Fri. June 1, 2012 “A really BS day w/ Neel

I’m beginning to have my doubts about whether living close to Neel is such a good thing after all. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good guy and a lot of times he’s funny as hell, but from my observation of him he’s really unreliable. He’s also very dogmatic and arrogant in his approach with people. He’s extremely opinionated and he always has this attitude that he has all the correct answers and whoever disagrees with him knows nothing. I think that Neel lacks the ability to compromise which is beginning to be really annoying, which is too bad because he’s such a likable guy. We got into a pretty heated argument this morning in which I somewhat initiated by the fact that my eating schedule have been completely out of whack. The last few days where I had to wait around for Neel to finish so that we didn’t have lunch until 2:30 in the afternoon made me extremely irritated. And after arguing with him about how much I have to wait around for him made me realized that we are very different people and that we also have very different perspectives on how guests should be accommodated. At least that to me is now crystal clear. Hence, I completely made up my mind today that I will not be following Neel around like a dog. And actually I felt quite good today when he said to wait for him so that he can hitch a ride to the university with me on auto-rickshaw. He said to give him 2 minutes, and I literally took him by his word. I snapped back at him that he had 2 minutes and I meant exactly 2 minutes not five or ten but TWO! And I started the count down. It shows to him that I will not put up with his BS about how he understands time. I’m definitely going to use my money to my advantage. I know it might sound harsh and all but how does it make you feel being in a foreign country and not being able to rely on someone. I feel like I’m not being well-taken care of. I’m supposed to be on a goddamn vacation not one where I feel hungry and light-headed all the time because I have to wait on someone. For me that’s not how things work. I told Neel that if he were to come and stay at my place, I would treat him as an honored guest by taking care of all of his needs. For example, I would take care of his meals by telling him exactly what time I have my meals and then he would have the option of either eating with me or doing something else. But he doesn’t work like that. Everything about his schedule is tentative...nothing is definite. It’s going to be a great disservice for both of us if Neel acts in an uncompromising manner and tries to shift the blame on the other person. He rarely acknowledges his shortcomings. You know the thing about it is that I have given Neel a good fight for all it’s worth almost on anything that I happen to disagree with, and if he still thinks he can somehow refute me into submission...he better think again. As a friend, I will remind him of his short-comings but if he keeps rubbing me the wrong way, I will more than happily end this friendship!

It was nice to see Prachi Lahoti again after our last outing. She's studying really hard for her Sanskrit exam and then she will be going back home to her town somewhere near Aurangabad. I kinda insisted that I would like to visit her hometown.

Sanskrit school-teachers in the towns and villages of Maharashtra.

Jyoti is the one who cooks my breakfast, sometimes lunch, and dinner at her home. I just come and pick up the food. She cooks really good, simple and traditional food.