The Shifting Sands

Relations between Australia and India have been a little strained of recent times with controversial cricket games and assaults on Indian students.  This was made worse recently during the filming of an ABC documentary “Dumb, Drunk and Racist” which feature four Indians and their perceptions of Australia.  Unfortunately the cast and crew were assaulted during filming by two drunk aboriginal women in Alice Springs.  Given this run of events, it is good to focus on areas where the Indo-Australian relationship works. Based on thinking globally and acting locally and in an effort to find areas of cooperation, my new favourite breakfast  food is chapattis, the local flat bread, and vegemite, for non-Australians a salty black yeast spread which many unaccustomed to the taste find unpalatable.  Maria makes chapattis fresh every second day for dinner and we freeze the left-over for me to toast in the morning.  I smear them in butter and coat in vegemite.  Breakfast food of champions!

Sunday started at 6.30 am picking up Greg and Twyla for the hour drive to our climbing spot in Navi Mumbai. We were very keen to explore some of the bolted routes in the area as our previous excursion had just been to the boulders.  We were fully prepared for half a day lost, bashing our way through the scrub to find the crags.  The general direction of the crags led us through a rural slum on the outskirts of the Artist’s Colony in Sector 8 of CBD Belapur.  I am not sure why it is called the Artist’s Colony as there are certainly no galleries and coffee shops!  Speaking to Bong, the local climbing guru, the slum has been built up over the last few years with a local politician supporting the “encroachment”.  Land encroachment is a process where squatters build shanties on public land and, after a period of time without the structure being demolished, claim ownership.  Unscrupulous politicians (is that a tautology?) support this type of encroachments as a way of building voter block