Holiday in France with the Rickards

14^th July 2014

Dear friends around the world,

Writing this blog entry for you (my Indian friends particularly) has been on my to-do list ever since I returned from India back in April. I already started a few times but didn’t finish it. My to-do list seems to be more of a bank of things I don’t get round to doing. For months I’ve been planning to “apply for jobs as a Teaching Assistant”, “apply for Part 2 at CAT”, “apply for that teaching job in China” and “tidy my room (especially desk) and sort out all the papers” amongst other things. Only this week did I finally manage to finish my CV and actually apply for some jobs: part time receptionist in my university's engineering faculty and two TA jobs in London. I am very pleased about this! :)

Other than making lists, looking up jobs, working on my CV and procrastinating, I’ve: finished and submitted that PEDR for my University; got the original Naughty Magic Simon line-up back together and done lots of band practices; played some cracking gigs; got my old waiter’s job back at the Chinese and got a second job in a shop in my village selling outdoor clothing & equipment. I’ve been to London twice, Nottingham twice and now I’m in Normandy, France, on a family holiday avec ma maman, papa, frère et sœur.

My mum can theoretically speak French well ; ‘theoretically’  because she gets nervous and forgets it all, and mixes it up with Welsh. The rest of us are terrible at French, but we are all keen to learn some more by the time we’re here again.

Holiday in  France

A warship defending or preparing to invade Plymouth as we depart for France

The people in Normandy and Brittany are really lovely. My brother, sister and I went to the Bobital Festival in Brittany on Saturday 5th July and had a great time listening to top quality bands, eating crepes, gallets, frites and kebabs and meeting very friendly Bretanic people, who could often speak fairly good broken English but hardly any Bretan (that’s a pity because we speak Welsh which is closely related to the Bretan language). One of the first people we met was a girl called Jeanne from Rennes. We chatted a bit then after a while she went off to meet her friends. Much later when we were dancing to Ska-P in the rain and mud, we met another girl called Cecilia who coincidentally happened to be Jeanne’s friend, so then all five of us danced together and had a super good time! I took turns dancing merengue with both girls and Jeanne asked me to teach her a welsh dance. Ska-P played some bagpipes followed by a folky-jig style tune so Siôn and I showed them Welsh folk dancing (Dawnsio Gwerin). One couple made a bridge while the other couple went under it. A few other people joined in and we travelled all the way to the middle of the crowd, the row of bridges getting longer and longer as more and more couples joined in. My sister was not left out. She had got a really tall Breton man as a dance partner.

Our favourite bands were Danakil, Blondie, Elephanz and Ska-P.

Here are some clips from the day we were there, courtesy of youtuber Bernadette Ramel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4kA4Z4_DU0

Danakil

Danakil are a French roots reggae band. I hadn’t heard of them before but thought they looked good in the blurb because I like French Reggae and world music. And they lived up to expectations. They are very popular in France and drew a massive crowd. One of the singers is from Senegal and he did a few songs in the Senegal dialect of French. They sing about political, social and environmental issues and the problems of a consumerist society, and about peace & love.

Blondie

Yes, the famous American band. They were terrific. Quite varied with lots of good tunes.

Elephanz are a French Indie Pop Rock band with excellent music and harmonies. They sung mainly in English but had some French songs too.

Ska-P were one of the bands I’d come to see. They are a long established Spanish Ska-Punk band and they sing very energetic political songs and have a crazy stage show where one of the singers dressed up in different costumes, and they had various props including giant security guard which I think had someone inside it on stilts.  They were brilliant and great fun, but they were bit unfair on the bands on after them because they dragged their encore on too long. They kept saying “merci, bon soiree Bobital, siempre!” and then jumping into another song. Then at the end they danced around the stage and threw water bottles to the crowd. I really liked the song “Freedom for Palestina”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH6FOrP2Pqw

All of this for only €34 each (and the ticket for both days would have cost €54). It was a small festival with one band on at a time and no other tents except the VIP area, two long food counters and two bars. Food and drinks were paid for with tokens that we purchased from booths. I accidentally brought too many, or the token vendor gave me extra because she was nice, so we had a bit of a feast. There were two stages next to each other (so one band can set up while the other is playing), so one band on at a time.

