Return to Udaipur

.. After 7 months of plying up and down the A1 for work, I have at last returned to Udaipur, and will recommence the blog.  Flying out by Emirates from Newcastle to Mumbai . mercifully cuts out Heathrow but does ruin any chance of sleep by landing in Dubai at midnight and boarding a 4 am onward flight. Dubai airport is more of a cosmopolitan 24-hour shopping mall than an airport, and the flashy shops where the nouveau riche and nouveau riche wannabees , browse for bling and fashionable are a depressing reminder of how shallow and materialistic the world is becoming. I had been warned that leaving a 3 hour transfer time at Mumbai airport was cutting it fine , and so it proved.  An hour to clear the depressing immigration queue, where grumpy clerks “welcome” you to India with a suspicious look, another hour to get through to the transfer bus and be transferred to the domestic terminal, where other major world  airports . might have special trains, monorails etc Mumbai deems a half-hourly coach sufficient for the task. By the time I had managed to work out the departure gate ( helpfully excluded from the display) I walked straight through to the plane. Perfect timing as it turned out but more than a little stressful at the time .

I am staying in one of the flats in the NMM campus . Working out which parts of the plumbing leak , how to make the toilet flush , and improvise for the lack of a geyser with kettle and bucket were the first challenges . The campus itself is eerily quiet as most people are away at Navapur, and there is no 5 am bell !! ,but of course there is the constant tooting of horns, howling dogs, prayer calls from the local mosque etc to keep one entertained and make sleeping an interesting challenge.

Obtaining a SIM card and an internet dongle proved even more challenging. An 1 1/2  of an officious clerk inspecting my signature on copies of passport , visa and driving licence , whilst Debidutta patiently tried to give references for me. The paan-wallah who sold the SIM card was more accommodating , but then had to summon us to sign a form in a slightly different way.

Despite the frustrations which will be familiar to any India traveller , it is good to be back. Working on the financial projections for the microfinance scheme, it is really encouraging to see the potential for growth. This year’s pilots have gone well and there is more funding available than we projected last year, so I am feeling very positive about the potential for the company

( see the I-connect blog tab opposite for more about the microfinance scheme)

 

 

Travelling Ups and Downs

..Travelling in India brings both delight and frustration. I am glad to have restricted the travelling/tourism part of this journey to a couple of weeks.  Apart from the excellent Green View guest house at Munnar the standards, service and value for money from hotels has been disappointing. Having to complain to the incompetent little man at my hotel here about my laundry not being back on time, and then finding it not that much cleaner than when I handed it in completed my sense of annoyance today.  Thin Indian mattresses do not make for a good night’s sleep , and I now have that “too long on the road” feeling.

Tomorrow I take 3 trains , from Ooty to Cochin , will hopefully find a taxi at 4 am to get to the airport and then fly to Delhi and then to Udaipur , and am praying that I can make all those connections. But it will be good to see my friends  back at the Bible College

Ooty – “Queen of Hill Stations” ?

Ooty ( short for Ooctamund) and now given an unpronouncable and completely ignored Tamil name , is marketed as the “Queen of Hill Stations”. The setting 7,000 ft in the beautiful Nilgiri Hills is amazing and it boasts some very leafy prosperous looking areas. However any historic charm has long since disappeared The District Collector has maintained his impressive colonial office buildings in a style to which his British predecessors would have approved , and there a couple of interesting old churches. The town centre however is dominated by an ugly shopping complex , the usual chaotic traffic and is frankly dirty and scruffy.  A particularly naff and garish Victorian fountain is the only historic structure in the centre of town.  Ooty does possess a beautiful lake , unfortunately you cannot walk around it and has a predictably but nevertheless depressingly awful amusement park next to it.

