which I have just managed to get my hands on after spending the last 8 months trying.) We all ate, Nix and some guys headed off to by booze and apon returning we all bundles into the van and headed off to Auroville where they had managed to get their hands on a cottage where we would be spending the weekend. It was pissing it down but spirits were high and livers were beginning to get worried.

We arrived in Auroville around 10ish and set about unloading the van and picking our way, in the dark and pissing rain through the tree?s to the cottage. It was seriously like something out of a teenage horror movie man. I was just waiting for someone to say ?I?ll be right back? or ?let?s split up.? The cottage was great. It was like two stone wigwams with a door that was set a few feet into the ground meaning you really had to bend to get through it. Inside there were two small rooms one with a bed, tables, chairs and a few other bits and bobs. We immediately made our selves at home, stuck on some tunes (it must be said that these guys have exceptional taste when it comes to music) and just chilled. Alcohol, good tunes (everything from Norah Jones to Rage, from The Beetles to Avenged Sevenfold), good company, a couple of power cuts, candles, several musicians, a few guitars, room to swing glowsticks all in all made for a very interesting and most enjoyable night. The guys played a few acoustic numbers which, I must say, were very impressive. We talked about a multitude of stuff. Several people turned in early (early being 4 o?clock) me and Di stayed up talking until 5ish and then hit the sack.

Friday morning, up at 10:30 and everyone seems to be running around tidying stuff up. A few guys have popped out to get breakfast. Got up, showered and joined everyone for dosa?s and coffee. Was looking like it was going to be nice day (what I mean by nice is not to hot). The morning basically went along the lines of conversation ranging from Jackass and CKY to discussing the pleasantries of European white beer.

After everyone had got ready, hung around for a bit and composed themselves we headed out for a stroll. The idea was to find somewhere in Auroville to have lunch, and then head off to the meditation centre for 3:30 so we could actually have a wander around the dome thingy which I didn?t have a chance to do last time I was here.

Well, after A LOT of driving around we finally found ourselves in the middle of no-where looking for food and not being able to find anything. At last, having asked several locals, emptied the van so it could go over a large speed hump (arguably one of the most random things I have ever seen, 9 people exiting a vehicle, it driving 2 meters over a hump and then everyone piling back in again) and generally wondering where the hell we were we finally stumbled across a bakery which served food in the middle of know where. It seemed a little complex of things roughly associated with the main Auroville touristy place and was full of foreign kids with a few aging hippies wondering around looking stoned. We ordered food, chatted and wandered around the nearby shops, 2 of them, 1 of which sold lots and funny wooden musical instrument and the other that sold everything from food to bleach. Having eaten lots of chicken noodles, drunk lots of fizzy, pesticide filled sugar drinks, been asked numerous questions by German children, discussed the evenings game plan and discovered that Dia?s palm pilot/camera contained a full version of the game ?worms? we headed off back to the jeep, side tracked for 15 minutes by the workshop that made the funny wooden instruments, and then drove with all the speed possible whilst still bearing in mind there were several tall people in the back and every time we went over a pebble our heads nearly went through the roof, of in the direction of the meditation hall. We suddenly realised that the chances of getting there on time were about the same as expecting Michael Jackson to admit to having plastic surgery we headed off back to the cottage to catch up on some sleep and generally chill? axe until the evenings events begun.

At about 7 everyone started to get ready. Having seen a picture of me and Poorni with eyes painted on our eyelids Minoti decided/volunteered to have it done. They came out kinda weird but really freaky. It certainly had the desired effect, apparently people were commenting on them all night. AT about 8 we all headed out the door and headed off in the direction of Pondi and the music competition. I had been discussed and decided that I was going to go on during the solo of one particular song and do some glow sticks to provide some extra visuals. We had discussed doing some fire but they weren?t? to sure how people, especially the judges and security would take even glowsticks. Everyone had a sinking feeling that they might get disqualified; because of this, the fire idea was dropped.

We arrived at the college which was already beginning to fill up and some bands were already playing. Good lord they were awful. Someone was crucifying ?come together.? Musically this was obviously going to be a very weird night. The place was basically a big grassy open area in the middle of the college with a big stage at one end, three rows of chairs for parents, a booth for the judges and the whole place was lined with stalls selling food, drinks (non-alcoholic) and other such amenities. We got in and had a wander round. Me and Nix stayed to watch some music and the others headed off to bye booze. We watched 5 or six bands before they came back at about 11ish. Some of the bands were OK and others were really diabolical. We heard and utterly shamefull attempt to cover Rage Against the Machines ?wake up? the vocals on which actually did, no shit, sound like someone strangling a cat (I know people use this expression but I promise you a lot of it actually DID sound like someone doing it) and an equally bad version of ?Killing in the name? with a rousing chorus of ?Damn you I won?t do what you tell me,? which, for those of you who aren?t familiar with Rage?s work, are not the words which are slightly more, how shall we put it, colourful. A few of the bands were actually quite good and there were some impressive moments.

At one point me and Nix were approached by a young man and several policemen who were obviously just wandering round on a power trip amongst so many young people. They asked to have a look at our ID cards and when we showed them we were asked to leave on account of the fact that the back had not been authorized by a relevant member of staff. We suddenly realised that in actual fact, contrary to what we had been told the previous day, only members of this particular college were allowed to be here and that to get the required signature would mean going to registration, handing over our college ID?s and getting our pass validated. This was obviously a problem for everyone seeing ass none of us (apart from Nix and his band) were meant to be here. We managed to talk the guys from kicking us out and then headed off in the direction of registration to sort something out. Nix got his card signed and along with a few other passes, left the site to find the booze hunters who had returned and could not get in. Myself and Ameeth sat in a corner trying not to get spotted cause if we did neither of us had a pass. Finally Nix returned and explained how Di, during a moment of criminal genius, had forged the signature on the backs of al our passes extremely well and we were now free to wander around without the risk of getting ousted.

The bands continued to play for half hour slots. The one thing that really confused me about the whole band scene was that here were these people belting out Rage Against the Machine, Limp Bizkit, Stone Temple Pilot and other such music and yet they all looked like they had just come from a train spotting convention (and I don?t mean the movie.)

The prime example of the dress thing, was that one of the guitarists I in Bonesaw (Raoull?s band) was wearing a very very very tight pair of very very very short denim shorts, I mean, they looked like Speedo?s, a very very tight white wife beater, a pair of stupidly white adidas trainers with white socks pulled up half way to his knee?s and (and this really was something) a chain made from metal at least a cm thick that hung down his chest with a padlock the size of someone?s fist holding it together. Now if he wants to dress like a tosser then that?s absolutely fine but dressing like this when you?re meant to be in a hardcore metal band, I don?t think so some how. The guy was a bit of an arrogant prat, strutting around with his bright red guitar played under his chin, jumping around pretending to get ?into the music? when all it really looked like was that he was constantly tripping over. Apart from this guy the band was really good. He was very amusing, I couldn?t stop laughing.

This general theme of terribly dressed people playing out of tune music and awful covers (with a few exceptions) continued until Nix, Ameeth and the other members of their band came on stage. Now, I know a lot of you will be thinking that I?m just saying this cause we were with them and cause they?re mates but believe me, I am not. These guys are very talented and at least they can dress. Nix looked like someone out of the original Sepultura line up, and good god can these guys play. Everyone else thought so to. They made most of the other bands sound like they?re playing on plastic toy instruments.

Anyway, halfway through the second song there is a big solo and it had been agreed that at this point the people operating the lights would cut everything and the stage would be mine for as long as the solo lasted when I would leg it. I have no idea why cause I have spun infront of crowds a million times larger than that, but I was a little nervous. The interlude came, the lights went and Ameeth presented me with the stage. I jumped on and, wanting to create the best impression possible so not to take away from the superiority of the music, spun as fast as I could, as hard as I could in as many directions as I could for little under a minute. Usually I wouldn?t spin stupidly fast and hard but there were two main advantages of doing it on such an occasion.

Firstly, there are two main types of moves we poi?ers and indeed all jugglers etc do. There are the moves that are easier than they look and the moves that are harder then they look. We learn the first type to impress the general public cause with very little practice we can still impress. The second type we learn to impress other poi?ers/jugglers. These are the moves that are actually more difficult then they look but most people won?t pick up on this fact unless they are involved in the activity themselves. Because all the people I?ve met over here have never seen poi before it was safe to assume that no-one in the audience had seen it before. Therefore we stick with the easy moves which can be done at speed easily. This usually doesn?t look amazingly impressive but, and this is the second advantage, when you?re using glowsticks, the faster the better as one stops seeing the individual glowsticks and simply rings of light.

Anyway, that?s what I did. I went on and spun as hard and as fast as I possibly could. I was using green and blue which look really good together. It seemed like seconds, people were cheering and then suddenly the lights came on, the singing began again and I exited the stage using the quickest route possible. Once down I watched the rest of the set, was approached by a very attractive young girl who asked me the usual questions of what they were, how long had I been doing it, how long have I been in India/Pondicherry etc, lovely girl.

The whole set was fantastic and included the songs ?free your mind,? ?take away,? ?life goes on,? ?save me,? and?feel like a knife,? jaime going ape on the sticks to ?take away,? A jazzy little interlude with a very catchy bass line and Ameeth going mad and doing some pretty good dance moves some of which bordered on break dancing.

When the guys had finally finished everyone legged it back stage to congratulate them on an amazing show because it was pretty damn fine. They packed up there stuff and we headed back out onto the field to watch the rest of the bands, by now it was past 1, there were only a few bands left, none of which I can remember apart from an absolutely sinful cover of ?smells like teen spirit.? I was beginning to wonder why these guys do covers which are so obviously difficult to pull off. Surely it would be better to do a really shite song and make it good or a song not many people will have heard of and will therefore have no expectations on how it should come out. Why choose ?killing in the name? when it?s so difficult to do well, I ain?t heard a decent cover yet. I admire them for trying but they were all a long way short of the mark.

We all sat around near the stage and watched the remaining bands, took a walk to watch the tail end of a volleyball game going on the other side of the college (apparently it?s a sports comp as well) and generally just hung around with people.

When all the bands had played people started dismantling the stage. The judges went away to make their final, very difficult decision and by the time they came back with one it was past 3. The results were fantastic. Nix and the guys had won most of them by the sounds of it, the won:

? Best song
? Best drummer
? Best vocal
? Best lead
? Best rhythm guitar
? Best Bassist
? And Best Band (the big one)

It was great. Everyone was happy, they blatantly deserved it, they were with out a shadow of a doubt the best there.

After the excitement had calmed down people began to disperse. A lot of people were heading of to the beach to watch the sunrise, the guys were heading back to the cottage to party, Di and Bu had decided to get a bus back to Chennai after the competition and the rest of the guys had decided to come back Saturday at some point. I decided to go back with Di and Bu, It would be one last chance, and definitely would be the last, to see Poorni before she left, even though I?d already said goodbye twice, this would be the third.

We all headed back to the van, picked up our stuff, said our farewells and then m, Bu and Di started the walk to the bus depot aiming to get a 04:15 bus back to Chennai. We picked up some friends of theirs and got an auto, found a bus (with available seats, yes) and started the 3 hour journey at about 04:30. We talked, chatted, I kinda watched the sun come up out of a half closed window, the guys fell asleep, I fought it but dropped off at about 06:00 and woke up at about 06:30. We got in to Chennai at about 7 and me and Bu took leave of Di, jumped in an auto and sped off in the direction of one of the several Karpagam avenues in this part of Chennai. The problem being I was meant to be going back to Iggy?s but I couldn?t for the life of me remember where Iggy?s. Having had a very detailed discussion on the bus that I knew it was on a Karpagam avenue, that it was on a road with an ICICI bank building, that it had some very large building and compound opposite it an that it was on the Chennai airport flight pass (cause planes are always flying over the house) we narrowed it down with the help that it was only 15 minutes or so from the girls flat where I had some vague recollection of going over a large bridge. Well I?m sorry, I hadn?t slept fore more than 3 hours since Tuesday night ok, I was knackered, I?m getting old man, my body can?t handle it as it used to in the Drome days. With this very detailed set of directions we figured out that it was near Bu?s and that there couldn?t be that many Karpagam avenues in that vicinity of the city.

Well. There were three and the last one was the correct one. All my info had been totally right, just a little vague. I said good by to Bu and climbed up to Iggy?s flat petrified that I was about to wake them up at 7 :15 on a Saturday morning.

Well the door was opened immediately by someone, I had no idea who. It took a few seconds to work out it was Mulla (ok, I don?t know how to spell it, sorry M), the new child minder. They were all up, at 7, on a Saturday morning. All in good spirits and about to head out to the Chennai air show. I tried to explain my very odd weekend and then the fact that I had had very little sleep, they asked if I wanted to come, I found it difficult getting up the stairs. Anyway, they left for the air show and I collapsed and slept from 8 till 4ish, then got up, showered and spent some time with the guys and galls. Felt seriously bad, body didn?t want to move, Iggy, the legend that he is, came up with a remedy. 2 bottles of ?shock? (energy drink, kinda like red bull) with dinner, that sorted me right out.

In the evening we were talking about Jaime?s lack of film watching since he?s been here. I still ain?t seen the second matrix and a whole list of others I can?t even remember. Iggy suggested that we catch the late showing of Bad Boys ÉÉ. We headed off for the 2200 showing, I jumped out, got tickets while he was parking the car, spent over R.s. 100 (all my phone credit) on a bloody 30 second phone call to his mobile to find out where he was when he turned up be sitting in the car right next to where I was standing. Bloody roaming phone charges.

The film was great, full of action, comedy, some very very funny bits, all in all a very good movie, would recommend it but you guys have probably all ready see it cause it must have been out there a while. The only thing was I got the feeling half the time most of the audience didn?t get what was going on with things like the drug bits and the KKK bits.

After that it was back home and then back to bed for yet more sleep, bliss.

Sunday got up to find the guys out to church. Just hang around and chill out. Am meant to be meeting up with Nix and Co but my phone call to Iggy the previous night has wiped all my credit meaning I can?t even receive calls. Poorni is due over at around 2ish. Her course starts on Monday and she still hasn?t got a visa, looks likes she?s going to be late. After having lunch, Biryani kindly donated by Iggy?s church (do ask cause I have no idea) we all sit down to watch ?Muppets From Space? which is good and funny but nothing on the ?Muppets Christmas Carol? and ?Muppets Treasure Island? both of which I saw with a good friend Mr Davydaitis, in the cinema in Norwich which, on both occasions, was chocked full of 5 year old kids. Apart from a few parents we were the only ones over 10 there and we were pissing ourselves with laughter throughout both movies. This one wasn?t as good although the sheer randomness of being the only two adults actually watching the film and being the most immature in a crowd of playgroup kids may have had something to do with it.

Miss Poornima showed up at 2 and watched the movie, then took leave at 4 cause she had to go and meet Christi. Yet another goodbye, this one was the last.

I chilled out in the house, played the keyboard and surfed the net until it was time to go. Iggy headed of at 5 to his usual Sunday basketball game and at about 18:45 I decided it was probably a good time to pack and make arrangements for getting to the train station as the train left at 19:45. As usual the normal madness followed, running around trying to find everything. Chintu arrived back from a walk with the kids at 7 and had me in an auto by 19:15 and on my way to the station with a brief halt at a shop to buy some water.

I arrived at the station and took advantage of having 15 minutes before the train left by having a walk through the main station to look out for call taxi booths that I could use next time I was here. Found the train jumped on and was joined by Christi at 19:45 as the train was pulling out.

Slightly more social journey than usual, chatted, had dinner went to bed and actually slept a bit. Up at four to be told we were running an hour late, back to sleep and then up again at 04:30 and off at 04:45 where we were picked up and driven home and I went straight to bed.

This week has been about working. The site is forever reaching new levels of ?nearly finished.? The pool has been totally finished, so has the hall and the dorms. The new kitchen has now got walls, windows and a floor and will be finished soon. The covered dining area was finally erected, and has had a wall built round the sand floor. Once the wire mesh has been put up and the creepers planted at the base off all the legs then it will also be complete.

The path has been laid and new paths dug from the main path to the toilets and showers and the dining areas. A large section between the pool and the outer wall has been walled in and will be concreted over to be used as outdoor pool showers. The gate has been put up and the perimeter wall finished apart from a hole at the end of the road which is being used to cart thing in and out of the compound. Large truck loads of mud from the hole dug for the pool have been dumped and spread over the whole site so planting can begin. That?s about it. I have been up to the site a few times in the evening to do some extra work which is of vital importance. As you all know product testing is a necessity when it comes to offering such facilities. I must admit to be very pleased with the standard of the swimming that can be done in the pool, damn man, its even deep enough to dive in, although I think it may take several more sessions until I deem it safe for civilian use. The thing that makes the experience all the better is knowing that you actually dug the hole, built the walls and basically made the thing. Unfortunately the pool did develop a leak, damn vegetables, but it was fixed and is now fine.
________________________________________________________________________
Death come a ?knockin

Some of you will remember one of Dom Jolly?s stunts from Trigger Happy TV when he takes a picture of a posing tourist in London on a Polaroid camera. Just as he is about to take it a dude dressed up as the grim reaper sneaks up behind, stands there with his scythe and the runs off when the photo has been taken leaving the tourists slightly scared at the concept that they are being followed by death.

This morning there was an article in a Tamil Nadu newspaper that?s kinda freaky. Two students went on a trip to a popular park type place that has waterfalls, woods, picnic area etc. One of the students asked the other to take a photo of him. The camera went off and the guy, having his photo taken, dropped dead. There is no question as to whether this guy actually died; everyone is in agreement that he did. The film got taken to be developed. Everyone was kinda in shock what with the fact that the guy was in good health, young etc. When the film got developed the photo showed the boy standing there with an apparition, a female devil type figure hovering next to him. Have just seen the photo in the paper and good lord almightily it looks freaky as hell. But the story doesn?t top there. On seeing the photo, the dude who took it fainted and went into a coma, no shit. Obviously the photo is being examined by experts to see whether this image has been superimposed. It does bring up an interesting question though. Do you just die or does death come and get you, or was it just a passing spirit who fancied getting involved in this Kodak moment. It may sound totally preposterous but if you think about it it?s no more unlikely to happen then say people seeing images of the Virgin Marry or statues of the crucifixion bleeding etc. You may not believe these stories either but if you are unsure then consider this. If you believe in ?something else,? a god, a greater force (lets take Christianity as an example here) then surely there is just as much chance of the good guys showing up once in a while then the bad.

The police are saying that it may have been done to cover up a murder or to keep people away from the spot as it is a place where precious stones and minerals are being stolen from but no matter what you think, this photo is damn freaky. Will try and post a link if I can find one.

UPDATE: - OK it seems to have been a hoax; the picture was taken some time ago in Malaysia and edited by a computer. Apparently the police are having difficulty tracking down anyone who is dead or in a coma as they initially stated. Me, I think its just one big cover up.

Catch of the day
While we?re on the subject of death and stuff I thought I should tell you about a rather odd experience I had a few days ago. Now, as you people who read this regularly will know I have had run-ins quite a few bugs and creepy crawlies (if people still call them that) whilst I have been here. But this one was quite cool.

The other morning (I think it was Wednesday but don?t hold me to it, yeah like that?s important) I had just got up and was going about the usual ?just getting up: things one does, shouting at the dogs to shut up, brushing my teeth, checking to see if there is anyone in the conference room which my bathroom is attached to (which there was which meant I had to go down through the office to get to an available shower), getting dressed, trying not to step on the scorpion. Yup, you heard me right. At some point a scorpion had decided to take up lodgings under my bed (apparently they get attracted to dust which makes this scenario more understandable cause the cavity under my bed is pretty damn dusty due to lack of sweeping on my part) and, at some point on Wednesday morning realised that it maybe wasn?t such a good idea and decided to make a run for the door.
Now do not be alarmed, it was not a big scorpion, a baby you might say, about the length of your little finger but still mature enough, I am told, to give you a sting that will be bloody painful for quite some time.

Anyway, I managed, after spending half an hour running round my room, half naked, jumping up on the bed trying to avoid attacks from those massive pincers, to trap it under the lid of a Gillette shaving foam can (?Gillette, the best a man can get, great for shaving even better for trapping scorpions?) and then headed down to breakfast to seek advise on what to do.

Having spent 10 minutes playing charades with Ambiga (?1 word, animal, pincers, tail?) I drew a very passable drawing and then realised the key to explaining this had already been discussed, Tamil for Scorpion is ?Tail.? She looked slightly worried, asked me if it had got me and then gave me a pot of curd, 2 dosa and a cup of coffee.

Back up in my room I spend another half an hour trying to get the damnable thing into severed coke bottle (they are surprisingly slippery little buggers) and then carry it downstairs to a very relieved and slightly hysterical Ambiga who felt it necessary to parade around the library with my catch of the day and then pass it over to Godwin who either let it go or destroyed it. True story. Nobody seemed very concerned at my near death experience at the hands of a baby scorpion, oh well; just have to find a bigger one next time.
________________________________________________________________________

Apart from all this there ain?t much going on. Have pretty much just been hanging out in the house, reading a shit load (have just finished Bill Bryson?s ?Notes from a big country? which I thoroughly enjoyed and occasionally venturing out. The other day I went out in the evening with Raja to the training centre to fill up on drinking water which is a very boring story apart from the fact that the sunset looked like someone had put the sun and a very large bottle of red wine into a liquidizer and turned it on without replacing the lid. The effect being that every cloud (and there quite a few) within a 180° radius was splattered with the most incredible array of colours ranging from blood red, through orange to deep purple. It was pretty bloody impressive.

In other news I have just faxed my tickets and details to a travel agent in Chennai to look into the possibility on extending my ticket for another year if an open return can?t be sorted. If it all works out fine then I shall definitely be staying on, I know a lot of people have been mailing and texting me about my intentions, so there they are.

I will also be making another trip out of the country in November. It?s probably going to be Sri Lanka again cause its close and cheap although I have asked the travel agent to drag every possibility up as I have heard that its also very very cheap to fly to Bangladesh, the Maldives etc. Basically, due to money, the trip is going to be as short as possible, in and out again ASAP with a visa rather than hanging around and spending more money.

________________________________________________________________________
Crisis
A few months ago I was chilling out in the office when I had a mini crisis about this whole trip and my return to the UK, whenever that may be.

Here?s what happened.

Recently I have been receiving a lot of emails from friends asking me how I am etc and when I am coming back. I received one from a very very dear friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, that started me thinking, always a dangerous thing.

Everyone in England, all my friends in particular, most of whom are in that stage where things are changing, are all moving on a doing new things. Quite a few have just graduated or are in their final years of university. They will then go on to get jobs, they may relocate again and will slowly begin the rest of their lives in the adult world so to speak.

When someone moves or relocates they are obviously faced with a whole new set of circumstances, new people, new job or college etc. They are beginning another life. This has been apparent to me over the last few years. I have lived in three different cities in the last three years and when I moved I began another life somewhere else. I remember thinking on all occasions that I was reluctant to leave the old life behind as most people are in such circumstances but that all changes once one gets settled, meets new people and generally adapts. The best example of this is University. When everyone in Norwich went off to uni we viewed it as a change. When we returned for holidays everyone I saw said how nice it was to be back but they couldn?t wait to get back cause they have in a word, moved on. I was the same. When I went to Bristol the only place I wanted to be was London. That changed as Bristol took hold. When I went to Uni in London all I wanted to do was return to London.

Here?s my point. When I return to England everything will have changed. All my friends will not be where they were. 90% (apart from those who are older and generally don?t move and change as much) will have moved on yet again. Most Bristol people will be at uni. Most Norwich people will have finished uni and will be in jobs. People will have relocated, made new friends and will generally have created a new life.

This is fine, it?s great, as much as one sometimes wishes things would go back to the way they are this is how the world works, I am not disputing this. I will have been away for what is looking more and more likely near 2 years. I will have created a new life for myself, I have, will have made new friends and adapted to my circumstances. When I return it will be a different story. The great thing about my life over the last three years is that I always have had, and have always used the fact that I can return to a certain place whenever I want. If I was missing my Norwich life I could go back for a while, if I wanted a night out with London people or Bristol people I could, I could meet up with people, visit and generally return, albeit for a brief period, to my old lives. You can probably see where this mass of words (for which I apologise, is going. Apon returning to the UK everything will be different and everyone will be living the new lives they have created for themselves. I will not, I will not be able to just slip in where I left off cause where I left off won?t be there, I won?t be able to dip back into my old routines because they will be over 7000 miles away. I will obviously still visit friends and get together with people but there will not be a situation, a circumstance, a life in England that will be mine because they will have all dispersed.

I will have to start from scratch in a way, this doesn?t bother me a huge amount cause I?ve done it, to a point, many many times before. What does bother me is that everything I left will not be their when I return, it won?t be the same as when I got on a plane on January 19th 2003, I think this is only really beginning to hit me now, stupid I know but to be honest I just assumed that when I returned from this everything would be how it was. Here?s my question. Is this the price that one has to pay in order to have such an experience as I am having, that I will no longer be such a big part in the lives of people I used to be? Is it worth it? As I?ve said 90% of my friends and me are/were at a point when things change and move very fast what with uni and jobs etc, was it a really stupid idea just to run out on this and miss the last days of groups of people that have been together so long?
The answer, I have no idea, but shit, it?s a scary thought; I think this lack of communication and socializing is beginning to go to my head.?

I know all this shit sounds crazy to you guys but believe me, when your in this kind of situation, this far away from anything you really know, in the middle of an Indian village with no-one that speaks English and your social life has gone from going out every single night for years, having a multitude of friends in many different places, even working in social places, and never ever ever being on your own, to being on your own for the best part of the day, going to bed at 10 and being surrounded by this kind of cultural experience it all gets a bit overwhelming.

That?s basically what happened and good lord it was odd. As usual with these things Miss Poornima was there to drag me back to reality as I kinda freaked out and went into panic attack mode like I used to get but still, it?s worth thinking about.

Last few days ain?t been very exciting. Been working, just bits and pieces like more paths laying etc.

I have been invited up to Chennai for the weekend for two events. The first being the surprise birthday party for Nix happening on the Saturday night, at Di?s, which should be good, all the guys from Pondi are gonna be there, and the other is the surprise birthday party for Boopie and Ashwini on the Sunday which will no doubt be fun. Have decided to take the train cheap option i.e. non-ac. Its like 300 bucks for a return where as the AC is 1000 for a return, cheaper obviously, I shall let you know what its like, apparently you don?t have to sleep in the same compartment as goats and chickens like you see on the TV, apparently there ain?t much difference, we shall wait and see.

So, on Friday night I headed out again to Karur station having been in during the day to do some shopping and to put my phone in again for repair cause its slowly beginning to die. I read somewhere that Nokia?s have an inbuilt something or other that mean they gradually begin to go funny after a certain amount of time meaning that eventually have to get a new one. Not to sure if this is the case but the phone certainly seems to be dieing. Usually my phones just break cause I?m not very good at keeping them alive but this one is definitely dieing cause they said it was a software problem and not the usual fault due to my dropping it.

I got a lift to Karur on bike (which was kinda amusing cause I had a load of luggage) and went to pick up my phone from the shop which I had been assured would close at 21:300. We got there at 21:15 and it was closed, apparently had been since 8ish, Jaime was not very happy. We then headed off to the couriers to drop off some stuff which wouldn?t take it cause it contained pills and they needed the receipt enclosed so that customs would know what they were. The only thing that could go wrong now was that the train would be late and what do you know, when we got o the station we were informed that it was running an hour late.

We hung around at the station and when the train turned up Mr Godwin put me on (was a little apprehensive about traveling for the first time in a non ac coach) and departed. So how was it I hear you ask, well, let?s put it this way, I am never traveling by AC again. It?s funny to think that such a small thing as the change between ac and non ac would have such an effect but it did. Unlike ac the carriage was not flooded with nasty, tube core bright lights. In actual fact there were very few physical differences but the effect was totally different. It felt so much cozier, nicer and all together Indian. I think that half the point in the ac is to create a rather commercialized, western, corporate feeling. Most of the people in ac have got money (as its rather more expensive), its very bright, they give you bed cloths, pillows, sheets and blankets and everything feels rather non travel like. Non ac is totally the opposite. It actually feels more like your actually traveling. They don?t give you stuff for your bed which to be honest was a great relief simply because I never want to use the stuff but you feel some what obliged to faf around trying to make a bed seeing as they have provided you with the tools. It was such a relief not to have to attempt to make a bed given the headroom space. Also on the top bunk, where I positioned myself, there is a lot more head room, I imagine due to the fact that they don?t have to fill up the top of the carriage with air conditioning units. There are several fans per compartment (where as there is only one in ac) which mean that the overall effect is that it?s actually comfortable rather than being to cold. The windows can be opened, unlike ac, ad I spent a few hours just sitting by them, staring out, with zero 7 on my walkman totally content. This is how I pictured traveling in India, people just board the train and lit down on a bare bed, non faffing, no nonsense, simply yet effective way to travel. AC only occupied one carriage per train so its usually always full but non ac takes up the rest of the room meaning that its a lot quieter. The whole experience was infinitely more enjoyable. The only slight problem being that the fans and the open windows do tend to make thing a little noisier, which ain?t really a problem, next time I?ll just take ear plugs.

Anyway, I arrived in Chennai Egmore at about 7ish and jumped off the train. I had ordered a cab the night before. Christi, obviously determined to make me a little more independent, had made me order it myself. I have tried on occasion but always end up hanging up cause they usually can?t understand what I?m saying even if they do speak English. Apparently my accent is quite strong and I talk way to fast. I had informed the driver what train I would be on, when it arrived and that I was the tall, white bald dude that you could spot a mile away, at which point Christi creased up in hysterics.

The driver wasn?t there. We had arrived on a different platform than usual so I spent the first half an hour wandering round trying to find him. Having failed miserably to locate the guy I decided, in the heat of the moment to get to Iggy?s myself and prove to people, and myself, that I was a mature, responsible, able, independent person, yeah right. I walked out the station, picked a guy and asked him to take me to Karpagam Avenue. I explained, when he didn?t know where it was, that you had to head along the sea front in the direction of the Adyar bridge and hopefully, by the time we reached that point, I could give him directions. He said he had a cab which miraculously turned into an auto when we headed of into the car park.

He drove out the station and set off in the wrong direction. I decided I was too tired to worry about this minor set back and would just sit back and let him do his stuff. After 15 minutes or so I realised that I hadn?t the faintest idea where we were and had not recognized anything on the entire journey. He was driving through slum, shanty town type area?s and I must admit to thinking that I was somehow going to end up being taken back to a house, robbed, chopped up into little pieces and dissolved in a barrel of acid. Eventually I came to the realization that I knew where we were. We had taken the back route and were coming up to Iggy?s from the other end of Karpagam Avenue, the end which I was less familiar with. We arrived, I was I admit, slight relived to get out and head up the stairs to the flat. However, I must also admit to feeling very pleased with myself for having got there on my own accord. It was a step in the direction towards total independence in this crazy city.

When I got in the guys were asleep so I busied myself with the computer etc. Spent the day at their flat. Chintu had to go to work so me and Iggy merely chilled. IN the afternoon, seeing as it was Ashwini?s, Boopie?s and Nix birthday we all went shopping to Spencer?s plaza to pick up the necessary presents. First stop, Landmark the book and music shop which also sell toys, furniture you know, the kinda stuff book shops always sell. It was PACKED. Some band was playing and the place was mobbed. There were camera crews and press and a hell of a lot of people. We spent well over an hour searching for stuff. I managed to pick up a wicked birthday card that said ?Grey hairs are not at all bad? on the outside and then when you opened it up it said ?just ask any bald man, quite appropriate I thought. We wondered round, Iggy got stuck into the comic book stand and me and Chintu searched for stuff. I couldn?t find anything and eventually settled on chocolate for Boopie (well, can?t go wrong really can you) and home made poi for Ashwini, fingers crossed she doesn?t get to good. We met Maggie and tibs in the shop and then headed out back to the car. On the way back I managed to pick up a slinky (cause everyone loves a slinky) and a little metal sticker for my phone which apparently enhances the signal in rural area?s. It does work, kinda.

We headed off back to the car and then back to the flat stopping of briefly at the video shop cause for some reason the cable company in chennai are starting to make everyone buy a set top box to view all the channels and know one seems to be buying them ha ha.

When we got back Maggie and Tibs were at the flat. I legged it in to get changed as it was now 8ish and I was meant to be at Nix?s birthday party in half an hour. I got ready whilst listening to Iggy?s new purchase of ?The Score? by the beautifull Lauren Hill and the Fugees, what an album. Having managed to get the address of Di?s place the guys somehow managed to get the auto driver who usually takes me to the train station and at about 9ish we sped off through chennai to the party.

I arrived to find Di, her boyfriend, Bu, Tripty (who I hadn?t seen in ages who wasn?t in Pondi due to her being landed in hospital with a broken leg) and a few other guys. After a while more people started turning up including Raoull, Chikcu and Johns. At about 10:30 Nix and Minoti finally showed up. He had no idea what had been planned and when he opened the door to a cake and a load of people screaming ?SURPRISE? he merely sat there and scratching his head. The cake ceremony over, the hellos said and we all sat down to enjoy the food, drink (I wasn?t drinking), good company and excellent tunes that good parties are made of. After a while more and more people turned up including a lad no one actually new, well it has to be expected really hasn?t it. Ameeth showed up, was great to see him, still as loud as ever. Prathiba showed up, I hadn?t seen her in a while.

The party was all in all great. People gathered und the piano to sing songs, Di?s parents showed up and went to bed whilst the revelry continued. I managed to have several fantastic conversations with Di?s bloke and Ameeth?s new lady friend about many issues ranging from Bristol (she used to live in Clifton, good god isn?t it a small world), Drum and Bass (finally someone in India who actually knows what Drum and Bass actual is and who appreciates it as much as me), Body piercing etc. I had several conversations with people who wanted info on colleges and living in the UK and spent pretty much the whole night in constant contact with Nix, Bu and Di just like at Poorni?s party months back.

