Maya is in heaven. Back here in Blighty, the world is awash with the golds and greens of early autumn and she is gorging on blackberries she's picked and helping Daddy make sloe gin (!); picking apples straight from the tree in the garden; enjoying the attention from grandparents, uncles and aunts and cousins; she is wearing tights and jumpers with hoods; has easy access to the tv (ugh); is eating sausages, fish fingers, mashed potatoes and baked beans and is snuggling down under a warm duvet at night for the first time in six months.

Maya, I'm sure, feels a long way from India - the land of sun-parched earth and spices, cows, rickshaws and sarees. I know that she is really, really happy to be back here, but that's not to say that she won't be equally happy to go back to Bangalore and be re-united with Aanya, her school and beloved teacher Paula, mayhem on the roads and afternoons filled with ice-cream (every day feels like summer there and it's hardly surprising that Maya's Mama has put on several pounds since being there!) and playing on swings under the shade of a gulmohar tree.

Night times have been difficult, with Maya awake a few times each night in a half-asleep frightened and angry state. We're not sure what's going on there. But whilst we can be as open and honest with Maya as possible, let's face it - maybe there is a degree of confusion about where 'home' is right now. On the whole though, she's doing brilliantly and has also been rising later than her customary 6am, probably because she doesn't need to endure the early morning ritual of the security guard violently hocking outside her bedroom window for about 10 minutes (oh, how I wish I could attach a sound byte so you could hear how truly revolting this is!!).

We're about to leave Maya's grandparents and go a-wandering for several days to visit people. We also have recently received some big news about where we're probably going after India but, like Eastenders cheap cliffhanger tricks, I'll let you know in the next post where adventuring Maya may end up next......

Maya's adventures in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka

41 hours of rail travel (including 3 overnight trains),
15 sticky oranges,
12 parothas (similar to chapattis but thicker and naughtier),
9 tantrums,
7 days of swimming in the sea,
4 cups of chai,
2 cups of strong coffee,
1 swim under a waterfall,
half a glass of Tom Collins
and about a quarter of a vegetable later...

Maya has made it safe and sound back to Bangalore!

In one day we will be leaving for England for our two and a half week stay, so I don't have time to go into the details of all of Maya's adventures on holiday, but I shall give you some of the highlights!

At the Kings World Trust:

* At the school, Maya joined in with a class of five year olds for a couple of days running, completely unprompted by us. When we were reunited with her, the teacher informed us that Maya even got up in front of the class and sang two songs to them all! Hang on, is this the same child??! When we heard this we were, in a word, flabbergasted!

* Maya enjoyed sweeping the yard with the boys and because of the homely lay out of the boys' village, she would often wander away from the room and we'd find her later with the boys or helping the cook sort vegetables.

* One day, when Andy, Lily and I went for a walk around the town and Maya decided she wanted to stay behind, it seems that she later got scared when she forgot where we were. We were alerted when somebody came out to tell us, turned back towards the boys' village, only to find that one of the staff there had hoisted her onto the front of their motorbike and she was on her way to find us! This is completely normal for India, but we got her down pretty quick smart.

* One afternoon we visited somebody's house where Maya was fed strong, black, sugary coffee. Seriously. When I asked our host if it was normal for children here to drink coffee he said 'Of course!', produced a tumbler for Lily and she glugged it down before I'd had a chance to protest! He told me that coffee is very good for children as it contains so much calcium. Hmmm.... Unsurprisingly, after her second cup Maya was bouncing off the walls and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening dancing, singing and jumping off tables. (See photo above of Maya with her tumbler of coffee and plate of biscuits)


It was wonderful to meet Kings, the boy that Andy sponsors (see photo). He is a wonderful, gentle young lad and we really hope we'll see him again sometime.

At the beach:

Maya turned into a little beach bum. Plastered in factor 50, she braved the waves (amazing to think she was still quite scared of water before coming to India), made castles and holes in the sand, collected marooned starfish and interesting shells and by the end of the week her hair was well and truly dreadlocked like a proper little beach hippy (well, to be fair, all of our hair was). We didn't wear shoes for the entire week and that freedom that I talked about in my posting 'Last child in the woods' that I so crave for Maya could truly be realised at the beach. I had to swim in my clothes which was quite a bizarre experience as the ladies here go into the sea in their sarees. But once I'd got used to that (and having to dodge the occasional fisherman poo on the beach - yuck!), the whole week was seriously relaxing and lovely and we were all horizontal by the end of it. Oh, except for the night that Maya necked half my glass of a Tom Collins cocktail that I'd ordered while I was distracted with Lily. She thought it was juice! We found her later in the bedroom turning round and round in circles singing a jumbled up version of baabaa black sheep - oops!

But now - back to England! Maya is one excited little girl. I'll report back at some stage from the UK how she's getting on with the cold (though I'm sure she'll love it - she's a wellies and woolly hat girl at heart) and the food (request for first meal back: fishfingers and sausages. As I said, she ate all of about a quarter of a vegetable whilst we were away. Hope the girl doesn't get scurvy....)

