53rd

Photos to come.

Today is hot hot hot.
I have just come back from lunch in Lodi gardens with Izzy and am melting.

52nd

Today has been made up of rushes and waits. Mainly waits.
I went straight to Mandy's in the morning to get the photos for the exhibition sorted. It took a lot longer than expected so I ate lunch there. My stomach is gonna be so upset when I get back to plain old English food. It was Bharti (their domestic)'s birthday and Alka had bought a chocolate cake, so we had that for dessert!
We then went off to the printers. Mandy drove and it took ages to get there in hot Delhi traffic (sorry to mention the heat, but it really is hot here). After we'd printed contact sheets of the selected images I was dropped (again at a very slow pace and through heavy traffic) off at the office of Roli books in Greater Kailash 2. This was for a mammoth meeting about publishing. It dragged on for two and a half hours in a stuffy room with little sunlight. I was then taken to the IHC through Delhi traffic again (this time no A/C) by none other than Shobha-ji herself. I have resolved henceforth to decline as many lifts by car as I possibly can. Alka and Shobha gossipped in the back and it was oddly comforting to hear them. When I got there I quickly got my work done and hung out with Preeti and ate Parle Gs (parle-vous G?) and drank Yorkshire Tea. this was a highlight I think.
I got back to the house at about quarter to nine and Nancy had cooked chole bhature! I changed into my pyjama bottoms so as to allow me to consume as much as possible. They worked a treat. Izzy and I then headed out to the Wednesday market after being inundated with safety advice. Perhaps I should have paid more attention. I wasn't technically robbed but with the state of the two shirts that I bought being what they are I may as well have been. One is at least third hand and the other is size XXXXL and has a rip at the sleeve. I'm still deciding what to do with them.
As a treat, before bed I got to go through Sidak's computer studies book and change all the grammar.
I have made this day sound terribly but I am actually so happy as I am writing this.

51st - PHOTOS!

Today Izzy and I were subjected to some typical Indian-ness by the Sikhs. We had planned to go to the Gurudwara with them and got up early and got ready, and then Raju left to the office. He said he'd be 30 mins so we went for an exploring session then returned and he wasn't back - "Another half an hour, maximum!" We were then driven to the other side of Delhi which took an hour in heat and traffic.When we got to Tilak Nagar we were invited into Raju's garment shop which appeared to have been shut for a few weeks and was for sale. Obviously they were hoping for a bit of revenue and I bought some trousers. Izzy was shown pretty much every piece of clothing they had but didn't want anything. We then waited around for Raju and I asked where he was. Nancy told me that he was getting some car insurance and that the men we'd just driven with across the city were customers, not friends of his. We waited around for a bit longer and then a bit longer, until I started looking at the time. I ahd to be in the office for 4 and Izzy was coming with me. Raju had promised we would be back in the city before 4. There was no sign of Raju at half 2 and so we went for a meal with Nancy and when he still wasn't around at 3 we hopped on a Metro. If there hadn't have been one close I probably wouldn't have been here now. As it happens I was early and I have a nice pair of new trousers, but still haven't seen a Gurudwara from the inside.

Same night as the last photo update

Gimped up by Nancy

The culprit

Izzy's 1st night - outside the Imperial Cinema

potent. positive. energy.!

Tzinga + rum = 50 rs.

The view from my balcony

Izzy on her way to Jaipur

Parrots on the walk to work

Le IHC

The tyre man can

One of the works in the Skoda Prize exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art

Glue sniffing punks

A very dodgy takea

Mandy 'fighting for my freedom'

Gubru (or 'fine young gentleman', didn't know Granny had a keen sense of irony)

Sidak taking aim

Adventures in digital photography at the VAG office

Kushal

Snap shoes - Saurabh and I

Preeti hiding and Saurabh looking angry

Alka-mam and Mukul-ji

Camouflage dust bike

Whitey!

'T-Shart' - one for Tom Leaning

50th

Three cheers to the Hindu parade at 5:30 this morning which managed to wake a man who is widely considered as the heaviest sleeper in the land (yours truly)! Your trumpets and firecrackers were a great touch and your slow pace which kept you within earshot for 20 minutes was inspired. However, the crowning jewel was the singing/ wailing through the megaphone by a man who seemed to have infinite lung capacity. I salute you sir!

This morning I had breakfast with two Punjabi friends of Raju's and they seemed to be amazed at my food capacity. This bodes well for when we visit. I completely agree with Raju that I will probably be a 36 inch waist by the time I go back to England. About time.

I (thought I) killed a massive cockroach in my toilet two days ago and in the morning it was gone. I don't know if Granny moved it or if they truly are invincible.

I found out yesterday that I got on to my Courtauld course. I believe it is due to my refusal to beg :)

I burnt my hand this morning at work while making tea. I poured the water then put the steamer pipe in to get it hot enough to brew. It boiled and spluttered and has left a trail on my hand where the water ran down it. I now have toothpaste on it and look like a fool.

