Hindi Lessons – Week 2
Here is a photo of the view from the balcony of my room. It is the location where I write, where I study my Hindi, where I chase monkeys away from my carrot cake. For some reason up here in the mountains, the body craves sweets all the time. At home I might have some ice cream or a piece of chocolate every now and then, but here I eat brownies and apple tarts in the afternoon, milkshakes with dinner and my carrot cake at night.
After a much needed weekend break, I resumed my Hindi classes again today, finding that the two days of rest allowed the prior week´s intense overload of information to finally settle into my brain. I can speak a little now, without having to take five seconds to recall every single word of a sentence. My interactions throughout the day are quite smooth and somewhat natural now, as long as the person I am speaking to does not start speaking back. I have four more classes left, by which time I should have a decent base to build upon when I leave to go hopping around the northern plains for a couple of weeks.
Friday night I will once again be on the overnight sleeper bus, this time on my way down the mountains and back to Delhi to have my dental work finished and pick up my friend who is coming to visit for a month. I plan to stay in Delhi for only a few days if all goes well, especially since today´s temperature there was 116 degrees!
I already bought the 650 rupee bus ticket, wanting to ensure that I would have a sleeper compartment reserved. I simply could not repeat the suffering endured on my bus trip here, when the 14 hour journey was passed in a narrow, non-reclining seat, next to a family of four sprawled out on the bus floor next to me, using my lap as a pillow, my feet as a toy and my window to vomit out of. No thank you.
This second photo is from my weekend outing to the ´swimming pool´ in the nearby village of Bhagsu. I spent an afternoon there with some Tibetans and foreigners, drinking chai, listening to some local Tibetan folk music and taking a quick dip in the absolutely frigid mountain waters. Notice the Calvin Kl ‘A’ in underwear. It was almost as precious as the dozens of Indian males flapping their arms around in fear of drowning while wearing miniature (and consequently very tight around their bulging bellies) inflatable tubes around their waists.
I must return to my balcony now to continue studying. I actually have to make a pit stop first at the Registration Office to find out if the Dalai Lama, who just arrived home two days ago from overseas, will be giving a public audience at some point this week. And of course I will have to make another detour to my favorite bakery, leaving me about twenty minutes to do my homework, which involves mastering how to read and write 54 letters and vowels in the Hindi script!
Tags: Hindi, India, McLeod
dbaron
Derek.
These blogs are great.
Oh, the bus ride !!! I remember the people vomitting out my window… or was it i who vomitted. Probably a little of both.