Freya’s Kuchipudi Dance performance was arranged by Sun Rise Charity. Its Australian based charity but rises funds for Nepal. They have established a school and Anadashram for Orphans in Nepal.

This was on 1st September 2007 at Bowlers club on York Street in Central Sydney, Australia. The performance was for ten minutes.Hundread’s of people attented this performance. Freya had performed Kuchipudi with this organisation in the last year also.The show raised a few thousand dollars for Sun Rise Charity’s ophans school in Nepal. Freya performed the traditional Kuchipudi dance item, Bhamakalapam. After the performance Freya was appreciated by a certificate from the Sun Rise Charity.

The presentor of the show was praising Freya very much and was expressing in her words “Its great to see a primary school girl dancing Indian Classical Dance especially wearing the Australian colours of green and gold.

On March 25, 2 days before our return home to Sydney, we hosted the International Dance Day Celebration 2007 in Nizamabad, at the Rajiv Gandhi Auditorium.

How everything came together for this wonderful and most memorable event still remains a miracle to me, as the planning process only began about 10 days prior to the 25th! The truth is, that without Sandeep working 24 hours a day while Freya and I were ‘swanning’ it in the 40+ temperatures in Pune, it would never have happened! Sandeep was typically seen in the middle of the night climbing high posts and verandahs all over Nizamabad in order to secure the numerous banners he had got printed to announce the free programme all over town. At one point a bystander came up to him and said Are you not the person on this poster?…Then why are YOU climbing the posts?!

On our pre-program trip to Nizamabad, where I must mention that I drove our beloved Hyundai a small section of the way on the highway(!!!!), we had to meet with numerous local dignitaries, and wait in the heat of the day for them to let us into their air-conditioned inner sanctum, where we officially invited them to be honoured guests at the dance concert. Most of the important local figures we met were extremely encouraging to us, which springs out of their high esteem for Sandeep. He managed to negotiate a large discount to the cost of the auditorium hire, which required many meetings with many people. So we took this to mean that the programme should indeed go ahead.

Back in Hyderabad we had to arrange a fast photo session with Freya and Sandeep, in order to have some fresh pictures of them to put on the posters. Sandeep’s lovely friend Pavan came to the aid with the most incredible face make-up for Freya, which made her look around 25 years old – NO kidding!!! The poor man had to wait until midnight to finally be given a meal which he and Sandeep went out to get- his words to Sandeep were Don’t you ever eat here? And I guess we really did not have much time to think of such mundane issues at the time!

Sandeep took a lot of care to write a beautifully worded invitation, with the long-distance assistance of Kamal in the UK. The day Freya and I left for our 4 day trip to Pune, Sandeep spent until midnight in the print shop looking at the final proofs and making small corrections. In the days while we were away he and his family personally delivered around 300 invitations to important persons in Nizamabad and surrounds. Sandeep’s father had the idea to ring Dasmohapatra, the organizer of the International Children’s Dance Festival in Cuttack Orissa, and invite him for the evening. Incredibly he immediately said yes, my wife and I will be there, and so we were very honoured that they would take the 24 hour train trip to join the other special guests on the night.

After our return from Pune on the 23rd evening, we had one day to recover before again packing up and heading north out of Hyderabad to Nizamabad on Saturday the 24th, in time for the press conference that afternoon. Sandeep was very calm and made Freya feel very relaxed about the press, telling her to just be natural. There was quite a turnout, and we gifted to the press people lovely handcrafted bags which contained a CD of information and pictures to be used in their publications. This came at a bit of a price to us, as my computer hard-drive had a complete meltdown after burning too many CD’s in a hurry- which I did while we travelled in the car. Freya danced a section of her programme, which was filmed, and which we later saw on several TV stations the same evening. So the programme ended up being extremely well advertised. The next morning Sandeep woke me up with a stack of newspapers with many prominently placed articles on the evening programme. It was indeed exiting. I was getting somewhat nervous about all this expectation, but soon the heat was so biting, that my only worry was how to stay sane and on track for the big evening.