* * *

Other than this, we've been to lots of pretty and historic towns with old buildings and some sensetive extensions and restorations. We're all very impressed with the architecture, food, Breton folk music and lifestyle. If Britain leaves the EU then we'd consider moving to Brittany (or Scotland or Ireland). Normandy has been nice too although most of our sightseeing has been in Brittany. We've been staying in Normandy near the Brittany border in my Aunty & Uncle's second home, 20 mins walk from a village called Saint Martin de Landelles and a short drive from the small town of Saint James. 

More pictures on the way! we're about to leave and catch the ferry now.

Mont Saint-Michel

 Now I am home and it's next week, so here are more pictures!

Mon Saint-Michel and new access way under construction

A street in Dinan (which we saw on our way to Bobital)

Most mornings I cycled to the village to get bread, milk and croissants. I took the back road, past fields of corn, pylons, barns, cows and houses.

Visit to the historic town of Vitré

Fest Noz in Saint-briac sur Mer, Brittany

A very nice town, worth a visit!

Town fate in Saint James

Great band playing Chanson Francais and gypsy jazz. We spoke to the singing violinist afterwards. She's from Paris and she works in a charity helping poor Roma people (they are discriminated against badly all over Europe). When she was young she traveled around performing music with a group of gypsy musicians! She gave me her email but I can't find it.

Liam in India: Exhibitions, Yoga, Meat and Temples

Dear friends,

All is well for me here in India; I am having a good time and I haven't been ill for weeks (apart from a few mornings, mildly, after some kind of street food). I'm too obsessed with food, and going to exciting but potentially dodgy places to eat seems to have become my main pastime. I've started writing some new songs and working of a few existing ones! I've bought a lot of nice things, including some excellent Indian comics from the Comic Convention I attended last week.
I've started doing yoga classes in the ashram, when I get up early enough. The teacher's yet to show up but both times there happened to be someone there who knew some asnas (stretches) and was willing to teach me. The class before these was the taster session for Sivenanda yoga, after which I felt so relaxed and dozy that I bought a Nokia Lumia 520 smartphone.

Working 6 days a week from nine til 6-7 or sometimes later, leaves little time for anything else! Sundays are our only day off, apart from the second Saturday of every month and the odd public or religious holiday. Sunday is my adventure day, hence there's little time for writing this blog, so I constantly postpone it along with cleaning my room and filling in my PEDR. There's hardly time to wash my clothes, or even myself! If I want a proper wash in warm water, rather than hastily splashing cold water over myself, I have to partially fill a bucket with cold water, carry it over to my room, and top it up with boiling water from my kettle. The solar hot water is only hot by midday, on a sunny day. It's really cold early in the morning and not nice to wash, but if I wash after breakfast when I have more guts and it's a tiny bit warmer, then I
m usually late for work. I could wash at night, or wake earlier and put up with the cold, which leads to me getting less sleep and being tired. Anyway, I've managed to get into a routine now which keeps me clean, on time, and usually not too tired (although i always start drifting to sleep over my work after lunch).
The other reason I haven't done the blog is that I've had no internet on my computer for over a month since my dongle ran out of credit.

• 1st plan to top up dongle:  ask Hrishikesh to do it (he got me the dongle and said he could top it up for me). I can't remember why this didn't work out...probably I was always busy and so was he, and the only time we meet is in the evenings after dinner, and I had to decide whether to buy 1GB, 2GB, for 30 days, for 60 days etc, which I had no idea about so couldn't decide
• 2nd plan: top it up over the internet. Stumbled: I can't top up my dongle online with a foreign bank account.

