Sorry...

I know it has been a while since posting, but I have been a little distracted (yes, there are distractions, scarce, but there are) lately. This is going to be a short post, but I want to clarify some things. Many of you have listened to me complain a lot about all the things I don’t like about living here in Jodhpur. You don’t get to hear any of the good things, and I apologize, because there are so many good things about being here in Jodhpur, but when I talk to you guys...you know who you are if I have complained to you...it is

A: an opportunity to practice proper English so I don’t use “wrong grammers” (as my co-worker says) when I come home and

B: it is an opportunity for me to vent, so I really really appreciate it when you guys listen to me and my negativity.

But, this internship has not been all negative thus far...I have been able to learn so much about a whole new world inside of my head and about everything I see with my own eyes. The people here, and I know you guys have heard me complain about the people here but, are really inspiring. There are many things, that when observing, I would think; “WHAT THE...that would never fly in Canada...” A bit ethnocentric, I know, but surely you would have the same thought...we’re human. At the same time, when I have a chance to reflect on it...the people here are amazing...what they are able to accomplish with maybe a quarter of the resources that we have in Canada is nothing short of unbelievable. I know in my previous post, I said that it is a culture of complacency, and on some level it is kind of right, but on another level it is far from the truth. How can I make a judgement of complacency when they do everything in their will power to survive? That is not complacency that is remarkable. The women that collect water for their families, the men that shape stones with their hands and a hammer (for 2 bucks a day) and the children that start working before some of us stop sucking our thumb (guilty...I stopped in grade 4). How could I have ever called that complacency? I owe you guys an apology, but more so, I owe the people that I judged an apology. I am sorry.

This internship, while only 2 months into it, has given me an opportunity to do a lot of "self discovery". I always thought I knew myself, and now I know how wrong I was. I knew nothing about myself, and I have been tested to the limits of what I require for sanity and happiness (Friends, English, perhaps a social life & FAMILY). But with a lack of these, I have learned to adjust, I know you guys don’t necessarily care about what I’ve learned about myself, but it’s my blog and you are probably reading because you have nothing better to do or you are procrastinating at work...but really, I am so grateful for being given this opportunity to travel, learn and experience a new culture. I hope I don’t continue to take for granted the position I am in and I hope things continue to get better and better...and I’m sorry if I have been bombarding you with complaints...I’m doing well, my health is back and I even have internet in my room! I look forward to learning more about myself and more about the place I call home...India...

Khalfan

Four Eyes are Almost Always Better than Two

Looking for inspiration and i found it...first i must use the bathroom.............
.....and i’m back, i’m not even kidding, i literally got up to go to the bathroom. This past weekend I had a chance to visit Udaipur with my friend Imran who is based in Ahemnabad. Udaipur, to give you an idea, is like going from Waterloo to Kingston only double the time, double the people on the bus, double the...actually quadruple the bumpiness (assuming the 401 is still messed up with construction everywhere) and finally tenouple the amount of horn honking. I know you guys must be getting tired of the horn honking references but seriously I can’t get over how much of a part of their driving experience it is (did that make sense?). The bus I was on has a special horn that was like a hybrid between an ambulance siren and a donkey scream, only much louder. I wish the creativity was put to better use......

Anyway, I had a chance to travel in style, my seat was called a ‘sleeper’ seat...the only way I can describe it is as follows; imagine the luggage rack above the seats in a greyhound bus turned into a coffin with tinted windows. It sounds not so comfortable, but its actually rather enjoyable, you get your own little space to read, chill out and take in all the different smells of the outside (your window must stay open, otherwise you will roast).