The party continued. We watched the video of the guys Pondi show with me spinning which looked odd as it was filmed with a slight delay between frames.

At about 03:30 I decided that, seeing as I had to up first thing the next morning to go to yet another party I would call it a night. Everyone had begun to chill out and I decided to get a cab home and sleep seeing a I hadn?t really slept the night before. We called a cab and me and Tripty spent all of 15 minutes trying to explain to this slightly bewildered driver where I was actually going. Having established that he generally new which direction to head and gotten to the point where any further explanation was met with a slightly fed up look and comment from him, I headed off home and once I reached a place I recognized, started giving directions to the best of my ability which was obviously not as bad as I thought cause 5 minutes later we arrived. I crept into the house, devoured a packet of Scottish chocolate shortbread cookies (which had been bought as a birthday present but I was seriously hungry) and went to bed at about 5ish.

Woke up at about 11 as Iggy, Chintu and the kids came back from church and told me I had to get ready now as we were leaving soon. Having speedily got ready we bundled into the car and headed off in the direction of Mamallapuram. The place was about an hour from the city and was a beach house that john had got for the day to host Boopie?s and Ashwini?s surprise birthday party, only, it wasn?t a surprise cause they both new about it. We arrived and had a wander around. The place was really nice, with a central courtyard containing a pool and a garden that surrounded the whole thing which had a kick ass tree house which contained chairs and tables. When we arrived there were a few people around. The kids and Iggy went swimming.

More and more people started to turn up and eventually john, Boopie and Ashwini arrived with Mia, Prathiba and some other people in tow. Everyone just hung around, listened to music and chilled. Me, Iggy, Chintu ate out under the tree house. Mr Lang showed up and graced us all with his presence. After a while Iggy and Chintu decided to head off, this being about 3ish, and I decided that I may as well head back. The party was going on till late but there weren?t enough people I knew to keep myself occupied, I was tired and didn?t feel like hanging on till 10, help pack up and then heading back with John and co. The guys from last night party (Nix, Bu, Di etc) were supposed to be coming up to this one. Had they decided to I would have definitely stayed cause I know all these guys really ell and get along with them brilliantly but as the crowd stood I realised I knew very few of these guys mates. As we headed out the door amidst much protest from john and Boopie a few other guys turned up including 3 women, 1 American and 2 Europeans. This gave the guys extra ammo against me in the fight on whether I should stay but having made up my mind I stuck to it and jumped into the car before I could get talked round.

We sped out the drive and headed off back in the direction of the city. We were going to briefly stop off at one of Chintu?s uncle?s places and turned off half way between the party and home.

After coffee, a quick chat, biscuits and the usual stuff one does at family gatherings we headed off back home where I settled myself down infront of Harry Potter and the sorcerers stone armed with my mobile to see what the others were up to, Chintu went to bed and Iggy headed off to play basket ball.

Up bright and early on Monday morning having arranged to meet up with Nix for the day. After several seriously complicated phone calls trying to work out where I was, where he was, and where the two places were in relation to each other I headed off in an auto to meet them at a place known as Pizza Corner which is different from most restaurants as it has a plane going through one of the outside walls into the restaurant as if it had crashed. Not a popular place to eat after September 11th me thinks. I met Nix and Raoull and we headed across the road to eat in an American style, KFC rip off place. The food was actually really good, a lot better than KFC. We talked for over an hour on many subjects including pasts, music etc and then headed out into a waiting auto and sped off back to nix?s apartment.

Nix place is really nice. We settled down in his room which was plastered with Nirvana, Metallica and other such band posters and listened to his very extensive metal, hardcore and rock collection which contained many of the things in my own collection including tool, Poison the well, Smashing pumpkins and CKY. After a quick conversation on the greatness of South Park especially the character Timmy, we watched a few episodes on his comp after which (after another conversation which seems to continue whenever we meet up) decided to watch CKY2K.

It was odd, very odd. I haven?t watched that video in years and it got me thinking. It?s odd to have met a load of people some of whom are into exactly what I am. I first started watching the CKY moved in Norwich when I was about 13. I also started listening to rock, metal, punk, hardcore etc in Norwich. When I moved to Bristol I got in with a group who watched CKY and listened to the same stuff. And here I am, 7000 miles away from home watching and listening to the same stuff I have done for years, it?s great. I should point out that Nix has lived in both Switzerland (I think it was there) and the US and this is probably these likings come from cause they sure as hell didn?t come from India.

Having spent a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon with Nix and Raoull I suddenly realised that I had to catch a train in an hour and a half so we egged it downstairs and they got me an auto. Back at Iggy?s I did the usual, ran around like a mad man trying to pack, call AREDS to make sure I had a driver at the station and try to get a lift to Chennai Egmore. We managed to get the same auto driver, Chintu made me some grub and I jumped into the auto and sped off in the direction of Egmore to catch the train.

The train journey and journey back to AREDS was uneventful enough.

This week has been devoted yet again to working and the site does seem to have come on a bit. We have had a load of soil dumped in the site. The soil up there is very very clay like and the soil we have taken delivery of is a lot more sandy (It just looks like dark sand) so hopefully this should make the soil quality superior to what it was for growing purposes. A lot of the work that has been going on is redistributing soil from place to place to make the whole site level. The gate has finally gone up and can now be opened and the finishing touches have been made in cement to the gateposts to make them look like they are carved out of stone. Foundations have been laid round the dining area on which a small wall will be built leaving a boarder for planting etc. The paths from the main path to the toilets have been bordered with concrete blocks but we are still waiting for more flagstones to put down. The kitchen has obtained some walls and is still waiting for a roof and a floor.

The pool as I have mentioned is totally finished. I?ve been swimming several times this week and we spent over 2 hours on Sunday up there basking in the sun and swimming with the guys.

Life at the site is generally good. I?m getting on with everyone really really well. Have been doing a lot of work with the girls (as they do a lot of the carrying work). There are two of them. One is the farmer?s daughter and the other lives close by, and is about my age. In fact, she?s one the only people I?ve met down here in Karur who is my age. We get along really well, so well infact that several of the guys have asked me whether I?m going to marry her. They all seem to be obsessed about me and marriage. They are constantly asking when I?m getting married, to whom ?Tamil or English Lady.? I just say that I?m not getting married and they all find this a little hard to grasp.

Few days back I got a call from John the dance teacher who wanted to know if I wanted to do 5 days of performing up in Chennai. He was putting in a proposal to an amusement park which is about to open. They had asked him to manage to first 5 days entertainment. I was going to say no, I have been in Chennai a lot recently and thought I should probably stick to work commitments especially seeing as it would mean missing work during the week, weekends fine but the week, should work. This is until he mentioned how much money his proposal would say I would cost for 1 fire and 1 glow performance per night for 5 nights. Well let?s just say I changed my mind rather quickly.

A few days later the guys still hadn?t confirmed and are talking about possibly postponing it till December. They are not committing to anything so both me and john thought it a good idea to get my ass up to Chennai anyway just in case they decided to hold it at the appointed time, better than getting a last minute call and trying to get up to Chennai in time to perform on the Wednesday night.

Its Thursday 9th and I just got back from chennai and will write about it soon. Thought I should post this cause it?s getting a bit long. Hope everyone?s ok.

jaime

2003-08-07T04:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Well, Wednesday 6th was a very eventful and productive day. Poorni had arrived at 5 in the morning. She had got the train down and been sharing the carriage with one government minister, 30 police men and 2 sniffer dogs. She hadn’t slept at all, therefore rising a little later than the rest of us. There was an AREDS staff meeting going on, I had initially thought that it would be happening up at the training centre, which is where such events usually happen, but over breakfast I was informed that my assumption was wrong. The meeting was to be held at ACTS, the first gathering in the theatre, seeing as how it has pretty much been finished.

AT about 10 myself, Samy and Christi headed up to the site where many had already began to congregate. The meeting was going to be 120 strong. I wasn’t entirely sure that we were going to fit that many into the theatre but they fitted in easily, chairs and all. The theatre had had a few modifications, lights had been installed, polished black granite windowsills added. I got to work. Poorni turned up at about 11:30, I showed her around and we spent time just walking round the site and hanging around. She had come down to say her farewells to all the staff many of whom she had known since she was a little kid. She was called upon at about 12:45 to say fare thee well, which was pretty emotional from what I hear. Lots of people said stuff; they had written her a poem, given her presents, all very nice. The meeting took a break at about 1. Everyone wandered round looking at the progress, most of which hadn’t been seen b the staff since the GB meeting several months back. Everyone seemed very impressed, all good. They all headed back in to finish before lunch, me and Poorni headed into the farm house to eat.

One of the last things to talk about in the meeting was ACTS. Everyone pretty much, from what I gathered from Samy, had the same things to say. They were very excited and grateful that their children would have the opportunity to use such facilities hoping, as initially planned, that it would show them that the life they perceive for themselves aint necessarily the life they need to take up, they are in control and can achieve things that they never thought possible, being Dalit. Most of the staff had never seen a swimming pool before, ever, unless it was on the TV (which I found quite hard to take in). They all said that if they had never seen swimming pool, they can’t imagine what the kids are going to think. Everyone was very happy with the project, a few, voicing common opinion, mine and Samy’s especially, said that the project had grown out of anyone’s expectations. We started off with the idea of a space for theatre, a place to sleep and “pond” (as it was first put) that kids could mess around in. We ended up with a 200,000 feet³, 9 foot deep swimming pool, a theatre that can easily sit over 100 people, 4 dorms that sleep several people in each with on-suite toilet and shower facilities and a bunch of other stuff. It is, quite frankly, madness. Anyway, the bottom line everyone was very happy with the project, most are very excited and it’s all good.

At about 2 the whole theatre emptied and everyone ate. Poorni headed off home and I started work again. When lunch was over the meeting resumed and carried on until about 3:45 where apon everyone came out and were set to work shifting huge piles up mud to fill in the walled off flower beds. Even Samy and Christ8i joined in. The whole task would have taken us (the workers) days and days but with 120 people it was easy. Several circles were formed with diggers filling pans and then passing them round the circle, dumping them in a specific place and then passing the empty pans back to the beginning in a constant ring or activity. Everyone really seemed to enjoy themselves, everyone was laughing and cracking up when someone dropped a pan of mud, there were people filling up sacks and dumping them, people laying bricks in and then filling up holes that had been dug for the electrical cables to pass, lots of things going on. It was quite a Kodak moment I tell you. 120 people, a lot of women, dressed up in brightly coloured sari’s throwing mud around, fan-bloody-tastic. We worked until about 5:45. In 2 hours (minus tea breaks) we had filled 4 large sections of walled garden, with mud that came from the hole in which the pool now sits. It would have taken us days and days of mind numbingly boring trips back and forth and back and forth between mud and site to finish that, just shows you what people can do when they work as a team. After clearing up a bit we headed back to the house. I was bright pink, I looked like a bloody lobster, I had a splitting headache, was very dehydrated and covered in mud and cement but was very happy and pleased at the fact it had been such a productive and fun day.

säfê

jậїmẽ

2003-08-04T06:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone, hope your all ok and stuff.

Well not much to report at the moment. The main thing at the mo is work. It’s all going very well. The pool is nearly finished although some of the tile have to be taken up and re-laid cause someone made a bit of a cock-up with their calculations. The roof on the theatre has been finished, the window sills are being added, the floor has been put down and the walls have been white washed. The boundary wall foundations have all been dug and most of them laid and one built half high (about 5 foot). The paths are going to be laid soon now that the foundations have been put down. They will be laid with large, heavy thick paving slabs which are great. The pool just has to be touched up. Most of the tiling has been done and “ACTS” laid in 2 foot letter in the deep end with dark blue tiles on a light blue background, it looks great. Have been doing all sorts of things on the site from making concrete to weeding, a big pile of stones, of all the grass, sounds stupid I know.

Other News:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anne;
Anne is here in India visiting at the mo. She came over on Sunday 3rd. Will be really odd seeing her over here. For those of you who don’t know its Anne’s family who I am staying with. She will be basing herself in Chennai and will be here till the 13th. Poorni is coming down to say fare thee well to all the AREDS staff on the 6th and then leaving on the 8th. I will, hopefully, go back up to Chennai with her and spend some time with Anne and that lot.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rat
The rat that has been terrorizing the kitchen has finally been caught having been on the loose for about 2 months odd. Augustine set a trap and we had it within an hour. Although it’s nice not to worry about being attacked every time you go into the kitchen I felt really bad seeing the poor thing, who was just going to pick up the piece of burned coconut to eat, with its neck snapped. Maybe that week in Sri Lanka kindled some Buddhist belief in me.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Home of poi donation
Have some great news about the project. When purchasing all my poi equipment I use a web site called Home of poi which is based in New Zealand. I have been using the shop for many years and have posed on the message board since I started poi. I am on good terms with Malcolm the owner and we talk if we mail each other about events or orders etc. Anyway. He mailed me about an order and asked how I was getting on and a little bit about the project I was working on. I told him and he mailed me back saying that it sounded like a great project. I had told him that I had been teaching poi to village kids. He mailed me saying that he had a load of discontinued product lines, some poi, electro poi etc around and would I like him to donate them to ACTS. Can you believe it? So I’d like to say a HUGE thank you to the guys at Home of poi and especially to Malcolm for this very generous offer on which we have taken him up on. It’s really brilliant and further proof that Home of poi is the best online community and poi resource in the world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“A fork stuck in the road”
A very odd thing happened to me the other day. I was working up at the site and I ripped a big piece of skin off my finger. When I got back to have lunch I decided that it would probably be a good idea if I ate with a fork not my hands, for obvious reasons, i.e. it bloody hurt. That proved to be a little more difficult that first anticipated. I found it very awkward using the dam thing, seriously man, it felt weird using a fork, what am I saying, am I going mad? Well no, I’m not. Having used my hands to eat for the past 7 months I am beginning to wonder, “What is the point in using cutlery.”

If you look at it there are many disadvantages.

• The washing up is increased by three extra items per person (imagine how much you would save a year on fairy liquid. And how many times have you finished the washing up, dried you hands, emptied the water and then realised there is a single, solitary tea spoon or some other piece of cutlery at the bottom of the sink, come on, it happens, it happens EVERY BLOODY TIME, I should know, I spent 2 years being employed to wash. This annoying occurrence would cease all together.

• They take up space in your top drawer. When anyone ever asks where the cutlery is it ALWAYS, without fail, “in the top drawer,” how many people here keep their cutlery in the top drawer? Imagine what that extra space could be used for, the possibilities are limited only by your imaginations (and the size of your top drawer obviously.)

• They can spread germs. Think about it. Cutlery just sits there for days, weeks even months without getting used. Then, you simply pick it up and use it. Some people may argue that using your hands in just as unhygienic. THAT’S WHY YOU WASH THEM BEFOREHAND. How many people wash their cutlery just before they use it? When was the last time you cleaned that plastic, cutlery tray thingy or, if you don’t own one of those, your cutlery drawer? Just imagine the crap that your eating implements are lying in/

• They’re dangerous. Now, it’s happened to all of us, come on guys, how many people can HONESTLY say that they have NEVER accidentally stabbed themselves with a fork or a knife?

There aint really many advantages, from what I can gather having used both methods the only major advantage with using cutlery is that its easier to eat with if the food it seriously piping hot, but then again, if the food is really that hot you won’t be able to eat anyway without running the risk of scalding your mouth, meaning your going to have to let the stuff cool down anyway. Some would say that we need it for some things. I must say I have tried and eating curd (yoghurt) with my hands and it aint an easy task but it is, believe it or not, doable. The guys here eat shit loads of the stuff and I have never ever seen any of them use a spoon. Things like steaks, ok, you may have a point there, but still, I have seen guys go through much tougher things than your average steak without the need for anything save your hands and your teeth.

Some might argue that without the humble tea spoon how could we stir our tea, coffee, hot chocolate, horlicks etc? It is very annoying finding a mass of un-dissolved sludge at the bottom of ones beverage, but I drink coffee three times a day over here and I have never, ever, ever seen anyone stir a hot drink. How, then, do they overcome the sludge issue, they pour the liquid from a great height, between two cups (over a meter apart) several times. Not only does this work a lot better, look a lot more impressive but it also cools the drink down, meaning that it is ready to drink when handed to you, clever huh.

I do believe we have reached “the fork stuck in the road”. I think its time we started to question our over using of cutlery, ok, we need it for some things but not everything. Have a think about it, and believe me, eating with your hands is great fun and the food is alot more enjoyable.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indian soaps.
The other day myself, Samy, Christi and Ambiga were watching some crappy Indian soap opera which, believe me, there are hundreds of the dam things and they are all pretty much the same. No one is ever happy, everyone is always miserable and everyone fights and argues not like our lovely, happy Aussie soaps.

Anyway, we were watching this and something really horrible happened. This woman bending over this dude who was lying down, that was it, no contact or anything like that, just talking. Her husband turns up and goes nuts, kicks the living crap out of the guy and then sits down infront of TV. The woman, who knows nothing was going on, comes up to him and talks to him saying what happened etc. He just ignores her insinuating that she has brought shame on the family blah blah blah. Anyway, she doesn’t like this one bit so she runs into the larder, locks the doors, douses herself with Kerosene and sets fire to herself. Her family watches in horror through a barred window and she burns to death and runs around screaming in agony. This may sound slightly amusing in a way simply because you can never ever imagine something so horrible happening in real life, and all because there was a slight misunderstand which ends with some dude telling his wife he is ashamed of her, but believe me, this shit has happened. Such are family ethics that some people, mostly women, feel that this is necessary. I questioned Christi about this. I asked if the man would ever be charged cause in the UK he would probably get charged with involuntary manslaughter, and she said the police never ever ever get involved, they say it should be kept in the family. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. This used to be known as “sati” and was abolished a few years ago, it, apparently hasn’t happened in a few years but this used to go on. I couldn’t believe it. How could a guy insinuate that this kind of action is what he wants his wife to do? And how could anybody honestly justify committing suicide my setting fire to yourself (cause come on, there are less excruciatingly painful therefore better ways of topping yourself) simply because they have shamed their family, usually in some stupidly minor and unbelievable insignificant way. It’s unbelievable, it made me feel sick. I have actually read reports in the paper of this happening.

In actual fact there are other practices in very traditional Indian Muslim families which make about as much sense. I have heard about practices involving choosing a bride (very rarely done on whether you love them, that would be way too easy, 9 times out of 10 the bride is considerably younger than the dude) and how a man can tell if the woman is suitable, also about what should happen on their first night together. It terrible and totally and utterly pointless, it doesn’t make any sense.

Also, if, in a Muslim family, the husband ever gets angry with one of his many wives (they are allowed to have 5) all he has to do is bang his hand on the table 3 times whilst saying “Talak” three times and they are officially divorced, I kid you not. How ridiculous is that. I(n actual fact there was a report in the newspaper today about this Muslim couple who got married, the brother-in-law was taking photos which is, apparently considered in Islam unacceptable on the wedding day or something like that. The groom asked him to stop and he refused. The guy divorced her right there and then, on their weeding day, by saying “Talak” three times. I mean come on, what’s the point in that. Needless to say there aint many divorce lawyers in this country.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rain
Its been raining quite a bit recently, the site has been suffering a little in the way that its just been a big mud bath, like Glastonbury, makes work a little difficult especially when you have to lug large heavy thing around when it that slippy underfoot.

On Sunday (being the 18th of the monthly in the Tamil calendar) there is usually a festival to mark the beginning of planting season. Everyone celebrates the fact that there is lots of water in the rivers, they all go down and bathe and play in the rivers. Unfortunately even though it has been raining there is absolutely no water in any of the rivers. That kind of put an end to the usual festivities. The monsoon hasn’t started yet but will soon, they can’t plant during the monsoons cause all the seeds would just wash away. Even so, the rains have kinda failed the last few years and people are beginning to wonder whether this year will be the same as so far it hasn’t rained as much as it should have done, global warming maybe, me thinks so.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well that’s about it. On Thursday Christi headed off to Chennai to organize the family get together/fare well to Poorni gathering. She took Ambiga (the cook and house keeper) with her. Samy is heading up on Saturday. Panic time, no food, no one to make breakfast, what about morning coffee, afternoon coffee, evening coffee and general amusing conversations, one side in Tamil the other in English, that occur when it’s just the two off us and everyone else has done a runner. Not to worry. Augustine took control and is dealing with all Ambiga’s tasks, and, I might say, doing a very very good job of it. They all returned on Sunday night.

Hope your ok.

Safe

jaime

2003-07-26T05:01:00.000-07:00

Well, first things first. Congratulations are in order. Firstly I’d like to say a huge “CONGRATULATIONS” to Sian and Tim who on Saturday 5th finally tied the knot. I apologise most profusely for not being there (it would have meant swimming over 7000 miles, fending off shark attacks and trying not to swallow too much sea water) and I wish you both the world of happiness. Sian, can’t wait to see the “married you” and I look forward to meeting your other half who, just to let everyone know, I aint actually met yet.

Secondly another huge “CONGRATULATIONS” is in order to Laura and Alex who have just had a baby. Am SO happy for you guys. Have seen the photos and he looks adorable. I hope the three of you are doing fine and I shall talk to you soon.

Right, well it’s been a while. The net aint been working very well since I got back from my birthday trip so everything will be a bit muddled cause I can’t remember what’s been going on. I left for Chennai again on Thursday 17th and got back on 22nd. Was up there for Poorni’s leaving party. The whole weekend was pretty damn FANTATIC. Have written about it later on.

Between getting back from Chennai (Birthday trip) and leaving for party not much has been happening apart from work. Samy and Christi have been running off all over the place. I have been working a lot, going in earlier and doing quite a bit of stuff. There is also a progress report in this entry. The only things really worth mentioning (from what I can remember, which aint really much to go on), are as follows.

Extreme weather.
One Thursday myself and Anond headed into Karur to pick up some stuff and run some errands. We headed out at about 5:30 and before long it began to rain. Within 5 minutes it was hailing hail stones some the size of small marbles. A few minutes later we were soaked through to the skin and were being battered. You couldn’t see more than a few meters infront of you which was slightly worrying when you’re bombing it down an Indian road which is very slippery due to the balls of ice falling from the sky, on a motor bike, without a helmet. The road was getting really slippy due to all the hail stones littering it. The hail was hurting, a lot. I didn’t have a hat on, my head was killing me. We decided to press through and take refuge in SWATE. By the time we got there (10 minutes or so) we were both drenched, I had a splitting headache due to the hail onslaught and we were both very very very very cold. It suddenly occurred to me that these guys won’t really get cold cause even in the middle of winter in the middle of the night its still quite hot. What the hell is going on? This is meant to be India for god’s sake. It doesn’t hail like this in Britain and Britain is a cold country. During the day it touched 39?c and yet it was raining balls of bloody ice. At SWATE we were given tea and biscuits and we waited for it to clear. The lightning show was spectacular, the thunder deafening and the hail pelted down and eventually turned into heavy rain. 15 minutes later a very soggy Godwin turned up on a moped having been caught in the storm just outside Karur. We all just chilled out (quite literally cause it was bloody freezing) for about an hour, as the rain died down a bit, set off with me, Godwin and Anond on one bike. We were all so wet and cold we were all shivering shaking like silicone implants in an earthquake. We made it back to the village and were laughed at by most of the people we drove past. We must have looked quite amusing. Three drowned dudes on the back of a bike that’s shaking cause they area all so cold. It was still raining. My hands had turned purple. I got in, shivering like I’d been hiking naked in the Antarctic and legged it upstairs where I put on some dry cloths including my massive, fur lined jumper which I use for winter back home.

First toads, then frogs.
On 16th a bunch of 10 French people turned up, 5 students (between the ages of 17 and 19) and 5 teachers. Nothing else to tell really. I left the day after they arrived and by the time I got back they had gone. Nice people, I think, didn’t really talk much even amongst themselves.

Michael Moore hits India.
On the 16th night, finally, we sat down to watch Bowling for Columbine which I had ordered for Samy as a birthday present. They all (Samy, Christi and another dude who was staying) really seemed to enjoy it, I knew they would. They asked me to put together a PowerPoint presentation containing some of the info, important bits like how the American government under Bush Senior used the CIA to train Bin Laden and how they also gave Saddam Hussein a shit load of money to kill the Iranians whilst giving the Iranians a shit load of money to kill the Iraqis etc, as people out here don’t seem to realize this stuff actually happened. They also want other info lifted on the American culture of fear etc, should be good.

Chennai
On Thursday (17th) night I left the village and headed off to Karur station where the train would leave at 22:10 (they have changed the times, used to leave at 19:45). As usual the train was late. The journey was pretty bloody bad. You know when people say “oh I didn’t sleep” when what they really mean is they slept very little. Well I didn’t sleep for one second; I was totally wide awake for the entire journey. I was lying next to this fat slug type dude who didn’t stop snoring throughout the whole damn journey. By the time we got to Chennai I was really angry, very very tired having been awake for nearly 24 hours and was generally in a bad mood.

I arrived in Chennai Egmore station (not Chennai central as I’m used to) and was met by a driver holding a big sign which read “Jaime AREDS.” Jumped into the jeep and sped off towards the girls flat.

Arrived at about 7:30 and surprise surprise, both were asleep. Having woken both up and seen Prathi off to college I settled down infront of the TV. Poorni had gone back to bed and I had just passed the 24 hour no sleep mark. Whenever you hit this point, I know from experience (the Drome & uni), you no longer feel tired, this lasts (usually with me) for about another 8 hours before it hits me again. So long as you keep on fighting through the short periods of feeling tired your generally fine for 8 – 10 hours in-between. The fact that I wasn’t going to get any sleep that night as well was a little worrying so during the day I did attempt to go to sleep, it worked for about half an hour and then that was it, I had to face the fact that sleep was not going to happen. Coffee was the only answer especially seeing as red bull, my usual remedy, aint readily available and buying some meant leaving the house, yeah right, like that’s going to happen. I didn’t feel sleepy but I began to get a head ache, a headache that turned out to last most of the day and most of the night. No matter how many Paracetamol I choked down it didn’t seem to go away and the worst thing is they don’t sell Ibuprofen over here.

Poorni headed out at about 12ish with the girls to go and get pampered. john turned up and we uploaded alcohol from his car to the house, more people turned up and we uploaded food from the house to the car. Poorni and Prathi returned at about 4ish to begin the painstaking process of getting ready. People started turning up at about 6. Mia and Ashwini arrived with Satish, a dude called Richie turned up with another dude called Peter, both really nice guys. All the girls were running around getting ready. It had obviously taken the guys a fraction of the time and we all just sat there amused watching “se7en” and talking about film. None of us could remember what the last two deadly sins were, after much discussion (and the end of the film) it was agreed apon that they were lust & vengeance. john & Boopie turned up and then left again with Peter. john turned up again at about 8:45 to pick me up. I headed off in the car with him, Boopie, a dude called Raj and Peter to the beach house which was about 40 minutes drive away stopping only to pick up yet more alcohol. We stopped off at a supermarket and I was amazed to discover that they actually sold Heineken. European beer, fantastic, pity I wasn’t drinking.

We got to the beach house at about 9 where people we beginning to show up. I was introduced to a load of people. The other car with the girls turned up behind us. Preparations had been going on all day. There was a sound system set up with mixer and CD decks, strobe and disco lighting, a bar area serving rum, vodka, whiskey, soft drinks and beer. There was a shit load of food prepared by johns mum, ready for later on. The front of the house had a big garden; the house was raised so you approached it up some winding stairs. The back was on the same level as the house as had a pool which faced the sea which was only a few hundred yards away. The house was wicked.

The party began. I still had a splitting headache and spent the first hour or so setting up fire equipment, being a little anti-social (felt a little out of place) and waiting for some decent dance music to do some glowstick poi to. After a half hour session of hip hop finally someone put on some cheesy trance and armed with double glowsticked (blue and green on each one) poi I headed onto the dance floor. When people realised what was going on all the lights got turned off, the music pumped up and the dance floor totally emptied. Man it was great. I hadn’t done glowsticking properly for a long time, since the Drome got closed down (I think). I kept on expecting to see Hélène on one side, Ilya on the other and being generally surrounded by fairies, it was odd, very odd indeed. It all went really well. One stick broke and flew off narrowly missing a group of people, after retrieving it and fixing it, it was back to the floor. Hope people enjoyed it, they seemed to; john made a few encouraging comments over the mic and there were points when people cheered, all good stuff. Anyway, several sessions, a lot of sweating, and a few near misses later I stopped. Was about to say I’d never done it in these temperatures but the Drome used to heat up quite a bit, anyway, it was bloody hot. I was over heating big style; I still had a headache but was very happy that people had enjoyed it. I went outside to cool off and to prepare the fire stuff. Quite a few people came up and congratulated me on the performance.

I ended talking for quite some time to a guy called Nix. This dude has an excellent taste in music ranging, like me, from jazz (Miles Davis) to progressive metal (system of a down, rage against the machine, tool, down etc) to rock (led zeppelin etc) and lots of things in between. We talked for ages about Kerrang, how bands seem to get worse as they become more and more commercial the classic example being Korn who we both agreed had fantastic first 2 albums and then turned into a big pile of crap. He wanted to borrow my copy of Audioslaves first offering to the world, I really badly want to borrow Tool’s “?nima,” Done deal, all good.

About an hour later I headed out onto the green at the front of the house to light up. I did so, but within a few minutes several things had gone wrong. First off the poi weren’t burning well at all. I kinda thought this was going to happen as after the last time at AREDS they were left outside for a few days and not packed away. Secondly, on of the loops on the new handles I had had shipped in from New Zealand especially (after melting the old ones) snapped. The sudden feeling of having all the pressure of a fast swinging fire poi put all on one finger was a bit much and took me by surprise which ended up with me clocking myself in the head. It wasn’t that bad cause know one noticed but I think it smoldered my hat a bit. I pulled off my hat which then got caught up in one of the wicks and caught fire, oops. Nobody seemed to realize any of this had happened which was cool but it hadn’t been as good a first run as hoped. A little pissed off of extinguished, put them into soak and set myself up for another fun.

Quite a few people came down to watch. I did a few more runs which were all a lot more successful, did some fire breathing and it was all cool. After I’d done a bit I sat down to get a breather and ended up talking to a group of people who included Nix and a group of Prathiba’s college friends (Bu, Minoti (Nix girlfriend), Dia and Triptie). Really nice guys. We talked for a while about England, poi & fire, the differences between India and England. A few of them said they wanted to learn poi, safe, always happy to oblige.

At about 2ish everyone ate, I had a shower and spent the rest of the night wondering around talking to people particularly Bu and Nix. At about 3 people started packing everything up. Everything was transferred into several cars. Lots of pics taken of the group, I exchanged phone numbers with a few people and got lots of invites for “chilling” and meeting up when I returned back to Chennai, whenever the hell that may be. Everyone headed off, some back to the flat. I went in the car with Richie, nearly got stopped by the police at a check point, had a talk about the advantages of going over speed bumps at an angle, the advantages of driving a Mercedes to a Jaguar, (not to sure about that one), and discussed London nightlife particularly “House of sound” (I think he meant “Ministry of Sound”, to which he had been to a few years back.

We got back to the flat and started transferring stuff between cars and into the flat. A group of the guys (john, Boopie, Mia, Ashwini, Satish, Richie and Peter) stayed the night. I stayed up for a while talking to Satish, Richie and Peter about films, coming up with the best Pulp Fiction quotes, about how we all wanted to go and see “Bruce Almighty” and other things like how crap N-Sync are and the advantages of sleep (seeing as by this point it was Saturday morning and I hadn’t slept since Wednesday night). I still had a splitting headache, more Paracetamol; at last they were beginning to bloody work. People over here have comented on the fact that I seem to take a lot Paracetamol. The way I look at it is if you have a headache its better to take something rather then going around feeling like there’s a rat in your head. These guys don’t agree. Christi, whenever I go for the Paracetamol, gives me Homeopathic stuff. She says that the chances are the reason Paracetamol don’t work as well as they used to, is down to the fact that I’ve taken too many and they are beginning to loose their effect. Fair point, I did wonder about this when I had to switch from such things to Ibuprofen whilst I was in Uni. Mmm, worth thinking about I suppose.

Everyone started heading to bed at about 5ish. I spent a bit of time with Poorni sat on the floor of the outside balcony talking about her leaving the country. I think it began to hit her but she still hadn’t really realised it was happening. I said it was exactly like that with me and Indian. In actual fact it hadn’t really hit me until I was actually in Karur which was about a month into actually being in the country. These kinds of feelings are totally normal, infact it’s a bit like getting married, everyone would be seriously freaking out if you weren’t having second thoughts. Went to bed at about 5:30:

In general I had a really fantastic evening. It was great getting to talk to more, like minded people (especially on the music side of things.) Cheers guys.

The next day we did very little. Prathi has exams at the moment (these guys have to do a stupid amount of exams all the way through the year, not just end of years). She spent the whole day studying.

In the evening me and Poorni got bored. We watched some movies including “Joe’s Apartment” (terrible) and some other stuff. I drew some eyes on her eyelids like we used to do at the Drome. Man she looked freaky. They drew some melting eyes on my eyelids, apparently I looked pretty freaky. We started to systematically work our way through the remnants of the party alcohol supply. We watched TV. At about midnight john, Boopie and Peter turned up to pick up some stuff. Me and Poorni found the fact that we had eyes on our eyes most amusing, they didn’t. In actual fact they were very unimpressed at our antics. Our previous good mood dive bombed itself into the floor and lay there in a burning wreck. They left; the burning wreck fixed itself and took off again. We watched a documentary about the London Underground. I spent half the time going “I used to hang out there” etc. The TV got turned off. We talked about siblings, she on how hers had been very ill with Typhoid malaria, me on how mine had totally lost his memory after falling over and then being hit by a car, depressing stuff. It was rescued by a conversation about the differences between Indian and British culture and basically what were the differences between us. By 5 Poorni was totally gone. She had been drinking Russian vodka with 7-up and home made lemonade, I was on Royal stag Indian/Scottish whiskey (don’t ask, apparently it’s a blend between scotch single malts and Indian, well, something) and 7-up. I was beginning to feel a little wobbly but she was pretty mashed. We went to bed at about 5:30 after realizing that Christi was going to turn up at the house in less than 2 hours.

