In Mussourie

New email address for those that don't already have it: adamATclanblackDOTcoDOTuk or joATclanblackDOTcoDOTuk. You may receive emails from adamblackATdoctorsDOTorgDOTuk. All 3 of these accounts will send emails to the same place. Our aol account is closed as of today.

It was recently a 9 day festival here. Multiple shrines spring up all over the place with idols of a particular God, and people dance to loud music late into the night. At the end of the 9 days the idols (which cost about £6-700) are taken to a lake, and ceremonially immersed and allowed to sink to the bottom. I drove past the ceremony on my way home from work, and it really struck me how crazy it is for so many people to get so excited and worked up over what essentially to my eyes was the drowning of a particularly gaudily made-up mannequin with too many arms. I wondered if the worshipers really thought that such waste would help lift them out of poverty. Do they really believe that the wood and bright cloth in front of them is a God. I wonder. I think many of them simply enjoy the party atmosphere which helps them forget momentarily their hard lives. I expect Guy Fawkes night probably used to be a similar atmosphere in the UK, with everyone turning out to watch the burning of the Guy. Now everyone simply sits at home on the Play-Station, or watching TV. Are we more enlightened?

We are now in Mussourie for 4 weeks language learning. It is a lot cooler, which is ideal for Jo being heavily pregnant. There are amazing views of the Himalayas all around us. The family we are staying with are lovely. We found a great babysitter so that we can try to get as much studying in as possible. Alistair loves her, which is a real answer to prayer. (In the same vain, Andi and Sheba who run the HIV work have just lost their maid, who looked after their 2 small children during the week. This will make work very difficult for them if they do not find a replacement. This is particularly an issue with me also being away for the next 4 weeks. Please pray.)


Here are some unusual things about India;
1) It is a prerequisite that to drive an auto-rickshaw you must be a complete maniac and chew tobacco.
2) All kitchen worksurfaces are made of marble. This confuses me as it is a relatively expensive material in the UK. It must be much cheaper here, and I am thinking of starting an importing business to the UK (not seriously).
3) even horrifically poor slums with no running water or sanitation often contain 26" TV's
4) Brown bread is actually white bread dyed badly!
5) Oranges are Green.

God bless you all. Adam, Jo Alistair and bump.