dilemma, and more inane detail

[rhyll]

Today has gone relatively well. It's been quite nice, actually, once i managed to psyche myself up to leave my hotel.

This morning i decided to get thoroughly lost. The plan was to walk around the city market area until i was lost, then catch an autorickshaw to the MG road area. At first i did quite well...i walked away from my hotel in the opposite direction to the one i usually travel in, and then started following monks. There are a heap of them around, in red and saffron and looking Tibetan enough that i am happy to assume that they are, in fact, Tibetan. After a while i ran out of monks, so i just wandered. I found a big undercover market, which had a flower market in it. the smell of marigolds everywhere! it reminds me so much of botswana, where my friends and i used to grow them in our backyard. i also saw:
an alleyway full of tailors (with hand-pedalled sewing machines) and knife-sharpeners (with manual machines run using bicycle wheels covered in little flourescent clackety-things),
a lean-to on someone's roof,
a guy in a t-shirt that said 'einstein simplified' that had three pictures - a detailed sketch of eintein, a less detailed one, and then a cartoon,
a 'delux pencil cup'.

amazingly, i failed in my mission because after a while i worked out that i was back near my hotel, so i went back and hung out there for a while.

some other things:
* today i used my first squat toilet. it was clean, so it was ok.
* i accidentally ordered a 'plate meal' for brunch, which turns out to be a huge thali-like affair (costing under $1, i should note).
* i am reading mrs dalloway, by virginia wolf, and you should too. you should read it, and then 'the hours', by michael cunningham, afterwards.
* i got my photos back! i have a couple of nice photos of torquay, and thailand (from the air), and a few of russell and i that made me laugh in the street as i was looking atthem. hooray!
* i did my first little bit of researchy-stuff today, apart from emailing people. not very impressive, but i took a couple of photos of a seed and fertiliser shop. i asked the owners if i could, and they look very amused by it.

so far, my favourite things about india are the food and autorickshaws.
my not-favourite-at-all things are not being able to chat to strangers when i feel lonely, and not being able to wander around alone at night (both of which i will be resigned to).

do you know all about my life in excruciating detail yet? but wait, there's more!

Now, here is a question:
Part A: I don't feel terribly comfortable continually buying bottles of water, yet i can't seem to find anywhere that sells water purification tablets. So much plastic going to waste...

Comments

[tiny-monster.livejournal.com]

Sweetie, you are the most socially responsible person I know, but there is such a thing as going too far. You need to drink water out of bottles or you will almost certainly become very ill. Also, you need to use tampons, which come neatly wrapped in plastic and are less likely to give you Toxic Shock Syndrome than a rag. I would suggest wrapping them in toilet paper, then in plastic (a plastic bag, the packaging of something you bought- it is like recycling!). Then in a bit more toilet paper. This should prevent any odour. Then when you have filled your plastic bag bin, tie it securely and... um... dump it on some other rubbish that looks like it will be picked up. Obviously there is some kind of rubbish pick-up from the streets, otherwise you wouldn't be able to move.

You are totally in India! You need to give yourself a little break.

[boxer-the-horse.livejournal.com]

Haha, well that was a lot less confronting than I thought it might be. Being friends with many feminist inclined friends makes me much better at relating to bitches... sorry, 'women'.

However, that sounds a rather delicate dilemma, very Larry David-esque: you do not know the social rules to guide you! Why don't you ask some english speaking Indian people what they do with rubbish? Maybe the consulate has advice?

Ps: I am useless at India related advice.

[alexmoon.livejournal.com]

Hehehe. I love the thought of asking the consulate. That would be really cool.

*pictures scene in her head*

*giggles some more*

[ps. larry david? is this more of this young people's pop culture?]

[boxer-the-horse.livejournal.com]

Seinfeld/Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Hahaha

*knock knock*
CONSULAR STAFF: Hello Young lady
SKY: ...
SKY: WHERE DO I PUT MY TAMPONS?????

[alexmoon.livejournal.com]

*falls over laughing*

[kingsly.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if your hotel would allow it, but you can get 20/25 litre jars of kinley/aquafina packaged drinking water. which the company would deliver to you and take back the older jar.
(would be best to avoid the other brands of packaged water.)

There are garbage bins in every area. There's also a system of collecting garbage from your doorstep every morning.
[People still tend to throw stuff on the street though :-(]

[alexmoon.livejournal.com]

Thanks!