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hello hello!
firstly: oops, oh dear and apologies for that petulant and offensive end to the last email. was meant only to be up for a day in anger at my nemesis (we have now launched all-out and unfettered war ever since he called me lying cheating scum (as far as i can tell for coming to india when i ought to be doing a masters, but i haven't quite worked this one out) and i called him lying cheating scum (for lying about the gas cylinder, stealing loads of stuff from the place, cheating us out a decent plumber and leaving me to the mercy of my workman stalker)). oops. but then the internet crashed, and i went travelling, and got struck down by a violent and vicious illness - possibly for writing such a post in the first place.
still, feeling a bit better now, so round to the inty i've pottered and taken it down. within about 2 seconds of being on the train i'd already composed a '10 things I love about India' balance. still, it does somewhat undermine my rather less petulant grievances in the previous email (of the corruption and boiling alive) so i shouldn't really have posted it.
i wanted to write a new post about how awesome maharashtra is and how brilliant travelling in india in (what a difference a daaaay makes, 24 (or rather 26 on the train) little hours...) but still feeling a bit fragile so i shall merely include a fragment of an email i wrote to my dear papa:
"- feeling a lot lot better now (though still a bit weak and wobbly) thank the lordy. spoke to grandpa and it's not dengue fever, at least, he confirmed it was probably a bad stomach bug, and said i shouldn't expect to feel better before a week. so lots of rest for jess, yay. glad i was in gurgaon anyway, as was so weak usha literally had to spoon feed me - def beyond the call the duty!
it's starting to get brilliantly sunny here though luckily still not too hot (bout mid 20s i think). finally saw a bit of sun in maharashtra too (which was 30s and very hot!), which was absolutely brilliant. the rural areas are just like an old-fshioned idyll, all ox-carts full of apples and road-side sugarcane stalls. we met loads of interesting people too, from local social entrepreneurs to the daddy of watershed development, all round a successful trip." plus stayed in the most amazing old govt guesthouses, all colonial and grand and free!
of course, trouble in paradise for sure, not least when we (or rather I) discovered that the great Anna Hazare (of rural watershed development fame) ran his model village through 'voluntary contributions' from the villagers to prove that rural development doesn't need large outside expenditure. so far so admirable (despite the wicker man-meets-stepford wives quality of the village) except for the fact that "in the indian scenario" (a phrase i hear 10 times a day, thus the quotation marks) voluntary ain't got nothing to do with 'volo' (ever the classicist) but just means 'not paid'. If you don't contribute your 'voluntary' bit of manual labour or materials you're fined about as much as you'll earn in a month. ah yes, nods every one wisely, capital idea. am i the only one that thinks blackmailing poor villagers into 'voluntary labour' so you can write books about the idea a little wrong?
anyhoo, he's made an incredible contribution to marashtran development in general, and it really is an agricultural and horticultural idyll, and not naturally, i'm told. it even felt idyllic in the classical sense, and i felt like finding the umber of a nice quercus and listening to some indian moeris or damaon. aaahaaa. ecky ecky ecky!
the co-operative movement also grew out of maharashtra (just as microfinance came out of bangladesh with the grameen bank), and it's evident in agricultural and civil society organisations (mini-NGOs). we even did some nice tie ups with them, which means lots of things to be getting on with here. to save the depressing return to the haryana, raj and delhi where everything seems a fight, we've decided the only way forward is the send the b*****s to MS and learn it there, so are busy putting into place a social entrepreneurship exhange and training programmes. get back to find the hard slog of january and feb is finally (it seems) coming to fruition, so all those hours of proposals and letters and govt meetings might just have been worth it in the end.
anyhoo, sleep mc sleep for jess, methinks (she had a busy day for an ill one, plus the one time she did leave the house she got attacked by cows).. much loving, jxxx
ps. just worked out that in seven weeks i'll be in england's fair soil. given how bloody fast the five weeks between me saying to ells, i'll see you in six weeks, and now have gone i canna believe it. better start buying pressies now! requests on a postcard. jxx
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