Goodbye for now but see you soon!

As a goodbye present, Aanya and Anjali gave Maya the most beautiful traditional Indian outfit which we thought Maya would enjoy wearing to school. She wasn't too keen however because a) it's not pink and b) it's something new and anything different should be viewed with the utmost suspicion in Maya's book. I am ashamed to say that Andy and I enticed her to wear it by promising her cake. I know - bribery in its basest form. But she did look utterly gorgeous (Maya does, unsurprisingly, get camera fatigue sometimes and would only give me a brief grin for this picture but you get the idea of the outfit). I think once she had caught sight of herself in the mirror and twirled a bit, she was quite pleased with the result and even added a sparkly bindi to complete the picture. But after all that, school got cancelled because a government minister died in a helicopter crash. In fact, every school across the state is closed as a result of this which was quite a surprise but it seems he was a well-loved public figure.

However, it turns out that this will not be Maya's final day at school after all because.....

WE'RE COMING BACK!!!!

That's right, after our holiday tomorrow and then 2 weeks back in England, we'll return to Bangalore for another few months as Andy's company have decided they still need him (and they're absolutely right!). We are sooooo delighted. This means a few things:

- That you haven't managed to get rid of me, Maya and this blog after all
- That Maya's head will continue to wobble
- That I have another few months to encourage Maya to try Indian food
- That we're going to be running round like headless chickens, the girls in tow bouncing around in their slings, trying to see as many people as we can in the short time we're back in the UK.

Tomorrow we take the first of 2 overnight trains to head down into the far south of Tamil Nadu. First stop is the King's World Trust, a care home that Andy volunteered at ten years ago and where he has sponsored a child for several years. We've never met Paul (who's now 15) but Andy and he have been exchanging letters for years so this will be a very special experience. After a few days (and my 32nd birthday!) there, we then catch another overnight train (this time it'll be our 4 year wedding anniversary celebrated on the train!) up to the north Karnatakan coast where we'll relax on the beach for a week. Apparently monsoon is still going on a bit over there so we may well be heading back to Bangalore like drowned rats! Between the coast and Bangalore we'll spend our last few nights of holiday at the wonderful Green Hotel in Mysore that we loved so much on our last trip away. Finally, we come back to Bangalore for a couple of days before flying back to England.

I think it's unlikely I'll get a chance to blog while I'm away, but tune back in after the 20th September to hear about Maya's adventures on holiday. If you really want to keep reading my words whilst we're away (yeah, right!) then you could always take a look at my other blog which charts the ebbs and flows of my insomnia, Notes of an insomniac mother. Here it is. It was full of angst in the early days (!) but thankfully there's less of that now.

So, take care all of you, thanks for reading this and lots of love.
Maya, Becks, Andy & Lily
xxx

Maya the threenager

To get a better look at this photo, click on it to enlarge it. I've talked before about the state of Bangalore's pavements, but honestly, this one just takes the mick. Andy looks despairing and Maya just looks amused. Which is good - at least she wasn't having one of her threenager fits or she may well have hurled herself down this hole. Whoever coined this phrase, 'threenager', hit the nail on the head - admittedly I don't yet know what it's like to have a teenager and I know, I know, teengagers shouldn't be demonised and stereotyped (but come on, generalisations have to come from somewhere!). But whilst Maya is often a lovely, gentle soul, her behaviour of late has resembled what I imagine a stroppy teenager's to be. Here are a few examples, and I'm not exaggerating a single bit:

- Storming off to her room and slamming the door with an almighty bang.

- She has learnt how to operate the laptop and many of it's functions worryingly well. Now, every time I put music on that I want to listen to, it's only a matter of seconds before she marches over and changes it to her music of choice ie Nelly the Elephant and We've got the whole world in our hands. When I say to her that it's my turn to choose the music, she just tutts and says 'No, it isn't.'

- Being so exhausted by her intense partying (or excitement and antics at pre-school I should say) that she will fall asleep anywhere. Even under the desk (see photo two taken yesterday).

- And this is my favourite: If Maya doesn't want to answer a question I've posed to her because it's too probing or annoying she shakes her head and says 'I'm not talking to you.' But Maya, I say, all I'm asking is...'NO' she repeats even louder for the benefit of irritating, slightly deaf mother, 'Did you hear what I said? I'm NOT talking to you.'

Now all I've got to say to that is how very charming.

Homework? Not on yer life

I've written a little before about my impressions of the education system here, including how much homework kids seem to get from a very young age. But what I wasn't prepared for really was that my own daughter, aged 3 years and 2 months, be sent back with homework! On friday when I went to pick Maya up, I was handed one of her many workbooks and told that she was required to do a few exercises over the weekend. I must have been looking dumbfounded because I think Paula (Maya's beloved teacher who is standing behind her in the photo) must have thought I didn't understand what she was saying and so got out her notebook and showed me the same request, this time written down. To be fair, it was only a matter of colouring in a picture (not of a tree or animal or anything but a computer - that's a sign of the times I suppose!) and also filling out three lines of marking in 'downward lines' in her exercise book...but still. I do feel that giving homework to three year olds is a tad silly. But Maya's only there for another week and I wasn't about to argue with the formidable Paula so I just took the book and off we went.

