Last day. There will be tears…

 Monday 22nd January

KVK bakery 

I knew today was going to be emotional because emotions are never far below the surface whilst we are here, and today I’d be saying goodbyes. Because of our unscheduled 9 days in CMC we had failed to get to lunches with several families in Seetarampet so I wanted at least to go and see them to say hello and goodbye. I began however at Pachaikili school where I was bidden for lunch. 

Needless to say Balaji was my trusty guide in all this, arriving in his friend’s auto to collect me from the guest house. On the way we called at a rather enticing looking bakery to buy a large cake for me to give to the elderly, the children and the staff at Pachaikili as a small thank you. Cake is always appreciated by young and old, I remember from previous visits. Fortunately the long division was done  for me, as it was expertly cut into 43 pieces ( a puzzling number I thought!) 

On then to school where I was greeted by staff all in identical saris and by a beautiful peacock pattern chalked on the ground, today being Peacok festival day. 

Whilst I’ve been here I’ve joked often with the teachers that they all seem to be wearing the same colours and I asked if they called each other in the morning to let each other know what today’s team colour was. In response to this Rani, Priya and Indra went to Guddiyatum over the weekend and bought identical saris for all five of them, plus a metre each of material for the sari blouse, which was sewn into blouses by the local tailor. I was so amazed and thought they looked beautiful! 

I then had lunch, watched by them all, and then they had theirs together. After lunch a photographer - local man whose daughter used to attend school- came to take a class photo with me in it. Subsequently Andy was photoshopped into it since he was missing for the photo! 

All that remained then was for me to distribute cake to the elderly and the children then for me - after promises to Rani and Priya that I would do my very best to ensure they get their annual bonuses plus an annual increment- to bid them all goodbye with hopes and 🤞🏼🤞🏼🙏🏻🙏🏻 that I’d be back next year. 

From school then to the home of Umma and family. Regular readers will remember that this is the family who were the inspiration behind The One Candle Fund. Originally there were the  two teenage schoolgirl daughters who cried as they told Pam that they would have to leave school early because their father had died so their mother was struggling with her family of three daughters. 

All those daughters are married now with children. Umma the oldest earns a living sewing at home. Her two teenage boys are doing well at school. The next daughter Veejaya Kumari is a nurse at a local government hospital. She is married to Suresh ( theirs was a love marriage)  who still works in the week in Chennai. Their daughter is now 8 and seems a live wire, confident girl, doing well at school of course! The youngest daughter Veejaya Lakshmi is married and living in Chennai and has a six year old daughter. 

It was fortunate that Suresh was working from home so we were able to have the usual lively chat with him. They showed me plans and a photo of the foundations of a lovely new house which is being constructed just round the corner. I was pleased to hear later from Balaji that he will be doing plumbing and electrics in the house. Some decent money in the offing for Balaji is very welcome. Suresh, Veejaya and daughter and mum Santi will be living there. This family have done well for themselves from very ordinary village roots, by studying hard and being very determined. They -as always- were keen to give thanks to Pam and the One Candle Fund which they really believe made all the difference to their family. 

On next to the lovely house which Raghu had built for his family, just round the corner from Suresh and co. I was delighted to find Raghu’s wife Janini in residence with their two year old daughter. Sister in law, mum and dad all appeared and coffee was rustled up for me. I’d had a delicious helping of payassam at Suresh’s place, inevitably, but very filling after my large lunch at Pachaikili! Mercifully just a coffee was allowed at Raghu’s place. 

Suresh with Raghu’s baby. So common here to see men showing affection to the family children at least as often as the women doing the same. 

Raghu’s dad with his granddaughter 

We video called him at his home in Adelaide Australia whilst I was there. For many years from when Pam first met Raghu as a schoolboy who studied English in his own time, at night time, it has been his dream to be able to get work and migrate to Australia. Now he’s there, has a good job he enjoys, and has a home to which his wife and daughter will come next month. Raghu will come back to his Indian home in February when Janini’s sister will be married in Chennai, and afterwards the family will travel to their new life in Adelaide. It is amazing to have been able to watch this family and Suresh and Santi’s grow and develop and move towards fulfilling their dreams and hopes..

