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 B.O.G. Ladies bring plate - men bring drinks.
-__S.B.W. contact: Barbara Bruce - Phone 669,0411 Ex.550 or 546,6570 (H).
+__S.B.W. contact__: Barbara Bruce - Phone 669,0411 Ex.550 or 546,6570 (H).
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+=====George Gray, The Pope And Calendar Reform.=====
+by Owen Marks.
+Recently in last April's edition of the S.B.W. magazine there was a most useless article on Dates for Easter for the next hundred years or so (now we know what George Gray does with his computer!), but it made me think of a promise I made in a previous article, and that was to write about Calendar Reform - so here goes!
+"Why bother to make a new calendar at all?" you may ask. At the present time a simple thing like your own birthday falls on a different day each year, but a new calendar would be perpetual. The movable feast of Easter is obviously in need of reform. If Jesus was born on a fixed day, why didn't he die on one too? I wish someone would explain it to me. But fixing a permanent date for Easter is not really bound up with a national concept for calendar reform. No, that lies with the Christian churches to solve for themselves or for Governments to force on their own churches under their own dominions. Unlikely, but who would have forecast the actions of Queen Elizabeth I's father?
+When Napoleon changed the order in France his metrical calendar reform failed because people couldn't get used to NOT having a seven-day week. Neither would we. Our present calendar is made up of odd months of different days with the first half of the year having 181 days (182 in leap years) and the second half having 184. The number of days to a month is quite unimportant and I don't think that anybody would be concerned if, in our present calendar, April had 31 or March 30.
-GEORGE GRAY THE POPE AND CALENDAR RETORM. . by Owen Marks.
-Recently in last April's edition of the S.B.W. magazine there was a most useless article on Dates for Easter for the next hundred,.yea,rs or so (now we know what George Gray does with his computer:), but it made me think Of a promise I made in a previous article, and that was to write about qalendar Reform - so here goes:
-"Why bother.	make a new calendar at all?" you may ask. At the present time a simple thing like your own birthday falls on a different day oach year, but a new calendar would be perpetual. The movable feast of Easter is obviously in need of reform. If Jesus was born on a fixed day, Why didn't he die on one too? I wish someone would explain it to me. But fixing a permanent date for Easter is not really bound up with a national concept for calendar reform. HD, that lies with the Christian churches to solve for themselves or for Governments to force on their own churches under their own dominions. Unlikely, but who would have forecast the actions of' 'queen Elizabeth I's father?
-When Napoleon changed the order in France his metrical calendar reform failed because people couldn't get used to NOT having a seven-day week. Neither would we. Our present calendAr is made up of odd months of different days with the first half of the year having 181 days (182 in leap years) and the second half having 184. The number of days to a month is quite unimport*t and I don't think that anybody would be concerned if, in our present calendar, April had 31 or March 30.
 Below is how the NEW WORLD CALENDAR would look and how it would work:.
-JAN APR'JULY OCT	MAY AUG NOV	MAR JUNE SEP 'DEC
-.	,.Ini									MIIIIIII				.
-		T								TIC:	,-	-.			Vi	T
-					' ..)1,			T	W					.	4 u.	6		1111111	9
-ri	12				-					1						.._
-'3												4	g
-		3	11		ell	i 1				1	5
-	El	23E1		!G111111?'.				6	, 7	6	9	io	1 I	12		3
-	11111B	15	,-..)_,-(ci		i'411
-																ic-1111
-	14	i5A,	1"?	18	1,9		ri	1	19		t31/4	F
-)12.1i	2									11:4.t.25	26
-										----		as	2.6				a0	2'	a
-.C-i	Li	22123	74						?".7	-2.6	-297
-_2								rii	48-	Z913.0	31
-,	9	30																				ti,/	LI
-Each quarter would have the same number of days, the same for each half year and there would be 364 days in the year. The additional day would be' squeezed in between the 30th December and the 1st January and be a 7 (WORLD) day.:	very four years an L (LEAP) day would be placed after June 30.
-Obviously the W day would be a world day to celebrate the new year and the 4day/which has to be placed somewhere, either after W day or after June30 would also be a world-wide national holiday. Or sane-such.
-FEB
-Can you see anything wrong with such a scheme? Of course there is, but it is not insurmountable. At the end of every year there would be an 8-day week and the same for the leap year day every four years, and the
-Page 8	THE SYDNEY ,BUSHWALKER	August, 1981.