I arrived early but our room was not ready. Udaipur is called the ‘city of lakes’, and our hotel was very close to one of the them so I had a chance to go and sit by the it and listen to the sound of absolutely nothing. It was actually really cool...there were no cars or people, just me, the lady washing her clothes, the man bathing, the pigeons and the lake. Of course that didn’t last too long, when a tour guide that was waiting for his party to wake up came and sat beside me. He started asking me questions about Canada and if I watch the WWF (World Wrestling Federation, not referring to the World Wildlife Federation) and what my marriage plans are...for whatever reason, people ask foreigners their marriage plans in the first 3 minutes of talking...I told him “i’m sorry we just met..and well...you’re a dude”, joookes, i didn’t say that, instead I told him that I am only 21 and that marriage is something I will think about doing when I am 65, or whenever the government decides we must retire. Anyways, eventually he asked me what the exchange rate was for a Canadian dollar ($1 = 40 INr) and he asked me if I had any money, I gave him a loony and he told me I am his ‘bestfriend’...I thought, ‘hey thats a better rate than what I pay for my friends in Canada’...it’s simple supply and demand: there are 1.4 billion Indians compared to 33 million Canadians. When supply>demand, price goes down.

Udaipur was unreal though, I walked for two kilometres in a Muslim procession, that that quite frankly I have no idea how I became part of, I just kind of followed the crowd...and then after we reached our destination we prayed with them...of course I know I didn’t pray the way that they prayed but hopefully someone in the sky heard me. After that random event, we ended up at a temple called Jagdesh temple, this place was siiiiik, the melody and rhythm that they have in their prayer is unreal, I found myself having the urge to get up and do the screw in the light bulb dance, but I was beat to the punch by another lady, I was absolutely shocked to see them dance during prayer...but what a cool thing to see, the people were so happy, indeed I had a cheesy moment; ‘witnessing the smile on their faces, made me smile’. Ew, no more cheese.

The next day, we decided to follow the lonely planet suggestions, and we did almost all the cool tourist stuff...all of which you can see pictures of on facebook (I only pay in Rupees if you try and add me as a friend). I won’t bore you with the details, you can buy your own guide book, but on the way home around 12 am, Imran and I were walking back to the hotel. On the way, we had to pass the Jagdesh temple and we heard some singing, so we thought we would check it out...turns out, it was an all night prayfest because there was a lunar eclipse coming later that night...we decided to stay and pray some more! It was wicked, they let me play one of their instruments (i just clapped some plates together, its not like I was playing the Yazz Flute), finally around 3am my hands were hurting and Imran’s lungs were worn out from singing so we decided to call it a night...BUT MAN, WHAT A NIGHT! My writing can’t do justice to what we saw and stuff, so please tell me to show you the videos I took when I come home.

Experiencing India like a tourist was very fun; in fact this past weekend was the best weekend I’ve had here to date. Would I recommend working in India for a living? Right now I would say no...mainly because the idea of ‘progress at work’, in my office at least, entails getting an internet connection. Maybe I’m being harsh, but seriously...the pace is slower than the snail from ‘Frog and Toad are Friends’ (only some of you will understand...it is one of my favourite books as a kid). But anyway, would I recommend travelling to India as a tourist? Absolutely, 100% ! Coming as a tourist, you know you’re an outsider so you have a different mindset, you’re able to appreciate things you wouldn’t necessarily appreciate acting as a local...the way I look at it is like this...when I go to work I never wear my glasses, i lost my contacts and i don’t like the sweat that comes with wearing glasses here, so for the most part, unless something is close to me I can’t really see it...but this past weekend, I wore my glasses the whole time (in fact I even bought a pair of prescription sunglasses that fit my small head) and I was able to see everything clearer, I saw positive things in almost everything, almost all the time...so maybe it’s time I start to wear my glasses more often.............or maybe i’m just on a high from such a sweet weekend!
...yes a little more cheese, I’m sorry.....

Astalavista baby, (not Hindi......)

Khalfan

P.S. next time you rent a movie, rent 'The Darjeeling Express' Owen Wilson and the guy from the Pianist is in it, it is hilarious, very dry humour. It is filmed in Rajasthan and the beginning part is shot in Jodhpur!

