21 Oct 2009
Today was a very interesting day. We spent the morning working in the Lab as usual. Around 11.30, Ashutosh rang me to ask if I could come and look at a flat he had arranged for me. (My time at the hotel had run out) The driver took me through some really nice areas of town arriving at this really fancy house that was empty. Ashutosh was there with two other men. He took me up behind the house two an apartment. It is a one bedroom apartment with on suite and kitchen. It’s quite nice. Certainly better then the hotel. More light and space. The hotel felt a bit more like a prison cell. I told Ashutosh that I liked it and he started the negotiations with the landlords.
We then headed over to the hotel and retrieved my bags and said my goodbyes.
Before heading back to the College we had lunch at a restaurant called BJ’s (I think). The food there was really nice. I think Sue may have been there with Ashutosh. Whilst we were there a gaggle of ladies were having their weekly bingo tournament. Apparently the custom used to be (According to Ashutosh) that ladies used to gather at each others house to gossip. That developed into going to restaurants and paying them to provide the catering and atmosphere.
Once the day had finished, Ashutosh took me to the apartment. Problem was the lady who lives there as the housekeeper wasn’t at home. It turns out she was away at the market getting vegetables. So we waited. Then we waited some more. Then we went and waited with a coffee in our hands. We finally went back to the flat and waited some more. About 10pm the lady and her daughter arrived. Phew!!
Finally climbed into bed around 10.30pm. It’s amazing what you hear when you are new to a place. The lady downstairs talking to her family, the cricket outside, (Now I could be wrong here. It could have been a squeaky fan or something. It squawked its way through the night.) the people next door.