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| A Proud Dad - Chris with Anna & Greeshma |
Back in the UK you may still be eating cold turkey sandwiches and picking through the remains of yesterday's gut busting food fest but here in India it over. In fact it was over by Christmas day night, the lights turned off and normal service resumed but all in all it was a good one.
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| Christmas a C&J's |
We spent the day with Chris, a friend from the restaurant and his wife Jhothy and children, Greeshma and Anna, oh and Rocky the dog. Of course we had the perennial Christmas problem, "What do you buy for Christmas for folk who have very little?" and we wanted to say thank you for all the help they had given us. Don't get me wrong, by Indian standards Chris and his family are quite well off, they have a two bedroom house with an indoor bathroom, a TV and their own well. The house is about the same size as a double garage, in the lounge they have a large dining table, four plastic garden chairs to sit on, in the kitchen a fridge and a two ring LPG burner to cook on (where Jhothy prepares some of the best Indian food I have ever tasted). The two bedrooms each have a small wooden framed double bed and a couple of lockable office filing cupboards for wardrobes. The kids, Greeshma and Anna 15 and 13 respectively sleep in one room and Chris and Jhothy the other Like I said, Chris and his family are relatively well off, they eat regularly and thanks to Jhothy good tasty food.
So what to buy them for Christmas? A turkey? Impractical and it would go off before it was finished and there is no oven to cook it in anyway. Booze? Neither drink much. Chocolates? Possible but not exactly imaginative or useful. M&S jumpers? Not exactly ideal for the 30+ C heat and Sarah had already decided to take the girls shopping last weekend for Xmas dresses (and xmas cake) so we were still left with the "what do we buy C&J?" problem.
In the end we decided something for the house but what? Jhothy works hard to keep things as clean and nice as possible but the floor is a mixture of rough cast concrete and compacted earth and in the heat and dust its a losing battle.. Chris had intended to get it skimmed but the money ran out and he hoped to get it done with this season's tips from the restaurant. So... we decided to "say it in concrete".
Christmas day at Chris's was special, Jhothy beaming in her newly concreted kitchen (Chris had managed to get the whole house floor re-skimmed with the money we gave them and get new worktops in the kitchen and some tiling done too.
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| Jhothy - Queen of her domain - Xmas Lunch on the go... |
Lunch was delicious, Goat Biriyani, Goat Curry, Chicken, Rice, Banana, Lentil Sambal, Carrot and Coconut Chutney, home made lime pickle & popodums.. We ate with the girls and Chris, Jhothy and her brother Aradish who had joined us insisted on eating in the kitchen as there were only four chairs.
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| Sarah, Anns and Greeshma - Setting the table |
We stayed until 3 p.m. then totally stuffed made our excuses and left them to enjoy the rest of the day together, obviously we weren't allowed to leave without a helping of rice and curry to "eat later when you feel peckish".
We had all had a wonderful time and now it was time for a sleep....
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| Christmas Cake |
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| Rocky The Dog Checks Out the Floor |
Merry Christmas
Kevin & Sarah
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