96,000 light bulbs and Republic Day in India

The Maharaja’s Palace of Mysore is lit up every Sunday night from 7pm to 8pm by 96,000 lightbulbs.

As a result the marvel of the palace was even more spectacular to see for the Advance Team on their first Sunday night after a week of fairly regular power cuts.

It was also a bit of a cultural experience, with thousands of locals crammed at the gate of the Palace just before 7pm waiting to get in. The queue stretched around the block and the carpark was a chaotic yet coordinated field of auto-rickshaws, cattle-drawn carts and vendors carrying wares such as glowing tiaras, balloons, watermelon and roasted nuts.

It was worth taking the brief time-out ahead of life and Fieldbase getting busier up with the remainder of staff due to arrive within days and a full and exciting training programme about to kick off.

(Above: DPM Dani, Medic Caz, Admin Lucy and PRO Peta outside the palace)

The palace was another great sight of Mysore that the team has taken in since arriving, the first being the market and the second, a quick jaunt up all 1100 steps of Chamundi hill on Saturday morning to check out the Chamundeswari Temple at the top.


(Above: finance Paul and admin Lucy at about the 660-step mark. Below left: the Chamundeswari Temple queue)


It was a timely reminder that India is full of life: Even at the top of the mountain, there was a school and a busy temple packed with people.

Meanwhile, our Deputy Programme Manager Dani has taken the pressure off boot camp (which is purely voluntary!) and we substituted with a rather relaxed yoga session instead on Sunday morning.

Driver 60/60 joined us again, and put us all to shame in the lunge pose! We’ve got plans to do it again, with a suitably-titled “Shilpa Shetty’s yoga for beginners” DVD procured at the local bookshop.

That might have to wait until tomorrow though, because today – January 26 – has turned out to be a pretty busy day.

Firstly, it’s India’s Republic Day so many of Mysore’s residents are on holiday. It is India’s 59th Republic Day, which marks the signing of the national constitution.

It is also Chinese New Year and in recognition of the Year of the Ox, Chinese stir fry will be served at field base.

And last – but not least – it’s Austraila Day and as resident Aussie, the PRO has arranged shrimps on the barbecue (seriously), a there's probably a game of Frisbee on the agenda. (below: DPM Dani - who has lived in Australia for six months - HCV coordinator Vijay and PRO Peta in front of the Australian and Indian flags)

Everyone has been kitted out with Australian flag tattoos and stickers to celebrate, although there’s a lot of work to be done first (Dani is madly dusting the PRO desk as this is being written) in preparation for the arrival of staff on Tuesday.

We’re so looking forward to their arrival!

Oh, one last thing: Julia, our Logistics Coordinator, has returned to Fieldbase for her second consecutive Raleigh Programme. Julia has been trekking through northern India and Nepal for the past four weeks and said she’s wrapped to be back on base.

“I’m looking forward to sleeping in the same bed for more than one night in a row!,” she said.

(left: Julia with Country Programme Manager Mark Ashby)