-Sabbath would fall behind. The only organizations that would be against it in a laud voice, would,ba_thoe:...religions that -have. 6. Sabbathday to keep holy or to be more accurate, those that have a holy day every 7 days, i.e. only the Jews, Muslims and Christians. Don't laugh' or. be fazed by numbers. Read on
-The Muslim calendar in use at present is solely lunar, and that means that a particular event wanders through the seasons.... 12 months of 28 days, lunation equals 336 days. In offices and consalates you can see two calendars hanging up, but the Friday is always on the seventh day.
-The Jewish calendar has 12 lunar months and every so often an extra month is added. When you go-to Israel, you can see their lunar.calendar and the' Gregorian'calendar as well on the walls. Last month the Israeli Government wouldn't even pass a daylight saving act of one hour, because it would interfere with the Sabbath. The same weird argument like the extra . hour of sunlight fading the curtains. So both the Muslim and Jewish cultures with their calendars don't have to tie in with the Great Western Calendar...,, either the old Gregorian or the proposed New World Calendar.
-_What would the Christian churches do? There are so many of them that it is extremely unlikely that they could, or would want to, agree with any- - thing that their rivals would suggest. You may remember the cry "Give us back our. eleven days" when England suddenly adopted the Gregorian calendar. ItF was only because of catholic Europe that Englandaut of spite refused to adopt it earlier, and don't let us forget the fact that it was not until the middle of the 18th century that England adopted January 1st as New Year's Day instead of March 25th.
-,luckily the Pope made things easy a few 'months ago when he brake one
+January, April, July. October
-of the.Te./.1 PgmMandments,.and,quite fortunately, itwas.the one that suits - my argument. I don't know how come our newspapers haverlt noticed it,. anyway you are reading it here for the first time. The Pope, after celebrating-the Sabbath'In-Japaiilow ia'AldSka and-On'to RoMe.for-Lant where hA olp.iausly celebrated the next Sabbath just 6 days later. The International Date Line made him lose a day. Did that concern him? I don't know, of course, and I hope his attempted assassination wasn't retribution from God, for His ways are mysterious at times. So if the Pope can have a 6-day week, his church can have one too or even an 8-day week l The Sabbath is obviously where the local community is celebrating it. This must occur every time an. ordained priest, rabbi, etc. cross from here to America, and without thinking they' fit in with the next community's Sabbath whether it is only . 6-ar-8-days after the previous one. It mustn't be 'boo irreligious to break the Sabbath law or otherwise millions and millions of tourists would be struok.dead when going to church on the wrong day.
+|M|T|W|T|F|S|S|
-The rest of the world would naturally follow the New Calendar. Billions of Chinese, Japanese and Indians have no Sabbath concept, -although in present times. they haire Sundays off from work, and this must be. just ar day of rest introduced from our cultures.
+|1|2|3|4|5|6|7|
-There have been many books written on the subject which you can find in your local library,Hdescribing other alternative calendars, reasons for and
+|8|9|10|11|12|13|14|
-Page 9	THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKM	August, 1981.
+|15|16|17|18|19|20|21|
-agpinst. I hope that there are not too many errors in the figures or dates, etc, as this article has been done at one sitting, at work and without any
+|22|23|24|25|26|27|28|
-reference books. It is purely an exercise in filling in time.
+|29|30| | | | | |
-Incidentally, in a science programme recently on the A.B.C. I heard
-that some time this year one second is to be added or substracted at midnight to balance the calendar with modern technology. Imagine, the Earth is out' of balance with the cosmos.
+February, May, August, November
-(Owen Marks - President of the Hastings Parade
+|M|T|W|T|F|S|S|
-Bondi Beach Branch of the Calendar Reform Society, Australian Section. Southern Hemisphere Division.)
+| | |1|2|3|4|5|
-* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *'* * * * *
+|6|7|8|9|10|11|12|
-TRAVELLING WITH CHILDREN IN INDIA - PART 5.
