Life is slowly starting to become normal again.

Construction in the house is still going on; we are not sure what they are still doing there but as our container has not arrived yet it doesn't really matter. In my mind I am figuring out what to put where. The house is much bigger than we originally thought so we'll probably have enough furniture to furnish two rooms... what a wonderful space left to fill with all these beautiful things that can be found around here!
In anticipation of all this space we bought a "Naga table", which is an old indian massage table carved out of one piece of wood. We bought it in a very nice shop in Haus Khaz called Country Collection; they have beautiful things from all around India, old as well as new (made to look old - they are very good at that!). The nice thing is that they can tell you a story about all their items and that they do not try to sell you something new as antique.

We also have a car now, which makes life a lot easier, and a brand new driver to go with it - mr. Gill.
Mr. Gill used to be a taxidriver, and a truck driver before that, so he made a considerable promotion becoming our private driver. He was in fact still a taxi driver when we asked him - the first taxi driver who did not try to cheat us or lure us into doing extra business with him. In India, everything is about money and doing business, and as foreigner you know you will be cheated. This is something you have to get used to, because even if the amounts are small the principle is annoying. Mr. Gill is however watching over us, constantly making sure that we do not pay more than we should. We are lucky to have him.

Our car also has a CD numberplate, which is convenient for it "allows" us to park everywhere - something mr. Gill happily takes advantage of. He is also very happy that we are now allowed to enter the premises of the Hyatt without being checked. All taxi's and regular cars are checked for bombs, but apparantly we diplomats are not the types that blow up things...not literally anyway.

For me, it is still an unmeasurable luxury to have a driver who is waiting for you while you are shopping or having lunch.
I realise that the fact that we are hiring personnel insures them of an income, a place to live and an opportunity to send their kids to school, but the idea of all these people around to serve us...it will take a while before I am used to that, if ever. In the house, we will have three gardeners, a cook, a housekeeper, a guard, and of course mr. Gill...our own little private enterprise! It is not surprising that personnel (and the problems one has with them) is the favourite topic at parties. Well, we'll find out soon enough.....