28th September

Kapil is here in a week. How very strange. Better get writing my essay that will never seem to come closer to ending.

I was shocked this morning when Lauren appeared at my bedroom door dripping with sweat and proclaiming that she had been running. She dragged me into the gym and then ran for about ten more minutes before getting a bit bored and then fiddling about on the other machines. Amanda came running as well for a wee while. They managed to stay in there a good twenty-five minutes or so. I was shocked. They never come into the gym with me. They must be feeling amazing, or else the lack of health is making them feel the need to move about a bit more.

After the gym I tried to write some more of my essay and failed to do so. Decided that going to AIM would ultimately aid my studying. It did not. Ended up chatting with Lauren and then getting sushi to try. AIM have Korean sushi. It comes in tuna, gimtee (not sure what this is or how you spell it, all I know is that it is Korean) and tuna-gimtee mix. Whatever gimtee may be, it is very tasty. And this is the first time I have had fish since I have been here. It was brilliant to taste the fish. I think it is pickled, which made it extra fishy. The sushi here is triangular, with seaweed wrapped round a triangle of rice. The fish with some pickled vegetables is inside in a layer. We ended up getting one each. One between us just wasn’t enough when there was so much craving of fish involved. One day we will make it to the sushi and sake place in the south of the city. One day…

I have realised I have eaten a lot of pickled things in the past few days: pickled meat and pickled fish. I would never eat these at home, but here they are just splendid. The meat is a god-send whenever I just want something to chew on with a flavour other than sweets or fruit. And now pickled fish. Very odd.

Decided to go into Connaught Place to the night market for some jewelry to send home for people’s birthdays. When we got there though, everything was closing up or was already closed. And it was only half past six! Everything here is open till nine usually. We completely forgot all about Dusshera. Of course everything would be closed. We did managed to find one pair of earrings in a nice shop for Lauren’s friend. We also got Lauren walking boots for Darjeeling and Amanda some trainers for the gym. After wandering around aimlessly we decided food was in order and went to Piccadelhi, the amazing place we went to at the PVR Plaza that has the English Pub in it. We sat in high back leather arm chairs that creaked and had pasta and a greek salad. It was great to eat something other than Indian food. There was even chicken in the pasta. Lauren even managed a desert, which was impressive. Amanda and I had Irish coffee – not the best I must admit, but good enough to get you going.

When we got back to our road the place was full of people milling around getting free food off the stalls and there were fireworks in the distance. The effigies I saw earlier on were gone, and they are probably now burnt. In Calcutta they burn loads of effigies apparently, perhaps because it falls in with Durga Puja as well, which is a celebration of the Goddess Durga. Loads of little girls have been going around with sweets and garlands on, as they are given presents as a kind of living image of the goddess. Dusshera celebrates the victory of Lord Rama over the demon Ravana. It is a ten day long fast, which then culminates with lots of feasting and burning effigies of Ravana and his son and brother. It is mostly a Northern Indian thing I think. They also hold plays of Rama's victory in the nine days leading up to the main event. 

We just stopped to get juice and then went in. I had to contend with the fireworks for sleep now, but they are nothing in comparison to the heat.