Tonsure, Toads and Tailors

Wednesday 21st May

- Edd gets a haircut and shave, plus his neck cracked. four times
- Toad Rock
- a trip to the tailors again
plus
- a strange journey to Eastern Europe

sleep must have been in short supply in previous days as we awoke again well into the morning, although power cuts overnight had disturbed our sleep enough as the room instantly overheated without the fan on - even in Mount Abu, it was a little warm at night with nothing to keep you cool. the pattern established yesterday was repeated, meeting Jeremy without planning to over breakfast and enjoying a long and leisurely repast. he offered, extremely generously for us to borrow his wi-fi laptop for the afternoon, so as to catch up on our photo uploading (hopefully). we've got on so well with him and Karina, it's been a pleasure to get to know them so far.

words of wisdom

next up was some money changing for both of us at the main local bank, opposite our chai-wallah friend. it was, as usual, guarded by a uniformed man with a rifle, although this gentleman did at least look like he knew how to use it. we thought that the bank was shut at first, since the metal gates were all but pulled across and chained, but it was apparently quite normal to have to squeeze into your bank. we were dealt with efficiently after a short wait, cheques and forms blowing around under the desk of them man who served us in the breeze of a dozen desk fans, not the most reassuring of sights for a bank, perhaps.

Edd had been considering a barber's shave since he arrived in India but had pathetically not plucked up the courage to try it, but Mt. Abu was a relaxing place and he was - finally - ready to give both it and a haircut a go. the cut came first, the same barber who did such a good job with Philippa snipping away at great speed and with fine accuracy despite his scissors plainly being quite blunt. open to the street, the wall before the customer's seat was peppered with shaving and haircut aids, many of which appeared to have been there for a while. every now and them, people would gather to giggle and watch the Westerner get a haircut. the barber did a fantastic job and it was almost exactly like the costly cuts Edd has done at his regular hairdressers in London.

the shave element was a little more concerning, mainly because Edd was finding it difficult not to laugh - not a wise course of action with a razor to your throat. [Edd - with my head right back, I could not see what was going on anyway, so I did my best to relax as much as possible. using more foam than I have ever used in my life, I was given the straight razor treatment twice before being gently assaulted by a combination of many oils and after shave concoctions, leaving me fresh-faced, baby smooth and apparently about 12 years old.]

then came the head massage, we found out later that the barber was a qualified masseuse and his expertise shone through as Edd's head received a quite hard and not at all unpleasant pummelling, with his hands making interesting shapes and noises on Edd's skull. [Edd - he also dealt rigorously with my shoulders and arms. my neck was sharply cracked not once but four times, while he also cracked all of my knuckles and thumbs. he even bent my elbows back, surely not a usual procedure and the only time I ever got a little alarmed! by the end, I was reinvigorated and refreshed and looked appropriately well groomed for India, where people are very proud of their own appearance, if not the appearance of the country as a whole.] the entire session cost R70, less than a pound.

after that, a chai with the beaming wallah seemed the best and only option prior to a stroll to Nakki Lake and the short but steep climb to Toad Rock. the packed, massed crowds during the festival had been replaced by a busy but manageable scene of holidaymakers and honeymooners.

on the way to Toad Rock, around Nakki Lake, Mount Abu

we found the path up to Toad Rock easily, also finding it quite a steep gradient and liberally strewn with litter. Indians spend so much time on their personal appearance and that of their homes and doorsteps or business premises, it seemed to us, but we didn't see the same level of concern about their local or wider environment, nor the upkeep and maintenance of some of the very things that attract many people to the country in the first place. to Western tourist eyes, it seems an unfathomable contradiction.

rock-hopping up the hill and skirting the hundreds of bottles and crisp wrappers, we passed many people keen to say 'Hi' or ask for photos - of us, not them; it seems to be some sort of cache to have your photograph taken with a Westerner, we've seen it a lot.

when we finally reached the top, Toad Rock itself was a bit of a disappointment. true, from one angle it could be viewed as a crouching toad, but would we have thought that if it wasn't already so named? as with great many places genuinely worth visiting in India, it was liberally scoured with deep, scratched graffiti. we'd be happy to go through a few more high security Taj Mahal-like entrances if it meant that the sights and attractions were in better condition. nevertheless, the view down over Nakki Lake was fantastic and well worth the short hike up.

down and to our right, the pedalos were busily being paddled around the East end of the lake, fringed with its tourist attractions, colour and noise. two large jets of water spewed up into the sky to give the boats - standard pedalos, giant swans, the odd gondola - something to skirt or to bravely travel underneath. West of this activity and the lake was much quieter, bounded by a road that never seemed to have any traffic and leading the eye through the haze to the distant plains over a thousand metres below. the wind blowing across the high outcrop was fierce and constant, eliciting screams from the visiting children and making us grab for our things, but we stayed a short while to make the most if the vista afforded.

it was a relief to be strolling through the streets of Mt. Abu being subject to only the same amount of interest - or less - than everyone else for a change. back at the hotel, Philippa sent some emails and rested while Edd used Jeremy's generously loaned laptop on the roof in his and Karina's room, all very trusting.

Sanjay's tailors beckoned once again and we set off with a degree of excitement backed with trepidation to see the fruits of his staff's furiously fast and meticulous work. it would be fair to say that the results were mixed. the two shirts that Edd had had made looked great and wore even better, but the trousers had ended up neither cargo-style or Western, instead being a beautifully crafted pair of brown khaki trousers he will never wear, simply because they do not suit him. at all. Philippa's three items - a tunic, trousers and a waistcoat - all looked fine but apparently one or two aspects of each needed a change, although never from a tailoring perspective, more in terms of the look or cut that had been designed. mixed fortunes indeed, but no fault of the tailors; indeed, the perfect cut and style of the items could not have been more Indian.

tired and maybe a little non-plussed at the time, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed another cheap but cheerful meal. Jeremy and Karina had invited us up to watch an Eastern European film set in Yugoslavia on his laptop, Time of the Gypsies, that was by one of her favourite directors. they had watched it before, but at the end of a drunken night, and were keen to see it again with the fullest of their attention! surreal and strongly evident of a vivid and lateral thinking director's imagination, the first 45 minutes or so were mirthful and quite enchanting. thereafter, the long film took a sharp turn and descended into a bleak and occasionally upsetting drama where nasty things repeatedly happened to good people, many were brutalised and others ended up dead. Jeremy and Karina clearly didn't remember the second half of the film from their previous viewing and were as affected and downbeat as we were by the end! during its running time, we seemed to leave India altogether, but it was a good idea to have a film night and we were glad we had the evening.

it was past midnight before the film ended and we slid downstairs to our room and the refuge of sleep. from neck-cracking to tailoring and Yugoslavia, it had certainly been a varied day.

edd & philippa