Dear Hashers,
On the Municipal Elections Sunday, with the streets looking very colourful with party flags and bunting blowing in the breeze, we met at the Lakes at 7 am, to find the Buddhist Temple. We had two guests with lovely names - Wanja (Delphi’s guest) from Kenya via Ranchi which she finds very dull compared to Calcutta, and a French English dog belonging to Nicolas of The French Association, called Kiboko which means Hippopotamus in Swahili.

While we wanjared around the Lakes we noted that the wall had been heightened to prevent bathers washing their clothes in the Lakes. Peter was pleasantly surprised as he’d been there in March and hadn’t enjoyed the walk half as much. Having someone from Nairobi with us, it was quite a safari as I pointed out the hidden elephants, giraffe and dolphin (slide). There was even a man in a Ganesh mask promoting a painting exhibition of Ganeshes at Sikka Palace. For most of us it was our first visit to the Buddhist temple. George and I were surprised to find artifacts from Buddhist sites. There were pictures of other Buddhist temples all over the world and even a letter from Milton Keynes inviting us there to offer flowers, incense and prayers on their 25th anniversary celebration!

The prayers are held here every morning around 6 am and in the evenings around 6 p.m. We saw the huge drum, which is beaten during prayers I imagine. We even climbed up to the first floor where we were joined by latecomers Pradeep and Bonani who left Kiboko with Shantanu waiting downstairs. We continued our walks around the lakes but as we had stopped a while at the temple and again to see the idols under the trees by the lake of Sitola devi on a donkey who is never immersed but left to the elements, we were quite late getting back to the starting point.

Peter and Cees insisted also on going up to the mosque. I was delighted with the beautiful suspension bridge of Burn &Co Ltd dated 1926 leading up to in the middle of the lake the mosque that was unfortunately shut. From the bridge we saw the rowers practicing on the rowing machines of the Lake Club. The regatta may be this week.

Back at the Taj, we enjoyed our breakfast - even Kiboko who got some fried chicken liver and sausages that Bonani smuggled out to her during breakfast. Unfortunately dogs aren’t allowed in the Taj. Except for the sniffer dog we saw afterward when some of us visited the banquet room, which was being decorated for the lavish engagement party of the children of two industrial families. Delphi had insisted on showing this to us as she thought it was a horticultural show! Baishaki, the decorator who had organised the flower and landscape arrangements, had transformed the banquet hall into something easily mistaken for a garden show.