Late morning we went to the hall, where Freya and Soumya (sandeep’s sister, who was also performing 2 items) had a tryout of the stage. We decided on the final requirements for flower decorations etc, and with the help of many of Sandeeps Family members it all came together in time. Sandeep’s mother was cooking the most delicious food for us, and this really helped keep Freya’s energy up and keep her fuelled for the evenings performance. Srikanth and Santosh, Sandeeps senior students, were travelling in a hired jeep with the invited guests from Hyderabad and beyond, making sure they had a pleasant journey to the programme.

A very sweet and gentle make-up artist came from Hyderabad to do Freyas makeup, while I milled around trying to remember my starting note for the small Carnatic musical item I was going to start the programme off with. My music teacher, Gopinath Sir, arrived with the Jeep, and very sweetly came and assured me and gave me a few last minute tips. When the specially invited guests finally all arrived, and this was only 1 tasteful hour later than planned, the hall was full to the brim and people were spilling out into the doorways. The specially invited guests lit the lamp as per tradition, after which I managed to pull off my act of singing the small Ganesha item without a hitch (Apparently the reaction from the audience was that they felt very ‘ashamed’ – ashamed that here was a foreigner in their country singing a very traditional song, which they did not even know how to sing). Freya danced her first item Bhajamanasa and it was a good item to warm up with. By the second item she was well warmed up, and in her third item was exploding with energy, as she just flew across the floorboards and bowled everyone over with Neela Megha, a beautiful tarangam (plate dance) piece on Shri Krishna. I had wished that she would dance as well on this night as she had done in Pune just days earlier, because it was like a new dimension to her performance had been switched on, with her expressions becoming so much more vivid and alive. To our disappointment Sandeep had not seen her Pune performance, but I knew that if she danced with the same energy as she had in Pune, that he would be well pleased. And indeed he was.

While the honoured guests gave their speeches, Freya was interviewed for Z-channel, a Telegu news channel which is broadcast internationally. (It was a bit puzzling that the cameraman could not speak any English at all).
In the second half Freya danced her favourite pieces Bahamkalapam and Mahalaxmi Asktakam, and they were very much enjoyed by all. I summed up my courage to give my speech of thanks, in which I thanked Soumya, who has been like a real sister and great support to Freya, and also the many people we love so dearly, and who have been such a great support to Freya in this dance adventure. Sandeep also spoke beautifully about the thrill of giving back something to his home town, which has been such a great support for him in his career. It was with great joy and relief that this wonderful evening ended on a very high note. It was still a few hours before we had packed up everything in the hall, departed, and as we hit our beds quite hard Sandeep was still busy making sure our guests from Oriassa were being fed and looked after.

The next morning there was a wonderful article in The Hindu, one of India’s English language newspapers.

The next morning we leisurely and sadly departed for Hyderabad, where we delivered our dear guests Mr and Mrs Dasmohapatra at Secunderabad railway station in good time for their 5 pm train back to Cuttack. From there we drove with Srikanth and Santoah following us, to the movies, where we enjoyed a nice long Namaste London movie in the blessed coolness of the magical air-conditioning. It was a good chance to ‘chill’ literally and rest on our very tired laurels for a few hours, before the pack-up for our journey home would soon start…

I have been taking Carnatic vocal singing lessons for a week now. Sandeep’s vocal music teacher just adores Sandeep, and I almost feel like my lesson is an excuse for Sir Gopinath to see Sandeep, whenever he brings me for lessons in the mornings. Sir Gopinath is fiercely protective of Sandeep, and always asks him how his wedding preparations are going, offering him help and advice (calling him many times daily)!

