Travel in India

I got a great surprise from my friend Marianne in Oct that I've just now cashed in on, a gift certificate to Kiva.org - $25 to lend to one many projects throughout the world. I donated to Malvika Shodieva. The snippet from Kiva's website is below in English and Russian for those that prefer it. "Malika Shodieva is 34. She has a secondary school education and is married with four children. For four years, Malika has been selling Tajik national textiles, which are used to make women's clothes. She has a trading point at one of the markets in Tursun-zoda. With her loan, she plans to buy a new assortment of fabric. This will give local women the chance to obtain the cloth needed to sew their national costumes. There is a demand for this among the local population. Malika plans to repay her loan over a 12-month period. Translated from Russian by Susie Armitage, Kiva volunteer. Шодиева Малика, возраст – 34 года, образование среднее, замужем, имеет 4-х детей. Малика уже в теч

Last night I was mid-sentence explaining how we don't want Oreo's or white bread, when the doorbell rang and I heard 'trick or treat' on the other side. I was so excited and surprised and unprepared, I looked at the 3 of them and then their chaperone and raising the Oreo's asked if they could share. They all nodded so that was fine. Then they came pouring in. 10 kids and once and we had nothing. I ran into the kitchen and Amreet (our caretaker) and I cut up gum packets and wrapped pieces of a chocolate bar in tin foil. Most of that group left, but a few stuck around. Deepak (the dude that shops and buys all the food) ran to the nearby shop and got some candy. Thereafter, Deepak and Amreet continued to remind me, '1 piece maam, 1 piece.' We had maybe 10 groups total.

Today en route to brunch in an auto I came across a large number of people lined up for as far as I could see. The men carried flags and the women cooking utensils and other possessions on their heads. I walked with them for about 500 meters and felt very guilty heading in for 4 plates of food immediately after. They had been walking for about 350 km. If you want to read more, here are some news articles on the march.

Saw a couple of bands play last night. They were great. Both had DJs, guitar and drums - my kind of music. Jalebee Cartel is from Delhi and Lychee Lassi from Berlin. The show was outside and at the end the two bands jammed together. At that point, people started dancing in the front.

What a Sunday. I stayed up super late (5am) catching up on my life (blogging, emailing, reforming the to do list in my head) on Saturday night, so I could have a nice, carefree Sunday. My first plan was to take the bus to Neemrana to meet Durand. I got up at 8:30am, but hadn't received a text back. Waited to 9am to call. Phone not working. Called the front desk again. They'd delivered a note. Called Dev, the driver. 'Sure come on down.' Still wanted to talk to D before heading down. Had breakfast. He called - missed call. Called back. Phone didn't work. Argh! He called. Chatted. He was coming back too late for me to make it to North Delhi for interviews on Monday. Plan #1 - no more. Gym. Yeah, good idea. Then go to Delhi. Texted a few people to see what they were up to. Ed was first to reply. He was ready to go, so Plan #2 of gym - no more. Met Ed in GK II. We were going to go to CR Park to see some of the Durga Puja festival. Got there and found it was all finished

It took about 9 months (one and a half of which I was back in the states) to find a routine. I have dreams about being a regular like the the guys on Cheers (most of you are probably laughing hysterically or wondering in bewilderment over that), but I don't tend to lead that sort of life. Cheers dreams aside, it's really nice to have a life outside of work here. Today I went for my 4th class with Rashid, a contemporary choreographer in Delhi. His classes are strict in that you should respect the space, the dancers, punctuality, and him, but free in that we spend about 1.5 hours doing improv in partners. Today we worked on lifts, which was fun for me since I don't have much experience with them. The guy I worked with was really strong and could heave me about - at one point Rashid chided him for doing so like he had a sack of potatoes. I felt really heavy after that. ;-) Next was breakfast at Pam's, which serves omlettes, waffles (not today because the lights were out -

Durand and I introduced Li to our weekly ritual. While we mix up the venue, brunch is a Sunday past time, involving plates of food and wine or martinis (Piazzo). This week we went to a new one, West View, at the Sheraton. It was up on the roof and what a view. Slightly scary, because you could really see the smog, but nice to be able to look out over a large green area and other parts of Delhi. The help yourself part was small: cheese, cold cuts, olives, salads. Then came the ordering of 4 courses. I had beet gazpacho, some marinated vege thing, chili prawns, and then shared tiramisu and chocolate mousse with Li for dessert. Oh and lots of champagne, plus a glass of white wine for kicks. The red was bad. After we headed to the 'Foot Care' massage center for Shiatsu. The massages are decent. Deep, but almost pecking in nature because not enough time is spent. If they slowed down, I'd be very happy. We checked went looking for 'Gandhi' the movie, but they didn't h

A company-wide clean up day! Yippee. I've been wanting to pick up trash - no small feat - for months. It is everywhere. As Deepak says, 'It is the Indian way.' I told him change can start with him. On this morning, when he asked for a T-Shirt, I told him I won't give a shirt to someone who litters (yikes, did I really say that?). We broke up in 3 groups: North Campus, CP and Gurgaon. I headed to North Campus with the 2 Ambassadors, Durand, and 2 stranded travelers that thought picking up trash would be an interesting way to start a 15 month holiday (their flight to Nepal was canceled, so they ended up at our place for the weekend). We met at 8:30am (early), no supplies, so waited. Then with masks, thick plastic gloves, brooms, dustpans, straw sweepers, and bright yellow t-shirts, we went to work. I quickly became even more adverse to the small packets of a tobacco type product that is put in paan. They were everywhere and hard to pick up. Small planters were quick and e