Chicken

So it has been awhile, I know, but it has been very uneventful on my end...it is like living in Guelph without Trappers/Palace, 58, Stage or Van G’s, so those of you that went to Guelph can empathize with me!

One good thing that has happened is I have been able to secure breakfast lunch and dinner everyday. This is really a huge accomplishment, considering Nutella was all I could eat for the first week here. My host family has very kindly agreed to provide me with breakfast (boiled milk w/sugar and toast) and dinner (whatever the family eats, they’re non-vegetarian and they said once a month they eat CHICKEN, BOOO YAH!) But anyway, they are very nice people, I have been able to engage in really good conversation with my Indian Dad about the geology of India, politics of India and its’ surrounding countries, Olympics and religion. He’s a very cool guy who always says “yes, this is the thinking of me too” or “yes, this is the good thing you are saying”. Whether or not he means it, I’m not worried about.

Yesterday, I made my first field visit and it was a very very very very looooooooooooooooooooong day. Our NGO was putting on a workshop for local village SHG’s (Self Help Groups for women) to help them improve their quality of delivery of services to the group members. I didn’t do much, but from what I could understand, they were very receptive to what my co-workers were explaining to them. Then at lunch, I asked if I could talk to some of the SHG leaders to ask them about their current group and what can be done to improve it or if there was another channel of delivery they wanted to explore for their ‘microfinancing’. Through my own hindi and some translation I was able to determine that everything was working well. This was very encouraging, because I was told there is a problem of group formation due to a scattered population in the desert region. (A quick note, if you don’t know, an SHG is a group of 10-15 women that come together within a village that take a loan as a group from the bank and on lend to one another based on their needs. The actual financing part of it is only one part, what it actually serves as is a platform for their empowerment because as a group they can discuss their marital, domestic, economical, social or psychological problems...The money part of it is there to instil confidence in their ability to take care of themselves and their children. A very brief description, but you get the idea.) Finally, the long day ended and it was time to drive back home (2 hours away), I was very tired so I thought I could sleep in the car...oh how wrong I was...

On the way home, my shotgun seat got snagged by my co-worker, so I had to sit in the middle. For some reason there is minimal cushioning here...whether it is on my bed on, the seats or in back seat of a shaaaaady car. Anyway, my driver, without telling us decided to play a game. This is how you play; first you have to make sure it is raining, then also make sure that none of the seats except for the drivers’ has a seatbelt, then make sure it is getting dark outside, oh and by the way don’t forget to keep your lights off to preserve the car battery, the wipers are optional (he chose to use them only when he couldn’t see)...then...make sure your car has no air bags and has gone through a significant amount of wear and tear, okay so now all your tools are in place and you are ready to play the game. The rules of the game are drive very fast down the ‘highway’ and drive in the opposite lane as you pass other cars and when another car is coming at you (no matter how large) swerve at the last second...very similar to the game we call “Chicken”...except here in Jodphur, not everyone knows they are actually playing and the best part is that animals get in on the fun too! Cows, Lambs, Bulls, Dogs, Camels even an elephant! I felt like I was on a roller coaster, and you know when you make that huge drop and you clench your body so tightly together you feel like you might s*** yourself...well I did that for two very long hours. Compound that with the fact that the people I was in the car with were not bothered by any of this and decided to, instead, engage in a heated debate about whether or not one of their spiritual leaders was gender biased. It was soooooo fun........................................................................................

On the way there (I should have wrote this part first, but whatevs), the state highway was blocked off by one of the political parties in the running, I asked why they do that and they said that these political parties do that so their name gets remembered and people vote for them...they really take “any publicity is good publicity” literally here...

On a final note, for those of you following the summer Olympics, India got its first gold medal since 1980 (28 YEARS!) So congratulations! The country news stations were off the hook, and it was for archery, only “Baghwan” (God) knows what would happen if cricket was an Olympic sport and gold was achieved. I am off to Udaipur for the weekend, it is about an 8 hour bus ride, I was told by my friend to shave if I want girls to “stare to me”, I don’t what is creepier, me with a beard or girls “staring to me”...