Anyway, Gopinath Sir is a senior lecturer at the Telugu university here in Hyderabad. He has a deep knowledge of Carnatic music, which stems from his father, who was a famous Veena player. He has many beautiful Veenas in his home, where his brothers and their families occupy the various floors of the building. When we first went to meet him Freya first did her obligatory dance performance, and I sang a few songs in Hindi, Marathi and English, which the whole family seemed to enjoy. Then his 12 year old daughter sang a Carnatic piece, which just happened to be one of my favorite songs of 2006 from a Remember Shakti album – it is called Giriraja Sudha Tanaya, which is about Shri Ganesha. She rendered it so beautifully, and I am hoping I may get to the stage where I can learn it too.

But maybe that is just wishful thinking. He is giving me a crash course, and I have so far learnt a lot about the theory behind Carnatic music and the very complex total of 35 different rhythm cycles. I am trying to master the main 7 patterns, which I have to learn by heart and sing in normal (1st) speed, as well as double and quadruple speed, while firmly beating the rhythm with hands and fingers in an equally complex pattern, which sometimes seems to mis-match. It is quite logical really, but can only be mastered with LOTS of practise. Also I am working on singing exercises in a scale with several flat notes, by which you learn to jump automatically in 1 1/2 as well as 2 1/2 note intervals, which really requires a lot of practise and dedication! Last class he told me to ring him and organize the next class for when I have done some serious practise – I think the message is clear…. not sure how far I will get with it, but it is a fascinating science indeed. Better get practising….

At the Salar Jung Museum in central Hyderabad, is a visiting exhibition of the Jewels of the Nizam. It was meant to finish one month ago, and the exhibits were to go back to the vault in the Central Bank Of India, but due to some bomb scares in Mumbai and Delhi, it was decided the jewels were safest in Hyderabad for the time being. So this was our luck, and we braved the high security and the price tag of 500 rupees entry for foreigners, to take a look. We were not allowed to take anything in but our tickets, and had a full body search twice before entering the exhibition.

The jewels were sold to the government of India from the 8th Nizam in 1996. He had inherited an powerless empty throne from his grandfather the 7th Nizam in the sixties, well after Indian independence. His forefathers had for 7 generations ruled the area with the British, and were close allies. But now the 8th Nizam had to fund the paying back of some of his debts, which included a run down cattle station in WA, where he resided for some time. There was an ancient prophecy that the lineage of the Mogul Nizams would last until the 7th Nizam, and thereafter would cease to be. Certainly the 7th Nizam was the last Nizam to reside in his court in Hyderabad with his 156 wives and hundreds of natural and adopted children. He was a simple man, who ate of basic metal plates, although he was swimming in silver and gold cutlery. He also wore the same shirt for up to one week. (I guess his only excess was in the wives department). In sharp contrast his son, the 6th Nizam only ever wore the same shirt for one day in his life. He owned the worlds largest wardrobe, which is located in the Chowmohalla Palace in Hyderabad. He had in his time of rule purchased the South African Jacob Diamond, through a secret deal in Europe, which resulted in a court case.

At the start of the exhibition there were some fascinating photographs of some of the many wives of the 7th Nizam at court, bedecked in their incredible jewels, made principally of gold, diamonds, emeralds and pearls. Each wife has a complete set including huge necklaces, bangles, earrings, hair ornaments, and gigantic gold and diamond encrusted anklets. The jewels were originally stored in anything from huge crates to cardboard shoe boxes, and there was literally truckloads of the stuff. In fact the last Nizam found the Jacob Diamond, one of the largest diamonds in the world of more than 250 karat, in his fathers shoe, where he had placed it for safe-keeping. The new Nizam then used it as a paper weight for a long time, not knowing its full value. This diamond was on display in the exhibition. It is even today difficult to put an exact value on it.

Apart from the display cabinet containing the Jacob Diamond, there were around 30 cabinets, each filled with kilos of gold and diamond jewels. The diamond mine on the outskirts of Hyderabad, at Golconda, was famous for its diamonds, and it is from here that most of the diamonds in the jewels originate. But the Nizam’s purchased rubies as far away as from Bolivia. They would not pass up on good gems if they could find them. Most of the jewellery was made of gold with encrusted diamonds, many of them raw and uncut, which was interesting to see, as they really very much resembled glass. They were so huge, that had someone worn a necklace today, I am sure I would have thought that this was a bit gaudy, and not real.

