Language is the pool we're all drowning in

Molecule of the Week

2007-08-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

2007-07-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

Winning 2nd place at Luling Watermellon Thump 2007.
From left to right: Rebecca, me, Watermellon Queen, Gary, Ben

2006-10-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

Say cheese!

2006-10-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

India 2005

2006-01-23T10:01:00.000-08:00

I've never considered myself to be in the category of "neurotic" thinkers butlooking at my feet everyday has given me pause. India is hard on the feet.90% of people wear sandals usually with less than one eighth inch rubber (orpressed wood? composite) support. Arch support, what's that? Taking intoaccount all the things found on the ground (both stinky and yet-to-bestinky), general abundance of dirt, and abnormal walkways [sidewalks areusually a joke, except on bridges] things (bad things) happen to your feet.Some of these things i've mentioned in other emails (lady's shoe being knockoff as motorcycle passed scooter, walking through the slurry of floodedstreets of Kolkata [Calcutta] {{the smell when my shoes dried, gahg}}, etc

A story i did not write about: Steve (from Austin) rented a Royal Enfield350 motorcycle and took a 200km (125miles) trip where his brakes didn't work!THE symbol of early Indian automobiles, the ubiquitous Ambassador, blewthrough an intersection, whereupon Steve stopped the motorcycle with is foot.He showed us his foot mere days after the event; the big toe had seen betterdays. It was at this moment that my neuroses went straight from my id to myego... do not go past GO do not collect $200 dollars. It was not just thedried bloody-grossness you would expect, but that compounded with dirty whichreally did me in. You just can't keep anything clean here, especiallyyourself. yuck.

Other stories I have not written about: 1) The first night we slept in ourapartment we were attacked by mosquitoes. Exposed parts of mybody: right arm, elbow-on and feet. They ate me up! Big bites too, theyknew i was asleep and took advantage of that. 2) Weeks later, after wesolved the insect problem, bed bugs attacked JUST MY FEET.It's like they some how KNEW my weakness. It's a conspiracy! 3) Walkingdowntown to buy the sandalwood cow for Cary, i missed judged a sidewalkpothole and a rock jumped up and cut the backside of my ankle. 4) When wewhere in Chennai we attended a rehearsal for a dance performance [long storyas to how we got there] but walking down the main aisle there is a suddendrop. Angled about 60degrees downward. Not a step, not an incline, but ahybrid of the two. This was noticeable when the lights were on, but when ihad to go to the toilet mid-rehearsal i tripped and fell to the floor givingmyself a wicked-bad rug burn on the top of my foot, a pretty ouchy stubbedtoe, and a little diminished pride. As time and situations pass, feet fitshave work their way into my ego and now wrassl with my superego

The thought of how my feet would suffer here started that first month oftravel, but i didn't not worry. My feet were still peachy-white.I could hold my head up high as i walked down streets of gnarly toed people.They could jip me, jeer me, or even gesticulate at me, ...but my feet arebetter than yours buddy, so Ha! Alas, that too is coming to an end

I usually have a little rough skin (calcified skin) on the interior of bothbig toes and no other foot blemishes to speak of. I, actually, am ratherfond of my little callouses. But they have mutated and taken on a life oftheir own. To say they have grown since being here is an understatement. Itnow looks like I have 6 toes on each foot.

Augh. And, this weird black stuff is collecting on my heels around thejunction of my shoe bed and no shoe bed. In the shower it swells with waterand is easily scraped off with a fingernail, but all of it never comes off.I've tried for 10minutes one time. Every scrape replicates two smallerpieces of equal volume, maybe this is how it reproduces... so i stopped. Ofcourse i have tan lines from the sandal bands; i put this in the positivecategory, it looks cool.However, my toenails are out of control. I clean them, sometimes twice aday, but there is always some gunk in the corners. Simple daily activity,like watching TV, generates toenail gunk. Explain that... i bet you can't...i know i can't.

I don't think i ever fully understood the ramifications of the Biblical storywhere Jesus washes the feet of his apostles; until right now. Feeding themasses, curing leprosy, and raising the dead are all great miracles, but feetwashing is right there with them, in my opinion.

Take care of your feet, and each other;

emails from india Summer 2005

2006-01-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

Food is a big comfort here. It is unlike anything i have ever had in theStates. The only thing that comes close is eating at friend's houses who'vespent some time here or native Indians in the US.

