The Elves and the Shoemaker at the Z-Arts Centre

Hello All, 

News has reached us that the Stuff and Nonsense Theatre company are back with another quick-selling production.

Taken from the Z-Arts site:

'Sat in his kitchen workshop, Sam Lacey makes terrible shoes and tries to sell them online. They are so bad that no-one really wants them, not even his neighbour (who thinks he should give up and get a real job!). Then one night, two tiny visitors climb in through the window and start cutting and stitching and gluing… and Sam’s life is never quite the same again!'

28th September is the date, from 1pm - 2:30pm. 

Tickets: 

Standard - £7

Concession - £5

Family (any four people of any age for £20, you must be a member of their family membership scheme). Age recommendation: 3+

M15 Resident (available to residents living in the M15 postcode. We are a charity and we sell these tickets on an honesty basis, but ticket holders should be able to show ID if asked) - £5 

You can book your tickets by following this link: Z-Arts-tickets.

See you there!

The Ganges, the Whizzkids and More Holy Cows

We woke up very early in Dehra Dun as today's itinerary took us to Haridwar, which is a good 90 minutes away by car. 

Haridwar is one of the seven holiest places in India - the River Ganges runs through it - and the town is dedicated to Lord Shiva. I was massively excited as I love all things religious; meanwhile, Iris was counting cows - not your typical working cows, but the Holy cows, and she counted 106 on the way there. Is she obsessed? You decide!
Haridwar certainly did not disappoint. The Ganges is broad, mighty, rather dirty, and lined with temples and ghats (which are a set of steps leading into the river). Saddhus, the Holy men, wandered through the streets. 

Our sightseeing ended when we were whisked off to Whizzkids International School. Imagine our delight when we were greeted by breakfast in the principal's quarters! We were given home made puris, potato curry and mango pickle - utterly delicious. It was particularly satisfying as this is the traditional food pilgrims eat after they have purified themselves in the Ganges. 

After breakfast, it was off to the classrooms with us; each of us had a packed room of over 60 teenagers, keenly waiting for the writing workshops to begin. The fans whirred overhead as the kids wrote some fantastic stuff - and halfway through a boy came in bearing Coca Cola for us! Indian hospitality is the best! We signed autographs, met and spoke to the kids and they showed us their work. All of this has given Iris and I an idea, though we will not be divulging it just yet.
Afterwards we had a brief drive through the centre of Haridwar for photos and I dipped my finger in the Ganges. Gunjan from MMU India also took the opportunity to pay her respects to this awe-inspiring, female river. She told me later at the station that women who are looking for a husband traditionally pray to Lord Shiva, so if any of our readers are lonely hearts, you know what to do!
Our train back to Delhi was a little delayed, but we were served with a meal and the carriage was fully air-conditioned, so even though we didn't check into our hotel till nearly midnight, we were content.
This morning we had a very exciting meting with Shaguna from the British Council and Rachna from Nivesh, the NGO that has organised the book festival here. We devised plans for continued cooperation and cannot wait to share them back in the UK. In just a couple of hours we're off again to Chandigarh, a relatively new town that is around four hours by train to the north of Delhi, built to replace Lahore after partition. It was designed by Le Corbusier, the famous architect. We won't be arriving till late, and then it's another early start as we carry out more workshops with teenagers, as wel as some with teachers and students. As we'll be going straight from the workshops to the station, and won't be back in Delhi till late, we won't have a chance to do more than tweet before our return to the UK.
From there, the fun will really start - there's MCBF 2014 to think about, and how to carry on this wonderful Indian partnership. Brush up on your Hindi, everyone!

Sherry

Sunday and Monday's adventures: Dehra Dun and its wonderful teenagers

Sunday is not exactly a day of rest in India, but it was a day of rest for us. Our aim today was to get to Dehra Dun in Uttarakhand for the next leg of the Book Festival. Our train wasn't due to leave till half three so we had some spare time.

We chose to visit the Gandhi Museum for two reasons - to escape the intense heat and to indulge my love of Gandhiji and all he stands for. Did you know he was inspired by John Ruskin? And Tolstoy too. However, we'll move on as I have promised Iris I will not write an essay on Gandhi. To add to our mellow mood, there's a monsoon rain beating down as I type! Even by Manchester standards this is pretty intense. We were feeling nicely chilled before our mammoth train journey north. 

New Delhi Station is the most confusing place in the world, and if it wasn't for Gunjan of MMU India we would still be there; she found a porter for us, located our carriage, and safely installed us in our seats. Further down the carriage were Shaguna from the British Council along with Emily Gravett and her partner. The carriage was air-conditioned and wonderfully atmospheric. Vendors came down the aisles offering birianis, pizzas, whilst crying 'pani!' (water) and, our favourite, 'tomato soup!' Six hours later, after tantalising glimpses of the Indian countryside, we arrived at Dehra Dun, ready for bed. 

And then it was Monday. The school we were scheduled to visit was next door to the hotel, but Indian hospitality is such that the school sent a small bus for us. We were ushered into the vice-principal's office and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about the Indian school system whilst enjoying chai and samosas. Our sessions were with very large audiences of keen Indian school kids, many of whom want to send their stories to be part of the next MCBF. As a gift, we gave a copy of Animal Stew to the school along with plenty of MMU pens. We have learned that Indian teens are just as obsessed with zombies as English kids. Also, my favourite question was 'How do the English celebrate Christmas?' We were also interviewed by a local journalist, sung the praises of the Writing School, and had our photos taken. There were other Indian writers with us too.  At the end, we were taken to see the Principal who gave us gifts to mark our visit. 

Guess what - we had a free afternoon!  People of a jealous disposition, look away now.  Together with Gunjan, Emily and her partner, we took a car up to the hill station of Mussorie. It was ramshackle, cloudy, cool and dripping atmosphere. There were stalls selling Tibetan and Nepali shawls, and shooting galleries of coloured balloons. And cows and monkeys. We had the best pakoras ever in a hotel up in the clouds - the ultimate high tea (Iris's joke, not mine). The monsoon rain started again on our way down. Tomorrow, our destination is Haridwar, one the seven holiest places in the Hindu religion - the Ganges flows through it.

Sherry