jaime in india

Thursday, February 27, 2003 :::

Greetings.

Well at 7:45 on Sunday evening i boarded the Alypi express and headed south for Karur. Sleep, as usual, was pretty difficult and when you are perched 3 bunks up there is always the fear that you may plummet (nudged by the ever constant rattling of the train) to the floor that lies 7 feet below, sleeping is always pretty daunting.

I arrived in Karur having forced myself up at 5, as I believed we would arrive at 5:30 and I was paranoid about missing my stop (as it turns we arrived at 6:45) and was met by Samy. We drove back to Renganathapuram in the light of the most amazing sun rise I have ever seen. I spent the rest of the day tired. Myself and Ghreet went up to SWATE, she to conduct an interview with a Punjabi leader and me to attempt to stitch the mosquito netting I had purchased together so that it would fit the windows.

I was escorted to the sewing room and shown how to use the pedal machines by a lovely lady who's English, unfortunately, was not very good. Having grasped the basics (and with my previous sewing experience) I sat down and started to sew. After four attempts with the thread breaking I gave up and was then told by the lady that I would need another type of machine with nylon thread. Fantastic. I hung around waiting for Ghreet and decided to head back on the back of a motorbike as it was lunch time and I was very hungry. I ate and then read and edited some translated scripts for SWATE for the rest of the day. In the evening myself, Samy and Ghreet had a few beers and then headed upstairs to sleep under the stars on the terrace. It was at this point I met another village inhibitors, crickets, large crickets, as in 4 inch long crickets, that fly and everything. The terrace was incredible at night, hardly any light pollution, really brilliant. I swear I saw a shooting star. I ended up heading inside at midnight; I decided to save the sleeping outside for when i required less sleep.

On Tuesday I went to Karur with a man called Sam and took the material to a dude on a street corner who new more about sewing than I did (not difficult). We went to a material warehouse where Sam checked out some samples of material, made by SWATE, which were heading off the Oxfam in Belgium. We then headed back to the village being stopped half way due to a HUGE boiler being transported by train. In the evening I did some washing and watched "Far and Away" (Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise) which was very good. As usual the power cut out at ten as the supply is switched between sources. It was dark. Very dark.

On Wednesday myself and Samy went up to SWATE at 9 to load some stuff from the printing press to a van. We had a coffee and headed up to the training centre to pick up some papaya’s an check that they were irrigating the fields. We so some goats that had just bee born (i.e. minutes before). We headed back to the village.

It was back at the village that at the point of being in India for 1 month, 1 week, three days and 13 hours, I finally succumb to Delhi belly. GOOD GOD. I ended up sleeping for pretty much the rest of the day. I felt like death, no, let me take that back, death, would have been the easy way out. It felt like someone had inflated a hot air balloon directly into my stomach. I couldn't stand up for more than five minutes without wanting to throw up. Having pumped myself full of water, Elecetrol (oral re-hydration salts), ibuprofen and Imodium I went to bed and attempted to sleep, not and easy thing to do.

This morning I still felt terrible. I couldn't eat anything but yoghurt, bananas and sugar mixed together (I still haven’t eaten anything other than two portions of that since Tuesday.) This morning, food was generally not a good idea especially seeing as i didn't want to see breakfast in reverse. At about 11 a woman’s self help group turned up to hold a meeting. At about 1, 35 old French people turned up to have lunch and to have a tour and a talk (by Samy) about what AREDS did. Still unable to eat I sent most of lunch in the dining room talking to French people about India. When they headed off up to SWATE did some more washing and lay around feeling ill.

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 6:53 AM

Sunday, February 23, 2003 :::

wannacome.

Today i got up to find that Poorni had already arrived and I was running a little late. We jumped into an auto and headed off in the direction of an saree and material shop where she wanted to buysome stuff. We then headed off to a shop to buy Joel a birthday present. I got him as spiderman toy on a battery opperated beach buggy type thingy. I also managed to pick up a copy of Def Leppards "vault, best of" fot 1 quid. Its great, all the shops stock really old rock music that i aint listened to for years. Memories. We then went to some shop called "fast fasion" were I managed to pick up 3 basketball style sleeveless shirts for 300 bucks (about 4 squid). We then headed back to the house.