The AIIS institute has a cook who makesbreakfast and lunch for us, and we are on our own for dinner. There is aplace in our neighborhood called Charles that gets a visit (or 3) per week.Food at AIIS is safe and food at Charles is... less-safe. I think theypoisoned me the first week i ate there (maybe a little hazing for the newkid), but once you start taking the antibiotics you feel invincible while onthem, so i ate through my digestive problems. After that first week, my bodydidn't seem to mind the poison. BestDish: Muttai Barota (Egg, Onion, Pancake chopped up with black and whitepepper) severed with Dosa (super thin bread like stuff)

Our cook at AIIS started off with traditional Indian foods: Sambar, Idli,Dosa, Curd (plain yogurt), rice, chapati, eggplant, spinach, potatoes, fruit etc. Every meal is vegetarian. She initially layed-off the spice. After2-3 weeks, when we were acclimated to the new biosphere, she started gettinga heavy handed with the spice. Which is good when you feel good and bad when you feel bad. Usually there is something that is non-spiced which the sickly cling to.

A food mission, if you choose to accept it, is to eat as we eat. With yourhands. Everyone should either cook 3 Indian dishes (or foods) or order outand have it delivered. Rice would be the best for rookies, however chapati is SO yummy it's hard to turn down. Home is the most comfortable location for this "experiment".

Rules:
1. Silverware may be used to dish out food from its container onto your plate BUT it would be a serious faux pas to use silverware to put said food into your mouth... come on people, be a little civilized.

2. Only, and i mean ONLY, use your right hand to eat with. The other hand is used for "personal hygiene" and would be inappropriate to eat with. You wouldn't use your deodorant to eat soup or pick up a piece of corn with a toliet brush, so don'tuse your left hand to eat. ***if you want to turn this into a game, an appropriate penalty for getting caught using your left hand would be a 2 minute penalty in the bathroom.***

3. The trick is to really work the liquidy part (ie Daal, Sambar,etc) in with the solid part (rice) until it becomes rather paste-like.^Refer to second grade notes on plaster of Paris preparations^ From herethere are several techniques to get the semi-solid from your plate (or bananaleaf depending on location) into your mouth. Some cup their fingers andscoop up the yummy, tilt their head back and shovel it in. I call this the"shovel", Cary is quite good at it. Another way to get it in is totriangulate the yummy glob between your index and middle fingers with yourthumb. Lift to mouth. Then use your ring finger to poke the food into yourmouth. It's all one fluid motion. If problems arise, switch poking finger.I call this "Indian Style" (I need a cooler than that). You can also hybridize these techniques.

4. Seconds. A slight problem will arise, as you all will find out, when your hand is thoroughly food encrusted and you want to go back in for more.Then, the common question becomes "which hand is cleaner now?". I was on the fence about this one until one night at dinner with my guesthouse family, i reached for fruit (mangoes baby, Yeaha!), with my left hand. My guesthouse sister made all my future decisions quick and decisive. She snapped "NOT WITH THAT HAND!!!" rather emphatically. Everyone stared at me with that "you know better" look&head nod, then went on eating *Sigh*. People at AIIS commonally disagree about this 'rule' but I've thought long and hard about it, and the righthand rule is in effect.

We all wash our hands, when soap is provided, before meals. More often thatnot, especially in places like Charles, a sink will be in the back to rinseyour hand before and after the meal. Soap is not commonly found. So, if youwant the true Indian experience go outside before dinner, dig around thegarden a bit, then rinse your hand with water. This should provide theunmeasurable amount of dirt that is constantly on your hands, feet, body,etc.

If, after you accept this mission, the email replies do not make me roll onthe floor laughing then I've misjudged you all. {except you Asiaticphilefreaks, of course}

Ahhhh... to be 6 again

2005-11-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

L A Style

2005-11-02T09:23:00.000-08:00

Pro Choice v. No Choice

2005-10-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

2005-10-25T13:46:00.000-07:00

Make up your own reason why someone would send this to me.

Trash and Housing

2005-10-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

Another journal entry from India.
Summer 2005

Yesterday was "burn your trash day" around town.

