Rediculousness

It strikes me every now and then how different my life in India is from my life back home and yet I don't notice that much anymore. I was telling my parents the other day about how I was so annoyed because one of our hot water heaters is broken and it takes forever for everyone get hot water for a bucket shower in the morning. They said, "you have a bucket shower?" So to give you a taste of my life in India I've decided to take you through a typical morning in Chandigarh.

1. First, depending on if anyone remembered the night before, I have to get up 20 minutes before I actually want to in order to turn on the hot water heater in the kitchen. After 20 min some steaming hot water is ready and I can fill up my bucket and carry it to the bathroom. The shower is a marble floor with a drain in it that is always clogged with my room mates hair.

2. I then layout all my shower supplies along the edge of the shower and mix some cold water into my bucket so that I don't scald myself. It's freezing in the bathroom these days because the window is broken and the temperature gets to around 5C overnight. The first cup of the cup is like heaven but that's quickly followed by goose bumps and shivering so you have to dive back in for more hot water.

3. Rationing is important so that you can get all the soap off with a single bucket of hot water. I find a half bucket is needed for shampoo and soap.

4. Now it's time to towel off in the freezing cold bathroom. This occurs as fast as possible and I throw on my clothes which likely have not been washed in some time because I have to hand wash them myself in the same bucket I shower from. Needless to say a bucket is a very useful item in India.

5. I then stumble out to the kitchen and make some coffee in a pot of boiling water and pour it through a screen. I toast my bread over the gas stove's flame. Coffee saves my life because I am then alert enough to navigate the roads of Chandigarh on my bike.

6. So I hit the street and ride through two life threatening traffic circles on the way to my office. I have not been hit yet but I ran my front tire into a cycle rickshaw the other day and gave it a nice wobble. Oooppps, but there seems to be an understanding here that you are bound to hit things on the road and no one thinks much of it. Then I get to work and it's just another day in Chandigarh.

I love your stickman drawings! They are true works of art. Keep it up!

i like your diagram

Oh i couldn't sum up a morning in 36C better & the drawing just tops it all!

Nicholas....I do love you....lol i had the same experience trying to shower this morning afta a drunk aussie barfed all over the shower stalls and i had no flip flops
needless to say there were tears.

Your art rules man. I like it. I didn't know you took a bucket shower every morning... damn, that's harsh.

Oh by the way ....Nichiolas' life in india is soon going to be "am,an's life" in india...ill take a few pointers bro...miss the good times in office...cheers and see ya in hyd..

Excellent choice of representation Nicholas, the stickmen are a hillarious hybrid of modern/ archaic which seems to be your crazy life. Keep writing, you're great, and i know this comment probably belongs in the WTF arena but this whole 'blogging' thing is new to me so know that i also loved the 'no thanx to dinner at 24 sussex'. Have Fun!