Liam Takes His Moustache, Guitar and Hat to India Part Two: more surprising animals on the road, bollywood movie #1, Indian wedding #1

November 15^th

Today on my way to work I walked past a colourfully dressed man taking his equally extravagantly dressed cow for a walk.

On my way to and from work I have to cross 4 roads. The first ones, under a flyover, are busy and this part is quite scary! But at least they do sort of stop here for the lights. There’s a poor family living under the flyover in between both roads but none of them have asked me for money so far. In fact, I haven’t once been approached by even one begging child, or old lady! I get asked for money more often in the UK.

I met Mr Prakash today. He seems like a warm-hearted person.

I had lunch in work. It costs 50 rupees and our helper, Jitin gets if for us. It was really nice!!! Best food so far. We all sat around the table and chatted and everyone shares their food. Lots of different vegetarian curries with naan, none wasted, no prudish table rules. And the takeaway comes in metal pots and a nylon bag which they come and collect later (or Jitin takes them back, I don’t know). Very sustainable! But Sanjay told me that they only did this because it was cheaper to wash up than use disposable packaging. This is cheaper food (although not the cheapest). Typically, middle class people get takeaways in disposable plastic and aluminium. But the upper middle class get takeaways from plastic free, ethically aware, expensive places which use biodegradable paper packaging.

We had the end of week meeting where everyone discusses what we’ve finished and what needs doing and in which order of priority.

I managed to catch the end of the meditation session today. As previously advised by people, I thought about my nose and breathing air, whilst listening to the spiritual music sung by an older lady with a harmonium.

I came back to find I have a roommate! He’s from the Urals in Russia, a very friendly guy.

November 16^th

Today on my way to work I saw a man riding a camel down main the road. Seriously! Still haven’t charged my camera unfortunately to capture these peculiarities.

In the office I made a massing model on sketchup of an educational campus in Diu, Gujarat, for a competition we’re entering. I took too long and felt very anxious at the end of the day…I hope I can keep up and be useful. They’ve shown me a lot of goodwill by hiring me, and I get real input in the projects. It’s a lot of responsibility, and I don’t want to embarrass myself and them, or let down the projects. I really like what they do; the briefs, the environmental and social awareness, the use of materials, the style.

The Ashram which I’m staying in is a really beautiful building, and Sanjay Prakash designed it. I’m very lucky to have this placement, it’s perfect for me, exactly the sort of architecture I’ve always wanted to do (although I may not be good enough for it).

I may get to go to Orissa and do some NGO work designing resilient houses in a zone devastated by a recent typhoon. My colleagues say that Delhi is really posh and I’m much more likely to get ill in the rest of India, particularly Orissa after the disaster.

I got invited to my colleague’s sister’s wedding.

There are fireworks every night in Delhi.

November 17^th

Big adventure! Gaurav took me on his motorbike to the outskirts of Delhi to visit Sanjay Prakash’s house. He didn’t know the way, and we got there in 3 hours by asking a very great many of people on the way for directions.

The house, which Sanjay designed, is excellent. Lots of interesting materials, little innovations and attractive furnishings. I hadn’t got my camera but we took photos on Gaurav’s phone. Afterwards we sat in SP’s garden and asked questions, and he answered and taught us a lot of interesting things.

Back in Delhi, Gaurav took me for a late lunch in a place he likes. Unhealthy, unhygienic, but very tasty, he said. And it did indeed taste great!! Best food so far, and the first time I’ve eaten meat here. It seemed perfectly healthy and hygienic to me, apart from all the flies.

Then we both had a haircut and I met his parents and brother in their flat. They were very friendly and welcoming. Later we went out on the bike and met our work mate, Pronita outside her house, intending to surprise her.

I went back to the Sinha’s flat and Gaurav’s mum had cooked us a dinner of egg curry, daal, roti and rice. This egg curry (like the one in Madher Jaffrey’s book) was in-fact the best food so far!

November 18^th

I stayed overnight at Gaurav’s, so in the morning we were rushing into work rather late on the back of Gaurav’s motor bike (scary). Then on top of a busy overpass, we got a puncture! Luckily he noticed it. So we got off and pushed it down the road to a mechanic. He ran his business from the side of the road in front of a very rubbish filled slum. There were many other people there, presumably his family and neighbours, one mother boiling water on the fire for her daughter to drink. Not necessarily this family, but many people here seem to throw rubbish without care, even outside their own shops and homes. It seems to be shopkeepers especially who do this.

Many people can’t speak English, not just the poor ones. I was surprised to learn this, as it is the second official language along with Hindi.

I got a tuc-tuc to work while my friend waited to have his tyre replaced (“10 minutes” the mechanic had claimed, rather over optimistically).

So far I have done my seva (requested voluntary service to the ashram) only on 1 or 2 occasions, rather than the requested minimum of an hour a day. I also struggle to get back in time for the meditation, and when I do, I only catch the last ten minutes of it. However, I decided to apply for long-term stay at the Ashram, so SP wrote an email to the head of the Ashram, and she replied later that day asking for a meeting with me to discuss this.

On the way home I was accosted by beggars for the first time; children of the family who live under the flyover. As I walk past they all reach out, including the mother, and as I go one kid follows me over the road. I have been told to ignore them so I politely say “Namaste” and “no, sorry, bye-bye” (spoiler: don’t worry readers, I do eventually give the poor kids food in a later instalment of this blog)

After a busy few days, I finally got back to my room in the Ashram and sat to write up day 15, 16 and 17 of this travel diary, soon to be blog. I chatted with my Russian roommate, Renat, my Rajasthani roommate, and the Californian girl I met on my first day here.

November 19^th

I got up early, went to the kitchen to sort through fenel seeds (my seva), had breakfast and then met with the head of the Ashram. Gaurav kindly joined me for breakfast and the meeting.

It was a good day in the office; I feel like I’m really settling in and I get on with everyone. At lunch, they planned to go and see the biggest new Bollywood movie, Ramleela, and to take me with them! I went with Gaurav on his motorbike and we met Pronita, Nitisha and Mayank there. The film was really brilliant, especially the first half! The second half was much more serious and harder to follow, as it deviated a bit from the famous Shakespeare tragedy on which it’s based. I had to ask my friends to translate a few times. I would definitely recommend this movie, even without subtitles. But I will look up the plot online when I succeed on connecting my frustratingly peculiar or faulty laptop with the elusive  wi-fi password (I’m away all day and when I return, I want to eat, and after that the IT guy’s gone).

The Ashram gates close at 10.30 so I stayed again at Gaurav’s place, and we ate more of his mother’s delicious cooking.

November 20^th

I really want to do my part of the deal with Ashram and do seva and meditation. So I got a lift in the morning with Gaurav’s parents who were heading to work. I made it in time to shower and do some seed-sorting in the kitchen.

No unusual animals on the way to work today, sorry. Horse, cow, camel…next it will be an elephant!!! One hopes.

In work I’m doing a project with Gaurav and Pronita. She is really nice and very good fun!

Tonight after work, the whole office went to our colleague’s sister’s wedding. He is the only one we know but this is normal in India. I was looking forward to trying lots of new foods but one Mayank (one of the younger of the senior architects) and Pronita were going “oh no, you can’t eat that, you’ll get Delhi-Belly and it’ll be too spicy for you.” L

I danced to Harriani songs with Pronita and a big bunch of young lads, who all thought this white guy copying their Bollywood and Bhangra style dancing was a great novelty. When we left they pulled me back for more dancing! One of my female colleagues said “you’re dancing is scary!” So nice! No dancing for you then missy!