Category Archives: NGO

NGO

World AIDS Day: wear your ribbons

Leave a comment

Today – 1 December – is World AIDS Day. Given all the work going on with DISHA and Wake Up Pune, that’s a big deal.

This time last year DISHA organised an event called ‘Celebration of Life’. It was about bringing together the local community to be positive about HIV/AIDS, to remember that HIV is not the end, and that people living with HIV should be treated with dignity and respect rather than stigma and discrimination. In the morning we had a rally around the area, with local schools and community groups joining in. Then in the evening, there was a stage show – with plenty of laser lights and dry ice for added atmosphere – featuring dances, songs, street plays, positive speakers and all that jazz. It was fabulous. More than 3000 members of the Tadiwala Road community attended. Not that they could really stay away, since it was held slap bang in the middle of the slum.

This year – tied in with of Wake Up Pune – we’d lined up Celebration of Life 2006, even bigger and better than last year. Unfortunately, the event has been postponed. The cause: violent unrest in Maharashtra.

A couple of days ago, a statue of Dr B R Ambedkar was vandalised in Kanpur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Dr Ambedkar was a major figure in the Indian freedom struggle, a brilliant mind (he framed the Indian constitution and served as independent India’s first Law Minister) and a hero to the Dalits – the so-called ‘untouchables’, of whom he was one. Dr Ambedkar was a champion of the oppressed, and in many hutments in Tadiwala Road you’ll see a picture of him on the wall.

As a reaction to the vandalism, there have been violent protests all over Maharashtra. Pune is no exception. “Normal life was thrown out of gear as Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal transport buses went off the roads for a major part of the day. Angry mobs continued to damage buses, cars, other private vehicles and shops.” (Maharashtra Herald, 1 December)

I don’t think Dr Ambedkar believed in this kind of violence. But tensions run high, and at the moment there are a lot of ‘offended sentiments’. I don’t know whether this bloody unrest is solely a reaction to the original vandalism, or is in fact a symptom of the wider issues of marginalisation and alienation in the community. Perhaps people just enjoy a good riot.

Anyway, for the time being, the Celebration of Life is off. It’s important to be sensitive to the local population – as Hans puts it, any kind of ‘celebration’ would be inappropriate at this time. As for the rally, people might get confused what it was about. I saw a rally going round Tadiwala Road yesterday evening and they definitely weren’t celebrating anything.

Things seem better today though: some of the local shops have raised their shutters, and rickshaws are plying the roads again. Usually, these things blow over in a few days.

How blasé we can become.

Folks: please wear your ribbons for World AIDS Day and show your support for the cause.

NGO

Pablo entrusted with responsibility

1 Comment

On Sunday I joined 29 children from Deep Griha Society’s Aadhar Kendra Sponsorship Programme for a day trip to the National Defence Academy (NDA). Going one these kinds of trips is one of the (many) perks one often gets as a DGS volunteer. This particular visit was well worth it for all concerned.

We’d initially been approached a couple of weeks ago by Shailaja from Perfect Relations, a PR company, whose corporate client wanted to arrange something around Children’s Day on 14th November.

I went along to the head office of Synygy (an IT consulting firm) with fellow volunteer Jenny and DGS Team Leader Rajendra to meet the Managing Director and discuss how the firm could get involved with Deep Griha. Eventually we might be able to arrange a formal volunteer programme, but in the short term they wanted to arrange a field trip for approximately 30 children in the 10-14 age group.

To this end, they lined up a trip for the kids to NDA, a few miles outside Pune city up at Khadakwasla.

At 8.15am on the day itself, I joined Rajendra, two teachers and the kids outside the DGS office on Tadiwala Road. Then the Synygy-organised bus arrived and we were away.

The Synygy staff welcomed everyone with snacks and drinks as the bus weaved its way through the heavy city traffic. I hadn’t been on a school outing like this for a good few years now and I have to say these kids were a lot better behaved than we ever were. In fact, they were on their best behaviour all day, always listening attentively and waiting patiently when required. Synygy pulled of a masterstroke by giving out corporate baseball caps, which enabled us to keep a close eye on our flock all day.

On our arrival we were met by two young cadets who looked after us throughout the visit, answering our questions and explaining everything for us. Although Sunday is their official day off, the cadets had generously volunteered to show us around – cheers lads! Interestingly, as a foreigner – woooo – I had to get prior security clearance to visit NDA, although they didn’t seem too concerned once we actually arrived.

