Saturday today so I had a very lazy morning then worked on my month 4 report... can't really believe that 4 months have gone already. I went out to the local shops to pick up some milk and chat with the local population, it generally goes something like this:
Me: smile
Local: hallo how are you?
Me: Very well thank you, How are you?
Local Fine. What is you good/sweet/given name?
Me My name is Sally, what is your name?
Local: What is your native place?
Me I am from Scotland, UK.
Local: Ah I have heard of Scotland. Scotland Yard is very famous. (at which point generally smile and give up having tried to explain for 4 months that Scotland Yard is actually in London which is not in Scotland and that Scotland is not the same as England.)
Local: Why are you here? / How do you find the climate? / How do you manage to eat?/ Why have you come here?
The conversation continues in this vein around three or four times a day and I do try to appreciate that for each person it is the first time they have asked and that they are very proud of their English, are actually interested and mean well.
I caught this family out this morning with their umbrellas up to shade them from the sun, I rather liked the range of sizes and particularly that it is the Mum's which has the cartoon character on it! The pile of boulders is outside our house and will be attacked by coolies (hourly paid labourers)with mallets, to break it into gravel sized pieces. I presume it will then add hard standing along the side of the road.
This afternoon I decided to hit the town. I phoned a new auto boy I have found who speaks English... the first I have found who has more than a few words and it is just wonderful. The only thing is that the two autos which I use regularly get quite ratty if they do not get a call from me. Even though I have said that I will not promise to phone them always as I often just pick up an auto when I have had enough of walking! The thing is I actually like travelling with different drivers as they all have a different range of limited English and all have their own interests and things they like to point out to me. Anyway, I set off in the auto to do various things and ended up spending 3 hours out and about.
First stop was the computer shop to get some print cartridges... that was a quick and easy. Next stop was to the opticians to choose some new frames as I have a new prescription. That took about 40 minutes which was actually fairly fast! I discovered that the bright white marble I stepped out onto with dilated pupils was in fact grey. I was also very glad I terminated the glasses selecting when I did after having my eyes tested. She shone a torch into my eyes to find the correct positions for the varifocals... that would not have been fun with fully dilated pupils!
After that I paid a visit to a shop called Nalli Silks (Nellai is the local name for Tirunelvelli and I am not sure whether this is another version or not). I have often heard of it but this auto boy was able to take me. For those of you who are interested they also have a branch at 281 Kings Road, Chelsea! I bet you can't buy fabric for a Salwar Cemise for 250 rupees(£3.50)in that branch though. When I came out with the fabric, there was a lot of loud drumming going on. I asked what was going on and apparently the shop two up was celebrating its 100th day of business. I can't believe it is 100 days, I remember it opening! A government visitor was in the shop so there were a posse of police cars around it and a band playing and dancing. the dancers (female looked pretty scarey as you can see. the next purchase was sewing thread, I have been looking for it for weeks and at last I was able to explain to the driver what I wanted and he took me to a shop which sold it - Hurray! We then set off again into town. Tirunelvelli town is mainly in a large square surrounding the Hindu temple. The four streets surrounding it are called North, South, East and west Car streets. Also called Velli sometimes instead of car sometimes. They are named this after the ceremony which involves carrying a deity around the temple on various festivals. I asked the driver if we could stop at a restaurant I had often noticed, the only one of any significance in Town. When I went in, it was really rather nice, I had a puri (fried puffed bread thing) with masala and potato. Outside I bought a bag of mix (Bombay type but there are actually around 20 different combinations!) and some cake/sweets. We carried on around the temple perimeter... you can't actually see it is the temple perimeter as it is around 3 deep in shops including the vegetable market. On the third side of the square, there was another drumming spectacular going on this time to celebrate a new shop. They were playing some amazing instruments, unfortunately I moved the camera to the wrong setting so only got a couple of pics. Those longbow shaped instruments are actually wind instruments.
Back again into the auto and heading for home, on the way stopped at a shop which has a chicken rotisserie cabinet, tandoori flavoured chicken of course, again I have often wanted to stop but never got around to it. Bought half a cooked chicken for 65 rupees... around 80p. We had a while to wait so the auto driver went to buy us a cup of tea each at my request, 5 rupees for the two. A final stop at the ATM, I still consider it a bit of a miracle when my card goes in and rupees come out and even more so when I get my card back too!
I popped into the tailors to give them the fabric, my suit will be ready at 6.00pm on Monday (under 48 hours) and will cost 70 rupees to have it made to measure. I came home and had my dinner then popped back out to visit Revd Frederick and Susie, he was on Cursillo 1 and spiritual director for Cursillo in Tirunelvelli. We had a wonderful time catching up. I again had been meaning to call in for ages but had never got around to it. he has been Diocesan Director for Mission and Evangelism for the past few years and told me today that he has been appointed Pastor of the Cathedral Church in Palayamkottai, the one which was extended during and after our 1997 visit. He immediately asked me if I would come and 'give the message' in the cathedral evening service. That will be a challenge, he will simultaneously translate for me.
Back home now at last and after this I am off to bed. I do find that I get tired now, not sure if it is the heat or old age catching up with me! Sadly in spite of being tired I frequently do not sleep well. It is not a very quiet environment. In India some drivers drive with their hand on the horn, some only toot whenever they are about drive straight out in front of another car at a junction, some only when they approach a junction some only if they are near another vehicle, some if there is an unsuspecting pedestrian walking nicely along the road edge with their back to them, (perhaps to see if they can make them jump in front of them in surprise?)and some only if they have not sounded it for a while. I am glad to say airhorns have largely been outlawed in urban areas. then there are the dogs, people were told a few years ago (apparently) that having a dog was good for security. they let the dogs out at night and they spend the time meeting up with their doggy pals and having an hourly howl at street corners throughout the night. Just to add to the peace of the night, there are owls, frogs, the odd cat being chased by the afore mentioned dogs and the night watchman who cycles round his area all night blowing his whistle. When I finally do get to sleep, Nancy and Raja get up at around 5.00am and start sweeping the paths and watering the garden as well as filling the water tank in my tank room while the water is flowing form the district water tank, before going out for their dawn walk. Sometimes even earplugs are not enough. Living on Queensferry road will be like the depths of the country when I get back.
