Weds and Thurs 6-7 Jan

Nothing too remarkable about these two days. Work in the office with Sr. Mercy continues. I am trying to work out where there is the most leverage for her to shift her position, ham-strung as she is by the term of the judge's order in the court case (ridiculously low threshold for bank withdrawals and non recognition of the newly elected governing body until case is over ).

She desperately needs to pay her arrears of salaries and old age benefits and many other types of bills. Her restraint of Rs. 50,000 is a joke given the breadth of the social services her centre contends with. She is also concerned that if the money is not spent within the appropriate quarter, her foreign funding will cease.

I try a two pronged approach - one is to encourage her to start an election process again and the second is to itemise all the arrears and package them in multiples of 50,000. From what I can understand, she needs to present these to her rebellious Secretary and/or Treasurer and get them to sign the cheques. It is a long and badly documented affair with small sums borrowed from here and there, accounts mixed up, any available funds used to quash the most urgent demands. But I sense there is much more to this. The accounting is sloppy and inexact - a nightmare. We don't get too far as she is fearful and I can't access the information.

After 24 hours, Raji, the woman we have asked to write the people's letter and canvas the signatures, is refusing to do it. She says the people have lost confidence, are defeatist and reluctant to go through the process again. The last time they did this and elected a new Governing Body (a minor miracle given the level of general ignorance of rules of procedure), the judge rejected it saying that the timing was wrong and that the previous Governing Body had not served a full year in office.

Sr. Mercy is getting very tense and worried. On the one hand I am helping her to action and pushing things along backstage, but on the other she has to brief everyone in Malayalam about what is happening and show them that these ideas are coming from her not from me. She is also preparing to go to Tamil Nadu for a few days, to discuss the property ownership of the plot of land the office and computer centre is on. She needs to collect all the deeds and sale documents for her provincial and the financial consultant of the congregation. She is keyed up about this too.

I help her get some things in order and tell her not to worry, but just to go away and leave things till she returns on Monday.

To be honest, I too need a break from this Chinese puzzle cum log jam. On the lighter side, I have been teaching a one hour Spoken English class at the Computer Teacher Training institute next door and getting a good response. This is gratifying in an other wise turgid day.

And every day after work, I am continuing with the one-hour scooter lessons with Jai Shri in the heart of the old Fort. The pics show the inside and outside of the office or classroom with various Malayalam teaching aids - talk about rough and ready! No shots of me driving - for obvious reasons.

Using very old ramshackle vehicles with no horn, no lights, a smashed speedometer and nobody wearing any form of helmet, we zoom (or putter more like) up and down the quiet lane behind the driving school.

Getting used to the right hand acceleration and left hand braking is taking me some time. The balancing bit is fine and the road sense is good but I need time to train the hand reflex. I am enjoying myself and this is a healthy distraction after the frustration of the charity admin.

Another welcome distraction is the sun, starting to set descending as a red ball of fire over the crumbling walls of the old fort dwellings.

My first foray into Trivandrum traffic is on Wednesday at 5.30 pm (this is rush hour!) and is frankly SCARY. I am beginning to think that exposing myself to this amount of danger is sheer lunacy! Jai Shri is a forceful cowboy style of woman in a dusty sari, her English is amazingly comprehensible and she gets her point across. She is gauging my level of confidence as I say I only want three lessons. So she is throwing me in at the deep end. The thrill of successfully manoeuvering the traffic for 10 minutes is considerable.

Thursday I am frankly raring to get out there so we spend 30 minutes doing two separate loops - much longer than the original one. There is as a certain camaraderie between me and the other 4 girls struggling on their scooters. We smile and wave but no time for conversation. Jai Shri is supervising us all at the same time and giving us each tips and instruction!

There is one quite humorous moment when a man comes up with a fuel jug and tops up my machine. He says pointing at Jai Shri and sweeping his hand away, "She England". Jai Shri explains this is her husband and says "I am great disturbance in his life". I smile broadly and chip in with "I can quite imagine that!" I am not getting involved any further in this discussion and scoot off!

On Thursday evening, it is a touching farewell to Jai Shri as I hand her Rs. 500 and promise to return with my new scooty! Oops - Do I mean that?

Now - will I get this thing or not? My thinking is as follows: I am nearly half way through my trip...

Is this a luxury? (yes!) or a helpful aid to circulation in this busy city?(maybe)

Have I got better at dealing with the frustration of haggling with rickshaw drivers and therefor not bothered so much any more? (Yes)

Have I thought about parking? (Not really)

Am I really safe enough out there? (Not really) Keralans have a quite "zen like" calm in the midst of the chaos and I am more jumpy, easily jarred by the constant hooting and unnerved by the over proximity of other vehicles. I am still far too reactive to my immediate surroundings. This makes me less confident.

What will I do when I leave - sell it or store it at Babu's? (Don't know)

Is all this hassle really necessary? (No)

I have decided to think about it over the weekend when I am off to the Kuttanad backwaters with the other volunteers.

Yes, that's right, a new volunteer has arrived, Tom Ellis from Charlton Manchester. He is 18 and applying to read medicine in the UK.

A diminutive curly haired imp, he has a ready smile, is calm and wise for his years. He fits in perfectly. He is curious about everything and has landed on his feet very well.

In the evening, Alexis and I take him for a stroll to the local 'vodafone' shop and get him sorted with SIM card etc. Across the road is an amazing food shop with what I call "Caged bananas". This is my photo op.

The rest of the evening we sort out travel arrangements, train, hotel and boat ride. We are pretty sure where we are going and staying for Saturday night. This is good. And the NON motorised boat trip is booked too.

By the end of day, with all the distractions, I can honestly say that I have forgotten all about Sr. Mercy. This is good!

Bed beckons and refreshing sleep without the A/C partly out of solidarity for my poor friends in Charlbury under 12 inches of snow and sub zero temperatures! Photos of home have been most amusing and welcome. Just looking at them my body temperature drops a degree or two!