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Published: November 27th 2005
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Today was devoted to haveli hunting, using a map that Rajesh had drawn up for me. The town isn't large, but there are some confusing little alleyways and I was at the northern extremity of the map before I found my first haveli. It was interesting that Rajesh's recommended havelis did not tally with what was in the Rough Guide. Given the quality of the ones I saw, I would suspect the Rough Guide didn't see the best ones. The paintings in/on the havelis are from a mixture of sources - some based on Indian legends, some based on current affairs at the time (e.g. pictures of Britishers smoking pipes), some based on religious themes.
As I was considering heading back to base for lunch, I saw a Western woman in Indian dress in the distance, the first foreigner I'd seen for over 24 hours. I was clearly a bit of a novelty for her too, so we stopped and had a chat in the street, which was a big mistake. Within a few minutes, we'd been surrounded by schoolkids. Ignoring the "Hello"s and "One pen"s ringing out from all sides was possible, but when they started using each other
as human bowling balls to try to knock us over, it rapidly became tiresome so we moved on. Ellen had just completed a stint as a costume designer/fitter for the Australian Cirque de Soleil touring troupe. You really have to feel for people who have such dull jobs - I feel blessed that software engineering has given me such a great outlet for my creativity.
Back at the ranch, some new guests had arrived, an English girlfriend/boyfriend combo from London who had already been in India for a couple of weeks (though the girl had been here several times before). This was her boyfriend's first visit, so he and I had some things in common regarding first impressions, though I do think that travelling alone has some different pros/cons than being in a pair or group, e.g. I doubt I'd have written so much scrawl if I hadn't had so much time to myself, especially at meals.
I made an elementary error by heading out for more sightseeing just as the schools emptied, so the streets were being roamed by packs of marauding schoolkids. One little chap offered his hand for a handshake then, when I put mine
out, quickly withdrew his, in that well-known trick practised by little b*ggers the world over. I also made the mistake of opening my bag while standing in the middle of the street, which triggered a stampede of all children within a half-mile radius, who figured I was about to start doling out "one pen" to everyone. The havelis I saw were poor compared to this morning's haul, so it wasn't a productive afternoon. I did, however, receive my most to-the-point insult so far, when I was eloquently requested to "Fuck off" by a brave young gentleman riding pillion on his friend's motorbike.
In the evening, I donned my Helpdesk hat to assist Rajesh with setting up his new printer. This process was hampered by him having an antique version of IE, not to mention a dial-up connection that delivered data more slowly than the Bahamian postal service, so we were unable to complete the installation.
I knew I'd been getting on well with Rajesh, but I was still touched when he offered me a parcel wrapped up in newspaper, which I (naturally for a Northerner) assumed to be a portion of fish and chips. Unfortunately it turned out
to be my trousers back from the dhobi-wallah. What they lacked in edibility though, they made up for in cleanliness.
The remainder of the evening was spent watching India get thrashed at cricket by South Africa. An old(er) American couple turned up too, to add another nationality to the mix.
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