We had a late night last night and a late morning, we’re trying to start readjusting to UK time.
Maria’s mehindi has fully developed now,it is a great colour. She seems inordinately proud of it.
Mind you it does have it’s disadvantages. She can get it wet but is not supposed to get detergent on it, especially if she then rubs. So this morning John had to get in the shower and wash her hair.
Maria was a bit iffy again this morning, she is rather sensitive to strange food, water etc. So we left her in the bar, drinking lots of water, while John and I set off in an auto rickshaw to pick up some of her tops from the tailors around Commercial Street. It was ok but you do feel a lot closer to the traffic, noise, pollution and the heat than in a nice air conditioned car. Still it was an experience.
The tailors were in the side ‘streets’ off Commercial Street.
They cram an awful lot into a tiny space, the man on the floor is hand embroidering a sari.
All Maria’s tops were ready and they had done a good job. There are only John’s shirts to pick up now and they won’t be ready until Monday.
When we got back Maria was feeling a bit better, so John and I grabbed some lunch and we decided to stroll up to one of the malls nearby. It is just past John’s offices. As we were walking along the ‘pavement’ we noticed there seemed to be a beggar lying in the middle of it. This was not unusual, we had seen similar before. However we found this was in fact 2 babies, there was a rag in the dust and lying on it a little girl of about 12 to 18 months, curled up and apparently asleep. Next to her lying on his back and grizzling a little a baby of about 3 months. This is by the roadside, in the dirt and dust, with people rushing along and the sun starting to shine down on that area. No sign of an associated adult. What can you do? Just walking by seems so terrible. Some people had tossed some money down, but surely that just makes you complicit in the action and encourages the parent to think this is a good way to obtain money. All this within a stones throw of a sparkling modern mall! It is upsetting, I think Maria was crying. I think we may have to make a donation to the Missionaries of Charity.
We mooched around for the rest of the afternoon and decided to go down to Karavalli for our tea, this is the restaurant in the gardens of the restaurant, specialising in South Indian cuisine. John had been telling Maria how nice the food was. The ambiance was certainly good.
The food was lovely, I particularly liked the bananas cooked in a masala, despite Maria making so called witty comments about monkeys being fond of bananas. We were even serenaded by a frogs chorus. My word they can make a lot of noise for a small body.