NDA itself is very impressive. Spread over 8,000 acres, the site is the premier training facility for cadets in the country and houses thousands of cadets and officers. Unlike most centres, the Academy trains cadets for all three of the combined services of the Army, Navy and Air Force. There’s a parade ground, assault course, gymkhana, stadium, many sports pitches, an Olympic swimming pool, a firing range, fully equipped classrooms, a large auditorium and all the other facilities you’d expect from a top-quality Academy. For a country that spends eight times as much on defence than on education at least this is a place that combines the two.

We got to watch a short promotional film about the Academy before taking a walk around the grounds. On the way we visited centre museum and posed for photographs by various tanks, jet fighters and other military hardware.

There are portraits and statues around of the NDA graduates who gave their lives for the country and were posthumously awarded medals of honour for their bravery. Nearly all of them were in their twenties.

One of the highlights was visiting Peacock Bay on the shore of Khadakwasla reservoir. The children got to look around the TS Ronnie Pereira, a land-locked concrete training ship for the junior Navy cadets to familiarise themselves with the layout of a real vessel.

There was a slight hitch when our bus driver went temporarily AWOL and left us all stranded on the wrong side of the campus. Fortunately, Sunil from Perfect Relations demonstrated that he had the right stuff and managed to rustle up a spare bus from a nearby village. I’d hoped that we’d be able to blag a lift in a passing tank but you can’t have everything I suppose.

By the time we’d had a good explore it was time for some lunch. Synygy sponsored lunch at the NDA cadet canteen which serves up some pretty good food. The children certainly took advantage of a hearty meal, although perhaps a few had a little too much since we had a few bouts of car-sickness on the journey home… Still, the swag-bags distributed the children went down well. I wouldn’t have minded one myself. Sometimes I forget I’m not a 12 year-old.

For the children of Tadiwala Road slum, a trip like this is a rare opportunity. Aside from the educational value, it’s a chance just to get away from the city pollution and get a little fresh air. Hopefully, we’ll be able to run more trips like this in future.

NGO

Wake Up Pune

Leave a comment

I know. The posts have dried up again recently. I know I’m in danger of crying wolf if I plead lack of time but things really have been chaotic recently (though wonderfully so).

Workwise, at the moment it’s all systems go for Wake Up Pune, which kicks off on the 20th November.

Wake Up Pune is a city-wide HIV/AIDS awareness campaign being organised by a coalition of agencies working in the field of HIV/AIDS. DISHA (Deep Griha’s Integrated Service for HIV/AIDS) is playing a major role.

What the campaign boils down to is this:

Does Pune have a problem? Yes.
Does Pune know there is a problem? No.

India is now the country with the single largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PWLHA) at 5.7 million (UNAIDS 2006). One in five of those cases are in Maharashtra, Pune’s state.

According the the latest figures we have, the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) conservatively estimates that HIV prevalence in Pune is 1.8%, nearly twice the WHO epidemic mark of 1%! These are numbers from 2002… I think they’ve given up counting recently.
Given that Pune has a (rapidly growing) population of 4 million, that’s at least 80,000 PWLHA. Nobody talks about this. People are burying their heads in the sand. Hence Wake Up Pune.

I’ve just been working on the campaign website – www.wakeuppune.org – designed by Coen with content from yours truly. If you’re interested, full details about the campaign can be seen there.

Since I’m on the subject, here’s a quick refresher for everyone…

There are only four ways to contract HIV:

• Unprotected sex
• Sharing infected needles
• Exposure to HIV infected blood
• Mother to child transmission

HIV cannot be transmitted through:

• Coughing, sneezing
• Shaking hands, kissing or touching
• Sharing food or drinks
• Sharing crockery or cutlery
• Contact with toilet seats
• Insect or animal bites
• Swimming pools, baths
• Eating food prepared by someone with HIV

Check out the website if you have time. It’s got a few images of the posters we’re producing for the campaign, along with details of the various activities in the pipeline.

News & Announcements, NGO

Hello and welcome

1 Comment

Hello everyone! Welcome to worldofpablo.com…

It’s been a long time coming but I’ve decided to relaunch the website with a new look and new address. I was getting sick of all the spam postings on the old site. Time will tell whether we have any more luck over here…

The new worldofpablo.com is supposed to be more of a blog than an online diary, so I’ll attempt to write shorter, more frequent posts. And with less of a limitation on pictures (the old site supported only ten) it should be more interesting to look at too.