+|13|14|15|16|17|18|19|
+|21|22|22|23|24|25|26|
+|27|28|29|30|31| | |
+March, June, September, December
+|M|T|W|T|F|S|S|
+| | | | | |1|2|
+|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|
+|10|11|12|13|14|15|16|
+|17|18|19|20|21|22|23|
+|24|25|26|27|28|29|30|W|L|
+Each quarter would have the same number of days, the same for each half year and there would be 364 days in the year. The additional day would be squeezed in between the 30th December and the 1st January and be a W (WORLD) day. Every four years an L (LEAP) day would be placed after June 30. Obviously the W day would be a world day to celebrate the new year and the L day, which has to be placed somewhere, either after W day or after June 30, would also be a world-wide national holiday. Or some-such.
+Can you see anything wrong with such a scheme? Of course there is, but it is not insurmountable. At the end of every year there would be an 8-day week and the same for the leap year day every four years, and the Sabbath would fall behind. The only organizations that would be against it in a loud voice, would be those religions that have a Sabbath day to keep holy or to be more accurate, those that have a holy day every 7 days, i.e. only the Jews, Muslims and Christians. Don't laugh or be fazed by numbers. Read on...
+The Muslim calendar in use at present is solely lunar, and that means that a particular event wanders through the seasons.... 12 months of 28 days, lunation equals 336 days. In offices and consulates you can see two calendars hanging up, but the Friday is always on the seventh day.
+The Jewish calendar has 12 lunar months and every so often an extra month is added. When you go to Israel, you can see their lunar calendar and the Gregorian calendar as well on the walls. Last month the Israeli Government wouldn't even pass a daylight saving act of one hour, because it would interfere with the Sabbath. The same weird argument like the extra hour of sunlight fading the curtains. So both the Muslim and Jewish cultures with their calendars don't have to tie in with the Great Western Calendar... either the old Gregorian or the proposed New World Calendar.
+What would the Christian churches do? There are so many of them that it is extremely unlikely that they could, or would want to, agree with anything that their rivals would suggest. You may remember the cry "Give us back our eleven days" when England suddenly adopted the Gregorian calendar. It was only because of catholic Europe that England out of spite refused to adopt it earlier, and don't let us forget the fact that it was not until the middle of the 18th century that England adopted January 1st as New Year's Day instead of March 25th.
+Luckily the Pope made things easy a few months ago when he broke one of the Ten Commandments, and quite fortunately, it was the one that suits my argument. I don't know how come our newspapers haven't noticed it, anyway you are reading it here for the first time. The Pope, after celebrating the Sabbath in Japan, flew via Alaska and on to Rome for Lent where he obviously celebrated the next Sabbath just 6 days later. The International Date Line made him lose a day. Did that concern him? I don't know, of course, and I hope his attempted assassination wasn't retribution from God, for His ways are mysterious at times. So if the Pope can have a 6-day week, his church can have one too or even an 8-day week! The Sabbath is obviously where the local community is celebrating it. This must occur every time an ordained priest, rabbi, etc. cross from here to America, and without thinking they fit in with the next community's Sabbath whether it is only 6 of 8 days after the previous one. It mustn't be too irreligious to break the Sabbath law or otherwise millions and millions of tourists would be struck dead when going to church on the wrong day.
+The rest of the world would naturally follow the New Calendar. Billions of Chinese, Japanese and Indians have no Sabbath concept, although in present times they have Sundays off from work, and this must be just a day of rest introduced from our cultures.
+There have been many books written on the subject which you can find in your local library, describing other alternative calendars, reasons for and against. I hope that there are not too many errors in the figures or dates, etc, as this article has been done at one sitting, at work and without any reference books. It is purely an exercise in filling in time.
+Incidentally, in a science programme recently on the A.B.C. I heard that some time this year one second is to be added or substracted at midnight to balance the calendar with modern technology. Imagine, the Earth is out of balance with the cosmos.
+(Owen Marks - President of the Hastings Parade Bondi Beach Branch of the Calendar Reform Society, Australian Section. Southern Hemisphere Division.)
+=====Travelling With Children In India - Part 5.=====
 by Marcia Shappert.
-.11
-We somehow survived customs in Trivandrum. We arrived back in India an the day of New Year's Eve. We checked into the Hotel Armitha, where we had stayed before we went to Sri Lanka.
