5th September

Today is the day we make our first expedition out of Delhi to Agra. But first, a tale of frustration.

It was filtered through the students in my English class that we had an extra class today with Gotram and Uday, two of the theory lecturers. Most of the class had turned up, but when we got there, there were exams taking places in each of the rooms we have lectures in. We milled around outside until we were shouted at to go away, so we went to sit on the other side of the building and await our lectures. I met the little girl from Assam that had sat next to me in class once, and we finally asked each other’s names. She is called Leena, and she introduced me to her friend VJ (actually Vijiyia, but she thinks VJ is just as good, even if it is a man’s name). We sat and talked about Scotland and the North East of India, and I told them about the Edinburgh Festival. So many of the students here want to come to Britain to study, or just to see it. Leena said that she had such an image in her head of the English countryside and London. She thinks it must be completely beautiful, and I am not sure if perhaps she has read too much Jane Austen and George Elliot: all rolling hills and estates. I told her about Somerset, and the Scottish highlands, which are probably some of the most beautiful places I have been to in Britain. I told her about Edinburgh and London, and what we enjoy doing as students. They had heard that the Scottish and Irish were huge drinkers, and I have to admit, in comparison to everyone here, every European must seem an absolute alkie. People here, young men included, have perhaps one or two beers and that is them drunk. I think it is something to do with the fact that Indians have been boiling and purifying their water for many centuries, whereas we Europeans were drinking wine and beer for centuries rather than try to do anything with the water. Perhaps these ages of continuous drinking has made us so much more immune to the effects of alcohol in comparison to people in India, who are genetically unused to the effects.

In the end, one lecturer turned up and told us that he had specified that his extra class would not begin until September, which if I remember rightly, is now. He evidently lives on a higher literary plane where there is no sense of time and space. The other lecturer called someone who spread round that he also would not turn up, having not confirmed the class properly. I just don’t get this. It is so frustrating, and would never happen in Edinburgh, except on a very rare occasion. Here, and it is the same in history, one student is told something by someone and then expected to spread it round the rest of us by the next lecture. Even assignments seem to be being handed out like this. It is completely ridiculous. Not that we know what our assignment is even going to be… Some think it is a mini-exam on the 5^th and 6^th. Others think it will be an essay due for then instead. I would really like to know, as my parents are coming out around that time and I want to know how much work I can get done beforehand so as to be able to spend as much time as possible with them and not worry about anything.

Met Tanya and some of her friends outside the library and everyone is equally pissed off with our lecturers. They are the better ones as well! It’s so depressingly typical of this place.

Went and sat in Barista for hours instead. I am reading Burmese Days by George Orwell at the moment. It is actually very relevant to my history course, as it explores the British Raj sense of “hanging together” against the natives they were ruling. It is based on his own experiences in Burma as an officer, and so far it is completely gripping. I really love Orwell’s prose style, so simple and defined, never over the top and melodramatic, but perfectly descriptive in its own way.

Met Amanda, Lauren and Ben at the metro station to get the tube to New Delhi and then…onto AGRA! I am so excited about this trip. It is our first chance to get out of Delhi and actually experience something different and be a proper traveler for a weekend. We are counting on there being a train today at some point and then getting into Agra and getting a hostel once we are there. Ben says there is a hostel strip right by the Taj Mahal itself, so we should be alright.

We managed to get a train! We had a bit of time to spare and went for some lunch in a quite nice café at Parana Ganj. Our last meal until tomorrow night! We don’t want to eat anything in Agra, as everyone tells us that we will get poisoned.