According to my calculations, the last time I posted was in May. I know, I know. Since then I have:

Watched England lose on penalties… again
Topped the class for the Journalism diploma
Begun – and completed – a two month course in Technical Writing from the same department
Attended a one week course in Film Appreciation at the National Film Archives of India
Got soaked in the monsoon rains… repeatedly
Appeared in a least three newspapers (as subject not journalist, hey ho)
Grown a beard…
… and shaved it off again
Been galavanting around Maharashtra with Matt Hinde
Left India for Sri Lanka… temporarily

As usual I’m beginning with an apology for not having posted in ages. The longer I leave it, the more I have to write about, so I put it off for a bit… and the cycle continues. It’s like with emails. Sometimes I receive these fabulous long messages and I don’t have time to reply right away, knowing they deserve a proper response. Then I seem to let them pile up until they become rather intimidating and I suffer from a kind of email paralysis. Hopeless.

One of the reasons I left the UK was because everyone had heard all my anecdotes and I needed to rustle up some new ones. Suffice to say, that hasn’t been a problem.

DGS wise, I somehow found myself writing the script for the new Deep Griha DVD. Hopefully it’ll help with fundraising and awareness building. It was an interesting experience but took several attempts as I had to produce the first draft before I’d even seen the visuals. In fact, there’s been so much going on at DGS recently. For the most part I’ve been a witness rather than being right at the heart of things, but I continue to be amazed by these experiences time and again. There’s been a really good mix of volunteers recently – international and local – who’ve complemented the permanent staff really well. Shazma from Kenya, Laine and Aisha from Canada, Mo and the 2005-06 Link crew from Scotland, Sara and Kate from England, Jane from Canada, Aislinn from Ireland, Paul and Coco from France, all mixed up with lovely locals such as Meeta, Cheryl, Natasha and Sonu. And what with Sharon returning for yet another crack at DGS, it’s been wonderful to interact with so many interesting characters. I’m definitely starting to feel like an old hand, especially when Sharon and I sit around trying to come up with wind-ups for the new batch of Link volunteers. “Wear only purple on Thursdays” is my current favourite. Although I’m arguing that they should address the Volunteer Coordinator as “Oh Captain, my Captain”.

Deep Griha volunteers perform Kajra Re
Deep Griha volunteers at DGS birthday

The Deep Griha 31st Birthday Celebrations on July 5th were fabulous. There was a big get-together at the YMCA, and many staff members came up and performed songs and dances. The female volunteers devised a fabulous dance routine to Bollywood smash hit ‘Kajra Re’, which was VERY popular. There was even a memorable encore in a Pune nightclub a few days later…

In the past couple of months, I’ve visited Sahara Aalhad Residential Care and Rehabilitation Centre a few times. It’s a care hospice in Pune for people living with HIV / AIDS, and has developed a close relationship with DISHA (Deep Griha’s Integrated Service for HIV/AIDS). Anyone who goes there will confirm that it’s an extraordinary experience. The dedication of the staff (who often go unpaid due to lack of funds) is enough to restore your faith in humanity. Working in the slums is really less about starvation and disease so much as a lack of education and opportunity. But when you visit Sahara the situation is completely different. People who have been often been abandoned by their families – frequently they’re just dumped there – and have typically only come forward at a very late stage, typically at HIV stage 4 (i.e. clinical AIDS) because of high levels of stigma and discrimination within the community. I’ll post some more about Sahara soon, but please read Hans’ ‘Chaos Within’ posts on the Deep Griha blog – www.deepgriha.blogspot.com – for further insights. Hans has just returned from the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto and has some fabulous stories to tell… I’m sure more will emerge in due course. Hans usually leads the English-language awareness sessions but whilst he was away, Mo and I stepped up to the plate and gave a talk about HIV/AIDS to a whole host of international girl guides. It was a new experience for us both but I think we managed to pull it off.

It’s strange. I’m not sure at what point I stopped being a visitor to Pune and at what point I realised I was actually living there… Perhaps it was when I signed the renewed rental agreement for my flat. Either way, my (twice-extended) visa just ran out so I’ve come to Sri Lanka for a month’s holiday / visa run. After obtaining a fresh six-month tourist visa – hopefully a routine procedure – I’ll return to India. I’m not sure yet how much of that I’ll spend in Pune and how much I’ll try and travel around a bit. I’m still very keen on visiting North India, perhaps Himachal Pradesh, Varanasi, and maybe revisiting Amarpurkashi too. After that visa expires it’s time to return to Plan A: hit the road for New Zealand, although perhaps with an illogical but exciting detour via Nepal. Basically by that stage I’ll be properly strapped for cash so will need to start earning as soon as possible. Admittedly I’ve been proceeding a little slower than originally anticipated, but who’s counting?

