2nd September

Today I didn’t have class, so I took the opportunity to go to the Vodafone shop in Model Town and try one more time for the internet. I had to wait half an hour despite being one of four people in the shop, and then spent half an hour trying to explain myself to the woman at the counter and then another wee while of her calling people, speaking in Hindi, and then repeatedly go over the same action on the computer until she told me that I would have internet in 2 hours. We will see what will come of that one. Here, two hours might mean 5 days.
After my hours of waiting around in that horrible shop I went to meet Lauren and Amanda for some lunch and a restorative coffee. I got a banana and caramel frappe, which I have to say, was just the job to lift my mood. Amanda has found a wonderful book on Post-colonial studies. It is basically a reader, so it includes loads of essays from different post-colonial theory works. It is really very interesting, and I now have quite a long list of books I need/want to buy. I particularly liked Chinua Achebe’s contribution on African novel writing. It is very tongue-in-cheek and quite an enjoyable and insightful rant. I really want to read his book Things Fall Apart, and Lauren has it with her, so I will borrow it. We are swapping Wide Sargasso Sea for Burmese Days first though. Its quite interesting that Burmese Days is all about the British admin in Burma and a lot of what we are doing right now is on the growth and romanticism of the civil service in India. The Covenanted Service it was called. Apparently it captures the spirit of elitism and camaraderie felt between the old graduates of the EIC training school really well. I am looking forward to it.
We had Hindi class this afternoon, and I almost fell asleep several times during it. I just could not keep my eyes open for more than five seconds. Whenever he asked me anything I just mumbled something out and I think he could tell I was not there in spirit as he stopped asking after a while. I felt slightly bad, as he is a good teacher and he takes time out to teach us this stuff. But I just couldn’t stop nodding. Afterwards we had to go to Nirula’s and get food to resuscitate ourselves. I got a sort of chickpea thing. I have to say, since coming here, I am all about the chickpeas. Tanya met us as well, as she is going to come out to the gig with us.
We met Stephen, Lauren’s friend, at Rajiv Chowk, and he had made a friend from Australia. We all went up to the night market that is along Jan Path, which is a road leading out of Connaught Place. It has lots of little booths that are designated to different Indian states and areas. So, there is a Maratha craft booth and so on. There are also lots of makeshift shacks that sell incredibly cheap clothes. You have to walk through a metal detector to get in, but I don’t see the point in it really. There are so many people milling around, there would be no way to police them all. And anyway, even if it goes off, the guards never search you or care. I was so glad Tanya was with us, she managed to knock three hundred rupees off the prices of nearly everything. I got a pair of awesome trousers that are purple tie-dye and a silk skirt for 400Rs (£6). If Tanya had not intervened, I would have been paying 500Rs for one of them. I swear, as soon as she turned up they knocked 200Rs straight off. It was hilarious and amazing, and completely proved our theory of tourist tax being WAY more than you could expect it to be. We also got apricots and cashew nuts, and I am in fact munching them as I type. I am eating A LOT of them though, so I don’t know if I have surpassed the point where it is technically healthy to eat them.
Ward, as usual, told us that the gig was in a not too expensive bar, and ten minutes from Central Sec. But no. It was actually 40 minutes from Central Sec and 300Rs entry, but two free beers made it more bearable. Even so, we need to stop going out to where Ward tells us so much. It is a major drain on your funds. The other issue was, that we had to be back by 11 for curfew. That would have been ok, if Ward had been correct about the ten minute theory and if we hadn’t had only an hour to stay. As it was, the band wasn’t too hot anyways. It wasn’t as bad as Bollywood mash ups, but it was still four guys fiddling about with their guitars. And then one of them did an awful and pathetic drum solo and everyone cheered like it was freaking awesome. I didn’t understand what was so good, but then again, this is possibly one of the few instances of anything that could be designated as alternative music that I will experience while I am here. Tanya has professed a like for Incubus though, and apparently her hometown Shillong is full of emos. Definitely the Scotland of the East! I will have to go and check it out, it would feel so homely. It was very strange actually, as we met a guy from London who’s family live in Delhi. It was weird to hear the accent for a change. Also, basically every international person we knew was in that bar. Very weird. Apparently we can’t do things apart from one another, all the white people must band together out of want for things to do, or imagination perhaps. All in all, it wasn’t a bad night, but a definite waste of money getting there and back. I did get a subway for my dinner though, which was amazing and slightly gross.
I find it strange that the Indian girls can’t have the same curfew as us. It is backward discrimination. Tanya seems far more sensible than we are for a start. Perhaps one day she could convince her guards to let her come home at 2am or something and come out with us. On a Wednesday at Urban Pind there is a ladies night with free mojitos. I feel it must be done one day, even though I have a lecture on Thursday mornings at 9…
So, seeing as this is published, you have probably guessed that my internet works! It doesn’t support Skype all too well, but it works none the less. I can just go to AIM to have a video chat if necessary. All most exciting.
There are tones of explosions going off beside the hostel. Amanda got so worried she called me to see if I could find out what it was. It turns out it was fireworks at a nearby wedding (they are huge affairs, a whole street was in fairy lights) and not world war three.