I decided to spend 2 of my 3  days here on local sightseeing tours around the local countryside.  Being bounced around the alarmingly steep and twisiting roads on a badly built “Swaraj Mazda” bus was an interesting experience. At one point we came across an overturned pick-up truck which we helped to right , thankfully the driver was only slightly injured -  if it had tipped the other way he would have been several hundred feet down a ravine. The countryside was amazing , and the trips proved very good value at 200 Rs

Steaming up the mountains

. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway still uses steam locomotives , not so much out of sentimentality but because only steam is powerful enough to cope with the gradient , however I had heard that the original 1920′s engines had been replaced by new oil-fired steam engines.  To my great delight however one of the ancient locos chuffed into sight. To my further delight a fellow passenger swapped his window seat with me so that he could sit next to his wife , enabling me to spend most of th journey with my head hanging out of the window like a schoolboy.

The gradient of the track is 1 in 12 at the steepest requiring a “swiss rack” third rail to prevent the train from careering downhill.  On some stretches the carriages roll back onto the loco’s buffers and are effectively shunted and jolted up the hill. Occasionally the engine runs out of breath and the train halts whilst t builds up sufficient steam pressure to continue the journey.  The mountain scenery is stunning and we passed several waterfalls  and ravines. The engineering achievement in constructing this line going 7,000 ft up to Ooty is incredible. For the final flatte leg of the 6 hour journey the venerable steam loco is replaced by a diesel, faster but a lot less fun. ( pictures to folow)

Munnar

..The heat and humidity in lowland Kerala is oppressive, showering three times a day makes little difference, within a few minutes of stepping outside , clothes are already sticking to the body. Cochin is also infested with mosquitoes, despite sleeping in an a/c room with 3 plug-ins I acquired at least half a dozen bites in a day. Heading off to the tea plantation town of Munnar 5,000 ft up in the hills gave a welcome relief from the heat. The southern hill country gives a pleasant combination of warm sun and cool breezes, chilly at night but not the biting cold of Simla or Darjeeling. For the first time in 3 weeks I have enjoyed not being hot and sticky and the pleasure of sleeping without a noisy fan or air-conditioner.  After experiencing disappointingly dirty and overpriced hotels in Chennai and Cochin the guest house is excellent value and spotlessly clean.

.. I allowed myelf to be persuaded to join an 8 mile  trek ascending around 2,500 ft to one of the highest peaks in the area, despite not having undertaken any long walks for months, and my only footwear being light slip-on shoes.  Having hoped that perhaps the group might contain an elderly couple or perhaps someone really fat , who might linger at the back with me , I was dismayed to find the group contained only healthy looking twentysomethings,

Walking alongside the river at the start of the walk gave stunning views of the mist

We ascended through the tea plantations established by Scottish entrepeneurs in Victorian times and now owned by the Tata conglomerate. As we ascended my own lack of fitness became increasingly apparent , as did the increasing steepness of the ascent., and the unsuitability of my footwear A combination of progressing very slowly , and stopping to recover frequently somehow enabled me to reach the summit . The sense of relief and achievement was palpable , the views were stunning and in accordance with his national tradition , a Norwegian member of the group produced a box of the most splendid chocolate to celebrate the achievement.

Fort Cochin and the Backwaters

.Fort Cochin is the old colonial quarter of the Cochin/Ernakulum metropolis , but is sufficiently distant from the modern city to retain its quaint ambience.  The chinese fishing nets along the harbour are curious as is the Dutch Palace and the “White Jew Synagogue” ( Cochin’s Jewish community was created by refugees from the sack of Jerusalem in 72 AD , retained its identity for 19 centuries and returned en masse to Israel in 1948) .

Chinese Fishing Nets

Befitting a city founded by the Portugese in the 16th century , captured by the Dutch in the 17th and later ceded to Britain, the architecture is a mix of older mediterranean and Victorian Raj styles, very pleasant to walk around.  I had the pleasure of being rejoined by Janet and Lindsay and we enjoyed the best English-style tea in India , courtesy of the Teapot Cafe, and excellent food at the Old Courtyard restuarant which serves deilcious steaks, seafood and even perfectly made spaghetti bolognaise. ( good Western food is not common in India ).

Most enjoyable was a trip on a punted canoe and covered boat on the backwaters. Gliding through the idyllic narrow waterways overhung by tropical trees , was a welcome relief from the almost constant noise of the Indian city.