Monsoon season is upon us again. Last year Tadiwala Road suffered from severe flooding and we had to get cracking with relief operations. There were some exceptionally heavy rains in July but nothing as bad as last year. Nevertheless, many people from all over Maharashtra were displaced from their homes, including many families in Tadiwala Road. Things have eased off for now but there’s always the fear of water-borne diseases such as leptosperosis. Naturally, the roads have all been washed away, making for a spine-shattering experience when negotiating the traffic. An innocuous looking puddle can turn out to be a metre-deep crater, and rocks and gravel seem to be scattered randomly across the roads. It’s interesting to be in Sri Lanka right now, where the climate is quite different. More on that soon.

Back in June the exam results for the Journalism Diploma were released. As luck would have it, I managed to top the class, just scraping a First with Distinction by a few marks. I hadn’t realised that being the class topper was such a big deal here, but it’s been lovely. There’s a tradition in India where you have to buy everyone pehda (a special type of sweet) to celebrate exam success. Let’s just say I never knew I knew so many people in Pune. It cost me a small fortune, but was well worth it. I even ended up in several of the papers – Times of India, Loksatta and Sakal – and consequently have been receiving random congratulations from all over the place, including the watchmen in my building.

It’s actually slightly frustrating because I’m not allowed to work here, which is a shame since I’d like to pick up some more experience.

Since Pune is – after all – the ‘Oxford of the East’, I decided to study a little more and signed up for a two-month Technical Writing course, offered by the same department. Jasmeet and Susham, both fellow diploma students, also took part. I enjoyed it, and somehow found myself agreeing to take a session on ‘British English’ for the Society of Technical Communicators (Pune branch) a couple of weeks back. Random? Yes.

Back in June I also attended an eight day Film Appreciation workshop organised at the National Film Archives of India, based here in Pune. It was great. We got to see some classic movies along with some wonderful short films. I was worried that film appreciation might end up like GCSE English Literature, overanalysing everything until pleasure goes out of it. But it wasn’t like that at all. My favourite session was from a Bollywood screenwriter, who gave us some fascinating insights into how the industry really works. Hmmm have some ideas for the future there…

Matt Hinde came over for 10 days in August – top stuff as he might say. I’ll post a full report soon, photos included. Suffice to say it was a riot. Just never drink ‘Stud’ beer if you can help it.

Thanks to everyone for being so patient. I really hope you’ll enjoy the new blog and would like to encourage you to contribute whenever and however you feel like. It’s very important for me to keep in touch… a very dear friend recently said that sometimes I was often more like a character in some faraway legend rather than a real person these days, so I’ll endeavour to keep you posted with my comedy antics…

Love to all, Paul xx

NGO, Travel

First proper update

Leave a comment

Well after nearly a month in India, I’ve finally got around to setting up some kind of online diary thing… my earlier attempts in Moradabad where thwarted because the PCs weren’t up to it but with any luck I should fare better here. This could be a fairly lengthy entry – perhaps a bit about my journey via Delhi, my time in APK and my plans for the next month or so. Here goes…

1-13 October 2004 : Delhi

Flew into Delhi via a quick stopover in Amman… two flights each of around 5 hours but not too bad. Gallantly gave up my aisle seat to a lady with a bad back on the second leg of the journey – meant I had even less legroom than usual but it’s probably the right time to start acquiring some good karma.

Laura was right about Delhi’s taxi drivers – at least those who hang around the airport. However after a slightly circuitous route I got to the YMCA without getting ripped off. The hotel was OK – nothing special and not rock bottom prices but convenient and well known (except to my taxi driver perhaps). I managed to meet up with married couple Howard and Tracy – fellow Project Visitors (PVs) – the following morning and we popped out to check out India Gate and Connaught Place. Delhi definitely has that capital city vibe about it – everyone rushing around everywhere – and there are certainly a lot of people who want to talk to you… some genuine, some not. I’d like to go back and spend a bit more time there at some point, especially to see Old Delhi – perhaps I’ll swing by later on my travels. India Gate was impressive though, although attempting to cross the 7 or 8 lane highway (nobody really seemed to know) surrounding it required skills straight out of 80s videogame classic Frogger. We also stopped of at Palikar Bazaar – I was hoping for something colourful and lively with rolls of cloth everywhere, fruit stalls and pickpocketing trained monkeys but it was exactly like Tooting Broadway Market – i.e. dodgy electricals and knockoff DVDs. Never mind – have seen plenty of proper markets since. In the afternoon we tracked down Harry (another PV) and she joined us for dinner at the Y’s glamorous buffet restaurant… well the food was included in the room rate so mustn’t grumble.

