1st stop Rajahmundry

I stopped for 2 days in Rajahmundry on the way to Kolkata to say goodbye to Praveen and Sirisha, and to check that Prisca was booked into a school for the new school year. Also, I'd heard that Andrew and Shubha had opened a school in Kadium and wanted to visit them as well.

It was lovely seeing the little Rajahmundry family again, the kids get older every time I see them, and Prisca calls me her Australian mummy!! She speaks to me quite often on the phone and says 'Hello Abi Aunty, how are you? I am fine. I love you'. it's so cute. She doesn't understand what I'm saying, but she will after a year at an English Medium school. Sirisha's English has improved amazingly over the 5 years that i've known her. She's way better at English than I am at Telegu, but now we can survive quite well on our own and CAN communicate to each other past the basic needs.

Andrew and Shubha's baby little Nissy is no longer Nissy, in fact from being a premature baby, she's now really Really chubby and very cute. Andrew's mum looks after her all day while Shubha teaches at school, and Shubha just goes home for her lunch break as the school is only 5 minutes walk from their house. The school seems well set up with 4 classes and new building projects going on and a plan to grass the play area to make it nicer for the children...probably particulary during the monsoon's.

I was there for 2 days and both days it was cold and I wore a Sari. The weather has finally broken. The monsoon has arrived!!! YAY...in the afternoon every day it gets dark and begins raining. By morning it's still damp, and cloudy, but no longer raining.

When I arrived at the station to travel to Kolkata I found out that I didn't have a reserved ticket from Rajahmundry to Kolkata. I was number 1 on the waiting list. Quite a scary thought, and when I got aboard, my fears increased cause the train was packed with holidayers travelling back north Vacation over and the kids getting ready to return to school.

God provided as usual. I'd explained the situation to the people in the carriage when I sat down and let them know I was waiting for the TT. Even before the TT arrived for me to ask if there was a berth somewhere else, a lady offered me her berth. They would just accomodate the people on the berths, cause they didn't have enough anyway. Her 8 year old son also wanted to share the family dinner with me, so I got treat to some lovely roti with an amazing flavoured tomato chutney. More like a dip than a curry. Was incredible. I felt very looked after.