Travel in India

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