The locals consider their population of about1.25million to be a village; which compared to Chennai, Delhi,Kolkata, it is a village. And, there is definitely a village mentality concerning a host of topics; like trash. I'm told that,around town, there are designed places to place trash and that peoplewill come by and pick it up. However, there are no markers or signs to signify this. Which might explain why trash and dirt are competing for the title of "the stuff you walk on".On the AIIS street there is a huge pile of trash at a T-shaped intersection. Workers do come by with a dump truck and use sheets of metal to scoop up the refuse. There are some things that can not bepicked up, so they ignite it. Usually there are plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic wrappers...plastic smoldering stinkys. Now, having a degree in chemistry, I've heard a few lectures from "polymers guys"saying how polymers will save the world. Usually some "old [School] professor" will ask "...what about the combustion products of your polymer, isn't it very destructive to the environment (air quality)?" a bit of a loaded question since the guy has been around long enough to know it is harmful. The "polymer guy" usually give some spiel about recycling, reusing, reducing and how burning is illegal. The really cleaver "old prof" will ask the follow up question "...how about in3rd world countries where burning is common?" and the "polymer guy"will either concede defeat or lie. I never fully realized how irresponsible it is to introduce products into society without the proper infrastructure to handle the problems which the product produces. Especially in densely populated areas (3rd world). Does India use plastic, yes. Do they recycle, very limited opportunity.Is this a problem, a major one. Who is responsible? **crickets chirping**We live in the 'suburbs' of Madurai. Which means that we live in a neighborhoodwhere there are still empty lots around us. The house we live in is a really nice 3 floor + roof. The roof has channels to collect rainwater and plumbing to send the water into the well, the floors are maybe 1500sq ft each. There are metal decorative bars on the windows with shutters that open inward. Crime doesn't seem to be a problem but our family is fearful in some weird way. There is a 4foot wall around the house and the extra lot they bought next to the house.Currently the house is at the end of a street (road half paved, halfnot) however plans exist to extent the street. The family paid about$75,000us dollars for the house. One day we asked the guest family where we put our trash. They said "over the wall" and pointed to awall with an empty adjacent lot. The family said, in a very righteous way, that whoever buys the land is responsible for clearing and cleaning the lot before construction begins, so "they will dispose of our trash". And, of course, there are plenty of wondering cows, goats, dogs,etc which will take care of the organic matter and paper products.Hummm, that sounds like a big fat "not my problem" to me.

Hypothetical Syllogism

2005-10-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

Knowledge is power,
Power corrupts,
Study hard…be evil

Craziest Email Received the Week of Sept 25, 2005

2005-09-27T09:30:00.000-07:00

I have tried to read this article several times and have come up short on every attempt. So, if you can't finish it, maybe the serving size is just too large. Does anyone know about the US Secret Corp of Dolphins?

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1577753,00.html

Armed and dangerous -
Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina
by
Mark Townsend
Houston Sunday September 25, 2005

The Observer

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of HurricaneKatrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shootterrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulfof Mexico.Experts who have studied the US navy's cetacean training exercisesclaim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers andsurfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among
dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that anyare missing.Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the ColdWar. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taughtto shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compoundwas breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those whohave studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defenceprogramme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked forgovernment and industry, said he had received intelligence fromsources close to the US government\'s marine fisheries serviceconfirming dolphins had escaped.\'My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuitswho have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfersare mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with specialharnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,\' he said. \'The dartsare designed to put the target to sleep so they can be interrogatedlater, but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?\'Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through aneck harness. \'The question is, were these dolphins made secure beforeKatrina struck?\' said Sheridan.The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed froma commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eightwere found with the navy\'s help, but the dolphins were not returneduntil US navy scientists had examined them.Sheridan is convinced the scientists were keen to ensure the dolphinswere not the navy\'s, understood to be kept in training ponds in asound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose watersdevastated New Orleans.The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in San",1]
);
//-->
the planet's smartest. The US navy admits it has been trainingdolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that anyare missing.Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the ColdWar. The US Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taughtto shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compoundwas breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those whohave studied the controversial use of dolphins in the US defenceprogramme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.Leo Sheridan, 72, a respected accident investigator who has worked forgovernment and industry, said he had received intelligence fromsources close to the US government's marine fisheries serviceconfirming dolphins had escaped.'My concern is that they have learnt to shoot at divers in wetsuitswho have simulated terrorists in exercises. If divers or windsurfersare mistaken for a spy or suicide bomber and if equipped with specialharnesses carrying toxic darts, they could fire,' he said. 'The dartsare designed to put the target to sleep so they can be interrogatedlater, but what happens if the victim is not found for hours?'Usually dolphins were controlled via signals transmitted through aneck harness. 'The question is, were these dolphins made secure beforeKatrina struck?' said Sheridan.The mystery surfaced when a separate group of dolphins was washed froma commercial oceanarium on the Mississippi coast during Katrina. Eightwere found with the navy's help, but the dolphins were not returneduntil US navy scientists had examined them.Sheridan is convinced the scientists were keen to ensure the dolphinswere not the navy's, understood to be kept in training ponds in asound in Louisiana, close to Lake Pontchartrain, whose watersdevastated New Orleans.The navy launched the classified Cetacean Intelligence Mission in San Diego in 1989, where dolphins, fitted with harnesses and smallelectrodes planted under their skin, were taught to patrol and protectTrident submarines in harbour and stationary warships at sea.Criticism from animal rights groups ensured the use of dolphins becamemore secretive. But the project gained impetus after the Yemen terrorattack on the USS Cole in 2000. Dolphins have also been used to detectmines near an Iraqi port

