I have now successfully sorted out how to use Goa Miles to get to my next port of call – Dudhsangar (www.dudhsagarplantation.com). This is the Goa version of Uber and much cheaper than other taxis. It can be a bit hit and miss getting it to pick you up and as I don’t have an Indian sim card (trying to keep off devices!) they can’t get hold of me that easily. Having turned off WhatsApp doesn’t help that either but so far it has worked and the pick up place seems to come up ok on their location settings. Here at Vivenda dos Palhaços (http://www.vivendagoa.com/), I have to say goodbye to Charlotte (co-owner with her brother Simon), the lovely staff and the basset hounds Totty (not short for anything!) and Gigolo (NEITHER named by Charlotte she assures me) and the street dog Kitten. I do love their logo.
During my time in India I have been writing in a number of books. I bought the first three in Anokhi (https://www.anokhi.com/) in Jaipur as I love their stationary. I also bought cards there and have used them all up!
1 The smallest is for reflections on animals at one end and for expenses at the other.
2 Next is a general thoughts about what is going on in my head book. This was a substitute for my ‘morning pages’ that I had diligently done since March 2018. Three pages of A4 handwritten every morning as suggested by Julia Cameron in the Artist’s Way. It is like a mind dump and several very useful revelations would come to me through the process of handwriting. But here I have other books and so haven’t written like this here. At the other end are notes I recorded whilst on various journeys.
3 This is a book of all my ideas for what I am going to make including technical details. Quite often I haven’t made some of my ideas but it has been helpful when I am getting stuck. At the back is a list of all the fiction and non-fiction books I have read (or being honest here – started and shipped back).
4 Next is a flowery paisley book I bought yesterday and have decided that I will cut and paste things for the last six weeks. Usually I do this when away but have only decided to start now – mostly because I found this book made from recycled paper with a purple cover now!
5 I bought this book at the airport in Delhi and I didn’t really like the cover so used some very thick acrylic paint in Pushkar to cover it purple. I use this to record what I have actually made and the process – as if I was going to repeat it! A bit like my laboratory methods section for my thesis on linkage analysis for Paroxysmal Extreme Pain Disorder (previously Familial Rectal Pain).
6 I found this marvellous book with 100 pages in my colour theme in the market in Pushkar. I decided I would write all my good and wholesome memories of my long time together (35 years) with Adrian before our divorce. I would not allow myself to go online to jog my memory! It is incredible how reliant we are on google to check things out. I also refused to go on to PhotoBox to jog my memory where I have 1000s of family photographs. I am getting near the end with a wealth of great memories. It has been very restorative and of course sad. But as most of you know. It doesn’t take much for me to cry. Just listening to the theme song of the movie Love Story sets me off!
Bindi and Mehndi
Bindi are used to decorate the forehead for Hindus. They are for sale everywhere (well not really in Goa!) and super cheap. They are fun to stick and I have used them in a number of circular and spiral projects using interesting handmade paper. Most of these projects were done at Devpur where the light was fantastic and this inspired me.
I have always been fascinated by the process and end result of hennaed hands usually for weddings (known as mendhi). When I went to the Anjuna Wednesday flea market (https://anjunafleamarket.business.site/) with Betsy I bought some stick-on pink (they didn’t have purple!) mehndi and we had fun one morning after breakfast applying them to her arms. Once the photography session was over, I had some large A3 paper I had bought at the paper factory in Ahmadabad to place them permanently to return to the UK in the end of Jan shipment.
By then Betsy had had enough of my craft projects so I had to draw around my arms myself. Just then I typed had had. This reminds me of the sentence where you have 11 of the words had in a row. I will change the names from Peter, John and the teacher to make it more Goan.
Joachim, where Salvador had had “had had”, had had “had”; “had had” had had the approval of the teacher Juanita. Brilliant – 11 (prime number!) hads……
Butterflies
When I was going up to Pavagadh near Boroda (Vadodara) with Toby we passed a stall selling some stick-on layered butterflies. Some had purple in them so I bought the packet of five. I was planning to use them in my fabric books but in the end, I couldn’t resist using them up with my tapes on the lovely card Norman and Amy bought me from Margao.
I seem to have come up with a formula that works for me. I make five of a series (see next blog of Om using a similar design and further ones of shells and coins). I stick the central piece on one of the colourful foil pieces that are for those making and selling handmade chocolates. I use some of the various tapes I have brought with me (washi tape) or some of what I have bought here. To make the corners special and sometimes to cover what might not be the best mitred edge I stick shells or gold hoops or other bits and bobs.
In Casa Susegad Norman and Carole had bar stools made and they were all painted slightly different colours of blue/green hues. I took individual and then lined up the chairs and took the group. Then I discovered that Amy Russell who is working with Norman and Carole is a far better photographer than me and so she happily did the honours to great effect.