Many of the necklaces had large set stones and drops made from raw emeralds, from where I imagine green became a favorite colour of the Moslems. The ladies anklets were incredibly huge and heavy, and encrusted with diamonds, and had pearl edging, and enamel patterns on the reverse side. One ceremonial belt (very useful) of the Nizam weighed 1.5 kilos, and was completely covered in diamonds. Another favorite design theme is the 9 precious gems, which is still very much in fashion here in India. It is thought that these 9 gems are very good for the whole body if worn against the skin. The 9 gems include diamond, pearl, red coral, emerald, ruby sapphire, moonstone and 2 others, which I have not yet worked out. I see many people wearing rings with these, but in the Nizams collection there were HUGE bracelets, and brooches. It was very interesting to see all the designs, as I can now clearly picture where the origin of many contemporary Indian jewelry pieces have come from. It is now easy to see why they call Hyderabad the City of Pearls – they should really add gems to that as well!

The whole collection was so dazzling, that we almost had sore eyes when we finally emerged from this real-life Alladin’s cave. Sandeep said I am a bit sick of looking at diamonds!… A friendly tour guide then told us that what we had just seen was only 2% of the entire jewellery collection of the Nizams! We were wondering if the rest was all hiding in Swiss vaults, and as the 8th Nizam left Hyderabad often having no great interest in the place, the palace was most likely looted by courtiers and anyone with access. Many people come to the exhibition claiming to be grandsons and daughters of the Nizam, which is easy to believe, but difficult to prove no doubt. Some of the wives now live in the US, probably benefiting from the wealth of their jewels. A fascinating exhibition indeed, and it was easy to imagine how everyday it must have felt to be drooping in diamonds, pearls and emeralds in the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Who was Salar Jung?
Salar Jung was a prime minister to the Nizam (king) of Hyderabad. He was a nobleman who owned lots of land, and collected lots of taxes. He was a very good friend of the British colonial rulers. Together they ruled Hyderabad and its surroundings. Salar Jung loved collecting art and artefacts from all over the world. The Salar Jung museum displays all his possessions. In the museum there are photos of him near the pyramids of Egypt. He was also a member of the British Masons. He was awarded a medal by Queen Victoria of England, and was given the title of His Exalted Highness.

What did he collect?
His enormous 35,000 piece antique collection includes: pure gold-rimmed wine glasses, English tea sets, silver cutlery, European furniture, Venetian glass chandeliers, European paintings, a vast collection of clocks and many other European things which filled his palaces. He also had a wide collection of Asian arts including: mogul miniature paintings, old brass and stone sculptures, carved South Indian furniture, Chinese and Japanese carvings in ivory, wooden toy soldiers, weapons, daggers and several types of carriages.

What I saw in the Ivory Room
It was sad seeing a whole set of chairs made from ivory, which was a gift from King Louis the XVI of France. There were boxes with very intricate carvings, and beautiful figurines from Japan. I also saw three statues of Jesus on the cross. It was very surprising to see a mat woven with thin strips of ivory. Outside there was a whole carriage made of ivory!

Salar Jung’s Swords and Daggers
Salar Jung’s ceremonial swords and daggers were displayed in the Jade Room. There was a sword with a jade handle covered in diamonds, and another encrusted with rubies and emeralds.
There were also cutlery sets with jade and agate handles.

The Clock collection
The Kings and the Queens of Europe loved collecting clocks, and so did Salar Jung. Salar Jung had so many clocks you need one whole massive room to display them all. There were at least five or more large grandfather clocks in the room, and also three different cukoo clocks displayed. Some of the more interesting clocks showed the day, date, month as well as the time.

