Sophie Mason's Blog (5)

Dear everyone. This will be a fairly short one, as I have too much to write about and my head is full of happiness. Nepal is bloody fantastic. I’ve been here for about three weeks now, relaxing and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. I’ve been trying to find the words to write about how I feel here, but there’s so much and I can’t express it much. My finger’s a bit buggered which makes typing less than fluid, but I’ll do my best. I'm off trekking for 10 days on Wednesday, after Nepali New Year… Continue

The last monstrous email was sent over a month ago now, so I’ve gathered together my scraps of paper and notebooks and photos and things to try and piece together something of these last few weeks in Delhi. In a couple of days, Kaspalita is coming from England to join the project, and I will be leaving to go see some more of India. I’m hoping to get to Sanchi, Ajanta and maybe Allahbad before going to a retreat in Bodh Gaya, seeing a bit of Varanasi maybe, then heading up to McLeod Ganj to atten… Continue

Happy New Year! Where to start? It’s been a while since I wrote anything down and a lot has happened, so I’m forcing myself to sit and set fingers to keys. Please bear the following health warnings in mind: firstly, I’m in a fabulous mood, if any of this sounds sickeningly wonderful, then I apologise for any inconvenience caused (Dad, you especially!) secondly, before editing, this whole thing is about eight pages long (I’m going to cut it a bit) but I’ve written a kind of ‘summary’ at the start… Continue

News From India 2: Tuesday 11th November. Sunday the 9th was an auspicious day, and hundreds of people were getting married. It is the season for weddings too, so getting hold of a sari to wear – to the wedding of a childhood friend of Prakash’s – turned into a major expedition! I couldn’t find a ready-made blouse (the bit you wear under it) anywhere. Prakash’s sister very kindly lent me one of hers, and altered a blouse to fit me (she’s much smaller than me). Once sorted so I could actually ge… Continue

It is cooler today; the erratic electricity at the flat is charging up the laptop and powering the television and mosquito repellents, but not the ceiling fans. It is about midday, and loud bangs reverberate around the buildings, but are not as startling to us as they were a few days ago. Sahishnu and I have been in India for two weeks now. We have visited and been visited by lots of very different people, folk just seem to turn up here – I love it! You never know what’s going to happen. Yesterd… Continue