Update 8th June.

They have started building a new property just next to our house (by the fence near the swimming pool) so we now have two building sites next to us. It’s really annoying because they start work early in the morning and the new site is just below our bedroom window.

I have been ill over the last week with a stomach upset so I haven’t really left the house much. Yesterday was the first day I went out and it was a hectic day. I had to go to immigration to pick up our residence permits. They told us to be there at 3 p.m but I thought I would go earlier to miss the crowds of people. I arrived there at 2 and although there were five people there working, I was told I had to wait until 3 p.m to see a lady who would sit at the desk in the corner, so I sat and waited.

At 2.40 p.m, the lady came in and put her stuff on the desk and then spent ages going between her desk and the counter, picking up stamps and a stapler and other stationery. I did feel kind of bad for her as she was heavily pregnant, but she seemed happier finding other things to occupy her time than helping me. I was getting really impatient, especially when the room started filling out with people all waiting to see this one lady. At 10 to 3 she disappeared out of the room and came back just after 3 o’clock.

I made sure I was first, by sitting at the chair next to her desk. I gave her my paper (and I had already searched through the 3 huge stacks of forms and pulled out mine and Penri’s and put them on the top). When she took my paper she told me to go and sit and she would call me. She then collected in ALL the papers from the other 40 people in the room. I didn’t move and take a seat (for starters there weren’t any spare ones), I just stood up right next to her desk.

Once she had collected in all the papers, she called me to her desk. I pointed at mine and Penri’s forms and she pulled mine from the pile. She gave me my residence permit (extended till April 2008) but wouldn’t give me Penri’s. She said he had to come himself to collect it. I explained to her that when we applied for them, we specifically asked if we both had to come to collect them and we were told ‘no, just one of us’. I was annoyed but there was no way she was going to back down, so I just took my papers and left.

From immigration, I had to go to the music shop to pay for my piano hire. The traffic was crazy and it took me nearly half an hour to travel 2 miles. After that I had to go and pay the rent for our house. Again, it took a while to get there because of the traffic. Once I had paid the rent, I felt relieved that I had accomplished all three important tasks for the day and got in the car to go and meet Penri for dinner.

I turned on the engine and put the car in first gear to move forward, the engine revved but I moved nowhere. I got out to see what the problem was and I couldn’t believe my front tyres were stuck in mud! The car wasn’t going anywhere. I stood looking at the front of the car for a moment and then went and asked the security guard nearby to help me. We both tried pushing forwards and backwards. I tried driving while he pushed (all that accomplished was covering him in mud!) The car would not move.

Slowly, a bit at a time, more and more people stopped to help – each with their own idea of how we could solve the problem. One man told me that axel had broken and the car wouldn’t move anywhere. Even I knew that wasn’t the case and we just had to get it out of the mud. They put stones and wood under the tyres but as soon as I tried to move, they just sank further into the ground. They tried pushing (all 20 of them) and still they couldn’t move it.

I was just looking at the car thinking ‘I have no idea what to do’. Only one of the men who had stopped spoke English, so he was translating for me as the rest of them were all discussing what to do. After about 10 minutes, two men from the Pizza Hut next door came out to help. One of them went to the tyres and the other got into the car to drive. It was like there was nothing wrong with it. Within seconds the car was out of the mud and on the road. I couldn’t believe it.

When I told Penri the story he asked me if I gave them money. I had actually considered this but how much money would you give to 22 people without it being an insult? I didn’t have that much money on me, so I just shook the man’s hand (who had spoken to me in English) and said thank you to all of them and drove off. I still laugh about it now – it’s so embarrassing!

On my way to meet Penri, I decided to go for some retail therapy. There’s a really nice shop (kind of on the way to his office) called Anokhi. I managed to find a couple of tops and a nice pair of earrings.

Anyway, it’s Friday today (the last day of school) so most of my friends have either left last night or are leaving today. Chennai will be very quiet over the next few months. Maybe I will finally get to finish the musical I have been writing!