The train was completely insane. We managed to find where we were sitting, and thank god we did have seats. The thing was packed. Up and down the narrow corridors everyone is fighting for space and your money. There are the chaiwallahs and panniwallahs that you expect to be there, and then there are the dining-cart men who hand out food to those who ordered it. But then there are also the others selling Bombay mix, or pakora, or curry, or coconuts and other fruit. And then at every stop beggars come on to ask for food and money, one even dragging himself along the floor as he had no leg and no arm to hold a crutch with. There are the women in their perfectly folded, moth-eaten sarees carrying bundles of children’s toys and shooting toy guns that make a rattling noise. And then there is the weirdest of all: the transvestites and transsexuals. Men in sarees and salwaar suits and bad make up. They carry tiny dainty glitzy handbags as well. They are mostly blokes in a dress…but there are some that are quite androgynous who may actually be transsexuals. They come up to you and clap in your face to try and scare you. Many Indians are apparently quite superstitious about these people, and they are ostracized from general society. You are meant to give them money to go away and not curse you. I think if they curse you it is meant to make you infertile, but I am not sure about that. We sat with our feet up on the seats and our bags between us and read for a while before playing cards. We played a game called “I am going to a picnic” and you have to make up a rule about what people can bring to the picnic, and people have to work out the rule from what they are and are not allowed to bring. Stephen went first and he made it that you had to use the first letter of your name as the first letter of whatever you brought. I worked it out fairly quickly, and we played until we had exhausted ourselves of things beginning with our name letter. I had a go and my rule was nothing man-made could come. Lauren got a little confused and very competitive and guessed that the rule was something to do with photosynthesis or bacteria, which is way more complicated than anything I could actually come up with.

On a side note, the train for second class seated, which has no AC but does have fans, should cost about 140Rs. If it is less, then they are putting you in general, and there you will not get a seat and are packed in like battery hens. If it is more, they are either ripping you off or they are giving you a higher class.

When we arrived in Agra we went to a hostel Ben had read about in the Lonely Planet guide called Hotel Host. It was newly painted and very pleasant, and it was about 110Rs a night per person. We dumped our stuff and realised they had a roof terrace, which was brilliant and had a great moonlit view of the Taj Mahal itself. I like being able to look out over all the open rooftops; you see so many odd things. There was a goat in a tiny pen on one of them. We sat up here for hours drinking beer and chatting about ridiculous things. Joe has a guitar, so we brought it up and I tuned it and played some ABBA. Then Joe played Wish You Were Here and I almost thought I was back at home with the usual crowd, or in the flat listening to Iain ‘revising’ with the aid of his fender. It felt great to be traveling, to feel like a tourist for a night, completely worry free and careless. We have decided to get up at half five tomorrow for the Taj opening so that we can go before the crowds hit and see the sunrise over it. 

4th September

Had my long lie today. It was fantastic. I didn’t feel like doing anything this morning so lay in bed until Amanda got me up, and then, once dressed, I went back to laying in bad reading a book. Eventually I felt bad about my laziness, and I went up to AIM café for a change of scenery and some lunch, as I just did not feel like curry today.

My legs are in a complete state. I have all these weird little spots all over them and they just keep cropping up. It reminds me of impetigo, but it hasn’t spread anywhere else, and they are like actual spots, not blisters that crust over. I don’t understand it at all. It might be because we are sweating all the time or something.

 Having spent 6 hours in AIM, we went back to the hostel really briefly to drop our stuff off and then went straight back out to Connaught Place for a film. There is an Odeon in CP, so we thought we would turn up and see what was on. There wasn’t anything on until half ten though, and it was Final Destination. There is another cinema in CP though, called PVR Plaza, and it had Love Aaj Kal on at half seven. Love Aaj Kal is the film that Lauren’s favourite tune, Chori Bazari is on the soundtrack of. The cinema was above a restaurant and bar complex called Piccadelhi, which was completely kitsch and awesome. It had London metro signs outside, and then you walked through red phone boxes into a little square thing that has a black signpost like the London tourist signs and a London bus stop! There was a small English-style pub that could have passed for one, except the floor was not nearly sticky enough. It was really well done and made us feel very nostalgic for London, especially as Amanda and Stephen are both from the metropolis.

