Mein Happy Days meh parati hoon.

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Hello!
Well i am trying to keep to my promise on not letting too much time slip away between my blogs and i think this is pretty good going. I will try to keep this one more condensed but as usual there is never a dull moment in our lives at Happy Days so of course i have stories to tell!

To give you an idea of time, i am casting my memory back to the beginning of Feburary where i believe i can pick up from where i left you in my last blog. So since then, some of my antics have included; going on a 14km walk through the villages in Shivpuri, ending up in an Ashram, going to a Muslim Wedding, spending far too much time inside the local hospital of Shivpuri and escaping to the land where fairytales are created!
One Sunday morning Priya, Sally and I decided to be adventurous so we set of in the morning to explore the villages in our surrounding area. The plan was just to walk and see where we got to. We knew that there was an Ashram a fair way away but just decided to see how things went. It was great to meander through the villages and absorb the peole and the landscape which is very picturesque and lush. We decided to continue till we reached the Ashram. When we arrived we discovered the gate to be locked, but quickly noticed the wall beside it was only about hip level, so, of course not willing to be defeated after such a trek we hopped over! It was a lovely peaceful place, but the people who spoke to us seemed puzzled as to how we had gotten in. Finally one man asked if we had climbed over the wall, so at this point we bashfully conceded. On our way out we happened across the Swami, who is the head Guru person. He proceeded to quiz, question and preach to us about aspects of religion, the world and the meaning and attainment of happiness. It was all pretty interesting, and before we left we were laden with grapes, a book, a cd and a leaflet. However it was incredibly difficult to leave and interrupt the constant musings of the Swami, but eventually we managed to prise ourselves away!
On the way back we stopped off at the home of one of the Hindi-medium students at Happy Days for some much needed chai! However, of course we were lavished with chai, biscuits, nibbles AND ice-cream!
That evening, in preparation for the wedding we were expertly wrapped up in our Sari's by Nitu Ma'am. This, i must add is quite an art, and one i shall have to at some point attempt to master! I admire Indian women on a whole new level after wearing a sari, going about ones daily business requires a lot of skill as it is quite a challenge(i guess for someone as inexperienced as moi) to manoeuver oneself in such an attire, and i definately have not quite aquired the grace! The Wedding was definately an experience, however we did not witness the actual ceremony, just the reception. It was in a marquee type thing with blaring music and tables and tables full of scrummy food. It was all very colourful with fairy lights and of course the beautiful sari's of all the women.

Now, on a more sombre note. A couple of weeks ago, Sally came down with some serious Delhi belly! At about 2/3am on a tuesday night i was awoken to some rather unsavory sounds eminating from the bathroom. Poor Sally was very efficiently emptying the contents of her stomach and then some! The rest of the night was spent pretty much on the bathroom floor, with me attempting to feed her various remedies at opportune moments. In the morning she was carted off the the hospital in Shivpuri where she spent the day on I.V's and having antibiotic injections! I did the afternoon shift and spent around 6hours, which was plenty waiting for the last of the I.V to drip out! By 7pm as the mosquitoes were invading and blaring music had started up outside, our patience and tolerance was seriously lacking. Neither of us being particularly good at hospital environments had pretty much dealt with as much as we could tolerate! Thankfully, after a few more injections and a blood test Sally made a full recovery! But needless to say neither of us want to see the inside of an Indian hospital EVER AGAIN!

The other week, after a draining and difficult week of teaching we had a very welcome weekend away to the nearby small town of Orchha. After squeezing into a rickshaw we made it to the bus stand and onto our bus. The journey was the usual jam packed ride. Next to us was a mother and her baby, i don't think i've ever witnessed such a well behaved child, on such a long journey in such intense conditions! It was really quite remarkable! The kids clearly adjust to the Indian intenseness fast! I also love the use of what i shall name the 'human indicator', a man who hangs out the side of the bus, ushering people on and off and hitting the side of the bus shouting "chalo chalo!" (go go!). On arrival in Jhansi (the bus doesnt' go to Orchha-too small), we managed to negociate a rickshaw to take us to Orchha for the bargin price of 10rs! However, before properly setting off the driver made sure the trip was going to be worthwhile and we were joined by around 11 others for our journey, which made for a very cosy ride! Arriving in Orchha is like being transported into a fairytale. You drive through a pink arch and suddenly it's like Narnia, you're in another world. the crazy hustle and bustle and general buzz of India is replaced by green landscapes with a crystal river gliding through, cobbled streets and horizons dotted with magical temples. It is so beautiful and just the escape and antidote we needed. We spent the weekend roaming the palaces, temples and cenotaphs scattered about, soaking in the serentity and majesty of the place. All in all it was the perfect weekend away, some peace, good food and picturesque surroundings.

The weeks really do have a habit of disappearing around here, and in just a week i will be setting off on a 3week travelling adventure, accompanied in part by my beloved parentals! Last week we were trying our best to pick up some more Hindi phrases and now have a few more under our belt, but still most conversations sail happily over our heads! One amusing anecdote i have to add here, is that whilst taking a break in the playground between lessons, learning some hindi from one of the teachers, one of the teacher's kids walks into the playground, drops trouser and takes a pee right there and then! It was extremely amusing as we watched him put it away and march off triumphantly! I guess when a boys gotta go, he really has gotta go! Whilst writing this, we have just been told that we are in the local newspaper!!! We went into the bazaar yesterday where a man started taking photos of us whilst we were purchasing a papaya. We tried to turn away, now used to, but not accomodating to this kind of behaviour, but he clearly got his shot, so now we truly have made it as the stars of Shivpuri!

To wrap up, here are some more of my babling musings...India seems to have this remarkable capability of pushing one's buttons at the worst moments, yet i think on the whole i've almost mastered cooling the firey fustration that occasionally brews at some of India's annnoyances! To try and keep up with the pace of things here is near impossible. You can try and go with the flow, but there are always times when you are inevitably caught out and find yourself drowning or being dragged along with the crazy current. It is at these points that fustration, anger or sheer helplessness can set in, yet this i find can just as easily be dispersed by letting oneself float above it all, breath and take in the constantly inspiring surroundings; from the beaming smile of a random passer by to a typically bizarre Indian scene which makes you giggle at the indescribable ludicrousness, and reminds one that India really isn't a country you try to make sense of! So i think i slide from floating happily along to feeling as though i'm being drowned in the incomprehensible madness of it all. Either way the good thing about things that are constantly moving is that you always end up coming out the otherside! (",)

p.s the title of this blog is translated as " i work at happy days school"

love me xx

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