So I brought a smartphone which I can use internet on, after the hassle of setting that up. A week after buying my new mobile...

• Eureka! I can top up the dongle at the SIM card and top up shop (on the slightly longer but nicer route home from my office). This I did. He put in my dongle number to his system and I gave him the money. But still no internet. The shop is closed on Sunday, but I can sometimes catch them after work on week days if I manage to leave at 6 (so I can visit them before meditation at 7 and dinner at 7.40). I've asked them quite a few times to sort it, and I've phoned them, and they keep saying they'll sort it, but they haven't, and normally I'm working or going somewhere in the evenings or I only leave office in time to get back for the end of meditation and dinner, so without enough time to pop into their shop. I just can't be bothered with this nonsense!

Diary

Sunday 16th of February

Started the day by putting on a wash load in the machines on the roof of Tapasya, followed by breakfast in the dining hall (puri and potato curry; proper good stuff!). Then had a good explore of the roof, looking at solar hot water panels and trying to figure out which pipes were hot and which were cold, before collecting my washing.

Went to the Hall of Grace and watched the Vocational Trainees rehearsing a group dance and an impressive balancing act for the Mother's birthday on 21st Feb, then continued wandering and stumbled upon the gym. It was open, so I did some exercise. Then I walked to the neighboring yoga hall and did some asnas and breathing exercises.

After a nice ashram lunch, I went to meet my friend in a designer interiors exhibition in the same venue as the Indian Arts Fair we attended 2 weeks ago. We collected lots of business cards and brochures for the office, and I enjoyed some free crisps, biscuits, a sandwich and a chicken/egg tart.

Then we rushed on the metro to see the Maari Ghar, a project by our boss Sanjay Prakash. We thought the exhibition would close at 5.30, and it was 5. We didn't know where it was, other than that it was on Janpath (a very long street in the city center).

We made it there, and luckily it didn't close til 7.

The building has been painted badly and hasn't been maintained well, so wasn't as impressive as we'd hoped. Still, it's built (mostly)  of rammed earth bricks and has survived since the 70s (/80s/90s)! Good, eh? The exhibition was interesting, but by now I was a little bored of seeing exhibitions and feeling hungry (even though I had a big lunch and snacks at the interior design expo! I think something's not quite right with that...)
It was quarter to seven, and we had planned to go to eat in Connought Place, but it transpired that Mr G had to be in Jamia before eight o'clock to collect his motorbike, which had somehow gotten broken. Out our way out of the Indra Gandhi grounds we popped into another design expedition. We rushed to the metro in an auto. I had to choose whether to go back to the ashram, thereby saving money, eating healthy ashram food, getting rest, chatting to people there, and doing my PEDR, or go with my friend to Jamia to eat some new and delicious meat dish, which could potentially make me ill, and which goes against the yogic, environmental and ayurvedic health principles that we've both learnt about (we went to Jamia last week after the comic convention, again to collect the bike, and ate three absolutely delicious mutton curries that were up there with the best food yet!)

In indecision I followed him onto the blue metro line, and so I chose Jamia. On the way (bearing in mind we're in a massive rush), we went to a Hindu temple, had prasad, joined the prayer and purchased some Indian fudge (three types, one of each type). Mr G bought us each a man bracelet to symbolize our eternal friendship, then we rushed on to Jamia, walking along the busy road in the dark trying to hail an auto. Walking past a ruined temple with loads of rubbish next to it and a big poster of some gurus/politicians, I said "Now I'm in India, yeah!". We collected the bike, got followed by street kids 'til we bought them some cheap jelabi, which they weren't impressed with (fair enough really, they need healthy filling food), brought some naan, and went to eat Kajak (beef heart). It was a most amusing situation, eating beef with red dots on our foreheads. The elderly Muslim man who owned the this particular street food joint was roaring with laughter.
Man, this was actually the best food yet! Marinated and grilled on a BBQ in front of us. Perfect!

