53rd

Photos to come.

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

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.

Third day continued

As I said earlier, I got up very late today and, as such, didn't have many hours of day light in which to explore. I went back to Connaught place and had some amazing chilli sweet corn and then rode the metro to JLN stadium to see how close it was to the Habitat Centre. Not very is the answer. I bought the Delhi equivalent of an oyster card which costs all of a pound and comes with 50p on it. This is roughly enough to do five quite long trips.
On my walk back to Jor Bagh metro I went back into Lodi gardens to look at the mosque and have a read. It really is beautiful. I wish I could upload photos on this thing but they'll have to come later.
It feels like its heating up but as nice as this is I can't imagine being in the heat on the metro when it is as packed as it was today. Jesus, I thought the tube was bad. The carriages are bigger so more people are onboard and there isn't really a concept of 'full'. I would have taken a photo but I couldn't move my arms from my side.