Until next time,

Khalfan

What Women Want

First off, congrats to my brother Adil and sister Fuz on finding a new place, may it bring nothing but happiness!

This entry is going to take a little bit of a serious tone, so if you’re looking for entertainment you may not get it, but here goes...my thoughts are a little scattered but hopefully you will understand.

The state of Rajasthan is famous for its’ tradition. As my Indian guidebook suggests, it is ‘the Land of Princes’. This, after being here for nearly a month, begs the question; “what about the Princesses?”. I have faced a sad reality in a short time period; women are, quite frankly, poorly valued. They are not treated as humans; they are treated as a different species, one with little respect. And this may be old news to many of you reading this, but even so, I just want you to consider for a second, just take one second right now, male or female and think for a about what your plan is for the rest of the hour, day, week, month, year, 3 years from now and life. Maybe you need more than a second........my point is, is you have a chance (men and women) to take that time and plan out what you want to do. Surely you have your external constraints, but being the West, let’s be real, if you wanted to say ‘no’ to doing something or pursue something of your interest, you can no doubt do it.

Now if I asked a native woman from Jodhpur to the same thing I asked of you, it is likely that the answer will be clearly planned out and full of things we would rather shoot ourselves in the foot than do. Call me soft, but it hurts to see the status of women here being what it is. Being a brother, I would never want my sisters to be subject to the type of treatment a lot of women get here. They are objectified, they are spoken for, they are bought and sold, they are used, and they are not treated at a level that you and I would call respectable. Don’t get me wrong, it would be ignorant for me to generalize a whole state as having this attitude about women, but being here, some things I can’t help but notice.

Now people will say it is a cultural thing, and it is wrong for me to pass judgement on the way people treat each other in another culture, especially being from the West where we don’t necessarily respect one another all the time. BUT there is at least recourse for the poorly treated! If one is marginalised, there are ways to improve – maybe not to the extent that it should be yet – but there is at least opportunity for improvement. We have opportunity to differentiate ourselves; women here are limited to what they can do, in the West sky is the limit for everyone. If you don’t like your spouse, divorce him/her! If you don’t like your job, find a new one! If you don’t like a job opportunity, go back to school and improve yourself! (Yes Fuda, congrats!) If you don’t want to cook, go out to dinner! If you don’t like your direction in life, change it! It is great! The freedom, the opportunity, the institutions for progress and help, the life we live in general, ever improving & always changing.

It would be very cliché for me to say, we should be grateful for everything we have or that we should not take things for granted, but I’m going to go ahead and be cliché. Even if you are in a bad situation right now, you can be thankful that you have an opportunity to complain; because your complaints have institutions that can materialize them into changes or solutions to your problem. Women here are in an appalling situation and a lot of the time there are no changes or solutions to their complaints. There is no help line, there are no friends to lean on, life must go on, the family must eat, and tradition must be kept.

After reading my friend Nikhil’s blog, I ask the same question, WHY is it like this? This goes beyond a cultural issue, this is a complacency issue. WHY is complacency okay? WHY can’t things change? I’m not a feminist by any means, mainly because I don’t even know what a feminist is there are so many definitions of what one is, I’m just a dude that wants to tell you guys if you don’t already know, how EFFING lucky we are (both male and female) to be able to have access to everything we have access to, including this blog, not because I wrote it, but because it is access to information, something this (desert) part of the world has a major deficit with. Imagine no internet at work, our life would freeze! Like mine...but I am complaining...so it will get better...

