logic is a many splendid thing

Somedays it is crazy.

Our village has one through road and many lanes.

The guys who come to buy huge hampers of rose petals pull up in the middle of the through road and open shop.

I arrive, honk, honk to get them to clear the road.

The start the truck and pull 1 meter aside and all is good.

Would that have been easier in the first place?

Then I meet our native bird, resplendent in his new tail, calling to the girls.

I go slow and give him plenty of time to get off the road but he does a road runner thing for 500m before the idea sinks in.

Ohh India, you got to laugh.

I kind of thought it was universal
but really
there is a cultural element to what people consider logical ...

I do think language has a lot to do with it, too.
I am a native English speaker, we have a lot of words and like to define exactly what we are talking about from the start.
I live in India, here the approach is to give some much vaguer statement and then say "MUTLAB" translates to "meaning" and talk about it for 5, 15 or 35 minutes, have things as clear as mud and often go off and do something totally different.

Could drive you [ or my the Australian ] nuts I will tell you :) Haha

Do you laugh or cry. I try and opt for the laugh, most days.

feeling virtuous

Off to Delhi we have been, shopping for our new Machine stitching workshop....we make clothes for a few small compnies from Australia and America and are happy to take on new clients.

We have beem after wadding for a special request for a while and finally the trail took us to a new area and success....this area never sees tourists and rarely even foreigners looking for maunufacturing supplies...this guy was really funny...he could not get over Praveen's white wife and that we were taking pictures....he wanted to be in them and then would not stand still or look at the camera.

Facebook has a whole series of images

 Fantastic sugar cane jiuce...it was so hot I was begging for a drink every time I saw any type of juice wallah...we had mango jiuce, fresh lime water, mixed jiuce, sugar cane jiuce and more....I think the water was disappearing out of us faster than we could gulp it down.
It felt like such an exciting day....exploring with Praveen, sorting out our business to run more as we would like it....very pleasing all in all and we discovered a whole heap of new places.

 There were many shops with these wonderful embroidered necklines....I want a client who wants them used on their garments some were fantastic!

 Mango season has hit....a few months of bliss, luscious bliss.

 ohh and more jiuce....

 On the right hand side is a slum...poor people working hard to get on in life, in front is the village built for the Commonwealth games....when I put two and two togther I was angry again for the rude way the Australian media spoke of India's efforts for the games...this is a very poor place.

 full of hidden delights....look caefully behind the power lines, a wondeful old building literally falling to piecs.

 Street food for lunch Chole Batura- chick pea curry, spiced and perked with cinnamon, slices of fresh red onion and Indian bread 10 ruppes, so tasty and nutritious and yummy.

 Back home in our garden a Teetar or partridge has been sitting on eggs,I have not taken her photo as I did not want ot scare her, whilst we were away success all the babies have hatched and I wonder where they are now.

and why so virtuous? well we did Delhi and felt proud of our finds, nearly all of the Morocco tour is done...just waiting on 2 prices....Emirates now fly out of Casablana which means it is much cheaper on the travel side- got to be good for us! Paper work is TTTTHhhhat close for our business re-structuring and registering with the Indian government which will be the green light to take off on Stitching things.....all in all a few items have been struck off the to do list!!
big yeh :)

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.

life is a blurrrrrrr....

 We were invited to a huge wedding the other night- it was freezing so no way I was wearing Indian finery I had a cardigan, padded jacket and shawl over the top and still shivered, yet many ladies had 1 cardigan on with their sari...I could only wonder at what type of thermal underwear they must have access to!!
Food was amazing, 5 different types of breads all being made to order, a million dishes, and sweets and lovely hot almond milk, flavouted with saffrom and cardomon for afters....very ggod food!

 A few moments of Baba appreciation- I have loaded a video on Facebook. Baba always like it if we do Baba appreciation with radish in hand...he appreciates himself more with food in his face!He is basically oblvious to the outside-of-camel world unless food is on offer, just cruises in his private fantasies....I think

 Can you spot the TreeCreepers in the tree- fascinating little fellows, they literally creep up the tree, no problem upside down or rightside up. Fabolous red topknot and acid yellow wings, very dressy birds.Indian what can you expect!
I was sitting on the vegetable garden steps the other day when a big fat mongoose came cruising by....just walking along looking around- saw me a walked away....but I am sure if I was not on the steps she would have come inside for a peak....and I really don't want to accidently cage one in....big teeth! Also when our hens hatch chickens we are going to have to watch carefully when they are out of their monggose proof house!

 Etsy packing, packing, packing...and a big yippee about that! It was hard to find decent envelopes at first and then I came across these- what could be more perfect- all fabric lined.

