Farewell Orchha – 6th May 2006

I made up my mind to leave today, I’ve been here nearly two weeks and it’s time to move on. Rishi and his sister, Angeli, knocked on my door at 08:30 and wanted to know if I wanted to come out and see some more Gods. Rishi had to do his English homework first though, so we didn’t actually leave the guesthouse until just after 10:00. Although he’s off school for the summer his dad has bought him a couple of English books and sets him lessons and gets him to copy paragraphs to improve his writing (I wouldn’t mind, but his English writing puts me to shame!).

We walked down to the Raj Mahal and he pointed out lots of temples and gods to me, one of which was a stone painted orange. My replacement camera (the one I was given in Bangkok) gave up the ghost as we were walking around the temples today. Rishi was using it (I’ve been teaching him photography) and he wanted to know why it made a funny beep, so I had a look at it. When I switched it on a message came on the screen telling me to switch off the camera due to overheating. It was between 40c and 44c (depending on who you ask) and most electrical equipment is designed to work up to 40c. All my equipment is permanently hot and I have to restrict its use. The CD / DVD player on my laptop has given up the ghost as well and my ipod keeps pausing for no reason (well apart from the intense heat). As usual he was an excellent and informative guide (don’t forget that he’s only ten years old) and he’ll go on forever on just a Sprite and a packet of salty peanuts. His sister spent most of the time being spun around by her hands or being thrown above my head! Either way I was knackered.

Angeli, who hasn’t got much / any English started calling me Uncle today; Rishi calls me his best friend. I call him ‘Mother’ sometimes (because he’s so sensible for a ten year old) which really winds him up and he shouts back; “I am not your mother” and then I tell him to stop nagging me! It’s been really nice hanging around with the kids for the last couple of weeks, I’m used to interacting with cousins and nieces and this is the first guesthouse that I’ve stayed in that has had kids in.

I also met their cousin, who is fourteen years old. She came into the garden in the afternoon when Rishi was playing chess on my computer and I was throwing Angeli over my head. She asked me if she could use the computer as she has one in school, so I told her she could. So she writes me a paragraph all about herself:

MY name is kumkum vaidya . I am 14 years old. I am student of 9th class. My fathers name is Vinod vaidya and my mothers name is Mandve vaidya. I have one brother . i live in Orchha. My hobbies are singing, dancing and reading.

And then I couldn’t get rid of her! She started following me around and asked me to take some photos of her, she then asked if it would be ok if she wrote to me and would I write back. I told her that I’d take some photos the next day as I had to go out and meet some friends and of course I’d write, but it would be easier if she had an e-mail address.

I then had to break the news to Rishi and Angeli that I was leaving the next day and when I did Rishi was really upset. He wouldn’t leave my side for the rest of the evening and he told me that he’d really miss me and wanted to know when I was coming back. I told him that I’d try and get back in June, as I should be passing that way on my way to Kashmir and the Betwa river should be overflowing by then which would be nice to see. I then told Rishi’s uncle (who runs the guesthouse) that I was leaving in the morning and he asked me to have a meal with his family that night, as I “was part of the family”. I told him that he didn’t have to go to the effort, and thanks for the offer, but he insisted, so I said ok. It was shortly after this that Rishi invited me to dinner with his family! I told him that his uncle had already invited me so it would be best if he spoke to him, his uncle was fine and insisted that I have dinner with Rishi’s family. They all live more or less together anyway, that is to say three families (all related) live in three houses opening on to one courtyard (where some of them sleep in the hot weather).

I went to the Internet café to try and update my blog and website and met an English girl, Estelle, in there. Well to be truthful, Rishi and I met an English girl in there, as he wouldn’t let me out of his sight. I managed to update two photos on my website and had to give up with the blog as the connection was so slow. Hopefully the connection will be better in Khajuraho.

I played around with the kids until just after 19:00 and then I went to their house. It’s a funny little arrangement they have, probably perfectly normal or maybe even middle class by Indian standards though. The entrance door leads into on room with a TV and two wooden bases for sitting on during the day, at night they roll out two mattresses and turn them into bed. There is a small concrete staircase leading up to the kitchen, which also doubles up as the kid’s bedroom. The downstairs room has another door leading out into the shared courtyard, which as I said earlier doubles up as a sleeping area in the summer.

Rishi put on the TV for me, this involved putting two live wires into a plug socket on the wall and wriggling them around until the TV stayed on; he’s ten years old. He then had to go on the roof and adjust the satellite dish until the signal stabilised; Angelie was shouting to him to let him know when the picture was clear; she’s six years old. Rishi has got an overgrown nail on his right thumb and I never asked him about it, but when I “gave out” to him for putting the live wires into the plug socket, he told me that it was ok and told me about his experience of Electric City (electricity). When he was around five he was messing around with live wires (as any five year old does) and he got a blast of Electric City, which took a chunk out of the top of his thumb and a bit of his right index finger. Not a bother to him though, as he’s got another eight digits to main. Welcome to India!

Just as I settled on the wooden base, the electricity cut out. I have a torch and a couple of candles in my room so I fetched them, and that is how I came to have a candle lit dinner with a fourteen year old girl called KumKum! Dinner was really nice; I had curried ladies fingers (Okra), a spicy potato dish, a spinach dish and a tomato and onion salad. I was going to say that it was all washed down with a traditional Indian curd drink, but I couldn’t drink it, it just wouldn’t agree with me, so it had to be mineral water.

I left there just before 21:00 and had arranged to take some photos of Kumkum in the morning before I left. I met up with Andy and Estelle and we had a couple of beers and said goodbye as we were all heading off the next day. I got back to my guesthouse around midnight and gave my brother in Ireland a ring, I ended up on the phone to him for nearly forty minutes (goodbye credit!) and then watched the news on BBC World and crashed out.