Sunday day was pretty uneventful. Christi turned up at about 7ish (I imagine, I don’t really know, I was asleep) and then left at about 10 to catch a flight to Calcutta (for some meeting).I felt fine, slightly dehydrated but generally fine, especially after getting some food and electrol down my neck. Poorni was obviously suffering from a delayed hangover which reared its ugly head around lunch time, hardly surprising.

The British grand Prix was on. It was the first race of the season that I had actually been able to watch. Poorni was asleep / passed out (poor thing), Prathi was studying (poor thing), I took advantage of the free TV and watched pretty much the whole thing, including pre and post commentary. It was a very good race. Every driver held a top 10 position at one point or another, exciting stuff. De Mata held pole for quite some time, in a Toyota, not an easy task. It really isn’t the same without Murray commentating. Also, although the coverage was the same as in the UK the commentating team was different (Star Sports team). This again made a huge difference, but it was certainly great race, I thoroughly enjoyed it, only a few cans of Fosters short.

At about 9:30 me and Poorni (Prathi was still studying) were picked up john and Boopie and driven to the cinema to catch the late showing of “Bruce almighty” which I must say is one hell of a good film. It’s hilariously funny (the packed out audience were pissing themselves throughout the entire movie) and very well done. A MUST see although I still reckon them putting an interval in the middle of all their films is a big mistake.

After the movie we were dropped back at the flat. We all stayed up until about 3, doing nothing in particular, and then went to bed.

Monday morning showed Samy tuning up and then leaving at about 10ish. Me and Poorni headed into town, checked emails at the local net centre, went and got some photos developed, changed some money and then headed off to College road to pick up and meet Prathi, Dia, Triptie and Minotie. I, for some stupid reason, wasn’t allowed inside the college and had to wait outside. I have no idea why because I have always been allowed in and, generally speaking, its pretty much one of the only girl’s colleges that allows blokes in. Was later informed that it was one of the guards, who’s just a bit of a twat.

After meeting them we all headed off in 2 autos to Coffee day to drink coffee (the utter irony). We hung around in the coffee place for about 1 ½ hours and then me and the girls headed back to the flat. I packed, Samy returned home and then I left at about 18:30 in a pay taxi.

I got to Chennai Egmore station at about 19:15 and after spending a few minutes staring blankly up at a departure board that was all in Tamil managed to find my train and board. I ate, listened to music and then went to bed. As I said earlier for some reason they have changed all the train times. This now means that you arrive in Karur at 04:30 which means getting up at 4ish. Its bloody ridiculous and I think someone or other is going to get a petition going to request that the return Chennai-Karur train leaves Chennai the same time as it does on the Karur-Chennai which would mean leaving at 10 and getting in at 7ish. Its really stupid especially when you consider that 90% of the people on the train get of at Karur and don’t travel on to where the train terminates in Erode, unless on sleeps in obviously.

I arrived in at 4:30, was met by Raj, driven back to the village and went straight to bed knackered.

Tuesday morning I got up and, slightly late, headed up to work.

• The reason I haven’t updated in a while is because the net aint been working at all. Between returning from my birthday trip and leaving for the party trip to Chennai I had written a load about what was going on at work. My writing was all about work cause there wasn’t anything else going on. On returning back a few days ago all this stuff aint relevant anymore because we have done so much since then so now I’ll just give you a quick progress report. So to reiterate, between returning from and leaving for Chennai all I did was work.

When I got up to the site quite a bit had changed. The work in the last few weeks has involved laying down the foundations of a meter wide path that runs all around the site linking all four rooms of the dorms, the theatre and 4 points of the pool where the ladders are now situated. The tiling has begun and should be finished tomorrow which is great. The ladders have been put in (two at the deep and two at the shallow) and at the top of them on the pool edge have been laid foot dips. This is, obviously, to promote hygiene among the children and will mean everyone won’t have to walk around wearing those bloody plastic sock things that prevent varuca’s etc.

There will be posts laid around the pool on which a net will be attached (hanging over the entire pool) which will prevent damage to tiles and people from falling coconuts, as palms surround the pool on all sides (even one in the middle).

A ½ foot wide/deep channel round the pool, where the water will overflow into, has been laid and will be filled with pebbles once pipes have been laid to pump the water out onto the fields. When finished the water will flow over the pool edge, fill the channel and an areas beyond the channel creating a wash of about a meter round the pool (sorry, it’s kinda difficult to explain).

The bridge has had it sides touched up and now has a 3-4 foot handrail/barrier which makes it impossible to get from the bridge directly into the pool. This is, obviously, for safety reasons as if one were to dive into the pool your likely, as one dude found out, crack your head on the bottom.

Else where on site, between the theatre and dorms, have been sunk 6 foundations upon which, pillars will be built. These will support the covered dining area which will be open save for a wire roof. Fast growing creepers will then be planted at the base of each pillar which will, eventually (hopefully) grow up and cover the wire frame.

The area around the theatre and both dorms has been raised about a foot and surrounded by a small wall. These areas will eventually be filled in with soil and use to grow plants, flowers and creepers etc. The dorms have been white washed and one has had its floor laid. The floor is red and was done by adding some really strong red oxide dye to cement and then slapping it down. It has a 1 foot black border and is, at the moment, a few cm underwater which will cure it. One weekend we are going to get all the AREDS kids to come in and paint what they will paint aint really been decided but we may just have them paint squares and circles, of all sizes, in different colours, simple yet effective. Once this has been done these buildings will be finished but for the fan and shower installation. The doors have also been added.

The roof of the theatre has also been finished. It all looks fantastic.

We still have to lay a path, do lots of planting in the garden areas, paint the inside of the theatre and dorms, lay the theatre floor and put up the covered dining area. Should be finished soon.

Hope your all ok. This has just been hurriedly posted cause the net connection is crap and I aint to sure when I will be able to post this so if there are mistakes and stuff that’s why, I aint read the whole thing yet.

Will keep you posted.

jaime

2003-07-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings.

Well the last week I have pretty much been just working. Have been getting up earlier and getting to the site earlier and therefore working, blatantly, more. Have been going into Karur most days to sort out my phone which has been playing up in the fact that it aint been charging the way it should be. Think its been sorted out now so that’s cool.

The site is coming along well but we seem to be moving very slowly. The two dorm buildings have pretty much been completed apart from a few bits and pieces. They both have a roof, the toilets have been added and the water tanks that supply them have been fitted. The electrics have been put in and they are just waiting for the shower fittings and the finishing touches i.e. blasting the floor and walls. The rooms need to have the flooring done, painting done (we are going to get the kids involved with that), and electrics added.

The pool aint changed much at all. All the concreting has been done. A wall about 2 meters away from the pool side has been constructed round the perimeter and is in the process of being filled in. Most of the pipes have been laid and an electric pump added. We are just waiting for the tiles. I have been asking every time I have been up there for the last month and am always told that they will be here next week or tomorrow. Today someone said that they would be here in August. I hope he was joking. There is about 2000 sq feet to lay; it will take quite some time once they arrive if they ever bloody arrive. The bridge also need touching up, terracotta tiles laid and barriers added.

The theatre roof has been started. A very large metal posts have been attached to each of the 6 main pillars; they all meet in the middle. On these smaller metal and wooden bars shall be added and then onto these shall be laid the palm thatch which is on site and just waiting to be put up.

The work we have been doing for the past few days is constructing part of the perimeter wall at the far end of the site (furthest away from the farm and theatre.) This will apparently be 10 feet high. The problem being that this is apparently where the entrance should be. The million and one holes that dotted the site (which were mainly for electrics and water etc) have pretty much all filled in which makes staggering from one place to another with a massive bucket of cement a lot easier and a lot less treacherous. The whole thing is looking very good but I can’t really see the whole project being completed in the next month.

Thursday: Well the good news is that after hassling the guys for the last month the tiles have finally turned up. They come in two different types of blue (dark and light) and a terracotta colour which look like a bar of chocolate (all separated up into squares). This and the fact that the white washing of the rooms has been completed, the flooring has begun and the tiles for the bathroom and toilets have shown up mean that things are finally beginning to happen, at bloody last. The tiles have, unfortunately, got to be laid by another group of workers who specialize in this type of work. This is good cause it means that everyone else will be able to concentrate on getting all the things that have been started, finished but bad because it may take a while to get this new group of workers active. I imagine the engineer has all this in hand, I hope. For those who are interested here is a copy of the handout that was given to all of the general body (of AREDS) members at the meeting and outlines some of our aims etc.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACTS:

AREDS Children’s Theatre School:

Aims:
• To provide facilities to allow children to mix inter-caste. Such integration at such an impressionable age will alleviate prejudice later on in their lives.

• To allow children to mix with member of different age groups and with the opposite sex.

• To provide facilities that will allow children to set their sights and goals higher than what they perceive to be their future.

• To provide children with theatre and drama study workshops and lessons which build self-confidence and also improve other skills like communication etc.

• To provide facilities which children living in rural areas would usually never have access to (swimming pool, theatre.) This will hopefully prove to them that setting their sites higher than their everyday situation is possible.

• To provide recreational activities in the pool including swimming lessons not only to local children but also to local schools and groups.

• To provide education on health and safety, when using such facilities, which will, hopefully, then be applied to their day-to-day living.

• Provide children with the experience of living within a community. Encouraging them to live, work, learn, play and co-exist with others around them.

• Providing the children with something that was entirely built for there use, their own space.

This project was initially created and built predominantly for children. The facilities were designed and built with children in mind. However, it will also be used, on occasion, by groups of people, be they children or adult, as a retreat.

The facilities, which will include a pool, dormitories, kitchen facilities, covered outdoor dining area, toilets and showers and outdoor benches and tables, will be able to be used, on appointment, by groups of individuals wishing to study or partake in current workshops & classes. Such workshops will include:

• Sessions with AREDS Playback Theatre Company
• Street theatre
• Music workshops (drumming etc)
• Dance workshops
• Performing arts

It shall also be host to meetings including things like self help groups, educational meetings, small conferences and seminars on aspects of the work done at AREDS and other organisations.
Many others, although largely dedicated to the needs and education of children, will enjoy these facilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not much else going on really. My back is beginning to show the signs of lifting heavy stuff. Most of the work we have been doing has been lifting sand carting around large pans of cement and large granite rocks for the foundations and the wall. Even though everyone else bends over to lift I have been trying to do it the right way, you know, bending your legs instead of your back. They all find this very amusing. Even though they do it the wrong way none of them ever seem to have any problems with back pain. But even with this my back has been quite painful.

What else. Samy and Christi have just bought 25 odd love birds / canaries. They are really really cute. Lots of bright colors but they never shut up, always twittering away. They are having a large aviary built in the back yard to house them all. This is nearly finished and should be fantastic. Also, the large chicken coup that was planned has been completed and is full of chickens and turkeys. Thank god there aint any roosters in there. Its bad enough having the dogs barking first thing in the morning and hearing the roosters in other parts of the village let alone having a few bloody crowing roosters outside your window. Should they start crowing, I’m going out to purchase myself a shot gun. We’ll be eating chicken for weeks.

Safe

jaime

2003-06-30T04:29:00.000-07:00

Right well it’s been a fantastic week. First off I want to thank everyone who sent me letter, cards, mails and presents. It was really lovely actually having stuff to open. Secondly, I would like to thank all those people who called up. Again it was lovely to hear from everyone. Very much appreciated.

Well the story starts on Monday 16th night when I left the village and headed off to Karur train station. My stomach still hadn’t cleared up by a long shot, I certainly felt better than I had done and I decided to risk it. On the way, however, a quick stop at a pharmacy (druggist’s as they call them) was in order to stock up on Flagy and other stuff to make the journey and the week a little more bearable should this bug persist.

The train, as usual, was late. I hoped on and pretty much just listened to music and went to bed.

At about 6 I got up and “freshened up.” We arrived in Chennai central station at about 6:45 and to my astonishment Poorni managed to drag herself out of bed at 5 and was there to meet me, how sweet is that, I was expecting a driver or some dude holding a large sign saying Jaime.

We headed off to their new flat which is just a few doors down from their old one. It’s really nice. Arrived just in time to see Prathiba legging it around trying to get everything together for her first day back at college (she is doing a degree in Psychology). She left at about 7:45, I went down stairs to see her off and say hey to a few friends of hers, all good.

Me and Poorni pretty much just chilled out until about. At about 1 o’clock we headed off in an auto to go and pick Prathiba up from college. She goes to the same college that Anne went to. The college was really really nice. It’s the WCC Woman’s Christian college. We arrived just as the college was breaking for the day. There were hoards of women all over campus. As we walked through to where we were meeting her I was constantly getting very odd looks for everybody. It was great. Big groups of women turning round to look at you, what man wouldn’t be happy. Poorni found all this very amusing. We hung around waiting for Prathiba and eventually she turned up with a group of friends. They all seemed really lovely.

We headed back out of the college and jumped in an auto. The auto dropped us off down the road at one of Chennai’s shopping malls where we had lunch in a McDonalds type fast food place. I had a burger, fries, coke and a plate of smilies (potato fritters in the shape of smiling faces). It was odd; I hadn’t had them since I was in London with Helene working at the Drome. Helene wouldn’t eat vegetables apart from smilies, so we pretty much lived on them. Strange how it only takes the most random, insignificant things to bring back memories. After eating Poorni headed off to do some stuff and me a Prathi went music shopping where I managed to pick up Green Day’s “greatest hits,” System of a down’s “Toxicity” and Moby’s “Play.” Poorni met up with us later and we all headed out for coffee to a place called coffee pot which is a small, nicely done up coffee house, very trendy, good music (dirty trance this time) and very good coffee. After that we went back to the flat and spent the rest of the evening chilling, watching TV, talking and listening to music.

Just before midnight Poorni disappeared claiming that one of her friends was down stairs and she wanted to go and say “hey.” At midnight Prathi gave me a massive hug and wished me happy birthday, Poorni was still no where to be seen. I went into the kitchen to get a drink when suddenly all the lights went out. This is not unusual in this country infact it’s totally normal. You tend just to forget about it after a while. When I went back into the living room I was suddenly faced by Poorni, Prathi, John (dance class dude and his brother) Yohan coming through the door with a cake (21 candles and all) and presents. I couldn’t believe it. I seriously went into a state of shock. It was the last thing I had ever expected, a midnight surprise birthday gathering with all the extras. At this point I just want to say thanks so much; you guys have absolutely no idea what it meant to me, you really don’t.

Anyway, we all sat around ate cake and chatted. John and Yohan had bought me a wicked, blue crushed cotton shirt which is really brilliant; it makes you feel like Austin Powers. The girls had bought me a fantastic GAP shirt which is really gorgeous. The cake was chocolate, good chocolate, non of that chewy Indian stuff, and it had “Happy 21st Birthday dude”, iced on top. It was fantastic. I was generally in a bit of a state; I didn’t know what to say. It took me by surprise big style.

At about 12:40 John and Yohan headed off. I stayed up with the girls for a while talking bout stuff. They couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it coming. All Poorni’s pretend phone calls, having to go downstairs a midnight to see someone who was standing outside. Hey man, maybe I’m just stupid. We all went to bed at about 2. Poorni informed me that at 6 someone from the local shop would come with some milk, would I answer the door, Yeah sure.

At about 6:30 the door bell went. I managed to drag myself out of bed and got to the door before Amol. Milk you ask? Milk my ass. Standing there was a dude with a big basket of red and yellow/white roses. Good god, I’d fallen for it yet again. I should have seen it coming. Attached to the basket was a note. “Happy birthday; from your two favorite girls.” Can you believe these guys, I bloody can’t. Now that I was up I decided to stay up. I had to drag Prathiba out of bed at like 7 for college. Saw Prathiba off to college and then got ready to go out. Me and Poorni left at about 10. We headed off to the internet centre that is down the road the check mail, make phone calls and do stuff.
Having finished I got dropped off back at the flat. Poorni had to go and get some stuff sorted for uni in the Netherlands. I had to be by the phone having told people I would be.
Spent a few hours opening cards, watching “scream,” (a simply diabolical movie), trying to talk with Amol, who is just quite ridiculously shy and doesn’t speak English, and getting phone calls from merry olde England.

When Poorni got back we headed off to see Barnabus who was in hospital having just undergone another operation (which went fine). When we got there Tibbs and Prathiba were already there. We stayed there for an hour or so. He seemed well and in good spirits which was good. Having said goodbye we headed off to Quicky’s for coffee and ice cream. The ice-cream, (cherry garcia) tasted of bubblegum. After that we headed back to the flat stopping off to pick up some photos.
read on

2003-06-30T04:27:00.000-07:00

We were being picked up by john and Yohan (John’s brother otherwise referred to as Boopie), we would then be driven somewhere, where? They wouldn’t tell. The scene in the house just before we went out was quite ridiculous. The amount of cloths we all tried on was stupid. Even I went through several outfits.

john picked us up and we were whisked off to a restaurant called “Bella Ciao” which was a Italian pizzeria, western food, at bloody last. We were there all of 5 minutes when Iggy, Chintu, Joel and Jordan turned up. Was great to see them. They gave me a book and a card signed by all the members of MTL saying thanks for the fire performance and two pics of the performance. “Thanks guys”!! We spent the rest of the night eating pizza (and damn good pizza at that), listening to music talking and writing in Poorni’s newly acquired “random thoughts book”. The night was a great laugh. Lots of pics, wine (although I couldn’t drink because I was on antibiotics first birthday with no alcohol in a while), chit chat and general merry making. We headed off at about midnight and me and the girls were dropped back at the flat. All in all a fantastic day. Thanks to everyone who made what could have been quite a difficult day, what with being 7000 miles away from friends and family, a really memorable occasion, all good.

Thursday morning was odd. Both me and Poorni were up to see Prathi off but then went back to bed and slept, having not gotten to bed till quite late the previous night.

john came and picked us up at about 1 and we all went to Prathiba’s college to pick her up. Having done so we headed off to an American burger bar/diner called “Gallopin’ Gooseberry’s.” Me and Poorni had already eaten so we just had squishies, very good pineapple squishies. The guys ate. Having finished off here we headed off to Spencers Plaza which I a very very large mall in central Chennai, to do some shopping. We had a wonder around. Poorni looked at hands free kits for her phone, I bought U2’s latest. We met another friend of the guys called Satish who works in an office in Spencers. Seemed like a really nice dude. Slightly conservative, about 30, likes Metallica. At about 5:30 we headed back to car and then back to the flat. Dance class was that night so everyone had to get back, get changed and be ready to be picked up at 6:30. They did so. I stayed behind in the flat.

The girls got back at about 9:30 and got ready to go out. I was, unfortunately, beginning to feel decidedly dodgy, my stomach was playing up and the anti-biotics were beginning to make me feel very sick. They persuaded me to come out. We were picked up at about 10 by john and Yohan and driven to Coffee pot. We drank coffee, talked and played chess. John challenged me to a game. I played really really well (Rex you would have been proud) and had him by the balls (if you’ll pardon the expression). I was about 2 moves from winning but had, unfortunately, neglected my defense being so preoccupied in kicking his ass. He won, he shouldn’t have won. We left, I lost my hat, my favorite hat, it sucks. We got dropped back at the flat, stayed up for a bit and then went to bed.

On Friday morning me and Poorni headed into town to do yet more shopping. I needed boxers which are surprisingly hard to find seeing as most Indian men appear to wear Y fronts, nice! We picked up Prathi from college and went to buy some more music in spencers. The guys bought some headphones, a walkman and then we headed back to the flat.

In the evening we were meant to be going to see Chintu as she was on her own as Iggy was in Bangalore (I think.) Chintu called up and cancelled so we just stayed in. Me and Prathiba went out to a shop, near the flat, called nuts and spice which is amazing. It has like loads of English stuff and I aint talking about Indian copies of English stuff I am talking about proper, imported English food, sweets, drinks etc. It’s great. They have Scottish shortbread, microwavable pasta meals, pot noodles, red bull, English Cadbury’s chocolate, everything. Heaven. We bought some stuff.

When we got back the girls had this really horrible oil put in their hair by Amol. Apparently it’s really good for your hair, once you’ve washed the shit out. After much persuasion they all managed to convince me that it was god for skin as well, yeah right. I was set apon and arms, head, face and neck covered with this oil that, quite frankly, smells like shit. You have to leave it on for quite a while so I sat there unable to do anything for like an hour. It took a few attempts to get all that crap off me in the shower.

At about 10 Poorni collapsed and fell asleep. Me and Prathiba stayed up and watched MTV and other music channels and crappy American soaps until midnight. After that we just stayed up and talking like, all night. We didn’t go to bed until about 5ish.

On Saturday we all slept in really late. At about 12 we headed off to Iggy and Chintu’s to have lunch. We just chilled out, did poi (Chintu’s getting quite good as well), listened to music, looked at pics of my birthday night and of a wedding that the guys had just been to and just generally chilled. John showed up and we had lunch, meatloaf, very good. After lunch John and Iggy made music on the guitar and keyboard, I did poi and flags. Me and Poorni headed back to the flat at about 5, she dropped me and then headed off to dance class.

On Saturday night we were meant to be going to see the matrix. We had planned to go to one particular cinema for a late showing but it turned out to be sold out. We tried to get tickets to a few other places but with no luck. In the end everyone gathered round the girls flat to decide what to do. There was me and the girls, John and Yohan, Rami, Mia Ashwini, Satish and Ashwini’s brother Vikram who are all part of the same social group. It was decided in the end that we would all go out to eat and then come back to the flat. Unfortunately all the clubs and bars in Chennai had been closed by the police as someone had got shot in one particular club. The police thought it better to close down all of them until the issue had been sorted out.

We headed out at about 10 and went to Bella Ciao. We ordered lots of Pizza’s and all shared. John’s mum joined us. I had met her the night their family had taken me out to the Zachir Hussein concert in Chennai. We had a good evening; food was great, company first class. We listened and sang along to a rock duo that were knocking out hits such as “Sultans of swing” “Tequila sunrise” etc. Unfortunately they didn’t know any guns and roses but after much debate we all agreed that the best and cheesiest guns and roses song was not sweet child of mine but November rain.
read on

2003-06-30T04:22:00.000-07:00

We left at about midnight and headed off in two cars to Matchbox which is a bar in a 5 star hotel. I had been there before when I stayed in Chennai on my way back from Mumbai. Nice place. Unfortunately the bar was closed so after sitting there a few minutes listening to a singing group play “lady in red” we left and headed back to the flat. Satish, having overheard a conversation between me and Vikram about how we both liked rock and metal, put on Metalica’s first album, good god I hadn’t heard that in a while. We got back to the flat and waited for the others who turned up 15 minutes later with a bottle of whiskey, a bottle of 7-up and a bottle of Vodka. For some reason they got the tequila ritual slightly mixed up and started doing vodka with salt on the back of the hand and lime. I still couldn’t drink but that wasn’t so bad because I can’t stand either. Everyone sat around drinking. They started a game of charades. They were all very very good at it, stupidly good at it. After someone complained about the amount of noise that was coming out of the flat we all moved into the bedroom to carry on the game. I was beginning to think that there wasn’t a film that these guys couldn’t get so I came up with a few that I thought would be difficult. They managed, to my astonishment, to get “Dr Zhivago (how the hell they managed that one I have no idea) but failed to get Moulin Rouge and Pulp fiction. At about 5 o’clock everyone decided to go to bed. They were all staying over as they all had dance class the next morning. It was, again, another great night although I must confess to feeling a little uninvolved. I didn’t really know the guys apart from the girls, John and Yohan (who I don’t know all that well). I imagine, however, things will be different next time as at least I will have met them all before. Safe.

Sunday morning everyone was up bright and early. Most of the guys left before 9 and then Poorni and Satish headed off to dance class at about 10. Prathiba, who had apparently had very little sleep, refused to get up and said she, would be down at the class with me later on. I managed to drag her out of bed and we both got ready. We left at about 11.

We got to dance class which was in full swing. I sat about until the end. At 12 most people headed off but all the guys that had been there the night before hung around as it was Rami birthday and he was treating us all to lunch. I got asked to do some poi and flags. The flags got tangled up in one of the overhead fans, oops.

We headed off to Gallopin’ Gooseberry’s where we had lunch. They placed this game called 7-up which was just, quite frankly, to bizarre for words. I had a fantastic burger, fries and a pineapple squishy which was called something “blue” but was not blue at all, in England you could sue for false advertising, all good. After lunch we all headed in our separate directions. Me and the girls got dropped back at the flat. They collapsed, I watched trashy American TV, Fantastic.

In the evening we just all chilled out. At 10 ren & stimpy were on so that was worth the wait. Man that program is messed up.

Monday morning Samy and Christi showed up but I was still passed out and by the time I managed to drag myself out of bed they had already left for the meeting they had to attend. In the morning me and Poorni headed off to do yet more shopping in a few of Chennai’s department stores. Didn’t buy anything, mostly window shopping and contemplating about buying stuff. At about 12 we did lunch in an American / Italian diner called Kenzo’s. I had a burger (“mmm, this is a tasty burger” has been uttered on more than one occasion this week) and a lime cooler which was divine especially considering it was 40ºc outside.

After lunch we went to Prathi’s college to pick her up. I had stupidly agreed not to wear either sunglasses or my hat as several people had commented that you could never see my eyes. As I walked through the campus I felt naked, it’s really stupid I know and I don’t know why I always seem to make a point of covering my eyes. Since I got here there have been very few times when I haven’t had either on. I pretty much do it in the UK as well. Maybe it’s an insecurity thing. Anyway, we picked up Prathiba and took a photo of the two of us standing outside Anne’s old department in the college. Then we headed off to spencers plaza. I bought Cypress Hill’s “Temple of doom” and bought the girls Jakarta’s “visions” (a simply fantastic album). Prathi bought some pillow’s (I have no idea why) and Poorni bought a hands free kit for her phone (I think). We had a wonder round and then headed off to Coffee pot for coffee and ice-cream. Chilled out in coffee pot for a while and then headed off back to the flat.

Back at the flat I packed in record time (as a lot of you know when leaving for somewhere I always leave it to the very last minute). They had ordered me a cab at 6:15 because they had a family gathering to get to. After goodbyes I jumped into the cab and headed off to the train station.

The journey took about half an hour. I arrived, signed a few bits of paper which billed AREDS for the cab fair and legged it into the station. First time on my own in Chennai station, no problems. Platform number, double check train number, 15 minute walk up the platform (one hell of a long train) check your name on the piece of paper stuck to the outside of the AC carriage, get on.

The train started off ok. Music, idle chit chat with person sitting next to me about Harry Potter, English music, London and Karur, ate Poorni’s egg Masala and chapatti (which were fantastic), more music, some contact juggling, the usual stares, made bed (bottom bunk with no one above he, fantastic), sleep. At about midnight it started to get really really cold. The concept of cockroaches running around the train and around my bunk has ceased to bother me as I have done the journey quite a few times, but it was bloody freezing. I didn’t really sleep all that much at all. Ended up listening to music for half of the journey and trying to sleep the rest.

Up at six, freshen up & spent the next 45 minutes leaning out of an open door watching the scenery wiz past. Was met in Karur by Raj and headed back to the village. Got back, quick cup of coffee, opened mail (thanks dad, granny, Grandad and mum), collapsed on my bed and fell asleep.
read on

2003-06-30T04:16:00.000-07:00

Woke up late and didn’t really do anything all day. Samy arrived back at about 8am from Chennai. I wrote letters, wrote blog, read, listened to music, that’s about it.

Wednesday saw Christi return. I got up to go to work in the morning and then realised that unfortunately I couldn’t go to work because I had left my sandals in Chennai. The only other alternative would be to go to work in my swears, yeah right, cause I can see that happening. I needed a pair of sandals. I called up the girls and asked if they could post them down along with all the other stuff I had forgotten. Poorni was leaving to Bombay the next day and said that she would get Prathiba to post them, I really couldn’t that happening (sorry Prathi) so I headed into Karur to buy some more, get some photo’s developed and do some other stuff that I can’t remember off hand.

Thursday was a bit of an odd day to. I had sandals so I could go to work and g up with the intention of going in. I was about to leave when I was informed that I had been summoned to the police station as they were not satisfied with where I had been since I got to the country. They were also confused as to why I had put down that I had entered India on Jan 20th 2003 and yet how my visa said that I had entered in May 2003. We suddenly remembered that we hadn’t given them a copy of my original visa cause they didn’t ask for it. They wanted to know exactly where I had been since January, they wanted phone numbers, addresses, the works. Anund took me in. We gave them my passport and after much conversing I was informed that they wanted 7 letters saying where I had been, since January and 7 copies of my original visa. Good lord, where do these guys get off? I have a valid Indian visa (issued by the Indian government), a valid passport, what’s their bloody problem.

After the police we went into Karur to pick up some tuff. I managed to get an Indian sim card for my phone which now means I have an Indian mobile number. I get unlimited free texts, calls are just R.s. 3 per minute and it works in the whole country, not just Tamil Nadu. I also managed to pick up a new face for my Nokia and a brand new Lithium ion battery all for about 8 squid, not bad eh. My new mobile number is (dialed in full from UK (you can also send texts) 0091919842375104.

We headed back to the village. I had lunch. Dr Hema turned up (as she usually does on a Thursday). I explained to her that my stomach was still not recovered from the bug. She said that I probably didn’t just have amoebic dysentery and that it was probably a mix of amoebic and giardiasis which is another parasite. She also said that the dosage of metronidazole that I had been on was not strong enough by a long shot and that I should have been on about 1000mg a day not 600 a day. She also prescribed me some more drugs to take, yippee.

Earthworm Jim
Hands up who remembers earth worm Jim? Well I have had a run in with one of this dudes cousins. Having said that I had seen a lot of wildlife in this country I was yet to experience the most important kind, i.e. the kind that you become more attached to.
Yes, I am indeed talking about the kind of wildlife that lives inside you. Worms are apparently very very common out here. Young people de-worm themselves every few months especially when they live in rural areas like I am. Apparently this is all totally normal. This may be all totally normal to these people but to me (and I imagine most other western people) it aint. The thought of something living in you is just a bit gross. Anyway, Doctor Hema decided that it was probably a good idea to give me something just in case there was something lurking inside me. I felt like I should be in “aliens.” I can’t remember having any run ins with face huggers.

So what do I know about these things. Well, they are about a meter or so long, they look like string (apparently), they are white and the tablets you take top get rid of them taste like oranges. You get them by ingesting eggs that are found in food. They aint harmful at all and the tablets have no side effects. Well I can tell you that that last piece of info is a load of crap. They make you feel very sick. I thought the tablets were like some suicidally strong laxative that made your inside wretch so much that these bastards aint got anything to hang on to, but no, thankfully, it just kills the buggers. Well that’s about it, take this tablet once every 2 months and your fine, no worms at the bottom of my garden.

In the evening I watched Bowling for Columbine which I had bought for Samy’s birthday. OH MY GOD that film is amazing.

On Friday myself and Anund headed into Karur to visit our dear friend the chief inspector of police. We gave him the pile of paperwork saying that I had been in Chennai and Bombay from Jan 20th till May 13th, and this, apparently, settled the matter, only time will tell if that’s true, well at least he didn’t ask for anymore money.

We then headed into town because I needed to purchase a new LCD screen for my phone. The old one was beginning to fade etc. I had phoned up Nokia in Chennai and they had said it would cost R.s. 1435 plus installation plus it would take a few days. The first shop we visited said it would cost R.s. 1700 and would take 4 days to do. I didn’t want to wait that long or pay that much. We went to the next place who said it would cost R.s. 400, I asked what day we could pick it up, Monday, Tuesday. The reply, come back in half an hour. We went across the road, had a mango squishy and were back in ten minutes. It was already done. It just shows you that if you shop around you can get a much better deal. I was amazed. So was Anund.

Saturday morning I went to work. The roof has been finished on both buildings and has been started on the theatre. The water pipes have all been laid and pumps and stoppers fitted. The tiles are coming next week. Spent the morning filling the gap between the pool wall and the outer wall, (about a meter apart) with sand and concrete.
read on

2003-06-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Got back and had lunch. Didn’t do much in the afternoon. Samy had left for Chennai in the morning as he is off to Beirut for a three day meeting. He will be back on the 4th. Christi left at 8 for Chennai to help out Poorni who has been running all over the country trying to sort out her visa etc. She left for Bombay on Monday, was told she should be in Chennai, cam back to Chennai and has been standing in massive ques all week just so she can get someone to say that her birth certificate is accurate. She has to provide a mass of info none of which is actually relevant. It’s ridiculous. Hang in there babe.

In the evening, seeing as there was no one around I sat down with my birthday beer (I had saved because I couldn’t drink on my birthday) and watched bowling for Columbine, again. Ok, I know what your saying but believe me its better to watch that then the movies I have seen a million times.

Not much going on otherwise. Am back to work, not to sure how long we are going to be at it but everything is moving all be it slowly. Will probably be going up to Chennai for the 18th July as Poorni is having a farewell party in a beach house. Will probably do some fire if it’s on the beach. Was planning on pending some time in Chennai at some point but not to sure when. Was also thinking about paying someone for Tamil lessons. Seems like a good thing to do because it will make things easier plus it will occupy me whether I am in Chennai or Karur. It would also be good to come out of this with something as cool as another language. The person I was meant to be traveling with can’t come and I have heard that the Nepal visa office is notoriously difficult so I may have to consider going somewhere else to get another visa in November. A lot of people are asking me when I am coming back. Well at the earliest I will be back in January but to be honest if I can find something top occupy me, something to do then I am not ruling out the possibility of extending my stay. I don’t see that there is any reason to hurry back if I am doing stuff out here.

