This morning I had a really interesting Plato lecture. It actually went into some depth on Plato’s ideas of imagination and also the Aristotelian ideas of imagination. It actually gave me something new to think about as well, which was a very pleasant and welcome surprise. My lecturer spoiled it though when I tried to state my essay plan to him and he told me to come back on Friday and that he would see what was happening. Perhaps this one has ideas, or maybe he just likes following rules. Either way, he couldn’t be bothered talking to me. So I tried to visit Professor Sanpathi but, of course, he was not in the office. At least the men in the office told me straight rather than pretend not to speak English. Perhaps the feigned ignorance is only for complicated requests.
My history lecturer has given us our first assignment. We have to write a very short essay on the Indian Civil Service, looking at what made it ‘colonial’. It is quite an interesting topic, as the methods of recruitment and the ideology behind it are very specific and important in the creation of the typical English Raj bureaucrat that rests in our minds: florid, out-doorsy, sporting, upper class, calculating, assured in his own physical and mental superiority.
After our class we caught the bus home and went to lunch, which was incredibly exciting. They had these vegetable ball things that I am fairly fond of in a very gingery sauce. After lunch I just went to the library and stayed their working until the late afternoon, when Lauren and I got bored and went out to AIM. I tried to skype my gran, but to no avail. The internet died soon afterwards anyways. It was really annoying. I would have liked to have spoken to dad or Iain. Dad called me to say that when I had tried calling him it was very awkward, as it had flashed up on the computer screen during someone else’s consultation in his room. They need to learn how to sign out.
Dinner was an unappetizing mush, so I had a chapatti to make up for it, my first in a while now. I generally only get rice, as it is better for the dal.
After dinner we were invited out to the French couple, Brunelle and Guillame’s flat for some drinks. We stopped at the Wine and Beer shop on our way up though, and got an awful lot of odd looks and a few proposals that were not very appetizing. There were about thirty men just sitting on the pavement and in a deserted house next to the shop drinking out of brown bags. You can’t display alcohol on the streets here, like California. On the way to their flat we passed through an area near by to ours that we had never seen that was full of little shops. I feel we should explore one day, as there were a few that looked quite interesting. We got lost a few times on our way, but finally Guillame found us and we went up to the flat. It is like a proper student flat, and felt very homely. They have one other flatmate: a French boy called Bruno, but he didn’t really speak to us. The other French girl who is en-route to Cambodia was there as well. She is leaving tomorrow morning early, and is a little bit apprehensive. Apparently she is finding it very difficult to get her rupees exchanged into dollars, the currency in Cambodia. I will have to remember this for when I am coming home and plan ahead to get rid of as many of my rupees as possible or else begin to exchange them by degrees as early on as possible.
It was a very pleasant evening I must say. They had snacks (olives!) and beer and everyone was in a generally very good mood. I think they are going to come out with us tomorrow night to Urban Pind. Guillame is an enthusiastic dancer it seems. I wonder if he will be able to keep up with the Indian guys and their ‘moves’. They have invited us to come round again and we will all cook pasta together. I feel a trip to Khan Market to find some good cheese in the European shops is necessary. Who knows? Perhaps we will even find Parmesan! It is good now we have been here for a while. We were thrown together, but it has become more than that now. Amanda and I have decided that in May once we are finished here we are going to take a long route home through Europe and go to Bologna and Madrid and maybe somewhere beachy in Spain as we have friends living there for the year. I am already excited about it.
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