On arriving at the house we were again off to have lunch with Chintu's family as it was one of her uncles birthdays. Happy birthday was sung with two extra verses of "and god bless you" and "live a long life." We ate in a Punjabbi restaurant which consisted of many types of naan bread with various curries, pickles, dips, bindi's etc etc. It was very good and very filling. I met some of Chintu's relatives including one dude who has been up on the Kashmir border for the last 2 years as he is in the army.

Came back to the house and will be setting off for the train station for the over night journey in about an hour. Will arive in Karrur at about 6 tomorrow morning.

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 4:20 AM

Saturday, February 22, 2003 :::

Hello.

Well I have just got back from MPL day. Left at about 3:30 and got to the factory at about 4ish where already a very large crowd had gathered. MPL is the name of the factory and they make electronic components. All the people who are employed by the company are invited to bring their families for this day of entertainment, tours, food and competitions. Everyone was standing around drinking orange and mango juice. Everyone was dressed up and most of the women had their brightly coloured sari's on. The whole scene was very colourful. I instantly felt out of place and under dressed.

We had a few drinks and went on a tour of the factory floor and buildings. Then we headed out back to where the stage, seating and food was situated (all outside). We were all asked to take our seats as the afternoons entertainment program was about to begin. First off, blessings were read (in Tamil) at which point everyone was asked to stand (a bit like ye olde national anthem). Next, Tibs gave a speach on the effect of globolisation on MPL, the concept of sticking together as a company, the concept of us human beings thatbtake things for granted (a god in our own right) which was backed up by several stories. From then on I can't really remember the running order but it went something like this.

* Gifts were given out to all the employee's who had been working for the company for 12 years. They were each given a beautiful material shawl. They were all named and asked to come on stage where they were presented with their gifts by a couple who were also asked to come on stage. The couple were then given a small gift as a thankyou for handing out the presents (all very confusing.)

* Gifts were given to all the people who had been working there for 10 years. They were all given a gold chain by yet another couple who, again, were rewarded for their taking part.

* Gifts were given to all six couples who had got married in the last year. Whilst their presents were being handed out wedding photo's were projected onto a side screen. Again, whatever couple handed out these gifts were rewarded.

* Prizes were given out for sporting competitions which had taken place the week before. There were prizes for chess, cricket, volleyball, skipping and something else that I can't remember. The eating competition had been put on hold for some reason.

Then came the entertainment. This consisted of things:

* Traditional solo Indian dancing
* Traditional group Indian dancing
* Singing
* Short theatrical performances about the complexity of Indian marriage (in Tamil)
* Comedy drama where men dressed up as women, women dressed up as men and they all generally made fun of things (aso in Tamil)

After all these performances the solo artist or group were again asked to come up on stage and they were presented with presents such as Indian shawls etc. At about 19:00 I got changed, set up my fire stuff to soak and returned to my seat. By then I was beginning to get really nervous as there were over 500 people sitting in rows infront of this big concrete stage on which soon i would be spinning. When the comedy act had finishd I was announced, the carpet was pulld off stage (at my request) and some really odd Indian dance music began to play. I lit up, hopped onto the stage and began. Throughout the whole 10 minute performance people were clapping (from what i could tell). I blew a moderatly large fire ball but was slighlty precautious as I was not sure if Indian kero was mixed with other, possibly more flammable substances. When the wicks began to burn low i stopped, went off stage, put them out and then was called back onstage where I was greeted with applause. Iggy and Chintu were called up to present me with an stunningly beautiful Indian shawl and a MTL wood ingraved picture thingy which is wicked. I returned to my seat and and with clean cloths, headed off in the direction of the nearest toilet. On the way i was stopped by about 6 people including 2 very very attractive young ladies, and congratulated on my performance.

Having changed, i returned to my seat and began the task of completing my bingo style lottery card, the game of whaich was now in full swing. Unfortuatly we didn't win anything. After all the prizes (the "full house" one being a VCD player) had been given away we walked over to the food section where several stalls serving several meals were being served. The tree's and bushes had been decorated with different colored fairy lights, there were bunches of banana's hanging from (by string) from the tree's for people to eat. It was fantastic. Having been handed a plate covered with a banana leaf i got some food, ate, talked with family friends, walked around a bit, got congratulated more by passers by, ate icecream. After everyone had left we headed back to the car then home.