My farewell tour of Seetarampet concluded then at Balaji’s home ( one more small portion of payassam..) One last cuddle with baby Sally, hugs from everyone else and the fervent wish and  hope repeated that we will return next year. I do hope so.. 

January 23rd 

A quiet day before our long flight through the night. I paid our bills and went to have a talk with Dr Biswajit in which he promised to ensure the school staff get their increments this year and regularly annually. He will also make sure the school equipment is renewed to a good standard. Here’s hoping for that! 

Back home to Ruhsa

Balaji and family 

Rani, Indra, Priya and me

Back home to Ruhsa

By Friday afternoon we’d seen the doctors, nurses, physios and collected drugs, paid the bill and were ready to wave goodbye with many thanks for 9 days of excellent care. It was good to be back at the guest house and no longer to be being disturbed by medical personnel carrying out procedures at very regular intervals throughout the night and day!! Andy’s leg is still very painful so walking is difficult. 

Saturday 

On Saturday the visits from concerned friends began. Balaji arrived before 8 with a bowl of payassam, Andy’s favourite, which he now seems determined to bring every day. Then at 12.00 Rani, Priya and Indra arrived, with flowers for my hair (9 days no flowers!!) and then sent Balaji off on his bike to fetch cake for us. ( They had arrived on two bikes, Indra’s and Balaji’s) 

It transpired that Balaji had sent a photo of Andy in hospital to Rani in which he looked ghastly, so they had all been really worried about him. They were much relieved to see him looking more in the pink. I reassured Rani that I’d spoken to Ruth and would speak again to Dr Biswajit about the issues re funding/ equipment at the school. I promised I’d go to school on Monday in time for lunch. 

Later that afternoon Balaji’s third visit to us, this time with the family. So lovely to see them, and so pleased I could offer them cake! For once me offering food, rather than having it pressed upon me! 

Sunday 

Just one visitation today, from Balaji and his daughter Subashri, to bring us payassam of course, plus some fried fish. I had made the mistake yesterday of mentioning that we like fish! Subashri greeted us with kisses then put flowers she’d brought specially in my hair. 

We ate our lunch and I was so pleased that Subashri accepted to eat some of what we had, since the canteen always sends far too much for us. 

Afterwards Balaji asked her to wash up. I joked ‘ child labour’ but he corrected me ‘ training’. She is such a delightful girl, a real credit to the family. 

I will put in the box

 

I will put in the box 

Not just one, instead a stack, shiny, clever 

of tiffin boxes, tightly clipped 

and first 

that all-pervading everywhere aroma

woodsmoke, spices, dust

Indian essence

with blare and startle of horns and high-pitched peep

in and out auto, car, overloaded motorbike and bus, 

wandering cow, munching 

new road, three lanes, no rules apply, weave/wander 

for gods sake stay alert! 

Lime-green paddy waterlogged 

houses in pink/ magenta/ turquoise, saris red and orange and yellow 

flowers in your hair 

here the hottest hues 

no beige, no bland. 

Like the past, another country 

they do things differently here 

although WhatsApp calls and Selfie! One more Selfie! 

could fool you otherwise..

Noise and sweat and dust, crows at full volume 

long wail of the train passing, over the points, over the points, 

all filling the tiffin boxes, magical 

between the sambas, rassam, rice and dhal, chapatti, dhosi, lentil cakes and idli, curd, 

and special pyassam, warm milk with cashews, raisins, sweet treat. 

All this is India, my India 

plus  mingled memories, the years of coming, from forty two to seventy five 

mum to granny, 

our friends once schoolboys fathers now and proud 

scraping a living somehow, though ‘India small money ma’am’ 

but no tiffin tower, however tall,  could hold it all 

the light in their eyes, the smiles and the laughter 

the namastes and hugs across the years and many miles 

culture and language no barrier, not separated 

nothing between us except love.

21st January 2024 Guest House Ruhsa 

I will put in the box

 

A week in CMC hospital with Mr W

Looking out on a fairly heavily-polluted Vellore from our hospital room. 