-We had been promising the children we would take them to an Indian movie, and finally the chance arrived. The movie was billed as "Special Musical Entertainment". The three hour movie cost 350 each (for the dress circle seats) and was typical in the theme - the eternal triangle, plus singing and some violence. The Indians all seemed to love it, and although we couldn't understand a word that was being said, we got the drift of the
-story and enjoyed it too. I had told the kids that if they didn't like it
-we would leave at the half, but they wanted to see the whole thing. Movies are not rated there as they are here for parental guidance, and all ages attend, but the violence didn't seem to bother anyone.
-We want back to our room and celebrated New Year's Eve with a cool drink and were in bed by 10 pm.
-Walking to the movie from our hotel we passed by an elevated bridge,
-under which at least 60 people were living - existing is more the word for it. It was obvious that it wasn't a temporary thing. I heard the cry of what sounded like a very young baby and I thought how lucky we were to have our children here in Australia, with some sort of future open to them. I,
-uppose that if you lived under a bridge all your life, you might hope your children could improve themselves enough to at least get a roof over their heads. Very depressing.
-The next morning we caught a bus to Kovalam Beach for the day. Living
-so close to the beach in Sydney, we said we w)uldn't bother with the beaches, but we were drawn to them and always enjoyed them. There is a very Wastern hotel complex at Kovalam. PJ and Craig rented a small sailboat for $3.00 for the afternoon. The Indians all swam in their underpants or fully clothed. It was interesting to watch. One thing wc=eally remember here
-were the Qicy-cold coconuts (12c each) We had when we arrived. They must have had a huge fridge to keep them all in.
-Page 10	THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKKR	August, 1981.
-We had a late lunch at the Kovalam Hotel for $19.001! We didn't feel any more full than we did at our favorite Braham restaurant where we had had lca'eakfast for the four of us for $1.65. That's what you get for going to Western places.
-We were up at 6 the next morning to catch a 7 apvtour to Cape Comorin, the most southerly point in India. The bus stopped at a restaurant for breakfast. Of the gix things we ordered they got five wrong, so we ended up with coffee and tea only. The tour took us back to Kovalam where we watched the fishermen hauling in huge U-shaped nets for about 40 minutes before we had to return to the bus.	(That's the trouble with bus tours - it's always time to go when something interesting is happening.) We arrived at Cape Comorin about 1.45 pm after stopping at a few temple complexes an the way. We were free to roam until 6 pm when the bus left. This is one, of the few spots in the world where you can watch the sun rise and set from
-the same place, so we :were really looking forward to the sunset. The Cape
-is a 'hole' of a place, with few redeeming features. Sleasy food stalls
-and cheap souvenirs was the name of the game. There is a memorial to Ghandi there which could be described as architectural hodge-podge. I've never	-
-seen such an ugly building in my life. I even had to take a picture of it to prove how ugly it was.
-We walked along the beach, sat and watched the fisherman (their boats were just logs tied together, really primitive). We took a ferry boat out tO the rock shrine and got back about 5 pm. Had a quick cuppa and settled down to watch the sunset. Hawkers trying to sell all sorts of junk. One girl about 14 years old really got my goat. When I said I didn't want to buy what she was selling, she said "10 Rs, that's only $1. What's that to you?" It mattered not to her that had she been giving it to me I would have refused it - it was such junk. We sat and waited for the sunset, but. unfortunately it was so cloudy we never got to see it. So we had spent the wliole day on a lousy bus tour and didn't even see the sunset. The tour cost $2.50 each for a 12-hour tour. The day was redeemed by having dinner at our favorite Braham restaurant. We had become familiar in the restaurant by this time and people smiled at us as we came in. What a wonderful place.
-We spent our last morning in .Trivandrum at the zoo. Quite a nice one. There were signs all over saying "Don't tease the animals", and yet the attendants would deliberately do this (poking the animals with sticks, etc) for money, so some Indian with a camera could get a photo of an animal 'in action'.
-We got back to the hotel about 12.45 to pick up our packs and decided to have lunch at the hotel restaurant to save time. We ordered at 1 pm and were told it would take about half an hour before it was served. By 1..45 (our bus left at 2.30) we asked again. Finally Craig and I got our meals, but PJ and Jenny didn't get theirs until after 2 pm. They literally gulped. it down so we could catch a taxi to the bus station - we made it with
-minutes to spare. The bus conductor tried charging us fall fare for PJ
-even though when we bought the ticket the day before we were told he was half fare. We didn't pay the extra fare, but it was a hassle.