My favourite part of the museum was the seeing the furniture of England and France from the 18th century and the palanquins that carried the Royal families around.

It took us one whole day to see just half of Salar Jung’s enormous collection.

I just heard that my class has changed and I have new Teacher for year 5, Mr Conway. Hi Mr Conway. I can’t wait to see you all when I get back to Australia. Hello Lily, Laura, Isobella and Bridgette. Send me a message.

Watermelon Stall on the Roadside

In order for Sandeep to collect his car from the smash repairers, he had to show the registration papers, which had been issued in Nizamabad, and were still with the agent there. So at 3:30am he caught the bus all the 180km, all the way to Nizamabad. They would not give these papers to his father to bring to Sandeep when he visited our new home… Such is the constant battle with bureaucracy in India. So Santosh came to check on Freya and I the morning and brought us some fresh cold milk. We quite enjoyed our quiet day at home, with Freya practising dance and doing schoolwork, and me cooking home cooked food, which is a bit of a treat for us nowadays.

Our Mattress Walla

Lunch was a real hit. We had found in the supermarket a packet of frozen chicken nuggets, and they were cooked up for lunch with the lovely Indian creamy potatoes, mashed of course, and steamed beans to go along. I wish all those friends of ours who we have stayed with (desperately trying to cook something Freya would eat), could have watched Freya lapping up everything to the last crumb on her plate. I too actually really enjoyed the plain flavour of potatoes and beans as well.

By the afternoon things were getting a little quiet, and as I hung some clothes on the line I spotted a sweet looking girl on the verandah across the road. She was keen to communicate, and after a while she said I’m coming over. So 12 year old Mounika was soon at the door, and within minutes she and Freya were striking up a conversation. The girls are now good friends and Freya showed Mounika how to play UNO, which they both enjoyed. Sandeep got back with his new car at 11:30pm exhausted.

The next day, after being house bound for quite some time, we celebrated by going out on the town to our favorite haunts, IMAX, and Hyderabad Central shopping centre. We checked out which movies were on, and then ate a lovely lunch in the fabulous food court – they make the best Bhav Bhaji there! After this onto the shopping centre, where a huge sale was on, and we hunted down some beautiful linen trousers and shirts for Sandeep and Guy. So many bargains it was hard to think. We ended our spree with Chinese dinner in one of the many restaurants… again feeling like we did not need to eat anything for a few days.

Sandeep visiting his best friend and trying on some police gear

Yesterday we met one of Sandeep’s best friends, who has just returned to Hyderabad. He went with us to negotiate for Sandeep over the installation of a new rear spoiler and brake light on his back windscreen. It was fitted within minutes while Freya and I watched from the back seat.

Whilst waiting we found some nice punjabi suit materials for Freya, the deal was buy one get 2 free – which was pretty good, even if the price of the one item was slightly inflated. I thought I might make them up myself, but after discovering their in-house tailor would do it all for $3 per outfit, we quickly went for that option. So Freya went to choose the all important necklines for her tops and in 2 days they will be ready for pick-up.

We had dinner at our local haunt, Hyderabad House which had just about run out of everything, but it was too late to try and find an alternative.

Freya had loads of fun trying on Sandeep’s friend’s glasses, and as we dropped him home Sandeep said he was keeping them – they make anyone look very intelligent. I told him it would be very bad for his eyes, and so I came to discover that they were only a fashion item with plain glass lenses….which was a relief as Sandeep was driving the car with them on!

Freya taking pictures of herself with Sandeep’s friend’s Fashion Glasses – now she wants a pair!