Anyway, hope everyone is well. Thanks again for all the birthday stuff and I shall speak to or hear from you all soon.

Safe

jaime
the end

2003-06-14T03:38:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Well, first off I apologise for it being such a long time since I mailed or blogged. The Internet has been terribly unreliable, I've been away a lot and as this thing has been getting bigger editing it and stuff like that has become more and more difficult which is why there may be a few cock-ups in it. I can't be bothered to read through it all again so here goes nothing. Thank you very much to Poorni for sitting there with one hell of a massive print out and editing the whole bloody thing. Without her it would have even more mistakes in it.
Up to date news:

· My whole blog is being printed off and sent to someone at UEA who is interested in having it published on my return, whenever that may be? Quite exciting, not bad at all.
· It being my birthday on June 18th I may be going up to Chennai to spend some time there. Thought that it would probably make a better location for one celebrating the ripe old age of 21. There's more to do, more shopping can be done and there are bars and nightclubs for entertainment and nights out. Still not too sure if it's going to happen. Depends on several things (to name a few) such as the weather (was 45°c the other day, apparently the hottest its been for 90 years or something stupid like that). Not to sure if I will be able to handle the heat, may get ill again and don't want that. Samy's birthday is on the 15th so want to be here for that and it depends if the girls feel like putting up with me, again. Few other things won't go into them now.

Right, back to the last few weeks. Have been running around like a headless chicken. First off was Bombay (Mumbai), then to Chennai, then to Karur, then to Sri Lanka (cut short) then to Chennai and then back to Karur. A whole bunch of stuff has happened since then. So here goes. Word of advice, copy all this into "Word," "Works" or whatever word processor you use. Read it in that or print it, it will work out cheaper as there are about 20,000 words (31 pages of it). Hope you enjoy it.

Bombay/Mumbai

The story begins on the morning of Friday 25th April when myself, Samy and Christi boarded a train to Mumbai (Mumbai). Along with all our luggage we had 2 boxes containing over 100 bananas, a box of papaya, a few boxes of mangoes and a massive roll of banana leaves for eating on. I wondered why we didn't just uproot a few bloody banana trees. These were all for the first communion of two family members. The train left at 2ish and would arrive in Mumbai at about 9 the next evening making it a whopping 31-hour journey. The train journey itself wasn't too bad but boredom kicked in after a while. The journey revolved mostly around playing cards, reading and discussing the finer things in life with Christi and Samy. Since the train is a long distance train there were dudes constantly walking up and down the walkway selling coffee, tea, samosa's, cooked food, magazines, books and lots of other stuff. Whenever we stopped at a station the train was boarded by yet more dudes trying to sell everything from food to toys. We had lunch ordered from the train canteen and generally chilled out. We went to bed at about 10ish.

The next day was rather like the first. After a wash and walk we settled down to more food, cards, discussion and reading. Toward the end of the journey, as I was beginning to loose every single card game we played, I was befriended by a coca cola yuppie salesperson called J.P. He lived in Bombay but spent a lot of time in Goa, really wicked dude. He took over my game and won most of them. He gave me his number in Mumbai and said to give him a shout at some point if we wanted to go out clubbing. He also said to give him a call if I was ever in Goa if I wanted to hook up and get expert tuition on the local area & nightlife.

We arrived in Mumbai at about 9ish and were met by Viji and Suresh who took us back to the house of Suresh and Gerry, where we were staying. When we arrived we found a whole load of people including Iggy, Chintu, Jordan and Joel and Poorni and Prathi. We had dinner and then went to bed. Because there were so many of us we all slept on the floor in the living room, which was kinda cool.

The next day, having got up early, we had breakfast and then headed off to church where Rohit (Gerry and Suresh's son) and another were about to take their first communion which is seen as a really really big deal over here (not too sure how its seen in the UK.) We got a lift down to the church. The first thing that hit me was how everyone who was going to be getting their first communion (there were about 20 of then) looked like they were getting married. The girls were all wearing white looking wedding dresses with veils and the boys were all dressed up in suites or similar attire. It looked really odd all these kids (between the age of 6 and 11ish) dressed up like they were about to tie the bloody knot. The service was really nice. The kids and their parents were paraded up the aisle, there were hymns, all the kids did a reading and some of the parents did one as well. I was sandwiched between Samy and Christi with Chintu, Iggy and the boys on the other side. They all took their communion and then so did everyone else (apart from little old me.) When the service ended the parents and kids headed off to some church celebration and myself and Samy walked back to he house whilst everyone else got a lift. The house is in a really lovely part of Mumbai. The streets are very wide and lined with very tall Georgian looking houses. The whole place is very green and unlike anything I had previously seen in an Indian city, it looked very British. The house was equally impressive and was designed by one of the uncles. It is all on one floor (the third or forth of the building) and is reached by a private lift (which was very cool.) It was pretty dam big.

When we got back to the house everyone kinda chilled out for a bit. There was present given to Rohit and lots and lots of photo's taken with the different groups of people who had come to this very special occasion. I was included in the Karur family. There were lots and lots of people staying in the house during this time (maybe 15-20) so there were lots of people just hanging around. In the evening there was going to be a big party and so people like caterers were setting up on the very large open balcony that they have. This was decorated with fairy lights and other decorations. There were very large metal containers being filled with food and tables and chairs were set up.

In the evening, once everyone had got ready, more and more people started showing up until the house was pretty full (by say 9ish). There was lots of eating going on; there was a bar (although I was not, for several reasons, drinking). There were waiters walking around with trays of appetizers and drinks and there was a seemingly endless supply of both. Once everyone had eaten (appetizers) there was the cake cutting ceremony, the cake was a large double tiered one and everyone gathered round to see Rohit and Rachael cut it and make their speeches in which they thanked everyone for coming and explained how this had been a very special day due to the fact that they had been accepted into the church and had received Jesus properly for the very first time. After this there was a prayer and after this the main bulk of the food was served in from the big metal thingy's. Whilst everyone was eating I had been asked to do some poi to entertain. This I did. It was good but it was a little hot and I had to be very careful not to get tangled up in the ceiling fan. From what I gathered, from what people said after I was finished, everyone seemed to have enjoyed it. Felt good that I had in some way contributed to the occasion. Was feeling a little iffy so I didn't eat much. This, as usual, came as a big surprise to everyone and a lot of people automatically assumed (as most people over here do) that it was cause I didn't like the food. It took a lot of explaining. Apparently some people, namely Christi, were worried about my general intake of food. I have tried to explain that it is just me and that I generally don't eat a huge amount even whilst at home. This is generally a reoccurring theme that I have to deal with as and when it is brought up. The whole evening was thoroughly enjoyable, really good. I really enjoyed myself. Everyone began to leave at about 1ish and then the rest of us just chilled out, played card (a past time that was going to take up a lot of our evenings and late nights from now until I left).

I was meant to be returning to Karur on the 28th or 29th. Having had such a good time over the first few days I really wanted to stay up in Mumbai. Samy and Christi had delayed their flight back home until the 28th and when the day came for me to leave we phoned up the train station to check whether or not my ticket had been confirmed i.e. whether I had a place on the train. The answer, no. I was wait listed which meant I could travel but in the unreserved compartment. This has no beds just chairs and is generally filled up with a lot of people most of whom, so I was told, were people that I didn't really want to spend a 32 hour train journey with. This was on the Tuesday or the Wednesday morning. Immediately myself, Suresh and Poorni legged it down to the train station to cancel my ticket and get a refund, which we managed to do and only incur a R.s. 100 charge, which was fantastic. The girls were planning on going back to Chennai on the 1st so that gave me a few more days with them and the rest of the people in Mumbai which was fantastic. The only problem was, how was I going to get all the way from Mumbai to Karur? A few days later Rex (Christi's brother) came to my rescue and said that if I wanted to I could travel with him and his daughter Divya back down to Chennai with them, in the car. They planned to leave around the 1st and be back in Chennai around the 3rd. This was fantastic. Due to the fact that I was meant to be flying out to Sri Lanka on the 12th I decided to spend the time in between in Chennai with Poorni and Prathi.

The plan was set. Then came the first of many many changes. The girls had decided that they didn't want to do the massive train journey back to Chennai and that they were going to fly back. After much changing of the date and several very complicated decisions they managed to get themselves booked on a flight leaving on Monday 5th, getting into chennai on Tuesday 6th. Rex also had other plans and after a million and one changes decided to head back on Monday 5th to be in Chennai on Wednesday 7th. I did contemplate flying back with the girls but came to the conclusion that I couldn't really afford it, hey, I like long car journeys, good chance to see some of India. The plan was to drive to Belgaum, stay there Monday night then drive to Bangalore, stay there Tuesday night and then to drive to Chennai in time for Wednesday lunch.

Right, leaving arrangements covered, what was I doing in Mumbai?

Well, seeing as it was quite a while back, I didn't take any notes and my memory is like a bloody sieve, recalling what happened on what day is, unfortunately, going to be impossible. So, with lots of jumbling around of dates, here are some of the things we did.

Life "in the big brother house."

As I have already mentioned there were a lot of people staying in the house. The house belonged to Suresh and Gerry whose son is Rohit; Suresh's brother Viji who also lives there along with their uncle thingy. People staying included Samy and Christi, Rex (Christi's brother) and his daughter Divya, Poornima & Prathiba, me, Iggy, Chintu with Joel and Jordan, Marian (another one of Christi's brother's,) Anita (Suresh's sister) and her daughter Nikita, Bibiana (one of Christi's sisters) and her husband Francies Xavier.

People generally got up anywhere between 7 and 9. There were two showers so there was always a rush for them although, and most of you guys should agree with me on this one, sharing them with so many women aint easy. Breakfast was taken once one got up and was always very very good. Then we got along with what we were doing. If we didn't go out then we just sat around and talked and stuff. Being around so many people, as most of you know, is what I do and when I get along best and the fact that there were always so many people around meant that there was pretty much always something to do. We did one of several things:

Cards: - Cards were a very big part of Mumbai. We would play (usually myself, Rex, Prathiba, Gerry, Chintu, Marian and Bibiana (Christi's brother and sister) late into the night sometimes not going to bed till like, 2 or 3. They taught me several new games. We were playing with My Jack Daniels cards and Singapore airlines cards, which got nicknamed "the SARS cards." We played a lot and I mean a lot of Rummy and some other games, which I can't remember, but one that I never got the rules of.

Music: - There was a music player which was one of those old things that makes a far superior sound to any of the new things you can get. I found myself saying, several time. "Aahh, they don't make them like they used to." God, how old am I? There was a lot of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis, some classical, Bob Marley and various other things. There was also a piano upon which many jamming session took place sometimes with four people on the piano at once. My limited playing got put to use and myself and Poorni came up with a few nice tunes. Rex is also a good piano player and so is thingy so it made for some interesting jamming sessions.

Also, I am sure I have mentioned the dance class that the girls go to, well, Prathi kinda teaches there and is a fantastic dancer, does it like semi pro. There was lots of dancing at the parties and in the evenings, when there was nothing else to do, always started by the 2 of them. Swinging tennis balls around on string seems stupid in comparison when compared to dancers, especially of that level.

Chess: - Having never played chess seriously but having played a bit Rex was keen to give me a game or 2, or 3. He annihilated me every time. In actual fact he annihilated everyone until, that is, one night, Marian accepted the challenge. You could cut the tension with a knife. Have a good picture of the 2 of them concentrating like mad. Very tense games. Marian came out on top, twice.

Talking: - Lots and lots of talking. I spoke to the uncle about architecture and stuff, to everyone about poi, juggling, religion, the war on Iraq, and everything under the sun. Me and Prathiba didn't seem to stop talking.

We talked with the kids. All the kids thought I was American and weren't bothered about sharing this fact over and over and over again. They thought cause I was white and spoke English that I had to be American. This came up in conversation a lot as it just shows how Americanized youth culture over here is. Most people weren't convinced at this, and it took a lot of examples and explaining. The bit that finalised all thought on the matter and banished any doubt on the subject was when I asked them what nationality Harry Potter was, three guesses on what the answer was, yep, American.

Sleeping: - Everyone seemed to sleep in the afternoon. This is still a practice which messes me up a bit especially if I aint been doing much before hand. I did sometimes but a lot of the time I just read. Most of us just slept on mats on the floor in the living room. Much more interesting than sleeping alone, in a room, in a bed. One had to be careful about sleeping in especially seeing as one morning, Iggy came in and filmed me, Poorni and Prathi asleep. We saw the tape, how cruel is that? I will have my revenge. Iggy my friend, watch out!

Shopping: - One day myself, accompanied by Anita, Poorni, Prathi, Divya and Gerry, headed into town by train. I say train; it looked more like a box on wheels that cattle get transported around in. It was big openings in the walls to act as doors, had metal railing attached to the roof from which metal loops were attached to act as holding on handles and it smelt like a London public toilet. It had a separate carriage for women to avoid the terrible problem of what is known as "eve teasing" and is basically when men group, tease and say nasty and disgusting things to women.

Having reached inner Mumbai we headed off to an old very tall building that looked more English than the Union Jack. It was a shop called "Planet M" and was basically an Indian version of "Virgin" or "HMV." It was very nice and had a wide selection although I couldn't fine any "ren & stimpy" VCD's. You have to leave your bag in a cloakroom upon entry, which is typical of many big Indian stores. We had a look round that and then headed off to Fashion Street.
The shopping in Mumbai is very very good and, being stuck with a massive group of women (Poorni, Prathiba, Chintu, Gerry, Divya, Anita), you can probably guess where I was dragged three days running. One of the first places we visited was a place ironically named "Fashion Street." Basically it was a cross between Oxford Street and Norwich market (St. Nicks if you're in Bristol.) It was a very very long street with a few million stalls running along the right hand side selling cloths, lots of cloths. Everything from designer fakes to Skateboard makes like "Blind," underwear to nightwear and lots of accessories. The deal with shopping with Indian women is pretty much the same deal as shopping with English women. They enter a stall and emerge hours later having not bought a thing. Constant questioning of everyone, "does my bum look big in this" type stuff. It took us a whole afternoon to do fashion street and we didn't even get to the end. I just followed behind constantly fending off attacks left, right and bloody center from stall holders yelling things like "you're my best friend," "hello boss" "I think I have this in your size." I just trundled along doing contact juggling, surprising enough I did quite enjoy myself although when I stopped at one point to look at a shirt I was told "polama" or "shall we go." I was compensated for such abruptness as Poorni and Prathi bought me two necklaces one of which resembled my contact-juggling ball.

On one occasion, in the evening, we headed out to yet another of Mumbai's many shopping street and, if I might add, every man's worst nightmare. A whole street that sold nothing, and I do mean nothing, but shoes. The street wasn't as long as Fashion Street and took a lot less time, but still, shoes, I mean come on guys, like you people don't have enough shoes as it is. After braving the torture that was Shoe Street we headed up the road in an auto to a department store called Shoppers stop where I was finally allowed, no, permitted to make some purchases. I got two sleeveless tops.

After doing Shoe Street (or "Elm Street") and Shoppers Stop we headed off in three wheelers to a restaurant that was owned by a friend of Gerry and Suresh's, which is apparently branching out to the UK. The food was all based on Chapatti like pancakes and was very good. As usual I received the normal amount of interrogation about not eating enough. Poorni and myself had a bit of a fight/falling out over an incident that happened, like, a week into my trip to India and didn't speak the rest of the night. Don't worry; we made up the next morning.

On another shopping trip we headed of to a very nice shop, as Poorni needed a black dress for special occasions. Having, as usual, tried on a few she finally made a decision and bought a very flattering black number which she, quite frankly, looked stunning in. We also bought Nikita (Anita's daughter) a birthday dress (as it was her birthday ironically).

On one occasion everyone (Poorni, Prathi, Rex, Divya, Gerry, Suresh, Viji, me, Iggy, Chintu, Joel, Jordan, Anita) headed into Mumbai to a shopping mall. In it I was very very surprised to find a "Marks & Spencers" and, much to my utter delight, a McDonalds. Now I rarely eat McDonalds in the UK (unless I'm with Hadley) but having mentioned my missing English junk food to someone in the past they had decided to take me there, which was utterly FANTASTIC. One McChicken sandwich, large portion of fries and a massive Sprite later and I was full but very satisfied. Throughout the whole meal (if I dare call it that) everyone was constantly commenting that I looked like I was in heaven. I have never, ever enjoyed a McDonalds so much. The odd thing was that it was a McDonalds, I thought it was going to taste different, be different, like, more Indian, but it was just a plain old greasy, reconstituted rubbish McDonalds.

After this we all kinda split up and had a wander round the 5-story shopping mall. Prathiba and myself bought ourselves a hat each from a shop called "weekender" (I look like a Muslim in hers.) I also managed to pick up Massive attack's "blue lines" Red-hot Chili's "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic" and Incubus' new album, whose title escapes me at the moment, for about a fiver. We had a look in a lot of shops, I saw a wicked pair of Oakley's with metal straps that go over your head and the biggest flat screen TV I have ever seen. We headed down stairs to regroup and found everyone playing on one of those games of strength where you have to hit that pad with a hammer and see how far the light goes up. We watched for a bit and then, realizing that there was way too much testosterone hanging around, wandered back off to have a look at some more stuff.

After that we headed off to this church on top of this hill, which was right on the coast. It was really beautiful and the view was pretty damn good to. We took a walk up to a shrine right on the coast that also overlooked the church. It was a warm, sunny afternoon, gorgeous. After this we headed down onto the sea front where we had coffee in one of the many coffee houses dotted along the coastline. The sea view infront, the Mumbai skyline to the right, good coffee, good views (not just good company. All good.

On the way back to the house we stopped off at the dress shop to pick up Poorni's dress and I legged it into a shop called something like "Rock stop" and purchased a very nice short sleeved black shirt. I resisted the temptation to buy yet another hat.

Another day, having left the women in the car for which they complained greatly when we returned, myself, Iggy, Rex and Viji headed off to buy some software for Iggy. After much bargaining we managed to get a lot of new software for absolutely nothing.

Other forms of entertainment that required going out.

Right, well apart from going out shopping we also went out and did a lot of other stuff. The first major thing we did was going to the IMAC cinema, which was part of a massive cinema-plex. We went to see "EVEREST" which was very very good. It was pretty breathtaking actually, having images all round you with a very steep drop infront of you. It lasted about an hour and told the story of an expedition to Everest of a dude, whose father was the first to climb it, and his team. It was brilliant but apparently, visually; it wasn't as good as one that they had previously seen about the Australian coral reef.

On another occasion we went to the late showing of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" (9:30) which aint been out long here just like "Lord of the Rings Two Towers" which has just been released). Really enjoyed that as well although I had already seen it. There was an interval, which was odd, and when I returned back to my seat I ended sitting down, missing the top of the seat (in the upright position which I was aiming for) and ended up hitting the floor hard. Everyone thought this was most amusing, hey man, glad I was able to make everyone laugh, even at the expense of my but'. Poorni and Prathi were in fits and are still reminding me of the incident. The movie finished at like 12:30.

The "Gateway to India" and the "Queens necklace."

The Gateway of India is situated in and faces out to Mumbai's harbour. It's basically a really big arch that looks a lot like the arch de triumph. It s a really popular hang out for the locals especially in the evening. The Queens Necklace thingy is basically all the lights that go round the harbour. When flying out of Mumbai it looks like a necklace, apparently. We parked down on, and then walked along the waterfront down to the "gateway" which, incidentally is opposite the Taj Mahal hotel. It was dark, there were lots of people around and the arch was lit up and looked magnificent. There were boats and piers leading out into the water, they were decorated with lots of lights and the effect of them reflecting and shimmering off the water was quite stunning. There, as is usual with all popular places in this country, were loads of people trying to sell stuff. We had a walk round the arch and then headed back to the car. On the way back we saw a red carpet coming up the steps from the water, it then crossed the road and entered the Taj. There were lots of people gathering and looking over the side down into a boat that had just arrived and moored next to the steps. After a while we gathered that it was the dude who own's a big chain of men's wear shops in India called "Raymond." He is, apparently, a really famous person which was made obvious by the reception he got from people as he ascended the stairs from the boat with his wife who is also famous for something, I think, although I can't remember what. We headed back to the car having seen the dude.

Having all pilled back into the Sumo we headed back to the house taking the route along the waterfront. It was really busy. This was obviously a big local "hangout" especially for Mumbai's cool, hip, trendy yuppies. There was a laser and water display situated on the water's edge. Was very impressive. We drove back through Mumbai. Mumbai is an odd city. It has a skyline that looks like it should belong in a large American city. The majority of the city looks European; one could be forgiven for thinking that you were in Europe. It is very difficult to believe, half the time, that you are actually in India. A lot of the buildings are very colonial.

One night we all headed out and went for ice cream. Was Fantastic. On the Sunday (being the 4th) everyone headed off to mass at 8. That was too early for me and the girls and apparently too early for Rex as well. We went at about 11. Was nice, was still able to recite a lot of the ceremony harking back to the days when I would go to church every Sunday as a kid.

Attack of the Praying Mantis.

One night someone came running out onto the balcony to inform me that there was a praying mantis in the house, it had just come in through the window. I really wanted to get a picture of it but seeing as my camera aint got zoom it meant getting very close to the thing. Prathi managed to pick the thing up (it was about the length as a playing card, maybe a bit longer.) It was really really beautiful. I bent down with my camera to get a picture and got as close to her hands as I could, very slowly. The thing obviously saw the reflection of itself in my head, thought it was another mantis (possibly a female) and made a jump for my head. I don't like bugs, they are fine when they are on someone else's hands but when one makes a jump for you its kinda a different story. Anyway, that's what it did. It jumped/flew at me and landed on my head. Like with the bat that landed on my head I didn't really realize and then when I did I jumped back, understandably, and brushed the thing off onto the floor. It nearly gave me a bloody heart attack. The thing was like crawling on the floor, had it been another type of bug I would have just stepped on it but these things are really gorgeous, even if they have just scared the living daylights out of you. Having calmed down a bit it was transported, by way of a newspaper, outside onto the balcony. There Rex, with his massive zoom camera, took a picture of it before it decided to either commit suicide or escape. Either way it just crawled to the edge and dropped off.

Nikita's birthday.

On 30th it was Nikita's (Anita's daughter's) birthday and she had reached the ripe old age of 4. We had a party at the house. First off was the very important ceremony of present opening. These included cuddly toys, a doll, and about a million and one dresses one of which was from Poorni, Prathi and myself, having been purchased a few days earlier. It was a nice two-piece little number with red and blue overlapping frills for the dress and a blue top, she looked adorable, like something out of Moulin Rouge. From what I remember our dress did feature in the next few days wardrobe so that's good. Nice she liked it. After this came cake, candles and "happy birthday" which, as usual, had several verses of "and god bless you to" and "and long life to you" and some other variations. The cake was pretty damn good, chocolate, but proper chocolate, not the funny, brittle Indian chocolate. All good.

All said and done had a really, totally, wonderful time in Mumbai. Am so glad that my train was wait listed. Met loads of new people. Saw a city that I really liked a lot. Saw some fantastic stuff, did some fantastic stuff. Was fantastic to see Poorni after such a long while and me and Prathiba have become very close in a very short period of time which is very odd seeing as we hadn't spoken at all until we met in Mumbai. It was amazing. "Happy times" as they say. Safe.

Homeward bound.

On the morning of Monday May 5th, at about 8, myself, Rex and Divya set out on the monstrous journey to Chennai, a journey that would cover 1400km, would take 48 hours of driving and would span 3 days. Our aim was to reach Chennai on the morning of the 7th with two stops, one in Belgaum and another in Bangalore. The first day of the journey was visually stunning. We headed up into the hills that surround Mumbai; we drove through tunnels carved into the hills and gradually wound our way up to the hill stations where the weather was cooler and the scenery dramatic. We made several coffee stops and then stopped for lunch in an out of the way restaurant. Chinese food, always good and certainly not as greasy as it is in the UK. We made good timing and arrived in Belgaum at about 7ish where we checked into a really lovely hotel. We chilled out in the room for a while, watched a movie, drank loads of coffee and then headed down to the restaurant to eat. After this we turned in for the night, knackered is not the word. We had been driving for over 11 hours and my ass was numb

In the morning we headed off at about 7. In the evening we had discussed the possibility that if we reached Bangalore in good time we would drive through the rest of the 300km to Chennai, a prospect that was met with enthusiasm. We made good time in the morning and refrained from stopping often so that we could make Bangalore before 4 o'clock, which we did. We reached the outskirts of Bangalore at about 3:30 and stopped off in a roof top restaurant to eat lunch, slightly late and most welcome. We had chicken biryani, spiced rice with massive lumps of chicken in it, and lots of it. Then on the advise of Rex's brother in law (who we were meant to be staying with but who turned out to be in Chennai) decided to call it a day and head off to a hotel. The first attempt failed and we checked into an expensive 3 star right in the middle of Bangalore city center.

After freshening up we headed out in an auto to see some of Bangalore, do a bit of shopping and take in one of the many trendy new bars that were in the city. We had a wander round a government craft type shop, a few cloths shops and then headed off on the advise of the hotel to a bar called STYX. This is when things started to get weird. The bar, which was approached by a long flight of stairs, was a rock / metal bar. The walls were plastered with heavy metal posters of bands, many of which I had seen, and listened to in my youth. The place was nicely done with glittering star lit type ceiling and very good beer. Now, usually such places in the UK are dumps on account of the people the music pulls in but this place was very civilized with fish tanks, nice tables and chairs and it even had waiters who took your drinks orders, no staggering up to the bar for these guys. On one of the walls was a large video projector playing music videos whilst a DJ played everything from mellow rock like Dire Straits to gut wrenching metal from bands like System of a Down, Pantera and many others. It was really really odd, I felt very much at home with my beer, the music (most of which, to the surprise of most people in the bar, I knew and mouthed all the lyrics to). Unfortunately and totally understandably Divya did not. We finished our drinks and headed back to the hotel to have dinner.

Dinner was a buffet and a very good one at that. After another beer and some chit chat about the war on Iraq, cloning and rock music we turned in for the night. Another long day, my ass was still numb.

We left the hotel at about 8 the next morning with the view for driving straight through with no stops and reaching Chennai around lunchtime. We had traveled over 1100km and spent the last two days in the car, the morning drive was going to seem like a stroll in the park. The traffic was worse than we had anticipated and it took some very skillful overtaking by our dear friend Rex to keep us on time. We reached Chennai at about 1 and headed straight for Poorni and Prathi's house getting there at about 1:45. I fell out the car and after thanking Rex headed up stairs and collapsed.

Chennai "wiv da girlz"

I spent the next few days in Chennai. The weather was very hot. I was staying with Poorni and Prathi in their apartment.

On the Wednesday we didn't do very much, we just hung out in the apartment. It was really really hot. We ended up eating dinner in the bedroom cause it is the only room in the house that has AC. Samy and Christi both turned up at around 6 as they had had a meeting in Chennai. Samy left that evening but Christi was to stay until the following evening.

The next day Prathiba and Christi went off and Poorni and myself went into town to do some stuff. We had a big list of things to do. We both had photos from Mumbai to be developed, we had to do some shopping (food shopping), we had to book tickets for myself to return to Karur on the 10th and we had to book tickets for Poorni, Prathi and Amol (their maid) to travel to Karur on the 14th. We ended up waiting in a massive queue at a train ticket office, there was no AC, it was bloody boiling. We got the photos developed and went to food world to pick up some pasta among other things. I managed, much to my delight and surprise, to pick up some red bull, always a good thing when your feeling a little tired. When we returned Prathiba was back and Christi headed off to the station at about 6. Poorni busied herself with cooking and Prathi and myself went out to Quicky's (an American coffee chain) to have a coffee. When we returned we ate (very very good) and then got picked up by John and taken out to the Taj hotel, which, incidentally, has a late night bar in the basement. Most of India's bars and clubs are in top end hotels. We had a few drinks, listened to the three-piece female vocal group belt out numbers such as Avril Lavignels "sk8er boi" and then headed back to the house around midnight. We ended staying up until like 4 watching TV (ren & stimpy) and listening to Tracy Chapman.

Having not had a huge amount of sleep we were up the next day around 10ish. Prathiba had some stuff to do so we chilled out in the morning and in the afternoon myself and Poorni headed off out of Chennai to a cinema multiplex to see a movie, "Shanghai Knights." After loading ourselves up with popcorn sprite and an Indian version of red bull we headed into the cinema, which was packed with about 5 people. The movie was really good especially when you consider that a lot of it was filmed on Greenwich maritime Campus i.e. the University where I spent over a year of my life. I imagine Poorni got pretty annoyed after a while with me going "that's my lecture theatre," I used to sit on those stairs while having lunch" and "oh my god what's going on, this is madness." It was very very odd sitting there watching an American made film, in a south Indian cinema, watching a place where I had spent a year of my life in. Very bizarre indeed.

After the movie, which had an interval ("what's the point in that" I hear you ask, I have no idea), we headed back to the house where Prathiba had already returned. We chilled out for the rest of the evening, watched "gone in 60 seconds," listened to Tracy Chapman, the red-hot chili peppers and massive attack. I was feeling a little under the weather (polite way of putting it), Poorni came to the rescue and made me drink a whole bloody litre of water and re-hydration salts. We got ready to go out and were picked up at about 10 by john. We were heading off to another 5 star hotel which had a nightclub in it called "Sparks."

My first experience of clubbing Indian style, well what can I say. The first thing that struck me as being odd was the entrance fee. This is obviously normal, the difference being here that you are given vouchers saying how much you were charged to get in (in this case it was like R.s. 100 each therefore giving us R.s. 400 of vouchers. These vouchers are then redeemable at the bar. This meant that so long as you drank R.s. 100 worth of drinks each (not difficult seeing as a beer would cost around R.s. 100) entrance was effectively free. This was really odd. I don't think I have ever heard of anywhere in the UK where your entrance fee is redeemable at the bar. This pretty much makes going out stupidly cheap especially when you think that entrance to a club in the UK can cost anywhere from a fiver to like 20 squid if you were to go to a big event at The Drome (if it were still there). This and the fact that you have to pay like 3-4 quid for a bottle of larger just makes it stupid. I know that the currency is totally different and that people make ALOT less but it does make you think, especially when 4 of you walk out of place after a night out and you aint even spent enough to buy 2 beers in a London club let alone tube, taxi, kebab, and entrance. Madness I say, madness. Another thing is security. In the UK the minute you walk up anywhere you are suddenly faced with a few, usually very large, dudes in long black coats who look at you like they are about to punch you. Here there were none, you had your hand stamped and that was that, have a nice night. There were no bouncers inside or out. I know its stupid but I really couldn't believe it. When was the last time one of you guys walked into a club and saw no security? Never! Even bloody pubs have bouncers nowadays. Maybe its cause they can't find anyone who looks intimidating enough. I aint seen many really intimidating people out here, no ones really tall enough to look scary. Maybe I'll set up a "door service" for local clubs and bars. If you put a couple of 6 foot 5, skin head, London bouncers on the door of an Indian club I don't imagine they'd get much business, I imagine the punters would be wetting themselves.

Like many commercial places in the UK all these hotel bars and nightclubs seem to operate the, couples only, no large groups of guys etc policies. They seem to be quite strict about this. A lot of places simply charge for couples and therefore if you go and you aint got a lady friend with you then you aint getting in.

The place itself was really nice, nicely done up with a small dance floor surrounded by tables and chairs. They were lots of UV lights and crazy patterns on the walls. This was approached up some stairs from the bar area. The bar was nice and had a large area next to it with tables, chairs. The music on the other hand was just plain odd. Where as in the UK most nights tend to stick to one kind of music, here there were blatant time slots for different types of music, which was all pretty much at the commercial end of things. They played chart stuff mainly. The place reminded me of many commercial places in the UK but it was a really really lovely evening. The bar itself was open till anywhere between 4 and 6 (so I gathered) but we headed off at about 3:30. Although you could, obviously, buy drinks and stuff at the bar there were waiters, which was really odd. They also did foods in the form of snack food, munchies, which was also really bizarre. UK wise the place was probably a cross between "the loft" and "squares" (if you're in Norwich), "dojo" and one of those trendy places on the waterfront (can't remember what they are called) if you're in Bristol) and any small commercial bar if you're in London. The range of people was also really odd. I think this all comes from lack of choice. Where as in England, there is choice and therefore the clubbing population is separated out into different places, here everyone mingles into one place. It was odd but a really fantastic night. Will defiantly be going out more.

The next day, being Saturday, we chilled out for a bit and then headed off in a three-wheeler, to Iggy's. We chilled out for a bit, watched the video of the communion, watched the video of him filming the three of us whilst asleep in Mumbai (not nice), watched some matrix cartoons about before and after and separate story lines running of the main movie, watched the video of me doing fire at MTL day (not bad, could have been better) had lunch and then headed off into town to do some shopping (I had a few bits and pieces to pick up).

We ended up in a department shop called lifestyle where, unfortunately for us blokes, has a wide range of women shoes. Having had a look round we headed off to the Quicky's coffee shop they have in the store and indulged in the one thing that I am actually allowed to pay for in India, you guessed it, coffee. We then headed back to the house where Prathi took leave and went off to dance class. Poorni and me hung out for a bit, she made me some food for the journey and then we jumped into an auto and headed for the station. There was a bit of last minute panicking when we couldn't find the station pass counter and I lost her for ten minutes but after she had a ticket we embarked on the massive walk along the train to the AC coach (always at the end) said our goodbyes and I hoped on. I ate, did some contact juggling and then went to sleep (bottom bunk at bloody last).