May post more about the evening tommorow as more things come back to me but I'm knackered.

safe

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 11:01 AM

Friday, February 21, 2003 :::

Wannacome.

Yesterday morning I went to Joels school to do a poi performance (infront of the LKG and UKG classes) done to the sounds of LTJ Bukems "Journey inwards." They seemed to enjoy both the performance and the tunes, at one point some were standing and mimicking my moves and by the end they were all clapping along with the music. To see 200 5 year old Indian, wide eyed children, watching poi whilst clapping along to western ambient, tripped out drum & bass was very surreal. Prior to this I had been taken to see the headmaster or "brother" as he is called by all within the school (including teachers) to get permission to "do tricks."

After this I was taken by car up to Iggy's factory to do a run through of the fire I am doing on saturday night. Indian kero tastes alot better than UK kero (must have been a good year.) I ran through a routine and everyone looked quite impressed even though it was broad daylight and one could hardly see the fire although the fire blow was met with a few ooo's and aahh's. On saturday I will be performing infront of 500+ people at the factory "fun day" so to speak. Should be good.

After this we went to Maggie and Tib's house to celebrate the birthday of one of Tib's sister-in-laws who unfortunatly past away last year. When we arrived the gathering was in full swing by which I mean they were all saying mass and taking communion (apparently quite common in catholic houses). They had hired a vicar who was leading them all in Tamil hymns and blessings. I felt very out of place and merely sat at the back of the room and observed the proceedings. After this was over we all ate and then everyone (about 25-30 people) lined the living room and we were entertained by family members on a keyboard. Some sat against the walls and others danced in the middle. As I had atticipated I was asked to do poi. It was very odd especially as one considers family get togethers in the UK. Also the families are very big. Have heard some say that they are one of 8 or even 11 and apparently when everyone gets together there are about 80 odd of them. Madness. Was a lovely evening although one lady said I looked like a member of the Taliban (that kinda Arabian look) which was kinda odd because in shop in Karrur this dude said I looked like was from Iran and at the school one of Chintu's friends thought I was American.

Useless pieces of info:

1) Tamil Nadu has its own months that differ from the UK and there new year is in April. There is one month in the Tamil calender in which people, even married couples, are forbidden to have sex, (I kid you not). This is why, apparently there are few birthdays in some months and lots in others. Apparently this rule is still followed.

2) The rolling stones are coming to Bangalor on April 11th as part of their "forty licks" tour. I am in the process of persuading people to come and I will succeed.

3) On public bus services in Chennai women have to sit on one side of the bus and men have to sit on the other. This was evident when I saw a bus with a ground clearance of 2+ foot one one side and less than a foot on the other which, as you can imagine, meant it was tilting at quite and alarming angle.

4) Having seen begging for the first time today (by kids as young as 5) i was informed not to give money to beggars because alot of the time they belong to "beggars unions" type things which are run by wealthy people. The way it works is they send out people to beg, collect the money at the end of the day and then feed the beggars. This is popular because at least one knows he is going to get a meal at the end of the day. These organisations have bee known to brutally mess people up physically from scorched eyes to broken legs to make them cripled and to increase the "pitty" factor therefore increasing money intake.

Today I have been out shopping with Poorni. Needed to purchase hat, sleeveless tops, present for Joels birthday, and other bits and pieces. Managed to get a hat. we went to a few "trendy" shops but couldn't find anything suitable and cheap enough to work in which iswhat i need. We have a large shopping spree planed for sunday.

This evening Iggy and Chintu took myself and the boys down to the beach in Chennai. We had a walk around and found a rugby tournament going on with players from all over the world. We had a walk down to the water at which point you can see the heavens very very very very clearly as there is very little light pollution. The beach is an evening hangout venue and is host to many groups of people meeting up. Because of this the trading people are out in force selling everything from boiled peanuts to balloons, from goes on small hand opperated childrens rides to an air rifle range with balloons. I was great. We then went to a shop called Odyssey where I managed to pick up Aerosmiths "big ones", REM's "out of time" (which I still believe to be their best work) and four bars of Cadbury's "temptations" for a measly 335 bucks (about 4.40 (pounds).

