92nd

Hottest day in the city so far. I took a scooter rickshaw to New Friends colony and ate at Pebble Street on a full-of-breakfast stomach. The food was good though, so I managed to force some down. I said my farewells to Kruttika and Dee and headed back to South Ex. to cower in the shade.

Last night we visited Paharganj with the intention of shopping but, as Mandi had invited one of her friends out, we ended up just chilling in My bar. We met a lovely table full of Europeans and went back to Anoop hotel (shared rooftop with the infamous Hare Krishna guesthouse) and danced with them on the roof. I bought a bag so I can take more stuff back with me on the plane, still hoping it doesn't exceed restrictions, or it'll cost me €100. And that will suck.

PHOTO EDIT:

Hauz Khas ruins 5pm

Delhi evening light over Hauz Khas lake

Mandi out of focus

Sunday afternoon youth takeover 

Paharganj shopping trip

Guilty eyes again

Japanese tourist dancing

Dancing in the dark

THIS DAY:

Moolchand escalator

Ice cream wallah going the wrong way down the road at night

79th back in the Ganj

It's been a hectic evening.
Izzy has fallen out with the Sikhs majorly and we have left the house so that she can catch her train.
The first plan was to go and watch a film at PVR Saket but unfortunately the film isn't even out yet. Mira Nair must have been talking about Salaam Bombay not the Reluctant Fundamentalist.
Izzy asked if she could get a lift with Raju to the station and he said that was cool. So we ate dinner at the diner and were expecting to watch the Holi celebrations at IHC until Raju text Izzy again saying 'which station?'. When she told him it was New Delhi he told her he couldn't because it was too far. So bad. The metro isn't open until 2 tomorrow, 15 minutes after she has to be on the train. Her sensible nature took it pretty badly as she had to pack etc. So we left stat and headed back to Govindpuri to pack.
Only auntie was there but even she wasn't being helpful. She asked for 750 rs from Izzy for the Punjab trip and Izzy explained that she already had 600 from when she offended her with the tip. It didn't get through to her so we enlisted Preeti's help on the phone. Izzy was crying and Auntie was not letting up and kept demanding money and making more excuses so Preeti told us just to leave and that she'd sort it out. I'm so glad Preeti is Punjabi.
So now we're in Paharganj in my favourite guesthouse and we both feel quite free and lovely. All of the guys here treated us so well: found my old passport and visa photocopies because I didn't bring them with me, gave me WiFi until I could pay in the morning, gave us the best room they had at a good price and were all smiles. I have almost forgotten why I left in the first place.
In other news, all of the Dancescapes errors have been sorted so I can feel a little more proud of it. Holi is happening tomorrow and I have my old holi-ed converses with me so that they can get dyed a new colour and I might repair them so that I can get a few more years out of them in their new shade.

Some photos I haven't been able to add because they're on the tablet:

That same cute Asian child

Standard metro guy

Another standard metro guy

On the roof in the Punjab after being woken up by the children

Walking in the Punjab

Sidak and I in the Punjab

Candy in a hand pump basin in the Punjab

Sugar cane drink. He's about to run those canes through the mangler

Edit: photos from the camera

Early Holi fun

Early Holi not quite so

All of these stall popped up a few days ago selling water guns and balloons and pigment for Holi

Pre-empting celebrations

At the Diner

English movies? Not Hindi?! Wow.

60th morning

I feel like Indians stay younger longer. Whether this is due to the fact that they (usually) live with their parents or parents-in-law for most of their lives, I don't know. But it seems to me that this means that adults don't refrain from having fun. For example, when everyone is running and pushing and shoving onto the already packed metro cars there are smiles on most people's faces. I don't think its just a 'you have to laugh or you'd cry' kind of thing.

Evidence of fun in Paharganj:

Cheapest beer but only 3.5%. It didn't take long to move onto the rum.

Friendly Europeans

Reversing the 'celebrity foreigner' by asking normal Indians to be in our photos.

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.

18th - Photos

A quick photo dump from the past three days.

Over-exposed ghost bedroom photo

Lunchtime card sharks

Little pup I spotted on the way to work this morning

That's an electric wire just hanging into the road, not a branch

I think these massive arches are on the side of housing estates. Imagine the same in England

Road crossing hazards

Hindu statutory in Shobha's house

PLUS these are two photos that Saumya just sent me:

12th day

16th day

Fourteevening

Got a big night in planned, as you may be able to tell from the photo. I am caning through Terry Pratchett books at quite a rate due to a lack of spoken conversation. That being said, I have really enjoyed my first whole day off. It was really sunny and hot today so I've been up on the roof when I could - eating and reading. The setting sun made it cold instantly though.
I forgot to write earlier, the rickshaw I was in on the way back from the market had an accident with a car. No one drives in lanes here and someone pulled out from on our right to take a left turn. And regretted it when we put a big scratch down his side.
I just ordered rice pudding at dinner cos I had been told that fermented is good for a bit of rough and as it was in the savoury rice section I assumed it would be that. It was very much cold and sweet, unfortunately.

Like waiting for a bus

A second photo post in two days. This one fills in the gap between my third day and today. Like yesterday, it is a selection of highlights in chronological order.

My 'station' at IHC

IHC at night

The rooftop of Hare Krishna at night

Delhi's glowing skyline

Hidden out of view

Ramakrishna Ashram Mission

Ravi and Rahul at lunch

Lohri celebrations at the IHC

Lohri celebrations in full swing

Smoggy Delhi - the walk back to Jor Bagh metro station

The rickshaw this morning