Twelve hours ago I landed in Bangalore airport. I am back again in India. Just for a month this time, to see how the project has got on in the year since it started, specifically in the interim 9 months since I have been home. There has been little contact with those running the project, only about three or four emails from various people. I am not sure if this is due to the out-of-sight-out-of-mind phenomenon, or something more significant, but it is better that way. It is their project and should not have an absentee person deeply involved, however, I am a little apprehensive about how I will be received once I go back to RUHSA. I sent an email a while ago giving dates and times and have only just heard today, not a long letter, just a brief note. Still at least I know I am expected. It will be very interesting to see how the land lies.
Meanwhile, I landed at Bangalore and made my way to stay with a friend I met last year in Jairpur. It was early in the morning, the pre-dawn air a lovely warm 19 degrees. The locals, of course, were wrapped in woolly hats (most of the hat containing air above the head), fleeces and scarves. Of course, I was instantly transported back when I saw the first porn-star moustache and tiny-bottomed polyester trousers flaring wildly over gnarled toenails and sandals. Ahh, blissful joy. My taxi driver and I had the mandatory pidgen converstion to try and come to an agreement about where my friends lived. We found the house eventually, but I think perhaps it might have been easier, in the pitch black, if he had used his headlights.
Today, after a long discussion immediately on arrival at 6 am, with me telling Victoria that I needed no sleep, that since my days of being a junior doctor I can sleep on a clothes line for minimal periods of time needing little refreshment, I went for a peppy little snooze and woke 7 hours later. So I have done nothing today except chat, but we are planning to go out later with a friend of her and her boyfriend's (Sudhir) whose birthday it is. Tomorrow, I tackle India properly.
1 comment:
You picked an excellent time to go to a place where your toes can feel liberated (and warm). We have had torrential rain (enough to flood our yard and garage again) and now snow with a bitter easterly wind.
I didn't get chance to thank you for an excellent evening after Christmas, so THANKS A LOT. Hope you have a great time out their again.
Peter
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