The bank, buses and saree/curtains

So today saw the early rising of Simone and Louise at 6am. Yes, 6am on a saturday, because in India, the weekend consists only of one day and that is sunday. So 6 day weeks it is from now on. We walked to the hospital and at such a time in the morning it was a very pleasant walk, cool and only around half a million people instead of a million.

Simone went off to theatre and I just hung around drinking coffee, sitting in the sun then going off for occupation health visits.... again.

Next stop: the bank, to deposit the money to open our accounts. There were around 6 people sat in there but not actually at the desks, so I didn't want to just go and stand at the desk, in case this was a queue. Eventually I realised that it wasn't and went to the guy we had seen yesterday. He told me to fill out the cash slips with the amount etc etc. This process took me around 20 minutes for both accounts as it was in Hindi followed by English. I went back to the guy, he said 'go to the cash desk'... I went to the cash desk. He moves from his seat to behind the cash desk and spends 20 mins trying to turn on the computer. 'Go over to the lady there'. I go over to the lady, who is sat exactly where the guy had been sat originally.

"how much you want to deposit Ma'am"

"74000 rupees"

"no we can't accept that much on a saturday, only 49000"

"ok"

"so you need to fill out another cash slip"

FFS.

10 mins later with my new cash slip I go back to the lady

"no miss you need to go the cash desk" off I go to the cash desk.

Hurrah all deposited.

"When can I pick up the cards?"

"1pm ma'am, come with you passports"

"will you still be open then?" (It states quite clearly that the hours are 10-1230 on a saturday)

A wobble of the head, which in India means 'yes'

Ok, so I went off to have some more coffee and sit in the sun.

I strategically plan my time, include walking around the hospital, going in the front for a wee, through outpatients and out of the back of the hospital to arrive at exactly 1pm. Guess what.............. shutter down with a 90cm gap at the bottom. "I KNEW IT" I mutter under my breath... It's bloody well closed... A-holes.

As I was stood there thinking 'that's really annoying' a doctor waltzes out of the hospital, walks directly toward the bank, dives under the shutter, opens the door and goes in to the bank. So I do the same (whilst thinking I'll probably get in there and they'll say "sorry ma'am DOCTOR'S ONLY") but to my surprise, no......... Project bank card, complete.

After Simone finished, we met and decided to take a bus in to town to go to the supermarket. Taking taxi's everywhere is way too expensive when we earn an indian wage.

Well the bus journey was surprisingly pleasant- A/C, not too busy, no awful smell and no-one spitting out of the window.

We got off the bus and next mission- crossing the road. Simone just ran for it, and I was like a cat caught in the headlights, and I swear my head was spinning around like Chucky. A poor Indian driver obviously felt sorry for me and was waving me across the road... Ok deep breath.... GO... I screamed like a girl the whole way across, with Simone stood at the other side with a big grin on his face.

We went to the mall to buy some things for the house and some food. The one thing we needed was some fabric to use as curtains on a few of the windows that didn't have them. I convinced Simone that we should get saree's as they were 3 for the price of 1. At first he didn't understand the concept of a saree, and even when i said they are really big he wanted to 'double check' so I asked the guy "6 metres long sir"....... So I bought my first saree, that is currently masquerading as a curtain, but when I leave, it is definitely coming home with me. Saree's are so elegant and beautiful, only thing is I know for sure that if I wore one I would be walking down the street and the whole thing would unravel, leaving a pretty hideous sight that would take another 15 minutes to put back on...... I think I'll leave the saree wearing to the Indians, unless I have safety pins.

Namaste. xxx