Anyway. Am tired and am going to bed.

night

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 10:23 AM

Wednesday, February 19, 2003 :::

Hello.

Am in Chennai and this afternoon I have two appointments. The first is at 12:45 where I have to go to the local school and perform poi to all the LPG and UPG (upper and lower kindergarden) classes, a total of around 200 kids. Am actualy quite nervous. Then this afternoon I am haeding off to the factory to do some fire practice for MPL day on sunday. The temperature has risen in Chennai and is about 33 (about 98f) with humidity at 83% (don't ask what that means in practicle terms casue i have no idea, just lifted it off a Chennai weather report) but apparently the temperature will not drop below 23 c. It is very hot a unfortunatly I am already slightly burned from yesterdays sun bathing and swimming. Am beginning to go a nice shade of brown and have been advised (for the full tan effect) to go and sit on Chennai beach and cover myself in oil, a piece of advice I, funy enough, am not going to act apon.

Arrived this morning at about 6:30 having spent the night attempting to sleep. I did not see a single cockroach which was good but the AC was playing up and it was VERY VERY hot. This coupled with the the fact that I was on the top bunk, unable to fully lie down due to the length of the bed (designed obviously for the Indian stature) made sleep difficult. The fact that there were two or three big guys snoring like a heard of asmatic buffallo didn't really assist in my attempts to sleep. In the end I managed to catch a couple of hours.

So far I have only been posting about the good things I have seen but unfortunatly there are nasty things aswell, it aint all good. There is alot of poverty. Many houses are simply made of a wooden frame with coconut palm leaf thatch. When in the city I have seen things like bikes set up so that people can pedal with their hands due to the fact they have polio. There are many beggars the vast majority of them with something physically wrong such as blindness (glazed eyes) caused by cataracts, or people who cant walk properly. Have seen several people perched on small trolly's (about the same size as an A4 pice of paper) as they have no legs. Have also seen several people with leprosy which was really really disturbing. When in the training centre myself and Samy saw a bus full of children as young as 14 going off to work in the mosquito net factories. Samy said that had he seen any under the age of 14 he would have made a fuss cause it has taken them a long time to have the age minimum, for work, raised. Many kids don't go to school, apparently in many areas there are problems with chid prostitution and drugs. Aids and HIV is a rising problem.

Anyway. slight somber note but I hought my previous posts had been a little biased, insinuating that I had seen nothing upsetting in this country.

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 10:06 PM

Tuesday, February 18, 2003 :::

hello. hope everyone is ok.

Yesterday myself and Ghrit attended and meeting of all the AREDS (over 100) staff in the training centre. We were introduced by Samy and then were required to outline what we were doing whilst in AREDS (translated by Samy). I outlined my role as project manager so to speak and talked about my fire hopefully being used to entertain kids and as part of the drama projects running soon. Everyone was very enthusiastic and later on in the meeting by project was discussed and everyone aggreed to send workers to help. Later when i inquired into who was going to call all the shots, give out all the oders and be on site the whole time to orgainse people i was informed that i was the one which was slightly scary. Then at lunch time i did poi for everyone as they were eating. I spent the rest of the afternoon working out how i was goiung to catch the fish in the near by well. The water wqas being pumped to irrigate the fields and therefore it would be easier to catch fish. We decided to wait untill today as the water level had not sunk enough.

In the everning i went out side and was instantly surrounded by children who were all very hyper and excited about the fact that I had come out to talk to them. They asked what my name was, age, who my parent were etc etc. They told me to get my camera and when i came out with it they were all standing in a line saluting me. When the flash went off they all screamed very load and started running around in circles, singing and dancing. All the kids are very very cute, they are al extremly friendly and love taing and shaking hands with white people.
Later on having walked through a doorway a bat landed on my head and scared the living daylights out of me.

Today myself and Ghrit were driven into town to buy fruit, tain tickets, cloths and mosquito netting as the netting has come off my windows. The man in the shop was very nice, bought us drinks and invited us back to his place some time during our stay. We talked about the war effort of the USA on Iraq and how both India and England don't seem to be doing very well in the cricket. When we returned to the house i was driven on the back of a motor bike to the well as the water level had reached the bottom and one could stand up in it. The climbed down by rope and spent and hour trying to catch fish. Having not caught a thing we headed back to the bike and found we had a puncture so we hung around and talked to kids in the training centre untill another tyre was brought.