Health wise, wasn't perfect this morning, and now I have a slight stomach ache, and my friend is nowhere to be seen, but it was well worth it!

Previously...
So, over the last few months, I've learnt a bit about nutritional science and Ayurveda from "Eating Wisely and Well", which pretty much says meat is unnecessary, while Ayurveda teaches that it's positively harmful and makes you lazy (unless you live in a cold country). Environmentally, it is harmful, and it's not really fair to eat animals only because we like the taste when we don't actually need to eat them. However, in the last few weeks I've eaten out than I've eaten in the ashram, and I've eaten more meat than I eat at home! Usually chicken, some mutton, once fish and once beef (as described). Even at lunch in work sometimes there's chicken (the food I have at lunch is very, very delicious!)
I've been on a trip outside Delhi too!! to a place called Gwalior, on a site visit to a refurbishment project we're doing there. I saw the project for a bit then went to look around the area, and in the afternoon we went to see the old fort and some temples. Great day!! (two lunches, one with chicken, and chicken on the train in the evening) The train was great; we got food, and the toilets were clean. This was first class though.

Liam takes his Moustache Guitar & Hat to India Part 4: Chrsitmas Eve and Christmas Day

Merry Christmas and a happy new year everyone! I started writting this post on christmas eve but a lot happened, and I've been doing lots, so it just kept getting longer...I've finally finished and it is too long! but skim through and hopefully enjoy.

Dec 24^th, Christmas Eve
This is my first Christmas away from Mam, Dad, Sion and Ciara and I do very much miss them, and I miss going down to Aunty Tammy’s with them for our family get together. However, I’m having a good time here thanks to the very generous people around me.

After breakfast I was distracted from making Christmas cards with the sound of the Mirambika children singing carols. I remembered that they had a programme on today and Srila Didi, who leads the carol singing group, said I could play along with them on my guitar. So my guitar and I followed the sound, and sure enough, as soon as I arrived they enthusiastically put me on a chair next to the young pianist (she’s 14 and she directed the whole show, played keyboard for it, and conducted the singing). They acted out the nativity story in Hindi and sang some songs. Then I noticed lots of them had Jewish kippas on their heads. An American got up to speak about Hanukah and then they all danced to Hava Nagila! They did it very well.

A trainee teacher from Pondicherry, sings a French song with the kippa wearing children

Mirambika School children singing christmas songs conducted by a fourteen year old girl

I was running late to meet some friends for the next event of the day, but so were they so it didn’t matter. One of these two friends is from a Christian background and she misses her family in California, so she invited me to spend Christmas Eve with her and her partner, my work friend and superior.

In the morning she took us to a place where she volunteers, the Saalam Baalak Trust. It’s on one of the upper floors of a run-down apartment block down a wonderful narrow street in Old Delhi. It’s a place where orphaned street kids are taken in. I think they live there, although it is a very small space for all those children, and apparently they aren’t allowed outside in case they run away. Well, if they were allowed more freedom and regular outdoor activities maybe they wouldn’t want to run away? Anyway, I don’t really know enough about this to comment; I shouldn’t accuse anyone of any mismanagement without any facts.

The people who ran it seemed nice and the kids seemed happy. Camilla taught them Yoga, Nitin translated and I did the moves too so they could copy me. I’m very new to yoga so wasn’t especially useful here, but I brought my guitar with me and the kids were very excited to hear some songs. I played the one Hindi song I know, “Disco Dewane” by Nazia Hasan, and then tried to teach them “Felis Navidad” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” The kids prefer lively Bollywood songs to be honest, so I played “Jai Ho,” blurring through the lyrics (which I haven’t properly learnt yet), and they all danced and sang/shouted “JAI HOOOOOOOO” with much enthusiasm. This is a massively popular song here. There’s a Hindi version of the film apparently. I don’t know if they filmed the dialogue twice, once in each language, or if they dubbed either the English of the Hindi version. I’m very pleased that a film by our own Danny Boyle is so popular here in India (although my friends said it sensationalises reality, or it’s not realistic or something).

