Monday, July 31 Lost on campus, housing issues

I woke up early and got ready for the 10:30 orientation in the political science department. I went with Ro and Puran to the Metro. Delhi University apparently doesn’t print or sell campus maps, and the building that houses the Political Science department is new and really nice; except that it doesn’t have a NAME. So this made our experience finding the office hell on earth. We asked a bicycle rickshaw to take us there, and this poor 40-year-old 100-pound Indian man pedaled us three to somewhere not near the college. He even took the long way to make it seem like he earned the FIFTEEN RUPEES that we paid him. There were points where the chain would skip, and then he would have to pull the rickshaw by hand uphill. I felt bad for that guy, who is probably too exhausted to take any more customers now. We tried asking people where the building was. The girls all just giggled and ran away, and the guys led us in thirty different directions. We were all dying of thirst, heat exhaustion, and lack of food in the 100+ Fahrenheit heat. After traversing through dozens of streets, past gated department buildings, and lots of tree-laden quads, we found the building, near Sri Ram College, so that’s what I’m going to tell the rickshaw from now on. We got there and only Shawn, Amber, and Sudev were there. We ended up going and getting a two-hour-long lecture about India’s political history and status today. It was excruciatingly boring, and it didn’t help that Sudev argued with the professor that America is a “salad bowl” while India is a “melting pot”, sending him on a 30-minute tangent. Us three got lunch at a fast-food place on campus, Nirula’s, which was okay. There are a lot of East Asian-looking students, largely because of India’s tumor, the Northeastern states that encircle Bangladesh. These are largely tribal areas, from where many students are able to study at the University of Delhi because of the reservations. So that’s why you see a lot of Chinese-looking students walking around, and it is not uncommon to see people dressed in red, orange, or yellow robes with shaved heads or conical hats like extremely stereotypical Asian monks or peasants. Then we took rickshaws and the Metro home. It is exhausting being outside in this heat, it is draining. You lose motivation to do anything, I especially feel bad for those who have to work outside, like bicycle rickshaw drivers, construction workers, or farmers. The people I was originally slated to live with hate their house and moved out. I am so lucky I moved out of that; what a stroke of luck! I currently live in a palace, when I could be potentially homeless or my address being 8 Sri Ram Road, Cardboard Box #7, Delhi. That was yet another landlord that will be pissed and a house EAP can no longer use. So far, EAP India 2006 has messed up: relations with two regular landlords, our reputation at Dev Dar Woods, and rooms in the YWCA by stealing towels and sheets. So basically, at the present time 11 people are homeless, which sucks royally for Vijay, who is obligated to find them housing. So, after I got back from the University, I chilled out for a while, then went to the study center to use free internet. The internet here is extremely strange; we’re ordering it from the convenience store, and they’re going to install it tomorrow. There are download limits, but for unlimited it is $30 a month. I’d actually be willing to split the bill and pay for unlimited download limit. Otherwise it’s not worth it to have to monitor your use. If worse comes to worst, I’ll use the study center internet. But not having access to internet/facebook/blog/travel bookings is NOT ACCEPTABLE. This is the center of the high-tech world and they don’t have internet access above 256 kbps…What?!