The organist librarian

Christmas Day continued. Had a lovely swim and a rest. Went to see the spotted deer, boars, peacocks and eagles at the small game park at the hunting lodge where the guide explained about the wall paintings. A lovely spot as the sun was going down. We were able to speak to Dennis, Bruce, Grainne and Sophia on Skype but alas could not get Louise Tom and Ciarán in Ireland. Still we sent texts and later we saw the short video of Ciarán saying Happy Christmas. To the free dinner at   Ambrai which is on the lakeside opposite the floodlit palace -   a lovely location and excellent food. We had lamb and chicken done in local style and gulak taman, round sweets. Also nice mocktails. Watched The Nutcracker on TV from Seattle 1983. Dropped off and woke at 1 and 7. St Stephen’s Day Good breakfast and a box of goodies for later. Our guide Lokmani was excellent and never mentioned shops once. In fact it was a delight not to be harassed by hawkers at all! What a lovely place Udaipur i...

Dec 22 Posted blog on internet and checked emails. Sent a complaint email about Delhi guide. Had a very nice Rajasthani meal at our hotel the Golden Tulip. A buffet with delicious sweets. Dec 23. Downstairs for 7.30 and found St Xavier’s church next to big school with balloon for Christmas! Jesuits. Turned out mass was at 8.30 a.m. so ended up having coffee with 3 of the priests. The school principal older and wiser and he made some interesting observations. In India people may be poor but they are not alone whereas in the west they are lonely and nobody has time to talk to you. The Mass was in English with 2 priests and a music group which used their own hymnal compiled by young people. This seem to contain most of the worst 70s American hymns and we had nothing to do with Advent or Mary! All the proper texts were incorrect even the Lord’s prayer and after a while everything seemed to sound the same. The Swedish mass for the Kyrie. Noted one item by Kavin Mathew (Kevin Mayhew?)....