POLO

Last Sunday I was invited to the Championship Polo Match. What fun!

And who was playing? The black and red teams of the sixty-first cavalry, one of the world's last full cavalry regiments! They are based in Jaipur, and quite the romantic heroes. It was the finals of the Northern India Polo Championship.

Dashing shiny ponies, of incredible obedience and skill, handsome hunks in tight white pants and boots swinging sticks around, macho bravado within playing ground rules, and even a real prince or two..what more could a girl want for a thrilling Sunday afternoon!

There are four players on each team, two referees, and an umpire.

The black boards on the scoreboard are changed manually, see the steps? the digital board displays time remaining in the chukker.

Each play is called a "chukker". The polo ground seems huge, and they thunder from end to end, hitting the balls though the goalposts. Our reds and blacks were very well matched, the blacks won by half a point. His Royal Highness Maj. Tunku Ismail Ibrahim of Malasia was number 2 of the reds. The minute to minute commentator was terrific.

In the audience we had some famous Indians, Nawab M. Ali Khan Pataudi, Farooq Abdullah, Pickles Sodhi, and His Highness Bhawani Singh, maharaja of Jaipur. There were also some ladies in hats!

Wine, champagne, juice and fresh tea were served in the stands.

After the match and awards, a display of tent pegging skills, marvellous control and power of man and beast. Below you can see the rider homing in at high speed, he speared a tiny piece of paper off the end of that pike.

Malti with the dashing, splendid player, Maj. Navjit Sandhu

a scyce, groom of the 61st

After the game, Lt. Col. Tarun Sirohi rests

lathered pony, and the badge of the 61st Cavalry

The Bunny

Happy New Year, all!

We spent our winter holiday up at Ninder Mahal, our family castle near Jaipur.

Here is a mason at work repairing the front facade.

But right now I want to tell you about our New Year surprise; a tiny bunny who was left abandoned at the farm near Ninder Mahal. One of the stable boys picked him up and brought him over, just as we were packing the car to drive back to Delhi. How could we leave it alone in the cold? And our dog Scruffie is the area patrol at the farm. We had to bring him.

He is a Desert Hare.

Now, adopting a wild creature is a huge responsibility, and feeding him milk from a dropper was how we started out, enclosing him in our picnic basket with a hot water bottle under a towel. He somehow survived the first few days, and now, a week later, has grown from a "dinner roll size", to a small "croissant size". He doesn't weigh as much as a croissant yet!

Unni is showing his long hare-legs. He is so fluffy now, and likes to keep warm nestled inside our sweaters, and at the moment is in my lap under a shawl.

I worry that he has already bonded with humans; now, in our Delhi apartment, he lippity-lipps underfoot, as the basket is far too confining. He is safe enough closed in my room, but scampers right over and sits up on my foot as soon as I stop moving. If my foot is not there, he sits on the empty slipper!

What does mother bunny milk taste like? No idea, but I was pretty sure that cow's milk was wrong. (though he laps it up) I finally found a source of info on wild animal rescue online, and sure enough, the only thing to feed wild bunnies is goat's milk. Easier said than done, though there are goats a-plenty over the road in the Nizamuddin basti (village). Hard to figure out, but goats' milk is never included in any of the Indian cuisine, the main dish is kebabs and such!

It was suggested that I buy a goat to solve the supply problem. Well, I might have done that if we weren't living in an apartment! So I will keep trying to find goat milk somehow.

He is finally getting tiny needle teeth, and I am trying to get him to nibble on greens and oats. He has learned to lick yogourt from a dish.He is ever so furry and has beautiful camouflage markings.

Unni calls him,"Captain Moonbeam". He licks our hands and cuddles. He is Desert Hare, and needs to go back in to the wild at Ninder.

Hares wean after nine weeks, much later than domestic rabbits. I wish we had a wildlife centre to consult here.

What are we going to do??