The USS Quad Damage

We finally arrive back in Chandigarh, after a 30 hour train journey and a one hour drive. We’re wasted, we paid about $100 more than we should have, there were cockroaches, and I’ve now got a sore throat. And I didn’t get any sleep. Despite getting to sleep at 4 in the morning, I still woke up just before the afternoon and we went window shopping. There’s so much stuff to buy here it’s awesome. I was already making plans for what I was going to get you guys. Both my parents and my brother suggested I buy it another day. Not really sure why, but I complied.

Their whole attitude of “doing stuff later” is starting to bug me. I want to do stuff now. Despite telling me not to buy anything, I bought a pair of shoes for myself, and my brother bought a pair of shoes, DVDs, CDs, and games for himself. I have no idea how he’s going to fit any of it in his luggage.

I can’t really say more, because that would give away the surprise of what I want to get you guys. Maybe it’ll be nothing due to time running out :(.

This morning we went to visit the dam. This is a place we go to every time we go to Jamshedpur, but it’s not really that much fun. The first time we there we went on a boat and took it around. That was good, but each time since we haven’t been able to do this. Today the boats weren’t out. We basically walked around the dam, which in and of itself was not a bad thing, it just wasn’t that great. The day was also not pleasant. I wouldn’t call it a hot day, even though everyone else was complaining, but it didn’t have a cool breeze to make it good enough to just walk around.

We also went to visit my Taiji’s sister. Every time we go to visit a new relative my brain goes “oh damn, not another relative. This is going to be so boring”. Luckily, I’m always pleasantly surprised. We had a great time, and I wanted to spend more time there, but we had to get going. The really great thing was that even the older folks were very on-the-ball, which was great to see. The whole family is really smart.

Nitu (my cousin) had to head back to Mumbai (or around there anyway). We went to the train station to send her off. Before we did this we decided to visit Jubilee Park. This was a mistake. Imagine a park with so much smog that the visibility is low as fuck. Determined, we walked around for a bit (well, I was determined, everyone else wanted to head back). Eventually we gave up. I would have a sore throat next morning.

The train was an hour or so late. This is ordinary fare in India, it seems. We talked a lot of shit, hugged, and left. My hatred for trains really began here.