22nd of January

My parents arrived in Manali today. Not content with pursuing me one quarter of the way across the globe they decided to keep going half way across the country, then they followed me all the way across the city till they found me. Unwilling to wake up the guy who sleeps behind the counter they rang my mobile at 0630 and woke me up. I then had to go downstairs and wake up behind-the-counter-guy. Why this was better achieved by me and not them I’m not sure. As best I can tell all it accomplished was waking me up.

I spent most of the day travelling around with my parents. We bought a sim card for my mother’s phone, which took about 3 hours. The main reason for this is the Indian love of paper work and the inability of the average Indian to work outside of the provided framework. To gain a sim card one must be an Indian with a permanent address, I can only fulfil one of those requirements. So I went to a hotel, got a letterhead and forged a letter stating I was a guest. Of course you need a photo as well, as well as photocopies of your passport. Each of which was revealed after gaining the previous piece of documentation.