2nd January 20??

Wednesday 2^nd January

Back at work after such a lovely week of leisure and pleasure…

We are enjoying living on the marina.  It is all very uncomplicated.  The only a small degree of difficulty with early morning toilet visits in the ablutions block, which isn’t all that close by.  But never mind; this is only a minor inconvenience and very much a First World Problem.  We have made some nice new friends – everyone who walks by is up for a bit of a boat-y chat – but we all seem to have a healthy respect for each other’s privacy and need to lie on the couch without the need to socialise too much.  (I have developed a very big need to lie on the couch…)

Yesterday we too the boat out, just around the city waterfront and for lunch at anchor off Sandy Bay Beach.  We had on board:

Jo, Malcolm, Charlotte, Chloe and Kate from a farm near Merimbula (NSW)

Chris, Mary Lou and Tom from Brisbane Waters (NSW)

Katrin and Chris from Switzerland (on holiday; we met them because they were sitting at our table at the Taste of Tas and we gave them our phone numbers just in case they wanted to come out on the boat.  Surprisingly…they did!  And we loved having them.)

I, not very ostentatiously (ahem…) had the Saturday Mercury at hand, to show Pete’s and my illustrious family members, Chris Harmsen and Nicole Darcey.  Reflected glory is never to be taken lightly!!  NSW Chris was a bit puzzled.  “Both in the paper on the same day?  How come?”  His kindly friend Malcolm explained carefully that there are in fact only five families in Hobart and everyone gets a turn in the Mercury on a regular basis.

India #58

At some stage Raj took us for a drive through the university.  It was quite breathtaking.  Absolutely enormous, with many faculties, each as big as the whole of Tas Uni.  What was really remarkable about it was that it was cool, tranquil, leafy, grassy, green, and empty of people.  The rest of Varanasi is the opposite of this.  It is teeming with people, dirty, noisy, smelly, devoid of vegetation, polluted – how does this large and fragrant academic oasis exist at all?  We couldn’t see armed guards at the gates; why weren’t there entire families living under the trees, frolicking on the grass, sleeping in the flower beds??  I’ve just looked it up on Google – no wonder we thought it was BIG!!!

“The Banaras Hindu University consists of about 15000 students, coming from all streams of life, castes, religions and races. It has about 2000 teachers and nearly 5000 non-teaching staff.”

I still can’t fathom how they could protect 1300 acres from the multitudes in the middle of this crowded city.

Before we left the university we spent a few peaceful hours in a large, airy, spacious Hindu temple.  It was full of activity, with people wandering around, praying on the cool marble floors, playing music.  All around the walls were big plaques with religious stories in Hindi and in English.  We were charmed to find they were very similar to our Old Testament Bible stories – Noah’s Ark, Moses, Archie and Mehitabel (well not quite but you get the idea…) Just inside the door was a huge bell to be rung by all comers.  To ring the bell you either had to be quite tall or able to leap and strike.  This was a challenge; I was not entering the temple till I had rung that bell!  Jump JUMP!  All physical effort is more taxing in India because of the heat, but you will be pleased and proud to hear I managed to ring that bell!