On Sunday 11th morning I arrived in Karur and was met by Velu who took me back to the village. I was knackered and didn't do much all day apart from pack and hanging around. I went up to the site to see what progress had been made. They had concreted the pool, the walls had been finished on both the dorms and on the theatre and they had concreted all the floors. It all looked very good.

Sri Lanka, mission "Keep Jaime in India."
Colombo, city of the crows.

On the morning of Monday 12th I left at about 10ish and arrived in Tritchy at about 12. I had lunch with Raj (driver) in a hotel and then headed off to the airport where I was dropped off in departures. I checked in my bags, filled in some immigration cards and went through customs. My main bag didn't have any problems but customs had a field day with my hand luggage and me. Having set off one of the metal detectors I was frisked and then set apon by one of those hand held metal detectors. The dude couldn't work out why my chest was setting the thing off. He kept on looking at it, hitting it against the wall and generally getting confused. He called for help; know one knew what was going on. I tried to explain that I had earrings through my nipples. No, they didn't understand that. I ended up having to take my top off to show them where the beeping was coming from. They looked scared. My whole body was generally beeping. My shoes were going mad. After a while they just gave up and let me through. Then came my bag. I had forgotten about airport and packed my contact-juggling ball in my hand luggage. They didn't like that at all and explained that I could throw it at someone. I explained what it was for and gave a brief demo, no, they weren't convinced, plus they had spotted a pair of scissors in my bag on the x-ray, which, for some reason, they couldn't find in my bag. They informed me that they would have to confiscate my bag, have it put in some special place and I would get it back apon arrival.

The plane journey was pleasant. Like my flight to India I had been nervous about it but I really enjoyed it. Food, lots of coffee, not bad at all.

I arrived in Colombo at 3 (Indian time), 3:30 (Sri Lankan time). Got my bags and headed out of the arrival hall to get a cab at one of the many government tourist desks. I changed some money. The man filled in the form and led me outside to the cab. It was pissing it down; he serenaded me, a few verses of "you are my sunshine", ok?

I got in the cab, he got in the back and then decided to inform me that I may have a brain tumor and that's why I had a lump on the back of my head, "you should get that checked out mate," ok?

Having dropped our stow away from the airport myself and the driver drove to Colombo, about 30 km from the airport. Its one beautiful country. It is the monsoon over there. IN actual fact, the day after I left, 200 people were stranded and some died in some of the worst floods they have had there in a long time, in Colombo.

Facts about Sri Lanka:
· Its not that big, only 25,000 sq miles
· Currency, Sri Lankan rupee. About 157 per British pound.
· Religion, it is predominantly Buddhist.

Having eventually found the place I was met by father Costa. The journey had taken little over an hour and cost about R.s. 1200.

Father Costa is a Catholic priest; in fact I was staying in a seminary where they train priests and stuff. It is the permanent residence for some 10 priests who work within the community etc. It was one big place, a maze of open corridors leading onto terraced and enclosed gardens, basketball court and lawns. They had dogs, chickens, ducks, roosters (if I never hear another one crow in my life it will be too soon) and even a few tortoises. They have two chapels, one very large church and a million and one offices, bedrooms and communal areas. It was one beautiful place.

Father Coast was the superior of the place. Oldish gentlemen who always wore one of those cassock things with those big black belts, he looked like a monk. He actually looked like a cross between "Father Ted" and Karate Kids Mr Miyagi (there was another father that looked like the toad man in "The League of Gentlemen" and the caretaker looked like the hunchback or Notradame). Very very nice dude. He gave me the tour of the place. It had the feel of an old folks home, all the priests were indeed old. I met them all and had dinner at about 8. Sausage and potato curry, not bad at all, with lots and lots of freshly baked, crusty bread which was fantastic, so much better than the bread you get in India, apparently it's a climate thing. I was whacked and went to bed at about 9. My room was nice, overlooked a garden and chicken coop, bloody roosters. It had a bed with a massive wooden frame over it to which a mosquito net was placed. It was numerous shelves, a wardrobe, desk, chairs, full-length mirror and on-suite bathroom with shower and toilet, not bad at all.

On the Tuesday I was up at 6:30 and had breakfast at about 7, pancakes and dhal (lentil curry). It was raining very very heavily.

Father Coast gave me a lift into Colombo (as the house is on the outskirts) and dropped me off at the Indian High Commission, which is right on the sea front, at about 9:15. I filled in a few forms, waited around a bit, paid (R.s. 3600 about 25 squid) and then got a taxi back to the seminary at about 10. I made some phone calls to India, had lunch (beef curry and rice) and then took an auto three wheeler back down to the Indian High Commission. Arriving there at about 4:30 I picked up my visa (was very very surprised that it was ready that same day, and then took the same auto to the bank. I changed some money and then took the same auto to the World Trade Centre which was a very impressive two tower building in the heart of Colombo. There I went up and, having decided to cut my trip short for reasons that should become apparent, went to Sri Lankan airlines offices and changed the return date to India from 21st to 17th. I then took the auto back to the seminary and was back by 7. I was very very pleased with myself. It sounds stupid but it was the first time I had been out on my own and the whole trip had gone very well, my visa was sorted, my return booked and I had money, all good.

There were several reasons why I decided to cut my trip short. The first and foremost being that I didn't want to spend much money and upon arrival I realize that staying until 21st and keeping occupied that long was going to cost quite a bit. The second reason was that the girls were heading down to Karur on the 14th and leaving on the 21st. They had asked me if it was at all possible to come back early. Had been looking forward to their visit for ages and I wanted to see them in Karur even if it was just for a few days.

We had dinner at about 8ish (chicken and pasta, very hot) and then I chilled out in my room, read and went to sleep.

On Wednesday morning breakfast was again at 7. The bloody rooster had woken me up at 4 and a massive cyclone had torn at Colombo all night leaving floods everywhere and trees toppled all over the place. In the seminary 20 or so banana tree's had been uprooted and several others had had limbs ripped off, a few had been blown over. Even so it was one beautiful morning, the sun was out, it was warm. I had a walk, did some reading, took some photo's, discovered a 1955 Morris Minor in perfect condition and still running like a dream round the back of one of the out buildings and then had lunch at about 1.

At 3:30 I met father Costa in the dinning room, had a cup of tea and then went for a walk around the local area. He took me, with another, down to the beach, which was in a terrible state after the cyclone. There were trees strewn everywhere, rubbish littered the whole beach and seemed like a never-ending carpet. It was known as crow beach and was a local hand out. We had a walk up and down, to the river estuary and then headed up into one of Colombo's many shantytowns where we took a short cut round to a big Buddhist temple compound. We headed inside and were met by an old Buddhist monk dressed head to toe in this massive orange drape. They engaged in some conversation and then the monk gave us leave to have a look round the small temple and shrine. We did so, after removing shoes and hats, and then had a quick peek into the pagoda where they all meditate. The whole place was full of statues of the lord Buddha. There was a massive Buddhist festival celebrating the birth of Buddha going on for the whole time I was there and therefore all the temples were decorated with the Buddhist flag and other religious decorations as well as millions of fairy lights. We headed back stopping for a few bits and pieces on the way back. We got back at about 6ish. We had dinner at about 8, very hot curry and lots of lovely bread. I did some reading and went to bed. During the night there was another massive thunderstorm, and I mean massive.

Thursday up early and breakfasted at 7,with all the other priests. There was not much to do. All the shops were closed, as this was the start of the two-day festival to lord Buddha, a bit like our Christmas. Had a bit of a walk and did some reading. Just generally hung around and ended up getting very bored. During the day, apart from lunch, all the fathers disappear, they don't seem to do much or go out at all but there was not a lot of company around during the day.

After dinner myself and father Costa headed out with two brothers to have a look at the festivities. We walked up the road to a Buddhist temple to see what was going on. This festival is very important in Sri Lanka and everyone, including non-Buddhists, take part, it had become somewhat commercialized, like Christmas. The streets were lined with stalls and shops all lit up and most having massive paper lanterns hanging outside. All the stalls were giving away free food and drink. There was partying in the street, dj's, music, loads of lanterns and everything was lit up with millions of fairy lights. It was very impressive. The area where the seminary was located is a bit of a dodgy area, it is a very poor areas and yet all the stops had been pulled out and everyone was partying hard. We reached the temple, which was on both sides of the road. The whole place was full of people but there wasn't an orange Buddhist monk in sight. Everyone was making offerings to the statues of Buddha. On the right of the road there was a large shrine where people were praying etc and on the left there was a large pagoda where people were gathered, meditating and listening to loud chanting through a public announcement system. The whole place was covered in Buddhist flags, which have many coloured stripes on it. Everywhere smelt like the Drome. That sickly sweet incence smell. We headed back, got back at about 10 and I went to bed.

Pretty much every morning one was woken by one of three things. First off it is the roosters who crow at my window and who, I must admit, I wanted to shoot by the end of my stay. The second was the sound of rain which, and this is no exaggeration, actually sounded like someone had turned a bath tap on next to my bed. The third thing was a little nicer, shall we say, and was the sound of religious chanting floating in from one of the many shrines or temples in the areas. They use public announcement systems play religious chanting in the morning. This is what woke me up on Friday.

Having had breakfast I went back to bed cause I hadn't had much sleep due to unlikely combination of rooster crowing and thunder claps during the night. When I got up again at about 10 decided to have a walk round the neighborhood and father Costa decided to join me. We headed off in the opposite direction than had been the night before and before long came to a church. This walk had an alterior mission and that was to find a launderette where I could have my jeans washed, having done all my other washing Indian style, i.e. in the shower. We found one right next to the church, handed the stuff in and then popped into the local parish church to have a quick peek. Having done so we got a lift back to the house in the car of one of Father Costa's congregation, nice man. I made some more phone calls in the local STD ISD blah blah shop and, not being able to reach AREDS at all (by the end of my stay the people in the Shop knew the number off by heart and merely dialed it the moment I walked in the door), headed back to the seminary for lunch, three, guesses, hot, no, very hot curry.

At 3:30 I again met with Father Costa, had some tea and then went on yet another walk. This time he took me through another shantytown to see what poor people's living conditions are like. The answer to that is "not good." They generally live in very bad conditions. Not nice. We crossed the river next to its mouth and headed off to another Buddhist temple. We had a quick look around the outside and then caught a bus into the town. When I say bus I use the term lightly. It was more of a large van. I have never ever been so cramped in my entire life. The inside was decorated with many many depictions of events in all of Sri Lanka's main religions from pictures of the life of Buddha to pictures of Hindu gods and even a few pics of Jesus.

We disembarked in town and took a short walk up the road to where the main celebrations would be going on that evening. On one side of the road there was a massive shrine and I mean massive, I'm talking a house height shrine with a huge Buddha in the middle. Round it were hundreds of different coloured lights and depictions of events in the life of the lord Buddha. It was amazing. I have never seen anything like it in my life. We took some photos and headed up the road to a permanents shrine in the middle of a roundabout that was covered in flags and lights. We then headed back over the river, although on a different bridge and turned left to walk along the river and so back to the seminary. We walked through another shantytown and through a few nicer areas and then arrived back at the house having been out for just over 3 hours.

In the evening there was another massive thunderstorm. After dinner I finished Lord of the Rings and then went to bed at about 10ish.

On Saturday I was late for breakfast having not slept very well due to thunder and lightning. It being my last day I had quite a bit to do. I had a walk after breakfast and then settled my bill by way of contribution to the upkeep of the place. I had a walk down the road on my own to pick up my laundry which they informed me would be done by 6. On the way back I bought a loaf of bread for the journey and then tried to reach AREDS again, no answer. Everyone was asking me where I was going and I do mean everyone. Having been told that if I said church no one would bother me this is what my answer was. I started reading a book that Father Costa had given me on religious enlightenment called "Bede's journey to the beyond" which was written about a English monk who moved to India and set up an ashram about an hour from Karur. During my stay we had had many talks about my religious beliefs and my lack of religious direction. He told me that my general lack of direction in life and my sometimes inner feeling of emptiness were probably down to my lack of experience religiously speaking, interesting theory. More thought on this matter is required.

At 6 I headed back to the Launderette with Father Coast in tow. We picked up my laundry and headed back. I was again quite pleased with myself having ventures out so much in an area of a city that was generally considered a little dodgy. I had handled it fine, managed to do everything I needed to and done it all on my own. When there wasn't anything to do I was generally feeling a little bored and a bit flat/low. Had had a really good time but was glad to be getting off.

Did some packing and then had dinner at 8. Took some photos of the fathers. Said my farewells and headed off in a pre booked taxi at about 9.

I had thought that the journey back to the airport was going to be boring but it turned out to be one of the most exciting parts of the whole trip. The taxi driver took me right through the center of town and past the massive, lit shrine that I had seen previously. It looked absolutely amazing and I managed to get a few pics out the window. The place was heaving. It was like a cross between Glastonbury festival, Nottinghill carnival and Christmas. It was incredible. There was no point throughout the hour journey when I couldn't see lit up decorations. We passed many many shrines, temples, millions of lamps in houses, offices, building sites etc. Everywhere was covered with stalls giving away food and drink and everyone was partying hard, was incredible, very Drome like.

I reached the airport and checked in at 10pm. My flight wasn't until 1:35 and I was flying to Chennai, not Tritchy, as it was the only place near by that still had places left on the flight. There was a bit of problem checking in. I hadn't been booked on the flight even though I had paid and v\been told I had been booked in at the airlines head office. I hung around the airport, went to duty free but everything was still expensive in comparison with Indian prices. Drank lots of coffee. Boarded flight, had to fill in lots of SARS forms saying where I had been. There were loads of people walking around with masks on. Flight was really good but late.

Got into Chennai at 3am, local time. Was 32°c outside. Went though customs and health checks with not much hassle. Was met by Iggy's driver and reached Iggy's apartment at 4, in bed by 4:30. Didn't really sleep cause I had drunk so much coffee trying to stay awake in the airport.

Three weeks and over 5000 km later…

On Sunday I was up at 9. Was running totally on autopilot. The lights were on but no one was home. I was in a state. Watched a bit of TV with Iggy and then headed off to mass at Maggie and Tib's at about 12. There were lots of people there. Gerry and Rohit had come down from Mumbai so it was good to see them. Rex and Divya were there so was good to see them. Spent the mass just listening to what was going on and trying to keep awake. I looked like death having not really slept well for a few days, quite a few people commented on this fact, which further led me to the conclusion that sleep and a lack of social interaction was probably the best thing for me to do in such a condition. After mass we had lunch. There was a pair of weighing scales in the dinning room. I weighed myself, 66 something, can't remember what it was in. A few weeks into my arrival in Karur, Samy and Christi weighed me (for some unknown reason, maybe they want to fatten me up to eat me); I have not put on any weight. Good news although I can hear a lot of you disagreeing in the usual manner. At about 2, I excused myself and headed back to Iggy's to chill out a bit. It was a lovely 42°c (114°f) outside and getting into the car was physically painful. Watched some TV, slept for about an hour and then at 6 was picked up by Iggy's driver and taken to the train station. I picked up some food in "planet yum" and jumped on the train. Went to bed at about 9 having eaten but I didn't sleep all that much, was constantly woken up by the sound of the AC and by the train tipping from left to right, one has to be careful not to fall of ones bunk especially when your suspended 7 feet off the ground. It was very hot.

On Monday morning was up at about 5:30 washed and ready to disembark at 6. The train was running an hour late so I stood at the open door and watched sleepy south India pass by whilst the sun rose. Was met in Karur by Raj and driven back to AREDS.

Having arrived in Renganathapuram everyone was up and about. It was fantastic to see everyone (Christi, Samy and the girls) had missed them since I'd been away. The girls had changed their program and would now be heading back up to Chennai on the 23rd, which was great. Also staying in the house was Samy's sister and her husband. The girls had both come down with the intention of learning to drive. Poorni had previously learned but wanted a refresher course so she could apply for an international driving license for when she goes to Holland and Prathi hadn't learned before and wanted to. At about 10 they headed off to Karur to follow this up and I headed up to the site to see what was to be done and to get back to work. The concreting of the pool had been completed. They were going to be laying all the roofs soon and the job in hand was the plastering and pointing off all the walls. There was no electricity and the work that was being done was not suitable so Samy and myself hung around. We made sure that the juice was flowing so to speak so that the concreted pool could be cured by water and then headed off to SWATE where we checked out the planting that had been done to see if it was being maintained. We had a bit of a problem getting the new Sumo jeep going, until I realised that we had accidentally switched on the immobiliser, and once that was sorted we headed off back home.

I was beginning to feel decidedly dodgy. It was very hot and over the last few days my general state of health had not been particularly good. I have been getting very dehydrated very quickly. I have been feeling very sick and my appetite hasn't been particularly good at all (which has made the usual worry about Jaime and food even worse). I have generally been totally exhausted, like, not being able to make it up a flight of stairs exhausted. We have come to the conclusion that it is just a mild dose of heat exhaustion but whatever it is I have been feeling very ill.

Anyway, the next few days all seemed to lump themselves into one what with early mornings and late nights. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday and then was told that I should not be going to work but resting instead. Have not been feeling tired, just exhausted, and therefore me and the girls have been staying up late into the night just talking and listening to music. They have been going for driving lessons and from what I have seen, both doing very very well. On Thursday we spent the afternoon up at the farm in the water tank chilling out and drinking coconut water. Over the next few days there was a village temple festival going on in the village. On Tuesday when I went up to work there were loads of people carrying around decapitated goats, which was not a particularly nice sight. They have erected some large towers over the road and they have covered them in lights, they put up a large stage and had an orchestra playing a few nights ago. They have had fire works and they have been playing music over the public announcement system from early in the morning (5ish) till late at night (sometimes till 3). We have generally been chilling out. One night of the festival there were fire works and we headed up onto the terrace to see them. There was also a big thunderstorm going on a way off and the lightning display was pretty bloody impressive. Was fantastic spending time with them both here. They left (driving up to Chennai, not train) on Friday. Didn't want them to go, miss them both. They will both be returning on the 7th accompanied by Gerry and Rohit, which should be good. Prathi starts back at college on the 17th and Poorni is just hanging around and finalizing stuff for uni. She leaves by August 10th. Plan on venturing up to Chennai at the end of July to spend time with her before she goes. May also go up around my birthday as I can go out in Chennai, depends on a few things.

On Saturday, having woken up at about 10, I headed up to the training center at about 11:30 to take part in a workshop that has been put on for the kids of AREDS employee's. I got there and at about 12 we all (about 20 kids and 4 adults) sat in a big circle and started making beats with implements gathered from the garden i.e. sticks stones and metal bowls and pans. The idea was to get them experimenting with rhythm. I had half of a tabla and once everyone had played a beat we chose the three best and simplest, split the group into three, moved the groups to separate area's of the hall and got them all to play their elected beat in unison with the other two groups. It worked quite well although they kept on going out of time and some just banged on the floor.

After this we all had lunch. After lunch I did some poi and juggling and got everyone else doing it. Was really really good but I found myself getting knackered out after 2 minutes of easy going poi so I stopped after a while. At 3:30 I got a lift home. Was exhausted, slept.

In the evening Samy headed off to Chennai. When I returned back to Karur I was informed that Ghita (caretaker of house), Lawrence (Carpenter) and Little man (their son) had moved to Bangalore to help Samy's sister and her husband. Am actually going to miss them a bit.

Caught red handed.

On Sunday woke up early to find that Christi had gone up to SWATE. She returned after lunch, up until then I had just been hanging around reading. We had made arrangements for a tailor to come to the house so that I could explain to him how to make a pair of flags (speaking of which, thanks very very much for the weights granny, exactly what I needed). The tailor didn't show up at the allotted time so, generally feeling a bit bored, we decided to cover me with henna (skin dye) which had been picked a few days ago, mashed up with water to form a paste and then applied. They (Christi and Samy's sister) drew 7 circles (filled in) decreasing in size to about the size of a penny piece, on my right arm, 7 stripes decreasing in length to about 2 inches long, on my left arm, 2 bands around my arm between my elbow and shoulder, 2 massive circles on the palms of my hands and stripes going up my fingers. Being totally unable to use my hands or arms I sat around waiting for the stuff to work. I had to drink coffee through a straw constructed, with great initiative, out of a papaya branch and generally get bored Watching Tamil TV. Every half an hour they covered the blobs of mush with water. I looked like I had been savagely attacked by a dog with a bad case of the shits. Using the phone when Prathi called me up was a bloody nightmare. At about 7:30 I had had enough and decided to wash the stuff off. The effect was of mixed success. The pieces on my arms could be seen but were light, a rusty colour. My palms and fingers, in contrast, were very bright vivid reddish orange. I look like I have an African sunset in each hand, its absolutely mad. The effect lasts for a month, unlike the few days henna in the UK lasts. It's all good.

On Monday I headed off to Karur with Anand for several reasons the main being that I had to register myself at the police station as a foreign resident in the area. I had to fill out a load of forms etc. Karur was mobbed. There was a Hindu festival going on and the whole place was awash with people, policemen and roadblocks and diversions. On the outskirts there was a massive fair ground on the bed of a dried up river. There were dodgems, Ferris wheels and loads of small roller coasters. It looked great but slightly unsafe, especially by UK standards. Got back at about 3.

At 3:30 I headed back out with Anand, back to Karur on a bike to pick up some photos. When I got back at about 4:30 the tailor had arrived and Christi and myself spent the next hour explaining how I wanted him to make my flags, with Christi translating.

At 8ish Christi left for Chennai. There is no one here apart from Ambiga. Feeling slightly lonely.

On Tuesday, Samy came by jeep, back down to Karur arriving at about 2, Tuesday morning, and leaving 8 hours later back to Chennai. Not feeling too good, had stuff to do for my registration to the police, photocopying, forms etc. Read, hung around all day. At night watched "the Jackal." The generator decided to run out of diesel half way through the night. My room turned itself up from 1 to gas mark 9.

Emerged feeling slightly cooked at about 9, ready for work. Anand said we had to go to Karur in the morning so I would have to skip work today. Headed off with him at about 11 having first received my flags from the tailor. They cost R.s. 50, I gave them 100, job very well done, and they work like a dream.

Got to Karur and headed off to the Chief of police's office. It was a holiday, he wasn't there. Bought some stuff, picked up some stuff, headed back with numerous stops on the way. I like riding on motorbikes.

On Thursday I got up to go top work and then got told that we had to go back into Karur to hand in the forms and stuff to the chief of police. Anand and myself headed in and went straight to the police station. We handed in the forms, they had a talk. They wanted to see some of my contact juggling. I obliged. We headed into Karur to get some stuff. The festival thing was still going on. Someone mentioned that 11 people had been killed on one of the fair ground rides. I thought they looked a little rickety. I bought a bottle of water and later realised that the plastic seal ring around the neck just came off with the lid. This aint meant to happen the plastic ring is supposed to be unmovable. I figured (as apparently is quite common) that the bottle had just been filled up with tap water, oops. We came back to the house and I just hung around for the rest of the day. I began to feel ill, I was ill, it passed.

On Friday morning I was woken up by the noise of thumping. I wondered what the hell was going on and, having stuck my head out my door, I watched some dude outside my window scaling a 35-foot (3 story building) coconut palm. I thought they used a piece of rope tied round their feet but this dude just shimmied up the damn thing and started cutting off all the coconuts. It was incredible seeing this dude just running up this vertical pole. Apparently they have to cut all the coconuts down from the tree's in the back garden otherwise they can fall on people. That morning Samy returned from Chennai. I headed up to the site to do some work. The bridge over the pool had been concreted in and still had the supports holding it up. They were pouring water on it to cure the concrete and make it waterproof. They had put a layer of scored plaster on the inside of the pool. The next thing is to plaster and lay mosaic tiles. Then it will be pretty much done. Will still take a long time. They have finished laying the roof of one of the toilets and have plastered the inside of all the dorms and the theatre. Next step is for the roof to be put up. They said they would be finished on the 7th, yeah right. Today, all the tenth standard (GCSE equivalent) results came out. Everyone was constantly trying to get on the computer to download the results, problem being that the Internet is still buggered. They did it eventually. All the AREDS staff children passed. Congratulations.

I was sent to dig a hole with a few others around all but the door side of the theatre for the use of planting. It was about 40°c. Digging was difficult in that heat. Got very tired very quickly cause I was in direct sunlight. Was sweating buckets. They realised I was obviously feeling uncomfortable in the sun and moved me into one of the dorms assisting one of the plasterers by handing him stuff, transporting cement and water and generally lending a hand. Samy came at 12:45, we had a look around. We left.

Having had lunch I wanted to go into Karur to do some stuff and have a pair of shorts made as the pairs I have are beginning to look a little tatty from working. I wanted a "good pair." Myself, Anand, Raja and Ambiga headed off into Karur in the AREDS school bus, odd I know but apparently there were no other vehicles. Don't know if being back in a school bus was the cause of it but during the entire journey they all acted like school kids, sticking their heads out the windows and yelling to people they knew. We went and bought some material and, having brought another pair of shorts in as a template, I explained I wanted them longer and wider. The material cost R.s. 350 (about 4 squid), they would be ready the next day. We did some other stuff. Picked up some paper for a SWATE publication, bought some toothpaste and deodorant, I bought a couple of beers having been reminded it was outdoor beer drinking weather in the UK, thought I'd join in.

"Do you smell bacon?" "I definitely smell a pork product of some kind."

Samy was required to write a letter to the Chief of police saying that I was indeed staying with them. He had given us it, and we headed off to drop it off at the station on the way out of Karur. I stayed in the bus with Raja. Anand reappeared after about 15 mins and, with a group of police people, went across to a café across the road. We began to wonder what was going on. After about 15 minutes he came back to the bus. The police were not happy with my registration; they wanted to know were I had been for the last 5 months. Anand had told them that I had been in Chennai. They wanted to know why I hadn't registered in Chennai, he didn't know. He had had to buy them all coffee and cigarettes to keep them happy for the time being. They said that if I couldn't produce a letter or documentation of registration in Chennai they would want money in return for "turning a blind eye" so to speak. Anand explained all this to me in the bus. I told him that I had gone to register with the Chennai police and that they had said they didn't know what I was talking about "registering" and not to worry about it. I told him that the police were not getting one bloody rupee out of me. The Indian government require a valid passport and a valid Indian visa for me to legally stay in the county, I had both. I wasn't going to start bribing policemen. The coffee and cigarettes shouldn't have been bought, I was doing nothing wrong. It's their bloody problem not mine. Had the police been doing their jobs properly there wouldn't be a problem. When we got back I told Samy they were after money. He said the same thing, never back down to these people. They aint getting a thing. This all seemed very bizarre to me. I didn't realize it, but this is how the police operate, this is perfectly normal, Anand was not surprised al all, he said this was part of "Indian culture". It made me really angry but it was nice to know that if this was indeed how stuff worked, all you would have to do, if you had a problem with the old bill, was to throw some money at them and the problem was likely to go away, safe.

On Saturday Samy had suggested I come to Coimbatore with him. We had to drop him off at the airport as he was heading up to Bombay for some meeting, he'd be back on the 3rd. Christi was doing a similar thing. She would be back on the 2nd morning and would be leaving for Bangalore on 2nd night. These guys quite literally never stop moving around, madness.

Coimbatore is about 2 ½ hours away. Its quite a large place and is well known for being politically powerful and for having lots of money. We (myself, Samy and Raja) headed off at about 10:30 and stopped for coffee, in the same place we stopped off in on the way to Korthagiri, at about 12. We reached Coimbatore at about 1:30, dropped Samy at the airport (with lots of Banana's for Suresh and Viji) and then headed off to find a hotel to have lunch. After a while we found one (3-4 star, I think) parked the car and headed up to the restaurant. I felt seriously underdressed. I had on a massive pair of jeans and a basketball style top with armholes that showed off half my chest. I looked like I should be on a basketball court in Harlem, not in a plush hotel restaurant. We sat down. Where as usual everyone immediately consults the dude I'm with about what we want to eat everyone spoke English and started asking me all these questions. Raja, whose English aint good, just said to get him anything, "what you like, I like." After staring at a menu, and being stared at by everyone in the damn place, for about 10 minutes I decided the easiest thing to do, to avoid confusion with Raja, was to take the buffet which we did, very good food, very polite waiters who asked me where I was from, where I was staying etc. Really nice place. As per usual everyone questioned me on why I wasn't eating much, was I ok, did I not like the food. I explained that everything was fine. The bill came, 330 bucks, not even enough to buy 2 pints of larger. Paid, got asked to fill in a form on how I had enjoyed my food etc. Left tip, left. All good.

Headed back to Karur. Arrived in Karur at about 5:15. Went to pick up some stuff I had ordered, picked up my shorts, which are fantastic and then headed back home. Got home, collapsed, had dinner. After dinner I spoke to Poorni, tried to speak to Prathi in Goa, not much luck, the phones are buggered, it's like talking to a radio on static. Having received several e-mails on how the weather in the UK is turning nice and how its perfect, drinking beer outside weather, I sat down outside, had a bottle of kingfisher (arguably one of the best beers I have ever had) and went to bed.

Sunday was pretty boring. Spent most time reading or on the computer.

Monday morning saw Christi returning from Chennai. Was good to see her. I headed up to the site at about 10:30. We needed to start laying another level of cement on the base of the pool so that it can be scored and then the plaster and tiles can be laid on top of that.
Spent the morning lugging buckets of concrete around and transporting pans of cement onto women's heads. The bridge has had all it wooden moldings and supports taken off and is looking good. One can already walk on it. Once all this cement is laid and scored then we can start laying the tiles (which, apparently, is going to be done next week, I'll believe that when I see it,) and then all that needs to be sorted out are the electrics and pumps and the pool will be finished. The buildings have pretty much been finished apart from the roofs. We will also have to suspend a large net over the pool and possibly over the theatre as well. The reason, possible injury caused by falling coconuts. Also, the roof of the theatre, unlike the roof of dorms, which will be thatched, is going to be made out of tiles. The last thing we want is to have to replace them every time a coconut falls. Christi headed to Bangalore at about ten. She will be back on the 4th.

Thought I had pretty much seen all the types of household wildlife there is to see. Every night I seem to be squishing and decapitating cockroaches in the kitchen. Was sitting there at 11pm watching Irma La Douce when I heard a scrabbling. The dogs had been barking outside all bloody evening, I realised why. There had obviously been a rat in the yard and it had now plucked up the courage to come into the house where it was quietly minding its own business right in front of me. What could I do, I can hardly step on a rat. Rats don't bother me in the slightest but I must admit I got a bit of a shock when I saw it. I went into the kitchen to find something I could trap it in to transport it outside. By the time I got back, our little rodent friend had buggered off. Rats aint something you want around this place. Where there are rats (or "rat") there are snakes and after our encounter with the cobra a few months back I thought it best to get rid of the thing. I will do next time I see it.

Another thing that seems to have made itself a frequent visitor to the house at the moment seems to be toads. On Monday I had to chase one out of my bathroom. They can jump one hell of a distance and when they do they don't seem to go where you think they are going to go. They can jump off a wall, away from the wall, if you get me. I just went up to do some washing. Its dark and when I switched the light on I didn't see anything unusual. I reached for the tap, which, incidentally, is suspended 4 foot off the ground and about a foot away from the wall, and when I touched it I realised it didn't feel like a tap. Why, I hear you ask, three guesses, yep, it was a toad. A toad perched on a tap. I have to say, and this may sound stupid, but it was one of the most bizarre things I have EVER seen and I've seen some very odd things. A toad, on a tap. This will never fail to make me laugh.

Tuesday. Woke up this morning and went down to breakfast where I was immediately presented with some cake, icing and everything. One of Ambiga's sons had just been promoted. Not a bad way to start the day, cake for breakfast, how nutritious. Went up to the site and worked all morning laying a foundation for a small wall that is to be constructed round the theatre and dorms so that the level of the ground can be raised. Still no sign of the tiles which aint good at all seeing as the pool needs to be finished by the 7th so that it can be shown to the umpteen people coming down to SWATE for the AREDS GB (general board) meeting. Loads of people are coming including Mano, the girls (Poorni from Chennai, Prathi from Goa) and a load more other people. Should be 300 in all (that includes all AREDS staff located in the surrounding area.

Whilst I was working with the guys an ice-cream bike (fridge on the back of a push bike) turned up. They bought me some Kulfi in a cone. Having eaten it I realised that one of the main ingredients was water, probably tap water, oops.

Went back for lunch at 1. Ambiga has the day off and so my lunch was laid out waiting. Samy arrived back from Bombay at about 2. He's back for a while now until he goes to Beirut on like the 26th. Good to have some company, finally. Went into Karur to get some photo's developed and to buy some bleach as all my beautiful white t-shirts, which I am sure everyone is aware, I love, are beginning to turn an odd colour. The photos (all of which had not been developed from previous rolls of film due to the fact that they were "under" or "over exposed") were developed in less than 10 minutes, now why couldn't they have done that the first time around.

Wednesday morning I headed up to the site a little later than normal at about 11. Christi had returned from Bangalore at 5 that morning. Tried to get the Internet working, didn't work.

Was working all morning laying a brick wall round the two dorm buildings. One has to be finished in time for the general body meeting which means putting a roof on it. Not too sure if it'll be ready. Samy wants me to do a presentation to the body about the site and the project in general stating aims etc. Should be infront of 300 odd people, not too sure about public speaking but will defiantly write something. Samy and Christi had gone to Tritchy for the day and with them both away people had apparently forgot that I was working and needed to be picked up at 1. At about 2:30 Godwin turned up on foot to inform me that they had all forgotten and that there was a Sumo waiting for me down the road. By the time I got back it was nearly 3. I was very dehydrated, very burned and very very hungry having not eaten anything in the morning. Am now off to have a lie down because I am feeling very light headed? Its good to have the two of them back, company that speaks English at last. Samy will be heading up to Chennai on the 9th and Christi will be making the same journey on the 11th. Should still have the girls around at that point so that'll be nice although I aint too sure when they are leaving. Its Samy's birthday three days before mine, on the 15th June. Should also be doing something for that. Still not too sure what I am going to do for my birthday, Chennai, Karur, who knows. Will let you know nearer the time.