The reason I haven't put any photos up in a little while is that I accidentally packed the cable I was using up with Alka's camera and it is now somewhere at her house. Since then I have used a card reader which is presently broken. My mission today is to get a new one in Nehru place market (a huge technology and gadget market near Govindpuri). I have some good shots that I need to share.

My mind
My hands
This page

This page
Your eyes
Your mind

48th/ 49th

Yesterday I spent a day that I should have been working at home, in way of apology to the family. Through miss-communication I almost got thrown out of my house. We went out street drinking and that probably wasn't a good idea! After I'd finished work I went to meet Mandy near here studio and the plan was to hook up with her friend. We spent an hour or so drinking a couple of beers and listening to techno near the Takea (I don't know how to spell it but it means booze take-out) and then the friend said he wouldn't be meeting us. We chilled and chatted for a little longer and then some street kids came and were a bit hyper on glue, so we left. They followed us up the street playing 'touch didi's ass' until Mandy threatened to beat them up. It is hard to know what will encourage and what will subdue in these circumstances. They followed us almost all the way to South Ex so Mandy's threat mustn't have done too well.
When we got back to the house I realised I wasn't going to be back at the house before 11 if I ate. There was no chance of me not eating as I know Mandy's cook is amazing. I text the family to say that I would be later than 11 and if this was not okay I could sleep where I was. They rang and asked if I'd been drinking, and I said I had but that didn't matter, I just wanted to know if I should stay or not. We reached the language barrier of their understanding of English and so I passed the phone to Mandy. Unfortunately I hadn't told her about the 'if it's too late I'll stay here' clause. She spoke to half the family (it seemed) about my 'freedom' etc. (as far as I can surmise) and it ended in Raju phoning me again and saying "tomorrow, you pick up your stuff and take your money.' I was very worried. Not just for me and the trials of finding a new place but also for Izzy's sake. Coming back from Jaipur to find that she'd been ejected from a house would not have been nice, either that or the bad atmosphere there would have been if I'd left her on her own.
I slept at Mandy's and headed back to Govindpuri c. 11am and made my apologies. The family had phoned Preeti in the night and she must have calmed them down. She truly is a star. They explained that they worry and that they'd prefer that if I can't be back before 11 I stay out. Seemed like what I had been saying the whole night. Granny said I wasn't to see Mandy again because she is 'a dirty girl'. I don't think I'll be doing that one. She also said that my parents know that I am in India to work and so I should be coming straight back from work to home. I completely disagreed saying that my parents want me to see us much as I can while I am here, and tried to explain how much I'd spent just getting here, but that language barrier arose again. I drafted Preeti in. Everything was settled.
I have now been at work all day on a Sunday in payback to my work schedule. I have got lots of work done as there have been few distractions AND have managed to read some nice poetry on shringara (one of the nine rasas, usually translated as erotic love, romantic love) in the sun.

47th

Issy moved into the house yesterday evening. I think she likes it but, I think, like me, she'd basically like anything that isn't a dingy guest house in Paharganj. She has left for Jaipur today with some Belgian that she met by chance yesterday. I'm jealous because I'd love to be travelling the length and breadth of the country, and at the moment I feel a little over worked and under paid. I am going to be asking Alka for some time off soon as I haven't had any since Annu left. I think she'll understand as she recognises the beauty and variety of her country and that, as an outsider, I want to see as much of it as possible. I have the offer from Sabya (my Agra host) to visit Bengal, along with an invitation from Dr Singh to visit Dharamshala AND now an invitation from my landlords to visit Punjab with them, and I want to get at least two of these done.

I am working hard today, after not sending an email to the Courtauld admissions man. I don't think he wants me to beg, and, even if he does, I don't want to. If I don't get in on merit then it's not worth getting in and is the wrong course for me. I reckon the only reason I'm the 'wildcard' is because I'm the only person without a 1st!

45/46th

I haven't been writing at all recently and for that I am deeply sorry.
Izzy arrived yesterday and to welcome her into the Delhi scene I took her to the pit that is My Bar. Mandy joined us. We drank rum and Tzinga (a crazy energy drink 'potent. positive. energy.'). before that I had probably the only ever 2nd interview given for my MA course. I can't tell if that is a good or a bad thing. He said that I was a 'wildcard' in the selection process and that he wanted to know whether I was really interested in the course and gave me 24 hours to reply. I told him that I didn't need the 24 hours and that I could tell him now that I wanted to be on the course. I don't know if I convinced him but before he put the phone down he said that he thought he'd made his mind up. Before this Alka and I went to Shobha's house and had a productive meeting and some very tasty lunch before some of Diana Spencer's relatives arrived at her door. We spoke about where they'd been and what they'd seen in the last week. They were nice people but I could feel myself speaking a lot betterer. I almost forgot about this meeting because of the stress that surrounded the Courtauld interview.
Today has been very productive. I have finished my research for Alka's Self/ Other session and we've made a lot of progress with the curation of Shobha's exhibition. Images finalised, floor plan sorted etc. etc. It feels nice to have a little less work to do. This did not last for long though as I was given another presentation job straight afterwards.
I have some photos to upload and that will happen tomorrow. I really don't like falling behind with this thing, I feel like I've lost two/ three days of my life.

