Another night out people having fun

As I each day goes by I am learning more and more about this intriguing country, its customs, the people's behaviour, the non verbal communications, the societal rules of engagement, the hierarchy, the passion, the endurance but if I am truly honest, I reckon it would take considerably longer than the two weeks I have here to get a firm grip on how this country operates.

The driving I can understand, I believe that is easy and has not changed since I was last here 8 years ago. The first rule of Indian drive club, as we all know is there is no rule in Indian drive club. People are going places, honking people is more to let other people know, if for some reason they really needed reminding, that other people including the honker is right beside them. I tried to explain that in general honking a horn in the UK is kind of when you are getting very irate, rather than thinking 'I hope this guy knows where I am' out loud, with a horn, several times. I have not seen an agressive driver. I have however seen things that would lead to uproar in the UK, but hey ho, it works.

The housing is one which I guess I han't seen much of last time I came, in the Ivory tower of the Leela Kempinski Palace, which was probably the most sumptuous club/hotel I've ever stayed in. To probably misquote Groucho Marks, I don't care to belong to a hotel/elite club that accepts people like me as members. I was knocked back from their restaurant for wearing, albeit smart shorts. So the housing, the way it appears to work is, if you are lucky enough to live in a housing development of some standing, I reckon, lower middle class and upwards, then chances are, certainly round these parts, is that you probably need to get past a guarded gate to get home. I was a bit confused but I guess it is logical, as are most things in life, presumably they only want the right sort of people coming in, and no stray dogs or cows marauding through. I've read a fair number of worrying news tales since my arrival and that is probably another reason why there is always someone waiting and watching, from what I have seen, every 20 metres or so. Employment in Security must be a pretty high percentage.

Today was ok, still suffering from the extreme heat, there is only so much one can take at the furnace door. I was not alone as one of the colleagues was feeling ill also.

Wandered round a bit this evening, wherein I encountered today's lesson. There is a small but definite market for alcohol near the office wherein you can purchase a bottle of 'Regal Talons' (Rare generation whisky - apparently) for 570 rupees, roughly £7. A fairly brisk trade was being done, and two reasons dissuaded me from going to purchase something, actually three things. The first, I'm really not sure what the quality of the whisky would have been and was certainly not keen to try it out, the second, two ten inch rats meandering, probably quite harmlessly among the people waiting in the queue and thirdly, at the temperature below, would you really be up for a whisky?

41°