So Devanan the cousin lives in the second-floor flat across from mine with his Italian wife Lara and their two-year old boy Shaker.
The other day when the washerwoman came to do my laundry Lara sent her downstairs for some reason. Nandan later told me that this was because Lara did not want her to use the tank water stored on the roof.
The tank on the roof holds 500L and it is refilled from the city line. When power is cut, about 11-4 every day and some nights 2-4, we use tank water instead of city water.
Nandan tells me that for some reason Lara keeps her own tanks in her room to the capacity of 1000L. He also tells me that she has a fear of being without water, and that she checks the roof tank almost daily and refills it, even though never in Nandan’s life has the tank every been empty.
Chandu came around last night and hung out until he found me alone, and then he wrote on a notecard of mine that I was using that he wanted Rs 50 (about $1.10) from me. He did me a good favor in finding Nandan for me, but I cannot be a banker here.
The last time he came, about a week ago, he told me he had a medical emergency and needed Rs 50, and that he would pay me back the next day, and that he did not want me to tell Nandan. I put this in terms of what I would do in America. I have been spared a lot by living with Nandan, and anyone in America who did so much for me I would probably loan $10 even if I did not know them well. So I gave Chandu the money and expected him to disappear, and he did.
This time when he came he wanted more and I asked him about last time. He said he had another emergency, so I told him I would go to the doctor with him and buy his pills for him. He knew my doctor, Dr. Shankar, and he said he was the best, so I said I would take him there. I told Nandan about all this and he said Chandu would try to go to some wahoo, but that if I wanted to take him to Shankar that would be okay. I would expect that visit to cost about Rs 20-25 with pills.
I talked to Seema about going to the Punjab and she said she would be there in the middle of March, so I am studying even harder because I want to impress people with a little Hindi.