Football Frenzy

2005-09-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

I feel myself getting sucked into the football thing. Previous to Austin football was a group activity. The group "activity" now is playing fantasy football with one person known to me and 8 others unknown to me. I feel my former self hating my current self.

Get Sorted

2005-09-06T15:54:00.000-07:00

I'm a little supprised, but now that I think about it... hummm... it feels right.

http://www.pottertastic.com/sortinghat/index.html

Field Trip of Irrational Spirit

2005-08-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

Today is Cary's and my 3rd year wedding anniversary. In preparationof being a good husband i went looking for a good present (i'veresigned to myself that the prefect present would be impossible tofind). And this is my story...

Cary has class everyday 9-1 and lunch is 1-2 (which we eat together).This 4-hour time slot is surprisingly short given all the possiblethings that can go wrong while trying to go downtown Madurai. So ipatiently waited. Recognisance reported that Cary would have a "fieldtrip" Saturday July 10th and would be gone all day... this is when iwould make my move. [field trip is a euphemism for 'waist a perfectlygood day do things no one cares about or has already done'; exampleField Trip #2, Visit Bookstores, why? no one knows] After kissing thewife good-bye i ran upstairs to have my guest-mom boil water for adehydrated camping-food pouch i brought. Move, soldier, move.Brunch, check. Felt pockets, money check. Confirmed with guest-momthat city bus would arrive at bus stand ~300meters down the road.Left house 20min behind Cary with nearly full compliment of survivalsupplies (hat, bag, 1L water, lip balm, [no sunscreen, ouch]). So iwalked out to the major road then toward town. I walked, and walked.It must have been 105F that day. After way more than 300meters thebus stand appears on the horizon. I sit on the curb and wait for theSimakkal bus (a stop near the temple downtown). 30minutes, nobuses... the bus has been intercepted by anniversary hating spies.Plan B: I feel rested after some valuable curb sittin' so i walk downto the next bus stand. Wait 20minutes, buses not going my way. Fhaa. The Powers-that-Be, they're good i'll give em that. So, i decided tostay with Plan B code name "Irrational Spirit" and decide to walk allthe way downtown. Distance by my reckoning: 8km (~5miles) , timetaken: ? (don't have a watch) but i didn't get home until dark.The experience was one that, i think, most people tend to value inIndia. I met several wonderful people and saw things that gounnoticed from the autorickshaw. I stopped at a Western-type sandwichshop for a Marinda (like orange Fanta but more carbonated) and made aplan. Beardcut (if possible), Meenashe Temple, and anniv present.Immediately after i left Tornados, barber on my right. the tempo hasshifted, i feel it. Nice fellow; lots of hand motions. He tried tospeak but didn't, i think he was a mute... which is a little oddbecause growing up my barber was mute (in Bessemer). Freaky. Next irounded a corner and saw a little shop hidden off in an unmaintainedcourtyard. They (Gandi Sevi) sold only recycled paper products andhired people with rather sever disabilities to make handicrafts. Theowner and the resident artist sat me down and they served me tea; 2workers working on mats. The owner was a mechanical engineer who quitengineering, started working for call centers teaching accents (alsospeaks Japanese fluently). Ohh, and he had Polio when he was 2, so hehas to walk on his hands. His upper body was quite impressive. Theartist (speciality in bronze casting and nontraditional materialsculpture) helped the disabled create "something they were happywith". There are mostly handmade cards for sale. I went to buy anotebook and card, but the guys would not take any money. They said"we enjoyed talking with you, take these home, then come visit againand buy something that time." We talked for about 2hours.I pushed on. Walked across a bridge and watched women (and 1man)washing clothes from natural ponds in a huge vale which should havebeen a river. They would slap the clothes on slabs of rock untilexhaustion then re-wet clothes in pond (repeat process). In aclearing boys (and 1man) were playing Cricket. I stopped and watched. The batsman, once seeing me, started hitting the ball much harder.The children went crazy with my approach and yelled for me to come