Sometime back in November
Finally had a bath today! When I say finally, I mean since
being ill for the last few days, not since I arrived. When I say bath, I mean a
bucket. You fill it up from a single hot water tap then go into the cubicle and
wash (see photo).
The winter temperature here in Delhi is very pleasant for me,
but even so I felt quite cold standing naked in the cubicle. It must be
freezing for the Indians! It was really nice to put my feet in the bucket of
warm water. When I first washed this way I didn’t know about the hot tap.
During my first week at the Ashram, I stayed a guests
dormitory which had a shower and a sit down toilet (that was also designed so
people could lift the seat and stand on the rib is their used to crouching
toilets…a well-designed, thoughtful, architect’s toilet!). I had roommates too,
first a young Russian from the Ural valley who was learning to become a yoga
teacher, then some Indian guys, one of whom was an Indian classical singer and
keyboardist working in Dubai. But the day after I met these two Indians, my new
roommates, my request for long term stay was granted and I was asked to move to
the boy’s dorm of the Mirambika School.
The good part about it…
- The other lads here are very friendly and welcoming. I think they are mostly around my age. The guys I spoke to first where 21*. They always say hi and are interested to come and chat. I’ve started giving one of them extra guitar lessons.
- I have my own spacious room and peace and quiet
- The building's nice
The bad parts
- No wi-fi (I will get a dongle at some point)
- It’s a few minutes’ walk from the main ashram which is where I have to go to use the internet
- The front door is closed at 10.30, so not much time to use the internet in the ashram between returning from work and getting back to the dorm
- I left my soap in the bathroom on my second night and in the morning the cleaners had cleaned it away
- Crouching toilets (but it’s good to learn to use these as now I can use any toilet in the world)
- No shower, I have to use a tap and bucket
Overall though it is a very good place to stay; the bad
points are really small and unimportant.
*even though they were really tiny! The standard height of
Indian men is very short compared to Europeans. I think my height is perfect…I
may be a bit short in comparison with the mighty Notts lads, or my brother, or
Nicolas Woodius and the Bristol Massive, or Ieuan but still not noticeably
shorter than average, and here I’m a bit taller than average but still pretty
much average. I am a universally average heighted man.
It’d hard write emails and facebook messages to my friends
back home the common area of the ashram because people always come and speak to
me. It’s nice that they’ve very friendly, but to be honest I want time alone to
focus on my online tasks, like this blog for instance (which I’m typing on word
in my room and will upload later). Last Sunday, I was checking my emails and
writing a message to Bella when one of the fellas also staying in Mirambika,
who I’d, met before but hadn’t remembered, came and sat right next to me and
looked at the screen with me. I wondered if this was normal in the Indian
culture; someone told me later that it was. I felt awkward doing my emails in
this situation. By the time he went my battery ran out, or something else got
in the way, so I gave up and left it until later.
Recently I got a dongle with the help of one of my friends here in the boy's dorm (the one I gave a guitar lesson to). I can now use the internet anywhere in India. Thank you Hrishikesh!
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| My room |
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| Boy's Drom of Mirambika School |
December 16th
I came back from the toilet at about 10pm to find one of the
other boys, who often comes to my room after the dance class to learn guitar
(uninvited), waiting for me outside my room in the dark with only the light of
his phone. When I entered my room, so did he and said something about transferring
music from his phone onto my laptop. He can’t speak much English and he always
has an intense and slightly aggressive look on his face, an expression which never
changes.
I got out my laptop and plugged in his phone with my USB
adapter (he wanted to insert the small phone memory card into the laptop which
cannot be done). He faffed around in my music library and D drive until I stepped
in and opened the folder in his phone that he was after. His complete inability
to use the computer or follow my simple guidance in what to click on was a bit
annoying, as was his presence in my room when I was about to go to bed. I have
to be up early for work tomorrow! And I have to write Christmas cards, and
update the blog which I’ve been planning to do for weeks and haven’t got round
to doing.
Extended version of this
post (maybe I should have edited put the following details before posting):
This is how it went: he plays a song, and then turns to look
intensely at me whilst humming it out-of-tune in my face. Then he changes the
song and does the same thing with the next one. Was he trying to get me to
teach him these riffs on guitar, or learn them myself? Or was he just trying to
share his favourite music with me? I thought that was what he wanted to do, so I
selected all the songs and copied them to my D drive. The transfer was taking
ages though, so he cancelled it and then lost the folder he wanted and started
to faff around. After I opened up his folder for him again he proceeded to flick
through all his Bollywood music videos and watch snippets, turning to me each
time to hum out of tune in my face with that unfortunate blank expression of
his. I thought maybe it was just the culture and he was being friendly but has
got a social disorder. But then after I convinced him that I really did have to
go to bed and would he please go, he asked to borrow my laptop (pointing at the
laptop: “my room tonight, yes,” in a demanding way). After I’d finally guided
him out, I got my laptop out again to angrily write this entry for “December 16th”
I concluded that he must thinks I’m a dumb foreigner and a
pushover and he wants to use my laptop, even though he is not computer
literate. Today on the 17th, after he said hello perfectly nicely at
breakfast, I’ve decided that it is just cultural difference and he means no
offence and wants to be friends. Perhaps he has some social or learning
disorder. If he reads this after mastering his English, I'm very sorry for misinterpreting you my friend! Cultural differences.
The boy who sat over my shoulder whilst I was on the laptop,
as I described the first part of this post, also comes to my room uninvited sometimes.
He asked to borrow 100 rupees the other day to go and visit his family in Gaurgao
(in the Delhi outskirts), which he does every Sunday (so how does he normally
afford it?)
If he really does pay me back at the end of the month then
he’s genuine and friendly. I’m sure he will. If not then he won’t get away with
it.
A few days later this other guy, who always needs help with
some problem or other and has a bad reputation with the other lads, asked to
borrow Rs. 250 which was not going to happen! Luckily he didn’t ask again after
I turned him down. Maybe he too was genuine and the other boys distrust him unfairly.
Hey, I should thank God that they are friendly, welcoming
and inclusive; better to be mildly annoyed sometimes by too many people asking
for help, unintentionally making me late for things and coming uninvited into
my room, than to feel unwelcome, lonely, excluded or ignored.
The next post will be about all the interesting things I've been up to, when I get a chance to write it! Work is fairly busy and the rest of my time is spent socialising and sleeping.
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