W1B-011 India letters-1.txt
Jaisalmek, Jul 16th

Dear Angela, You sound as if you are having a fairly lively summer from your emails. What about your birthday!! You must have been really pissed off to find out about Noirin and Timmy's antics. But when people drink 2 bottles of whiskey and a load of aftershocks they can't really be held responsible for their actions, even when they are this bad. Stanley and Mairead have split up! When? Last time we saw them they had plans laid out for the rest of the year. Poor them. If you can, ask Stanley to email me and Mathieu because we 've only got a joint email address for them. Deirdre told me that Sarah is moving to America on Sept 7th. Things must be working between her a Kevin. Me and Mathieu are getting on brilliant at the moment. Since after xmas we started getting on so well and since we came here it's been even better. The shit thing is we are probably going to have to split up after Bakker season finishes. I need to do something with my life, I still don't know what but I don't think I 'll be able to do it and stay with Mathieu. We do talk about whats going to happen later but can either of us really plan it? I don't think so. It really is depressing me when I think about it. I 'm also really worried about what I 'm actually going to do, because Angela, I simply don't have a clue. You are so lucky to have a postgrad. to do. Do you know yet about funding? The thing about being here is you have so much time to sit and think. And the more thinking I do the more confused I get. Don't get me wrong. I 'm having the most amazing time, its just these worries keep popping into my head from time to time. I wish you were here for me to talk to, I miss our wee 10 hour chats about life, love, etc, É. Keep up with the informative emails. Don't mention my worries in them because Mathieu reads them usually too and I don't want him to think I 'm writing dismal tales of woe about our future to all my friends.

We 've been here in Jaisalmec for a week now. A change from the mountains I wanted and you couldn't get more of a change than this. Its an ancient city built within and around the walls of a huge fort right in the middle of the desert in Rajasthan near the Pakistani border. All the buildings, including the fort itself are of sandstone. Everything glows gold when the sun is setting. Being here is like going back in time. The city within the fort hasn't changed in the last 1,000 years (except that now theres a water supply and a few palaces have been turned into hotels?).. and of course electricity. Life for the people here is probably pretty much the same I imagine. Today being Sunday, lots of desert people, tribals who live in the villages in the desert around Jaisalmek came into the city to go to the markets. The men wear really colourful turbans and long white shirts and dhotis (long pieces of cloth wrapped around ther waists and between their legs) Most of them had really long moustaches. They also wear loads of gold earrings and rings. The women wear day-glo bright saris or long full skirts and shawls. They also wear huge amounts of jewellery Ð mostly silver. Watching them coming and going on their camels was like watching a film on T.V.

There is a government bhang shop here Ð bhang = skunk (almost). They make bhang lassis, they 're like yoghurt drinks full of bhang Ð very tasty and lekker stoned! Its a good place to sit for the afternoon watching the market and camels and traditional musicians who always seem to be wandering around. The food here is gorgeous. I was worried before I came to India that I 'd get sick of spicy food all the time but I 'm loving it more and more. Sometimes ordering your food in restaurants can be a bit of an ordeal. The spelling mistakes on the menu are hilarious Ð screamable eggs? fried children? corn flex and honi? chess omelate?!!! We are sitting here trying to decide where to go and eat! The weather here has been quite hot for the first few days we arrived. Then yesterday and the day before it rained so today has been really fresh and nice Ð still hot though!
