friday january 15.....chennai and a bit further

up shave...dress......opened the door and there waiting for us was the indian sunday times which i read whilst eating my boiled egg followed by toast and jam........replete our taxi arrived....you say it was raining.....this is real rain the monsoon....yuk....our journey took us right throught the city ....soon we were speeding south down the south coast road towards cholomondal.....the artists village...we thought we would call and say hello....we are booked to stay for a week at the end of our tour....we were nade most welcome by shanti the general factotem....more about the village later.....then we sped on past an amazing partly derelict theme park.....more on this later..............i am already thinking about what i might do at the village....sped on a bit more ...not really we were in an old Ambassador....more like trundle............we arrived at the madras craft centre...we had a good look around on foot...more rain we were almost swimming.....dont forget this is day 2....rain....rain and more rain......saw a liitle show of digital art......then swam back to the Ambassador.......detoured to kapareesh and took a photo...wow.....suddenly an elderly umbrellered gentleman offered his services.....we should say or i should have known better.....it will happen again ....no doubt.......

december 14 chennai...the start of the adventure

I dont beleive my eyes.....its january 14 today and the day in my reverse diary is december 14...what a coincidence.....karma or what.....may the force be with me as luke skywalker says...i must tell you that i am not a jedi warrior just a bloke in india with his wife on a mad escapade....well we are back in portugal now...i must add here that i did keep a diary every day so far i havent refered to the tome yet....but i am sure that i will..........the first day was wet and grey...great...we got a taxi to take us on a trip around the city so that we could get our bearings....the photo shows marina beach on the south side of the city....it is a favourite spot for indians at the weekend...there are hundreds of stalls selling trinkets and general tat and food stalls sellimg pakora and fresh deep fried fish...yum...yum......later in the diary i will show you some photos...its great this retro diary .....im having fun reliving the ad venture...
the second photo shows the very southern end of the beach......a fishing community....the first thing that we noticed was the derelict houses and the shanty town that had sprung up this is not unusual in india...we stood looking at the scene thinking that the colours reminded us of howard hodgkin paintings,,,we were about to take photos but something inside us said no???? are we voyeurs....why take photos it didnt seem right......we hadnt realized this whole area had been hit by the sunami......obvoiously something had stirred inside..........we chose instead to take a walk and look...and keep the memory in our heads. that day we also visited fab india a trendy clothes shop....thsi is something that happens all the time in india......opposites....from squalor and poverty to affluence....the two sit side by side....in mumbai now they are trying to clear the slums away....they are trying to do the same at this fishermans end of marina beach...clear the slums and put up hotels and develop the area ??????????????????

croston to chennai a diary after the event

this is a rather eccentric diary.....after the event....here goes...it will contain thoughts and observations...call and recall...december 13 we left manchester in what seemed like the middle of the night...have we got the passports...do the cameras have memory cards...do you remember it used to be film...i digress..we arrived at the airport curtesy of byron who incidentally took the first photo of our journey. we fiddled about waiting in anticipation of the flight..all exciting going into the unknown. first stop doha....feet barely touched the ground and we where off on the second leg....getting more and more excited......fasten your seatbelts we are approaching chennai......again the middle of the night...well midnight......the first thing that hits you is the heat...the humidity..within minutes your clothes are sticking to your skin......bags collected...this is tal start oenture......the unknown ...exciting eh?.....being used to travelling we new we had to get a pre paid taxi into the city..........been there done that...easy?????????? booked a taxi handed over the ruppees...to a chorus of indian laughter....whats the joke?????? we thought that we had been smart and taken some money with us from our last trip....how where we to know it was old money and out of date.....a hole in the wall...easy ...oh!.......problem the cards would not work...try another hole in the wall..still no luck....by this time we were about to pull our hair out...not so fast heres another machine try a different card...money money ......back to the taxi guys more laughter and we are on our way into the night in an Ambassador car the indian old faithful......at last the ymca....then the ritual of filling in forms and more forms...then when you think its all over just one more....bed ....sleep.....awoke for breakfast well lunch.........looked outside it was raining i mean raining......this is the monsoon..did we pack our wellies...will it rain every day?...who cares we are here.

zefa on hold..plus bits and bats

here we are again the text goes where it likes and changes font size at will.....will i ever get it right...wall on hold...the 2cv is in the field awaiting some renovations like a new front tyre, and some body filling......the mini 2cv was given to me years ago by david and helen evans who now live in australia...it surfaced like magic in my studio the other day....good "karma" for the project...its even got my name on it........guess who is sitting in the 2cv..yep?...morris minor alias sebastian...he is in charge of all renovations....quality control.....at the moment i am reading the salmon of doubt  a concoction of douglas adams writings..a snippet that i like is...and even now,when i have dark night of the soul as a writer and think that i cant do this anymore, the one thing that i reach for is not the fact that i have had best sellers or huge advances. It is the fact that Frank Holland once gave me ten out of ten, and at some fundamental level i must be able to do it"

zefa 1 mad dash day off to india

technology totally baffles me I cant put the text where I want to I am victim to the vagueries of the program...i have tried to load a video....no luck...i dont know why i dont jusy stick to painting the brush goes where i put it....now the text has centred....today has been busy trying to get rid of all the white as my old art teacher used to say when we were painting ...get rid of all the white then you cnn see what you are doing????.....brigita and kasia came for a visit...showed them around ...nice to see them

wall to date...wall up date....data on the wall

saturday afternoon at the end of the day of "dois cavalos".......monday is my last day on the wall before our india trip...and saskia and sebastian are coming for a holiday so its off to vilamoura for icecreams......beach trips....fishing.......playgrounds in quateira........marufo a favourite chicken  eatery for saskia and me.....and more ice cream for guess who?..then byron and jason arrive for some golf and probably marufo too............
the grey window frames may stay they may go they are part of an installation by the general which has now changed in its content..I have drawn hundreds of birds which jeta has painted...the birds are central to the stone raft story...however the general has had the idea that the birdsa are trapped in a huge net....but some escape to live another life...we are connecting two images or ideas...we have an ongoing dialogue about what we are both doing and trying to achieve...no two days are the same...thats the fun in the project or should i say seriously the  challenge for both of us....

follow the holts on the india blog................i will also add add thoughts about the zefa wall as and when they arrive.........