Tomorrow i am heading up to chennai on the over night train.

Hope you are all ok and now i have to go as I am being called for dinner.

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 6:56 AM

Sunday, February 16, 2003 :::

hello, hope everyone is ok.
Well, arrangments are being made to send me on this brick making and building course which should last about a week. I will then return to Renganathapuram to teach others how its done and then the construction will begin. An engineer will be given the plans and will visit the sight for estimate purposes but we have come to the conclusion that making our own bricks will allow the budget to be slightly less than first anticipated. At an AREDS meeting yesterday I made an appeal for volunteer labourers which will mean that at any given point i will have 5 or more people working plus some coming with me to the brick making course.

Yesterday Myself, Samy and Christi went up to the SWATE hall and started planting papya tree's and bamboo in what will eventually be a garden. The day was generally spent visiting farms, drinking coconuts water and chilling out. The banana harvests have started so that was quite cool to watch.

Today myself, Samy and a female belgian student who arrived yesterday called Ghrit (I think thats how you spell it) who is doing a thesis on the class and cast system, went up to one of the farms and sat in a very large concrete water tank which is hooked up to a well and therefore is always gushing water that is pumped onto the fields. It was deep enough to sit down in and be submerged upto ones neck. We sat, drank coconut water, are coconuts in the warm 32 degree's. I was in heaven.

Appart from the projects being given to me i have two smaller tasks while here. The first is to climb a coconut tree and bring down some coconuts. This is slightly scary as those things are over 30 odd foot high. The second is to catch a fish in one of the water wells which is 40 foot deep and about 7 meters square. apparently the fish are notoriously clever and impossible to catch. There is a bet of a few beer riding on this so I cannot fail.

On feb 22 after the performance at the factory i am taking an over night train to some hill station to meet Samy where he will show me forests and hills of India. Apparently it is where one can find elephants and tigers so I am really looking forward to that.

anyway. i hope you are all well. I am off to go and do some washing which consists of soaking your cloths in hot soapy water and then beating the living daylights out of them on a large, flat rock. Fantastic.

Oh, HAppy Birthday to Johnny. Hope you have a great day and stuff.

safe

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 2:10 AM

Friday, February 14, 2003 :::

hello, hope everyone is ok and stuff.

Well i arrived in Karrur at about 6am and then into Renganathapuramat 7 on Thursday morning. We (myself, Samy and Christi) had got a train in Chennai at 7pm the night before. The train had bunk beds (three high) for everyone to sleep on and the night was mainly spent fending off cockroach attacks and attempting to sleep. When we arrived in Karrur we mwere met by a jeep and driven to the village compound. I was given a quick tour of the house, shown my room. I took a shower and it was then that I had my first encounter with the wildlife here when i walked in and was greeted by a large lizard. I took a shower and headed down to breakfast.

The place i am staying in run by Samy and Christi's company AREDS (Association of Rural Education and Development Services.) It educates the village people (not the ymca dudes) and teaches them about their rights, how to become self sufficient, to build, farm, it has health clinics, training centres, farms, womens rights compounds (run by SWATE) and many other projects in the area.

At about 10 i was taken on a tour of the local facilities and visited a SWATE (womens right centre), a training centre for locals and foreigners, a farm and several other places like shops etc. At the training centre they had hand looms and everywhere i went they were growing cocnuts. The farm grew coconuts, paddy rice and sugar cave (its the harvest soon and I have been asked to help out which should be fun.) The place in general is incredibly beautifull. There are rice fiedls, coconut palms, mango tree's, guava tree's, sugar cane plantations everywhere. Its very tropical and very very hot (about 35 (aprox. 100) degree's.) The house is huge and has conference rooms, hotel type guest rooms for all the westerners they have staying here, terraces, open walkways, a well, admin offices, computer rooms, a library, bathrooms its amazing.