In order for Sandeep to pursue his great passion for dance, without his parents having either money nor influence, Sandeep left his hometown of Nizamabad, to live with a dance teacher at the age of 11. This was arranged in the ancient tradition of Guru Sheysha Paramapara – the teacher/student relationship, where the student serves the teacher, does everything for him/her in return for the guru’s knowledge. So Sandeep stayed in this teachers house being treated really as a servant to this lady, washing clothes, fetching vegetables from the market, cleaning the house, staying at home if she asked, going out if she asked, doing her beck and call. In return for this, Sandeep had in 3 months learnt 3 dance steps – yes that is 3! By this time he was so sick and his stomach was so bad that he would constantly vomit. He was really ill, but his desire to learn drove him on, and he would never telephone his father to complain. So it happened by chance that his father decided to pay him a visit, as he was in town. He was completely shocked when he found Sandeep. He took Sandeep to a hospital which was located on the ground floor of the building he stayed in with this lady. They said to him that his illness was so bad that they could not treat him, and recommended he be taken to a major hospital. One of this teacher’s senior students finally helped him get admission to a good hospital, as this would have otherwise been impossible to afford. After this his father decided to take him home to recover. It took Sandeep 45 days to get well after the time spent in that dance teachers house. But Sandeep’s desire to learn dance still overrode these experiences, and he wanted to return to that teacher. His father pleaded with him not to, and in the end Sandeep very reluctantly gave up returning.

So Sandeep was still desperately seeking a good guru who could teach him well, and in the pure tradition. It so happened that Sandeep then got to meet with a very great dance Guru Sri Nataraja Ramakrishna, who is highly honored by the government of Andhra Pradesh. He has single handedly revived the previously banned temple dances of Andra Pradesh, and renamed the dance form Andra Nathyam. In this meeting he took an interest in Sandeep and asked Sandeep about his financial position as well as his family commitments. Sandeep explained that as the eldest and only son, he would have to provide for his family’s future. So the great guru, with lots of care, gave Sandeep his best advice to try to help him: He said “There is no financial future in dance, so how will you ever support you family from such a career – Don’t do it”. But Sandeep would not hear it and insisted to him that dance was going to be his life. Nataraja Ramakrishna could see that Sandeep was really keen so he made this suggestion to him: “Go and dance in 101 temples in front of the Gods, and then lets see…”. Sandeep told he he would do exactly that.

So Sandeep took a logbook with him, in which he would record every performance, and got each one witnessed by a priest. He danced in many temples all over Andra Pradesh, and sometimes the priests of the temple would spontaneously honor him and award him. In a very auspicious 41 days he completed his performances in 108 temples (Sandeep thought this was a more auspicious number). After that he immediately returned to the guru’s home with the proof. As he waited to see him he could hear Nataraja Ramakrishna talking to his friend about this incredibly determined young man, who was going to sincerely go and follow his request and dance in 101 temples. At this moment Sandeep stepped in, and Ramakrishna was totally baffled that Sandeep was already back, and had more than completed his task. He was overwhelmed and gave him as big hug; he was very moved. He then said “Allright, now you can become my disciple”. Sandeep replied “No thank you Sir, I am sorry, but I want to learn Kuchipudi, I really have no interest in Andra Natyam”. This of course stunned the guru even more.

To this day Nataraja Ramakrishna, who has many disciples, still tries his level best to entice Sandeep to become his disciple, and for him to take the artform of Andra Nathyam into the future. Sandeep and Ramakrishna have a wonderfully loving relationship, and Sandeep is forever grateful for the way in which he came to learn dance in the temples directly from God, and not from any one guru.

So we have settled into everyday ‘home’ life here in the area called as Chaitanya Puri, which means place of heavenly bliss. The locality in which we are staying is Satya Nagar, which means place of truth. We are pretty wrapped in these lovely place names.

Although we are only 10 km from the centre of Hyderabad, if feels quite country-like here, with dirt roads, empty plots of land (littered with rubbish, but that is the norm), and not really very much traffic noise. We have watched a beautiful full moon on the verandah a few days back, and a soft golden sunset every afternoon from bedroom window.