Love Aaj Kal itself was absolutely amazing and I am going to buy it and bring it home and force everyone to watch it in Hindi with me. There were great dance routines, there was a mad carnival scene, it was even set in London mostly…sigh…fantastic in every way. Chori Bazari wasn’t the only good song on offer either: there was a great one about twisting at one juncture, and there were dance moves and everything. It was so weird seeing London in most of the scenes, particularly when everyone apparently spoke in Hindi. Delhi also had an odd quirk about it, as it was very clean and generally an awful lot more cosmopolitan looking than it actually is. We mistook it for San Francisco at one point it was so clean looking. The whole film is hilarious. It is about a guy and girl who meet at a club and start going out. They decide to break up though when she gets a place restoring temples in Delhi and he gets a contract working for Golden Gate Inc. They both pretend it is fine and start seeing other people (the guy seeing this hilariously bimbo French girl) but soon all begins to fall apart. They decide to meet once more, and there is a song and dance number and you think they will get together, but no. Then girl decides to get married to her boyfriend even though she is really unhappy. She gets a divorce soon afterwards though, and the guy realises he has been an idiot and travels to Delhi to ask her to take him back. Which of course she does. Running alongside this is the flash backs of the match maker, an old Sikh man with many brightly coloured turbans, who has also had to go through many trials and tribulations to get the woman he loved. It is all very nice an lovey-dovey, and I have to say Sikh man is an old smoothie.

After the film we went to Parana Ganj and went up to Metropolis and persuaded the men in the kitchen to make us a pizza to share between us. Lauren thinks she has Delhi Belly again, which is not good and does not bode well for our train journey tomorrow. We are planning on going to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. Amanda and I have already decided we are not going to eat anything in Agra as everyone gets poisoned there, even the Indian girls, but Lauren and Stephen think they will be fine. I think I would rather be hungry for 24 hours than sick for a week to be honest. We will see how Lauren is though. We might need to rethink if she is too unwell, which would be a great shame. 

3rd September

I wish I could sleep in! I had another weird chest pain last night and I have no idea what is causing it. It was incredibly painful however, and I couldn’t sleep for ages. Weird. There were two peacocks on my balcony however, and that made me happy beyond everything. When there is exotic wildlife to be had, I am easy to please.

Yet another Fielding lecture that was entirely on the narrative. I don’t understand why the people in the class haven’t read the text and so she feels the need to go through it. it is incredibly annoying and leaves no time for development of the ideas contained within the text. I know we are only a few weeks in, but still, there should be more than this at post-graduate level. My history lecture on the other hand, was a wonderful lecture as usual. I really enjoy his class, especially when he gets really into what he is saying about half way through and his voice gets really loud. You can tell he is an old Marxist as well, its quite encouraging really. He gave us sheets today telling us what batch we would be in for assignments and when they would be due. Our first is due in on the 29^th September I think and the second on the 20^th October, so I will need to make sure I am incredibly up to date or I will be in trouble for it, as I think I will have other essays in October as well. Everyone is visiting in October…most inconvenient! If only they had picked different months at least! My family are coming on the 8^th, and Kapil is here from the 4^th till 8^th, but I guess I can get some work done in that time, and the couple of days my family will be in Agra, as I don’t know if I will go with them because of these essays. It’s all slightly problematic.

Went to Barista for some lunch and discovered they do an awesome peach smoothie with yoghurt. A very welcome change to all the ice cream, and a nice perk before Hindi. I didn’t fall asleep as badly as last time, possibly because we spent the entire lecture talking about food and sweets. I found it funny when he told us that Indians have a light breakfast in comparison to the West, as they only have tea/coffee/hot milk, and toast and jam, and cereal or porridge, and eggs or something hot (cooked by the women, he specified). Not heavy at all…

When we got back to the hostel Amanda came by to use the net. Apparently Lauren’s has stopped working now, and we are afraid that they have cancelled her contract now that mine is working, but hopefully not. Surely they are not so stupid…(fingers crossed). Ate more cashew nuts and apricots than I think is good for me (they are too moreish) and then went for a wee gym time, seeing as I didn’t go yesterday. Here, it is quite satisfying that 40 minutes on the cross-trainer makes you sweat more than an hour at home. Makes you feel like you have achieved a lot more than you actually have. Dinner was exciting tonight as well: parantha and chickpea dhal…I though I was in heaven. I had to get two helpings to satisfy the cravings.

