Another football match for the orphans and then an art exhibit

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8th February 2009

Today we met John and Gemma at 9:30am so that we could meet up with a couple who were introduced to us the other night when we went to the Punjabi Dabah.

Richard and Jenny had asked me to go along to a local orphanage which they help sponsor. It’s called St Josephs and is in Candolin. The wanted me to photograph the boy’s football match. Their son had sent over a new football kit for the boys and they wanted the photos to take back for him to see. Of course I was happy to help out a genuine charity. Unfortunately India’s crime syndicates have exploited the child poverty situation and they willingness of the western tourists to hand out cash donation. Their have been some very big scandals involving fake charities running into millions of pounds worth of fraud. It was good to see that donated funds were actually benefiting the children.

After the match we headed for Candolin beach and the ‘Rovers Return’ shack for a typical Sunday roast dinner, the first in many months. We love all the native food but occasionally it’s really good to have some meat and vegetables. We both agreed it wasn’t as good as my mother’s, but then again how could it be.

After lunch Pili and I said our goodbyes and had a slow walk up the beach and back to the apartment. In the evening we went to the internet café to check emails and then stopped off for our customary chat with Nisar at the book shop. This is now a daily event which we really look forward to. Nisar and I get into some very deep and philosophical conversations which we both really enjoy.

In the evening will we in and watch the old Tom Cruise movie ‘Cocktail’.

13th February 2009

Over the last few days we’ve done nothing special, just relaxed, read and generally spent time together which was nice.

This evening we went out for a Thali with a Kenyan artist, Kamal Shah, who Nisar had introduced us to. The moment we met we hit it off and had a long and interesting conversation. Kamal wanted to take us to an art exhibition at a friend gallery. The art was by a very famous Goan artist but unfortunately his name escapes me. To be honest we all thought his work was very childish and displayed very little talent. The paintings were selling for about £3500.00 which just goes to prove how pretentious and up it’s own arse the art world can be. It does seem to be the case if you put a big price on any piece of crap it makes it art and therefore collectable. I bet the so called artist laughs himself to sleep every night.

We were introduced to the gallery owners, Kamal’s friends Yolanda and her German husband. Yolanda’s is also an artist and her work is very impressive and original. We talked for a while and she was genuinely interested in exhibiting some of my own work, also an Indian Wildlife photography exhibition. This could turn out to be a very interesting contact.

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