The breakfast menu really depends on what time we get up in the morning. If we don’t get up by 8am, due to the powercuts we can’t have toasted sandwiches (which Freya really enjoys), and so Sandeep will walk to the little shop 50 metres down the road to pick up fresh, cold pasteurized milk for our cornflakes. If we get up after the power has gone we also have to wait until 10am before we can heat our water for showers. So mostly we have our baths in the middle of the day when the current is on. The morning is spent with much dance practise. Sandeep is planning to organize a performance on his birthday, February 25, so there is much for Freya to learn.

For lunch we usually have Sandeep’s favorite – pasta. This is also an easy dish to cook on our 1 burner gas stove! In the supermarkets here it is easy to purchase pasta, sauces and olive oil, we just miss the fresh basil. After lunch a sleepy atmosphere creeps in over the neighborhood, as the sun gets really hot, quickly drying all our washing on the balcony. It is very tempting to have a nap during the hot part of the day, but luckily this flat is quite cool and breezy. If we do sleep, we wake up pretty groggy, and have to get kick started by a strong cup of heavily boiled chai. By 4 pm the power is again on, and we can check our email, and Freya can use the iPod with speakers for her dance class. At dusk it is time to switch on the mosquito repellents in the power points, but Freya really loves the much more effective mosquito Zapper – it is shaped like a small racquet, has batteries and it literally electrocutes and fries any mosquitoes that as much as touches it. It is the sort of device that would surely be banned in Australia, as it gives quite a little zap if you touch it when it is on!

Freya on the hunt for mozzies

Last night Sandeep cooked a lovely South Indian dinner with fried ladies fingers (okra) and LOTS of rice – people in South India just love their rice. The whole life in the South and the landscape in the countryside is dominated by rice. We got out the laptop, and watched a Hindi movie version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth called as Macbhool – it was very well made. Freya also enjoyed a hot chocolate, made with milk powder, as we have no fridge for keeping the milk here.

We have now also employed a maid, which is pretty standard in India. She comes twice a day to wash clothes, sweep and wash the floors, and also wash up our dishes. It is a great and inexpensive arrangement, and I am sure it is going to be really easy to get used to it. Much harder to get unused to.

We have made a little ‘home-office’ on the bottom marble shelf in our wardrobe, but it gets pretty tiring for the back to sit here cross legged and write…I think we will go out and invest in a few chairs – (sheer luxury)! But we have to wait until Sandeep’s car is back from the smash repairers. A wildly drunk rickshaw driver crashed straight into the side of his new car 2 days ago, when he was moving our remaining luggage. Thankfully he is insured, and the repair work is only taking a few days. Wishing you all a great day from the place of heavenly bliss.

I am sitting here at home…at last!!! What a drama it has been to find a place to rent. But in the end we have ended up with a great 2 bedroom flat perfectly suited to our needs. We have a large marble floored lounge room, which is perfect for dance, and Sandeep’s dance student Santosh, who found this place for us, is so exited that he can now come for classes close to his home. Sandeep is giving full priority to Freya’s practise, and anyway the boys are used to getting their lesson at 2 or 3 am in the morning, whenever Sandeep has time. This area is on the eastern outskirts of Hyderabad, about 10 kilometres from the old city. To get here we have to take a turn off the main road to Vijaywada (and Kuchipudi), and drive 2 kilometers along narrow bustling roads. This is one of the best things about the place – that it is not so easy to find, giving us no disturbance from dance as Sandeep so happily puts it.

The rent is $130 per month, which we think is pretty good… You cannot imagine how many homes and flats we have looked at, and always there were issues such as why are these foreigners here – is it illegal to house them? And in many places the landlord only wanted a family and strictly no bachelors. I was really starting to give up hope, and our plan to evacuate to Sandeep’s hometown was looking more and more likely. But we all felt that in order to really get creative with dance, we needed our own independent place, even though Harshid’s family have been extremely sweet, and it has been such a pleasure staying with them and getting to know them.