Friday was one hell of a nutty day. With the general body meeting happening on Saturday everyone was running around like mad people. There was so much work to do. This plus the fact that a lot of people were due to arrive that night and the next day meant that everyone who wasn't working on stuff for the meeting was cleaning EVERYWHERE, getting the rooms ready etc. I was asked not to go to work and to muck in with what was going on. I had to create a few posters with photos and captions explaining the progress we have been making up at the site, the aims of the project and general info on what we have been doing. This was then going to be presented to the board the next day. I spent the whole morning doing this, had lunch at one and then carried on until about 4 when I had to go into Karur to pick up some stuff. After picking up my stuff with Velu and Augustine we headed off to the railway station to pick up Mano who was arriving at 4:45. The train, surprise surprise, was late. We picked him up and then headed back to AREDS to continue the madness.

In the evening we got some bad news. Amol (Poorni and Prathi's maid) who was traveling down to Karur with Poorni that night had missed the train. They had arrived together late, Poorni had got on, Amol had handed her the bags and then the train had pulled off. We weren't too sure whether or not she had managed to jump on to another carriage or whether she was in Chennai station. Amol is a very very timid person. She does not communicate very well and apparently gets very nervous and panicky. We called chennai station and asked them to put a message out on the PA. Poorni, who was in a bit of a state, had told the people on the train what had happened. Velu, who was heading off to pick up Jerry and Rohit, had been instructed to wait at the station where the train would pass, to jump on and see if he could locate Amol. I offered to go with him. This was due to the fact that she had more chance of seeing and recognizing a 6-foot, bald white dude then she has any of the people AREDS could send. I would have gone but it would have taken time to get to where Velu was and this would have made him late. After a few hours we got a phone call saying that she had been picked up at Chennai station. The police having heard she was lost, had found her. She had been put into a YWCA for the night. She would then go home. Everyone was very very relieved.

AREDS General Body Meeting

Monday was a mad day. Poorni's train was a few hours late, turning up at like 9. Jerry and Rohit had arrived in the middle of the night. Prathiba had arrived with a load of others at 6 from Bangalore and then proceeded to come and wake me up and drag me down stair at 6:30. Was great to see her. She had been in Goa so had a tan. She had also had her nose pierced, which really suites her but she had had it done with a gun, disgusting things. I think she is getting a bit fed up of me telling her not to play with it, have given her the daily cleaning ritual for fresh piercing's lecture, lets hope her nose doesn't fall off ha ha.

I hadn't slept much at all. By 9:30 there were a load of people downstairs. Poorni eventually turned up, was great to see her as well. Samy and Christi headed of to SWATE (where the meeting was being held) and about 10 and told us (the girls, me, Gerry, Rohit and Ravi (a really nice friend of the family from Bangalore) to come up at 11. The girls had bought me a wicked black, tight diesel top from Chennai; Gerry presented me with 2 t-shirts and a sleeveless basketball shirt, which were all fantastic. I didn't know what was going, everyone seemed to be giving me presents for no reason. Hey man, I aint complaining. At 11:30 (having waited around forever on everyone getting ready, we finally made our way up to SWATE to show our faces at the general body meeting.

We walked in just as Christi was presenting the segment on ACTS (AREDS Children's Theatre School). She went through everything I had written and a lot more. She then spoke about me (all this in Tamil of which I was receiving a constant translation) and how such a project needed someone with the right mindset to do it properly, in me (apparently) they had found their man. Slightly OTT but very flattering, was very nice. I received a round of applause.

At about 1:30 we headed off to lunch in the SWATE garden restaurant. Was very good. After that we headed off to the site so I could show the guys what we had been up to. We had a look round. They have added the toilets and started to add the roof on one of the buildings. Looks good.

After that we headed back to the house and just hung around, listened to music etc etc. Prathi wanted to learn to do poi. I have been teaching her some stuff over the few days that she has been here and she is learning all the moves at an astounding rate, much faster than I have ever seen anyone pick it up. On her first day she could do moves that took me a year and half to master. Its ridiculous. She puts it down to having such a good teacher, yeah right.

On Saturday evening, as there were a lot of people around, Ravi suggested that I do some fire. We managed to get some kero from the village and after setting up I did my stuff so to speak. It was fantastic. I have missed doing it so much. The wicks were so much better than they had been at MTL day. I had an amazing time. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and I got lots of compliments on it afterward. Attempted a few breathes but being out of practice I didn't went to try anything major. None of them were that good, not in comparison with what they usually are. One decided to turn round and bite me on the chin, was a bit of a near miss. It was amazing. Reminded me just how much I love this stuff. Have to do more.

On Sunday morning we all (me, Poorni, Prathi, Samy, Ravi, Gerry, Rohit & Margaret (Ravi's mum) headed off to the training center. Ravi's dad had been a major player in the AREDS organisation. He had been on the GB etc. He had, sadly, died a few years previously and there was a monument erected up at the training center in tribute to him. They all spent some time at the monument. The two families are old friends. We had a walk round the training center. Prathiba wanted to see the well where we attempted to catch fish; I took her down there. We had some coconuts.

After the training center we headed back to the house to pick up Christi. They had all decided to go up to the farm to have a dip in the water tank (soon they should have a pool for such activities.) I decided to stay behind, wasn't feeling to good.

When they got back we had lunch and just hung around. Poorni, Prathi, myself and Ravi hung out, listened to lots of drum & bass, did poi, they danced. In the evening they had some dinner and then me and the girls escorted Ravi and Margaret to Karur train station to say farewell, they were heading back to Bangalore. Ravi invited me down to Bangalore, me and Prathi said we would make a trip down at some point to take in the local nightlife which is, apparently, pretty damn good. We drove home, more music, poi. Went to bed.

Monday was an AREDS holiday as everyone had been working so hard towards the general body meeting. We pretty much just chilled out. I taught Prathi lots more poi, we listened to music. In the afternoon we headed into Karur to do some shopping. I pretty much set myself up for this one; I obviously hadn't earned much from Bombay. We stopped of in some material shop and everyone went in. I stayed outside, did some contact juggling, gathered the usual crowd of onlookers. They were in the shop for well over an hour. I got bored, went back to the jeep and ended up sitting there with Raj with load Brazilian drum & bass blasting out the Sumo windows. The locals seemed to like it. The girls and Christi finally emerged and we headed off to buy Prathiba a nose stud for her freshly done (with a nasty gun I might add) nose piercing. We spent some time in a flash jewelers and walked out with a diamond studded gold nose stud, nice. We then headed across the road to another shop to buy some material for the girls. Christi went off to pick up Gerry who was still spending in the previous shop. We stocked up on chocolate, popping candy and lolly pops. They returned with photos of me doing fire. They looked pretty damn good. We headed to SWATE.

We had dinner in SWATE garden restaurant, which was, as usual, pretty fantastic. We waited around in SWATE and then headed back to the house.

Back at the house we ended up staying up late playing cards. When everyone went to bed Prathi and me stayed up and eating lots of junky, jelly, popping, sugary sweets.

Tuesday involved yet more poi, more music, packing and chilling out. At about 8 I took the girls and Christi to the train station and saw them off. We got back at about 10 by which time I was beginning to feel decidedly dodgy. Having called Robbie to wish him happy birthday I went to bed and had the most awful night. It was boiling hot and I was burning up but was feeling really cold and ended up wrapped in several blankets.

On Wednesday morning I got up to say good-bye to Rohit and Gerry who were leaving for Bombay. Having been stood up for about 20 seconds I blacked out and managed to land on my bed. Having decided that getting g downstairs was going to be one hell of a mission I figured someone would be up at some point. I was feeling really, seriously ill. Gerry appeared to say goodbye. Was stood at the door for less than a minute talking to her before everything started going black again. I excused myself and landed on my bed having. Ambiga brought me up some water. The whole day consisted of lying in bed. I couldn't get downstairs; I couldn't stand up for more than a minute without nearly blacking out. I was running a temperature. I had stomach cramps and one hell of a serious stomach bug. My inability to walk properly meant shower trips (when I was overheating) toilet trips and getting water was all very very difficult.

In the evening I managed to get downstairs. I felt dreadful but was no longer blacking out. I called Chennai. Poorni had a similar thing. I didn't eat. Having slept pretty much all day I watched Flubber, stocked up on water and went back to bed. That night was worse, a lot worse.

Thursday morning the black out scenario's returned but not for long. I went downstairs in the morning and called Chennai. I had been reading up on stomach bus in my guidebooks and was getting worried that some of the symptoms I was displaying were not normal stomach bug territory. They were described and being caused by a much serious problem that would not just go away. I spoke to Christi, talked over the symptoms and my research. One of the bugs in the book matched all my symptoms exactly. Christi agreed. She knew about this stuff, as she had to treat this kinda thing when there wasn't a medical place in the village. The drug she recommended was the same drug the book recommended, it also said I should see a doctor urgently, I couldn't make it into Karur, the drug would have to do for the time being. She called some people and sent someone to pick up this stuff and some electrol (re-hydration salt.)

For the past four years the one event that has held the top most spot for making Jaime miserable has been Heather. Since July 2000 the number one place has never been challenged, until now. On Wednesday 10th June 20003 her 4 year rein at number 1 came to an end (sorry Heather, but 4 years is one hell of an impressive run.) This new challenger came in the form of a cute, cuddly protozoan, technically referred to as Entamoeba histolytica. In short ladies and gents, I had Amoebic dysentery. Please take my word for this; it is one hell of a nasty thing to have. The stuff that this bug can do to your body is, quite frankly, remarkable. I aint gonna go into details about the sweats, the aches and pains and the shivers. I'm not going to bore with stories about the headaches, the blackouts and the obvious other symptoms of dysentery, which I am sure you can work out for yourselves. I'm not even going to go on about the hours of trying to get comfortable and sleep whilst your insides feel like they have been twisted up and run through a mangle. What I am going to do, however, is give you all some good advise. Should any of you ever be unfortunate to catch this vicious little bug the best possible thing to do, is to contact your local plumber, and have him install a urinal in your bathroom.

The drugs arrived and I started taking them. I am on a high dose of metronidazole most commonly referred to as Flagy. I have to take 200mg of this stuff three times a day for the next ten days. By Thursday evening things were already beginning to look up. I felt like shit but it was so much better than feeling like I had done for the last few days. I even managed to eat something in the evening, for the first time in well over 48 hours. Watched "Blade" and went to bed. Didn't really sleep.

Friday morning was ok. Still felt dodgy but much better in comparison with how I was feeling, which granted, aint difficult. Was up and about at 9:30. Hopefully should be feeling better so I can go up to Chennai. Samy and Christi both returned from Chennai at about 5. Good to see them both. Its Samy's birthday on the 15th so that should all be good.

News in this evenings that, one their way to from Karur, Raj, with passenger Vincent (the dude in charge of all the textiles) ended up partially rolling one of the Sumo's (jeeps). They swerved to avoid hitting an oncoming bus on a corner and tipped the Sumo on to its side. They managed to pop out the front windscreen, which wasn't broken, and climb out. They are both fine. Quick thinking by Raj probably saved their lives as he turned late enough to avoid a large ditch at the side of the road, which would have sent the jeep rolling. All this on Friday 13th, spooky stuff.

Saturday, feeling better but still not 100%. Am heading up to Chennai on the 16th night and will be there for about a week.

jaime

2003-04-24T09:22:00.000-07:00

Easter in the east.

Greetings, sorry it’s been a while and that there is so much stuff to read. Also, a quick “get well soon” to Poorni and I hope both your exams went well.

Right, well on Sunday morning myself, Christi and Samy headed off to church at around 8. We arrived at about 8:20 to a packed church. The church was a lot different to the churches we have back at home. It was simply a long hall approached up some steps. The sermon, which had already begun, was being broadcast on a public announcement system, which echoed out over Karur. We waited until they were singing and snuck in.

At the front of the church, as expected, there was an altar, there was the usual crucifix and on the walls were paintings of the crucifixion of Christ. The main difference was the fact that there were no seats save a few benches at the back. Pretty much everyone was sitting on the floor;
they had created a central walkway. The congregation was segregated with the women sitting on the right all dressed up in their colourful sari’s (quite a sight) and the men on the left. We were given chairs and placed at the back of the hall.

The sermon was all in Tamil but contained several aspects. These included:

Reading from the bible.

Hymns, which were sung to an accompaniment of keyboard, violin and drum. It was really out of tune but this all added to the effect.

Mass: general reciting after the priest, saying “amen” a lot, making the cross sign on ones head, getting up and down a lot, lots of “Halleluiahs”, people offering stuff to the altar i.e. candles.

Communion, which consisted of a nun walking, down the central walkway handing out the wafer type bread. Wine was not included which I found really odd but apparently its common not to use any drink for so many people, only on special occasions (how more special can Easter Sunday be) will it be used and to smaller groups of invited people.

The service was pleasant even though I couldn’t understand what was going on.

Afterwards we headed up to the priests chamber building to say hello and wish him luck on his silver jubilee celebrations, which are to be held next week (he is one of Samy and Christi’s friends.)

We headed back and spent the rest of the day watching TV. I spent a lot of the day designing cartoons to educate about the risks, symptoms and causes of cancer. To educate people into checking themselves and how earl diagnosis is the key to curing and dealing with the disease. Samy is a member of “Cancer control society for Karur district” and he needs to distribute leaflets etc.

I also spent a lot of the day designing a logo for Christi’s AREDS faction of International Playback Theatre Company which, if you haven’t heard of it, is people getting together, talking about their lives and problems and then having it acted out by a team of people in order to purvey certain life prospectives to the person. This is seen as a type of therapy and is especially good when dealing with people who have had difficult or abusive pasts (such as AREDS and SWATE are dealing with.) It is not only for problems but can be used to tell any story in ones life. It encourages people to open up and speak about events that they would usually never have the opportunity to discuss with other people.

In the evening we watched “A midsummer nights dream”: staring Ally McBeal’s Clarista Flockhart. We watched the first half as there was going to be an early start the next morning, as you shall see.

In other news about Easter:

We saw an article on TV News about Christians in India who carry out the actual rituals of a crucifixion at Easter time, obviously without the death part. They hung up a few guys and when I say hung up I don’t mean, “tie up” I mean NAIL UP, no kidding. It looked awful. They also practiced self flagellation (whipping) with large whips of many strands. They bled everywhere and there backs looked like had been attacked with someone wielding a cheese grater. Not nice. http://www.wildcat.co.uk/text/crucifixion.htm this is not for the squeamish.

On Monday morning we got up at about 5 and made ready to leave for another hill station called Kodaikanal with Samy and Christi. The reason? One of the AREDS staff’s mum had died and we were going to attend the funeral. It took about 4 hours. We stopped off for breakfast in some out of the way hotel, good dosa!

We reached the bottom of the hill and began to make the 1-½ hour journey to 2400 meters above sea level. The scenery was stunningly dramatic. Unlike Korthagiri this was not a tea hill, all the way up was thick, forest jungle and what’s more the road was not hemmed in by bushes and vines but was open on at least one side all the way up. The views over the flat plains of Tamil Nadu were amazing; like from a plane the patchwork landscape slowly turned into rolling “mr men” style hills (you know the ones that look like a stack of tennis balls). The road started out clinging to the side of the hills that rolled away into the distance. Every now and then it would head inwards onto a plateau, we drove through thick forest, glades of green lit only by dappled light. The views were breathtaking. The hills tower on all sides. When one got out of the car all you could hear was “jungle noises” like the stuff you hear on the TV. Monkeys going “oooh aaah”, birds singing, like rain forest noises, madness. We drove through eucalyptus groves where massive, straight trees hung over the road. There was a jeep which had veered off the road and hung off the edge of a massive drop saves only by one pretty massive silver oak that towered towards the sky. We drove past Cadbury coco bean and coffee plantations. We drove past waterfalls and every now and again a dry riverbed ran under the road. I spent most of the time with my head out the window. You know just after it rains and in the countryside everything smells green, that’s what it was like.

We didn’t stop on the way up cause we were already late. We got into the inhabited parts and drove through small mountain villages that clung to the side of steep slopes or nestled themselves in the valleys. It was a lot cooler and because of this I forgot that I wasn’t wearing a hat or sun cream, oopps, burnt head.

We arrived at the funeral to find a mass off people crowding round the coffin wailing, and I mean wailing, it didn’t seem like they were crying, no tears were visible at this point, they were just wailing. It was most disturbing and slightly upsetting. To my knowledge I have never been to a funeral before so this was all new especially because of the fact that it was Indian. We walked down the steep steps onto the roof of the house and Samy and Christi went forward. I stood in the middle of the crowd not wanting to intrude on the affair and feeling very awkward. After a while a couple of dudes picked up the coffin and were off much to the dismay of the people. They headed up the hill to the church with the body in a large trolley on wheals covered with flowers etc. We took the jeep and drove behind the people.

We got to the church and were now very high up on the top of a hill looking down on a valley shrouded in midst. It was quite nippy and the cloud rolled down the hill. We went into the church and sat on the floor. There was another mass, one thing that was odd even in Indian custom, was that the female daughters are not allowed to attend the funeral service, odd. There were hymns, readings, mass and then communion, all in Tamil. The church was nice and decorated with Christmas streamers. After everything, everyone walked up to the coffin at the front and there was something going on which I later found out to be the last rights. They carried the coffin out of the church, put it on the trolley thing and headed off down the steep slopes (everything is steep in this place) down to the cemetery. Samy and myself walked down infront, through the village, past shops and stalls, it was really beautiful, the sun was out and everywhere looked fresh.

We got down to the cemetery and met the woman’s husband who looked in a bit of a state, not surprising. We walked down the steep grassy slopes of the cemetery t the spot where she was to be buried. Everyone came down the hill, it looked out over another valley, hills were the background. The cemetery itself was thick with pine trees. It didn’t look like India.

The coffin came down, there was a small amount of talk and ritual, the lid was nailed in place, she was lowered down and then covered up. Everyone headed out and on the way stopped to wash their faces, feet and hands, as is done at the end of such occasions. Apparently one should never say good bye after such events, this is because the literal translation of most of the India “good-byes” is “I’ll be back” or something along those lines, this is obviously not appropriate and means that you wish further bad luck on the family. We found our people and headed off back down the hill.

We drove down to the main town just below the one we had been in and it was very different. Instead of being in a small rural mountain town we found ourselves in an Indian holiday town. There were restaurants, shops, horse riding, a boating lake, go-carting, big 5 star hotels, an 18 hole golf course, bike tours and even (and no this isn’t a spelling mistake) a skate park. This I found very very odd. A skate park, in the middle of the Indian mountains, I haven’t seen or heard anyone even talk about skates or boards let alone a bloody skate park, had I known I might have brought my skates. The people seemed generally different. There were a lot of young fashionable people around, wearing cloths that I may contemplate wearing which was also odd seeing as most people that I have seen in the cities have been dressed, in my opinion, oddly for people of that age. There were very few white people around even though it was a blatant touristy spot, for Indian people.

We had lunch in a little restaurant, bought some peacock feathers, some bread (bread made in the hills is always better than the stuff made on the low lands which is why all the hills have bakery’s) and then we headed back down the hill. The scenery was again amazing and we stopped off at a few places to take some pics. We stopped off at a view point where to the right stretched then open flat lands of Tamil Nadu and to the right was a sea of green jungle known as the Western Ghats, Fantastic. We bought some avocados on the way, as they only grow high up in the hills, and a jackfruit, which is a thorny melon type thing, which are massive, larger than footballs.

On the way back to Karur we stopped off in a plant nursery and bought a load of creepers and other plants for my proposed living archway entrance to the children’s theatre. We had a coffee in a near by café and went on our way getting back to Karur at about 6:15.

On Tuesday not much happened. Christi went and turned her self in for bail at the local court and got it so that’s good. I took her up to see the site and we potted all the plants we had bought the previous day. In the evening we were meant to watch “Cast Away”- but got distracted on the subject of what I should wear when we go to the first communion of one of Christi’s nieces in Bombay.

Bombay:
Right, on Friday Christi and Samy are heading up to Bombay to attend the first communion of Christi’s sister’s daughter. They asked me if I wanted to go and I, after much thought on the matter, said yes. My ticket to Sri Lanka was downgraded to eco class when a spot became available and so I received R.s 3400, which I decided to use to go. It takes 24 hours to get there by train and we should arrive at 14:00 on sat. We then have the program and Samy and Christi fly back on Monday. I will stay till Wednesday and then get the train back. Poorni, Prathi, Iggy, Chintu and the boys will all be there and I thought it would be a good opportunity to see them all. What we will be doing the rest of the time I do not know but we are staying with Christi’s sister. The problem was that the only pair of trousers I have are massive, scuffed jeans and I needed something else to wear that was a bit smarter. On Tuesday Christi gave a Kurtar to wear and there was discussion on what should be done about trousers.

On Wednesday I headed into Karur. Work was not on as the workers had been given a few days holiday for Easter and would not be returning till Thursday. My mission, to find a pair of suitably smart trousers that were at the same time, were to my liking i.e. not skin tight, a good bit of length on them and not to expensive. Myself, Anon and Raj went to a few shops but everything was way to tight, not long enough and just nasty. I need wide bottom trousers as my swear shoes are wider than normal shoes (being the style of them) and if I have tight bottoms it makes them look like moon boots. All the ones I saw would have cut off the circulation to my feet. After visiting one shop and finding one pair that would do for R.s. 750 I asked how much it would cost to have something tailor made. I was whisked off to the other end of the shop and shown a large selection of materials paying most attention to the thick cotton Khaki type material. I chose some and as they were about to cut it Anon jumped in and insisted that I wanted some trousers made to the same specifications as the large jeans I was wearing. They measured me and my trousers and cut the material, took it down stairs and charged me R.s. 300, that’s a whopping 4 quid. Four whole English pounds for enough material to make a pair of trousers. That won’t even buy you two pints of lager in the UK. After this the measurements and material were taken to the tailor and we were told to pick it up at 9 that evening.

We then went off to an Indian bank for Anon to do some business. When I got back to the house I played cricket with the kids for a few hours. They are still at school doing exams but will be finished by the end of April. When it got dark myself and Samy went on a little walk around the village with children in tow. We stopped off at houses, went into people’s yards, stopped to talk to people that Samy hadn’t spoken to in a while, played with kids etc. It was really lovely to actually get outside of a stones throw of the house as I aint been round the village at all. The walk was only like 45 mins long. When we got back we stayed outside and taught the kids some English, then we sat down and they all had their dinner outside on the road. It was really lovely.

This morning, being Thursday, I was told to give work a miss and headed back to Karur at 11 on the back of a motorbike. We were going to pick up my trousers and get my bag fixed. We got into Karur and headed to a street that is know for the fact that the whole length of it is lined with men on sewing machines who can pretty much do anything you want them to. We gave him the bag and told him that we wanted a new zip put on, a buckle fastened across the zip to prevent it from getting broken AGAIN and the handles stitching up as they are coming loose from the bag. Then we headed off to the tailors, which was up a step stairway in a small room off one of the main streets. The pulled out the trousers and I was amazed. The quality was Fantastic. They looked like a pair of trousers you’d buy in an expensive shop. They had two back and two front pockets and they even had the small change one on the inside of one of the front ones. They had belt loop and were EXACTLY what I wanted. And the cost to make these things I hear you ask? R.s. 150, that’s 2 pounds. That means that this pair of trousers cost about the same as 2 pints of beer in London. If I wanted to buy a cheap pair of jeans I would have to pay in excess of 20 squid and yet I can have a pair of really good trousers or jeans made to my specification, the material and colour I want for the same amount of money it would cost to buy 2 McDonald happy meals.

Tomorrow we leave here at about 12, the train is at 2. Not sure if I will be able to get to the Internet whilst I am away but will try. If not will update you all when I return on Wednesday.

In other news SARS there has been a case of SARS in Tamil Nadu, which is slightly worrying, must keep on eating papaya.

Hope your ok.

jaime

2003-04-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Well, Samy and Christi got back on Friday. They had a great time and seemed a lot more relaxed than usual.

This morning I went up to the site at about 9:30. The swimming pool is having steel cages laid in the bottom on which the concrete will be poured over, on Wednesday. Headed back for lunch at 1. Ambiga had gone home for the day and she had left some food, problem being I had no idea where, never mind, chocolate from dad and sally. Mini eggs didn’t live up to the name. Having faced the torment of the Indian postal system they had obviously come out a little worse for wear and beard absolutely no resemblance to “eggs”. Lets put it this way; I had to eat the first pack with a spoon. Very much appreciated, thank you VERY much. Chocolate tastes a lot better that the stuff we get over here. Also, thank you very much for the Easter gift mum, remy and Robbie, Fantastic.

This afternoon at about lunchtime I headed outside and had a brief game of cricket with some of the local boys. Again this evening, I have just come in for a longer match, was great fun.

This afternoon I went up to SWATE where Samy and Christi were having a meeting concerning the illegal sand mining. They are going to pay Christi’s bail on Tuesday to avoid doing time so to speak. She is off this evening to a meeting about CASA (Campaign Against Sexist Abortions.) From what I have gathered when a woman gets married her family have to pay a large dowry to the dude. This can obviously be very expensive and therefore women are going when pregnant, having scans to find out what sex the baby is and then aborting if it is a female. There are obviously more reasons than a dowry involved but I shall have to keep you informed about that as I find it out.

Tomorrow, Easter Sunday, we are off to church and mass. This should be quite odd, a sermon in Tamil. Happy Easter everyone.

jaime

2003-04-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

Greetings,

Well, not a lot had been going on the last couple of days. On Tuesday evening I watched Dr Zhivago, a FANTASTIC film about the Russian Revolution among other things.

On Wednesday I went up to work, same old stuff, we were laying the brick was in the pool. A mini twister swept past the site, which was quite cool. It was throwing bags and rubbish up all over the place. It was very “American Beauty.” Spent the afternoon doing nothing special, reading, computer etc.

There was a power cut later on in the evening. It lasted for hours and no one came to turn the generator on. I was in the office playing pinball on the computer (which is linked up to its own power supply.) At about 11 there was still no power and having stumbled around the house with a box of matches that were in the office I came to the realization that there was no-one in the house, Ambiga had disappeared and no one else could bee seen. It was very very dark, light pollution what so ever. Eventually someone wondered through the house and seeing me asked whether I would like the generator on? “No thanks, I’d rather sit here in the dark.”

The pool is coming along very very well. The wall has been build and the first layer of concrete put down. The floor has been started and the whole thing should be water proof in about a month, or so I am told. We have started putting in the floor of the dorms.

On Thursday I was due to go to Lalipet, a village not far from here, to the bank to change some money. Was told that I was leaving at 10, jumped on the back of the bike with “bank” stuff in tow and was, much to my surprise, taken up to the site. Arnun, the dude, said he would be back later. So I ended up working from 10 till 12:30, which in itself wasn’t a problem. The fact that I had no water and no sun screen on was. By the time I got back to the house I was very very dehydrate and slightly burned.

In the evening I got a phone call from a lady called Rhamony who’ family I will be staying with in Sri Lanka. She said that she had a brother out there who runs a school type thing for training people to become priests. Apparently I will be staying there. Sounds interesting, will be bizarre.

Today, being Friday, I don’t have to work as its Good Friday as I am sure you will all know. Easter at last and what I wouldn’t give for a Cadbury’s cream egg. Samy and Christi should be back this evening.

2003-04-15T06:37:00.000-07:00

Not much been going on. Went to work this morning and they had built a wall around the inside of the pool about 1 foot away from the edge and about 2 foot higher than ground level. Looks fantastic. Apparently will be ready in a month. Have draw up some plans for a metal pole arched tunnel entrance, which we can plant creepers at the base of to make a living archway, which should be good.

Have started Lord of the Rings for the second time, what a book, never get bored. Why did they miss out Tom Bombadil from the film, he is the best character and the only one who the ring has no effect on.

“Silence of the goats”

Ok, hands up those who have seen “Silence of the Lambs?” Right, you know when Lector is asking about Clarice’s past and she said that the lambs screaming, as they were being taken off to the slaughter, had woken her? Then she goes on how they were screaming in fear etc etc and then, at the end Lector asks whether “the lambs have stopped screaming,” well, you get the idea. Anyway, now I finally know what she really meant. Was on the computer when I heard this noise like someone screaming at the top of their voices, I went outside to see what it was and, well I imagine you have already guessed where this story if going.

They had tied up a couple of goats, not lambs, (“silence of the goats”, what a thought) by the legs (as in all four legs together) and were carrying them upside down to a motor bike (driving lesson perhaps? me thinks not.) The noise these things were making was quite incredible. Blood curdling is, I think, the best way to describe it. Not only that, the heard of goats (who were in a pen behind the house, and out of view) had figured out what the hell was going and were all screeching. The whole effect was like something off “The Exorcist” (as some of you may know they actually took a tape recorder to abattoirs and taped the noises and played them over the film and in with the music just to freak you out.) It was very disturbing more so than a film, obviously, cause it was actually happening in front of you. I couldn’t stand there and listen to this so I ended up going inside, away from the spine-chilling soundtrack that was playing outside.

It also makes you think. We are quite happy to eat the stuff but when it comes to knowing how the animal met its maker its a different story. Our meat comes frozen, in nice portions, gutted, de-boned, de feathered or furred, on polystyrene trays covered in cellophane. Once we pick it up from a supermarket shelf or from our local butcher it ceases to be an animal, it is just “meat.” Do we ever stop to think how it’s got like this? When was the last time anyone reading this thought “mmm, I wonder how they killed this thing?” and (what I will be thinking from now on) “mmm, I wonder what kind of noise this poor animal when it realised its life was over?” As sypher say’s in “The Matrix” (sorry, this aint a “plug” for all my favorite films) “Ignorance is bliss.” I agree.

jaime

2003-04-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

Mango’s and Papaya’s are now both in season. There are several papaya trees in the backyard and the yield is very very very good. Fresh papaya every morning, noon and night. They are really huge as well, not small like in the UK. They taste fantastic especially with a bit of lemon juice, delicious. The mangos are incredible. You know the mango’s we get in the UK? After you’ve eaten them there is loads of stuff stuck in your teeth, the fruits are very fibrous. Over here there is no fiber in them what so ever. It’s the consistency of butter and the taste is absolutely fantastic. There are many many different varieties a lot, of which, we have growing here in places such as SWATE.

just a quick happy birthday to josh scott, hope your ok and that you had a good day and got lots of nice things.

jaime

2003-04-13T00:15:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Well quite a bit has been going on. On Thursday night we received information that the police were on their way round to arrest Christi because of the sand mining protests, which happened on the 9th. 5000 people turned up and blocked the road at the point where lorries enter the riverbed. The collector never showed up to hear their demands. They finished at about 5 having caused total havoc to the traffic in the surrounding area. The police were slightly pissed off. Christi, being the head of SWATE, who organized the event, was the person to blame in their eyes. They wanted to arrest her before the weekend due to the fact that the courts are closed at the weekends and that Monday is Tamil New year (a public holiday. This would mean they could hold her till Tuesday, in prison, not a police station. She didn’t seem particularly bothered by the prospect of spending three days in prison. The police never showed and yesterday we learned that they were going to leave it for the time being unless pushed from higher up. The charges include disrupting traffic and the duty of governmental officials, hosting an illegal gathering of people and a few other things.

On Friday evening myself, Christi, Leen, Luke, Walter and Lieve headed into Karur to do some shopping. First off we went to a department type store to buy some cloths. In typical shopping fashion Luke went up stairs and emerged 10 minutes later with a pair of shorts where as the women were trying things on for an hour, constantly asking peoples opinion etc. “Where’s the nearest pub” and “good god how long are they going to take” were frequent jokes uttered by Luke and Walter. We ended up standing there discussing the finer points of Belgium beer which, insolently, ranges from 8% to 12 % alcoholic content. After this I purchased some material to make some spinning flags out of at the bargain price of R.s. 168 for 4 meters of satin silk stuff. Not bad.

We then headed off to a shop that sold pots and pans and again the women busied themselves with the purchasing of cups and containers whilst the guys stood outside wondering what the hell they were buying. After a while it became to much for them so, having seen a little shop round the corner, we headed off to grab a swift drink at an Indian style bar which was basically a counter that sold take away liquor and would serve you a beer if you asked nicely. On return to the shop we headed off to a stall that sold plastic bags and then home.

We got home at about 8:30 and tucked into a fantastic meal made by Samy. The Belgians, as I am sure you are aware of by now, are fond of a beer here and there, and so many bottles were opened and after dinner we retires to the outside patio to discuss the finer things in life including beer, F1 racing family etc.

On Saturday morning I was asked to give work a miss and join them on their travels. We (Leen, Luke, Walter and Lieve and Samy) headed up to SWATE. Luke and Leen had actually opened to SWATE grain bank, there’s a plaque wit their names on it and everything, so they were interested to see how things had changed. It had. They were given the tour and then we headed back to the house with the idea of heading up to the farm to have a dip in the water tank. I was asked to lead the way but when we got up there to our horror, the tank was empty. We walked back to the house, had lunch and then people headed off the have a siesta.

In the afternoon I headed off Karur on the back of a bike. I needed to pick up some photos and some other stuff. On the way back we bumped into the gang who were stranded on the side of the road with a puncture. We had dinner at about 8 followed by lots of beer and hearty discussion.

This morning everyone was up early and they all headed off in a jeep at about 9:30. Samy and Christi will be back on the 18th (Friday.) As, I said, tomorrow is Tamil New Years day so it’s a day off for all.