To echo, Nik’s thoughts, because I think it is a very good point. In Canada we complain a lot and people say ‘don’t complain’, but complaining is what has made us the developed nation that we are today. Complaining is what has improved our education system, consumer protection laws, labour laws, women’s rights law etc. Sure we have room for improvement, but at least we don’t settle for things, we want better for ourselves, and I don’t think that this is a bad thing, I see it as further progress for the further enhancement of our quality of life.

Next time, I’ll give you guys more on my adventures and escapades, for now, keep complaining and keep improving.

Pre-Departure Interviews

Hey everyone, I found a little internet cafe beside my house, they make you give out a lot of information to send out a few e-mails. Today is my day off so I will go do some exploring and hopefully find a grocery store where I can get some food and keep a regular eating pattern. I don't have the energy to write up a blog, but I'll hopefully update this week. I just wanted to share a link with you guys. It is a video a, fellow, fellow made prior to leaving. Unfortuanately for the world, I am not the main feature (jokes)...in fact after watching it I'm not sure what I said made any sense, but regardless, you guys can see what the other interns are doing and where they went.

The intern that made the video (Jami) also has a blog (www.coveringkenya.com), so if you want, you can check it out! Hope you guys enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQDQQSO2OcE&eurl=http://www.coveringkenya.com

Khalfan Khalfan Khalfan Khalfan Khalfan Khalfan Khalfan Khalfan Khalfan

"Thanks but no thanks!"

Today is July 29th at 12:32am I am writing this, I was lying down in my bed and thoughts were flowing and i said to myself i better get this down before I forget like my brother told me i will. Shereen, have a safe journey! Shout out to Corpus Doodey!
So yes, “thanks, but no thanks” is what I said to the Geiko Lizard as i shewed him out of my bathroom in Jodpur and into somewhere in my room in Jodhpur (you follow? A lot of ‘ins’)... “I don’t want to save 15% or more on my car insurance”.

Finally, after a logistics disaster as per Canadian standards and flawless planning as per India’s standards I have safely arrived to Jodhpur. Oh the people you meet though...The night before I left, I finally made friends with some others staying in the hotel including other NGO workers so conversation was far from dull...kind probably for ALMOST everyone though. Great timing of course, but whatever I’m grateful. I met a lady named B (to respect her privacy), she is a jewellery trader and an expert on Jaipur. After talking for a while she invited me to join her for a jog (some new fad...yogging...) and a yoga session. I thought to myself a yog and a yoga how could I resist? So I woke up the earliest I have for this internship to date and went for a beautiful jog around central park in Jaipur and went through the most intense yoga session of my life, of course it was my only yoga session of my life, but still, all this up dog down dog stuff is hard stuff to do. After yog and a yoga, I went back to the hotel and we went out to dinner at Mawa Mahal Palace, now this place is piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimp even moreso than Canadian high end resteraunts, and... I had a chance to eat meat for the first time since...well...i don’t know since when. A very generous lady, she paid for everything! Then we still had the taxi for a couple of more hours so she took me around to see some of the palaces and other sik hotels in Jaipur as well as a temple where the metal detector goes off but the security waves you through anyway.......i was just as confused as you probably are right now.

This brings us to dinner. I was sitting there and when this guy walks in with his dinner and he was alone so I was just like “have a seat, alone can be boring”. Chuckles exchanged (me: haha, him: haha) and he sat down. Started talking;
“so what brings you to Jaipur?” I asked
“well I just wanted to disconnect from the world before I start law school”.
I said “hey, me too kind of, but for a little longer, what kind of work did you do that made you want to ‘disconnect’?”
“I worked for the former vice president, Al Gore”
“.....................”
“.....................”
“Cool?” I finally said. “It just so happens that I am reading his latest book ‘the assault on reason’ (Thank you anon friend for buying me it), have you read it?”
“Actually I did the research for chapters 1 and 3.”
“Well my first and last name are the same, I ate at a fancy restaurant for free, I work out A LOT and I have my own blog” (I didn’t say any of this, only thought parts of it) The conversation carried on about the book and law school, finally Elliott and I shook hands and exchanged emails, so by association I am a former employee of Al Gore. (Oh Gorey, good times pal..)

