'Well, cardboard is made of vegetable matter...'

What a curse drink is here. Last night I had just got into bed when I heard loud screaming from the little stone, one roomed house at the bottom of the hotel – it went on and on and then turned into a wail for quite some while. One doesn't know what to do in these circumstances – was a wife being beaten, set on fire or what? Well this morning the wailing started again with a lot of voices – friends and relatives had arrived to sit in vigil with the wife who had found her husband hanging last night. About 50 people sat quietly all morning, the woman veiling their faces with their saris, the men sitting chatting a little further away. All the local shops shut in respect so their frontages were used to sit on to wait for the body to be returned from the autopsy. I wasn't here when it was, but am told he would have been wrapped in a sheet and put on a bamboo bier and covered in marigolds and taken to a designated place for burning. The family are Hindu Adivasis (the lowest caste) and apparently the man drank a lot. It was a sombre start to the day.

I had to wait 3 hours (Indian time again) for a chap to turn up for an appointment so felt the day wasn't turning out too well. But I managed to sneak into a building that is now used for offices for I knew there were wonderful mirror and gemstone inlay pictures of peacocks and suchlike inside. I managed to wave my camera at some employees who just waved back and pointed upward – bless them - and I found may way onto the roof as well which was satisfying.

mirror and gemstone work here