Out of India

It’s been a rough couple of weeks since I last posted. First, there was the terrorist attack in Mumbai. Miguel and I were taking the train back to Mumbai when three bombs went off around the city. One in the area we were going — the Dardar district. We didn’t know what was going on, but we had to get off the train before our stop and it only got worse from there.

Fireworks in India

In India if you want a particular category of thing, there is likely a whole district devoted or known for it. Some examples would be Bollywood for movies, or Kamathipura for prostitutes. Well, it isn’t any different for fireworks.

Finding a Prostitute

I have read somewhere that prostitution in India is honored enough to have several mythic characters who are prostitutes. Not in the Mary Magdalene and Jesus style, but prostitutes who are celebrated because they were prostitutes. But like most things here in India, the whole business of prostitution is complex and mysterious to my Western experience.

Bumming Around Chennai

Miguel and I have settled in and we took the afternoon off to run around Chennai a bit. Mehta, our business contact (I think the right name would be “smoother”) set us up with a couple of mopeds. These are great for getting around as long as you don’t mind the adrenalin rush of almost constant near-death experiences. Miguel is much more adroit at the rhythms of the traffic than I am. He kept waving me on to go faster. I think it might be his experience with traffic in Mexico City that gives him “the knack.”

India Bound

Looks like the deed is going to be done. I’m supposed to meet Miguel in New Jersey and we’ll fly together to Mumbai. Interestingly, flights from both Mexico City (where he is starting) and Las Vegas (where I am) both go through the Newark Airport… then to Germany…then to India. So even though Mexico City is way south of me, he still flies through the US. I don’t know yet if this will mean a visa for him or not.

India Jokes – Good, Bad, and Ugly

I’ve been meaning to post some of the jokes I’ve heard while hanging around the lounges here in India. You know the sort of things — stuff you hear when there has been a pint or two downed.

Some of them are flat out racist: What is an existential dilemma for a Hindu?… Free beef. Some take a little more thought: Did you hear about the Indian who graduated first in her English class? She went to the library and saw a book she liked; How to Hunt. Unfortunately, they don’t let you check out volumes from the Encyclopedia!

Two Indias

It looks like I’ll be leaving New Delhi and India for home soon (more when I know more). But I’ve been in India for several weeks now and I’ve tended to write mostly about the positive side of traveling here. In truth, there are two Indias. There is the tourist version and there is another, more authentic version that isn’t quite as pretty.

Mumbai Kaleidoscope

I had to look up the word, kaleidoscope. I know what it is, a device you look though that makes pretty, complex colors — I just didn’t know how to spell the word. I thought it might illustrate how India appears to an American if I documented a day here…

Getting Ready For India

You would think that travelling with a doctor would make health care issues easier. Dr. Wattles, however, is/was a pediatrician, so I guess he isn’t up on vaccinations you need to get for travel to India. The difficulty for us is that we should have been vaccinated last week instead of this week. We won’t have full immunity.

Cricket!!!

If there is one thing more than any other that is alien to Yanks visiting the Empire it is cricket. (Yeah, I know it isn’t the Empire any more, but how else to describe the countries involved?) Tea time is odd. Driving on the wrong side of the road is odd. Liters, Kilograms and the Imperial gallon — all odd. But for outright mysterious, nothing beats cricket.