Other news:
There are a lot of bald people walking around at the moment. When a load of people went on the pilgrimage last week the men shaved their heads, I assume it’s a religious thing. It aint just the adults, little man Cartig who was five a few days ago has had it done and so have several other kids. I am not to sure if shaving the kids heads is religious but I have heard some people talking about how it is considered healthier if kids have no hair in the summer when its this hot.

When the initially have their heads they cover them with sandalwood paste. This is a powder that one mixes with water and is apparently very good for your head. It leaves a powdery residue on your head which looks like the religious marks they adorn their foreheads with. I managed to buy some and shall let you know how I get on with it.

jaime

2003-04-11T01:58:00.000-07:00

Building a building

Progress on digging a hole.

This is a picture of the shallow end of the pool. In the background you can see the beginning of the hut that was put up to house all the concrete making stuff. The shallow end is about 3 feet deep.

This is a picture of the site. The small tree on the left hand side is the tree in the middle of the shallow end of the pool. The hexagon theatre is at the top end and the dorms are to the left. The mail entrance will be between two of these coconut palms.

This is a picture of the foundations of the three dorms and the kitchen. They are split up into two equal sized rooms and a small room at the back of each will house a toilet and showers. The pool is on the right (that pile of mud is at the shallow end) and the theatre is at the top end behind that pile of bricks.

This is a pic of some dude at the deep end of the pool [putting sand down on which concrete has been laid. The hole is for the pumps and stuff to go. This end (once the ground level around the whole pool has been raised two feet) will be about 7 1/2 foot deep. You can see the dorms and kitchen in the background and the septic tank in between them.

Theses are he foundations of the hexagonal theatre with the farm (hay stack and all) in the background. Since all these photos were taken things have progressed and now these are about 3 foot high and ready to build on.

Yesterday evening was spent in the company of the two couples from Belgium who are all really lovely and very funny, constantly cracking jokes. We had a few beers, looked at photos found a small snake in the garden and then went to bed.

This morning I went to work and filled in the theatre foundations. Luke, Lain, Walter, Lieve (the Belgium people) and Samy came up to the site to have a look around. They seemed very impressed. We had some coconuts and headed back for lunch. This afternoon we are going to Karur to do some shopping. Have just been informed that I am flying to Sri Lanka in business class cause economy was full and its cheaper to fly in business than it is to travel to Chennai and fly economy from there.

jaime

2003-04-10T06:31:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Well, yesterday evening Samy and myself watched “Shakespeare in love” which was fantastic. I didn’t realize there were so many well-known actors in it like that dude from the fast show; Martin Clunes not to mention all the mainstream film people.

This morning I took the AREDS Ambulance up to the play way school which is about 45 mins away. It is another AREDS center, which has just recently had a school built there by a group of Belgium people. The mission was to pick up a couple of Indian wheelbarrows so that up at the site, moving stuff didn’t solely have to be done by metal pan on people’s heads which does tend to take a while. With these monstrous things filling the pool with sand would have taken a fraction of the time it did.

The barrows are massive and unlike our ones. They are more like trolleys with two wheels at the front supporting an open ended scoop with two metal posts at the handle end to support the scoop horizontally when you put thing down. We loaded them into the Ambulance (which incidentally still has a working siren and flashing light, would come in handy in Indian traffic jams) and then Godwin and Raj (the dudes who came with me) headed off somewhere on a bike. I waited around; the kids in the school (which is like kinder garden/playschool) came out for lunch. Kids passed the site (which is in the middle of know where, surrounded by flat, dry land) on bikes, on their way to and from school.

We headed back to the site at about 12:45 to drop off the barrows (one of which unfortunately had a puncture) and then headed back to the house.

When I emerged this afternoon at about 3ish I was greeted by 2 couples from Belgium who are friends of Christi and Samy and who are staying here for a few days. On the 13th these guys and Christi and Samy are heading off to Kerala for 6 days on a kind of holiday/break.

In other news we have decided to push on and build the hexagon theatre with concrete hollow blocks instead of CEB’s. This is due to the fact that it won’t be ready on time if we wait for the CEB machine.

Also, I have broken my snake II personal best which now stands at 2023 and my 3D Space Cadet pinball score now stands at 8,648,500 which, if anyone can beat, I am up for the challenge.

jaime

2003-04-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hello

Well on Saturday I went up to the site at about 10:30 late due to the fact that some of the people here have gone on a Christian pilgrimage and there was a lack of lifts around. Was feeling really dodgy. Samy and Christi were both in Chennai.

At the site we were beginning to lay a mixture of cement and granite rocks and chips on top of the sand that had already been put down. Was still feeling iffy. Got picked up at 12:00 and driven into Karur by motorbike to the state bank of India to change some money to pay for my plane ticket to Sri Lanka. Having visited two banks it became clear that they operate on some very odd system in that they are allowed to do dealings with foreign currency Mon-Fri but Saturday is forbidden. Is it just me or is that a really stupid rule to have. Still feeling dodgy.

Got back to the house at about 13:30 and had lunch. Went to bed. Got up and I still feel dodgy. I hate to admit it but I think I have a mild batch of ye olde Delhi belly coming, fan-bloody-tastic.

In the evening I watched “Tomorrow never dies” and went to bed.

On Sunday I spent the day hanging around, watching movies, doing washing and generally feeling a little off. I was feeling physically better (I think it was only a minor stomach thingy) but there was no-one about apart from Ambiga, the newspapers hadn’t come for the last two days (so there was very little reading to be done, and non of the phones were working as they are laying a water pipeline in the village. This meant that the Internet wasn’t working. There was NOTHING to do and I was very bored. Boredom leads to thinking, and thinking leads to missing stuff in the UK. I spent the whole day thinking about London, Bristol and Norwich. Not home sickness as such, just thinking about what I would be doing. I started reading Lord of the Rings for the second time.

In the afternoon I watched “Commando” (one of the worst movies I have ever seen) and in the evening I watched “Act of War” which was good but the special effects were very funny. Thunderbird type missiles and blue screen effects of helicopter flying that made me laugh.

Monday:- I got up late, at about 10’oclock (oops) as my phone ran out of battery and consequently the alarm didn’t go off. I legged it down for breakfast, legged it back up to have a shower and then set off with Raj in the ambassador to go and visit some banks (at about 11). Christi and Samy had returned from Chennai at 6. We got to the second bank and Raj busied himself with dealing with AREDS accounts, I was asked to sit and then asked lots of questions by bank manager such as “do you like Indian banks” and “what do you think of Indian Bank customer service?” I changed some money (170 squid) into R.s 12359 (which took well over an 1 ½ hours) and then after a fanta headed off back to the village.

We got back at 3ish having picked Christi up at SWATE and had lunch part of which was cow intestine, nice, which, believe it or not, I stayed well away from.

Tomorrow, Samy has to a meeting in a town about 2 hours from here. It, like Mudrai, is a temple town. I am going to tag along and then, like last time, take the car and do some more temple hoping.

On the 9th there is going to be a big protest against illegal sand mining in the area. Although AREDS have managed to campaign, successfully, for the protection of their own river illegal sand lifting is still going on in the area. The conditions were set down to the local dude in charge when there was that big hunger strike outside a government office in Karur a few days ago. The plan is to have a massive roadblock and when the police turn up, which they will, to say that this was an accidental meeting of a few thousand people and that they are blocking the road cause there aint anywhere else to go. Unfortunately, yet again, I am unable to go because apparently having a white person there may raise some eyebrows and because there are likely to be some arrests. Extra money has had to been found to deal with bailing all these people out at the cost of around R.s 200 per person.

Tuesday 8th: Today Samy and myself headed of to Thanjavur (Tanjore) at about 7:30. Having stopped for some breakfast at a roadside café in a small town we arrived at about 10:30 where the meeting was to be held. We dropped him off and then Velu and myself set out in search of temples etc.

The first place we stopped off at was a place known as the Thanjavur palace (museum). It had, among other things, some shrines, temples, museums and a whole complex of passages and tunnels and stuff. At one point I thought I was in the Drome, it was most bizarre. We had a look in a few museums and generally wondered around. We saw the skeleton of a 90foot whale and climbed up one of the towers which was quite difficult seeing as the steps we narrow and the roof of the tunnels that climbed the thing were very low, good luck all you fat German tourists. We had a look round an art gallery that contained a large amount of bronzes of Buddha, Ganeesh etc and we wondered around the small garden. It was wicked although I felt very touristy with my camera over my arm.

We then headed off to the Brihadishwara Temples and fort, which are well known for being pretty damn cool. We got there, left our shoes in the car and headed under the massive arched into the wide-open compound, which contained several very large impressive and intricately decorated temples. The floor was hot and I don’t mean a little warm, you could have made an English breakfast on that had you had a little oil. It was painfully hot. There were woven coconut mat walkways soaked in water for people to walk on because it was so hot.

There in one of the arches stood a very very large very old elephant. Decorated in coloured paste and powder. I handed it ten bucks and it did the blessing thingy and then rested its trunk on my back while Velu took a few snaps. We headed further in and down to the far end of the compound. My camera had just run out of film, I wound it on and opened the back to see that the film hadn’t wound. The batteries were going dead and there wasn’t enough power to wind it on. Having bashed the batteries around, replaced them and wound it on slowly, opened the back 6 or 7 times I gave up, presumed that the film was buggered and we wandered around camera less, I was a bit pissed off. The place was INCREDIBLE. Large temples, towers surrounded by a covered, raised walkway in which there were these large black stone things that looked like orange juicers (you know the ones with the serrated top that you rub the orange on to extract the juice which is collected in the lower container?)

Anyway, it was very very impressive. There was obviously some religious event going on some time soon as several people were decorating this giant black stone cow which stood on a altar in the middle of the compound, and others were making carnival type floats with lights, papier-mâché statues and tissue decorations.

We headed back to the car and off to a new hotel to have lunch. It was very swanky. We had two big portions of rice (doubles by English Indian restaurant standards) a large pea and cauliflower Korma and 10 chutney dishes (the ones you get with pappadam’s) full of small amounts of different curries and veg dishes. We also had water and pappadam’s. The bill came, we were both very full, I looked at it, R.s 80, that’s just over a quid, in plush, 4 star hotel restaurant, not bad huh.

We headed back to the car and went to meet Samy outside the hotel at 2. He came out and said he would be another hour so Velu and myself headed back to the temple with a reloaded camera to take some pics. I felt like a bit of a prat going back in. A couple of all girl school buses had just shown up, “ah a white person, time to practice my English? How are you?” We went round talking some pics and stupidly decided to take a short cut across the compound without the aid of a soaked mat. Half way across I am in pain, a lot of pain but there aint anything you can do when your stuck in the middle, its either struggle on or turn back. When we got back to the car I had to pour water on my feet, I swear I heard them hiss and a small amount of steam rise up. We headed back and picked up Samy at about 3:15 and then headed home.

Throughout the whole day I kept on realizing that there seemed to be an abundance of young, very attractive young women around. This was made even more clear on our drive through town, they were bloody everywhere. Apparently there are a lot of women’s colleges and colleges in general in this town and area. It was unbelievable; everywhere you looked your eyes were met by large or small groups of beautiful young women. I tell you what; I am defiantly going back to that place. I have never seen so many cute females in one day. Fantastic.

Today, being Wednesday, I went up to the SWATE and then to the site. I worked until 13:20 filling in the foundations with sand so that the concrete floor can be laid. I got back and had lunch. We were getting in reports that the demonstration was getting a little iffy. Samy had returned, none of the 5000 people were moving and the police were there in force. The collect orate, who was meant to show up, never did, and people were being threatened with arrest, the response, “arrest us all.” Christi has just returned and says it was a success even though no conclusion was reached in the matter. A meeting is being held to decide what to do next, there is talk of a bigger demo where the police would not be informed.

India info:

People:

As well as Samy and Christi there are several other people who live and work in the house/office. Apart from all the office staff (most of whom I can’t remember the names of) there is
Ambiga: chef, organizer and general parental figure of the house. If you need something done this is the lady to talk to, or try and talk to, as she speaks no English.
Ghita: is the housekeeper. She cleans and washes, she’s really lovely, speaks some English but gets confused sometimes and calls everyone, male and female, “she” which is a little confusing at times. She is married to Lawrence and has a kid called little man. Lives in a house across the road.
Augustine: This dude lives across the road. Think he is related to Samy (distant cousin) and is also related in some way to Ghita (very distant.) Really wicked dude, always around. English is limited but he generally doesn’t talk much anyway. He is the bloke in the pictures of me at the bottom of the well. Gives me lifts everywhere. He is in charge of all the farms and harvesting etc covered by AREDS.
Lawrence: is the local carpenter and is always around to help catch snakes etc.
Raj, Velu & Raja: the three drivers who ferry everyone from place to place. All wicked guys none of who speak very good English.
Sagayam: Samy’s brother who lives in Chennai and is in charge of AREDS Chennai office. Is here from time to time, doing talks, attending meetings etc etc. Really nice guy.
Sam: The dude in charge of AREDS finances. Lives in Chennai (I think) and is also here from time to time on business. Also, a really nice guy.
Dr Hema: lives in Tritchy and come up to AREDS every Thursday to work at the dispensary (medical center) in the village. Really lovely lady frequently reminds me not to be so stupid going outside unprotected form the sun.

jaime

2003-04-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

Well, not a lot going on at the moment. Have been working every day. I have an infection on my tragus (the small lump of cartilage at the front of your ear) and may have to go on antibiotics to prevent an abscess growing. It’s painful, itchy and very annoying.

Have been working the last couple of days. The foundations are nearly done and the pool is being laced with sand for the concrete to rest on. Yesterday it rained, it really rained, it pissed it down as we say in merry old England. Cats, dogs and bloody snakes. It made me feel very at home. There was thunder like I have never heard before and lightning ranging from the classic “forked” to flickers that really lit up the whole sky. It was very impressive. Was slightly worried at what state the site would be especially after last time, but when I went up this morning it was ok, they seemed to have missed the worst of it.

I am thinking of having a large sign hammered into the ground up at the site reading.

"Species: “Caucasian Homo sapien male” more commonly referred to as “the white man.”
This specimen was not born in captivity but was captured in the dense cities of Great Britain. This slightly scraggily male is about 20 years of age. He weighs about 11 stone and, at his full height, reaches a moderate 6 feet ½ inch (I think). This is not what would be considered as its “natural environment” but has been brought over to India to provide you with an incite into this remarkable species. PLEASE DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS.”“

It’s beginning to get ridiculous. Today three men came to the site and placed themselves on the other side of the pool where, for an hour and a half, they stared at me whilst I was working. It’s very off-putting and made me really angry. Personally I think they should start charging people to came and sit in an active building site and gawk at me. I’d make a bloody fortune. I have gotten over people looking at me but come on guys, an hour and a half. Have these people never seen a white man. What’s the big deal? I’m not that stunning, am I?

This afternoon I went from the site to the training center to have lunch as it’s the all staff meeting and there was no one in the house. This weekend Christi (who left yesterday) and Samy (who left about an hour ago) have gone to Chennai on some business. I am going to work tomorrow and then heading off to the bank as I have received the bill for my plane ticket to Colombo, Sri Lanka. It costs R.s. 11140 (about 150 notes.) I leave on May 12th and return on May 21st. Should be good.

Anyway, hope you’re all well and I am off to watch a movie, probably Armageddon.

Jaime

P.s. Photo’s of project coming soon. Get them tomorrow so fingers crossed.

2003-04-02T04:12:00.000-08:00

Greetings. Hope you¡¯re all fine and groovy.

A few people have mailed me to ask about general life here cause I have been talking mainly about specific things so here goes.

India info:

Language:

Tamil Nadu's official Language is, ironically enough, Tamil of which I know a bit. There are, however, other ways in which communication is possible and here are a few that have been tried by many Indian people in attempting to explain or ask me something.

Swatting fly's
This method is one of the most common and is basically is when people flap their arms around, like they¡¯re attempting to take off, and expect you to understand what they are trying to say. It can be quite successful but it can also be incredibly amusing and annoying.

Volume control
The general thought pattern for this particular method goes a little something like this. ¡°Mmm, He doesn¡¯t seem to understand me speaking to him in Tamil. I know, if I shout at him in Tamil maybe he¡¯ll understand.¡± I think not.

Invisible writing
This is the most amusing method of all. ¡°Mmm, he doesn¡¯t appear to understand me talking in Tamil. I know, if I write it in Tamil, on my hand, with my finger he¡¯ll understand what I¡¯m trying to say.¡± Of course, how silly of me, I forgot that I can read an invisible language that I can¡¯t even speak.

The ¡°I¡¯ll talk, he¡¯ll understand¡± method
This is the worst and is when someone just talks at you and expects you to understand. What¡¯s more, people generally get annoyed with me after a while because I can¡¯t understand what they¡¯re jabbering on about.

Daily stuff:

Get up at about 8ish, have cold shower get dressed and head down for breakfast at about 9-9:15, which consists of either idlies (steamed rice and lentil cakes), dosa (pancakes made with clarified butter (Ghee) or bread and eggs. With all this you have an assortment of stuff including samba (veg and lentil curry), coconut and peanut chutney and sometimes even meat curry. Coffee, thank god, is always available and is always very milky and very very sweet (as all Indian coffee seems to be.)

Between 9:30 and 10:30 I get a lift to the site on the back of someone¡¯s motorbike. When going through the village I am greeted with shouts of ¡°Jaime¡± and ¡°white person¡± from the kids most other people still stare and wave.

When I get to the site I work until about 1 (sometimes earlier depending when someone picks me up.) The work consists of lifting mud out of the pool, digging, mixing cement and granite stones for the foundations and generally doing stuff with the other workers all of who are really nice. Breaks are essential as its been about 37 ¢ª c recently and working in direct sunlight with no breeze doing manual labour in very demanding work, You get dehydrated and burned very quickly.

13:00: - Having been picked up and driven back to the village (about 10 min drive away if the railway crossing is up) we have lunch, that is whoever is around plus any number of guests of visiting business people i.e. Sam (the dude in charge of accounts or Sagayam (Samy¡¯s brother in charge of the AREDS Chennai office). Lunch consists of many things. Rice is always the staple and with it come a selection of curries be they meat or veg and usually samba. With this you have a couple of side things like okra, spinach, cabbage etc etc. There is always curd (yogurt) and sometimes things like pappadam¡¯s. I usually have curd, banana and sugar at some point during the day. There are also a whole host of fruit and Indian sweets available regularly.

After lunch its shower time to cleanse myself of cement, sand, mud and sweat. In the afternoons, if there is nothing specific to do like go somewhere with Samy, there are several other things that can be done. A trip into Karur to do some shopping is usually an option as the cars go to and fro several times a day. One can go up to SWATE or hang around outside and play or talk to many kids who come legging it up when they see you. You can go up to one of the farms and have a dip in the water irrigation tank or merely sit around and read the papers. Doing laundry is also a must, as cloths seem to get very dirty very quickly over here. Sleep is also an option. This may sound a bit stupid but the heat can really knacker you out. A lot of people go for a rest in the afternoon, a bit like the Spanish siesta. At 3 every afternoon, coffee and tea is made for everyone in the office.

In the evenings we eat at 8. Rice is available but Chapatti¡¯s are also (more often than not) on the menu. There will be a meat curry (chicken, mutton, rabbit etc.) Indian people eat all their meat on the bone and there are very rarely any meat that aint on the bone. They throw everything in. At Mono¡¯s house they had the head and the feet of the chicken in with the curry. They suck out the marrow from the bones and don¡¯t seem to like breast meat like we do but prefer all the brown meat. With lunch and dinner there is also ALWAYS a dish like soup, very watery with leaves and stuff floating around in it. This aint for eating as such but the liquid is taken with rice and apparently provides good digestion. I aint tried that yet and don¡¯t think I ever will, I don¡¯t like the look of it.

There are always things to do in the evenings as well. Going outside and playing and poi¡¯ing with the kids is the most preferable activity but at the moment I can¡¯t do that cause they all have exams which, I am informed, finish at the end of the week when the two-month summer holidays begin. There is also the TV and VCD (not DVD) player. VCD¡¯s are like DVD¡¯s but you need three of them to get one movie so at certain points you need to press ¡°change¡± on the remote to change the disk around in the multi-storage VCD player. So far I have seen ¡°Irma La Douce (a FANTASTICLY funny film which I recommend to everyone,) ¡°Cast-away,¡± ¡°Scent of Woman,¡± ¡°Sound of Music,¡± ¡°Bodyguard¡± and several others. One an also use the computer, read, and then head to bed anytime between 22:00 & 01:00. There is Always a power cut at 18:00 & 22:00 when they change the power to the third phase to account for night usage. There are generally power cuts quite frequently but there is a diesel generator in the back yard, which is turned on to counter this. The problem with power cuts at night aint the lights (which, to be honest I hardly notice now and just carry on talking when they cut out) but the ceiling fans cause without them you begin to cook.

The house

The AREDS (Samy and Christi¡¯s) house in Renganathapuram is a mix of admin offices, conference rooms, living quarters and quest rooms. Entrance is either through a front door, which very few people use, or the garage type bit next to it. When you enter you come to a library, infront of you, and the main reception office and Samy¡¯s office to your right. To the left is a corridor, which leads through to a corrugated green plastic covered yard with chairs and a table. This is the entrance to the living section of the house. If you turn right you come out into the back garden, which is full of coconut palms and fruit tree¡¯s, if you go straight ahead you hit Mono¡¯s office and if you turn left you go through to a dining room, a kitchen (on the right), three bedrooms one of which is Samy and Christi¡¯s, a bathroom, a flight of stairs and a large open area which leads off the front door.

If you head up the stairs you come to a guest room and a bathroom. Left leads to a terrace at the front of the house (and a large guest room) and right leads through a conference room (with a bathroom coming off it) to an open walkway suspended above the covered yard. Here there are four bedrooms sleeping 2+ people one of which is mine, number 3. This walkway also leads down to the back garden. If you turn left out of the conference room you come back to the main admin building. On this level (above the office and library) are yet more offices, another large conference room and then another three floors above containing everything from computer rooms to battery rooms, (which keep electricity in the building when the power cuts). At the very top is a large roof terrace with great views of the surrounding countryside.

jaime

2003-04-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

A visual travelogue

Another camera has captured some images for your enjoyment.

This is the 6 foot cobra they caught in the backyard of the house whilst I was in Villupuram

This is me at a view-point on the way down from Korthagiri on Sunday

This was also taken on the way down from Korthagiri on Sunday. All the green things are tea

This was taken from the top of a waterfall in on the way down from Korthagiri the other day. The green stuff in the foreground is tea and the green stuff in the background is tea and jungle

This is me in the Sri Meenakshi temple being blessed by a bloody massive elephant

This is me in the Sri Meenakshi in Mudrai the other week. You ain't allowed to wear your shoes and you could have fried an egg on the concrete, note the (in pain but trying to bare standing still) expression

This is (from left) Christi, Mono, Shaku, Samy and me outside their house in Korthagiri on Sunday

2003-03-31T04:23:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Hope everyone is ok. First off would like to say happy mothers day to my mum, hope she's ok.

Well, on Saturday I went up to the site and worked on foundations for about 2 hours, then headed back to the house, had lunch and at about 2:30 myself, Samy and Christi headed for Korthagiri which is a hill station in Tamil Nadu in an area known as the Western Ghats. By the time it was getting dark we had reached the bottom of the hill/mountain. We had stopped off earlier to have some food and coffee and stopped again to get some snacks in a small town at the foot of the hill. One could see the hills coming from quite a way off, they were all shrouded in mist and looked very large and intimidating.

We began to drive up the hill and were immediately confronted with signs warning us that wild animals such as elephants were crossing the road in the vicinity. Velu, the driver, spotted an elephant but I couldn’t see anything cause it was to dark. We headed up the hill on a narrow winding road with lots of hairpin bends. Apparently if you approach the hill from the west coast you are confronted with 32 hairpin bends one after the other, nasty. It was very dark but from what I could see and from what everyone told me we were driving through thick forest and jungle type terrain. Samy and Christi were telling me true stories of how there were leopards, panthers, wild boars and bison where we were going. We would be staying the night at dance teacher (from Chennai) John’s uncle Alex who I had previously met at the Shakri concert in Chennai. As we headed up the hill the terrain changed and became more open. We had reached the tea and coffee plantations, which cover most of the hill (apparently several hundreds of thousands of acres.) We drove through a tended gate and headed up through lots of small villages and towns. We arrived at Alex’s house at about 8 and were greeted by him and his wife.

Everything was very British looking on account of the fact that the hill stations were taken over by the British and were made to look like home. They cut down a lot of the forests and introduced tea plantations on the slopes. The house was really lovely. The temperature had dropped quite considerably as we were now over 5700 foot above sea level, in comparison with Karur being about 500 foot above sea level, and it was actually quite cold (apparently it can drop as low as –1 in the winter.)

We sat down and talked about stuff and I was asked to bring out the old contact-juggling ball. We had a drink and sat down for dinner at about 10:30. I was again told stories of run in’s with wild boars, as the family know several hunters in the area. Because there were only a few houses at this height there were wild animals from panthers to leopards, from porcupines to tigers living in the area (the low lying tea plants make excellent cover.) At about 11:30 myself, Samy, Alex and another bloke headed up the road to a friend of the families who was having a little get together. We were all introduced to his family and I was asked to demonstrate some contact juggling tricks (again.) We were taken round the house to a garden were a fire had been lit and around this we gathered. The view was INCREDIBLE. One could see hundreds of lights of the villages below nestled into the hillside or down in the bottom of the valley. We had a few beers, talked about NGO’s and the work this dude was doing with various organisations. I was invited up again to do a fire performance at some point in the future. Everyone was little drunk by the time we headed indoors at about 1. We were given desert (a chocolate crème caramel with almonds on top) and then we headed back down to the house and made it back my about 1:45 where apon I went straight to bed.

The next morning, after breakfast, I headed out to see what the views were like. Nothing had prepared me for what I was about to see. As far as you could see there was tea growing on the slopes of all the hills and valley that surrounded us. This is a very big range of hills that covers three states. From the base of the hill we had traveled about 30km and were about 6000 feet above sea level although the top is about 7800 feet above sea level. It was bright and pleasantly warm. It was incredible!! Alex took me by car around the corner to where two leopards are known to live in a small cave just above the roadside. We didn’t see anything. By the time we got back Samy, Christi and Velu were busy killing and gutting a chicken for lunch, which was rank, and Mono had turned up. I played with the five few month old Great Dane puppies for a bit and had a wonder. We bid Alex, his wife and daughter (1 year old and very cute) fair well and headed off to Mono’s house at about 11ish.

The journey was about 3km and was pretty incredible to. The roads hug the sides of the hill and pass through small villages and towns. It does not look like India at all, more like Europe. There was tea everywhere and every time the jeep passed a gap in the hedges, that lined the road sides (to prevent cars from going off the plummeting to their death) all you could see were little villages afloat in a sea of green tea plantations. We reached Mono’s place and were greeted by Shaku and Lawrence (a carpenter from AREDS (husband of Ghita) who was doing some work on their house.) Their house is near the top of a ridge and looks down into a shallow valley covered by; yep, you guessed it, tea. There was a tea factory were the leaves are dried and processed to make loose tea. There were trees in full bloom and little farms growing everything from potatoes to strawberries (because the climate is cooler and there is quite a bit of rain.) We set about making lunch and I wandered around taking in the views which were, quite frankly, stunningly beautiful. We had a cup of, yep, tea and I was told how it comes to be what it is. Tea plants don’t look anything like you expect them to.

We ate and then at about 3ish bid them fair well and headed off back down the hill. This is where things started to get really interesting. We drove to a local town to a little bakery and bought fresh bread roles, freshly made Indian sweets and pastry type things and lots of other goodies. As we drove along the narrow winding roads every corner produced a scene more amazingly beautiful than the one before. We drove through small shallow valleys lined with villages and farms and then, all of a sudden, would come out into another valley which stretched for miles, was very very deep and all you could see was tea and jungle. We went past water falls, slopes in the form of large steps so that easy access was given to the pickers. We saw streams and small rivers with waterfalls and small rapids cutting through the valleys. We saw pickers with big wicker baskets on their backs climbing up the very steep slopes. Tea has to be grown on slopes because it doesn’t like sitting in water (it rains quite a it up there) and the slopes channel all the water down the valleys. It was like across between “The Jungle book” and Rivendell (for those of you who have seen “Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring.”) It looked like the mountainous areas on Jurassic park, seriously. I was seriously stunned and was asking every five minutes to take photos and to get out the jeep to take in the views. It was mind-blowing. Unfortunately apart from herds of monkeys we saw very little of the wildlife we had been told about.

Further down the hill the terrain changes into forest and it is here that the coffee plantations are which were equally beautiful as the tea ones although not so big. We stopped and picked a few coffee berries in which the beans are found. Past this point you reach real forest jungle type terrain and there is very little to see as the sides of the roads are lined with thick trees and bushes tangled up with inter twining vines. However around one corner we found a viewpoint where the view was breathtaking. You could see all the forest below you and the road winding it’s way through it like a snake through the grass. You could also see far beyond the bottom of the hill into the plains of Tamil Nadu, it was wicked. We then headed to the bottom and back to Karur stopping for a coffee and to pick up some fruit and snacks from local market traders. All in all a fantastically mind-boggling experience, I am defiantly going back there.

Today I went up to the farm and worked until about 1. The pool will start being concreted on Wednesday and today all the steel rods and cement mixers were already up at the site. They have built a wooden frame palm thatch hut next to the pool presumably to make the concrete in. This morning from 9 there was a hunger strike outside a government office in Karur to protest about the fact that sand mining is still allowed in the area and is ruining some of the rivers. It went on till about 5 but I was told it was best not for me to go because whenever such a protest occurs and a white person turns up everyone automatically assumes that they are funding the protest and that there are ulterior motives at work.

jaime

2003-03-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

Hello.

Well I am fine. I am very tired cause I have been working every morning from like 10:30 till 1. Not much but when it's 37’ c and your lugging pans of cement and blocks of granite around in direct sunlight believe me its hard work.

On Thursday I was in the pool digging out and passing pans of soil out to be used for the bricks, when we eventually get the machine. The pool has now been finished (digging wise.) It has been evened out and is now waiting for sand and concrete. They have put up a wooden hut with a palm leave thatch roof to make the concrete in.

In the afternoon Samy and myself headed out to a school about 30km away which had been built by a group of Belgians who had stayed at AREDS. It was in another cluster community owned by AREDS. Unfortunately the kids had already gone home by the time we got there. We ended up picking up some very large bags of lentils, a few spades and, on the way, a rabbit for dinner from one of the farms.

On Thursday evening I popped out to say hey to some of the kids who were playing outside. I sat down and was instantly surrounded by 4 small girls who sand to me (with actions and everything) Tamil kids songs (like nursery rhymes) for like 15 minutes. It was so cute and I was going to take a photo but didn’t as I suddenly remembered that they were meant to be studying for their exams which are happening at the minute.

This morning as I was heading out the door I was called through to the back garden as one of the staff had seen a snake. When I was in Villupuram they had found and killed a 6-foot cobra in the back yard and there were fears that this was another cobra. After much shouting and staff running around attempting to chase the thing out from behind some flower pots it finally emerged and was immediately set upon by five male staff members wielding various items including a 3 foot solid iron bar and a 7 foot wooden staff. It was very funny watching them all running around yelling attacking anything that moved. After a lot of beating on the ground they cleared back to reveal four-foot snake, not a cobra. Apparently they have to kill them as these smaller snakes mate with the cobra’s meaning more poisonous snakes roaming round the garden, never a good thing. Well, at least we know why the dogs were barking all night, which is why I didn’t get much sleep.

Today I have been carting pans of cement to where the foundations are being raised for one of the buildings.

In other news I have started making arrangements for my visa extension trip to Sri Lanka. I will fly from Tritchy to Colombo (the capital of Sri Lanka) between May 10th and May 12th. My passport details have been sent off and I should receive my ticket soon. Once there I shall have to apply for another 6-month visa (meaning I shall have to leave the country again in November.) I think I shall be staying with another NGO who sent a few students here a few weeks ago but that has still to be arranged.

Tomorrow myself, Samy and Christi are heading up to the hill station where Mono and Shaku live. We will be returning on Sunday.

Hope your all ok.

jaime

2003-03-26T07:29:00.000-08:00

Hello, just a quick one to say thanks to remy for putting up my pics and I hope you all enjoy them.

Was working in the pool today with a couple of other people. Everythings ok.

jaime

2003-03-25T10:32:00.000-08:00

Photographic transmissions from India

Jaime has a camera or two in India with him and has had a few more films developed.

View from jaime's window in Chennai

Outside Kalvi Kendra in Villupuram (from right) Engineer (CEB's) Chinapun (director of KK) and group that came with me for Brick course.

Peanut drying for ground nut oil next to engineers office, villupuram, vital sourse of food on those long, hot working days

Part of AREDS training centre grounds

Crocodile farm

Next to elephant in Mahabalipuram

Monkey in AREDS house back garden

Temple in Mahabalipuram

(from left) Ghreet, samy, ambiga and ghita AREDS house back garden

Poi with kids outside AREDS house

Jaime at bottom opf 30 foot well trying to catch fish at training centre

Brick making group at engineers office, villupuram, behind CEB Auram Press 3000

SWATE (womens NGO) hall

Anti war demo outside SWATE shops on main road

Anti war demo outside SWATE shops on main road

Jaime in human chain Anti war demo outside SWATE shops on main road

Jaime and brick making people outside Kalvi Kendra, villupuram

SWATE office and bank building

Jaime and brick group digging soil at engineers office, villupuram

View from jaime's room door at AREDS

2003-03-25T06:20:00.000-08:00

Hello.

