28th August

I do feel different. But not in a good way…Trust it to be on my birthday when my stomach decides to make somersaults. Every day is a new day where our digestive systems are concerned. Who knows what the rest of the day has in store?

Tanya’s friend gave me this mint thing that settles your stomach, and I think that might be the only thing that kept me going through English this morning. I feel ok by comparison, but there is still an ominous feeling.

Decided to put on a jazzy top in order to celebrate my birthday. Also have on my iridescent green salwaar, so I make quite a picture.

We are going into South Delhi today to Khan Market and the Lodi gardens. (Don’t know if that is how you spell it). We are planning on either getting food at KM or getting food to make a picnic, though I don’t know how we will do that really without knives at least, as everything here needs to be peeled. We shall see. I want new headphones and some new books. It is all most exciting.

Went to Khan Market with David in tow. We went to Café Turtle where I had an amazing mint wrap that was really tomatoey and just lovely in every way. A nice alternative to the constant curry. After Turtle, we went and got our books from Barrisons, but I have realized that none of these book stores have literary theory sections, which makes things for me a bit more limited. Got ‘The Wide Sargasso Sea’ by Jean Rhys though, so I am quite happy with that. Also took David to Fab India where he went to pieces over their rugs and wall hangings. I swear, that boy is actually a woman inside.

Lauren and I got our hands hennaed at the Market as well. I got a sort of Arabic pattern that seems to be just really bold and mad, and she got a very intricate Rajasthani patterning. We couldn’t move our hands for twenty minutes, but it is worth it. I wonder how long it will last though…

Went from Khan Market to the Lodi Gardens, which are these beautiful parklands in the centre of Delhi. There are loads of kites circling over you and parrots and hornbills in the trees. Everything is very green and verdant. There are tombs as well in the midst of the trees that are these fantastic domed halls with intricate Arabic detailing in the stonework. One had bright blue tiling around its outside edge, which was really lovely, though inside it had been stripped bare. There was also a pond with lily pads and lotuses and a moorehen of some description stalking through it, trying to balance on the pads.

It was really a lovely day. The Dutch all came and Tanya came out with us as well. Amanda and Lauren gave me loads of incense, Ben gave me these really sweet cake things that are a bit like baklava (Iain will have to try some!) and David and Ward bought me a little tea light holder that is like an old fashioned oil lamp case to hang from the ceiling in my room. I hadn’t expected anything, and it was really very sweet of them all to get me something. Not only that, but they also bought me lunch. David sang a song all the way to the market as well about my birthday, complete with air drumming. It was pretty incredible.

We made it back to the hostel in time for dinner, and Tanya had to say goodbye. Her curfew is 9pm, which I think is a little ridiculous as our curfew is 11pm. I don’t see why she should be home earlier just because she is Indian and not an international student. It is basically discriminatory. What makes our nationality mean we are more able to look after ourselves in the evenings? Apparently her late night curfew isn’t any time either, it is 11pm, whereas we can come home at 4am or whenever. I don’t really see why being an Indian girl means you are more at risk than an international one. In fact, I think they are probably less at risk than us, because at least they know how to deal with things properly and know the lie of the land so to speak.

We went to AIM after dinner, and I got Bingsoo with ice cream. Took a wee while to explain to the poor girl on the till that I can’t eat melon, but we got there eventually when I realised I had not put the essential prefix of ‘water’ in. There was a mosquito in it. There were mosquitos everywhere actually . I think I got bitten on my elbow. How and ever, it was nice to be able to use Skype on my birthday!. My dad managed to download it at work and I was midway through a conversation with him when it said my connection had been lost. Turns out mum has forgotten her own skype details so had logged in as dad, and thus had signed him out. Very well done. Euan was there with her, and he said happy birthday and showed me his bicep made to look like a bum crack and then buggered off out with his friends and the ladies. I find it astounding that both my parents seemed not to grasp the idea that not looking at the webcam means I didn’t see their faces. I don’t quite see why it is a challenge to put the webcam on top of the computer where it is meant to go, but what do I know? Obviously my face was so engrossing on screen that they chose to talk at it rather than at me. This is made all the more amazing, because on screen there is even a little preview box of what you look like to the other person, so they must have known that I could see half their head. I think some honing needs to be done. Mum also couldn’t work out how to sign out of Skype so that dad could sign back in. Fantastic. I spoke to Iain instead, which was nice as he was back in Killearn and had the dog. I miss Copper! And he isn’t even my dog! Even so, something to cuddle would be nice. The dogs here are not so cuddly. More flea-ridden, mangy and possibly rabid.