Men At Work???

Today, our apartment was a hive of activity!!! It is the first day this week that I have had a full quota of workmen on site! Our 'chicken pox' suffering carpenter arrived, having made a remarkable recovery. He was accompanied by his VERY young assistant (must be on a YTS - does that show my age???) Our wonderful painter who is quiet as a mouse and doing a sterling job showed up early, again without his workmate who has been AWOL since Monday (presumably his tummy ache is STILL not better!) What with them, our maid Vijaya, and visits from three girlfriends, our apartment was THE place to be!!!

Of course, I should have known better than to get over excited - tomorrow is the Ugadi holiday and it is forbidden for our carpenters to work (because they make noise) but okay for the painter (because as mentioned previously, he is particularly quiet!) It should be an interesting day tomorrow as the Ugadi customs seem very wonderful - new clothes, sweet food, lots of mangoes, wishes for the new year, and did I mention, new clothes? I was getting particularly excited til I heard about the custom of smearing cow dung on the doorstep... it is not, however, the first time that we have come across, or stepped across, cow dung.



On Christmas Day, we met this haunting little girl in the village near Devi Garh, waiting for her cow pats to dry which are then burned for heating and cooking. That explained the smell eminating from the village every evening! I guess we put it on our rose bushes, the Indians are much more practical and use it for fuel - and decoration....