26-7-2024
As was to be expected, we took it easy this week. Simon is still in a lot of pain at times, but the doctor told him to keep moving in moderation. So we only took some walks in the immediate area. The distraction also does him good. And fortunately, the surroundings of St Albert's offer plenty of distractions. The school is in the centre of the old town. Close by are plenty of shopping streets. To start with, of course, MG Road (Mahatma Gandhi Road) with its luxury shops and abundance of restaurants.
But much nicer is actually the old part of town. Market Road, with -as the name suggests- an extensive market. Mainly fruit and vegetables and herbs and spices. But also shops selling building materials and trading in recycled packaging materials, where you can buy boxes and crates. On a side street, there are dozens of lighting shops. Almost every industry has its own streets like this.
Then there is a whole district with textile wholesalers. All kinds of bigger and smaller shops, with clothes for the trader. But also fabrics, bows, lace, all kinds of ribbons and buttons. Then turning a corner, we come to Broadway. This is a long and very busy shopping street with a huge number of small, specialist shops. You can litterally get anything and everything here. Clothing, both western and traditional, spices and dried fruit, household items made of plastic or metal (a shop specialises in one or the other), jewellery and other (clothing) accessories.
It may be called Broadway, but it is actually quite a narrow street. It is made even narrower because often before the shops there is also a row of stalls run by small hawkers who probably cannot afford to rent the shopspace. And then you have the tea stalls and small eateries. But also chai vendors who pass by the shops with a big tap jug of tea on the back of their bikes. It's always a busy place. Mainly walkers, but regularly rickshaws and even more often scooters also try to wriggle their way through the crowd.
There is always something to do and see here. The people are nice, although they do try their best to lure us into their shops so that they can earn from those rich white people. But we don't usually go for that. Towards evening, all the lights go on, adding to the exotic atmosphere that the street has for us.
Besides strolling around the neighbourhood this week, we managed to keep our sessions with the students going. The painkillers are working well enough to allow Simon to tell his story. And standing and walking is less painful than lying down and getting up.
India Post
Another thing we did this week was to make a package to send to the Netherlands. For that, I first went into the box shop. For a (used) box, I had to walk up a dark, narrow staircase. There, in the corridor, was a whole pile of folded boxes. I was could pick out any boxes I wanted. To be sure I got a usable size, I pulled two from the pile, and took them downstairs. There, they were weighed to determine the price. For 22 rupees (€0.25), I could take them with me. In our room, I filled one of the boxes with book, clothes, shoes and gifts. We could send this ahead to the Netherlands. Then we would have more space in our suitcases, when we're leaving.
We took the rickshaw to the post office. I walked across campus with a heavy box, with Simon beside me. He is not allowed to carry anything for now, due to his broken rib. But you can't see that on the outside. The caretaker we met and the doorman wanted to take the box from me. To say the least, they found it strange that the strong man next to me would let his woman lug it around like that.
Eventually, the porter put the box in the rickshaw, and we were taken to the post office. There, everything had to be looked at and written down by the packer. Next, it was re-wrapped and the box was sealed with a huge amount of tape. Then we had to take the box to the first floor for shipping. All in all, it was an undertaking that took over an hour. Indian thoroughness at an Indian pace. Patience is a virtue, we had found out before. But now the package is on its way home. It will arrive a bit earlier than we will. And that is good. Then, when we get home, we will have this present to unpack, besides our suitcases.
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