Please inform Mr. Shubash that there's an increasingly irate Canadian standing outside his door...

I've had my first brush with India's famously ineffectual bureaucracy in the form of Pune University's registrar's office. After arriving at the office at 11AM (because that's apparently when public offices open in India), I was told that I had been mistakenly registered for the economics faculty at the university. I would have to wait for a mand named Mr. Shubash to come and redo my admissions offer. Not to worry, the clerk assured me, Mr. Shubash would be arriving at the office in the next ten minutes. So I sat down and waited for a half hour. I bugged the clerk again, who said that it was a mere five to ten minutes wait, "Mr. Shubash is actually ill and at the clinic". To make a long story short, I waited another hour, after which the prodigal Mr. Shubash swept into the office (with surprising vigour for a sick man) with an entourage of five or six Europeans. He quickly disappeared into the backrooms of the office because he had to attend to his guests.

Predictably, the clerk told me it would be a mere five to ten minute wait.

A half hour passed, and I finally found what Jeremiah calls my "Torontonian anger". I stalked up to the counter and demanded that I speak to Mr. Shubash immediately. The clerk actually had the nerve to tell me it would only be two more minutes, but I was frustrated enough to do some menacing fingerpointing in the directions of the backrooms and push past the guy. After trying to tell me that it would only be another five minutes (Really? Do I look that dumb?) I lost all calm and imparted some choice words similar to the title of this post. The clerk disappeared into the backrooms; Mr. Shubash made a hasty entrance, crossed out the word "economics" on my admissions offer, and replaced it with "political science", signed the document and sent me back out to the front. My aunt, who had been patiently waiting with me, seemed somewhat amused by the whole thing, but I'd imagine waiting around for two hours isn't the best use of anyone's time.

Aside from that though, I'm actually loving Pune. It's constantly got a frenetic level of energy, which is invigorating. My aunt runs a dance school (aside from being a university lecturer and a psychiatrist...I think she has the ability to stop time) so I get to watch dance classes throughout the day...very cool. Also, I seem to have less allergies in India then I do in Canada. I don't really understand how that's possible, but I'd rather not question the logical of an illogically good thing. Other things:I think I might take up tabla lessons (tablas are these crazy-cool Indian drums), and I get to where flip-flops everywhere. In all, I'm enjoying myself thoroughly.