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Dear dear dear, Miss Jones! I really am appalling at keeping up to date with this thing. Alas, I am here now, and I will give you my full attention to tell you about this last month - Christmas, New Years, and beyond - to reveal all about what I have been up to.
First, Christmas. I had a fricking awesome day! Everyone was so kind and really went out of their way to make me feel happy and at home. Celebrations in Madhya Pradesh tend to start at night time, so my day was spent decorating the office, opening a few pressies and getting ready for the party of the year. I wore my saree (oh how I love sarees) and slapped on a decent amount of make-up, which reminded me of the good ol’ nights out I’ve enjoyed back home, and headed off to the office for about 6ish. One staff member had arranged a couple of massive loud speakers so we enjoyed a lil dancing after we had eaten. And by the way, if you’re going to forgo the traditional turkey with all the trimmings on Christmas day, then Indian food is definitely the next best thing. We had puri (deep fried bread) and two types of sabje, one with panner (like cottage cheese), both of which were delicious, rice and to finish it off, my favourite Indian sweet – Rasgulla. Oh there’s always room for Rasgulla! Everyone brought gifts, which I wasn’t expecting at all, and completely bawled me over with their kindness and thoughts. And then the dancing ensued. I won’t lie, having absolutely stuffed myself on the delicious feast, whilst wearing a saree (not renowned for their comfort), dancing Indian style was a bit of an effort at first, especially since none of the other woman would join me. There was the standard division of women cowering in the corner watching the men have a good time, which kind of spurred me on to dance more because I wanted to demonstrate that it is perfectly OK for us girls to have fun too. My attempts are pretty much lost, however, since, being foreign and all, I’m not subjected to the same gender restrictions as my female comrades, but at least I can give it a shot hey. Anyway, I had a go at dancing with the son of one of my colleagues (better to be safe than have rumours fly around that I danced with so-and-so meaning I must be having a relationship with them etc – I swear its worse than WRFC here, and they have a fricking website dedicated to the publication of gossip!). I’m not overly skilled at Indian dancing but it was good fun and felt good to have my heart rate rise above 60 bpm again! It was all lots of fun, but then most of the male staff got drunk, and sent their wives home, causing my flat mate to insist we leave too, which meant I was home by 9.30 on the night of my own Christmas party. Ah well, it was good while it lasted. Oh, and while we’re on the topic of Christmas - THANK YOU SO SO MUCH to all who sent cards and presents. It felt so good to know you were thinking of me! I’m so fricking lucky to have the best friends and family a girl could ask for!
The next day, I set off for Delhi, as my didi and her family had invited me to go to Rajasthan with them for a few days. I had an absolutely amazing time, seeing all the sites and doing a lil shopping. We managed to fit in Jaipur, Pushkar and Ajmer – all of which will feature highly on my tourist spot recommendation list! In Jaipur we saw the Hawa Mahal (a building from where the queen used to watch street processions safely hidden away from prying eyes), Jantar Mantar (a very impressive observatory), City Palace (with an extensive display of ‘British times’) and Chokhi Dhani (a cultural theme park designed around a typical Rajasthan village – missing the usual cow poo and stagnate water in the streets of course). Around Jaipur we took a guide who spoke mainly in Hindi, which is why all the photos of the two of us together feature me with a very confused look on my face. I did understand quite a bit though, but the odd translation was required. Pushkar is very famous for the beautiful temples there, and the large lake around which there are many ghats. Furthermore the only Brahma temple in the whole world can be found in Pushkar, so we certainly got our fair share of Hindu spirituality on this trip! Finally, in Ajmer, we visited Dargah, a famous Muslim pilgrimage spot. Back in Jaipur, we made it to Amber temple, where we saw a sound and light show, from which I understood nothing – but it sure did look pretty. It was all extremely beautiful and interesting, and the trip was made even better by the good company I kept.
I then returned to Jhansi on the 31st, ready for New Years. I had the option to see 2009 in in a village, which would have been awesome, but instead I decided to return to Nowgong to be with my flat mate. I slightly regret this decision since I was knackered by the time I got back, and Richa and Shipra (our friend) had made no plans (not entirely their fault – there’s nothing to do here anyway!) so I ended up falling asleep, to be awoken at 11.55 to wish the standard Happy New Year. I didn’t even have the energy for a verse of Old Langs Eye (or however its spelt – I think I just embarrassed myself). I slightly wish I’d have gone to the village and seen it in under the stars, but at least this way I can claim to be a good friend so lets focus on the silver lining.
Since New Year, I’ve not been up to much. I went to Bhopal this week (capital of Madhya Pradesh) for a meeting about a network for organisations in the water and sanitation sector in India. It was a brilliant meeting and I came away feeling very enthused and refreshed for my work. The chair of the meeting is the head of a well-known organisation and he said he was so happy to have met me and felt refreshed to encounter someone who was clearly engaged with the issues. I was extremely flattered, especially considering the meeting was conducted mainly in Hindi so I was struggling to keep up most of the time.
Other than that, the biggest news is my impending visit! Whoop Whoop, Libby, Chloe, Jen and Crookey are coming! I don’t think I could possibly be more excited! My emphatic behaviour having heard the news certainly raised eyebrows, as I was jumping around and randomly declaring ‘MERA DOOST AU RAHE HAI!!’ (My friends are coming). Fingers crossed Rachel will be able to make it out too and then I’ll just be in heaven! So now, about 50% of my brain power is being expended on planning the perfect trip. Dear Christ, it will be the 16 days of our lives!
Finally, I have begun the arduous task of attempting to learn to read Devnagri script, in which Hindi is written. There’s a bit more to it than our easy ABC, with different bits going in different places and the likes. But with persistence it’ll come I’m sure, and will only speed up my learning of Hindi speaking, so it’s a worthwhile undertaking.
I’ll leave it there, since I’m not feeling on top of the world right now with a nasty throat infection and the crappiness that antibiotics inevitably bring. Keep up the messages and please remember hotmail isn’t working so use my UCL account or my new address: [email protected]
Rugby girls, its been a while since I’ve had any match reports – not good enough ladies!
Miss you all stupidly, I want to come home just to see you all and have a good night out, not to mention a good cuddle. It perhaps wasn’t wise for me, the most tactile person I know, to come to India, where physical contact isn’t exactly the norm. So when you 4 (hopefully 5) come, expect to hold me for a good 45 mins in the airport before I allow us to go anywhere!
Lots of love
Jones x
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