Monday 3rd February

What a fantastic week it's been! We went to Madurai, got some money for February and had a superb slap-up meal at the Pandyan. We popped in to see Rev and Aunty Fenn so that I could give him my 'final' plans for our Round Trip. The Plan is excellent, I only hope it turns out that way. The Pastor will send us a load of addresses so that we can write to people in advance. We'll go to Cumbum for a few days, then have a holiday in Cochin, Kerala, then go on the Round Trip proper.

He (Pastor Fenn) told us lots of Interesting and Useful stories about his own experience travelling around India. Tales of folks who slash your bag / pockets open, nick your stuff and jump off the train, people who steal everything while you're asleep and gangs who split you up so your attention is on your companion rather than your bag and money. guess we'll have to be quite careful, then.

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We found a Western music shop! It was quite up to date as well, with albums from 1996 - all costing Rs75 (about £1.20!). We couldn't find any mushrooms or baked beans though. I think if someone from home saw how much we crave Western food they'd probably be disappointed in us. I'm not sure how far we're supposed to take our experience of the food. If it didn't have so much coriander and chilli in it I think we'd eat a lot more. I know JP was secretly shocked that we have Wheat Flakes for breakfast and boiled vegetables for lunch as opposed to his Dosai and tiffin. But look what happened to his bowels!

Because we usually have tiffin in the evenings I do tend to have one 'loose movement' a day, but the Wheat Flakes make sure it doesn't last. I'm always hungry though, I think it's because we don't eat much bread. Most of the food we have - visiting people we've just met - is horrible, but Juliet's is superb.

Last night's dinner with (the gorgeous) Miss Shanti was such a feast! Chicken masala (which was NICE for a change!), potato korma, egg masala, omelette, burri and dosai. we had cucumber, oranges, apple, bananas and cherries for pudding! To top the evening off, Errol Flynn was on the telly in Robin Hood. A marvellous escapist moment, we quite forgot we were in India!

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Going back to Madurai, someone on the bus asked me what I thought of India and I said it was 'very fine' (standard answer). He said Don't tell 'fine', it's a useless bloody country! Full of corruption and taken over by films. He said if a teenager has 10 Rupees, 5 goes on the cinema, two on cigarettes and three for food and sweets. He didn't think this was an appropriate way of spending your money. But he asked if people would help him if he went to England, like everyone does to us here and the answer was probably not.

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We went with Rev Jothinayagam to his churches yesterday. The first was a small village church, only eight years old. Right opposite is a Hindu temple and the Rev said that there's a lot of competition with the Hindus ringing their bell when a service is on and things. The service was very free and haphazard, hymns and choruses punctuating the Tamil frequently.

Two men gave testimonies, one of whom was recovering from a heart attack so I guess his was about still being alive. both men sang songs and even though we couldn't understand what they were saying - the obvious emotion made the message pretty clear. The Rev got us to introduce ourselves and we answered questions about Christianity in England and our home church. I hope we didn't make it sound too bad! The songs were lively and the Rev kept putting English bits in so we knew where we were.

We went on to the treasurer's house while Jothi (the Rev) went to the refugee camp. We weren't allowed to go with him because he'd had a heated argument with the 'Camp commandant' (or something) when he tried to take JP there on Wednesday. JP has gone back to Madurai now, pending his move to Tirunelveli. Anyway, we watched Star TV's Top Ten Films, had some vile dosai-cum-idly's and went to the bridge to Rameswaram¹.

There we watched the fish, fishermen and wasted time for a bit. We saw a mother dolphin with her babies and some flying fish - lots of great photos but I'd left my camera behind in one of my clever flashes of uninspiration. After a while, we moved on to Jothi's 'head office', a an unfinished church in the town / village of Pamban. The town was hit by a cyclone about five years ago and the church was destroyed. With very little funding and no help from the diocese, Rev Jothi has gradually rebuilt the church.

At the moment the walls and ceiling are finished, but need to be plastered and it could do with a floor, some doors and power. He's spent about four lakh (Rs400,000) on it so far, reckons he needs another two to finish and wants money from our churches.

He took us to another village, to show us how poor his congregations are. Living in tiny palm-leaf houses, the fishermen spend their days on borrowed boats, while their wives stay at home and do very little. To try and stir up compassion, or to 'show us how it is', he took us to meet some sick people who can't afford treatment. A woman who is paralysed down one side, a blind man who was told it would cost Rs1500 for an operation and a woman with cancer. I felt very uncomfortable, sitting there while he told us about their misfortunes. It was much better when people invited us into their homes rather than walking in just to look, smile sympathetically, then leave.

The Rev does do an incredible amount, with nine churches in the poorest areas. His congregation can't afford to give him money and the bishop doesn't like him because he's a Hindu convert. So if the bishop won't let him ask agencies for money, where can he get it from? His own pocket, that's where. And us, he hopes.

He's quite critical of Veerambal and the way they describe themselves as Dalits. For him, Dalit means poor and uneducated and Veerambal is neither of these compared to his villages. Most people in Veerambal have degrees and have been overseas, apparently. I don't think he likes Rev Athisayam much either. Jothi is the senior pastor here and Athisayam gets all the important jobs. Even the pastor from Veerambal is Correspondent for the boys hostel here. Jothi says he is being punished by the bishop and the next step will be for him to be posted to Shri Lanka.

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It was a good day though and he wants us to go back with our cameras so the folks at home will 'believe' us! Not sure I approve, but he's quite desperate for money although his jolly personality hides it. I think second-hand clothes and stuff will be a much safer option.