Last weekend was really fun as I saw some new parts of Delhi and Gurgaon. On Friday night, a group of us went to dinner at Veda, my favorite restaurant. The interior is decorated by Rohit Ball. What a sight to see. It's dark and read with lots of lamps and mirrors. Saturday was dance class at Rashid's (see the Oct 20th entry for a description). I started chatting with one of the girls I partnered with, who told me that she was going to a ballet class later that day and said I should come along. First though, we were going to eat khana (food). We ate at Pam's and shared a waffle and cheese omlette. Sounds like I could be in SF eh? She has a car so I told Deepak he could go do what he pleased until 4pm. We drove towards the next class and stopped for gas on the way. It was a trip to be in someone's private car (a first?). The next class was taught by a Domincan who lived in France for a few years before moving to India several years ago. She has studied Budhism around Ind

My first night here as I sat eating with Durand and Karen, one remarked how they were almost able to tear the roti with just the right hand and I realized that I "shouldn't" be using a knife and fork or my left hand. I've always been fascinated by how people eat - maybe because I enjoy eating - so this website was a kick for me, especially because I only scored 4 of 11. Uh Oh! http://www.fekids.com/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf

Current status: India vs. Pakistan, 24th Sep '07 Ind 128/4(17.3) | RR: 7.31 Gambhir* 74(52), Sharma 5(6) Last 2 overs : 1 2 . 1 1 1 | 1 1 6 www.cricinfo.com I'm in the cafe at work, with about 50 screaming colleagues. Two more 4's have been scored since I started writing. There is so much screaming that Sush says she'll get a headache. Even those who I wouldn't expect to get pumped about cricket are on the edge of their seats. Plastic bottles are being hit against the chairs to make noise (an impressive amount too) and someone has a whistle of some sort. Now they are cheering maaaro, maro (hit, hit)!!!!!! It's great to see everyone smiling and laughing. "India, जीतेगा " (India, जीकीगा ) This is 'India will win!' It's half time. I'm off to the gym Ind 157/5(20) | RR: 7.85 Rohit Sharma 30(16), Pathan* 3(3) Last 2 Overs: 4 4 2 1 . 2 | 2 6 1 1 2 I was surprised to find a parking lot full of people. PWC had organized a projection of the

Last night went out for drinks at the Crowne Plaza hotel with some colleagues. I don't know them well, but we had fun. Today I struggled to wake up for dance class. I found a class in Shahpur Jat by a guy named Rashid. It is mostly an improv, modern class. He doesn't do any instruction because there are too many levels in the class. I was tired today. He had us start in partners. The one in front used their back as the source of movement. It was a nice way to move despite my back getting tired. Yuvraj and Robin has hit 7, 6's and scored more than 70 runs on 30 balls. It is spectacular!!!!! I've never watched cricket before. I didn't realize it could be so exciting. Although Ritesh and Kathi make it quite exciting. Ritesh is on the edge of his seat and stressing. Then Robin got out. A sad state. However they end at 188. I'm learning that there are 2 batters at the same time. If they make one run, they switch places. There are 6 balls per over and each gets 20 ov

I've ruined my ability to sleep on time this week, but for some good reasons. Li, who I met years ago in Denmark when we were both exchange students, arrived in Delhi. She's on her way to Varanasi to promote literacy for 6 months. I'm quite jealous of the experience she will have and is having as it is far removed from the bubble I'm in. She tells it very nicely. http://katsu-katsu.blogspot.com/

Here is a link to more photos One of my oldest friends, who is partly the reason I'm in India, came to India on work and to visit Delhi for the weekend। The one thing she wanted to see was the Taj,so we headed down there Friday after work by car। Deepak, one of our regular drivers took us for the 4 hour journey. Tired from the journey, we ordered room service and watched 'The Last Samurai.' It was really sad. So much killing. I had to read a couple pages of my book, 'Bombay Time' to get my mind to stop racing afterwards. We didn't get to sleep in as the Prime Minister was coming to Agra, so the Taj and the Agra Fort were closed from 11 am (or 12:30 depending on who you asked) to 5pm. Up at 7am to see the brilliant view of the Taj. What a building. Was just as spectacular the 2nd time around. We met our guide, Ramesh, at 8:15am and headed off to learn about the Taj and the Agra fort. I learned that there were guest rooms outside that anyone could stay in and that

I haven't yet blogged about Mumbai 1 or 2 yet as it's now Sept 10th and I last updated the blog in May for trips taken in March. I went through a training for the last 2 days and one suggestion for my profile is to make small goals and congratulate myself when I accomplish them, so expect more regular blog updates. Mumbai is an amazing city from my point of view. It has the ocean, sidewalks, rooftop bars, a fabulous brunch place called Olive. I'm hooked on the fact that I can walk for hours, which is how I've spent most of the time I've spent there. This trip was much the same as the first two- visiting my favorite places. Arrived on Friday night on a flight from HYD. It was remarkably shorter than coming from DEL. The traffic wasn't so good, so it took about 1 hour to get to Colaba, which is in the south. We stayed at Fariyas hotel. It was basic. Getting the bed types we wanted - 2 large - was a fiasco and we ended up with 2 twins and a rollaway. That night we