Independence Day, pool rules & mini Ricky

Saturday was Independence Day here in India – the 63rd one to be celebrated but the first for me.  The village school put on an event in the cowshed to mark the occasion and I roped Hari into taking me there in time for the 9am flag hoisting ceremony.  I’d asked him a few days in advance if he’d mind working Saturday morning as a one off and he was fine about it.  Then on Thursday I told him where we’d be going and he said “oh madam traffic will be big problem as border will be closed”.  I asked a few probing questions and it turned out that the border was only closed to trucks, not to Hari’s motorcycle so he would in fact be able to get to us on time – albeit without a whole lot of enthusiasm.

There were about 100 kids there from both schools in the village and they had a great time singing songs, doing Bolliwood dancing, reciting poems and then lots more singing.  It wa so hot in that shed but none of them minded.

Turned out there was no urgent need to get there on time.  The flag hoisting was running about 2 hrs late.  Personally I think the problem was that there were just too many people involved in the process but the official line was that the hole in the ground was deficient and there was a problem with the rope.  In any case, the kids were all handed hats and flags to show their patriotism and that kept them occupied for a while.

I think the water buffalos were smarter than we give them credit for.  I’m sure they knew that flag wasn’t going up any time soon. 

Finally the pole made it into the ground and stayed upright.  The kids started cheering and singing Indian songs, eagerly waiting for the flag to be unfurled and guess what????  There was yet another problem with the rope.

This kid in the green in the front row was classic.  He held that look for the next 5 mins while the main guys worked on the rope.

And the local onlookers who climbed onto the roof for a peek at what was going on seemed to find it all pretty amusing too. 

In the end it all came together and they all really got into the spirit of everything. 

Even Hari got into it and on the way home he said “that was very nice celebration.  I think was good sir stayed at home though. I think he no like the waiting around and the heat”.  Note to self – Must get Hari a mirror!!!!

Back at our apartment complex, the vigilante pool attendant bloke is officially out to get us.  He’s not been happy with us since we had a go at him a few weekends back.  This is the guy who has tried all along to get us to take a shower prior to diving into the pool and more recently has tried in vain to get me to wear a swimming cap.  We have attempted to explain to him that it’s not HIM we have a problem with – it’s the inane rules that we don’t like – but he seems to have taken it all quite personally and now reverts to getting his boss involved whenever he sees us coming.  The straw that broke us was when we were using the squash court one weekend to give H some tennis practice with his soft foam balls.  None of us had shoes on, there was no hard tennis ball in sight, no one else was wanting to use the court but we violated rule 69003, subsection II which apparently states that squash courts cannot be used for tennis. Pool attendant man saw his opportunity, leapt at the chance to ping us finally and brought his boss over to see the offense for himself.  It ended up in a not so nice conversation that we are not proud of but the bottom line is he could not tell us why what we were doing was a problem in any way other than it was in direct violation of the rule. 

Yesterday we had some friends over for lunch and decided to take a dip in the pool afterwards.  He was on duty, saw us and went directly into military mode.  He’s smart enough to know now that fighting us on the shower or swim cap rules is futile but he was a shoe in with a couple of new rules.  About 30mins after we dived in it started pouring and it turns out one of the new rules is “no being in the pool when it’s raining”.  We asked the guy why that’s a problem – “we’re already soaking wet mate” – and he said (of course) “because the rule is no being in the pool when it’s raining”.  Short of getting in himself to drag us out (which would put him in violation of that very rule) he wasn’t going to win that one either.  So he disappeared and 5 mins later he’s back with back up.  The next new rule to be enforced is that guests must pay for the use of the pool facilities.  So he turns up with a black folder by the side of the pool with a bill for us to sign.  Steve asked to see the rules and that turned into another saga – but in the end we paid……that rule does actually make sense……pool attendant man smiled and got a pat on the back from his back up team as he walked away.  He was due for a win.  Poor bloke is just the messenger but it’s the blind following of rules which don’t make sense and are never questioned that just does our head in.  Next rule to be fought is the bright idea someone has come up with that the biggest and deepest pool is only for lap swimming at all times. Harvey’s loving the pool at the moment and his favourite one is in fact the deepest one which I think is great because it’s the only one where he can’t touch the bottom and is therefore learning how to swim properly. So far no one has objected to us playing in there still and given our buddy has won one recent fight, well that might buy us another week in the large pool before we have to strap on some ammo again!. 

Outside of the pool, H is also improving with his cricket.  He must have paid attention with the recent Ashes games that Steve was watching on tele.  Now when we play with him he insists on wearing the full gear (or at least his version of the gear).  He’s not at all interested in bowling so maybe Ricky will be his hero – or Sachin????