We discussed what part i could play and what work I could do to contribute to AREDS. Fire and poi were mentioned as part of the drama they do here and to entertain school kids, music was talked about (bongo's and drums) and then Samy came up with an idea e had had for a while that I could take on as a project. He wants to build a theatre type buliding with a small swimming pool, kitchen, dining rooms, a few sleeping room, bathrooms and shower room at one of the farms. Before i new it i had been given this to do (with Samy's help of course). I am being sent off on a course on how to make mud bricks and build with them, we have visited the land, taken measurements (about 178 sq foot) drawn plans and set a budget of about Rs 100,000 (about a grand). Its mad, labourers need to be found but all in all the project should be finished by may when the children go on holidays and start a drama program. It is hoped that the compound will encourage children who would not usually mix (due to the cast system) will play and learn together. Its absolutly mad. This should keep me occupied for the next few months.

The general feeling about this place is generally one of disbelief. Its stunningly beautifull, a village nesteld inbetween coconut plantations and rice fields. The people (as usual) are lovely. I have been given this fantastic project that is going to look amazing and help a community and i've only been here two days. WOW Apart from the flying cockroaches (about the length of a buisness card (sorry but i aint got anything else to hand thats that size), the bats that dive bomb you in the evening, the jumping lizards and spiders this place is fantastic.

In other news i am going back to Chennai next weekend to do fire at Iggy's factories MTL open day thingy. Samy and Christi are attempting to teach me Tamil but it is a very difficult language to learn especuially as there are 249 letters in the alphabet. I now have a permenant address so i can be written to. The address is

Jaime Garbutt
AREDS
Renganathapuram Po.
Krishnarayapuram Tk.
Karur Dt.
Tamil Nadu
India
639 108

The phone number is (in full) 00914324250618. Due to the time difference and office hours where the phone is (and the fact that hopefully i will be working) you should be able to get me between 1.30pm and 4.30pm your time.

Well I hope everyone is ok and enjoying the weather. shall update soon and let you know how things are going.

love jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 5:56 AM

Tuesday, February 11, 2003 :::

greetings all.

Have had a very good day. For some reason i woke up in a fantastic mood. I spent alot of time in the morning talking to remy, mum and robbie. Recieved several e-mails from people telling me how they are which was good.

In the afternoon i went out with Poorni to purchase some things that i thought i should get before heading down to Karrur. Things such as razors, sunscrean, soap, shaving foam etc etc. Bought some things for Sami and Christi. Managed to pick up a 10 pack of wrigleys extra for less than a quid. Then went back to Poorni's place, watched "who's line is it anyway" always good and then returned to Iggy and Chintu's flat on the back of a moped in Chennai rush hour traffic. To be honest for the first minute of the 20 minute journey i was slightly worried at all the people wizzing past and the general constant state of chaos that are Chennai's so called "roads" but after a minute or two it was FANTASTIC. Great views of the city on a lovely evening, I began to feel a little less like a tourist being dressed (kind of, with the kurtas) like an indian taking the preferred transport (deathtrap) of the people. There were people going past in busses and waving at me and everything. It was most excellent, if not slighty intimidating especially due to the fact that no one and I do mean no one wears a helmet. I finally realised, however, why a large majority of these people wear things over their faces, to keep all the bugs out of their eyes. Painfull indeed.

AM heading down to Karrur tomorrow, as you already know, with Chrsiti and Sami. My Ticket (for an all night i.e.7pm till 10am, couple of hundred miles, from Chennai to Karrur cost a mere 500 bucks (about 4 quid). Madness

Hope eveyone is well

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 10:26 AM

Monday, February 10, 2003 :::

Photographic transmissions from India

ok. am heading to Karrur on wednesday night at 7pm (overnight train) with Sami and Christi. From there will travel to Renganathapuram.

Today I recieved a very meaty pair of ball chain, cathedral wicked, twin looped fire poi from New Zealand. Am performing fire at Iggy's family factory party day on Feb 22nd in Chennai so that should be good, lets just hope Indian kero tastes better than English kero.

Oh, and a belated happy 21st Birthday to Ian (blagdon) up in Manchester, and to Papa up in Scotland.

Hope everyone is ok.

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 10:25 AM

Sunday, February 09, 2003 :::

Ok people, update on Karrur. Sami and Christi are in Chennai untill Wednesday when they are heading back to Karrur and Renganathapuram ( by the way, "puram" means village which is why quite a few place names end in "puram"). They said that i could travel back down with them so I am meeting them tomorrow to discuss it. All goes according to plan I should be heading south on Wednesday, ready to start work, whatever form it comes in.

