Day 16 - Tuesday/Mangalwar - An Alcohol-Induced Lapse Of Judgement

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Got up this morning, had breakfast, and walked with Krishan to the angarwadi. We were met with shouts and smiles from the children, and the teacher pulled Krishan to one side while I got settled. When they'd finished talking, Krishan explained what had been said. She had apologised for her absence yesterday, but I wasn't told the reason. And then she'd said that the Day Care Centre weren't supposed to employ any male staff, so our presence may be a problem. She'd have to speak to the Head of the Local Education Board, but I might have to move projects. Krishan told me that IDEX had, of course, pre-approved the presence of volunteers at the schools and angarwadis, and had been told of no conditions of no male volunteers in certain placements, so everything should be OK, but couldn't be sure. I wasn't exactly reassured! Otherwise though, the day went well, the kids seem more accustomed to my presence and are actually getting involved rather than just being over excited at the presence of a strange white person at their school!

After work we had lunch and then went to the beach. I met Julie and Karoline at Boomerang, had a coke and then went in the sea. Keith, Kristian and I were attempting to body-surf, with little success - the waves at Colva are very mild, so we gave up after half an hour of fooling around. We had a couple of beers at Boomerang, then went back out to play Frisbee. Foolishly, I kept my rings and my sunglasses on. After half an hour, a wave blindsided me and I lost my sunglasses - bugger! With hindsight, I should've learnt from my mistake and come in, but i didn't. 10 minutes later I realised I'd lost a ring off one finger.

Unfortunately, this was a ring given to me as a gift by my ex-fiancee on our first Christmas together. Although we're not together, we're still good friends and the ring had a lot of sentimental value. I cursed myself repeatedly, came out and went dejectedly to my room, where I just lay on the bed, unable to fathom why I'd been so stupid as to wear sunnies and jewellery in the sea. God knows how I'll tell Jools . . .

I read a bit of my book and calmed down a little, then had dinner and went out to the bar for a few beers with some of the group. I had a good time, but couldn't quite shake the negative feelings from this afternoon. We all headed home about eleven, and I read for a while, just getting more gutted about the ring. What a F*cking Idiot!

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