Sparkling Surfaces

Hello All,
This is indeed a grand adventure! Live here is impossible to describe ....words & photos can never do it justice or describe the sounds, smells, sights & swarming masses of people, vehicles, dogs, cows & squirrels! I can only describe Jaipur & the Diggi Palace Hotel as a "bit chipped around the edges" but a wonderful & exciting to experience.
Too much to tell in one blog entry but will provide a few high lights........
Since my last blog the Sparkling Surfaces workshop has began. We started on Sunday evening with an introduction to our tutors, followed by a concert in the Durbar Hall given by local gypsy dancers & musicans. Quite an event! Andrew Logan, our tutor is a flamboyent character by any measure - very tall, brightly dressed & full of grand ideas for our sparkling masterpeices.
We started out on Monday morning with a visit to the bazaars, accompanied by Andrew, to purchase sparkles, beads, precious jewels (of the glass variety) & all manner of things to create our pieces!! It was an event on its own as we had to find our way around the central Jaipur markets & cross very busy streets populated with crazy drivers, even crazier pedestrians, cows & dogs!! (those who know me will understand how difficult & stressful that would have been for me). My strategy was to stand close to a local person & when they moved I moved with them ....a few close shaves but shopping achieved!!
Monday we visited the wonder Anokhi Museum located in the Amber area of Jaipur near the Amber Palace for a viewing of an exhibition titled "The Garden of Unearthly Delights" - modern, abstract & wonderfully creative. Again a high light of the trip was to some extent the sights & sounds of the local people living their lives in very primitive conditions but going about cheerfully & "light of spirit"! We could learn a lot from them!
Tuesday was spent creating our master pieces - mine is bright, cheerful & more than slightly "out there"! Andrew is not into supporting subtle, planned or structured designs!! I intend to hang it on the wall at home & title it "Not Mad Just 60"!!
Today is a public holiday for the Makar Sankranti (Kite Flying Festival) ...... We had lunch today in the old city on the roof of the very up market Saba Haveli - a wonderful vantage point to watch the spectecle of the kites flying from roofs all over the city. It was wonderful & reminesent of the kite flying in the movie The Kite Flyer.
Today have been shopping at shops with names like "Fab India" & "Ridhi Sidhi"!!!
I'm enjoying the excitment & terror of navigating the city in the "tuk tuks"!!
This is a wonderful experience but not for the faint hearted! Life here can be more than a bit overwhelming! Never the less I will be back!! So, anyone out there in blog land who has a creative streak & likes an adventure should put this week in 2010 in their diary!!
Enough for now ....... I'm off to watch the fire works in the distance & enjoy a glass of red (wine from this region is a good drop)! Till the next blog...... Namaste