Well on Monday I went up to the site to start work for real. When I got there I was given a large straight crow bar and set to work on the tree island. The JCB had dug around the tree but the sides needed smoothing out into an even circle around the tree. I stood on the island and drove the bar down into the soil along the, already marked, white line. After about 2 hours of this I was beginning to enjoy myself. I was making progress and everything was going great. It wasn’t to hot, I had DJ Patife “cool steps drum & bass grooves playing through my headphones, it was all going well. Then my hands started to fall to pieces and with one last thrust of the crow bar I managed to rip a large piece of skin (about the size of a 1 pence coin,) off my hand. It was very painful and I was told to “rest today.” When I got back to the house I had a total of 11 serious blisters all of which had had the skin removed or partially removed. It was very painful and, like with everything that could be wrong with you, I was told that coconut oil was the best thing. I spent the rest of the day reading etc, went up to SWATE to pick up my photo’s which had been put on CD so they could be posted up here (which should be up in the next day or so,) and, of course, some maanga mango juice.

In the evening Christi got back from her Delhi/Chennai trip and showed us several newspaper articles and photo’s of their very large war demo in Delhi, all good. Had an early night.

This morning I headed up to the site at about 9:45 this time equipped with a pair of gloves which had been left by some French student who had built a school here not long ago.

It took them a while to find me something to do and initially I was transporting mud out of the pool, but eventually they had me filling up large, metal bowls with a mixture of granite stones and cement. Once one had been filled you had to place them on a woman’s head so that they could be taken a few hundred yards to where the hexagonal theatre foundations were being laid. It was quite hard and a lot hotter than the previous day but it was still enjoyable especially when you have Prodigy’s “fat of the land’ & “music for a jilted generation” keeping you company. My hands were still very painful. At about 12:30 I stopped and waited for a lift back for lunch.

At 13:15 a bike turned up and I headed back. I was starving and very tired. It’s pathetic really that a few hours work could make a 20 year old man that tired, I think the heat has a lot to do with it because it is beginning to get VERY hot. I got back, ate and collapsed on my bed and ended up falling asleep.

Hope your all well.

jaime

2003-03-23T07:46:00.000-08:00

Hello and welcome.

Well yesterday I did pretty much nothing as both Samy and Christi were in Chennai. I did, with the help of Ghita, manage to perfect my cloth washing skills. Several people also approached me and asked if I wanted to go on a TV program in Karur with Dr Hama (I think that’s how you spell it.) I am assuming they meant to go and watch a program being filmed. I said I was not sure if I would be back from the station or not but if I was I would go. Aint sure what’s going to happen now.

This morning Samy arrived back from Chennai at about six and when I got up, at about 8, I was informed that unfortunately one of the Dr’s, who works with AREDS, cousins had died. This meant that a jeep and driver were occupied and therefore we were unable to go and visit Mono and Shaku at the hill station.

Consequently today had been spent doing three things, which are as follows.

· India are playing Australia in the final of the Cricket world cup. The match started this afternoon and, as I am sure many of you will know, Australia got off to a flying start scoring 359-2. India are not doing so well and last time checked (about 2 seconds ago) had scored 219-7 with 13.3 overs left to go. It does not look good for our Indian friends. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable match to watch.

· Unfortunately Indian TV does not appear to broadcast the Grand Prix, which is terribly disappointing. Second to watching it I figured that there must be at least one Indian radio station that would broadcast such an event. I managed to get hold of a radio (apparently belonging to Poorni (thank you) and only then learned the shattering truth that being placed in a rural village in south India, reception is not what you would classify as good. Infact there was no reception, none, zip, bugger all. The only thing that came from the speakers of this finely tuned piece of broadcasting equipment was static. Eventually, after the race had finished, I managed to have a quick peak at the itv f1 page and it was here that I learned the fantastic news. It is with great pleasure that I send my congratulations to the fine young driver Mr. Kimi “baby-faced assassin” Raikkonen for taking his first ever, and well deserved, podium win especially as he knocked Ferrari off the top for the second time this year.

· This afternoon Samy and myself took one of the motorbikes and headed up to the site to see what was going on. To our surprise, and utter delight, when we headed of the main road and onto the track that leads to the farm, we found several very large piles of earth. We left the bike and walked down the track to the site and when we got there came face to face with yet more soil and 2 monstrous interlocking holes. Both had diameters of about 13 foot and one had a palm tree on a 1m island in the center. They were 8 and 4 foot deep. Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves the beginning of one hell of a swimming pool. It was mad, quite a sight and very exciting. They had also finished the foundations of the two buildings and had dug the foundations for the hexagonal theatre.

Well that’s about it. We should be going up to the hill station sometime this week as Christi gets back from Delhi tomorrow evening. Her dad is back at home and doing fine, so I am told, so that’s good.

Anyway. Have to go and watch the rest of the cricket.

jaime

P.s. After my second batch of burning I thought I had escaped the peeling stage when my arms, shoulders especially, went a lovely shade of brown. Unfortunately my neck hasn’t held up so well and is peeling like an orange. I am constantly being applied with coconut oil to stop it but it doesn’t seem to be working.

2003-03-21T07:38:00.000-08:00

Hello,

Just thought I would let you know that this morning I came down and was informed by Ghita that the SWATE protest had been on TV on a regional news program called "Sun TV' & Sun News" which is broadcast all over India and apparently can be viewed in the States and the UK. I was scene participaing in the human chain shouting (or miming cause I had no idead what they were saying) anti-war slogans.

This morning the financial dude for AREDS came down and we (myself (Sam the dude) and Samy) discussed the manufacturing of bricks to be made into a buisness rather than just using the press to make blocks for AREDS personal use.

Am being eaten alive by mosquito's and have had a telling off by one of the doctors (Dr Hama) for going out without covering up and without sun block on (pretty stupid I know.)

In other news, as I am am sure you have heard, India is through to the finals in the world cup cricket tournament and shall play Australia on Sunday. Everyone, as you can imagine, is very happy about this. I am less happy only because the second Grand Prix is on the same day and I won't be able to watch it, that is if they even show it on terrestrial TV which I doubt. News on how it went, podium people and any major happenings would be much appreciated.

jaime

2003-03-20T05:28:00.000-08:00

Greetings.

Yesterday I went up to the site, as planned, at 9:30 and there was no one there. The people showed up at about 10ish but the supervisor, who was meant to be giving me instructions, was not with them. Even if he had been able to tell me to “start digging” that would have been impossible seeing as the whole site looked like the Glastonbury festival ground due, predominantly, to the heavy rain we had the night before and the fact that the tractors had churned the place up. “That’s fine” I thought, I can just wait for the JCB to turn up and then I can shift the soil down the road, rake it out to let it dry so we can use it for bricks. The JCB never turned up and when the engineer turned up, at about 12, he said that it would be here first thing the next day. I had spent 3 ½ hours sitting around doing bugger all. I couldn’t get back to the village without walking (yeah right, in this weather?) and the shade kept on moving, as shade does, so I ended up getting very badly burned, again.

I went back to the village and read all day, as there was very little to do apart from read about stupid Americans wanting oil and so running in and killing hundreds of innocent civilians in the process. As you can probably tell, being here among human right activists and reading what I have been reading recently (Michael Moores “stupid whiter men”) I have suddenly a great disliking for both Bush, Blair and naïve Americans.

Well, it has been a very sad day here with the announcement that (as I am sure you have all know) we are at war. The feeling here is not a good one and everyone is confused as to why “stupid white men” like Mr. Blair and Mr. Bush are pushing a head whilst not paying a blind bit of notice to what their people and the U.N are saying.

This morning when the news was heard, Christi and everyone at the meeting she is at decided to go and protest outside a U.N. office in Delhi and around the country similar protests were held at 11:30 this morning. We all headed up to SWATE and put up banners and posters bearing anti-war slogans and stood in a long line, hands joined and yelling anti-American slogans (none of which I could understand) in protest. In the midst there were 15 odd people lying motionless on the floor to symbolise the deaths that are likely to occur. The local press turned up and we are all going to be on the news (apparently) later on. (Will have some pics soon as they have just been scanned and will be ready tomorrow.)

Everyone was very emotional and annoyed that the ignorant Americans believe that this “campaign” is going to repress terrorist behavior and attacks when it is blatantly obvious to the rest of the world that such a campaigns are the breeding ground for terrorist activities and hatred. Al-Quaeda are going to right in there recruiting people with a new found hatred of America and for us and when the next big attack happens to shake America those naïve people are going to stand there and, just like they did after 09/11, are going to ask “but why do they hate us” (apparently one of the most common phrases on American TV and radio in the months after 09/11.) The answer, “WHY DO YOU BLOODY WELL THINK!!!!”

Anyway. This morning I went up to the site and started work digging on of the foundations at about 10:00. The JCB is apparently coming first thing tomorrow; I’ll believe that when I see it. It was very very hot and I have never ever sweated like that before. It was very hard work and my stopping every 10 minutes to have a drink and wipe the sweat that was beginning to gather on my sunglasses and run down my face in rivers, obviously greatly amused the Indian workers. I was picked up at about 11:30 (not much work done I know) and headed off to SWATE.

We left SWATE at about 12 and headed back to see when we would be on TV. We had lunch, hung around and were inundated with calls from other organisations that had done the same thing. Everyone was protesting. The good thing is that India has not only disagreed with the war from day 1 but is also refusing to allow America and her allies to use air bases and Indian soil to refuel etc.

At about 4 I headed back up to SWATE to get some photos scanned into the computer.

We have ordered the press and are planning to pick it up rather than having it delivered to save a bit of cash and (hopefully) time. I will go up to Auroville at some point and collect it.

On Sunday Samy and myself are heading up to the hill station, which is the home of Mono and Shaku. We will stay with them on Sunday night and return on Monday morning. For those of you who don’t know hill stations are towns that were originally built by the British at higher altitudes to escape the heat. The one we are going to has a boating lake and other things that the British built to make them feel at home. They are, apparently, like small countryside British towns, so that should be good.

Anyway, hope your all ok. I am off to see ho Indian fared against Kenya in the cricket semi-finals. Shall speak to you all soon.

jaime

2003-03-18T07:51:00.000-08:00

Hello again.

Well the last few days the temperature has been slowly rising and it is now very hot. This evening we caught the tail end of a thunderstorm. The lightning was breathtaking and it even started to rain. This confused me greatly as I thought it only rained in during the rainy season, which is months off. I have never been so excited about being rained on before. It was fantastic although it was only a trickle (towards Tritchy it was quite heavy apparently.)

Yesterday we got the fantastic news that Poorni has got into a university in Laiden in Holland to do her M.A. in English literature. She had been accepted just four days after sitting the exam, which is unusually quick. She, like many other students here wishing to study abroad, had to sit a test to bring them up to the level of a European postgraduate. If she’s reading this, CONGRATULATIONS again.

Today we also got the wonderful news that Christi and Tib’s father having undergone surgery has come out fine and all is well.

On Monday myself and Samy headed up to the site to check on how things were going. The foundations for the two buildings are nearly finished and they have added extensions, which shall be used for toilet and washrooms.

Today I went up to the site with the engineer and marked out the pool area (which shall be in the shape of two interlocking circles which will have a bridge in between the two (plans and photo’s coming soon once I can get this scanner working). We are going, unfortunately, to have to use a JCB to dig the pool as it is cheaper than using manual labour which we initially wanted to use to provide employment. The earth from the pool, which should be dug tomorrow or Thursday, shall be stored out in the open to dry it so that once we get our hands on the CEB press we can use the earth to make our\r bricks. Unfortunately we have also come up against the problem that everything is costing a lot, and I mean a lot, more than initially anticipated. Today we also marked out the foundations for the hexagonal theatre. I shall start work tomorrow on shifting earth and digging foundations. The press is still yet to be ordered but will be soon.

I have not been out with the kids for a few days due to the fact that they have exams coming up and should be studying and not poi’ing.

Hope your well and dandy.

jaime

2003-03-16T04:27:00.000-08:00

Greeting once again.

First off I would like to like to wish granny (Doreen Garbutt) and Aunty Ali a very happy birthday and I hope they both had really good days (yesterday being 15th March.)?

Right, well on Saturday I went down to Mudrai, which is about 2 ½ ‘s away. Samy, Samy’s brother, Christi and another AREDS person had a meeting to finalise a report they are publishing. We left at 11 (taking the classic Indian Ambassador car) and drove to a restaurant in Mudrai where we had lunch. They handed out banana leaves and then went about ladling all assortment of curries, pickles and dishes onto them.

I had a variety of things including fish, chicken and mutton curry, gored and coconut, mutton meatballs, spicy fried chicken and various other bits and pieces. For 6 of us it cost R.s 340 (about 4 quid in total.)

We then headed off in the direction of the house where the meeting was taking place. On arrival they departed and I took the car with Velu, the driver, and went to visit some temples.

First off we visited the Sri Meenakshi temples, which are a collection of towers (12 altogether ranging from 45-50m in height) and loads of little temples, walkways and squares occupying an area of 6 hectares. Apon arrival you have to part with your footwear, pay the entrance fee and then go through metal detectors watched constantly by policemen carrying double-barreled shotguns. As expected I set the bloody thing off, opened my bag in which the policeman removed my contact juggling ball and looked at it with confusion in his face. It took a while to explain what it was and show them how on used it and then after that we were allowed through.

Once through we came into a very large temple hall, which was full of people and stalls selling everything from colourful tikka powder and jasmine flower garlands (for one to adorn the statues and ones self with) to camera film and tacky gifts and souvenirs. We then passed though into the 1000 pillared hall, which, believe it or not, ironic as it may sound, has 1000 pillars, each of which was lavishly carved in the likeness of gods, people and animals. There was a central walkway with pillar lining it which led up to a large shrine to some god. Around the outside of the hall were glass cases containing small statues of gods etc. There was also a temple art exhibition type display of photo’s, friezes and stone and bronze statues along with paintings of scenes of stories and legends surrounding the various gods on display. It was all very impressive.

We then walked out of the hall and were about to cross an open courtyard to enter the next hall when I saw a very large, very grey and very decorated elephant which at first I thought was fake and which obviously turned out not to be. It was there to bless people. I went up to it, prompted by Velu, and when it stuck out its trunk I gave it a coin. And ten a R.s 10 note (so we could take a photo) It took both coin and note and laid them in a little silver pot it had at its feet and then, lifting its trunk it laid it on my head. I must say that it was a very weird and very magical experience. We bought some food, which looked like melon strips, fed it and then headed off into another hall.

The next hall was a lot darker and contained many small alcoves that were cut in the rock each housing a figure or religious ornament. Each cave had a pot and ledge in front of it where one could present an offering. The hall also contained several very large shrines consisting of a statue under a carved stone roof and surrounded by carved pillars. Unfortunately one was not allowed to take photos. There were bald dudes everywhere walking around with brightly coloured tikka powder smeared over their heads and foreheads. They were praying at each shrine.

We had a walk around and wandered down large walkways lined on both sides with huge pillars of granite carved in the likeness of great horses and gods. We walked in a circle and ended up back at the elephant which had a baby perched on its head crying its eyes out whilst having its photo taken.

We then headed out into a large courtyard to have a better look at the towers. We could see 6 of them. They were all very big and extremely colourful and the decoration as stunning, so intricate. We then headed back through the compound where we saw yet another elephant (alot smaller) that seemed to be do nothing in particular. We headed outside, picked up out sandals and had a pineapple juice whilst soaking up the busy market type environment. We headed back to the car and off to another place.

We then headed off to Mahall hall which from what I could gather is a big music hall. It was big, very big with a central open-air square and a colonnade on two levels surrounding it. The colonnade was lined with very large pillars that three men couldn’t stand arm to arm round. We were only there for 20 mins as it was closing. The entrance fee was R.s 50 for a foreigner. I thought that I could pass as being Indian with my extensive Tamil knowledge and my head nodding but apparently not.

We headed back to the car and the n back to the house where we were meant to pick up the crew at 6. They were running late and so Velu and myself had a quick wander round the shops and then sat, read and I practiced contact juggling moves until they were ready to leave at about 7:45. We then all hoped into the car and drove to the train station as Christi was heading up to Chennai and the up to Delhi for a meting and Samy’s brother was heading home. We then headed back to Karur on the way stopping for a pineapple juice and tea and then latter on to pick up some fruit from a small village. We arrived back at about 11:15 and had dinner and a beer then I went to bed.

Nothing much going on today apart from some reading and a bit of washing. This morning I had fresh mangoes for breakfast, they were FANTASTIC.

Fact about Indian men:

· Whist I was in Villupuram something became very apparent to me. Here it is very common for men to express their friendship in a physical manner at a higher degree than they do in the UK. The three guys I went with were obviously very close and expressed it in ways that one would not in Britain. If we displayed such public displays of friendship in the UK people would make the immediate assumption that we were gay. Here this is not the case. It is common to see men holding hands, hugging alot and generally being very physical. They lie on each other and walk arm in arm. This, obviously, struck me as being a little odd as I would never consider holding hands with any of my male friend. We hug male friends when we meet them and occasionally put an arm round one, why won’t we hold hands?

The really odd thing is that physical contact between members of the opposite sex is not displayed at all. Not even married couples display any kind of physical contact be it holding hand or even putting an arm round each other. I can honestly say that I have seen no physical contact of that nature at all since I have been here. This did strike me as being very weird. This is another thing we are paranoid about. Are we just to worried about what people will think? Is this paranoia restricting us to the point that we are scared of expressing friendship with individuals of the same sex or will it always be the case that physical contact between heterosexual males is just not appropriate?

jaime

2003-03-14T08:17:00.000-08:00

Greetings all.

Right well this week has been an odd one. On tuesday there was the begining of an Indian wedding happening within the village. The village has a public announcement tanoy system one of the speakers being right outside my window. They play bollywood movie songs down it at a stupidly loud volume. When I am in my room with the windows closed it is like there is hi-fi playing full volume in the room. Its not nice, all distorted.

On wednesday morning at about 4ish the music started up again much to my discomfort. I was very angry. I shut all the windows, put ear plugs in,wrapped my blanket around my head and buried it under my pillow, I could still here the music. I got very little sleep from then on.

The whole of wednesday this music blared away late into the night. I spent much of the day reading as Samy and Christi were away at a meeting in Chennai and there was very little that I could do. When I was outside with the kids (who seemed very pleased to see me and my poi back) a wedding mach went past. In it people were carrying baskets of fruit on their heads, singing and dancing to the sound of three drummers who led the prossession. That night also I added an animal to the list I have already seen when a big black scorpion wandered across my path. I thought it was a leaf blowing in the wind but when the kids saw it they squashed the living daylights out of the thing with the aid of very large rocks.

On thursday the music was still bloody playing. Samy and Christi returned and I myself and Samy went up the site to take some photo's of where the theatre etc is going to be. They had already started without telling us. The engineer (who is incharge f the laying of the foundations and lining the swimming pool) had started with the foundations of two of the buildings that will be used for dorms and a kitchen. It all looked really good. We took some photo's and decided that I would join the group and start work on friday. We decided that it would be callet ACT project (AREDS childrens theatre project). I the evening I spent yet more time with the kids.

On friday I was awoke when they turned the music back on, at 6:15. I gave up with the concept of sleeping and went downstairs. At 10ish we headed back up to site to have a look at things and for me to start work. They were still laying the foundations. It is skilled work and as I have no previous experience we decided that I would start on Monday when we could start digging the pool. We went to SWATE and called the engineer and also he place where I did my brick training in Villupuram so we could get a quote and order the brick press. We then headed back to the village, ate lunch and with the engineer and plans in tow headed back to the site to discuss certain things.

Tomorrow I am going with Samy and Chisti to Madurai ( a city 2 hours south of here) for a meeting and so I can tour some temples and have a look around which should be fantastic. I am moving rooms to a roomon the ground floor where it is less hot (as it is beginning to get very warm, about 37 (106).

anyway. hope your all well.

jaime

2003-03-11T07:11:00.000-08:00

Greetings all, I have returned from my week of learning.

The story begins on Tuesday morning at about 4 when Velu (the driver) and myself set off from the village to Villupuram. We passed by SWATE and picked up three women who’s names I cannot remember (even having spent a week with them, terrible I know.) On the way we picked up three men who’s names I also cannot remember. We drove through one village where there was a celebration to Shiva going on, everyone was still up and partying hard, there was a large carnival type float shrine covered in fare ground flashing lights and everyone was playing music and dancing in the streets. The jeep was surrounded and people were hanging chains of flowers on it.

We drove and at about 9ish we stopped off at a roadside restaurant to have breakfast. The place was nice, there were several coach parties there and monkeys swung from the trees. The staff were constantly chasing them away with brooms.

We arrived in Villupuram at about 10:30 at a NGO building known as Kalvi Kendra (a sister group of AREDS). We were greeted by the director and shown to our rooms. I was to stay in one room with the three blokes and the women would stay in another. It was a really nice building approached by a driveway on either side of which lay coconut and mango trees. The building was on three floors with kitchen, dining room and conference hall on the bottom and bedrooms, offices and conference rooms on the two upper floors all of which were accessed by an open walkway. Out the back there were showers and toilets (all squat toilets, took a bit of getting used to as I am sure you can imagine).

We hung around and I was taken to the director’s office where we talked about NGO’s back in the UK (they wanted to know if I had any contacts). There I met an old social worker who insisted that I write and take reports back to the UK to NGO’s and other organisations to tell them of the work they do in India. To be honest I didn’t really appreciate being ordered around like that and that made me feel a bit uneasy about this whole week.

We headed off to the engineers office, where we were to do our training, at about 2. They showed us the machine, which is known as the “Auram press 3000,” which is actually manufactured in Auroville (where the meditation hall is (see below) The press makes CEB’s (Compressed Earth Blokes.) Basically you Mix 15 parts sifted earth with 1 part cement and add enough water to make it the right consistency. You then load the press, pull down on the arm (which takes two people a few good tugs to operate) and a block comes out. You stack it for three days under a tarp, three days put I rows and then 22 days stacked and watered everyday. We were shown how to make the mix, how to operate the machine and then we headed back to Kalvi Kendra at about 5ish.

The next few days were pretty much the same. I got up at about 8ish and was brought tea by one of the group. They insisted that I have the only bed in the room whilst they slept on the floor), I had a shower and washed some cloths in the process. Then at about 9 I had breakfast (either eggy bread, dosa, coconut pancakes, idlies (rice and lentil cakes with coconut and peanut chutney). At about 10ish we headed of by bus to the engineers office. Buses in India aint like buses at home. To start with they have no glass in the windows but have bars across them so you can’t stick your head out. Many have fare ground coloured light on the inside that flash, they have very load Indian music blaring out of speakers that are placed all along the sides, some have TV’s playing bollywood movies and nearly all have a shrine surrounded by flashing lights at the front. They all have horns that play tunes like mobile phone ring tones only shorter. You get on and are approached by a conductor (even on 5 hour journey’s) and they are always driven like formula one cars. They overtake in on coming traffic, they speed and do not slow down for speed bumps, they are quite literally MAD.

Apon arrival at the office we made bricks. We were taught by a few young men, three yuppies and a couple of workers. One of the yuppies (Arul) took a liking to me and ended up throughout the week taking me to his house to meet his family and out for ice cream. He always wanted to listen to my Walkman, mess around with my contact juggling ball or wear my sunglasses. He was nice, to nice to be honest, I found him a little creepy at points, and annoying. One thing I have learned so far on my trip is that we are way to paranoid about people. The concept of “don’t talk to strangers” has been written in permanent ink on our brains. I found that when people are overly polite and nice I find it a bit odd. When people say “you must come back to my house,” this is very common here, but to us if a stranger in a shop (like what happened to me in Karur a few weeks ago) said that in England the chances are we would run a mile for fear that something was not quite right with the request. We would never stop to think that it might just have been a polite gesture.

At about 1 I was taken by motorbike back to Kalvi Kendra where I had lunch. I ate in the kitchen at a table with the two French students. All the other people (there were a lot as there were conferences and drama groups using the facilities in the building) including the people who came with me ate in the dining hall just off the kitchen. I ate in there a few times but was never allowed to collect my food. I was always asked to sit down at a table and was served. At lunch we had a variety of things including rice, noodles, battered broccoli, chips, chicken, pasta and fish. After lunch I usually had a shower and then went to the room to read until 3 when I was again picked up and taken my bike back to the engineers office.

In the afternoon we made yet more bricks, sifted soil and later on had seminar type meetings in the office about soil type, brick laying patterns etc. We constructed small walls to practice brick laying and joins. They completed all the types of wall themselves and then asked me if I wanted a go. After completing all the patterns (L, T and cross joins) they all gasped and clapped. I wondered if they really thought I was that stupid that I couldn’t pick up such a simple thing in such a short space of time. The seminars were always in Tamil and therefore I could never understand them. Between 5 and 6 we headed back to Kalvi Kendra by bus or by mini auto, which is a cross between a mini cab and a bus. You flag them down like a cab but you share them with other people. I had another shower as working made you very dusty and dirty, then I read, hung around the site practicing (much to the interest of everyone who saw it) contact juggling moves. I managed to “wow a lot of people and gathered a small crowd by lighting some dude’s cigarette with the ball. We ate between 8 and 9 and then hung around till we went to bed at about 11. I left the compound to buy some sweets. On return one of my group (one of the women) went nuts and started getting angry, in Tamil. I still have no idea what she was going on about. From what I could tell I think she was angry at me for walking across the road to the stall. I was angry that they were being so protective and that they, again, had some miss conception that I couldn’t take care of myself. Maybe so in the middle of a big city but walking across the road to buy some sweets, come on.

Next to the engineers there was a open flat concrete space where man dried peanuts to be made into ground nut oil.

On one of the days the men headed off to Pondicherry at about 4 in the morning and returned at 9. I didn’t go because I was really knackered and had already visited Pondicherry before. I lent them my camera. They taught me how to play games that could be drawn in the mud and use pebbles as counters. There was on like naught’s and crosses played on a square with a cross running through. Each had three stones and the object was to get a vertical or horizontal row of three. There was another more complicated one where 15 goats (one person) and three tigers (his opponent) had to battle each other on a triangular board. The goats had to trap the tigers and the tigers had to eat the goats.

They were very reluctant to let me do any work. Whenever I stepped up to perform one of three tasks that could be done on the machine they let me have few goes and then took over usually telling me to “rest”. I spent a lot of the time sitting around, watching and taking notes. They called me “sir” much to my disliking.

On one of the days after we had finished work we went to the director of Kalvi Kendra’s house. We were given porridge made from boiled rice with rice balls in it. It was very hot and sweet. We were then given nibbles. We talked about the English and Tamil language difficulties, the cricket world cup (speaking of which I hope you all watched India’s fantastic victory over Sri Lanka) and about how Kalvi Kendra was set up. We left at about 7.

On Sunday (being international women’s day) we walked into Villupuram to go to a conference on women’s rights. We arrived at about 10:30. It was a big conference hall with a stage and a very large gathering of people outside. We headed inside but I was grabbed by a photographer and positioned next to a lady holding a silver tray, on it an incense burner and a silver pot full of orange paste. She smeared some of the paste on my forehead whilst having our picture taken.

We went inside. It was really quite cool. There on the floor infront of us sat 2000 women all wearing colourful saris. There was a stage decorated with Christmas style decorations. We were led to our chairs. The whole conference was in Tamil and therefore I couldn’t understand a word. On more than one occasion a lot of people turned round and stared at me. Samy one of the dudes I had come with (not AREDS Samy) explained that the person on stage was taking about me. What was said I do not know? People sang songs and many people talked. We were brought drinks. There was clapping and obviously very moving and charismatic speeches judging from the reaction of the audience. We left at about 1 and headed back to Kalvi Kendra where we had lunch. After taking several photos of the group and directors outside the building we headed off to the bus station and managed, after much arguing and many different missions to find the right bus stand, we caught a bus to Tritchy.

The journey took about 3 ½ hours. The bus was nice with old style dentist leather seats that reclined. It was very bumpy and, I kid you not, there were many times when I was thrown in the air quite literally afoot or so off my seat, as they don’t seem to slow down for speed bumps. There was a TV playing bollywood movies and blasting out music. I spent the whole journey looking out of the window and the countryside rushing by and listening to my Walkman.

We got to Tritchy and headed off to find the bus to Karur. They tried to make me eat but the journey had turned my stomach the wrong way round. They had several heated arguments all of which I couldn’t understand. The group split up. Me and the guys went away and bought sweets and food and the women did them same. They finally decided to get on a bus. The journey took about 1-½ hours and at stops people selling fruit, food, water etc invaded the bus. We bought some bananas and munched. We arrived at a village and got off to be met by an AREDS dude on a motorbike. He took the two women (the third stayed on the bus till her stop) away and then returned for us. Having dropped everyone off we returned to AREDS where Ambiga had stayed up (till 11:30) with my dinner. The journey on the bike at night under the stars was wicked. Really beautifull. I went to bed.

On Monday I “rested” and read. We talked about the course and the plan of action to come. After lunch from outside I heard the dogs go mad. Ambiga called me out and there was a monkey sitting on the wall screaming at the dogs. We let the dogs out and they chased the monkey up a tree. The monkey ran off, I went out the front to find 30 odd kids chasing the monkey round the building. We fed it bananas and rice. I was very cute.

The press is to be ordered and work can begin on clearing the ground and digging the 8-foot deep swimming pool. Today I went to Karur with Velu and did some stuff.

Anyway, that’s about it. The trip went well and work should start soon. I will probably write more but I can’t remember everything now. There will probably be a few snippets I will add later. I have three films worth of photo’s so I shall have them up as soon as I can work out how to use the scanner. I hope your all ok and stuff.

jaime

2003-03-03T05:56:00.000-08:00

Hello,

This morning I went with Samy up to the SWATE compound. Samy had a meeting with the Sri Lankans and I did some planting with the SWATE caretaker. We had lunch in the SWATE garden resteraunt and then I got a lift back to the village. When I got back I realised that I had been out in the sun for a little bit too long (i.e. I was burnt to a crisp.) My arms, my neck and my hands were marshmallow pink. Its quite painfull. Hopefully it should turn a good colour though. One forgets that you can burn very quickly out here. My time planting was a ok time to be out in the sun (morning when the sun is not that hot) but after (the quick runs between building etc) had done most of the burning. Must be more carefull. If anyone has any "sunburn tips" (i.e. what factor to be wairing (I only have 25 for my head) then feel free to mail them to me.

Tomorrow we are leaving at 4 in the morning (such a time should be made illegal.) As I said before I don't think there is internet access so I will not be posting.

Anyway. Hope your all ok and I shall post when I get the next oppertunity.

jaime

2003-03-02T07:31:00.000-08:00

Greetings.

well, all in all it has been a mighty fine day. I am finely feeling ok and my appetite (of sorts) has returned.

This morning the house was generally a little chaotic as one of the people sent to a conference in Delhi had not returned as planned and the others had lost him on the journey up there. He had not been seen at the conference and everyone was beginning to panik. The police had been informed and everyone was jumping everytime the phone rang. His rellatives had been coming round, the phone had been ringing none stop since yesterday for news on the "curnet situation." Anyway, this evening from home to let everyone know there was nothing to worry about.

Today 5 people from Sri Lanka turned up for a weeks training. We went up to the training centre (ironically) and Samy talked them through their program. I sat around, read my book and drank coconut water, fantastic was to spend a lazy, hot sunday afternoon.

The kids are outside as we speak poi'ing to their hearts content (although apparently they appear to have lost a juggling ball which should hopefully be found when the power cuts at ten (they glow.)

Tomorrow the plans for the theatre will have been finished (I hope to post them up to let you all know what its going to look like) and the area will hopefully be marked out so that work can begin.

Last night was a holy night and all the worshippers of Shiva stayed up all night, this morning everyone looked a little bleary eyed.

Anyway, hope your all ok. from monday till sunday i may not post as I will be on the course but I shall keep you all updated when I get back.

jaime

2003-03-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

Greetings. Well am still feeling rough.

Having eaten on thursday night (which made me feel alot better) I went outside to do some interacting with the kids. I had my poi with me so I gave a little demo and they all seemed so excited that I brought out the other four sets and some juggling balls for them to play with. They all went nuts and they were poi'ing till well after 10pm. By then we had quite a gathering of about 20 odd people both old and young. When I said I had to go (cause I was beginning to feel a little odd shall we say) they all wanted to keep the poi so I promised to come out again the next day to let them play.

On Friday I felt a little better and ended up going up to the SWATE buildings to check out the progress on a open air kitchen they had been building which was going great. Myself and Samy started to watch "The Bodyguard" at six and at 7ish Christi returned home from her confrence trip to Delhi and Chennai. Just after she arrived we bid farewell to Ghreet who was heading down south to Kerala to do more interviewing for her thesis. After dinner I went outside to see the kids and was greeted by lots of kids screaming "balls balls" (meaning poi). They were so eager to continue playing that when I went out at 9:15ish they had already been hanging around outside, waiting since 6. They spun till about 10. Some are actually quite good considerering they have only been doing it fror an hour or so. Myself and Christi were brainstorming as to what materials that everyone has access to could be utilised into making their own set, as I aint got enough to go round. Even as I am typing i can hear them outside. Promised then that I would be out at 7 tonight.

Today i was still feeling a little dodgy. The carpenter was in my room alot of the day fixing up the new netting we had bought for the windows so I spent much of the day doing washing (there is always alot to do becasue most items can only be worn once as one sweats alot more than in the UK), I began to read Lord of the Rings (good god they cut alot out of the film). At about 1 I had an appointment with the engineer up at the site of the theatre project so I was driven up to meet him. We discussed the layout, took some worked out how big things could be and what would go where. We should have a plan and a quote on materials by Monday. Then the area will be marked out and whilst I am away on my brick making and building course (4th - 9th slightly shorter than first anticipated) the pool will be dug and preperations will be made on the land itself.

anyway. Hope your all ok and well. Apparently someone called me a few days ago. sorry i wasn't in. you won't be able to get me from 4th-9th but anyother time is fine (between 1.30pm and 4.30pm your time any day (all day sunday even though i may not be in all day)

jaime