After dinner we watched Breakfast on Pluto, which made me very happy. We have to watch films with the fan off, which is hard as you start to sweat buckets in seconds, but worth it for this. My laptop doesn’t have great speakers, so we were all crowded round it. Lauren has found out that Colgate tooth powder (??) cleans silver jewelry really well, so I have finally removed the layer of grime accumulated on my silver bangle and necklace. It was completely rank I have to say. All the pollution and the water must just get to it. I suppose if it makes our skin go black, it isn’t too surprising that it does the same to clothes and jewelry.

It began to storm during the film. The lightning was incredibly bright, and the rain poured down like nothing I have yet seen. The wind was really strong as well: a proper storm. My room even got slightly flooded, as my balcony must have flooded so it all seeped in onto my floor. I now have a couple of pairs of my trousers that needed a wash soaking it all up. At least this place is so hot that it will probably dry in five minutes anyway. The corridor by Lauren’s has two inches of water in it. It’s completely crazy, and hopefully it will mean tomorrow might be a little cooler. Tomorrow is the student elections, so class has been cancelled. Finally there will be an end to all the demonstrations and the protests outside the lecture halls. The amount of passionate chanting I have heard in the past five days has been insane. The students here do thing so differently to Edinburgh: they affiliate with political parties and create separate parties themselves. The political parties then fund their activities and campaigns; something that would never happen at home. There are all these airbrushed posters around the place as well, completely strange to we foreigners. In Edinburgh such militancy would have you disqualified. There is certainly no outright party allegiance. I have learnt that ABVP are BJP, that NSUI is Congress, and that SFI are probably communists, or at least very leftwing. I think I like them most, as they seem to be the only one relying on student support rather than outside support. It also means I might get a lie in, in pigeons and my body allow me it.

There are more explosions. I don’t understand why you would set off fireworks in dregs of a storm…I guess weddings are too important to think about such paltry things as weather. 

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.

1st September

September! The month where everything will supposedly get colder! Amazing times,

Today Lauren’s friend from home is coming to visit her on part of his round the world trip. We are meeting him later in Parana Ganj and we are going to go to the Red Fort, which I have yet to go to.

Had another theory class today on Plato. I am really warming to that lecturer. I am also starting to think that I am going to have to meet them outside of lectures to discuss things, because there really is no scope for developing your own ideas and arguments when you are just getting lectured at. I know that in Edinburgh the leap from 2^nd to 3^rd year is a fairly major one, so I just feel like I might not have progressed very much by the end of this if I don’t go out of my way to try and convince one of them to chat to me occasionally. Lauren thinks the same. She had had to prepare a presentation for today, but when she got to class she found out that half the people hadn’t read the book they had had an essay due in the week before for, never mind done a presentation. And then the lecturer came in and didn’t even mention the presentation. She had stressed out about the whole thing, but if half the class haven’t even begun their work and no one cares, it doesn’t bode well for the modes of assessment here. We have decided that if needs be, we would rather repeat third year than go into fourth year and scrape a 2:2 or something.

Our history lecture was cancelled, so we caught the metro early into New Delhi. As usual, huge masses of people in the station, all with their luggage on their heads. It is quite a sight to see. I have no idea how they can balance massive suitcases on there.

Unlike our last excursion here, there is no mud bath, and we can see the streets. After much wandering through tiny back streets (one with a cow lying down in the middle of it, so we had to step over it) we found Stephen’s hostel after about ten minutes of aimlessness. It seems pretty good. The hostels here are fairly good I have to say, and all pretty cheap. So you know, if you are coming to visit me hint hint you should totally stay there. Though, I would not recommend it if you are a girl alone or with only one guy, as a lot of hostels won’t let you in the same room unless you produce a marriage certificate.

