I hate to begin this entry with an apology, but I am so sorry for how poorly updated this journal is! To begin with I had hoped to update it a few times each week. Then I resolved to do so at least once a week and I think the last entry was nearly two weeks ago now! I simply can't keep it as current as I did last year because things are considerably different now and I am extremely busy. It is Sunday today: my day off, and I have just had a rather wet journey home in an auto through thunder and lightening and sheets of rain. I was returning from my first rehearsal with the Delhi Chamber Choir, which I have been lucky enough to get into here, and where I have had a fantastic time rehearsing Mozart's Requiem! The only down side is that much of my relaxing “weekend” (consisting just of Sunday) has been taken up going to church in the morning (which lasted until about 1:30pm) and then cooking a curry, and then going to this choir rehearsal; after which a great deal of socialising took place. It is now 10:25pm!
Life is very good here right now. From time to time I find it overwhelming since it seems that every second of every day is full of activity, without much of a break, but at the heart of it all I am simply happy here. Work in the office is great fun, and my colleagues are real characters: particularly Paul Frey who can be hysterically funny sometimes without meaning to! I am not sure how to describe him really because I have never known someone like him before. The closest comparison I could give would be Apu from The Simpsons – but still this doesn't quite hit the nail on the head! Nonetheless we have great banter in the office. Paul usually starts the day by saying: “so... Michael ... how's it going?” and I am never sure really how to respond to this, so I say something like: “Good yar, how's it going?”. I think I should make a quotes board for Paul – I am his number one fan! He uses phrases like: “pile on yar, pile on!” when the tea arrives at about 9:30am and later in the day things can get really zany. Yesterday we had a profound conversation about tank wheels which went something like this (bear in mind, he is not the most serious person in the world):
“Michael do you like my tank wheels?”
“Um...” I said glancing over to his desk and looking the row of AA batteries he had taped together. “they are ... very nice!”
“Very good na? Do you think Indian government could use my tank wheels? ...” etc.
And we went on to discuss the efficiency and practicality of the tank wheels in question, and he expressed his belief in the importance of the manufacture of tank wheels in the office. Then word got around that FM (Freddy Martin) was back in the building and we thought it might be better if we made an effort to look like we were working! (Saturdays are always very relaxed since there isn't really enough work to last us a six day week – later in the afternoon we had a head-standing contest which Paul won doing a headstand precariously on one of the office chairs!)
In other news, I have just had my first Tabla lesson here last Thursday and my teacher is brilliant! I have to practice a lot however because it is very hard. I am learning Hindi still and working very hard at it – in the office I have a lot of support from all of the staff (when they are not too impatient) and whenever the phone rings I usually make an attempt to communicate in Hindi, although this is not always successful! The monsoon proper has finished now and it has not rained much for the last few weeks however there have been a few storms which are quite dramatic. I got caught in a particularly violent one on Friday evening this last week and had a fairly terrifying experience as I was on my way back from the cinema. Before the rain came, there was a blinding dust storm and the wind whipped chaotically around the auto as we drove through the eerie darkness, late in the evening. Suddenly, as we overtook a large digger truck, there was a loud bang and smash and the auto shook and swerved and came to a halt at the side of the road. In the dark, I had no idea what had happened. It was so sudden and so shocking that I found myself counting all my members just to check they were still there! Myself and the driver got out to assess the situation, and found a large dent in the front of the auto. We went to where the digger truck was now idling a short distance behind us and found a large metal thing in the road with broken glass surrounding it. It was about 5x3 ft and a few inches thick (whatever it was!) and was made of sheet steel (not solid steel, probably hollow – light enough for a strong gust to topple it, but not very light!) and had a light bulb on it which was now smashed; hence the glass debris surrounding it. A man had been transporting this thing in a very precarious manor on the front of the digger truck and the wind had toppled it right into the path of my auto. The sobering thing is that if I were on a motorcycle, I would have really had it! and this is not out of the question since after Christmas I may get myself a motorbike here, since it is very useful for getting around – last Friday is perhaps a healthy reminder that it is also a slightly dangerous way as well!
So I resolve to make at least one entry a week if I can...
|