Me playing some songs for the ex-street kids at the Salaam Baalak Trust

After that we went to eat Chaat, which is not at all like the Chicken Chaat or Prawn Chaat they serve in the Asha Balti in Llanrwst (I prefer our one to be honest, but the real one is interesting and I like trying new things).
My opinions on food are distorted right now as my appetite has become very small from being ill for a good few weeks (on and off since that one event of bad sickness). Paul, I know a little bit how you felt during first year! I’ve completely gone off curry and chappatis, especially vegetarian curry. Now I crave meat, cheese, fish, fancy baker's bread, Mediterranean and BRITISH food: Sandwiches, roast dinners, cheddar cheese, fresh salad, sausages, peas & sweetcorn... (as a Christmas present to myself I bought some Indian made Cheddar Cheese from the Ashram’s Matri Store – it’s very satisfying and delicious!).
When I first arrived I found the Indian food to be amazing, and the ashram food is generally very good, so it’s a great pity that this digestive problem and homesickness has put me off most of it somewhat.

Diversion

A few days ago I went to the “English Medicine” doctor and he prescribed me some anti-biotics which will hopefully clear it up. He said its only traveller’s diarrhoea which is common with foreigners, and he said I could have amoeba in my intestines.

They call Western Medicine something like “aleopathic” and offer it  for free at The Mother’s Integral Health Centre along with the alternatives: Homeopathic and Ayurvedic. When I went to the registration about a month ago, the day after the severe stomach upset that was probably the dreaded food poisoning known as “Delhi Belly”, they asked me  “which doctor do you want to see, alurrrblolopathic, ayyoooblrrblrrr or homeopathic ?” and I replied, ”…ummmmmm” so they sent me to homeopathic. I thought, “yeah, why not give it a try, I’m mostly better now,” so I met him and he prescribed me some homeopathic remedy. I went again a few days later as I still wasn’t completely back to normal, so he gave me a different homeopathic remedy and put me on a diet of curd, rice and yellow daal! This was bloody difficult to stick too. I ate yogurt and rice for lunch at work and then I was really hungry in the aftrenoon.

I failed to stick to his diet and still wasn’t better; I didn’t want to go back to the same doctor because I hadn’t taken his advice and he’d probably give me another homeopathic remedy which I’d have to pay another hundred rupees for (it’s a donation and it’s a free health service so it’s fair enough). So this week, like I said, I saw the “English Medicine” doctor instead.

Back to the story of My Christmas

After Camilla and Nitin dropped me back at the Ashram I went for a nap. I woke to see it that it was five o clock and time for choir practice!!! The choir are ashramites and vocational trainees of various age groups who want to learn Christmas carols to sing in the meditation hall on Christmas day. Srila Didi kindly enlisted my help in teaching them the carols and leading everyone with my guitar and confident singing. It’s been fun, and we've improved massively since the start, although I’ve not been successful at teaching harmonies. They’ve taught me some carols too.

After the carols, I rushed to the meditation hall to hear the Belarussian student play Indian Classical on his Traditional Indian Flute. I forgot to take off my shoes! It was very embarrassing. As soon as I sat down on the cushion, Tussar, who also stays in the boy’s hostel, came up to me and sternly sent me out to remove my shoes. A girl called Bhavna laughed quietly which made me feel a bit better.

After meditation (still embarrassed) I rushed to my room to look up directions to the Vatican Embassy, where Camilla had invited me to join her and Nitin for a Christmas Eve English language mass.

I skipped dinner and went there in a tuc-tuc, via the cashpoint (we were already late...why did I agree to pay his stupid foreingers fair or 150 when he'd already reluctantly agreed take me for 117?). The autowaller didn’t know where or what was the Vatican Embassy (fair enough really as the sign says “The Embassy of the Holy See”) so we drove along the road with all the embassies for a while, looking for the place we wanted. (I wonder how many embassies they can fit along this road, surely not one for every country???)  He eventually took me to the British Embassy and we finally saw the Vatican one was just next door.

