Vest

You know you're nearing middle age when you start feeling very comfortable wearing a vest under your shirt, but it has become necessary in the last week. There's a sudden chill in the air in Rajpur, the village where I am slowly becoming a local. The cold that occurs in the mountains here in India is unlike any I've experienced in Europe, and even when the sun is shining you can feel it deep in your bones.

This month is full of festivals and weddings, and there is an atmosphere of excitement and joy which is infectious. Today is the festival of .... when wives dress up in beautiful saris and lots of jewelry for their husbands and pray to god that he won't look at any other women. The woman will fast for the day and maybe it's a lucky night for the husband...

One of the most admirable qualities of the people I spend my time with here is their ability to feel every emotion so deeply that it feels like a matter of life and death. When you study the words of many of the Hindi songs which I am getting to know, they are so full of beautifully expressed emotion and love that I'm sure Shakespeare would be listening to Bollywood soundtracks if he were alive today. However, coming from a country where emotions are usually packed up tidily out of sight, it has been hard to adjust to working here. This week has seen tears, heated arguments, shouting and many tense faces at PYDS and most weeks are the same. I find that I have to be constantly aware of how I talk to people, as a flippant comment can cause enough drama and unhappiness to last a lifetime.

I'm not in the habit of asking for charity from friends, but since I'm not going to run a marathon and I'm in a position to see hands on where every penny goes, I'm making one little appeal. We're currently running a "Fund a Meal" programme which gives people the opportunity to pay for a day's food for all of our 140 children. I did it on both of my parents' birthdays as a present to them, and dedicated the lunch to them. It costs 1500 rupees (which is about £20) and we have accounts in the UK and the US so there's no problem transferring the money. We've got a target of 200 meals to be funded by the end of October and we're on about 60 at the moment. Some people have done it to remember people who have passed away or to celebrate an anniversary or something like that. Whoever the meal is dedicated to will receive a mail with a photo of the children enjoying their food. If you're interested drop me a mail with the dates you want to fund and I'll sort it out.

Outside my window, some men are just mixing up some paint in a big bucket to prepare to paint our house for Diwali, which is the biggest event in the Hindu calender. It's a festival of light which celebrates the ancient vanquishing of the evil Ravana who ruled the earth, by the brave Rama (who was an incarnation of Vishnu). There will be fireworks as far as the eye can see and the mountains will be lit up all around us. My little 7 year old friend, Sona, who was my neighbour in my old home, has decided I have to spend the day with him, so I've told him to come up to my house for the evening as we're on top of a hill so have a great view of the valley.

New photos up on my picasa if you want to have a butchers.