Travel in India

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 ...

Durand and I headed to Goa for a long weekend, as we had Tuesday off for Janamashthmi — the birth of Krishna. We had trouble finding a place to stay as the hotels were having monsoon packages. It was a bit overwhelming to find a place. I found Bhakti Kutir with "back to nature cabins", complete with composting toilets. Durand wasn't so excited about the "hippie" accomodation and was checking out the Leela. The travel agent that Durand uses found an Ayurvedic retreat called, Devayaa. It was beautiful, simple. Massages were decent. Food was yummy (despite getting sick). The ferry Devayaa Ayuredic Retreat - Divar Island Saturday: Rain Breakfast Massage Read Walk around the island Dinner Backgammon and cards Flowers and a house on Divar Island View from Room #2 - the first looked at the receiving station for the electricity Sunday: More rain Breakfast Massage Read Parade - the Carnaval of this island Dinner Cards Monday: Rain, Rain, Rain, Rain Yoga Sleep Sick in bed...