Went for some lunch at the Everest roof top kitchen, and I had parantha and paneer. I have to say, I have grown quite fond of paneer, which is a cottage cheese type thing that is in quite a lot of things, including curry. Afterwards we went down into the street when it began to rain very heavily. Within thirty seconds we were soaked to the skin, and my white t-shirt was suddenly an awful plan. Took refuge in New Delhi station and decided that Red Fort and Chandni Chowk was a bad plan, and that we would go to the museum instead.

The museum here is fairly cool, and I can get in for 1Rs with a student card (300 for all other foreigners). It has ancient and medieval Indian art galore, and a room that was unfortunately partly closed off with loads of beautiful bronze sculptures of the Gods. There was also quite a lot of Buddhist and Jain art, which was very interesting, and a Buddhist devotional relic stand that had bits of skin and so on in it like the saints’ do in Catholic churches. One of the most interesting things I saw was a portrait of one of the Mughal emperor’s from the time of James VI and I where he is holding a portrait of the Madonna.

By the time we got out the museum it was dry again, but we were damp and exhausted. Decided to call it a day and get back to the hostel for afternoon tea and let Stephen get some sleep. I need a cup of tea…I am very very tired and I am not entirely sure why.

The cup of tea was the ultimate restorative. I have to say, the tea and biscuits every day at five o’clock is an absolutely amazing tradition that should be in place for the rest of my days. It is a very English tradition, but if it is a product of colonialism that this hostel practices, I am all for it.

Going to AIM later to get the old faithful: pomegranate shakes and free wifi. Cannot wait, it is going to be great. I can even publish this thing on the net. 

Going to my first gig tomorrow! Apparently it is fusion music, but technically the Lady GaGa/Kaminey mash up of Saturday night is fusion, so I don’t feel too enthusiastic. But we shall see. This place surprises at every single turn.

 

31st August

My morning lecture this morning by the amazing Sidney man was interrupted by some person from the Vice Chancellor asking us to fill in feedback forms. I feel they may be slightly confused when they see my form, as it discussed your previous courses and all that and seeing as that took place in an entirely different continent, I can see why there may be some confusion. But oh well. It was nice to be able to vent all my frustrations with the way things are run here, but I somehow doubt any one actually reads these forms let alone pays attention to them. The lecturer decided it was a lost cause and buggered off after the form man appeared. The ABVP, the student union associated with the Hindu Nationalist party the BJP, marched into the lecture room as well and started mouthing off about a less secular teaching model and Hindu rights and so on. I decided that was the moment to leave. I have seen pictures of the RSS training camps, with the boys with sticks in their hands, being taught how to beat people to death who believe in a different God or who don’t believe at all. I have no idea how such people can even come to University in the first place. How can you possibly reconcile a liberal education with such fascistic viewpoints? It just doesn’t make sense to me.

After morning lectures I spent about five minutes cooing over the puppies outside the Arts Faculty. It is a shame they will grow up mangy and scrawny.

We went to Kamla Nagar for some lunch at Barista. Attempted to read my Johnson criticism but failed to concentrate in any way.

Hindi today was absolutely horrible. I was just starting to get my head around the past tense when he told us the past simple, or the way to say ‘I went’ or ‘I ate’. It all seemed to be going ok and then he sprung the gender endings on us despite me asking if it changed in any way shape or form and him assuring me that no, this really was it. Liar. We did learn directions today however, which will come in so useful when we next get a rickshaw and have to explain where we live. Finally, a useful thing!

Lauren and Amanda felt ice cream was needed to pick themselves up after Hindi, so we went to Nirula’s and they got some food. I had taken out a muffin from Barista so ate that. I have to say, there is a lot of sugar in my diet here. I put sugar in my tea, there is ice cream in the coffee, there is sugar everywhere in fact. At home I would never even think to eat so much sugar, and yet here it is all we seem to do. Perhaps it is because everything is such a chore we need it to keep our energy up. Or we are greedy. It may be the latter…

When we came back to the hostel I did penance on the treadmill and Amanda and Lauren went to work. I said I would help the slightly crazy seeming Indian woman who also does history with her English tonight, and Amanda says she will help. I am slightly apprehensive, as she looks at you in a very intent way and isn’t so careful about personal space, and so is a little scary. She ran into Lauren while she was ill the other week and said the same thing but when Lauren said she was sick and couldn’t do it, she yelled “Swineflu!” at her and ran off. But I couldn’t say no, so we shall see.