11th January to 19th January 2024 

Things were going so well last time I wrote on this blog . We’d had such a good talk with Sekar and with a few other good friends. However somewhere along the way- actually as he was walking up the steps into the government school on Tuesday 9th- Andy grazed his leg. It didn’t hurt much and he took little notice of it. Early the next morning he woke up feeling hot and confused. He seemed to have a raised temperature. For most of Wednesday he did a lot of sleeping and we cancelled lunch in Thutitangel with Selvi. In the early hours of Thursday he again woke and was clearly very poorly, with a fever and dehydration which was making him confused and weak. 

Alarming as this was for us both, it would have been so much worse without the helpful staff of Ruhsa, one of whom was on night duty and came quickly when I rang him. He called the doctor for the campus, Dr Prashanth, who is our neighbour. In short order we were on our way to CMC in an ambulance. We went immediately to A and E where a huge number of young medics were milling about. Andy was seen very quickly, the Ruhsa doc having contacted them ahead of our arrival. I answered questions about his medical history many times over to a succession of doctors. Eventually a very competent-seeming woman doctor who was obviously a senior medic spoke sternly to get someone to fix up a fluids drip asap. I relaxed a little as it had seemed important to me to get this going! 

The end result of all this was that Andy was admitted to a single room with en suite bathroom. 

In A and E 

Andy and I installed in Room 611 for the next 9 days. 

Andy’s attached for the first several days to a drip of fluids and another one for antibiotics. My space is that brown bench. It is expected in an Indian hospital that a family member will stay with the patient to help with care. It was hard ( to the touch, not difficult!) but I did manage quite a good few hours of sleep. 

Over the days we were constantly in touch with Allan at Ruhsa who sent a gofer ( Chandravanan or Chinnathambi) every day to be helpful and they certainly did make things easier for me. In addition we had more or less daily visits from very concerned Balaji and on several days from Selvi plus friends of Selvi. It was very comforting and touching to be so well looked after, though of course as we have experienced here so often, the constant presence of people and especially their need to ply us with lots of home cooking, can feel oppressive to us Brits who are used to more privacy. There is no doubting the warmth, concern and kindness that our old friends feel for us.

Balaji helping Andy do his short walk- being his walking frame..

Whilst we were in Vellore the important spring/ harvest festival of Pongal took place. We have experienced this many times over the years. It means yet more cooking of special dishes ( eg sweet Pongal rice in a special Pongal pot) ; drumming especially in the evenings; firecrackers; temple visits and puja prayers. We could hear it outside the windows from our sixth floor room. 

The standard of care we had in the hospital was absolutely excellent. There were so many staff, cleaners, nurses, doctors, physios, catering staff, all of them so smily and efficient. Of course such care does not come cheap and the ordinary not well off folk we know would never be able to pay. They have to make do with a government hospital. 

Eventually the elegant smily reassuring Dr Annanaran, in charge of Andy’s case, declared he could be discharged so now, Friday 19th, we are back at the guest house in Ruhsa. We should have flown back to the Uk on 16th, but have rescheduled f for Wednesday 24th. Fingers crossed for that. A quiet weekend we hope, ahead of us… 

Meeting with a dear old friend

Tuesday January 9th 2024 

We had arranged to meet up with our old friend Sekar this morning at Pachaikili. Sekar was the RCO ( rural community officer) at RUHSA from our earliest visits here in 1991 and 1996. We really struck gold in having him designated to look after us because he is an intelligent man who has a huge sense of duty to his work with the poorest in the community. 

Sekar has now been retired for five years ( I think) but he retains an interest in Pachaikili and is much respected by the staff here. Many years ago in the 90s Sekar came to England and stayed with us. During his stay we tried to give him as much experience as possible of British early years education. He grasped underlying principles really well and took back what he’d learned and subsequently used it in the ongoing training he gave to the teachers in our little nursery schools ( back then there were 3 ). 

