Nottingham, November 12th
I was still getting things in the
centre, and it was nearly time to go!!! I rushed back to the flat on a slow bus
in traffic. Bella said that the bus we must take was at 35 past and I arrived
at here flat, running, at about half past. We ran with the stuff to the bus
stop. In time!!! But then Sion phoned and we didn’t get on the 36, which we
should have got although it doesn’t go all the way to the station. The one that
does didn’t show up when it was supposed to. Nor did the next one. Another 36
went past, and we were just about to call a cab when the Indigo finally
arrived. We got on but soon realised that it was going too slowly, stuck in
traffic, so we might not make it. Bella showed great courage and decisiveness
by calling a cab to meet us en route. We disembarked from the bus by Savoy and
our cab was waiting across the road (or at least, a cab was there which we waved at assuming it to be ours…we’ll
never know).
We told him when our train was and he was unimpressed and
thought we should have called a cab much earlier. I was so stressed; my heart
was pumping!!!! At every red light we went “noooo! Turn green!” We arrived
outside the entrance with about 5 mins to go, and Bella ran out to get her
ticket from the machine. I paid him 5.70 (she insisted on tipping him which was
very nice of her as he did deserve it, but I was stingy and gave him 30p less
than she ordered me to give him [this was what was in my hand after I put the
other pound back in my pocket thinking I wouldn’t need it]).
I struggled to get my stuff from the car, then ran through
the corridor to the platforms. Bella had her ticket so she grabbed my guitar
and we ran down the stairs. We caught the train with under two minutes to go
until departure.
Chatted to one of the studio heads Nicola Gerber on the train and told her about my
plan to go to India. It was nice bumping into her. Then, finally, I could ring
Sion and Paul back and organise the dinner out in London. But the signal was so
bad and Bella and I wanted to watch Princess Monoke, which I’d bought earlier
in the centre. Thankfully, Sion and Paul organised it. So Bella and I met Sion,
Paul and Adam in St Pancras and we went to Pizza Express where we had very nice
time.
Bella slept on the tube to our hostel and I chatted to an
interesting Travelling Englishman who happened to be a Jehovas Witness.
Heathrow, Nov 13th & India Nov 14th
The plan, AirIndia, was really nice! And so was food. And there were
lots of films to watch and music to listen too from a screen on the back of the
seats. Better than easyjet!
(This next paragraph has uesful advice for those arriving at Delhi International Airport, but you can skip if you don't care about taxi prices etc)
Arrival at the airport I arrived in good spirits, got currency (good exchange rate here), and bought a
pre-booked taxi to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram for 410 rupees. However, the men outside kept insisting that I
had to pay more; one really annoying, desperate person kept saying the
ticket was only for my luggage and I had to pay him Rs.900 to get to the
Ashram. He tried really hard to get me into a cab. Some other cabbies said “our friend is only joking, this is
pre-paid cabs” and eventually a quiet, moustached, thin, dark-skinned man succeeded
in putting my stuff in the cab and, without much response to my continued
insistence that I would not pay more, he honked me out of the airport. He
really had to honk a lot, because the taxi we entered got into was completely
surrounded by parked cabs. We drove along wide, dark roads past urban
wasteland, trees and slums until we reached the Sri Aurobindo Ashram. He kindly
waited for me to be let in, and I gave him a tip as he was honest and did not ask for more money. I think he was only quiet
because he couldn’t speak much English. He wasn’t originally from Delhi.
Although it was about midnight in the UK, I found it hard to sleep.
It was just me and one other man in a large, very basic dorm. After a few hours and a small amount of sleep I awoke for breakfast: slightly
spicy pasta/noodles, bread, warm milk. A good Liam breakfast! I met a retired accountant who was very
nice. He showed me the sterilized water machine. So no need for my expensive UV
SteriPen!!!
I asked the reception for Sanjay Prakash’s number (he's the director of Studio for Habitat Futures) and told him I'd arrived.
I had a good sleep for the rest of the morning and woke for
lunch: rice, naan, and various vegetarian curries and pulses, some of which
were interesting new flavours for me.
A young architect called Gaurav Sinha was sent from the
office to meet me at the Ashram. He got me a padlock from a nearby shop for my stuff and
then took me on the back of his motorbike through Delhi to the office. This was my first
experience of Delhi in the daytime, and it was very exciting. Luckily he
brought a spare helmet for me. He said the police were strict on that these
days, which is surprising but good to know.
On the way I saw an Indian man riding an extravagantly
decorated white horse with rings on his fingers and bells on his toes
Yes, the road is quite crazy, and really, really busy. But it
wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. And Gaurav assured me that it was
ordered chaos.
My new colleague took me through a door and up a staircase to
the Studio For Habitat Futures where I met the studio leader, Mayank and the others. All very
young; I guess many of them have quite recently graduated. I was introduced to
the projects which all sound very exciting. I’ll be working on a few at one
time.
My first task was to do some hand renders of some sections
for a presentation of the IICT-Jodphur campus masterplan.
I was a bit slow but the drawings were satisfactory.
There are two in-house waiter/servants, Jitin and Subhash, who bring us
water, tea, coffee and Indian sweets!!! This is really great.
Most of the
people I met struggled to understand my accent though because I think I talk
too fast and too indecisively.
Got a lift back some of the way on another colleague’s
motorcycle, this time with no helmet, at night (no police at night, you see)!! But the scariest part was
crossing the road after he dropped me off. I walked up the road as instructed
but I went too far, and ended up in a busy, interesting, poor and dirty looking
area. The main street side of a slum I guess. So I asked a few locals (a
teenager with his mum looked like a safe bet) and went back the way I came,
eventually finding it.
At dinner I met Sarah, from California, studying East Asian
religions and yoga with an ambition to become some kind of guru, and Shiv, a local lawyer. He kindly invited us to his father’s boutique hotel
where we drank chai and ate some delicious sweet syrupy thing. He dropped us
back (in his posh white car). I showered and now I’m here writing this, still
with no internet access and only 1600 rupees…(need to load up my Indian Rupee
Bank card soon!!!).
Good night, diary and patient readers x
(I can’t wait to sleep now!)
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