Get Yourself Connected

Emaho! I can now use my laptop again. One reason that it's so easy to stay in the Institute is that there is a little Indian man called Mr Chanda who calls round twice a day taking orders for stuff. He brings round staples like toilet paper and bottled water, but he can also source some more exotic things. Yesterday he brought round a voltage stabiliser, an impressive beast pictured below.

Every single piece of Indian electrical equipment I've encountered (with the exception, I'm hoping, of the stabiliser) is scarily substandard; from the power supply unit with its own internal lightning show to the plugs which only intermittently actually make electrical contact. The lights regularly go brighter or dimmer as the voltage from the mains fluctuates at random. So the stabiliser is an essential piece of equipment if you want to plug anything delicate like a computer into the Indian electrical system.
With this, and the temporary loan of an English-to-Indian plug converter (I didn't bother bringing one since I assumed that a former British colony would be bally sure to have some lying around, what), I can finally recharge my electrical equipment and transfer my photos!

For which stay tuned..