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 9:46 AM

Saturday, February 08, 2003 :::

Greetings all.

Right, well i just got back from the cinema (as its Chintu's birthday) and when i say cinema i mean indian style cinema. It was a drive up cinema, american style (like the one in "the flintstones" opening sequence). It was fantastic. You park your car infront of a 70 by 40 foot screen, get out and sit infront of it on mats on the floor. Sound is pumped out of speakers every 3 cars or so. The film was called "anbay sivam" translated as "love is god" and was brilliant. Unfortunatly it was in Tamil not English so i couldn't follow the conversations but the plot was pretty easy to follow. Like all Indian (bollywood) films it had a bad buy, a good guy and followes the idea that two people fall in love, the womans family disagree etc etc. They break into song like evry 20 minutes which is quite something since he film was over 3 hours long. It even had an interlude during which time the boot of the car was opened and hot curry and chapati's were served on paper plates.

The story was basically about two dudes who get put in the same hotel room because of a bodge up in an airport. They travel to Chennia together and the old dude remembers his youth, how he had fallen in love with some woman who's family went nuts because he was trying to liberate the poor cause he was a communist. Lots happens and then at the end they realise the yuonger bloke is marrying the woman.

The whole experience was really wicked. The sky was breath taking, lit with starts and stuff and the bugs that crossed the beam from the projector glowed. the whole thing was quite stunning. Half was through the movie it suddenly hit me, i was sitting on the south east coast of India, at ten o'clock in the evening, outside with a curry watching a movie in a language i couldn't even understand. safe This was the first time it really hit me that i am in India, for real. This sudden feeling was most odd.

Anyway. All cool. hope everyone's ok.

love jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 9:19 AM

Friday, February 07, 2003 :::

hey everyone. hope your all ok and groovy.

Went out on a shopping spree this evening with Poorni and picked up some mad bargains. Managed to get the red hot chillies "californication", audioslaves "audioslave", a Howard Marks book and three wicked really good quality cotton shirts (known as kurtas) all for 1311 bucks (thats under 16 quid). Its mad. Had a car and driver for the whole evening. Was fantastic. Was standing in a que to pay and there was a small boy (no older than 10) i front of us with his mum. He turned round, took one look at me and burst into tears. He screamed the house down. One would expect a child to react in such a way when comfronted with Robin Cook or Anne Widdecombe, but come on, i didn't realise i looked that bad.

Ended up having coffee in this "cool / hip" indian coffee house in a mall. Good coffee. All Indian coffee is fantastic, even the instant is fabulous.

Anyway. have to go. hope your all enjoying the freezing weather. All good.

Jaime

Anyway

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 11:02 AM

Wednesday, February 05, 2003 :::

Ok. hope everyones good. A few more facts.

On sunday there are classifieds in the paper that strictly state "bridegrooms and brides wanted." I read a few (for no reason other then curiosity) and it was really weird. Things like 29 year old female good job this star sign blah blah then the criteria which was really really specific in some cases down to an exact job with exact qualifications (like a degree in advanced physics). You send off your personal details and if the criteria match (and horoscopes in some cases) and you like the look of each other, three weeks later your married. It was very bizzare.

On monday we went to "food world" (a supermarket). It was really quite cool. they had loads of stuff that was just really odd like sunflower oil in seeled bags (like sandwich bags). They even had bags of eggs which seemed slightly bizzarre. On the way out we accidently walked into the middle of a film set (they were filming outside.) I thought this would be my big chance to make it big in Bollywood (you know the white, foreign bad guy). Unfortunatly appart from the usual pointing, staring and laughing no-one gave me a second look.

On tuesday i got up and was presented (at breakfast) with a large green coconut with a straw in the top You drink the water inside and then get it chopped open to eat the flesh. As it is green and not ripened the shell aint hard but thick and dense and the flesh aint crunchy like in coconuts from home but floppy and chewy. Its rather odd but very nice and most refreshing.

