In which we get an owl from Foxtrot 3...at long last...

"After our lacklustre performance in delivering the last blog post, we plan on redeeming ourselves...

The pits have been dug, cow sheds erected and porridge perfected. Even though we fell about laughing the first time as the guys stuck their tools into Brad Pitt and Pittsburgh (the names we have hilariously dubbed our pits), the enormity of the task at hand wasn’t realised until only a few days ago. A good job then, that we had two power tools to help us, in the forms of locals we nicknamed 'Gary Oldman' and 'JCB man' – the latter of whom can excavate, in the space of five minutes, the same amount of soil that half of our group can accomplish in half an hour.

But let us not get too far ahead of ourselves; a lot has happended in these last 17 days, but sometimes what happens in Manalvayal has to stay in Manalvayal. We took two days off to immerse ourselves in the Indian culture of Ooty, beginning with a much needed interest in Dominoes Pizza, and ending with a marathon of retail therapy, haggling, and a nice hot bucket shower. Under the strictest regulations, only burgers and pizzas were consumed on this trip.

Lunghis, saris and and a blue Gulson guitar in tow, we rode back, constantly teetering on the edge of the road - but the skilled drivers knew what they were doing, so they sounded their horns, turned up the bhangra music and we made it safely back. Since then, the boys have not taken their lunghis off, nor has Bipin stopped strumming his guitar.

In case you didn’t know it virtually hasn’t stopped raining here since we arrived, which meant that Dan had a tough sartorial decision to make – shirt on or shirt off? One member of our party has so far managed to faint at the sight three times in one day – her personal best to date.

Over the last few days, it has been a tough graft and, with the project nearing completion, the work seems harder. But Shri, one of the project partners from CTRD Trust and a former Raleigh venturer, granted us a few hours of well earned respite, and we celebrated Indian Independence Day by embarrassing ourselves. After the school children that we visited sang a few traditional songs, the responsibility was thrust on us to take centre stage, and sing for them. Our rendition of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” received only the very best reviews in the Hindu Times and will never be forgotten.

The entire Independence Day was wrapped up by a local family who cooked us tapioca and chicken served on banana leaf. This delicious meal was diligently eaten with our right hand, and dessert, in the form of eggy bread, was followed by what seemed like a photo shoot.

While we’ve been here, we have worked closely with CTRD, who recently invited us to meet a women’s self help group that they set up. It was great to see the grass roots view of social mobility in India, achieved through helping themselves and their families economically. It was also nice to see a completed biogas unit. It was fully functional and we watched it supply cooking gas on our way back.

It sounds like a cliché, but when we say that everyone has had an amazing time on project, we really mean it. We are raring to go for the adventure phase, especially with the group being in high spirits. Our cooking skills and creativity in the kitchen, which are improving everyday, were used to celebrate Tiff’s and Niovi’s sister’s great news (A Level results having come out on the 16^th August)by baking them a cake, which read simply “Congrats” using bananas. We are all looking forward to seeing the other Foxtrot groups, and our family and friends when we get home. Lots of love, Foxtrot 3.