Initiation & Challenge

WOW 2 blogs in one day!

So story continues...My first proper day and initiation to Indicorps.

CHALLENGE: 1) to use a bus to travel from Indicorps to Gandhi Ashram across AMD.
time 15.45 2) limit of 50rupees for my trip
3) arrive experience and learn at Gandhi Ashram
4) to return before 17.30 via bus or shared rick
5) experience all there is to offer
Challenge was set, bus no. unknown (although if i did know it, i can't read Gujarati!), destination known, costs unknown, what to expect highly unknown, risk? of course not!
30mins later:A museum and gardens dedicated to the memory of Gandhi 'Father of India'. I had successfully negotiated the first fews task, what a breeze!The house of Gandhi himself, standing in the most peaceful and beautiful surroundings i have seen so far; on the edge of the river. Fully recommend to anyone. So all that was left was to negioate the journey home not knowing which bus just rough direction to aim. On i jumped, i say on; what i mean is on the bottom step practically off!

All this excitement and for only 1rupee!! however the journey was not over. A sudden swing to the right after a very brief traffic jam and i had taken the opportunity to jump off - it had decided to go the wrong way! i was off, and in need of another bus. Luckily my blondness had left me, and the phrase i had learnt that morning came to my rescue: "Jhavoo chay" * spelled phonetically* "i need to go to"

So off and onto the next crazy bit of transport, another 1 rupee journey later and successfully request to get to ;income tax' and my journey was almost complete. Short walk down Ashram Rd to the BATA showroom and i was back, on time too! 3 points and a win for Taylor in the bag.

So only the evening to now fill, what could possibly happen? Meeting back at the host home after a 20 minute walk, over crossroads, through underpasses and over an open train track. Kavan had already organised a football match with his brother and friends so the stage was set: India V England the local crowd would be going wild!ok there wasnt really a crowd but the atmosphere was fun and competitive. It happened to be my first reality check when 2ltrs of water later i had to lie down intaking deep breathes and remembering it was only my first couple of days and although it seemed darker and therefore colder it was still 33 degrees. SMOG in the evening.
With dehydration obviously common, the brothers knew what to do to snap me out of it... a bike hopper trip for breeze and barley water!!! tasted like a common British pint without the side affects and very refreshing. I was still getting used to being on the back of the bike and knew i would have to find confidence quickly...
So suddenly and miraculously feeling pretty great we hit the second trip location, Kavan's old college, similar style to the University but had some cute features like grass banks beside an open ping pong table and open theater areas with practices commencing. This really made me think of Jenny (Babe) and how much training she needed to get to this level of production (granted it was more performing arts based and only a bit of fun) but the enthusiasm is there:
So we headed to the grassy bank where we lay for some well deserved peace, peace did not come, instead a bat imitating a vulture decided to brush my shoulder and i can honestly say i dived for cover. Thinking i was under attacked, as i had not seen what had opened fire on me i was relieved when i saw it fly into a tree and just hang there looking down. In actual fact they are very beautiful a do have a wing span commonly up to 2/3feet.
So another successful day!