On the 13th we got up at some ludicrous hour (4am I think it was) and hopped in an auto rickshaw to Old Delhi Station. After a bit of fiddling round at the ticket office (once we found it) we all had tickets to Raja Ka Sahaspur, for the princely sum of Rs57 – about 75p. Not bad for a 5-hour trip – Virgin Trains take note! On the platform we hooked up with Becci, Roger and Sophia – more PVs. Howard commented that the way our group assembled was like the Magnificent Seven – I baggsied James Coburn but probably best not to ascribe roles to everyone… Once at our destination we met PVs Stephanie and Clara (OK, it’s Claartje really, but play fair) on the platform. The girls – from Holland – had been on the same train but in a different carriage. From the station we got a lift straight to Amarpurkashi (APK) courtesy of Rameshi, the in-house jeep driver. Getting 9 PVs (plus ridiculous number of bags) and the driver into the jeep was quite a feat but somehow we all squeezed in.

13 October – 4 November 2004 : Amarpurkashi

Upon arrival at APK we tucked into some food – thalis with dhal, veg curry, rice, fruit and chapattis. Lovely – and a selection which we would get to know very well! A quick tour of the project followed, and we were shown to our accommodation. I was sharing with a really nice guy called John, a 50-something who had visited the project a couple of times in the past – once as a PV – and who had stopped off on his way to Bihar.

I don’t want to give a daily account so I’ll try and give an idea re a ‘typical’ day at APK.

0600: Alarm clock. Cold, foggy, oh to have a lengthy lie-in, but…
0630-0730: Yoga with Pushpa (our ever-capable, ever-dependable, multi-talented Project Coordinator). Amazed at how unflexible I am – still Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that.
0730: Shower. Fill bucket with cold water from handpump, pour over self. Repeat. Shiver a bit.
0815: Breakfast. Usually a variation on porridge with bananas, crumbly biscuits and a cup or two of chai. Amazingly I am now drinking tea (after 26-odd years of steering well clear) but whether I continue the habit after India is uncertain. Quick perusal of the Hindustan Times (“36 bus passengers killed in mishap”, that kind of thing).
0930: Conversational English with students from the degree college. The class in question are studying for a Postgraduate Diploma in Rural Resource Management (PGRRM) with a view to being employed by NGOs upon graduation. Standards of English range from reasonably good to non-existent, but definitely better than my Hindi. Cricket comes up quite a lot.
1030-1300: ‘Activities’. This really varies but examples include visits to the primary school, painting educational murals on the walls, producing teaching aids and educational materials, knocking up charts and pictures for the annual Science Fair, working on a report for the research journal etc. Whilst I was at APK I produced a load of A2 charts for Kumarpal Singh (English teacher, 10th class) which featured illustrated poems – ‘The Fountain’ by James Russell Lowell (not bad) and ‘The Mountain and the Squirrel’ by Ralph Waldo Emerson (absolute drivel). Look them up with Google and judge for yourselves… Becci and I also made a load of flashcards for teaching English – a picture of an apple for ‘A’, a ball for ‘B’ etc and lots of individual words for making sentences. Some of us also got involved in writing up the INTAF conference (more later).

Speaking about poems – here’s one I prepared earlier… inspired by the river outside APK village and which is not at all polluted by the bloody great paper factory nearby [ahem]

‘The River’ (with apologies to James Russell Lowell)

Beautiful river
Your fragrance so sweet
Every morning
Our senses you greet

Into the sunshine
Into the light
Seeping and oozing
From morn till night

Ever in motion
First straight and then wavy
Your once crystal waters
Now the colour of gravy

Shrouded in wonder
Your banks are so fair
But to get any closer
Radiation suit I’d wear

Full of strange matter
My problems you’ll solve
For if I bathe in your channels
I’ll surely dissolve

Glorious river!
Let my heart be
Fresh, changeful, constant
Most unlike thee!…

Anyway. You could say “don’t give up the day job” but it’s too late.