After we had caught up on family and how they all were, we talked about how Pachaikili is now. He knew immediately that there are two big issues: the urgent need to replenish the play equipment and the fact that the staff have only once in the last five years had their annual Christmas bonus and their incremental pay increase. He remembered that I had written this out very clearly st the end of the last visit, and I explained that I raise both issues each year at the annual general meeting of FOV ( Friends of Vellore) His main conclusion is that there is a failure of RUHSA staff ( Charles I think) to implement this. Funds have been sent by FOV to buy play equipment. We decided that I must spell out to Dr Biswajit very clearly what needs to happen! 

Sekar had brought a bag of small chocolate sweets for the school. He explained that recently at home they had a pooja ceremony for Bala who I think is a child-god. Being a child this god loves chocolate. The bag was left over from gifts to chocolate-loving Bala! 

Sekar is seated next to Andy. Also in the picture is Karunamurthi, who came to see us after I got Sekar to explain that we really didn’t have time to come to eat at his home!! Karunamurthi was an important person in the early days of our visits, as he was head of the weavers cooperative in Kamanchamanpet. Bishopston Trading worked with him for many years on the production of cloth for their garments. Now again he is working with Jaki on cloth weaving for the line of children’s clothes she is designing and having made in the village. 

From the school we went next for lunch at the government primary school which we visited a few days ago. Heaven knows why, but we had been invited by the teachers and one of them had made food for us. Again the familiar pattern of us seated in front of tables, someone ( Balaji I think!) designated to chop down banana leaves for our plates, and then interested gawping at what we are, with lots of attempts to refill the plate as soon as we’d managed to eat anything! The daughter of the teacher who’d cooked the food ( after she got up at 5 a.m to prepare!) was there specially to communicate with us. She’s at VIT ( Vellore institute of technology) doing a Phd in physics. Yet another daughter of the village studying STEM. 

A rainy day

 8th January 2024, when English rain falls in KVKuppam. 

We woke this Monday morning to the sound of heavy rain outside the window. In all the many January visits we have made here, this rain is a first. It’s another sign of climate change as it’s affecting the area. During our last visit 5 years ago we realised that farmers were again cultivating paddy fields, as they commonly did in the 1990s. During the first years of the century there had been drought, so insufficient rain to support rice cultivation. Now the very bright lime green is everywhere in water-filled fields. 

Today’s lunch date was at the home of Vimula, the other SHG cook who works the second half of the month when Indra works the first two weeks. On the way we called in at Pachaikili to get guidance about where exactly Vimula lives. Here we discovered that school was closed, it was an official ‘rain day’. All schools were closed by government order- as communicated via television. I explained to them that we might close schools in UK for snow, but that if we closed for rain we would rarely be in school! 

Vimula served us, of course, a lovely meal. Our first puris of the trip- very nice circular wheat flour cakes which puff up when dropped in hot fat. As always we sat at the table, just the two of us with banana leaf plates, and the women served us. It suddenly occurred to me that we are a kind of spectator sport.

All Vimula’s family were there, her daughter, son in law and two grandchildren. I remembered that five years ago her daughter was staying with her because she had just had her baby boy. It is customary for a mother with her new baby to go home to her mother for a short stay, while she settles into life as the mother of a newborn. I wondered why the whole family was living with Vimula. They explained that the family moved in when Vimula’s husband died a few years back. The home was too big for a widow on her own, and the young family needed the space. It does seem to have worked out for them all.  

Rani fixing my flowers; Vimula’s daughter who is deaf. 

Vimula with her two grandchildren 

Rani dishing up for us. Note the puris! 

We have visited Vimula’s home many times but I have not, I think, ever met her son in law. I certainly had never realised that he is deaf, as is her daughter. Son in law communicated with visual signs, but not in a proper sign language. I think both daughter and her husband have some spoken language. It is very unlikely that either will have had any special help with their education. They showed me an official book they have which I think must entitle them to a certain allowance/ pension. I was intrigued to see the term ‘ differently able’ on the book. So often in the past we have been shocked at the attitudes to disability here, eg lack of provision of any kind. Perhaps things are changing a little at last. 