 I have a lot of things I supply....so had to get really anal about sorting, keeping an inventory, a numbering system etc. I had a friend visiting last week and she helped me do a stocktake of all the sari sections I have....all sorted and I was feeling rather smug, I am on top of it [for the moment, at least!] when first order after I found one glitch!! can you believe it....only one as I have double checked but first order they wanted something which had gone! Does not happen often and with stock take should not have happened then... little message from the Universe? Things will always crop up, just do the  best you can....and sort out the rest.

 Cooking class last night with 3 young ladies from France, very good evening and here is Mathilde from France meeting our Matilda the cow from Chawandia Village....oooh just remebered, must email their recipes along to them!

 Been further unpacking, and arranging things, came acoss this old silk sign Praveen and I used to use to pick up tourists from the airport...had to display it on the lounge in our room [note cropped pic, pile of stuff next to it that still needs a fianl resting place]

 Another little pile of goodies to be posted....lovely seeing the ladies work coming in and Friday again today so more on the way....new bossiness with thae ladies seems to be paying off.I am only seeing people on Friday, will inspect, collect and pay and I have been firm about others wandering in at other times, I am too busy and it was hard to keep track if I did not have my stock book or cash to pay.

 Further anal behaviour- a collection of the cottons Ihave to use for the stitching project-just working on a few coats and vests from our collection of squares, thinking of using the bauble/buttons as detail for the collars....hmm will look good....Thinking of Textile Fibre Forum at Orange in April.....;and internet.

So pleased with our Vegie garden it is starting to really take off, need to start spring plantings as the weather is changing fast here. Dust is starting to rise as things dry out [will eventually be dust storms around May] .We are lucky to have a good well as we will be able to look after our garden....

 Ohh I am just moving these, my little pile of blockprint I have put away for me....wishing I had time to do something with them....one day!! quilts are calling....

 Some days I wish I could be loke Minku the tortoise,  he sleeps under a bush, once a day I put him in the sun to warm up, he eats and then finds himself a place to sleep again....

but most of the time I am happy to be like my first nasturian- kind of our there! but safe in my home as well....

Biggest excitment of the week was getting our first mail to the house, many, mny visits to post office and talking to everyone....these at least got delivered to the neighbourhood and someone the next little village over brought them to us.....basically we are sending out the message to the postman, if he can work out wher we live and make sure our mail always comes to us [not gets left randomly somewhere here abouts] we will pay an excellent Diwali and Holi bonus [yes a type of bribe to help focus his mind!!]

The Stitching Ladies are go!!

24 December, 2010.
 This is such a big and happy day for us....7 years ago we met and our whole worlds turned upside down. From that first moment there has never been anyone else and we have been journeying through highs and so many lows to create a life together.
Both of us came with a lot of baggage, as it is put....I had come from rather vicious wargrounds of family life, Praveen has completely supported his family since he was 12 years old [same age as the middle chap Monish]. It shocked me when I looked at the photo and thought of Praveen at that age spending 12 to 16 hours a day on a cycle rickshaw trying to earn enough ruppes to feed a Mum, 3 siblings and support an alcoholic father.
Many things to get through and then the fact we lived on different continents, came from completely different cultures, had difficult ex's still around in varying ways, blah, blah, blah- get out the violins!
Yesterday exactly 7 years later almost to the minute he stepped off the train from Delhi with his 3 boys come for a school holidays visit, and I think our world has been stood on its head yet again but think at the next installment will be much easier to ride.
Happy, happy day.

 Lousie, a lovely lady from NZ has been staying, we were joking yesterday, she is our first studio [non] residential. She has been staying at our hotel in town but utilizing our house and studio each day to tinker, when I have had textily things to do, or just little jaunts that seemed appealing she has tagged on long, it is really pleasant.
She is on holidays from work, so there is that initial period of relaxing, she is somewhere very new and as she said she would not have dared to come here alone, it was simply she had met me last year in NZ, when I was teaching a Summer School and so felt she had a point of contact.
 In the last few days she has started to potter....
I think our concept of a home base away from home in India is going to work very well for people. India is a great place, it is very safe and friendly...it is also overwhelming, confusing and sometimes daunting....having somewhere to feel settled and develop your 'India' legs will give a lot of people a good base to appreciate this wonderful world.

I was busy yesterday so Mukesh and Baba brought her back into town...excellent!! Louise said it was fun.

 Been spotting al types of amazing birds in opur garden....I do need a birdbook. Think this guy would be a Treecreeper, that is certainly what he does....creeps up the tree looking for ants.

 In the kitchen I have been using fresh tumeric for cooking, it is in season and is the most amazing shade of tumeric yellow, I want clothes in that colour- silk for a lovely wafty top???