1300: lunch.
1400 – 1600: Activities. A good time to do some work in the library as it’s nice and cool, plus the intercollege (high school) kids leave around 1500ish.1600: Hindi lesson. A teacher like Pushpa really deserves slightly better students, but we gave it a go! Howard was the class swot – Stephanie and Clara giggled at the back etc. It’s amazing how when you get in a proper classroom (blackboard, wooden desks etc) you regress about 15 years. Or more in some cases.
1700: Chai and biscuits on the terrace. Bahut atchaa!
1800-1915: Group discussion with all PVs and Mukat Singh (Project Director and all round boss-man). Topics varied from Development, Education, Indo-Pak relations, Hinduism and general gossip about life in APK.
1930: Dinner. Another thali, head cook Lalaji makes great mashed potatoes…
2000: General chitchat and walks on the terrace.
2100: Retire.
2200: Lights out (literally – the generator goes off and that’s your lot).

There’s plenty of variation on this theme – side trips to Bilari (local town), Moradabad (local big town), holidays, festivals etc. Early on we got a load of clothes made up in Bilari – us boys picked out material for kurta pyjamas (two pairs each) and the girls spent hours cooing about fabrics for salwaar kameez and the like. I should have a photo of us all in our gear so I’ll try and post it up.

Roger, Me, Becci, Stephanie, Clara, Tracy, Sophia, Howard, Harry
Roger, Me, Becci, Stephanie, Clara, Tracy, Sophia, Howard, Harry

31/10 and 1/11 saw the INTAF (International Taskforce for the Rural Poor) India Prepatory Committee Assembly, hosted at APK. INTAF attempts to get global recognition from political institutions for those who work for and with the rural poor, and the purpose of the PrepCom was to formulate the Indian response on the topic ‘Investing in the Rural Poor’ to be discussed at the international conference held next year in London. Harry, Becci and Howard produced a press release and some of us drafted the ‘Amarpurkashi Declaration’ at the end of the first day. Watching the discussions at first hand was a very interesting experience, although most of the proceedings were conducted in Hindi… the evening was enlivened by some live music, and a succession of delegates took the stage to sing songs, tell stories etc – fantastic.

On 3rd November, the annual Science Fair took place. Basically it’s an expo for the schools and intercollege – every class comes up with some kind of stall / exhibit and it really was great. Lots of dressing up, plays, songs and even some science tucked in there… I’ve got loads of great pictures so will try and get them up on Yahoo or something before too long.On the 4th it was time to move on to pastures new. The rest of the PVs were moving on (the Dutch girls had nicked off a couple of days early to pack in a busy tourist schedule, and Tracy had to leave after two weeks because of work commitments), either to return to the UK (Howard) or continue travels (everyone else). Personally speaking, I really enjoyed APK and it was a fantastic experience. Even so, we’d bonded so well as a group I didn’t fancy sticking around once everybody else was heading off… fortunately there are several other projects I’m planning on visiting (in Pune, Bodhgaya and Orissa) but these are a long way apart (and a fair way from APK) so I thought I’d make my way via a few tourist destinations… that’s my story anyway.

So here I am in Agra – I got an overnight train from Chandausi (near APK) and spent Friday checking out Agra Fort, the tomb at Itimadu’D-Daula and a few other sights. Then yesterday I visited the Taj Mahal. It’s amazing – undoubtedly one of the wonders of the world and certainly the most impressive building I’ve ever seen. Whisper it quietly, but it even trumps the Brighton Pavilion. I spent most of the day there, enjoying the gardens and savouring the peace and tranquility – it really is a haven from the pollution and bustle of Agra outside the walls. Last night I got a great meal and even a Kingfisher so all’s well with the world!

This afternoon I’m planning on hopping on a bus to Fatephur Sikri to check out the abandoned city, and from then the plan is to head for Jaipur. With any luck I’ll catch up with Becci and Roger and Stephanie and Clara in Pushkar in a week or so – there’s the international camel fair so I’ll be on the lookout for some bargains.Technically I’ve left out loads of details but once I post a few photos it should jog my memory… watch this space for occasional updates…

You’ll be pleased to hear that thanks to a combination of the BBC World Service, text messages and the internet I’ve managed to keep up to date with Norwich City – we’re drawing more often than Rolf Harris at the moment but hopefully we’ll get there soon… keep the faith!

More next time – TTFN xx