DELHI - The Mysterious Journey of Col. Bindra

A couple of weeks ago on another stinking hot Delhi afternoon, the Colonel came up the stairs to visit and tell us he was off to his hill station in the Punjab. "I have a new house," he told us with a smile on his face, "you should all come and visit it." (The Colonel is always inviting us to come to the other end of the country with him, which would be fabulous if we didn't have work every day and, therefore, only weekends for these epic journeys) He told us that he'd be gone three to four days, leaving our food and water needs in the hands of his daughter who'd been left to run the household. A week later, still no Colonel. Asha (the daughter) was beginning to look harassed but we didn't press the issue (her responce to questions on her father's whereabouts was the characteristic head nod from side to side which Indians give to mean yes, no, maybe and "don't be so stupid, you stupid tourists.") Lightning storms racked the skys, rumours abounded from our co-ordinators of burst pipes and fallen trees causing hill station havoc. And then, a few days ago, the Colonel reappeared. He came up to see us and we asked how the trip was. He nodded his head from side to side. We didn't ask again.


Lightning over Delhi. After the dissapointment in Brazil, finally I managed to capture nature's most elusive eletrical effect photograph. Hurrah!

In other goings on, the excessive Delhi temperatures have become even more excessive. Now simply leaving the house for five minutes is enough to cause premature sweating and exhaustion. Coincidentally, I now run the morning games lesson for one of the Special Needs classes at Akshay Pratishthan. A curious activity to be involved with in a class where most of the children have some sort of physical disability, half a dozen are in wheelchairs and not capable of moving themselves and English is not understood. Oh, and on asking to be shown the school's sport equiptment I was presented with a single flat volleyball. Thank goodness I have a hacky sack and Sarah has been carrying a long skipping equipped piece of rope for the entire year. Both of which, incidentally, are all that is required to elicit peals of excitement from my lovely kids.


Demonstrating the art of skipping. Not that any of the kids actually did skipping, per se. Luckily the rope is amusement enough.

In the cause of finding ways to use the sun to our advantage and satisfy the growing need for non curried snacks (since everything, *everything* tastes of curry) we spent a happy afternoon melting Mars bars in the sun and over the toaster and mixing them with cornflakes to make some gorgeous Mars bar/cornflake cakes.


Mars bars and cornflakes. Happiness is just a short sit in the fridge away.

A word on jogging, which Mollie and I have been doing in the mean streets of Delhi (she's worried about having put on too much weight this year, I'm worried about having lost too much) A fun activity which involves the dodging of children, old people, bikes and, eventually, cars. It'd probably be a good idea not to do it in the middle of the night, but it's just too darn hot to try at any other time.


A cow on the middle of a street in an upper middle class area of Delhi. A normal occurance. They're sacred, you see, so they can roam where-ever they please.