-We were taking the bus from Trivandrum to Madurai, our longest bus
-ride, about 6 hours. We had tried booking a room from Trivandrum for
-Page 11	THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER	August, 1981.
-Madurai, as it was the first day of a 'World Tamil Conference'. We were told that hotels wouldn't take advance bookings, but because we would be arriving about 8 pm we would have no trouble getting a place. About 6.30 pm the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere, and we sat there for about
-hours with nothing to eat or drink. At one stage a man pedalled out from somewhere with icecream for sale. . His stock quickly sold out. Finally - about 9.30 we got going again, but the driver wouldn't stop at the next town So we could get something to eat. When he finally stopped (for 10 minutes) we quickly bought some cookies, fruit and a bag of candy. It was impossible to -sleep on the bus - the left the inside lights on and the road was so . rerrible that it was a very rough ride. Somehow PJ and Jenny managed to get some sleep. We finally reached Madurai at 2.45 am.
-We had been talking with a young English fellow and when we reached Madurai we decided to all stay together. Kevin said he faund some fellows who knew where rooms were available, so went with them in two trishaws. Craig and Kevin were going to share one room and the kids and I the other. When we got to the hotel, there were no rooms available. They said to try another place and so we went on until about 4.30 am, when we decided just =44D spread out our rain capes on the street and sit and rest. I was amazed
-at the number of people on the streets at that time of night. We had stopped at one stall for some coffee and it was packed. I guess if you don't have
-place to sleep/live, the streets are where you spend your time. Of course, we attracted a lot of attention. They just couldn't believe that Europeans would sleep on the streets like they do! The owner of the stall across from where we were sitting came over and told me I shouldn't let my child Sleep on the street, but must find a bed for her. When I told him we hadn't been able to find rooms, he just shook his head and walked away:
-Kevin and PJ said they would continue looking for rooms. They came back about 5.30 am to say they had asked at a hospital if we could stay there. They were told we could sleep on the floor in the out-patients
-department. We settled down on the floor there about 6 am.	(The worst toilet we found on the entire trip was at this hospital. It was beyond belief). At 6.45 they woke us up to say we had to move because the Patients were starting to come, but we could sleep in another spot - which we did until 7.30 when they said we would have to go - the space was required. When we got up we noticed that we had been sleeping at the bottom of a spiral stair- Case. Now it was lined to the top with curious Indian faces, all watching Us. The guards (armed) had watched us and our things to make sure no one disturbed us. We really appreciated them letting us sleep there.
-We all took a taxi to a big hotel and had a lovely breakfast - we felt We deserved it after no dinner the-night before and very little sleep. Toast and jam never tasted so good.
-Even this hotel (the most expensive in Madurai) was full, so we enquired about a flight back to Madras - it was obvious we weren't going to #nd a room. There was a special flight going back to Madras so we made reservations on that for 11.30 am. I was really disappointed as I had especially wanted to see the temple complex here. I had saved my temple
-viewing for here and now I was going to miss out.
-We bid farewell to Kevin (he was meeting his brother in Madurai) and
-Page 12	THE SYDNEY BUSHWLLKER.	August, 1981.
-headed for the airport. We arrived in Madras half an hour later and fell into bed at the hotel. I had come down with a terrible cold and was feeling
-really crook. The hotel we were staying in was very noisy, so the next morning we transferred to the Hotel Savera - very Western and plush, but
-just what we needed at that point. The kids enjoyed the swimming ppol and I'enjoyed the hot shower and room service.
-We took a tour to Kanchipurw and Mahabalipuram and enjoyed the temples and scenery. Kanchipuram is a typically rural town of South India. The mud streets are dotted with groups of people winding add sorting thread - this is a big weaving centre - amidst a kaleidoscope of animals, women carrying brass pots to the well, trishaws and holy men with ash-covered faces.	.
+We somehow survived customs in Trivandrum. We arrived back in India on the day of New Year's Eve. We checked into the Hotel Armitha, where we had stayed before we went to Sri Lanka.
-It is one of the group of seven holy places which an ardent Indian pilgrim will try to cover on his crusade around India. Most of the temples date back to the 8th century.