Finally, 11:30 rolls around and I am ready for my midnight train to Jodhpur, 7 hours. The taxi is there on time, I get to the station with some time to spare and a rolly guy comes up to help me with my luggage, he checks my ticket and starts laughing, I thought, “yes, thats my name rolly guy, lets go”, but he was laughing at the fact that the travel agent booked me a ticket that is for a waiting list on the midnight train. So here I am, ditched by my taxi driver, rolly guy laughing (probably at my name and how i am illiterate in Hindi), hundreds of people, my 2 over weight bags, a carry on, knapsack and dirty laundry bag that I punked from the hotel. At this point, rolly guy is my only hope so I try and act calm (far from in reality) and I start talking to him, we exchange what we have in common (Muslim, SWEET!) and he takes me under his wing for the next 45 minutes. He really helped me out, got me a seat on the train, loaded my bags, bought me Chai (Tea) and played me Hindi songs that I don’t even like on his cell phone. In return I listened to him vent about his ex-girlfriend and paid him a little extra for his help. Fair deal, no? The train ride was amazing, one of the overweight bags was on my bed in my cabin and I had the middle bed of a “triple bunk bed”, so for 7 hours I half lied down, half slept and fully heard the wonderful sounds of farts, burps, snores, sleep talkings and phlegm collecting, despite listening to my IPOD.

I arrived in Jodhpur, slept for two hours and was picked up a co worker to go to the office, but what we Canadians would refer to as the ‘desert’. It is literally in the middle of nowhere without internet. The feeling of homesickness, loneliness, overwhelment (not a word) and isolation started to really break me down. And it happened, I really broke down. But I didn’t let India beat me, not yet, hopefully not ever, a few phone calls here and there and with great support from my family and friends and I feel better than ever. I did however; gain an appreciation for how all of my fellow interns may be feeling, and if you guys are reading this, you’re not alone. Things turned around in the evening after I grew acquainted with my host family, there is a guy my age here so he took me around on his motorcycle to show me what is where (helmet on my head as per my contract), turns out I have a really good location here. He is a cool guy too, he did the same program in undergrad as myself but here in India (honours Commerce, they really emphasize ‘honours’ here, they always ask ‘honours?’ if I just say ‘Commerce’).

Part of my good location included a salon for men only. So I said I’ll go splurge. I went there, got a haircut, without saying what I wanted; he cut it the way everyone else does their hair-side part. Then the weird part happened, he started putting baby powder on my face and I was like “Kya Karta Hai?” (what are you doing?) He showed me thread...implying they thread the excess hair on the face here...and I thought to myself “when in Rome..”. So now, 30 rupees later (75 cents, BALLIN!), excess hair free, looking more Bollywood than ever I am ready for my real adventure to finally begin in Jodhpur. If you’ve read this far, I want you to know how much I appreciate you reading my blog, I know everyone is busy, but it feels good to know how much support I have back home without you guys being here.

Hum Baad mai Bhaate Karangay (We’ll talk later) I had a few minutes of internet so I thought I would make a post, I’ll have regular access next week!

The Office

Hello everyone, indeed it has been a little bit since my last internet blabbling, but I’m still alive!

I am still in Jaipur, and there are still no English cinemas, but life goes on. Over the past weekend, I had a chance to do more touristy stuff. YAY. Sarcastic YAY. Naeem (the friendly face) offered to take me around the city to see some stuffs, I thought, yeah what the heck it’ll pass some time. I started the day a place called ‘City Palace’. Monstrously huge, but nothing too appealing. The only part of it that I was interested in going to see was the upstairs part, but I wasn’t allowed to go unless I shell over 2,500 INr (70 bucks!). I said I’d pass, instead I’ll imagine what it looks like on the inside for free. So this is what I picture: rooms with beds, washrooms that are really big, colours that, in all likelihood, don’t match and a kitchen. I probably shouldn’t trivialize it but c’mon, nothing u walk around to look at for less than an hour should cost $70. It did however, have an awesome display of weapons and arms that were used during the Mughal Emporer’s time, that part was free to look at and it was pretty sweet. On the whole though, it was almost as boring as what you just read.