I arrived late but I think it had only just started. The service was packed. About half of the people there were foreigners, mostly Europeans and Africans plus a few South East Asians. I think they were mainly diplomats and foreign embassy staff. We started singing Silent Night, and someone at the front went “now in French” and a few people mumbled the verse in French. Then there was Italian, and when he called “now in Spanish” another priest with a strong Latin accent shouted “JUST ENGLISH, PLEASE.” It was quite funny. The main priest was African/Italian. He had a mostly Nigerian accent but said “blaad” with a strong Italian accent. It was an awesome accent to listen too, and quite amusing. There were other priests and speakers from different countries.

Half way through I saw Nitin and Camilla up on the top balcony so I went past loads of people sitting on the spiral staircase to meet them. I sat next to an English lady from the British High Commission!

After the service I met some of Camilla’s friends, 2 Indians and one Iranian and they could all speak French. I really want to learn more languages when I get the strength of will to make some time for it and commit.

I was a few hours late back to the Ashram. Luckily there was another boy waiting outside who’d already buzzed the bell. I went in with him but he doorman recognised me and told me off (I was already late twice before, within the last two weeks).

Dec 25^th, Christmas Day

This morning I woke early and rushed to the dining hall to sing carols during breakfast time, as was our plan. Everyone sang very well and people complimented us afterwards.

After this I hung around the Ashram a bit, admiring the tree that Hrishikesh’s department made from brushes and paper, and the other decorations. These Spiritual Hindus really go all out for Christmas! Then I rushed to finish Camilla & Nitin’s Christmas card, supposed to be a nice painting but actually a pretty average and unfinished sketch.

I was sitting outside and a mate from the boy’s hostel walked past. Turns out he’s a Christian and he was going to the Green Park Free Church, so I joined him. I knew the way but he said he knew a short cut, and took us the wrong way, so we had to get an auto, which I had to pay for because he has no money (I know he has none because he asked to borrow Rs. 250 from me once – too many people want to borrow money from me! it’s quite annoying). But it was lovely weather.

We arrived late to the church, sat outside as it was jam packed, then left early because I’d been invited to my friend’s place for coco, eggs and/or pancakes. I had no credit to tell them I was late! So I arrived, was warmly welcomed, and we listened to Christmas songs on youtube and took some photos. They gave me a lovely present – a cushion cover with a stitched elephant and vibrant colours. This will become my sitar playing cushion when I get home!

Camilla made some delicious scrambled eggs on toast – haven’t had eggs for ages! I didn’t realise how much I missed them. They don’t serve egg at the ashram, I don’t know why as they serve milk, and it’s surely more cruel to take milk intended for calves rather than to take unfertilized eggs that would otherwise rot or be eaten by another animal (but there’s more too it with eggs, so my vegan cousin told me, so I’ll have to look up what she said).

I returned home happy and had an afternoon nap. After a special Christmas afternoon snack (they call it tiffin for some mysterious reason – tiffin is the name for the lunch boxes that are consumed daily all over Delhi!) everyone went to the Hall of Grace to play games. It was really fun! There were lots of challenges and brain teasers, and if you won you got a Christmas present, randomly. I won three games, but only got two tokens as the third game I won, hitting balloons through a hoop, had run out of tokens (because the game was quite easy).My two lucky tockens got me two parcels, neatly wrapped in newspaper. Two old handbags, neither of which contained chocolate.

These are the prizes I won in the Hall of Grace. My lucky day!

