Friday 24 September 2010

Autumn update

I'm off to India next month on a field trip and will be back only just before Easter next year. Hope to have many more stories about the Tangsas to tell after I get back. I'm rather sorry to have to have to leave at a time when the trees and forests look glorious in their autumn colours. Also sad to be missing Christmas in Germany this year, but that can't be helped. I'm also not sure whether internet will work there -- so don't expect anything new for the next few months.


These last couple of months have been full of out-of-term-activity. We've had guests (Mamoni Baidew and Paban Bhindew), travelled around a bit (in the Hohenlohe and Rhon area), and have also had some quiet days at home, ruffled only by a wisdom-teeth extraction. Last weekend I went off with Petra to Speyer and Worms -- two of the oldest cities in Germany. We had a great time and I loved watching the sheep-shearing at the Bauern-markt in Speyer on the Saturday and visiting the Niebelungen Museum in Worms, just to mention two of the many special things we did there.

And there are trips to Bremen, Goettingen and Nijmegen planned for the coming weeks for me, and a trip to Afghanistan for Stephan. Sometimes it begins to seem a bit too much. But we seem to not know when to stop. Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that everything goes well.

And now, as thoughts of India come closer, I am not sure what to think about the news filtering in about the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Some of the comments one hears makes one head hang down in shame. It makes a joke of slogans like 'India Shining' and 'Hamara Bharat Mahan'. Are we not good at anything else?




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