A very English experience

..Having moved on from Adoor to the rather lovely town of Fort Cochin on the coast , I decided to go the English service at St Francis CSI ( Anglican) Church . The 16th century church reflects Cochin’s history. The church has changed from Catholic to Reformed to Anglican as Cochin founded by Portugal in the 16th century  was taken by the Dutch in the 17th century and annexed by Britain during the Napoleonic wars. The 16th century exterior has provided the model for South Indian Catholic churches , but the interior is decidedly low Anglican, with Dutch tombstones and inscriptions set into the walls.

The service was conducted very much as an Anglican service might be at home, there was no need to display one’s enthusiasm sing loudly, offer more than a polite smile and handshake to anyone there, but the preaching and the hymns were Biblical and gave food for thought without the need for hype or melodrama.  It is nice to know that there some pockets of quiet middle-class Englishness left in India. A most pleasant experience

Deepti Centre

..My other charitable trustee role is with CANDLE which supports supports the Deepti Centre for children with cerebral palsy ain Kerala.   The first impression to hit me on arrival in Kerala was the heat , the temperature scarcely falls below 30 at night , which required sleeping directly under the fan at full blast ,with all the windows thrown wide open. At least three showers a day were necessary, and although I was getting more used to the heat at the end of my 5 day stay it was a little enervating.

Yet it was worth enduring , Susan and Matthew have done a tremendous work in setting up this centre , and kind supporters from the UK, Singapore and China have enabled the centre to operate with a Physio (and assistant) , Teacher ( and assistant) , a school bus and  a wide range of donated equipment. Caroline Molloy ( chair of CANDLE)  was there after hosting a Creative Play workshop with her friend in the previous week ( see Caroline’s excellent blog for details). This enabled us to have some very useful and constructive discussions with Susan and Matthew. A morning ride on the school bus took us through the beautiful Kerala countryside. The most rewarding aspect was spending time with the children who were so responsive to attention. Having seen so many disabled children left to beg in other parts of India it is was very moving seeing the children so well cared for.

It was also great to see Susan, Matthew and family who returned to India from Durham last year. We were very well entertained , and fed great quantities of delicious Keralan food. I had originally thought that this might be a one-off visit on my part, but we have made so welcome that it would be difficult to resist returning .

If you’re interested in learning more about Deepti visit www.candletrust.wordpress.com or contact me or Caroline ( who returns to the UK shortly)

Staff Parents and Children at Deepti

Captured by the Salvation Army

..Strolling around the town of Adoor whilst Caroline had gone shopping , I was approached by an elderly lady who enquired where I was going,  foolishly I admitted to having no particular purpose , whereupon on finding out that I was staying at the Manakala Seminary she insisted I join the Salvation Army prayer meeting across the road.

There were about 20 people crammed into a small office officiated by the smartly uniformed captain, the female officer wearing a dark blue plain sari over her uniform shirt, As might be expected of the “Sally Army” there was a large bass drum and of course a tambourine to accompany the loud enthusiastic singing . It was of course all in Malayayam so I did not have a clue what was happening. I was asked to give my testimony which was only partly translated , but inserting “Praise the Lord” and “Hallelujah” into the speech elicited a favourable response. After 20 minutes I “made my excuses and left” but it was a hilarious experience simultaneously very Indian and very Salvation Army

..An unlikely victory

.. After choosing to bat first on a turning pitch , England quickly lost 3 wickets and only Bopara’s 60 secured the inadequate score of 171. Throughout most of the game I had that sinking feeling of having travelled to Chennai to watch England slide to an easy defeat.  Having cruised to around 120-3 , South Africa lost their nerve , wickets fell the crowd sprung into life , at this point the locals deserted South Africa and began loudly cheering for England. South Africa fell 6 short , having lost their last 7 wickets for 41 runs

.I have been priveleged to watch 3 games with tense finishes and surprise results – the atmosphere at each has been amazing

.. Off to Kerala to visit the Deepti Centre now