I met another architect! So we chatted and then I had to rush to the meditation hall to be ready for the carols. I was little bit late, and choir were already there, but we had ten minutes ‘til seven o clock when meditation would begin. It went very well and was an enjoyable, relaxing and rewarding experience. We sang “we bow to thee oh mother” (about The Mother), “angels we have heard on high”, “joy to the world”, “we three kings of the orient are,” “Felis Navidad,” and many more. We kept going until quarter to eight and most people stayed to listen, which Srila Didi said was a big compliment. Srila asked me to close with a solo rendition of “Amazing Grace”, one Karuna Didi’s favourites (she’s the elderly lady who usually sings and plays harmonium during meditation), and I felt honoured, and obliged them. I sang it in as controlled and concentrated way as I could, hoping to put in passion etc. I remember the silence and the sound filling the hall, and everyone listening. I was very pleased with how it went and felt very happy.

People left for dinner and I was delighted to see that Pronita had made it to watch! Then Nitin and Camilla appeared at the back, but they’d unfortunately been stuck in traffic and missed it. We all had a jolly good laugh together outside the meditation hall, and then Pronita and I went for some food and beer in the Hauz Khas Village. We went to the Delhi Smoke House and ordered a very delicious European style meal of chicken breast, mash potato, green beans and spicy rice. It was really good; succulent and full of flavour. They gave us proper fresh brown bread, onion bread and bread sticks with some dips for starters, free of charge!

I got back ten minutes before the curfew and spoke to my lovely family on Skype. So, thanks to the Grace of God, I had a very nice Christmas with lovely people, and I’m grateful to all of them. I feel very lucky.

Pronita and myself next to the Ashram's Christmas tree

Liam Takes His Moustache, Hat and Guitar to India Part 3: The Boy's Hostel

Sometime back in November

Finally had a bath today! When I say finally, I mean since being ill for the last few days, not since I arrived. When I say bath, I mean a bucket. You fill it up from a single hot water tap then go into the cubicle and wash (see photo).

The winter temperature here in Delhi is very pleasant for me, but even so I felt quite cold standing naked in the cubicle. It must be freezing for the Indians! It was really nice to put my feet in the bucket of warm water. When I first washed this way I didn’t know about the hot tap.

During my first week at the Ashram, I stayed a guests dormitory which had a shower and a sit down toilet (that was also designed so people could lift the seat and stand on the rib is their used to crouching toilets…a well-designed, thoughtful, architect’s toilet!). I had roommates too, first a young Russian from the Ural valley who was learning to become a yoga teacher, then some Indian guys, one of whom was an Indian classical singer and keyboardist working in Dubai. But the day after I met these two Indians, my new roommates, my request for long term stay was granted and I was asked to move to the boy’s dorm of the Mirambika School.

The good part about it…

• The other lads here are very friendly and welcoming. I think they are mostly around my age. The guys I spoke to first where 21*. They always say hi and are interested to come and chat. I’ve started giving one of them extra guitar lessons.

• I have my own spacious room and peace and quiet
• The building's nice

The bad parts

•  No wi-fi (I will get a dongle at some point)
•   It’s a few minutes’ walk from the main ashram which is where I have to go to use the internet
•  The front door is closed at 10.30, so not much time to use the internet in the ashram between returning from work and getting back to the dorm
•   I left my soap in the bathroom on my second night and in the morning the cleaners had cleaned it away
• Crouching toilets (but it’s good to learn to use these as now I can use any toilet in the world)
•  No shower, I have to use a tap and bucket

Overall though it is a very good place to stay; the bad points are really small and unimportant.

*even though they were really tiny! The standard height of Indian men is very short compared to Europeans. I think my height is perfect…I may be a bit short in comparison with the mighty Notts lads, or my brother, or Nicolas Woodius and the Bristol Massive, or Ieuan but still not noticeably shorter than average, and here I’m a bit taller than average but still pretty much average. I am a universally average heighted man.

