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Day 44 - 46
Things have picked up! Thank the Lord. We decided to visit a children's charity which proved a huge success. Maybe that is where we have been going wrong recently - too much of a self centered long holiday. It was good to feel 'back at work' in some capacity. We visited Ladli - which means loved girl in Hindi - a project that rescues abused and neglected street girls and saves them from prostitution. Some are as young as 5 or 6. We were given a lovely welcome and treated to a tour of their workshops. The girls are given education, a safe home, health care and are trained to sew and make jewellery. They make really lovely stuff including bags, cushion covers and really nice silver and costume jewellery. All the money they make gets put into a bank account in their individual names and given back to them when they are 18. It is a really good project. We bought lots of stuff (over priced, but hey...) and Fern and Clover joyfully joined in playground games. Rufus' mum had sent us tartan pencils, scrunchies and hair clips which the girls enthusiastically handed out - very graciously received. Well, Clover did while Fern anxiously ran through all the potential pitfalls of handing things out until there were no things left to hand out and then sobbed. We all felt good to see the 'behind the scenes' India where people really are doing good work to help children.
Back to self centered holiday ..... I managed to find a tailor and had 2 dresses made, Rufus a shirt - all for the princely sum of £10. We have found a local guide who is helping us make our way around in his rickety rickshaw and the sprawling city is starting to make some sense to us. As our guide drove recklessly through the narrow back streets, he pointed out 'wildlife' as he called it - which is really just 2 million hairy pigs, the same again of cows, camels, dogs and 5 million rats - not really a safari in my book. Do you know more people in India own a mobile phone than a toilet? Fact! Had a nice meal and again donated the leftovers to the poor - they are grateful and it really is the right thing to do. Hope they like foie gras and truffles.
Today we went to see India's premier magic show, Rajasthan's very own David Blaine we hoped - Mr Om Prakash Magico - who makes things disappear and rides a motorbike blindfolded (don't they all in India?). The girls were very excited and we felt pleased to be doing something child friendly - they have been ever so patient at museums and monuments. As I have learned, high expectations are usually bitter disappointments under construction. The theatre was a complete dump with chair numbers written in chalk and a stone floor. No air con. 800 hot and sweaty Indians pushing and jostling for a seat. Vile spicy popcorn.
It was impossible to know when the show had started as our fellow audience members chatted on their phones, chatted to each other, shared food and generally enjoyed large family get togethers. The man in charge actually locked the door behind us. I panicked slightly at the thought of getting out in case of a fire. An hour into the show, I began to wish for a fire. The worst magician I have ever seen, his top act was pulling white doves and bunches of plastic flowers quite clearly from out of his sleeves. Even the girls weren't that impressed. The inevitable woman in a box with swords. The cutting in half of a bored Thai assistant. The disappearing of various people. But the most astonishing thing was the repeated adverts promoting alcohol, smoking and domestic violence. No joke. Literally a scene involving a man hitting his wife, a group of stoned teenagers staggering about bombed out their heads. They all disappeared, of course, which was the purpose of the scenes. But how very strange at a family show. After 90 minutes of turgid s***, Rufus and I were devastated when Mr Magico held up a sign saying 'Interval'. Using the trick parents always do, mine certainly did - we pretended the show was over and quickly left. Rufus sent me and the girls back in the rickshaw and went to buy Kingfishers and Bacardi Breezers. We really, really deserve them.
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