Friday 20th to Thursday 26th Feb 2009

I need your help readers. I have an urge that is building up inside me, growing like addiction, and I doubt I can fight it much longer. You may recall how I mentioned in previous posts that the women out here do all the work?.......... No? allow me to refresh your memory. You regularly see women walking down the road with stuff on their heads. It is quite an amazing sight in all honesty and I have nothing but the deepest admiration for them. There is usually a cloth, or sponge to soften the impact on their skull and atop that will be a tray or dish with all manner of things. It could be tools, building materials, food, clothes…anything. Frequently they are accompanied by a male carrying nothing. It is the exact reverse of my situation in the UK where my wife (yes babe, you) will load me up like a human “buckaroo”, always trying to get that one more bag on me before my hind quarters spring up and throw everything off. Well, my urge is this, as much as I respect as I have for these women, I would really love to creep up behind one and tickle her, just to see if she can retain the poise and dignity (and it’s like the Indian equivalent of the Finishing School girl with the books on her head), that she had displayed up until that point. If it wasn’t for the fact that touching an Indian woman in the street is tantamount to gang rape, I would have done it already!
Touching Indian women is a major no-no. Just a friendly tap on the arm, the occasional shoulder massage because you can see they are stressed (all things you see every day in the most UK workplaces), even a handshake is heavily frowned upon here. Any public display of affection is a taboo.
In the news recently was the case of a married Delhi couple who had the audacity to kiss in public. They were arrested, charged and the case went to court. Eventually it was quite rightly thrown out but not before serious amounts of money and time had been wasted in the process. Bizarre isn’t it? You can openly stop your car or motorcycle in broad daylight and urinate on the street, that’s ok, but woe betide you if you kiss your wife!!
Which is why I was so shocked to see an advert on the television recently for a product called “Unwanted-72”. The premise was that this woman had a serious dilemma, a life changing event that she didn’t want……basically she was pregnant. So she was introduced to Unwanted-72 which is a morning after pill. She took that and suddenly everything was fine again, and she could begin her life again. In such a conservative country such as India, where sex before marriage is actually illegal, it is surprising to see them almost encouraging casual sex to be honest.
Work-wise there is not much to report. I work all weekend, all day, and have been hard at it since. I did manage to get up the road to the Bali rooftop restaurant Saturday with a few of my colleagues which was nice.
After a hard day Sunday, and once I knew my flight was airborne, I did venture out to the market I had been meaning to go to for some time. It is about ten minutes by tuk-tuk from the villa and has things like jewelry, ornaments, pashminas and numerous other things. I managed to get a few bargains, after some serious haggling, and went away happy.
The spelling hasn’t got any better out here by the way. On the way home from work tonight (Wednesday 25th) I passed a sign advertising some new apartments for sale or rent. They boasted all the facilities, and the exterior looked very nice. I just could not help notice the part of the sign that said “avilabale now”. Now would you buy anything built by someone who spelt “available” like that?
I travel home on Friday 27th and I cannot wait. I will probably not be posting any blog entries whilst I am at home because I want to spend as much time with my family as I can…..well I am only home for a week. I have to say that, despite being surrounded by so many wonderful people, and I have made some good friends, I still feel lonely and that feeling has grown and grown with each passing day. Weird isn’t it?