a quieter more productive day

After last night's dinner by mobile light at 10.30pm, I wondered what awaited me today and, again, I wasn't disappointed. With power restored, I'd had a nice warm shower (don't want anything too hot to start the day), shaved and so on and was packed and ready to await Jayaraj's arrival. Indeed, I'd even found my way downstairs to stand by the car at 9am.

Jayaraj arrived with a rush and apologies at 9.10am in an auto-rickshaw. Turns out that, in addition to dropping me at work in the morning and working in the bike shop (I'll have to get in there and see what I can do in the way of some two-wheeled self-propelled transportation; it's been a while now), he owns and operates an auto-rickshaw! How about we take the autorickshaw, says I, as he's looking for somewhere inconspicuous to park the auto. Would that be alright sir? Preshnam ilya, I say in my best Malayalam (just about my only words of Malayalam, having made it a rule to learn how to say "no problems" in the local language as early as possible wherever I go). And so off we head in the auto to the school.

A most enjoyable ride, buffeted by the wind and noise (mostly the horn of every car letting every other car know it is surrounded) and a sense of being at one rather than apart. Having watched the autos dart in and out of the most precarious spaces (and sometimes lack of spaces) on the road, it was now my turn to experience that same darting and weaving from "inside" the cabin. If you have a look on the facebook website, you'll see the autos parked in the street outside the apartments.

I think we're "near as dammit" now in terms of our key branding tools - logo, IMBA prospectus, application, website - and so after yesterday's itinerary planning session, we've had the travel agent in for the first go at the detailed travel plan with flights, hotels and so on (the first trip looks like 6 cities in 2 weeks, before heading off to Phoenix for the DSI conference and then flying back into Mumbai for the next stage of the tour).

I had the man from the Indian Bank come back with the local branch manager and the sheaf of forms, the completion of which is prerequisite to opening of a bank account (a necessary thing before I run out of "readies"). The folks from the State Bank of India will come tomorrow (it's only taken a week for them to get back to me) and so I'll have a brace of accounts for different purposes. Meanwhile, the Australian wickets were steadily falling in the final of the 50 overs series, a day/night match in Mumbai.

Given last night's excesses, I thought an early night (at least in terms of leaving the office) was in order. Ajith let Freeda know I had an urgent meeting with the Australian cricket team and we both left at 6.30pm so that he could drop me at the apartment and head off to his own "meeting". An apple, a packet of chips (Lays Indian Masala), and a couple of cups of tea and I was ready for next posting. Raju arrived not long after to hand over an emergency lighting torch and a couple of spare light globes that we had discussed earlier in the day. With those installed to his satisfaction, he bade me a good night. So I sit here at 8.00pm now watching the Indian wickets steadily falling and feeling that all's well with the world.