dear god
why do i always attract the crazy people?
two days, two guys, less than 24 hours. i went out drinking with a couple of people i met from the hotel, to pass some time before seeing a film. together we took tooked (auto rickshaw, they call them 'took tooks') to the cinema to see '300' (awesome film by the way, even when you watch it in Hindi)
we had an hour to kill, so what do we do? find another pub of course. here all the bottle shops have a back room, basically a storage room, where you can sit and drink. we sat and polished off a small bottle of whiskey where we met this indian guy. he seemed cool, spoke only a little english, but that didnt matter. he was drunk and so were we, so we mingled together brilliantly. he and i got close (as close as a drunk aussie gets with another drunk aussie) and suddenly he thought we were friends.
and suddenly he was following us to the cinema, and joining us, and constantly talking during the film, and then tried to kiss the only female in the group. thats when her 'brother', our third member (he's Austrian, she's mexican, but the have the same mother... in India at least) simply told him to back off and to leave. then he fled.
after that the film was fine, until he came back, and wouldn't shut up. he was even told by other Indian people to shut up. when he tried to sit next to the girl again and she actually got up to move away from him, he finally got the hint and left.
now, after seeing a gory film, what does any true aussie want to do? Right. Drink. so when we left it was with the hope that the bar would still be open to take a drink home. the guy was waiting for us outside! he wouldn't quit! he kept on saying "Vikrim, if you are my friend, then you should do this" (Vikrim is the hindi name i've adopted, even for some English speaking people here Graham is too hard to pronounce) he wanted us to get into his car so he could give us a lift back to our hotel. the Austrian was cool with it, but i asked the girl "do you want to get into his car? take a lift with him?" she said no, so i told him i didn't care about being his friend any more and that we were taking a rickshaw. he whined! he was like a spoilt child! he stamped his foot and stormed off! i think he was actually crying. my friends don't cry (not the male ones) so he wasn't a friend.
besides, i wasn't going to get in his car. if he's driving he could take us anywhere "please, come to my house, please, five minutes." not happening. he knew where we lived anyway, i wasn't worried about that, i just wasn't going to be kidnapped.
it was a better choice anyway, the rickshaw driver found us an all night bottle-o so we could continue drinking at home.
then today, i'm trying to post a letter when this kindly gentleman offers to help. he gets me a form (which i couldn't read) and tells me what to say and where to take it. then he left. i couldn't work it out so left for some lassie and came back later when i'd cooled down. he came back and this time ran me through the entire process, step by step, even helping me to jump the que to get it sent quicker. i thought "sweet, finally a good guy that doesn't want something"
i must walk like a pigeon, cos i'm pretty sure i look like one. i'm over the road having chai with him when he tells me about his rich friend who travels the world selling silver, and how i should meet him later "nope." "but why?" "busy." "with what?" "just busy. i don't have to tell you." and then fled. i treat people nicely and they think they can roll me. he looked kinda shocked that i would suddenly turn cold and refuse him. eh. i owe him nothing.
man. why do i attract these people! thank god i'm not a woman, imagine the boyfriends i would get! or worse, girlfriends! i've had enough cray females in my life (not all have been, just a select few) but why!!
thankfully i am no longer poor. what would have cost me $3000 through courier cost me $600 by GPO, unfortunately theres breakables inside, and i'll beat it home anyway, so some of it could be for nothing, but i'll let the fates decide.
more food money! and possibly one more shawl for myself before i leave. the one i have is more a cape, and not the best quality. i would like something i could wear for life. hmm... maybe something in black.
ahh drama drama drama. i get enough of it back home. when i do find a place to live i think i'm going to hide there for a couple of weeks, do nothing but work, and let certain friends through the door, those that can leave the drama at the door. i'm getting way too much of it here.
i'm missing Shaun's clear headedness, Hannah's endless compassion, Anita's enthusiasm for life. i never realised how much i drained these qualities from these people, but when they're not around it's as though i've been drained of these a little. for days i was crazy because i couldn't wrap my mind around the mechanics of the universe. it took Shaun to save me from that. i haven't had anyone to bounce ideas with over how to run a cafe, and so am second guessing all my decisions. and when 3 westerners can sit in a rickshaw mimicking a street urchan's pleas for rupees to the near brink of tears, at your suggestion, you realise that your heart has hardened a little too much.