-Mahabalipuram is famous for its Shore Temple and enormous carved
+We had been promising the children we would take them to an Indian movie, and finally the chance arrived. The movie was billed as "Special Musical Entertainment". The three hour movie cost 35c each (for the dress circle seats) and was typical in the theme - the eternal triangle, plus singing and some violence. The Indians all seemed to love it, and although we couldn't understand a word that was being said, we got the drift of the story and enjoyed it too. I had told the kids that if they didn't like it we would leave at the half, but they wanted to see the whole thing. Movies are not rated there as they are here for parental guidance, and all ages attend, but the violence didn't seem to bother anyone.
-monuments called rathas. Each ratha is carved, decorated,saulptured and
-hollowed out. so that it seems more like a decorated building than a work of art carved from solid stone.
+We went back to our room and celebrated New Year's Eve with a cool drink and were in bed by 10 pm.
-We sent a message to the family we met in Madras the first time, and the husband came to see us at the hotel. We gave him the calculator as we had promised-and he was overjoyed. He told us that we had brought him luck when we visited them at their house and he had just been hired for a job in Lybia and would be getting about 000.a month there. A truly phenomenal sum to him. He invited us back to his house, but we declined as he had told us his son had typhoid fever. He brought his wife to visit us the next morning.- She is such a lovely person and I really enjoyed seeing her again. She said, "We have walked past the Savera Hotel all our lives. VIT0 would have ever thought we could get inside." We had ordered tea from room service and they were amazed at this.
-The kids wanted to see another Indian Movie, but this time an ''action- packed' one. We saw 'Qubanel, which certainly had lots of action.	Lots -
+Walking to the movie from our hotel we passed by an elevated bridge, under which at least 60 people were living - existing is more the word for it. It was obvious that it wasn't a temporary thing. I heard the cry of what sounded like a very young baby and I thought how lucky we were to have our children here in Australia, with some sort of future open to them. I suppose that if you lived under a bridge all your life, you might hope your children could improve themselves enough to at least get a roof over their heads. Very depressing.
-of car chases, fights, etc. but also lots of singing and the eternal triangle. WO loved every minute of it. In the first movie we saw, no English was
-spoken at all. In 'Qmbane' all the swear words were in English. Interesting.
+The next morning we caught a bus to Kovalam Beach for the day. Living so close to the beach in Sydney, we said we wouldn't bother with the beaches, but we were drawn to them and always enjoyed them. There is a very Western hotel complex at Kovalam. PJ and Craig rented a small sailboat for $3.00 for the afternoon. The Indians all swam in their underpants or fully clothed. It was interesting to watch. One thing we really remember here were the icy-cold coconuts (12c each) We had when we arrived. They must have had a huge fridge to keep them all in.
-Our flight back to Bombay was late (as usual) so we didn't reach there
-uatil 2.30 am. I had developed a boil under my arm and was in real pain,
+We had a late lunch at the Kovalam Hotel for $19.00!! We didn't feel any more full than we did at our favourite Braham restaurant where we had had breakfast for the four of us for $1.65. That's what you get for going to Western places.
-so we spent the next day just resting around the pool. The hotel was right on the beach with a high wall around it. The children had pony rides on the beach and watched all the acts put on. After one act, a little girl
-was attached to a long pole and lifted up to the wall so she could ask for money.
+We were up at 6 the next morning to catch a 7 am tour to Cape Comorin, the most southerly point in India. The bus stopped at a restaurant for breakfast. Of the six things we ordered they got five wrong, so we ended up with coffee and tea only. The tour took us back to Kovalam where we watched the fishermen hauling in huge U-shaped nets for about 40 minutes before we had to return to the bus. (That's the trouble with bus tours - it's always time to go when something interesting is happening.) We arrived at Cape Comorin about 1.45 pm after stopping at a few temple complexes an the way. We were free to roam until 6 pm when the bus left. This is one of the few spots in the world where you can watch the sun rise and set from the same place, so we were really looking forward to the sunset. The Cape is a 'hole' of a place, with few redeeming features. Sleasy food stalls and cheap souvenirs was the name of the game. There is a memorial to Ghandi there which could be described as architectural hodge-podge. I've never	seen such an ugly building in my life. I even had to take a picture of it to prove how ugly it was.
