Bats

I managed to pick up a cold virus last week and have spent a few days feeling very sorry for myself and using up far too much of my precious toilet tissue on my disgustingly runny nose.  Which you really needed to know.  But I'm feeling mostly better now, just a bit bunged up.  It's years since I last caught a cold, I blame the change in climate and environment for succumbing.

Among the things that I brought with me to Koraput was a cricket bat and a couple of tennis balls.  We had played a game of cricket in the Lodi Gardens in Delhi on our last day of In Country Training.  This was the first time I had ever played cricket in my life and I don't have any talent for ball-sports but we had great fun and lots of passing Indians joined in the game.  This made me think that a bat and a couple of balls might be a good ice-breaker in Koraput. 

On my spare day in Bhubaneswar between those long train journeys I found a sports shop and bought a bat and tennis balls which I decided were safer, cheaper and lighter than the real thing.  I began to regret the addition to my luggage while I was lugging things on and off the train, whacking people's shins with the bat strapped to the side of my rucksack but it was worth it.  They have proven to be very popular at the office, after sitting idle in a corner by my desk for the first couple of weeks with every visitor picking up the bat to examine it they have at last come into use.  Every evening for the last week or so I've got to around 5:00pm and started thinking it's nearly time to go home when someone has poked their head round the door to say "Madam, cricket".  I end up getting very embarrassed by my lack of skill at even managing to hit the ball let alone score runs but it's good fun.  It gets harder every minute as the light levels drop, the ball getting almost invisible as it's covered in the red dirt and blending in with the colour of the ground.  However, I have managed to catch someone out once.  It will probably be the last time it ever happens. 

As the light fades the bats come out of their roost and start flying over.  There are small bats darting around and hopefully catching some of those pesky mosquitoes, similar to the bigger species I sometimes see at home in UK but there are also enormous ones with a wing-span of around 2 foot.  I have no idea what species they are but they could get pretty scarey if they got too close, their bodies are around the same size as a medium size cat.  One of these days I might be able to get a photograph of them but of course my camers is never to hand at the right time.  What any photo attempt would look like is another matter with a combination of a high-flying moving object and very low light conditions combined with no tripod - if I ever manage to try they will probably be just one big blur.  I've been told that they roost in a large tree next to the police station so maybe I should try to capture them there.

On my way home today I was accosted by a gentleman that I'd been introduced to last week at my next-door neighbours house.  I had been in a hurry to get home as I needed the toilet (something I try to avoid using at the office, I am still not used to squat toilets and hate going into ones outside my own house with bare feet).  But my newly found friend asked me to come with him to his house and I feel so safe in Koraput that I had no hesitation in accepting.  Off we went down a red dirt road that I hadn't ventured down before to find his house and was introduced to his wife and daughter who brought me a glass of warm water, a plate of biscuits and a cup of tea.  Very nice but I got more and more uncomfortable and had to make my excuses as soon as it was polite to to so. 

Then on the way past another house that doubles up as a bakery the lady of the house spotted me and asked me in.  This was another family that I had met last week, she had insisted that I take a couple of pretty red and gold bangles the last time I visited and she would have been very offended if I'd refused to come inside.  All the women here seem to wear lots of bangles, even those doing heavy lifting and building work.  It's especially surprising when you realise that most of them are made of glass and are pretty fragile.  They are part of everyday women's clothing and it's seen as strange not to wear them.  I'm told that red ones signify marriage.  I never normally wear anything like this and it feels quite odd to have a couple of rings of glass on my wrist, my hand is so big compared to Indian womens' hands that there is no hope of ever getting them off again save by breaking them.  So of course another cup of tea was in order.  It's lovely to be made to feel so welcome and to start to get to know some of the local people but I was desparate by the time I finally managed to get home!