Sandeep saw a wonderful apartment for $260 per month, and the owners were really keen to give it to him. So we went to meet with them, as they wanted to give Sandeep a final grilling. This family lived in the cleanest apartment I think I have ever seen in India. The tiled floor glistened and the fragrance in the home was floral and beautiful. The wife was really lovely, and she asked us with great interest as to what Freya and I were doing here. It gradually came out that they really would not accept anyone who could not commit to staying for two years. Our hopes were a bit dashed, when Sandeep spotted a great music CD on their mantle piece. This got us talking about music, and before long we discovered that this lady who was encouraging us to take interest in India music, was none other than the cousin of a famous South Indian singer Nityashree Mahadevan, whose singing Guy really loves. We told them we were big fans, and the meeting ended on a high note. Sandeep was happy as he had encoded on his Mac their CD of classical music set to modern rhythms.

The following day we headed to the other side of town, to look at some promising one and two bedroom apartments ( we could have the whole floor with both apartments), which were just built, but had not yet had fans and the ever popular florescent lights installed. There was even a view to greenery and palm trees lining the drainage canal which although probably mosquito infested looked very inviting. To our amazement the owners said that we could have it! I was so relieved as we met with the very friendly owners, who were very devoted followers of the saint Sai Baba of Shirdi. So we settled on the flat and drove off, but down the road is where we stumbled on the to let sign at these apartments. The flat was not new, but had the biggest living space of any apartment we had looked at as well as the best floor, and for us this was the main priority. The very chatty neighbor, who is a close friend of the owner, almost begged us to stay, after he discovered that we were dancers and singers. He offered for them to have the walls whitewashed (i.e. painted) but we said we will take it as it is, and we want to occupy from tomorrow. In the Hindu calendar February 1 was particularly favorable for moving, especially in the afternoon, so this is when we finally arrived here at our new home. I can’t give you an exact address as we really do not have a clue exactly where we are in the neighborhood.

After moving the first car load of our luggage we all went shopping for all important household items and foodstuffs. Hyderabad has two supermarket chains, where you can get most things. We stocked up heavily on pasta and pasta sauce, and bought stainless steel containers for grains and spices. We also aquired some lovely terracotta teacups, a dinnerservice and a huge container of drinking water, which can be attached to Sandeeps dispenser. Sandeep is very good when it comes to setting up a home, and really he had the whole thing under control. Now we just need a 2-burner gas stove and a gas connection, which you get on subscription- and that is the involved part. Meanwhile Sandeep has a one burner camping stove, which we can cook simply on. Sandeep went with Santosh and Srikath to the vegetable market, while Freya and I settled in, and they came back with kiwi fruits, beautiful tomatoes, fresh baby corn, and best of all tow baby coss lettuces, which I just can’t wait to make into a fresh green salad tonight.

This morning Freya had her first dance class, learning the first four stanzas of a beautiful piece in Sanskrit Mahalaxmi Astakam, which is going to be a very beautiful dance piece. It is about the sweetness and also fierce nature of the goddess as She destroys our foes- very dramatic and exiting. We were told that power is usually out in this area from 8-10 am and also 2-4 pm in the afternoon, but this morning power was off from 7-11.30 am…our nosey neighbor told us that they were doing some repair work to the lines, and so hopefully this is the case, and it will be more reliable tomorrow. At 1 pm our internet guys came to install our internet connection – yes OUR internet connection!!! Amazing the technology… they arrived with a very long cable, poked a hole in the flyscreen, then one guy climbed onto the roof to get the cable down to the street. Across the street is the powerpole with the connection, and so they quickly hooked it up over there, and gave us plenty of cable to move around the flat with. Then the power went off again, and now I am sitting here waiting for them to return to give us the final connection…

Gosh – thanks to a late night call to Guy just we are now online here at home – whenever we have power that is! So please email or Skype us!!! Just remember we are currently 5 1/2 hours behind, and will not be online between 7-10 am and 2-4 pm our time.

Better post this to everyone right now. Love from all of us here in Hyderabad.