 

She didn’t turn up! Amazing! Bed time instead. What did turn up though was my birthday cards from mum, dad and Euan. I feel special. They are stuck up on my wardrobe door.

30th August

Woke up when a pigeon flew into my window, flapped at it for a bit then, deciding it was in fact glass, it flew away. Bloody annoying. I am a little bit hung-over I think. Shows what no alcohol for a month does to you. I missed breakfast, so instead of throwing up that, I threw up my vitamin pills instead and a mix of water and stomach acid. Lovely. I now have the hiccups and I can’t stop. I also somehow ripped my salwaar (probably while dancing like loonie) and so I must sew them up. Bah. At least they are black, so no one will know.

After a lazy morning recovering, I feel infinitely better. Went down with Lauren for lunch, and was delighted to find chickpea things waiting for me. I do love the chickpea dhal, it is just so much more exciting than lentils. Marie apparently got off with her Dutch Embassy man at the party they were at yesterday, despite his wife being there. Not so cool. She just seems to have no scruple.

Lauren and I went out to Coffee Day and met Ben to do some work. Ended up just chatting about my Imperial Control class and I think I have converted Lauren and Ben to taking it instead of Peninsular India. Apparently their course is focusing on economic history, whereas my course is taking the racial theory route and looking at the effect upon social and state institutions. It is actually very interesting, and the kind of history that I love. If only there were more courses this semester on it, perhaps I wouldn’t be changing my mind to English Literature for my dissertation. Coffee Day had mosquitoes in it: is there no escape??

When we came back to the hostel, I managed to get a cup of tchai and took it up to my room to read for a little longer. I finished Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys today. I couldn’t put it down: I only bought it on Friday. It is a brilliant book. Rhys was a half white creole woman who lived up till the late seventies. She was completely ignored as a writer until the sixties, when Wide Sargasso Sea came out. She was ignored because her books were ahead of their time by some way, all dealing with debauched women who were trying to place themselves in the world and in society, struggling to keep their identity together. Wide Sargasso Sea is the masterpiece: it gives the woman in the attic of Jane Eyre her story back. The wife in the attic in Jane Eyre is supposed to be a rich heiress that Lord thingy has married for her money as the younger son of a wealthy family. It was a common practice, going to the colonies and marrying a rich plantation heiress. Rhys gives the madwoman back her story, her identity and her voice. The character is Antoinette Cosway, a white creole woman who is surrounded her entire life by hostility and the memory of slavery and ill begotten wealth. She cannot place herself in her society, as she is despised by white and black people alike. Then, she marries an English man who has come to Jamaica with the sole purpose of marrying her for her money. The narrative comes from Antoinette and her husband, and it shows why Antoinette becomes the madwoman in the attack, why she is forced into that role by her circumstance, history, society and situation with her husband. The descriptions of the islands are so verdant and exotic and yet there is an underlying sinister note that comes through most when the author describes the house of Christophine and her person as bright and colourful and floral, and then the brief mention of the pile of chicken feathers in one corner and immediately there is a dark reality beneath the flora.

I enjoy the fact that there is ice cream at dinner on a Sunday. We tried practicing Hindi afterwards, and we made flash cards with the consonants on it. Unfortunately, many of them look almost exactly like one another, with just a tiny angle of the line or a particular loop shape being different. Some are exactly the same, except one with the dot above the letter is an ‘r’ and the other with the dot below, is a ‘d’. We gave up pretty quickly. I don’t understand why there are four forms of ‘ta’ either. And you don’t know where they have to be used! They just appear and there is no difference as far as I can tell. Most perplexing.

Goddamn I just burnt my keyboard again….this computer is going to be wrecked if I am not more careful…