Lunch over, we went back to Pachaikili to await the arrival of Allan, Ruhsa administrator, in a vehicle, as we were bidden to the central Vellore district police station. Here we were to arrange ( well, Allan was arranging it) a C form which was necessary and has been mandatory for years now, which is permission for the visit of aliens. Somehow at Ruhsa previous admin people have failed to get this form filled in. Very Indian. Also quite like French bureaucracy too I thought! 

Sunday in Kamanchamanpet

Sunday 7th January 2024 

Today’s eating challenge was to be at the homes of Rani and Bhuna, teacher and ayah at the Pachaikili centre. They live in the village of Kamanchamanpet ( spelling approximate!) which is between KVKuppam and Seetarampet. 

We have visited Rani’s house many times and are always greeted  warmly by her parents, her son Morganraj and his wife Deepa. Rani is unusual in that she lives with her parents rather than the norm here, which would be for her to have moved to her husband’s family home on mariage. There has never been mention of a husband and I think Rani returned home after her mariage failed. This is a very warm and close family now. Daughter in law Deepa is a qualified nurse who at the moment is looking after her 7 year old daughter. She now does all the cooking for the family. As Rani said her mother and now she have retired from cooking! 

Deepa had excelled herself with the spread for us. There were four curries, bottle gourd, cauliflower, cabbage and potato and pea, plus lentil cakes and rice. Afterwards there was the sweet payasam and a banana. 

After lunch we filled the time before our tea invitation to Bhuna’s with a look through photo albums. Every home we visit seems to have these. The KVK photographer takes photos of whatever the event is, most usually a wedding, perhaps a special birthday party- at Indra’s house it was a celebration of her daughter starting puberty. Then a very Indian album is created, often using exotic backgrounds. The whole effect is like stills from a Bollywood movie. Rani told us that Morganraj and Deepa’s wedding album cost £350. 

Onwards then, accompanied by Rani, to Bhuna’s house just a street or two away. She has two beautiful smiley boys and lives in her husband’s home with her mother in law. She had prepared lentil cakes and a kind of sweet chapathi made with sugar and coconut, which I don’t remember having sampled previously. When I said how nice it was she set forth and made more for us to take home to our guest house. 

Us with Bhuna, photo taken by her young son. Note the flowers in my hair, curtesy of Bhuna. 

Another lovely afternoon of hospitality and friendship. Our tummies alas expanding by the day! 

Another day, another lunch, tea and supper offered by friends.

January 7th 2024

Yesterday began with a summons to meet with the Ruhsa head, Dr Biswajit at 10. Ruhsa staff work Saturday morning only, so have a day and a half weekend.  A staff meetiing was just concluding as we arrived but we were soon ushered in and served with two nice ‘ no sugar’ coffees. We then had a very interesting talk with Dr B, ranging over lots of topics, large and small, from the effects of climate change and life post Covid ( both affecting drastically the economic situation throughout India) to our prime focus this trip to ensure playcentre equipment is replenished. At the end of our discussion Dr B told us that he had managed to organise purchasing some fish and he was going to ask the canteen to prepare typical food for us from his ‘native place’ which is between W Bengal and Orissa. 

We had a lunch date at 1.00 at Indra’s house in Seetarampet so duly set off in search of an auto ( tuc tuc) We didn’t yet have a phone number to summon one but need not, of course, have worried. A RUHSA employee - one of the very many helpful gofers around the site- saw us looking perhaps a bit lost, and within minutes a tuc tuc had been summoned. 

Indra lives at the end of Om Shakti Coil street, ( coil means temple in Tamil) which is where many friends have their homes. Communal life here is very very communal. Children especially wander in and out of their neighbours’ houses. If large over-heated UK visitors are coming to visit, people will pop in to watch you eat, to be included in photos, to dandle the baby if she’s looking restive, etc etc. No wonder that baby Sally is such a happy girl. She has literally a whole village participating in raising  her! 

Lunch was served on banana leaf plates, as is traditional.  Indra is one of the two Pachaikili cooks so we know how lovely her food is - and she remembered to go easy on the chilli which is usually very much in evidence in Tamil Nadu cuisine.

