Began today thinking it could only ever be better than yesterday. Amanda and I went to the foreign students office to get our forms back but, surprise surprise, it was not open until eleven. So we went to Kamal Nagar and went to get a tchai latte in barista. All very civilized. When we got back to the office, they had actually signed our forms, and it was all very hassle free. We were shocked. I had bristled up and geared for a fight this morning, but no. For once, everything went as it should have gone in the first place.
We decided to use our good luck to the maximum and go to the Embassy to get our form signed today. I have to say, the British Embassy is absolutely lovely. No one knew where we had meant, but a nice officer directed us to it and when we went through the security huts at the entrance and emerged in the court yard, it was like heaven. There is a lovely and huge fountain in the middle of the court and then there is a small, clean and air-conditioned office just to one side of the building. We waited in there for two hours while they wrote us a (expensive) letter introducing us to the hostel. Apparently this should do us fine. This wait wasn’t nearly as bad as yesterday. It may have been two hours, but it was two hours in a lovely little room, complete with internet and water cooler. Also, the bathrooms were lovely and clean. Always a major plus in my book. The FRRO bathrooms were effectively mountains of shit (or shit swimming in what was probably piss) that you had to add your own depository to. Absolutely horrible.
After the embassy we decided a trip to Khan Market was necessary to calm ourselves down and have some lunch. We need to get sarees for a dinner that we have been invited to on Monday night with the Vice Chancellor of the University. Sahu will probably see it as a gesture of solidarity, or something. Any way, we went and bought sarees from the little shop next to the alley that takes you to Bari and Sons. I bought a deep purple one with gold and pink bordering. Amanda and Lauren got a similar style, but in different colours. We then had to visit the tailor to make the little crop tops that go underneath. The woman in the shop helpfully gave us a demonstration of how you wear the saree as well, so hopefully we won’t be too useless on Monday.
Went to the Full Circle book shop café, called the Turtle Café. It is a really lovely little place selling mainly Lebanese and Turkish style food. We were over the moon. Mediterranean food thankfully meant fresh vegetables that weren’t cooked and curried! Everything was still spicy, but not in the way that our dinners are. I had a Moroccan chickpea salad that made me incredibly happy, as it was so simple and so tasty. I have never felt so happy to have fresh cold food. We have vowed not to come back to Khan Market for a while, as we need to branch out into other areas of the city. Though we will need to come back on Friday for our tops…
Apparently Friday and Saturday are holidays. Friday is Krishna’s birthday, and Saturday is Indian Independence day. The President makes a speech from the Red Fort, but the Indian girls in our dorm room say that it is nothing very special and that they wouldn’t go. There are no street celebrations either apparently, which is disappointing.
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