India - Day 13

Days are slow here. Started my morning with bass practice, going over some of the previous exercises I hadnt done in a while. Then went to Toms neighbour to get myself a new book to read. The library that neighbour has is really amazing - classic science fiction (shelves of it), popular science (Dawkins, Penrose) and biographies of scientists (a la Einstein, Bohr), A shelf containing most of what Pratchett has written as well as things from Gaiman. When I asked whether she had any existentialists, she said that she should have some Camus and Sartre, but she couldnt find them.. So I settled for the diary of Anne Frank, also taking a science book by Penrose.

I then read my mail and found my mother had sent me the story my grandfather had wrote about his youth in siberia. Tom had asked me whether my grandparents would be willing to recount what happened to them during 1940-s and as it turned out, both had agreed. I read my grandfathers story and tried (unsuccessfully) to hold back tears. I then proceeded to translate it and once I was done, gave the file to Tom.

I then went for a walk to look at yet another park (and to do some reading there). This time, the destination was NTG park, which had a rather magnificent memorial tomb in one corner - which you could only enter barefoot. Black marble gets really hot in the sun so I think it was like walking on coal - assuming a proper pace, everything was fine, but go too slow or too fast and your soles start taking heat damage. The tomb was quite wonderful architecturally and the whole place kind of reminded me of Pirita (and the memorial there - possibly because the lake was nearby, reminding me of the sea, and the memorial was just across the road from it, just like there as well). The park itself was also quite nice, but I was pressed to find a quiet place where to read, since everywhere I went, someone eventually sat close enough and started talking to his friend.. or something even more disturbing, such as a band of schoolchildren coming to play all around me. That does not really sit well with reading Anne Franks diary.

I got back and had some vegetable curry Tom prepared. Then his indian assistants took me and Dave out for indian sweets... which were nothing I have ever eaten in estonia and veery delicious. They asked, whether I will come to the colors festival tomorrow and I agreed. Ought to be fun, as I understand the main attraction is throwing paint at one another..