Friday, March 10, 2006

Prince Polonia while I still have hair rooftop dinner

Hello everyone-- I am now staying at the Hotel
Prince Polonia in Pahar Ganj. The phone numbers are:
23581930, 31, 32, 33 & 23561445, FAX 23587026

I'm in #202 a spacious corner room with balconies and high arched windows on
2 sides. The walls are a gentle light cream color and rise to a high
ceiling of white with a mustard yellow trim that for some reason makes me
happy every time I look up. I have a small fridge, a sofa and a large coffee
table to work on. My shower curtain has hand painted bright yellow daisies.

The hotel owner is fully aware of my condition (bothhealth-wise and financial) and he has made every effort to make my stay as comfortable as possible.

This is an unusual business man. On the first day I approached him regarding
a possible discount for a long stay-- explaining that I normally stay in a
$5/day hotel (this one is $20) but that I currently needed the extra
comfort. He responded by saying that he could not change the price of the
room on the books becuase the employees get talking-- but that he could help
me in 'this way' as he handed me 6-- 500 rupee notes-- then threw in an
extra note for good measure-- as an advance to the bill. As I tried to thank
him for this consideration he cut me off saying "No--please, I probably owe
you from another life."

Interesting man indeed-- having started out as a motor-scooter driver and
city guide, then a travel agent, then a hotel owner and now he runs several
community outreach programs right out of the hotel. In all my travels I've
never seen anything quite like this place. One of the programs is a computer
learning class for young women and I am currently doing afternoon
english-language writing workshops with them. The young women are 16 to 24
years old and they are a lively group--full of good humor. I wanted to take their photos yesterday but they resisted saying they were not ready. Today they showed up ready-- all in their best sarees!

I'm toying with the idea of a small dinner party here at the roof top
restaurant some time next week before I leave for Dharamsala. I've
collected several friends here with so much in common other than their
connection with me and I think you would all enjoy meeting one another. You are
all journalists/writers, photographers, artists etc. My next chemo is on
the 14th so it would most likely be on the 17th-- a friday I believe. Earlyish like 6pm and come as you are or can kind of thing. Would be fun but I can't promise I'll still have hair-- as it's already starting to leave... Also depends on whether or not the chemo does a number on me-- will keep you all posted.

More soon-- Margi.

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