After City Palace was over things started to get interesting when none other than Goon Goon herself showed up in the flesh. Well she didn’t just show up, I invited her. Life is always more exciting with Goon Goon in the house! We called Naeem and he drove us to the next destination; ‘Jantar Mantar’(its a place to look at stuff) which means “instrument calculation”. After JM, was supposed to be a historical fort or two, but those plans were nixed by Goon Goon...thank you G-Dubbs...why would I ever want to go the top of a mountain to a historical fort in which there is such rich history and where the view is immaculate? I didn’t want to waste Naeem’s time so I told him I would see him tomorrow for work. Anyways, the “instrument calculation” was actually incredible, we got a guide, so he explained everything we looked at and its’ history. Jantar Mantar is home to the world’s largest sundial, accurate to two seconds. It is pretty much a big place of clocks, astrology and astronomy. It was built in the 17th and 18th centuries, so you could imagine the geniusness behind all of it despite not having high-tech equipment to work with.



After, we went to the market where we went in and out of stores so she could match her Indian outfit to another piece called a Dupata. That took a solid 2 hours........................all of which I was enthralled with joy. Things got a little more exciting when we went to eat; I ate “aloo tikhi” which is a potato in the middle of a bowl swimming in a pool of hot sauce. It actually was amazing, no sarcasm! Finally the day came to end and I headed back to my sanctuary. Away from the street madness and shop vendors!

The work week began very informal, casual and unproductive, but that’s what happens when the internet is down for three straight days! The internet is my life, metaphorically, you can think of it as someone that is so very thirsty and there isn’t a tap for hundreds of miles until they finally find one and then when they go to turn it on nothing comes out. You could imagine the frustration for three straight days! But hey, India happens.

My supervisor came back on the Wednesday I was finally assigned some work, so it has kept me busy for the past couple of days. Since I was assigned work, I decided to pull myself away from my old seat to a new one in the organisations’ library. I figured it would be distraction free.
When I came down stairs, all the lights were off so I couldn’t see much until all of a sudden the lights flickered on. The ‘librarian’ guy was sleeping! It is a pretty sweet office, I have a big table to myself a nice fan, access to books etc etc. I also have a love-hate relationship with library man. I’m pretty sure he hates me because I am down here and he can’t sleep and...well...actually its just a one way hate relationship...he hates me and neither of us love each other, but we don’t reaaaaally understand each other, he speaks a different dialect of Hindi called “MumbleSomethingVeryFastLikeYouJustWokeUpAllTheTime – Hindi” and I don’t really speak at all. Sometimes though, when I am working, he chills out behind my chair just staring at my screen, in English I say “What up Dawg?” and then he says something in
“MumbleSomethingVeryFastLikeYouJustWokeUpAllTheTime” then walks away.



I like it down here though because I met two other interns from India, they are software engineers and one of them even has the same birthday as me! Subhash is his name and his buddy, another intern, but I forget his name, we’re all the same age so it’s pretty cool to talk to them. We exchanged some movies and TV shows from our computers. They’re both brilliant dudes and great cricket bowlers.

I am almost leaving for my final destination; Jodhpur. I was supposed to be there today, but that was moved to tomorrow, which was then moved to Saturday, followed by the Sunday midnight train. That is what I call great logistics! I’m glad I stayed though, because today was a staff members birthday and we celebrated with ice cream, which turned into a milkshake after about 10 minutes of leaving it out in 30+ weather!

Peeeeeeeeeeeeace! (“Peace” in English)

Dictionary: Drip Drip = IV