After lunch we chatted as well as we could- stretching my Tamil and their English as far as possible. Yet another daughter appeared who is studying at college level, also engineering. Balaji ( who had wandered in by now of course) made the connection with the 100 small bursaries through the One Candle fund ( part of the Bishopston Kuppam link). This fund was the brainchild of Pam Morris, started in the early 2000s, after she had heard the daughters of a widowed Seetarampet woman ( Santi) lamenting that they would not be able to stay on to complete secondary education, for want of money in the household. Balaji reminded us just what an effect that fund had on local families and said it was why Pam is so revered here ( and also very much loved) 

Baby Sally being rocked by her mum Priya. I am fascinated to see how all the locals take part in her care. Men equally as much as women- and older children- will reach out to hold her and give her attention. 

Our next engagement was in KVKuppam at a home we had never visited before, that of Priya one of the Pachaikili teachers. We had feared that a 4 o’clock tea invitation might mean much more than that ( as ‘one small coffee’ so often means a plate of food too!) Great joy anyway to discover it meant coffee and cakes/,biscuits. We could manage that quite easily. Priya’s  husband has  a fair bit of English so we were able to communicate well. We learned that theirs was a ‘love mariage’ after they met at college. 

We were home by 6 and after a bit of a lie-down under the fan ( it’s how we survive here where it’s hot and humid) we discovered that we were to be served Dr Biswajit’s fish  with a lentil dish. It was absolutely delicious! 

Back view of a friend watching Indra cook. Both women look so very elegant. Much wearing of yellows and reds at the moment as it’s the season for special temple visits. 

Indra’s husband taking a turn with the baby. I love her bangles!! 

In which we are overwhelmed by the warmth of the welcome and our diary begins to fill…

 January 6th

After an initial disappointment that the overweight aging body couldn’t manage the cycle we’ve always enjoyed using as our mode of transport here, I gave myself a talking to about how very fortunate we are at our age to be able to make this trip at all. Then off we set for the Pachaikili centre with Charles, our man in Seetarampet, in a RUHSA vehicle driven by the driver who used to be sent to collect us from the airport by Mr Immanuel. I can’t remember his name but I do remember what a frighteningly dodgy driver he was! He told us he’s worked at RUHSA for 37 years and has 2 years to retirement! 

Regular readers of this blog will be able to imagine the warmth of our welcome from the teachers and ayah ( Priya, Rani and Bhuna) at the centre. There were hugs and kisses all round. In this culture people don’t hug and kiss on meeting up as we now do in UK ( but never did in my childhood). But this is something we’ve brought to our friends here. It is difficult not to throw your arms around such dear old familiar friends when the emotion between us is so strong in the air. There were smiles and namaste greetings all round, from the elderly and from the children. Then, swiftly, flowers had to be pinned in my hair. Much nodding of approval from the elderly women- ‘ Suoer!’ And ‘Nella!’ 

We caught up in our masala mixture of ‘some small English’  and my ‘kunjum Tamil’ on how all our families are. In five years much has happened of course, and there is much proud talk of qualifications gained by offspring. As we’ve noticed before the girls here often do really well, and more often than not they study STEM subjects ( science/ tech/engineering/maths). 

Bhuna provided us with coffees. In the kitchen she was busy chopping and preparing brinjals and ladies’ fingers for the elders’ lunches. The SHG women ( self help group) who do most of the lunch cooking are Indra and Vimula, who work two weeks on two weeks off. The first two weeks of the month it is Indra, who duly appeared, to be followed a while later by Vimula. Here began the requests to come to lunch / afternoon snacks -(  even breakfast but I put a lid on that one!) Within moments we had lunch and afternoons fixed for Sat, Sunday, Monday. 

We watched the children playing and then were treated to songs from them, some in English, some in Tamil ( the old favourite Pachaikili parum- about a green parrot) They were eating their packed lunches and the elders were having their hot meals served as we left in a tuc tuc to go to Balaji’s house for lunch at 1.00. 