It’d hard write emails and facebook messages to my friends back home the common area of the ashram because people always come and speak to me. It’s nice that they’ve very friendly, but to be honest I want time alone to focus on my online tasks, like this blog for instance (which I’m typing on word in my room and will upload later). Last Sunday, I was checking my emails and writing a message to Bella when one of the fellas also staying in Mirambika, who I’d, met before but hadn’t remembered, came and sat right next to me and looked at the screen with me. I wondered if this was normal in the Indian culture; someone told me later that it was. I felt awkward doing my emails in this situation. By the time he went my battery ran out, or something else got in the way, so I gave up and left it until later.

  

Recently I got a dongle with the help of one of my friends here in the boy's dorm (the one I gave a guitar lesson to). I can now use the internet anywhere in India. Thank you Hrishikesh!

My room

Boy's Drom of Mirambika School

December 16^th

 I came back from the toilet at about 10pm to find one of the other boys, who often comes to my room after the dance class to learn guitar (uninvited), waiting for me outside my room in the dark with only the light of his phone. When I entered my room, so did he and said something about transferring music from his phone onto my laptop. He can’t speak much English and he always has an intense and slightly aggressive look on his face, an expression which never changes.

I got out my laptop and plugged in his phone with my USB adapter (he wanted to insert the small phone memory card into the laptop which cannot be done). He faffed around in my music library and D drive until I stepped in and opened the folder in his phone that he was after. His complete inability to use the computer or follow my simple guidance in what to click on was a bit annoying, as was his presence in my room when I was about to go to bed. I have to be up early for work tomorrow! And I have to write Christmas cards, and update the blog which I’ve been planning to do for weeks and haven’t got round to doing.

Extended version of this post (maybe I should have edited put the following details before posting):

This is how it went: he plays a song, and then turns to look intensely at me whilst humming it out-of-tune in my face. Then he changes the song and does the same thing with the next one. Was he trying to get me to teach him these riffs on guitar, or learn them myself? Or was he just trying to share his favourite music with me? I thought that was what he wanted to do, so I selected all the songs and copied them to my D drive. The transfer was taking ages though, so he cancelled it and then lost the folder he wanted and started to faff around. After I opened up his folder for him again he proceeded to flick through all his Bollywood music videos and watch snippets, turning to me each time to hum out of tune in my face with that unfortunate blank expression of his. I thought maybe it was just the culture and he was being friendly but has got a social disorder. But then after I convinced him that I really did have to go to bed and would he please go, he asked to borrow my laptop (pointing at the laptop: “my room tonight, yes,” in a demanding way). After I’d finally guided him out, I got my laptop out again to angrily write this entry for “December 16^th” I concluded that he must thinks I’m a dumb foreigner and a pushover and he wants to use my laptop, even though he is not computer literate. Today on the 17^th, after he said hello perfectly nicely at breakfast, I’ve decided that it is just cultural difference and he means no offence and wants to be friends. Perhaps he has some social or learning disorder. If he reads this after mastering his English, I'm very sorry for misinterpreting you my friend! Cultural differences.

The boy who sat over my shoulder whilst I was on the laptop, as I described the first part of this post, also comes to my room uninvited sometimes. He asked to borrow 100 rupees the other day to go and visit his family in Gaurgao (in the Delhi outskirts), which he does every Sunday (so how does he normally afford it?)

If he really does pay me back at the end of the month then he’s genuine and friendly. I’m sure he will. If not then he won’t get away with it.

A few days later this other guy, who always needs help with some problem or other and has a bad reputation with the other lads, asked to borrow Rs. 250 which was not going to happen! Luckily he didn’t ask again after I turned him down. Maybe he too was genuine and the other boys distrust him unfairly.

Hey, I should thank God that they are friendly, welcoming and inclusive; better to be mildly annoyed sometimes by too many people asking for help, unintentionally making me late for things and coming uninvited into my room, than to feel unwelcome, lonely, excluded or ignored.

The next post will be about all the interesting things I've been up to, when I get a chance to write it! Work is fairly busy and the rest of my time is spent socialising and sleeping.