Today i went out shopping with poorni to buy chintu a birthday shopping. We went to several department stores and spencers plaza (a shopping mall) everything is so cheap. you can buy an album (cassette) for 125 bucks (about 1.50 ). I managed to buy two Paulo Coelho book ("the alchemist" and "the devil and miss prym)" for under 500 bucks (6 quid). We went for coffee and discussed the fact that Indian students simply work and work and work. There is no going back to uni as a mature student, no taking a year out, no leaving it for a bit (like me) to see what you want to do and then come back to it later when you feel its the right time. You work, no questions asked, and you don't stop working untill you have qualifications coming out of your ears, I kid you not.

Anyway. safe

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 8:07 AM

Sunday, February 02, 2003 :::

greetings. hope everyone is ok.Thought i would update you all on things. There are some more really strange things about this place. first off you know the public safety warnings on cigarettes saying "smoking kills" etc well i realised that on the labels of bottles of beer it says "Liquor ruins health, family and country" I remeber thinking to myself "oh dear, the uk is in alot of trouble should this turn out to be true.I thought this was greatly ammusing. Can anyone remember that soda released years ago called "mountain dew" well it got taken off the market, its amazing stuff like sprite only better, anyway its just been released here which is wicked cause its great stuff.

The creapy crawlies over here are terrible. not only do you have to put up with a generally unstoppable bombardment from mosquito's but there are other things aswell. ON friday i had my first ever encounter with a cockroach when it came leaping out of a wedding album that we were going to look at. Having been told that they never come into the house we then found another. Then on sat i went into my bathroom and four emptied themselves out of a hole in the door frame. Since then nights (and days) have been spent on the look out and occational battles with these relentless bloody creatures. When watching tv i was also lucky enough to see a lizard legging acrossd the floor of the loving room. it proceeded to, when the door was opened for it, leap a couple of foot out the door.

Thursday was spent shopping with chintu and poorni in "lifestyle" department store. Shopping with women is just as amusing in India as it is in the uk with constant questions like, "should i get these or these" and "i don't really need them but they're nice." Later I was taken to a dance class run by John. I sat there and watched several very attractive young indian women dancing line and rock 'n' roll to "Cotton eyed joe." Was then asked to come up and do a poi demonstration and then , having eight pairs on me, allowed everyine else to attempt it. Was great fun. Friday was spent indoors cause it was to hot. On saturday Pooni took me shopping at spencers plaza to buy a birthday present for iggy. I managed to pick up a full version of Lord of the Rings book for less than a fiver. Poorni bought a big stephen king novel, norah jones' "come away with me album and Avril lavignes album for like less than a tenner (so cheap).

We spent most of the morning and some of the after noon darting in and out of back streets in an autorickshaw which is a motor bike encased in what can only be described as a box with two seats and a lid. They are great fun although slightly scary especially when the dude is driving like a basket-case on acid. All the cars out here have incredibly high ground clearance's of like two foot. this is so the bottoms don't get ripped to shreads on india's "roads," seriously you could drive a sports car under most buses and lorries. The dude driving this thing asked if we would go and have a look around a department store if he knocked our fair down. The people out here have deals with large stores that if you they take tourists to them they get stuff (in his case a new uniform). You don't have to buy anything just make it look like your there cause you want to be. This out our fare down to 30 rupees for a well over half an hours of drive time (about 38p.)

On saturday night we went to tibs and maggies place (iggy's parents.) Everyone was really wicked. Loads of people showed up.Spent alot of time talking about London because one of iggy's cousins may be going to the royal college of vets in Camden where the male/female ratio is 75 women and 25 blokes (lucky git.) I met the grandparents who were lovely aswell. Everyone asks how your parents are.

We then went to an off-licence which was incredible. It looked like the lobby of a five star hotel. There was a usher to open the door and one of everything was displayed behind the counter lit up and behind glass. We bough over 4 litres of 6%+ beer, a litre of teachers blend, a big bottle of russian vodca for less than 20 squid, bargain. we then went back to the house were people were gathering to celebrate iggy's birthday. They do a much extended version of happy birthday with three verses one of which is the tune with the lyrics replaced by "and god bless you." I was beggining to feel very ill cause i had accidently drank ahalf a bottle of tap water mistaking it for boiled water.

was all good.

Sunday was spent feeling more ill over the water fiasco and watching the star movie channel.

love to all

safe

jaime

::: posted by j(e t')aime at 9:09 PM