44th - Photos

Yesterday we had a big meeting at the designer's office. Afterwards Saumya, Mandy and I went for beer and a meal at a place that Mandy has been talking up for a long while called 4S in Defence Colony. It didn't live up to her description of a notorious drinking hall, but the Hakka noodles were really good and the 2 for 1 happy hours certainly made me happy. I left to get back for 10 pm and was a little late so that the new fam would get used to me being a little bit of a wild card, but not too wild.

What I have been seeing and hearing when I leave the office this week

YES!

My new gaff

... had my first bucket bath this morning!

Cimar

Paper plate snow

Everything is bigger in India :)

Meher's house(party)

This is all the stuff that the Auto driver left me to walk with

Sidak

Cimar

My new ends

Mandy at 4S

Saumya and I at 4S

Ha.

Saumya at 4S

I love this dog's pattern!

43rd

This morning I had gobi parantha for breakfast with the family. The two boys - Sikant and Cimar - went to school at 6.30 so I din't see them. However, I was woken by Granny coming through my bedroom to go to the washroom. Apparently I share that with her. She did propose yesterday that I share my bed with a fellow lodger, I politely declined and phoned Preeti so that she could better explain my position. The situation in the house is a little funny at the moment though because there is no running water. Flushing the toilet is resolved by filling the cistern up from their reserve water supplies. The shower issue remains unresolved.
I have been getting those odd feeling of deja vu and dread again. I think this must just be the alien nature of my current situation.

42nd

I moved into the house of the Bajaj's yesterday. I couldn't get up very early as I'd been to a party the night before at Mandy's friend Meher's house and got to bed quite late. I got up at about 11 and the process of packing took longer than expected, and then taking an auto took longer than expected, and then the bastard didn't even take me the whole way! He dropped me off on the main road with all my stuff (5 bags & a loose sleeping bag) so that he could go and attend to his car. Bad karma for him. The family are lovely and we had two gorgeous meal yesterday - rice pulao and chole bhature! Mmmmmhmmm. Their English isn't great, and neither is my Hindi, but we can get along okay.I need to research Sikhism so that I don't do anything really wrong by accident. Like ask if they eat cow (but I already did that so it would be even more stupid to make the same mistake twice).

41st

Draft on tablet:

I know this post won't be published for ages because I'm moving into a place with no WiFi but I wanted to express my feelings about the situation.

Plus points:

Cheaper

Food included

Nice family

Closer to work

Hot water

Can finally unpack

Don't have to see that conman again

Laundry is cheaper

Ensuite washroom

Learn about Punjabi family life

Chole bhature

Negatives:

Restricted freedom (time constraints etc.)

Lack of communication (with the family and no WiFi)

No choice of food or 24 hour kitchen

Further from Delhi centre

Inquisitive grandsons

The positives outweigh the negatives for sure. And it will be nice not to think so much about my budget. However I feel like, as part of this new family, new restrictions will be put on me. Some that I may not understand fully due to cultural differences. It is going to be a learning curve and we shall see the eventual conclusion.

Fortieth 3

Tonight has been weird. I came back from work and that guy that I thought was trying to con me pounced on me (metaphorically) and we went for a meal together. I explained to him that I'd been thinking about his business proposal and that I didn't think I had the time and he kept trying to tell me that now was the right time because I was young and that I should get some time off from work etc. because it's not fair that I'm working so much. He then tried to make it seem like he was helping me realise my potential and when I told him that my aspirations were academic he told me that there was no point to education in his eyes, it just made it longer before you started making money. We went back to the hotel and because I can't say no I went to this room to watch a video of this life coaching course he's signed up to online. The penny had dropped by this point. That kind of nutter. I watched the whole thing with him and had major deja vu. Weird night.

Fortieth

On the way to work this morning I took some photos.

5 rupee note, equivalent of 5.5p. How can this be worth designing/ printing/ distributing?

Jor Bagh street barber

If there was a Delhi Bicycle Club, this would be the style of bike they rode

Later in the day, I took the camera into the VAG office and gallery.

Taken by me:

Works by Michel Kirch in the exhibition Quintessence. La Voie

Suprabha giving victory and otherwise 'v's

Taken by Suprabha:

Back of Dilpreet's head

Goon head

New art on the office walls

Gallery view of Quintessence

Detail of 

Suprabha's feet

Massive spot

Taken by me:

Suprabha in turban