+We walked along the beach, sat and watched the fisherman (their boats were just logs tied together, really primitive). We took a ferry boat out to the rock shrine and got back about 5 pm. Had a quick cuppa and settled down to watch the sunset. Hawkers trying to sell all sorts of junk. One girl about 14 years old really got my goat. When I said I didn't want to buy what she was selling, she said "10 Rs, that's only $1. What's that to you?" It mattered not to her that had she been giving it to me I would have refused it - it was such junk. We sat and waited for the sunset, but unfortunately it was so cloudy we never got to see it. So we had spent the whole day on a lousy bus tour and didn't even see the sunset. The tour cost $2.50 each for a 12-hour tour. The day was redeemed by having dinner at our favourite Braham restaurant. We had become familiar in the restaurant by this time and people smiled at us as we came in. What a wonderful place.
+We spent our last morning in Trivandrum at the zoo. Quite a nice one. There were signs all over saying "Don't tease the animals", and yet the attendants would deliberately do this (poking the animals with sticks, etc) for money, so some Indian with a camera could get a photo of an animal 'in action'.
+We got back to the hotel about 12.45 to pick up our packs and decided to have lunch at the hotel restaurant to save time. We ordered at 1 pm and were told it would take about half an hour before it was served. By 1..45 (our bus left at 2.30) we asked again. Finally Craig and I got our meals, but PJ and Jenny didn't get theirs until after 2 pm. They literally gulped it down so we could catch a taxi to the bus station - we made it with 10 minutes to spare. The bus conductor tried charging us fall fare for PJ even though when we bought the ticket the day before we were told he was half fare. We didn't pay the extra fare, but it was a hassle.
+We were taking the bus from Trivandrum to Madurai, our longest bus ride, about 6 hours. We had tried booking a room from Trivandrum for Madurai, as it was the first day of a 'World Tamil Conference'. We were told that hotels wouldn't take advance bookings, but because we would be arriving about 8 pm we would have no trouble getting a place. About 6.30 pm the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere, and we sat there for about 3 hours with nothing to eat or drink. At one stage a man pedalled out from somewhere with ice cream for sale. His stock quickly sold out. Finally about 9.30 we got going again, but the driver wouldn't stop at the next town so we could get something to eat. When he finally stopped (for 10 minutes) we quickly bought some cookies, fruit and a bag of candy. It was impossible to sleep on the bus - they left the inside lights on and the road was so terrible that it was a very rough ride. Somehow PJ and Jenny managed to get some sleep. We finally reached Madurai at 2.45 am.
+We had been talking with a young English fellow and when we reached Madurai we decided to all stay together. Kevin said he found some fellows who knew where rooms were available, so went with them in two trishaws. Craig and Kevin were going to share one room and the kids and I the other. When we got to the hotel, there were no rooms available. They said to try another place and so we went on until about 4.30 am, when we decided just to spread out our rain capes on the street and sit and rest. I was amazed at the number of people on the streets at that time of night. We had stopped at one stall for some coffee and it was packed. I guess if you don't have a place to sleep/live, the streets are where you spend your time. Of course, we attracted a lot of attention. They just couldn't believe that Europeans would sleep on the streets like they do! The owner of the stall across from where we were sitting came over and told me I shouldn't let my child Sleep on the street, but must find a bed for her. When I told him we hadn't been able to find rooms, he just shook his head and walked away.
+Kevin and PJ said they would continue looking for rooms. They came back about 5.30 am to say they had asked at a hospital if we could stay there. They were told we could sleep on the floor in the out-patients department. We settled down on the floor there about 6 am.	(The worst toilet we found on the entire trip was at this hospital. It was beyond belief). At 6.45 they woke us up to say we had to move because the patients were starting to come, but we could sleep in another spot - which we did until 7.30 when they said we would have to go - the space was required. When we got up we noticed that we had been sleeping at the bottom of a spiral staircase. Now it was lined to the top with curious Indian faces, all watching us. The guards (armed) had watched us and our things to make sure no one disturbed us. We really appreciated them letting us sleep there.
+We all took a taxi to a big hotel and had a lovely breakfast - we felt we deserved it after no dinner the night before and very little sleep. Toast and jam never tasted so good.
+Even this hotel (the most expensive in Madurai) was full, so we enquired about a flight back to Madras - it was obvious we weren't going to find a room. There was a special flight going back to Madras so we made reservations on that for 11.30 am. I was really disappointed as I had especially wanted to see the temple complex here. I had saved my temple viewing for here and now I was going to miss out.
