Sunday, January 30, 2011

on line again at last!

We have had a few very worrying days, our office computer has been on the blink and of course I have been rather remiss about backing up files and etc.

Replaced a part and it now seems fine again but also madly scarmbling to back up files and put them on another computer as well as get an external hard drive to make it easier and some type of gadget to protect the computer from power fluctuations etc....ohhh gadgets! but where would we be with out them?
I was in the middle of a few discussions and all of a sudden everything had to holt....so now madly picking up the threads, my apologies if I have seemed rude to anyone.
With now so much office work I have had more garden time which is not a bad thing!


 This is an early morning peacock raid- & boys the other day, they hide behind the Kerunad trees and rty not to be noticed  then waft acoss to the vegie garden if we go indside. I am noticing how fats their tales are growing, they are looking more and more resplendant but still not welcome in the garden.

 This is Mukesh, our caretaker....and this is Johnny the Rooster. The Mrs Johnies are all sitting on eggs so he has not a lot to do and has started following Mukesh around as he works.
When we got the Camel I asked Mukesh in my broken Hindi what was his name? and Mukesh replied "Ud" which means camel....so I said no, no I am a woman and my name is Fiona, what is the camel's name? again "Ud" to him it was really strange you would name your camel and then when the cow came and we called her Matilda that really cracked him up....the chooks had no name but it must have been going around in his mind because as I took this pic he told me the roosters name is Johnny- sounds good to me.

 Garden admiring...I bought this anonymous citrus tree in town one day and it has really flourished in our garden and turned out to be a very generous and tasty cumquat [well if you ask me, Praveen can't get over the sour flesh and sweet rind, so every time he tries it he ends up spitting it out] The pleasure is all in gobbling it all up fast!!
 Brough many seeds with me from Australia- I raided everyone's garden when there, these beans are for Scarlet Runner or another name is 7 Years Beans, I don't know how they will go with the heat here but I was reminded on finding them in my stash of how I have always thought this must be what the seeds Jack of Jack and the Beanstalk fames'  must have looked like.
Flowers for you....
Praveen and I were taking time to smell the roses the other evening [literally] and reviewing our last month or so....boy have we had some tough times- closing the hotel was so difficult and stressful thanks largely to the 'charming' owners, it is so good to be away from them.
We have our Stitching Ladies rocking along well, and yet we have to be so careful most are great and one or 2 are real game players, hassling about this and that, trying to get away with inferior work. We are up front and honest, we pay on time and we pay well- why do they like to mess around?
We are getting tougher, any more games and no work for the one involved, the part that gets me is that is what I would do with a child but I am dealing with an adult.

Oh well live and learn.....and we have had a whole heap of trouble with the taiolors we work with- work is excellent but timings and getting things done on time a nightmare...What I am discovering is here in India you have to micromanage even the smallest details, leave one thing to anothers' disgrection and  things could go astray- oh well it means Praveen and I work more closely together, which we are happy with and we just need to instigate more checking, more popping in to see what is cooking and look around for back up tailors so our business can come close to reaching western expectations of timelines, not Indian hopefullness.
I suppose that sums it up in the West there are timelines, here we ask the Gods for help and hope...it is part of what I love about the place but it can also present a difficulty when I am in the middle of 2 very different cultures.

hmmm life is full of learning.

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