It's Friday and I'm going to have to get Juliet to organise herself more with these morning songs. I'm not happy with the way she sends boys round at nine to fetch me for the assembly. Usually I'm sat in my lunghi eating breakfast when they come and I have to rush around getting ready. We did 'Bind us Together' and the nine-fifteen bell went off halfway through, like it has done every morning this week. It's so annoying! One of the Tenth Standard girls came and asked me for a tape of songs! I'm flattered - we don't have any contact with Tenth Standard, but she is one of those people you end up talking to anyway. She has a Western style fifties haircut so she stands out as most girls have their hair tight and plaited.
Last night we did our second worship service which I wrote and Juliet came with Miss Shanti and the Rev Jodanier (David Jason), the Rameswaram pastor. It was all about gifts and using the gifts God gave us to help others, with emphasis on the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus as an example to us all. I asked JP to read the parable of of the talents and say a few words. The atmosphere was much better than last week and I think they all enjoyed it.
The Schwartz Matric HM didn't come because with her hearing problem she felt she wouldn't be able to participate. She spent Rs4,000 on a hearing aid but it didn't suit her and she's too scared to have an operation in case it gets worse. It's awful because she wants to do so much for us but it inhibits her quite a lot.
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JP is ill. Obviously his three weeks of purely South Indian food has finally caught up with him. I cringed when the Rev [Athisayam] packed him into an Auto and whisked him off to the Christian doctor - remembering my own experience on the back of his moped! Not to mention the used needle in my sandal. No idea at all - the poor chap could hardly walk.
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I'm definitely in love with Miss Shanti. She's just so nice and bashful and elegant. She came round to listen to the tape I'd recorded for her and I forgot to give her tape player back. She's invited us round for dinner on Sunday and wants to go to a studio to get some proper photos done! She told me Her full name and said lots of nice things about about my singing. I blamed it on my mum.
Everyone's upset that we're leaving in only four weeks and Miss Shanti looked so devastated that I just wanted to give her a big hug - but of course I couldn't. It's going to be really difficult not being able to hug people when we leave. It's going to be even more difficult not being able to come back next year. It's people like Juliet, Yesu, Jerry, the HM and Miss Shanti who I really don't want to fade into memories. I'm going to have to make sure they don't. That'll be even harder.1
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We're going to Madurai tomorrow and I'm going to risk another haircut! We'll be going to the Pandyan for lunch, a meal I've been looking forward to all week! I'll also book our Round Trip tickets with Rev Fenn.