+We bid farewell to Kevin (he was meeting his brother in Madurai) and headed for the airport. We arrived in Madras half an hour later and fell into bed at the hotel. I had come down with a terrible cold and was feeling really crook. The hotel we were staying in was very noisy, so the next morning we transferred to the Hotel Savera - very Western and plush, but just what we needed at that point. The kids enjoyed the swimming pool and I enjoyed the hot shower and room service.
+We took a tour to Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram and enjoyed the temples and scenery. Kanchipuram is a typically rural town of South India. The mud streets are dotted with groups of people winding and sorting thread - this is a big weaving centre - amidst a kaleidoscope of animals, women carrying brass pots to the well, trishaws and holy men with ash-covered faces. It is one of the group of seven holy places which an ardent Indian pilgrim will try to cover on his crusade around India. Most of the temples date back to the 8th century.
+Mahabalipuram is famous for its Shore Temple and enormous carved monuments called rathas. Each ratha is carved, decorated,sculptured and hollowed out so that it seems more like a decorated building than a work of art carved from solid stone.
+We sent a message to the family we met in Madras the first time, and the husband came to see us at the hotel. We gave him the calculator as we had promised and he was overjoyed. He told us that we had brought him luck when we visited them at their house and he had just been hired for a job in Lybia and would be getting about $000 a month there. A truly phenomenal sum to him. He invited us back to his house, but we declined as he had told us his son had typhoid fever. He brought his wife to visit us the next morning. She is such a lovely person and I really enjoyed seeing her again. She said, "We have walked past the Savera Hotel all our lives. Who would have ever thought we could get inside." We had ordered tea from room service and they were amazed at this.
+The kids wanted to see another Indian Movie, but this time an 'action-packed' one. We saw 'Qubane', which certainly had lots of action.	Lots of car chases, fights, etc. but also lots of singing and the eternal triangle. We loved every minute of it. In the first movie we saw, no English was spoken at all. In 'Qubane' all the swear words were in English. Interesting.
+Our flight back to Bombay was late (as usual) so we didn't reach there until 2.30 am. I had developed a boil under my arm and was in real pain, so we spent the next day just resting around the pool. The hotel was right on the beach with a high wall around it. The children had pony rides on the beach and watched all the acts put on. After one act, a little girl was attached to a long pole and lifted up to the wall so she could ask for money.
 Our flight back to Australia was long and crowded. When we reached Perth Craig bought us all a glass of cold milk, something we really missed in India.
 The trip was a good chance for the children to get to see how other people live. They found that even though they couldn't speak the language they still could enjoy people and have fun with them.
-Page 13	THE SYDNEY BUSHWAIKER	August, 1981.
-Our fifth week ,das a bit of a.disaster. If we had left after Sri Lanka and the fourth week, we would have had a perfect trip. The fifth week was an 'experience'.
+Our fifth week was a bit of a disaster. If we had left after Sri Lanka and the fourth week, we would have had a perfect trip. The fifth week was an 'experience'.
-The trip cost us $1800 plus air fares. Most of the money went on
-taxis.	When I had travelled there before I could split the taxi fares
+The trip cost us $1800 plus air fares. Most of the money went on taxis.	When I had travelled there before I could split the taxi fares with other people. This time we had to pay the whole slug. Petrol is very expensive there, and getting from the airport to the city was always very expensive. Also, the children didn't walk as much as I had on past trips. We had always walked everywhere, now we were taking taxis or motorized trishaws. We didn't buy many souvenirs. The trip was well worth every penny, though. Now, when I ask PJ if he'd like to go back to India, he says, "Yes, sometime. But I'd rather go to Disneyland". I plan an going pack again sometime and I'm sure the kids will come along.
-with other people. This time we had to pay the whole slag. Petrol is very expensive there, and getting from the airport to the city was always very expensive. Also, the children didn't walk as much as I had on past trips. We had always walked everywhere, now we were taking taxis or motorized trishaws. We didn't buy many souvenirs. The trip was well worth every penny, though. Now, when I ask PJ if he'd like to go back to India, he says, "Yes, sometime. But I'd rather go to Disneyland". I plan an going
-pack again sometime and I'm sure the kids will come along.
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 "HOB A SARDINE AND JAM SANDUICH'i" SPTI  SAID.
 by Peter Harris. .