7.21.11. 1:18PM. Day 20. Going Postal.

Okay. So. Last week after the group meeting some of us went and bought a whole bunch of postcards. I don't know if people were actually going to send them - but I wanted to. I held onto them until I could figure out what I wanted to say to each person. In the mean time I gave my mom the task of getting me the addresses of everybody I needed. Se came through and texted me 5 of the addresses I needed. Her's and another I knew already, and one was a repeat. So 9 in all. I'd wanted to mail them on Friday but that proved no possible (I forget why) and I was in Agra for the weekend so I hoped for Monday. I brought them with me. It was pouring rain and the post office above Dr. Nanda's closed an hour before we got there.

We got a chance to go yesterday morning to the main post office in D. Dun, near the Clocktower. Getting there was half the fun because I got to barter with the A. Rich drivers. The first one drove up to us and this was the conversation that followed:
ME: Clocktower?
DRIVER1: Okay.
ME: How much?
DRIVER1: 70
ME: 40
DRIVER1: 70
ME: 40
DRIVER1: 70
ME: ok, jao-go. (waved him off)
Another driver pulls right up as this one was leaving.
ME: Clocktower?
DRIVER2: (nod)
ME: how much?
DRIVER2: 80.
ME: 40.
DRIVER2: 80.
ME: 40.
DRIVER2: 60.
ME: 40.
DRIVER2: 60
ME: No. Go. (wave off and look back for another.)
DRIVER2: Teek hai.
ME: 40?
DRIVER2: Teek hai.
ME: (to Mary) Let's go!
It was really fun. And I find that I enjoy bartering a lot. There is a total sense of accomplishment when you talk your way down to the actual price. Soniya, Aunty's daughter, had told us that from home to the Clocktower it should never cost more than 40 rps. So that is why I insisted on 40.

He drove us to the Clocktower area. We paid him and crossed the street to the big white building that was the post office. When we got inside we immediately  were not sure about what to do or where to go. From wall to wall there was a wooden counter with a glass divider. There were about 12-14 desk partitions at this long counter, all designated for something - all written in Hindi. I looked to the left and saw a semi-circular counter in the corner that looked like an info desk (but wasn't). I approached the guy and asked him where I would find stamps. I showed him the postcards and he looked at them, and pointed to the other counter at the far end of the building - we went and I approached that counter too and waited for the lady's attention. Just so that it is clear - where ever there was a person behind a counter - people were swarming. The lady looked and me and I said that I wanted stamps. I showed her the postcards and she asked how many there were. I said 9. At 15 rps a piece I paid 135 rps in all. Then I asked her where I was supposed to take them next. She pointed to the general direction of the 12-14 tellers. I chose one of the emptier tellers and started there. I got sent to 3 different places until I finally just went up to another empty one with a girl who luckily spoke English. She took the postcards, stamped them and put them in the out-going box. I thanked her a few times and we left in high spirits.

The whole experience wasn't too difficult, it was just confusing and a little bit trying as, just like with the roads outside, lines were a construct of a foreigner's imagination. People just go around you to the front if you don't join in on the dog pile. People are too busy, it seems, to bother with useless things like the European construct of 'proper etiquette' in a public place. I would be very interested in seeing which system - order, or controlled chaos - works more efficiently. I don't know, the way things work here just makes more sense to me. Order and lines can drive a person crazy - always waiting, waiting; just being a sheep. Here, you go more or less where you want, and if you see someone coming your way you both just move to the left. So simple. So effective. This seems to be the rule of life here - just move to the left. Why do we make things more complicated than they need to be?

For the most part nothing else special happened yesterday that stands out to me. I did ride on a scooter at night. Dr. Nanda gave Mary and I a ride to the vikram connection because we left later than usual. It was cool. It was Mary's first time on a scooter/motorbike and it was exciting for the both of us. The lack of containing walls between us and the night air was somehow surreal, and that this vehicle had shocks made it feel like we were riding on a cloud. The ride was too short and it was time for us to catch the vikram home.