we all do it here (by we, i mean the backpackers, not the rich hotel urchants that travel in nothing less than an AC car). i've gotten into the habit of turning to the kids as saying "no money, no plane ticket, rupees? no money no plane ticket, must fly home. 100 rupees?" but when it's the same kid for the last four days your tolerance cracks.
i just want my city. my parks, my cafes, my free trams, my footpaths, my trains, clean air and drinkable tap water. i swear i'll have a gallon when i reach a house, or even from the airport sink. i want my people, my beggers, who simply stand with their head down. i want my government opperatives, who are efficient, if not at least pleasant, if not at least in an air conditioned building.
i want dollars, and fixed prices. i want a Souvlaki! right across from a pub, round the corner from thai, and down the street from African, and round the corner from my friends. i want Saybian! re-strung, singing with glee after being reunited with his brother. ice chocolate at 4am, tea from degraves, curry from Hell's, sushi from little lonsdale, yoga, South Park (or at least the screaning, if never the time to actually watch it) conversations from people who know where i'm from and only want to know what i'm doing with where i'm going. people who pick up the check because this time you can't. LIVE MUSIC at bar open, retreat, MUSIC, my music. my cds.
i think my time in Jaipur will be just enough. anyhing more and i'd go nuts.
to give you an idea; i showered yesterday. today my arms are glossed with dirt. you know when the dirt marks the path of your vains. this is simply from Walking Through the city. i worked on the farm and stayed cleaner for longer.
i'll be returning for the farm for the weekend, the manager of the hotel wants me to turn upstairs into a cafe. i don't have time. so i'll just see about turning it into a bar. this way i don't have to change the system too much. and it can continue without me when i'm gone.
go, i'm really can't wait to leave now. i wish i hadn't started the rant. i think i need some shoppin therapy. time to get some Good lassie.
two days, two guys, less than 24 hours. i went out drinking with a couple of people i met from the hotel, to pass some time before seeing a film. together we took tooked (auto rickshaw, they call them 'took tooks') to the cinema to see '300' (awesome film by the way, even when you watch it in Hindi)
we had an hour to kill, so what do we do? find another pub of course. here all the bottle shops have a back room, basically a storage room, where you can sit and drink. we sat and polished off a small bottle of whiskey where we met this indian guy. he seemed cool, spoke only a little english, but that didnt matter. he was drunk and so were we, so we mingled together brilliantly. he and i got close (as close as a drunk aussie gets with another drunk aussie) and suddenly he thought we were friends.
and suddenly he was following us to the cinema, and joining us, and constantly talking during the film, and then tried to kiss the only female in the group. thats when her 'brother', our third member (he's Austrian, she's mexican, but the have the same mother... in India at least) simply told him to back off and to leave. then he fled.
after that the film was fine, until he came back, and wouldn't shut up. he was even told by other Indian people to shut up. when he tried to sit next to the girl again and she actually got up to move away from him, he finally got the hint and left.
now, after seeing a gory film, what does any true aussie want to do? Right. Drink. so when we left it was with the hope that the bar would still be open to take a drink home. the guy was waiting for us outside! he wouldn't quit! he kept on saying "Vikrim, if you are my friend, then you should do this" (Vikrim is the hindi name i've adopted, even for some English speaking people here Graham is too hard to pronounce) he wanted us to get into his car so he could give us a lift back to our hotel. the Austrian was cool with it, but i asked the girl "do you want to get into his car? take a lift with him?" she said no, so i told him i didn't care about being his friend any more and that we were taking a rickshaw. he whined! he was like a spoilt child! he stamped his foot and stormed off! i think he was actually crying. my friends don't cry (not the male ones) so he wasn't a friend.
besides, i wasn't going to get in his car. if he's driving he could take us anywhere "please, come to my house, please, five minutes." not happening. he knew where we lived anyway, i wasn't worried about that, i just wasn't going to be kidnapped.
