Another peaceful, restful day. Aparna had invited me to come out to her house once again, as her mother and sister were coming to visit, and this would give me the chance to meet them. But when I called to ask about a suitable time, she told me to come out a little later, so I took advantage of the time to do some shopping.
There are certain thigs that would make my life here, already perfectly comfortable, a little better, and chief among these is a fridge. From the day I arrived at the apartment/hotel room (officially called The Housekeeping Room, because that is where they teach aspects of housekeeping; chiefly how to make the bed, so far as I can see), I have been promised a fridge. I went out and bought a couple of bottles of beer, in order to start stocking it. In fact, there is one very near, in the Bread Box manager’s office, just across the hall, and I recently discovered that it does actually belong in my room. Quite understandably, when the room was just a show room, he decided it was not required there, so took it into his office. And now, equally understandably, he is reluctant to give it back, creating something of a power struggle. At first, I used to make enquiries as to when I might be getting a fridge, receiving various replies: one day, two days, new fridge coming, but now I have stopped asking.
Ultimately, I attempted to break the deadlock by buying a fridge, and various plans have been made to take me to the big supermarket at the other end of town to do so, but always something got in the way. And always, it has been promised that steps would be taken to have my fridge, the apartment’s fridge, any damned fridge, brought to me. But it still hasn’t happened, and my beer remans in the wardrobe, waiting.
But I digress. Other, smaller items I can sort for myself, and today I went out to get them: a couple of plates, a couple of bowls, a broom, a dustpan… Actually, I quite enjoyed myself. At home, we have everything we need, so the only shopping is food shopping, and that’s hardly fun. But here we need things, and I had a pleasant time strolling up the nearby main shopping street, and getting them. It reminded me when we first arrived in Johannesburg; we had an apartment provided for us, but it needed quite a bit of fitting out, much more than here (though co-incidentally, also a fridge) and that was a lot of fun, quite like when we were first setting up house.
In the afternoon, I went out to Aparna’s, and discovered that she was poorly, but, typically, had not done as she ought to have done, and put me off. Her mother was also sick, it appeared, but her sister arrived, with her little boy, about four. He was quite normal for that age: a bit of a handful, a little bit spoilt, but good-natured, and flitting from one thing to another – his cars, a badminton set (I did try to play with him, but he couldn’t hit the shuttlecock, and in the end it was easier and more fun to throw it into the garden.
Aparna’s sister cooked some delicious fried potato slices, with just a hint of seasoning, which I wolfed down (they weren’t just for me, of course, but I had the lion’s share.) And then I decided to go home; it was obvious that Aparna was suffering, and my presence was not allowing her to rest. She asked about my dinner – the potato had just been a snack apparently – but I told her not to worry, that I would be fine.
Once again, we all walked out to the main road; I did not need to be shown the way, but they needed some milk, and we stopped at the dairy and had lassis, before I was put into a tuk tuk, and went home. Yes, I really do think of it as home… even without a fridge.
