I've finally moved out of the beautiful, if isolated, NRCC guest house. My new pad is a wonderful apartment in the Purani Ginnani neighborhood, an older area just beyond the fort and the main market. I'm renting a private room (with kitchenette and bathroom) on the top floor of a small homestay guesthouse. The family runs an NGO that sells village artwork and clothing to tourists as a way of supplementing rural incomes.
I was very conscious of the fact that, by moving to a city without an expat community, I was forcing myself to enter completely into an all-Indian social circle. Indeed, that was part of the appeal of Bikaner. Over the past few weeks, however, I have begun to realize that total isolation from Westerners would be a bit much. So living at the guesthouse is a good call- I'll have my privacy when I need it, an Indian family to get to know well, and, occasionally, a fellow native English speaker to talk to.
Here, my room. Shots of the rooftop view on the way.
I was very conscious of the fact that, by moving to a city without an expat community, I was forcing myself to enter completely into an all-Indian social circle. Indeed, that was part of the appeal of Bikaner. Over the past few weeks, however, I have begun to realize that total isolation from Westerners would be a bit much. So living at the guesthouse is a good call- I'll have my privacy when I need it, an Indian family to get to know well, and, occasionally, a fellow native English speaker to talk to.
Here, my room. Shots of the rooftop view on the way.
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