Indian Samurai इंडियन सामुराई

A few months after buying a car, you need to get your “high security” plate.

It seemed obvious to the Hyundai staff that they were not the ones giving me the plates and they would not have even told me hadn’t I insisted. They laughed a lot, but finally wrote down the details…

I could tell another adventure was coming up…

 

I understood why they were laughing when I arrived to the place. I appreciated that they had given me enough details for my GPS to find the place. Because the shop was tiny. But you could guess it was there by seeing at last twenty guys pressed against the railings and holding some papers in the air.

I tried to mingle in the crowd – I am not easily scared! And I was half hoping they would be nice enough to let a foreigner go first. No such thing. We were fighting for our lives there. But I managed to catch the attention of an employee and he let me inside, took my paper, and asked me to wait in my car.

I waited. When they arrived to put the plates, I went out. One old fatty came to me and started speaking to me, too fast and too loud. I finally understood that he wanted me to remove my bag from the passenger seat as the window was open and somebody could easily fetch it!

In any case, five guys started fighting – God knows why – and I went back to the safety of my car…

But my mission was accomplished! Next: the pollution thing and the driving license. Need a few weeks to gather the energy...

 

 

It took me a long time to find friends in Delhi…

There are a lot more foreigners in Delhi than Mumbai but one party with French people where I must have been tired or something, and I was done with them!

 

I had kind of become friend with my broker. But one day she invited me for dinner with her 2 kids and she somehow scolded us all for not thanking her for cooking. It is not like I had not already thanked a dozen times nor offered to help! Anyways she was desperate to open a crepe restaurant with me and though it is not a bad idea, I didn’t feel it…

 

Then, one day, a work relation of mine offered to go for drinks instead of our usual work lunch. Not knowing what to expect, I offered to go slow and order some wine. Seeing our face, I said, well, we could also order Long Island Iced Tea (LIT). I had found the magic word!

 

To put it back in the context, the Long Island Iced Tea is a killer cocktail with: 13% gin, 13% vodka, 13% white rhum, 13% triple sec, 13% tequila, 26% Coke, 9% lemon juice. And she drank 3 of them like it was milk!

 

Though we were still a bit shy with each other, we decided to meet again the next Friday. Chasing LITs led us to climb a lot of stairs – as bars in Hauz Khas are in very high altitude and not all of them serve our drink. To end up the night, we were denied the entrance of the Buddha Bar (B-Bar as they call it here, in respect for Buddha) because they don’t allow walkins. First time ever I was thrown out of anywhere. I have entered so many places in salwar kameez and flip flops but here no, even well dressed!

 

We decided again to meet the next Friday, at her “club”. A few of her friends joined us. Among them two sisters. And with them, the LIT lady gang of Friday nights was born!!

So we have X., 36 years old, entrepreneur, married, one kid, not happy with her husband.

Y., 36 years old, childhood friend of S., entrepreneur, married, 2 kids, super happy with her husband.

Z., 32 years old, sister of Y., marketing manager, divorcee (of a Mallu – from Kerala) and a Leo like me.
And me, 30, the foreigner, going through a “Gorilla on the loose” phase.

A nice array of girls, really!!

 

And we all cherish our Friday nights!! If by tragedy we can’t make it all of us, we make it on Thursday or Saturday!

We even thought of making it on Tuesdays as well but since we all work, it might be difficult…

 

Cheers!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are looking for me I am here (put the sound!):

Barefoot resort, Havelock Island, Andamans Islands, India

 

To my question: “Is there mobile network on the island?” the resort guy answered “Do note that network is very poor and most of the time is not working.” To which I commented… “Perfect!”

 

So here I am, somewhere on an island, good weather not guaranteed and crocodiles in option (see the fatal attack: article) but I WILL sleep!! Reminds me of this song “Lovers keep on loving, believers keep on believing, sleepers stop sleeping”…

 

I had initally planned to visit a few islands, but the 12 hour bus ride to go up north and the 12 hour boat ride to go down south put me off. My ass and I will go that resort and spend 5 full days and nights there and that's about it!!