How Time Goes Faster As You Get Older.blog

The camel festival

This happens yearly at the beginning of November. The room rents triple and unless you arrive right at the outset all the quality camels have gone. However you can still buy some beautiful stud reared horses.

When you arrive at the Mela (the festival marketplace) you can take a ride,

Probably the most memorable stall was the camel welfare stall run by Camel Charisma who look after camels near Ranakpur. They were selling camel milk, soap, wool products and paper made from dung. They do a lot of conservation work as camels are dwindling in numbers. https://www.camelcharisma.com/

The camel fair meant there was a lot of noise and religious shrines belting out prayers 24/7. But I loved the feel of Pushkar so returned for a longer stay.

Next post is about rituals.

At home I had 2 cats and 2 dogs to look after for the last year mostly by myself with help from others – so it is odd to give them all away – either temporarily or permanently – not sure yet. So of course I looked to chat and talk to animals in India. And there is no shortage of them. Here are my thoughts about them in my first week. So as not to show favouritism I shall list them in alphabetical order.

Camels

As I have come specifically to buy one I will have a dedicated camel input once I have done my Pushkar International Camel Fair Blog. As they sell horses I will include them also!

Cats

Cattle

In India they wander around everywhere. Many are willing to be stroked but not all of them. You often see them being walked along by women who I presume milk them as this is a very dairy culture.

Chipmunks

These are the Siberian variety and a rodent. They zip around all over the show. They seem cute as have stripy backs and furry tails. I have only seen one rat. However my all time favourite poems is about mice by Rose Fyleman

I think mice are rather nice;
Their tails are long, their faces small;
They haven’t any chins at all.
Their ears are pink, their teeth are white,
They run about the house at night;
They nibble things they shouldn’t touch,
and, no one seems to like them much,
but, I think mice are rather nice.

Dogs

This is Pipo – an German Shepherd/street dog puppy at the Mosaic’s Guesthouse. Loved my trainers. Total sweety. And lots of other dogs to stroke for the brave. If they sniff me, I stroke them. Not the very mangy ones. But the normal ones with nice coats.

Elephants

They are returning from taking visitors up to Amber Fort. This one is highly decorated and the one below has a man on a scooter driving around them! Seems some local charities have been involved in the past in ensuring none of their drivers use metal sticks any more and provide veterinary care. But I wouldn’t ride one…..

Goats

This goat keeps trying to take food and goods from vendors outside Amber Fort.

Monkeys

Ubiquitous and very naughty. This one is eating a marigold holy necklace and one came into my room to see what he fancied taking. But I was having none of that and showed him the door PDQ.

Pigs

Quite a lot of pigs wandering around eating rubbish. Here is a family in Pushkar. Opposite the cafe run by Manish – where you can actually get a decent cappuccino!

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over and out from Carly and a few animals…..

After 4 years of planning and NHS sign-off, I have finally set off on my big adventure. The house is sold and when my neighbours asked where I was moving to I just said India. It is really freeing having no fixed abode. But scary too!

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I arrived in Delhi to have my first coffee and as I had a few hours spare I went to Qatab Minar. I ate loads of street food but my overwhelming sensation was the overwhelming smog. Totally ghastly….I had been warned but since when was I going to listen?

I am very committed to setting up in one or two places with all my stuff to explore my sabbatical theme – how time goes faster as you get older. And a polluted city is not a draw for me.

So off I went to Jaipur. My phone app said it was still polluted here. Lots of photo opportunities both inside the Palace of the Winds (Hawa Mahal) and outside….

Initially I stayed near the old city and it was very pink but the sun was indistinct too so I moved further out.

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So besides a little pollution as possible and a bit of quiet – hard in India when the lorries actually have ‘sound horn’ plastered by their rear number plate I was excited to have arrived at the Mosaics Guesthouse near Amber Fort. We have climbed up a high Hindu shrine (see me looking pensive on a broomstick) and seen the Amber Fort Sound and Light Show. But this lovely place with a mosaic workshop and totally lovely staff is backed by a wedding venue place that plays loud music throughout the night. So time to move on.

Later on I am on the move to Pushkar for the world famous camel fair. I always said I would buy one to whizz around in India. Well maybe I will……

Next post on animals

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practise a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

by Jenny Joseph

So purple is going to be my colour for this sabbatical. Here are all the names for purple

Amethyst

Aubergine

Blackberry

Blackcurrant

Blueberry

Burgundy

Dawn

Haze

Heather

Heliotrope

Indigo

Lavender

Lilac

Loganberry

Magenta

Maroon

Mauve

Mist

Periwinkle

Plum

Pomegranate

Purple

Tayberry

Violet

Wine

Can you think of any more purple colours?

I was asked to make something in purple. Then I got carried away and made loads of them. Purple challah covers. They are to protect the bread from being sad when you bless the wine at the start of Shabbat meals.

So here are some initial thoughts on purple

I am just gearing myself up to going on my sabbatical to India. But I want to make sure I can do this technical stuff. So here is a picture of me at an Adolescent Conference in sunny Ascot mid Sept 2019. I am not presenting and enjoying the presentations and doing my knitting! bliss……

Does time actually go faster as you get older? It is all about perception. What a fun thing to explore in a sabbatical. Watch this space.