 Finally my Stitching Ladies seem to be getting going again...with me being away and Diwali and a million other things it all seemed to unravel....but we are developing a routine...Praveen and I am home of Friday [strictly 10 to 12] to meet ladies, same time Saturday we are in Pushkar....seems we can get some momnetum going again- I have people waiting for stitching so yeh!! Lots more pictures on this link- I love the colours of the ladies clothes

masterchef and australian-ness

We don't get a lot of Australian content on the TV here in India, but at the moment we are on real high. Masterchef Australia is screening, OK it is series 2 and in Oz they are onto recording series 3 but I am content.

Great food and lots of creativity, which is always wonderful, and most importantly Australians being truely Australian....it really warms my heart to ses the commaradery, the positive attitudes of contestants and judges to each other, the mutal support. This is what I grew up thinking being Australian entailed.

I have been so distressed in recent years to see a real red-neck perocial attitude develop in our country, one where support of friends and neighbours was getting a bit thin, let alone a helping hand to those in need or those new to our lands.

Australian media behaviour and a number of athletes at the recent Commonwealth Games really made me disappointed to call myself Australian [althletes I know that was not all of you and some of your team leaders were outstanding- but a few of you need your head read!]

Great to see Ozzie setting a good example of mateship whilst competing for a huge prize, we all get to share the prize with that attitude.

 At our place we have had some new visitors....a family of mongoose gambolling in the back paddock- seems to be Mum and 2 or 3 nearly mature kittens.....rather cute although I can hear the house chipmanks not being impressed with their presence.

Spooted Mukesh and Baba in town, off to work taking a camel safari. So lovely to look up and see my camel passing by.

another good thing about Homestay...

another good thing about Homestay or the Farmstay aspect of it would be more eyes around to help with Peacock watch.

we have wild peacocks all aroond, beautiful and sneaky...they like to eat the vegetables in our market garden....and know we will chase them off so lately they have been lurking in the trees watching for us....we often sit on the back step to watch sunrise and see our garden growing....they hang in the trees, as soon as we go inside that are onto the garden, we make noise in the kitchen they wander off quickly....

no pics to show because they disappear too quickly.
Did you know we have Woodpeckers in our trees...sound just like the cartoons.

and the other day I was sitting on the back step when a big rustling started in the trees and a baby chipmunk dropped out running like crazy with a mongoose hot on its tail, wanting chipmunk for lunch!!
Out to have breakfast and look for peacocks....feed the chickens, feed the cow and the camel and put the tortoise in the sun so he will wake up enough to have his lunch....busy, busy, busy on opur little farm....
have a good day!!

My nose will be back to the workshop grind stone in a minute, yesterday was the first day I thought we might be getting somehwere- yippee!

some days

Some days just seem so difficult, no matter how hard you try you feel like you are trying to swim up hill through quicksand....yes I know I have juxtuaposed a few images there but you get it....

 We are trying to get some orders out against a tight deadline for The Stitching Project, which can be very difficlut in India....everyone thinks it quite OK to say definitely and then shrug when nothing has happened....I think we are going to make it though....

 My hands are black, smoke is still stinging my eyes from boiling pots and pots of cloth to colour it....
we have ladies we are giving Stitching work too, lately they all seem on holidays or something, yet we have clients waiting for their work and they definietly want the money they earn???? what is thehold up????

 Just have to keep focus on the fact that even after the darkest night the sun will eventually come....

 and at the moment with our cold and misty mornings [yes I currently need to wear socks and a cardigan in the morning] the sunrises are magnificent!

 Such a releif to see this small pile of treasure packed and now posted....I think we are getting into the swing of things and will be sending bundles more often....see the pile of stuff on the table behind, also on our "to do" list....hang stuff and decorate our house!!

 Working hard on plans to convert our place to offer Homestay and workshops.....Praveen keeps coming home with new anilmals...it will be a real Indian Farm stay soon.

 Baba in overcoat- he hates the cold and is a little cranky for it....

 Our newest aquisition Matilda the cow. Nearly 2 years old and in calf; who will be milking her in 6 months time?
She is currently a bit shy, not to shy to eat alll the leaves on my mulberry tree....looking at her picture she needs some trinkets on her collar doesn't she

 We also have a camel cart...I know this picture is a bit blurry but it should help give an impression of the ride you can expect!!

very useful for picking up supplies in town [I use the car,  Mukesh our caretaker uses the cart!] and with a matress and cover it is good for camel cart rides. Baba has been earning his dinner most days taking clients our for rides....good boy
Lots happening and the sun is glorious each day.....just need to remeber somtimes to stop and appreciate it!