Tapestry Travelling

Now I know dear reader what Carole King meant by"my life is a tapestry of rich and varied hues" - she must have been travelling in India. The TGs are weaving a virtual tapestry of food, fabric, jewellery, sights, smells and sounds.

The Kite Flying festival was a rich festival of colour and fun - viewed from the top of a restored haveli. The TGs and other workshops comrades celebrated the launch of spring with dinner at the Samode haveli in Japiur. Fabulous restored restaurant frescoes. A bit terribly, terribly posh until a cat walked across the buffet and stole a chicken bone.....you kinda had to be there to appreciate the moment.

Wonderful workshops finish tomorrow and the pressure is on for stitcher and silver maker to have their masterpieces ready for public display. Can they do it? Will the silver maker's local helper be there in spite of the partial local eclipse? (locals don't eat, drink, travel or pray during an eclipse) If not, how will she and the group be finished in time? The responsible stitcher did homework on the day off to ensure she is ready. There is a vicious rumour circulating (started by TG Kate) that TG Kate has a pucker in her masterpiece. Yes dear reader A PUCKER. You see it's all because of the "loose weave" of the fabrics. There have been very intense international discussions about whether to do long stitch or back stitch on is Indian loose weave - it's all of a bit of a bugger really. Can she unpucker the pucker?

Meanwhile there are the cooks...who by now are shanti shanti on valium after a wonderful day at the Diggi farm. What a tapestry of fruit trees, vegetables patches, birds, blue skies and general bliss. The lesson was to cook pakoras using all the farm vegetables and of course eat them. Many pakoras later (cauliflower, onion, potato, paneer, red carrot etc) we went for an excursion around the local farming community.

Arriving back at the farm, after viewing the partial solar eclipse through an old x-ray film, it was time to cook lunch over open fires in the way of travelling tribesman. We thought the pakora were lunch. The team rose to the occasion and watched, tasted and ate a wonderful array of wood baked delights.

Finally dear reader if you are searching for that perfect PhD topic. May I suggest creative, warm women of a certain age, let loose in India, and their capacity to shop.
1) Their magical ability to justify the purchase of the 6th or was it the 7th wrap 30 different ways, and for their friends as well as somebody they met 2 minutes ago to give them another 10 reasons why it was a truly magnificent purchase
2) A general constant surprise that one needs to go to the ATM AGAIN e.g. "Why is my wallet empty, it was full just this morning?"
3) Pride at their strength to resist buying that "special" too cheap to leave jacket, and then after intense dinner discussion and overnight consideration nip out in a tuk tuk to buy the jacket.
4) To strut out in and share their shopping with such passion, attitude and general pizzaz - what magnificence and generosity. They are all in the goddess realm.
It's definitely a rich and wonderful tapestry for a PhD and the subjects always up for a tea, wine chat and dying to share their purchases. It would be the most engaging PhD field work of all time.

The next installment dear reader will be after the great exhibition (did I mention we cooks don't need to exhibit :)- don't miss it.

The !ndestructible, !ncredible Travelling Goddesses