Goa Lights
Not unlike the photography at night project in the Secret Garden in Pushkar I enjoyed whizzing my camera around at night making pretty patterns with lights in the evening in Goa. I did them both in Mandrem at BeachStreet Eco Resort and then in Casa Susegad. Besides whizzing the camera at full speed, I also took off the autofocus to take some interesting photos of the fairy lights in a bottle so that they were super out of focus.
We spend our waking hours mostly when it is light as we are so visually dependant but blue hour, golden hour and night reveal really beautiful shapes, lights and colours. Sometimes the camera will produce something altogether very different from what we can see. Particularly if the photo is exposed over time or is set to be out of focus. It is like having an alternative control over what is available through your light sensing ability.
Favourite Words with Three Ps which Resonate with me.
Every morning I would run in the mango orchard in Devpur and to alleviate the tedium of running I would make up sentences with the letter p. As all my themes have p in them. Spiral, prime and purple. Then I thought about all the words with three ps in them….
Panpipes
I have always loved this music. It started on a skiing trip to Switzerland where every night a panpipe player would entertain all the guests early evening. My kids would roll their eyes and sigh and I would be in heaven and crying as the music was so haunting and melodious. Here is a good collection https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SFpJ1EkU1w.
Paperclip
This always reminds me of the task from the NHS Staff College Leadership Course – how many uses can you think of. Even now I wish I had some with me here to turn into spirals for some of my projects. This task enabled me to be more confident in just how important it is to think outside of the box!
Poppadum, Pappadum, Pappad….
My still favourite Indian snack. I always eat too many at the Raza (in Stoke Newington, East London – http://rasarestaurants.com/rasa-n16/a) before the rest of the feast comes. I thought masala poppadum here would be the same with a bit of masala spice but it is almost a whole meal with quite a few chopped up raw vegetables. Like a premeal Indian pizza.
Peppercorns
These are superb added to food and I like the range of colours – white, green, red and black which are really dark brown. Now I am staying at Dudhsagar Plantation and have just completed my third spice tour. Firstly with Betsy at the Tropical Spice Plantation (http://www.tropicalspiceplantation.com/) with many tour buses coming in and out with huge long tables to feed everyone (several 100). The tour was excellent and it was cheap – full veggie lunch on a plate made from plant leaves for 400 rupees each. Then I went to another spice plantation (Savoi Plantation http://savoiplantations.com/) with Harry which was much more remote and reachable by scooter. We were the only ones there and had a private tour where I could ask a zillion questions and Harry could sigh! The food was superb and it was more costly (950 rupees each). Now I am staying at this wonderful plantation farm-stay (www.dudhsagarplantation.com) and had a free tour with all the other guests including an extremely exuberant boy of six who got very excited about the dogs and termites!
Peppermint
Such a wonderfully cooling taste and colour. Not in my theme but nonetheless lovely on both counts. Harry bought a lovely peppermint shirt with a Nehru collar here!
Peppy
The word Tharun in Devpur used to describe me – lively and high spirited. He used this having met me for a very short time. Gosh am I that transparent? Clearly yes!
Philippines
This is where I spent a brilliant three months on my elective. I loved the contrast with my time in the capital Manila at a huge maternity hospital with 120 deliveries per day and then staying with a midwife with rudimentary medicines (mostly antibiotics) in the north of Luzon.
Pineapple
A great tropical staple and in pina colada – a fabulous cocktail. I always remember the time on the beach in South East Asia where they would come up and intricately carve an entire pineapple so you could hold it by the base and eat it all with no sharp, spiky bits.
Plopping
A word used so many times in my favourite knitting murder mystery and suspense series featuring detective sleuth Kelly Flynn by Maggie Sefton. Kelly is forever arriving somewhere with her knitting and plopping it down. You can hear the bag with the contents of fine yarn and needles in a special case making this noise!
Polypeptides
My connection with medicine has, until now, been steadfast. But whilst here it has waned. It does leave me with a problem with my title of what to use if I no longer practice medicine! Polypeptides are pretty important physiologically and increasingly now pharmacologically.
Poppers
I have always enjoyed a good session with party poppers. Best were the shows with puppets Neen used to do for my children when they were young from behind the lilac sofa in the front room. The ending always had loads of spray foam and party poppers.
Poppy
A delicate and ethereal flower. I love to see fields of poppies – I have seen roses and marigolds here as they have special religious significance. However, poppies waver around in the breeze majestically.
Poppycock
This is such a great word to describe people talking a total load of nonsense. It is rather less brutal with a hint of humour!
Puppies
I suppose I love kittens the best as I am primarily a cat rather than a dog person. I rather prefer the cat’s attitude that it is all about me rather than the sycophantic dog who loves you unconditionally. I assume the cat doesn’t love anyone conditionally or otherwise. But here in India I have seen lots of groups of puppies and they are great to photograph.
This has been a rather lengthy post because of the long intro. So a short conclusion with a great version of a favourite song. It is the “sound of silence” released recently which I wasn’t sure I would even listen to but did (thanks Norman from Casa Susegad for persuading me!).
