Welcome to the City of Joy!

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Well, I'm here after a day's travelling and a day recovering. The flight was amazingly straightforward. No delays in spite of all the fog warnings on Christmas eve eve.

Had a coffee and a strawberry smoothie in Mumbai airport in celebration of Christmas Day listening to some carols in Hindi over the tannoy. Was expecting a full-on hassley arrival but it was loads calmer than expected. Got to Kokata feeling surprisingly calm and rested in spite of very little sleep.

Was greeted at the airport by some people from Jana Sanskriti - the theatre group I'm staying with at the mo. A friendly bunch. Also some fellow participants from Germany and France. After stopping off to change money, we had some tea with Sanjoy and Sima who lead the group - my third curry of the day (had already had 2 on the plane journeys) and a taste of things to come.

Boxing Day took a while to get into with eyes massively puffed up (think I must have been bitten in the night) and a rattly cough. Glad of the extra sleep though and a chance to see more of Kolkota later with Sanjoy and some others who were doing a press conference about Jana Sanskriti.

Being the only English person in the group I was asked to sit at the top table and answer any questions that might come my way. Heck. Sitting there jet-lagged, frog-eyed and hacking at the hacks (not my usual giggling fit for a change), it was definitely a memory. Especially as it was conducted almost entirely in Bengal in the end and the only question I was asked was so long and complex I had to keep asking them to repeat it. And twas all captured on camera too. marvellous.

Today's been full with the first workshops, an introductory film and nearly all of the 24 participants here - people from Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Argentina and Canada. We've been playing drama games mainly in the workshops and getting familiar with forum theatre - the main style of Theatre of the Opressed Jana Sanskriti uses. Basically it's theatre that includes the audience in the action and gets them to input into what's happening on stage. It's something that works really well in the villages here where people are generally very poor and don't feel they have much of a voice. This way they can express their opinions and when they see they can make changes in the drama, it helps them have confidence to make changes in their own lives and communities.

Next time I write I'll try and include some photos. I've got here without batteries for my camera (I can see them now on a shelf in Mum and Dad's house!) and haven't been able to find any yet. So, until then, enjoy the post-Christmas revellries and bye for now!!

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