1st. op. day 38 2nd. op. day 17

Hi again to all,
We hope that life is treating you kindly and that you enjoy this blog. It's all of 7 days since the last one - so high time!!
To begin - another Irish joke (hope no-one accuses us of being racist!):
There was a knock on the door and there was a collector for the Home for Alcoholics. He asked whether the lady of the house had anything she could give him and she said "No, not at the moment. I'm sorry, but if you come back at 5 me husband will be home then and you can have him!".
Life goes on apace here in Chennai. It's really just a waiting game for us now with Jean's recovery paramount. She continues to make good progress (sounds like a school report!!) and is now walking about a kilometre up and down the road next to the hotel. So, it's all good but we are getting thoroughly bored and can't wait to get back to the boat in Thailand. In the meantime we are going down to the ex French settlement of Pondicherry next Wednesday and will stay there in the Villa Shanti until we fly out on the 14th.
Pondicherry should be a welcome change from the mundaneness of Chennai as the historic old French quarter where we are staying is compact and can be walked around easily apparently. And some people there still speak French! A brief history -
The earliest known mention of Pondicherry was in the 1st. century AD when it was a Roman trading destination. Then over the next 500 years or so various dynasties held sway as their fortunes in southern India ebbed and flowed until the French arrived in 1674. They then ruled Pondicherry along with other possessions of French India until 1956 when all the former French possessions became Union Territories of India. The Union Territories are special areas with tax concessions - among them duty free booze!!!
The French occupation was marked by various skirmishes with the British and the Dutch who occasionally kicked the French out but somehow they always came back! The major incident was the Seige of Pondicherry by the British in 1761 which culminated in British victory during which they raised Pondicherry to the ground. The French then came back in 1765 and rebuilt Pondicherry. There were a number of peace treaties with Britain after that and of course the Napoleonic Wars but in 1816 the French were back for good - or at least until 1956 just after they suffered their biggest defeat in Indo China at Dien Bien Phu in what became Vietnam and the anti colonial thing was in full swing. The Indians no doubt gave them an ultimatum!
The biggest news here in recent days is the shock conviction of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on charges of corruption involving Rs.66.6 core (just over 13.5 million NZD!). They establish this figure by comparing known assets with known levels of income. Any disparity is known as a "disproportionate asset case". Simple but compelling no doubt. The case had been going on for 18 years and reached its culmination last Saturday in Bangalore when she was sentenced to 4 years jail and fined Rs.100 core. There is now some doubt whether the sentence is legal because apparently it is illegal for a court to convict and sentence in the same hearing. Not surprisingly an appeal has been filed.
Unbelievably there is a huge groundswell of support for the former CM from the very impoverished people she stole from. This support manifested itself in an ugly way on Monday night. It is worthwhile reproducing verbatim the newspaper report in this morning's Times of India -
Headline: "MOB TRIES TO BURN ALIVE BIHAR MINISTER". "An angry mob tried to set ablaze Bihar art and culture Minister Vinay Bihari at a cultural programme in Sasaram in Rohtas District on Monday night. The attack took place at Tarachandi Temple in the presence of district officials, including the district magistrate and the Rohtas SP. The cultural programme was organised by the administration as part of Navaratra celebrations. Bihari, also a folk singer, inaugurated the programme and sang religious songs. A couple of other well known folk singers were also scheduled to perform at the function. But angry at the poor sound and seating arrangements, some people in the gathering started hurling chairs towards the dais. After a chair hit SP Chandan Kumar Kushwaha, the police started caning people. This further infuriated the mob, which then threw bricks and stones at the police and the dais. At least 100 people were injured in the brick batting. The Minister and other officials scurried for cover.
'Had I not hidden myself under the dais for over two hours, I would have been roasted alive' said Bihari, his head and chin swathed in bandages. The mob torched the Minister's official vehicle. Bihari said he overheard a few people who were carrying petrol cans and looking for him. 'I applied my mind and preferred braving stones to being burnt by coming out of hiding and running away', Bihari said. He later saw the dais go up in flames.
Bihari demanded an inquiry and held the local administration responsible for the attack. Kushwaha said the police had lodged an FIR against 500 people and arrested 6. A bottle of petrol was recovered from one of them." Only in India!!!
Emotions seem to be running close to the surface here and we have been warned not to go out at night - not that we were about to! However, we haven't seen anything untoward at all. The Indians are very fiery ( a bit like the Thais) and while all very polite, if you seriously upset them it all changes in a flash. But then Europeans are a bit like that as well! It's all fascinating to be here and watching the events play out - much more exciting than the NZ elections - tame by comparison.
Having said all that, the staff in the restaurant are very solicitous of Jean's dietary needs and are always rushing to assist. Jean is very appreciative. The waiters are all dressed in dark suits and ties and Boumi, the head waiter knows now that Jean likes Watermelon and Papaya for breakfast. So, she gets that delivered while Jim has to fend for himself at the fruit salad bar! We have finally educated the chef at the grill to produce eggs the way we like - for Jean scrambled with Coriander or Chives and for Jim fried and turned over and done to a crisp!
We have noticed the Indian women who, when here to dine or attending conferences, wear the most gorgeous saris. Beautiful colours edged in gold and all sparkly with glass beads. Very striking. However, the other thing we've noticed is that almost all are obese with a few notable exceptions. The notion of exercise doesn't seem to exist and the men are also overweight in the main. Sugarcane originated in India thousands of years ago long before sugar was brought to Europe and so the use of excessive amounts of sugar is endemic. There are constant articles in the paper about Diabetes.
We shouldn't talk as we've both put on weight but at least we exercise and are conscious of the issue, whereas the majority of Indians appear oblivious. And with the inefficiency we see constantly, we wonder how they'd fare against a Chinese invasion across the Tibet/Indo border which will certainly take place some day - unless demographics catch up with China as they inevitably will. The danger is that China undoubtedly knows this too, and might launch a pre-emptive strike before it's too late. China has a rapidly aging population whereas India has a huge proportion under 25.
China is quite frankly a worry and for NZ and Australia too. They have a growing and sophisticated naval presence in the Indian Ocean with submarine launched ballistic missile capability and they are stealing vast swathes of the South China Sea from Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and the Philippines. They are establishing military bases on hitherto uninhabited islands and conducting oil drilling exploration. Their motives are expansionist, whether by military aggression or economic means and they have an intergenerational time frame.

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