Bombay musings

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Back to the old routine. Wake up around seven thirty, exercise, shower, breakfast, and dive into the net. Write. Listen to all the new CD’s I've picked up on the trip. Read. Bathroom reading at the moment is Nick Hornby (How to be good) and general reading includes a variety of newspapers which land up on our doorstep every morning. Yesterday the newspaper man even threw in the "Navbharat Times" for good measure though none of us read in any language other than English.

Yesterday saw DNA for the first time which doesn’t look bad. I prefer the look to the Times. The contents … well I read about the house crash in Tardeo (which I had heard about from Asha in great detail), about Sharad Pawar’s attempt to free the sale of wine (what a good idea – imagine being able to buy wine in a supermarket or from your local grocer along with the milk!) and the after effects of the Big Rain. Had a vague feeling somehow that by not reading the papers for two months I ... hadn’t missed much.

My mother had already told me when we crossed each other in Paris, about the floods in Bombay and people being trapped in their cars and dying and when I came back Asha told me about her nephew Santosh having to walk miles in almost neck deep water before coming across a guy who offered a bunch of people a lift. Santosh apparently felt that the catastrophe brought out the best in people and for the first time in his life he got the feeling that people in Bombay had a heart.

I realised that hearing news first hand makes a big difference and touches you much more than when you get it from a newspaper or from TV.

Have been trying hard to clean up my room but after all the effort it still looks a bit of a mess. Must make an effort to get rid of stuff – I am such a hoarder!

Right now responding to emails from Germany - from Ayse, Ariela and Marlis.