Part 2 of our Wonderful welcome back was equally warm and emotional, of course. This time at Balaji’s house there is a young baby, born September 8th, who has been given the name Sally. She is a perfect little doll with dark hair and eyes, who is full of smiles! In that house are Balaji’s parents, his brother Shankar and sister in law Santi, their two daughters and his wife Priya, their 7 year old Subashri and now baby Sally. All of them are completely in thrall to the new family member, so she is held, talked  to, rocked, and played with every waking hour and she is obviously thriving on this. 

Santa, Balaji’s mum, had prepared as always a lovely feast for us. She had cooked for our breakfast to which somehow Balaji thought we knew we were invited. Bless him, he wants us there all day every day, and I think he believes he can make this happen just by being persistent. We were garlanded and then photographed of course. Somehow between us we stretched our knowledge of each other’s language to bridge the barrier and communicate. After a while Santi came home from her lunchtime school meals supervisor job and her English is good. They had samples of organic cotton in the house ( connected with Jaki’s new venture I think) and Santi set to and hemmed them so we now have several new very nice hankies. 

By mid afternoon next door neighbour Padmini had come in ( former teacher at Pachaikili) and her daughter who has completed an engineering course- a diploma level I think. She is a very keen student and now she’s looking for an internship but there is a real shortage of such positions in India, as they explained.  Padmini was quick to get a lunch date in the diary for next Sunday. As we were feeling weary by now we managed to say our farewells and off we went in Balaji’s friend’s tuc tuc. 

En route home through KVK we had one more stop however. Balaji wanted us to call in and see the government English medium school which his daughter Subashri attends. The teachers were about to start a meeting but everything had to stop for these weird visitors from England! The staff were all women and they seemed delighted to meet us, made us sit at the head of the table, took endless photos- all very odd and unexpected. Subashri was fetched from her class and eventually off we went with waving and smiles. By 3.30 we were home to our guest house for a lovely lie-down under the ceiling fan! 

Baby Sally with the blanket I crocheted 

Subashri smart in her uniform 

The elders at Pachaikili 

The children having lunch

End of our first full day 4th Jan 2024

 What have we achieved today? Wifi connection- hurrah! Cycles- if we can manage to stay balanced long enough! A few key phrases of Tamil have surfaced from my memory. And - very important- we’ve checked in with the police in KVK and given them some copies of most ghastly photos taken in the photography shop at PKPuram. 

Whilst we were at the police station waiting ( a lot of waiting has to happen in India) who should appear but Balaji with a friend. Please mam, please, his opening words, ‘ One small coffee?’ We had to acquiesce- it’s just not possible to refuse! We promised him we’d be at the school in Seetarampet tomorrow- ‘ narli karli’ 

On our return home we were just in time for the nightly crow gathering at sundown. Quite a sight/ noise! 

In the middle of the afternoon I had a video call with Pam and was able to give her a tour of our lovely accommodation. We wish she and Brian were here with us! 

  

Very spicy very delicious food brought to us in our kitchen-diner. 

Front of guest house. Much of the site has recently been tarmacked / paved and the gardens are still beautifully tended by the  women’s SHG. 

The new guest house. 

It’s wonderful to be back at RUHSA in KVKuppam for the first time since 2019. So much has changed in that time. Dr Biswajit is head of RUHSA, Mr Allen is the new Vinoth, the lead administrator. Already there are real signs of great efficiency. When I was last here we knew that Dr Rita had initiated the building of a new guest house. At the time I was puzzled about that as a priority but now that we are guests staying in the finished building I can certainly commend it! The accommodation is modern and comfortable and comes with very helpful young men who do whatever is our bidding! So far, sorted wifi, cycles, hot water for shower, food, washing up. 

This afternoon I think we will be accompanied to the police station at KVK to check in as alien visitors! Lovely to be back with the sounds ( crows, trains) and smells ( woodsmoke, spice, India!) and to be resurrecting my rusty old Tamil. Sacray ille- no sugar, very important as tea and coffee is sweetened as a matter of course. Nandri- thank you, accompanied by namaste gesture- much used. Time for our second curry meal of the day, 12.40 here, 7.19 in UK.