The morning started with a wasted trip to the central post office. It was closed due to Eid!
I walked up to Cafe Fiction, which my American friend, Steve, had recommended. Steve has been working most of the time I’ve been with him. He always discovers the best cafes in town! These usually have power sockets and good internet connectivity. So they’re good for me to write my blog.
When I got to the cafe, I saw Steve working on his laptop. I said hello and left him alone.
I got talking to two young men from Sikkim. We had an interesting talk about the current Prime Minister, Modi, and his impact on India. Their view was that the economic impact had been good. They said that Modi had managed to achieve some changes that eluded the opposition party, Congress, for many years. However, Modi has also had a negative impact. He promotes Hindu nationalism in a country with Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, and other religious groups.
They also gave me a brief history of Sikkim. Before 1975, Sikkim was independent, ruled by a monarchy. People have told me that Sikkim became part of India because it needed to be protected from its neighbour, China. However, the two young men referred to a book called Smash and Grab. The author controversially suggests that the annexation of Sikkim was not entirely voluntary. It resulted from calculated Indian political action.
Cafe Fiction had a bookshop and an outside seating area on the first floor. I returned to the ground floor and ordered lunch.
In the afternoon, I walked to a Buddhist monastery, which was quite high up from where I started. For most of the walk, I was climbing steep steps.
The campus itself was deserted apart from the resident monks. It was a peaceful place. I took off my shoes and sat in the temple for a while, enjoying the quiet.
I returned, for the third successive day, to Starbucks in the shopping mall. Some of the monks must have followed me. After all, they need their lattes and cappuccinos too!
Whilst I was reading, Steve messaged me. He was in The Rabbit Hole, a fashionable pub in the town centre. I had a masala dosa in the food court again then joined him at the pub.
The pub was in the basement. It was nice and cosy. There was a friendly, young, crowd.