Over the weekend, an opportunity presented itself for Maya to do this 'homework' as we were sitting at the kitchen table with her book within easy reach. Ah well, I thought, perhaps she'll quite enjoy it since she does seem to love school and will be proud of the sense of achievement at the end of it and all the rest of it....We opened the book up and I explained to Maya what she had to do. She nodded thoughtfully and took up her pen whilst I went into the kitchen to make a drink, thinking that perhaps homework age three wasn't such a bad thing after all. But this is what had happened when I returned to Maya a few moments later:

She'd taken her pen up alright but instead of doing her 'downward lines' (which she does so beautifully at school - I've seen them - unless the teachers do them for her!), she had scribbled all over the page, and the one after that (which was probably meant for this week's homework). Oh, I said to Maya, that's a bit messy. And she just looked at me through her curls with that defiant, stubborn little stare of hers and closed the book in a very definite way. So much for that, I say. But she's off, homework and downward lines forgotten in an instant.

Exclusive Interview

I am all too aware that sometimes Maya's voice gets lost in all this blogging business, so I think it's high time Maya speaks for herself. Often, she sits in front of the laptop tapping away at the keys and when I ask her what she's doing she casts me one of her well-whaddya-think-I'm-doing looks and says 'I'm writing my blog, Mummy.' So yes, if the little lady could actually write, I'm sure she'd have a very different take on many of the things that feature in her blog. But, since she can't yet write, here's an exclusive, unabridged interview with the girl of the moment!


Please can you tell me your full name?

My name's called Maya Elizabef Narra-COTT

How old are you, Maya?

(Sticks 3 fingers up my nose) Free

Do you like India?

Mmm

Why do you like India?

'Cos my best friend was there.

Who is you best friend?

Aanya. Yes, and Ashiswini and those 2 girls, Anou and Jaya. And Ashiswini. And Aanya.

Do you remember England?

Yes.

Are you excited about going back to England?

Yes.

Who do you want to see in England?

Mummy, let's go on a farm and see that boy.

Which boy?

The one on the farm. The one with the beard.

(Lots of headscratching from Mummy ensues. But we never get to the bottom of this one.)

What will we see in the airplane?

My best friend.

When we get to England, who will we see?

Nannie Liz. (Editor's note: This is her paternal grandmother)

Who else?

Nu-nu. (Ed: her auntie)

Anyone else?

Errrr....Granny Amma and Tata. (Ed: Maternal grandparents)

Anyone else?

(Very impatient look) No Mummy, that's enough people. I'd like to see a picture now.

Can I just ask you a few more questions?

Yes.

Do you remember Godmanchester?

Yes.

What do you remember about it?

No people there.

Is there anything else you'd like to write on your blog now?

Sweetcorn and olives.

What's your favourite food in India?

Dosa and besgetti (Ed: I think she means spaghetti)

What do you like about your school?

Because teacher Paula was there. Is called teacher Paula.

Why is she nice?

Because she's getting fatter and fatter.

Oh. That's not very PC is it?

Huh?

Nevermind. Thanks for your time, Maya.

All the fun of the festival

I must confess to feeling a little sad today, because if we were in England right now we would, without a shadow of a doubt, be heading to Shambala Festival tomorrow. We've been two years running and it is seriously good fun. English festivals are brilliant because all British reserve and restraint is chucked firmly out the window and festival goers dance, crawl, twirl and waltz, jive, skip, hula-hoop and romp their way through what is essentially a huge field converted into a magical adventure playground filled with music, games, stalls and people dressed in an assortment of weird and wonderful clothing for a few days. So this is just a quick blog to say, we love you India, but we wish we were there Shambala!

The first photo was taken at Shambala '07 and the next three are Shambala '08 with 3 month old Lily attending her second festival (at 2 months she went to Latitude Festival!). Maya loved both her Shambala experiences - highlights were dancing on Daddy's back and swinging in a hammock with the backdrop of an English stately home and ladies in leotards, stockings and wellies. I had a quick look at the Shambala website just to torment myself and see that there are still some tickets going. So if you're at a loose end this weekend, get yourself down there. Immediately. You won't regret it! Here's the website. Failing that, have a quick look at this wonderfully quirky band, Gadjo, we watched perform at the festival last year.

However, before we feel too sad, it's the Ganesha festival going on here at the moment. There are lots of noisy drums and street parties taking place day and night and huge, very brightly painted elephant God statues everywhere you look. Maya likes counting them all as we tear past in rickshaws and now seems just at home saying 'Look!It's the elephant God, Ganesh!' than she was last year around Christmas time when she tore up and down the streets of Cambridge dressed as an angel in mini-evangelist mode calling 'I love baby Jesus!'