The challenge of being a family in India!
By choosing to put ourselves in this situation, we have placed several obstacles in our way. The most pressing hurdle we face right now is keeping the peace whilst being confined to a hotel room for too long. We're also struggling to sleep as we' still working on different time scale. We have no milk for Martha who is a total milk fiend, as she doesn't like the taste of it here. She's very limited with what she'll eat - she is at home too at the best of times, so we'll how that pans out. Gus is missing his friends."I wish now I was at Luke's," he muttered quietly as he builti)£.o,oj'"£,oj some Lego this morning.
There are frustrations for us too. I've been in Delhi for two days and done NO SHOPPING! Hamish and I can't go out for dinner or even a drink on our own.
When I watched the Channel 4 programme 'My Family's Crazy Gap Year' I was particularly struck by the story of the family who sailed to Australia with two kids under five. At first I thought they just insane. But as their journey unfurled, I watched them change. The kids were super hectic at first. Tumbling around like tiger cubs. Then they started to chill out, becoming more mellow. As I watched my kids doing the tiger cub thing, I wonder when, or if, we'll reach the mellow stage.
This journey is as much about sharing the delights of India with our kids as it is about us learning to live together as a unit, without the external distractions of friends, school, work and hobbies.
Martha (as I'm sure I keep saying!) is of course the biggest challenge. This whole experience would be completely different without her. Freya and Fergus are now old enough to occupy themselves for long periods of time, reading books, playing on the dreaded DS, watching a film or playing cards. But martha's attention span is so much shorter. She was brilliant yesterday, they all were, but then she fell asleep in the restaurant and it all went horribly wrong. She was up until nearly midnight whilst the rest of us were desperate to sleep. And now, trying to plan out final day in Delhi, it's all about keeping her awake.
Tomorrow we embark on a big trip into Rajasthan, covering many miles, taking us into the desert, to visit palaces and forts, and to ride on camels. Yesterday the kids were lucky enough to ride on an elephant around Gandhi's Memorial Park. Martha, understandably (it was enormous!) refused but said, "I'm going on a camel," Let's hope so!
Anyway Freya and I are off to buy provisions for our trip, whilst Hamish takes the other two to a sports shop in Connaught Place to buy cricket gear and a football. We've decided to knock the train on the head, plumbing for the more expensive option of hiring a car and a driver. They'll be plenty of opportunities later on to revel in the joys of public transport! Freya also wants to go and buy some Indian clothes so "she doesn't look like a tourist". What she means, I think, is that she wants to look like Milly (her uber cool cousin who came here last year on her gap year) did when she came back from travelling.
Let's shop! At last! Parhaganj awaits! Bindis, bracelets, bags and sparkly stuff galore!
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