dec 30th

hi!

well, yesterday was an interesting day, had some small let downs.

i went to the train station to get a ticket to go to amritsar. i filled out my forms, waited in line, and finally after about an hour of waiting, discovered the train was full with a waiting list of 120 people. the lady told me there was no way. so...i turned around and left. pissed after struggling in line for nothing.

the thing about waiting in a "queue" (indian term for line) in india is that there are people who feel it is fine to break in line. there are others who know the truth, though. and when you wait in a line such as one at the train station, you leave NO ROOM between yourself and the next person in front of you. if there is room, someone will break in line. so waiting in line for an hour means you are totally squashed into the person in front of you, and the person behind you is squashing you as well. STILL peoiple find a way to break in line, believing their situation should demand faster attention than yours. there was a nun behind me, and figuring she would tell me the truth, you know, because of god and all, i asked her if these people were indeed breaking in line and she said yes.

furthermore, i was standing in the "ladies only" line. the sign clearly says "Gentlemen not welcome at this window". Ummm....the men feel they are indeed welcome, because they are the ones holding the money for their wives. several times during my wait the lady at the counter yelled at the men, pointed to the sign, and told them to get lost. they seemed shocked at this, how could their wife possibly be able to take care of this business without them? so annoying!

then i went ahead and went to the national museum, very excited to see the jewelry collection. the museum is in a very poor condition. it is very sad to see, because their lovely collection is going to suffer greatly if they do not do more to protect their art. (i am assuming this is because of financial difficulties.) maybe they are trying to do this, however, because the JEWELRY EXHIBIT WAS CLOSED!! there was no map available for finding my way around, but i figured out where the jewelry SHOULD be, and it was not there. i asked, and was told to come back in 2 months. SHIT! i was sad.

i did enjoy the textiles and the tribal exhibit, but i have no need to look at stone carvings in a museum when they are all over the place wherever i go. the other interesting thing was that the admission fee was rs10 for indians, and rs300 for foreigners. that's a big difference!

so i went shopping, since janpath shopping area was nearby. bought some kick ass western clothes. you can get fancy stuff there like they export to the $$ stores for about $5US. So i got some skirts and a dress, it was fun.

i was very tired and headachy because i did not eat lunch so i can back to the main bazaar where i am staying (paharganj) and ate a most delicious meal of paneer (indian cheese) and fried onions and green peppers. this is the 1st time i have found myself liking cooked green peppers. DELICIOUS! and i ordered this meal on the advice of the waiter guy. (meaning, he's sort of a waiter but also acts as the guy who stands out front and tries to solicit more business.)

i ran into several indians whom i met last time, and that was nice. they were happy to see me and it made me feel really good. we have nothing to say to each other, but yet we like each other because of our attitudes, i guess. i will have chai later today with the chai guy rajah who was so nice to me last time. he made me promise.

so...since i cannot go to amritsar, i looked up in the guidebook and picked this place called nainital. i figured what the hell, it doesn't matter where i go really, as long as i go somewhere different and nice. nainital is in the himalayas, about 2-3 hours from nepal the way we drive. it has a beautiful lake and a pine forest which is supposed to be lovely. it will be cold, about -1C or about 30degrees F. but who cares, it is only for 2 days. there is supposed to be a lovely british era pool bar where you can stay and safely have a beer or two and play some pool. it apparently is not to be missed, so it looks like i will celebrate the new year there. i like going places that still have evidence of the british occupation. the architecture is always so cool! so i am off tonight on an overnight bus. it takes nine hours, and the cost for the trip is about $5.50. can't beat that!

speaking of the brits, i ate breakfast with two jolly old men. they were very nice and we had some interesting chats about india. then at the end they start talking about how india was better off under british occupation! what the hell! i was like, yeah, and the blacks in the US were better off as slaves! at least they had a place to live, some food, and a job! jesus, i do not understand how the brits think this way. but we parted on good terms of course and they shook my hand and were sweet to me.

i am not so sure what is on the agenda today except to go buy something warm for my brief sojurn to nainital. i'll let you know tomorrow.

hope everyone is well there, and thanks for your emails and comments! keep 'em coming!
love
jo

ps. i just googled "nainital, india" ...wow! check out the cool pics! looks awesome!