it was a better choice anyway, the rickshaw driver found us an all night bottle-o so we could continue drinking at home.
then today, i'm trying to post a letter when this kindly gentleman offers to help. he gets me a form (which i couldn't read) and tells me what to say and where to take it. then he left. i couldn't work it out so left for some lassie and came back later when i'd cooled down. he came back and this time ran me through the entire process, step by step, even helping me to jump the que to get it sent quicker. i thought "sweet, finally a good guy that doesn't want something"
i must walk like a pigeon, cos i'm pretty sure i look like one. i'm over the road having chai with him when he tells me about his rich friend who travels the world selling silver, and how i should meet him later "nope." "but why?" "busy." "with what?" "just busy. i don't have to tell you." and then fled. i treat people nicely and they think they can roll me. he looked kinda shocked that i would suddenly turn cold and refuse him. eh. i owe him nothing.
man. why do i attract these people! thank god i'm not a woman, imagine the boyfriends i would get! or worse, girlfriends! i've had enough cray females in my life (not all have been, just a select few) but why!!
thankfully i am no longer poor. what would have cost me $3000 through courier cost me $600 by GPO, unfortunately theres breakables inside, and i'll beat it home anyway, so some of it could be for nothing, but i'll let the fates decide.
more food money! and possibly one more shawl for myself before i leave. the one i have is more a cape, and not the best quality. i would like something i could wear for life. hmm... maybe something in black.
ahh drama drama drama. i get enough of it back home. when i do find a place to live i think i'm going to hide there for a couple of weeks, do nothing but work, and let certain friends through the door, those that can leave the drama at the door. i'm getting way too much of it here.
i'm missing Shaun's clear headedness, Hannah's endless compassion, Anita's enthusiasm for life. i never realised how much i drained these qualities from these people, but when they're not around it's as though i've been drained of these a little. for days i was crazy because i couldn't wrap my mind around the mechanics of the universe. it took Shaun to save me from that. i haven't had anyone to bounce ideas with over how to run a cafe, and so am second guessing all my decisions. and when 3 westerners can sit in a rickshaw mimicking a street urchan's pleas for rupees to the near brink of tears, at your suggestion, you realise that your heart has hardened a little too much.
we all do it here (by we, i mean the backpackers, not the rich hotel urchants that travel in nothing less than an AC car). i've gotten into the habit of turning to the kids as saying "no money, no plane ticket, rupees? no money no plane ticket, must fly home. 100 rupees?" but when it's the same kid for the last four days your tolerance cracks.
i just want my city. my parks, my cafes, my free trams, my footpaths, my trains, clean air and drinkable tap water. i swear i'll have a gallon when i reach a house, or even from the airport sink. i want my people, my beggers, who simply stand with their head down. i want my government opperatives, who are efficient, if not at least pleasant, if not at least in an air conditioned building.
i want dollars, and fixed prices. i want a Souvlaki! right across from a pub, round the corner from thai, and down the street from African, and round the corner from my friends. i want Saybian! re-strung, singing with glee after being reunited with his brother. ice chocolate at 4am, tea from degraves, curry from Hell's, sushi from little lonsdale, yoga, South Park (or at least the screaning, if never the time to actually watch it) conversations from people who know where i'm from and only want to know what i'm doing with where i'm going. people who pick up the check because this time you can't. LIVE MUSIC at bar open, retreat, MUSIC, my music. my cds.
i think my time in Jaipur will be just enough. anyhing more and i'd go nuts.
to give you an idea; i showered yesterday. today my arms are glossed with dirt. you know when the dirt marks the path of your vains. this is simply from Walking Through the city. i worked on the farm and stayed cleaner for longer.
i'll be returning for the farm for the weekend, the manager of the hotel wants me to turn upstairs into a cafe. i don't have time. so i'll just see about turning it into a bar. this way i don't have to change the system too much. and it can continue without me when i'm gone.
go, i'm really can't wait to leave now. i wish i hadn't started the rant. i think i need some shoppin therapy. time to get some Good lassie.