andplay. I was behind schedule and could not comply. Saw the templefrom the bridge and never noticed that the temple was west of thebridge, not east as i had previously thought. hummm. Went west. Gotlost. Asked. Overwhelming response. I asked a guard/policeman whowas sitting in an ice cream parlor if i should go straight or left. 2families stood up, as well as the cop, to walk me in the correctdirection. Woooh, excitement at whitey going to Hindu temple.Neighborhoods around (and in) the temple is a capitalist dream, or atleast Adam Smith's dream. Shop after shop, of everything you couldimagine. All competing with each other to get you inside their shop.A free-for-all that's overwhelming. So far, Cary and i have beengetting each other 'Traditional Anniversary' presents. For year 3 itis leather. So, you can imaging how, in a country whose majorreligion consider cows to be sacred, this was a problem. {if only icould have found some Italians and stole their leather, dang!}.Though i did look, nothing other than belts, wallets, and jackets;none of them said "I love you, Cary". So, ingenuity took over and theanswer was art. I found a wonderful sandalwood carving of a cow, andthough this is it. Cary laughed at its presentation and said it washer favorite.Two thirds mission complete. The daylight was waning. Temple, hoe!Not the best view of the grandeur but a good explanation be found at:http://www.indiaprofile.com/monuments-temples/meenakshitemple.htmThere are 4 walls, 4 gated entrance ways which are through the pillarseen on the website (although pillar is not the correct word, someonehelp me out here).Off go the shoes and in goes the ashley. There are several amazingarchitectural wonders inside, but the one most people tend to rememberis the "Hall of 1000 Pillars" (pillar IS the correct word here). Allcarved stone and each one is different (i think) from the others.Apparently if you bang on the pillars some of them resonate atdifferent frequencies and make different thuds. I did not know thisat the time, but was told later. I shall return to bang. Everyonecan go inside Meenakshi, only Hindus can go inside the temple insidethe gate/walls. So i sat at the entrance to the temple proper andwatched. A trained elephant was stationed there. Its skill was touse its trunk and take a Rupee coin from your hand and then tap you onthe forehead (then give the coin to the priest, of course). Everyoneloves the elephant. There is religious significance since one of thegods has an elephant head (Ganesh/Ganesha)http://www.hindunet.org/god/Gods/ganesh/. I left at dusk and found aautorickshaw home, exhausted.

Segregation

2005-08-31T12:01:00.000-07:00

Now, i know that a born and raised Southern titling an email "Segregation" is trouble from the beginning. But hear me out,...The South of my parents and grandparents was a VERY different souththan the one of my memory; especially in Birmingham. Most of my understanding of the events of the 1960's is textual and not contextual. As a result, i have come to think of terms like Segregation and Separate but Equal as 4-letter words. This leads me to the present. Madurai (where we are living for the next 3months) is in southernIndia. Oddly, southern India has some of the same traditional and conservative feel that the Ol' South once had. A common example canbe seen in mass transit. The buses are gender segregated. The men sit on the right, the women on the left, and married couples sit on the right with the man sitting on the aisle. I rode such a busseveral times (maybe 5miles, cost 2Rs (~5cents). I noticed when thebus was not full, the common filling would occur; people sit in singles. At one stop several school girls boarded the bus. The menjumped up to pair with other men and to offer their seats to the ladies. No one said anything, it's just what a gentleman does. {wherehave i heard that before}. Women would eventually sit on the men side, space permitting, usually in pairs. Paired men would not get uponce paired with other men. Courtesy only goes so far when one hastired legs. Men never sit on the women's side {not if they aredecent, at least}.Now, i'm as much of a feminist as the next guy. So when i first sawthis, i reacted with a "why can't we all just sit together", but theni bathed in the thought of 'why'. Why do women need women space and why do men need men space. It was nice to see men jumping up to lendtheir seat to a lady. It was nice knowing, late at night when all decent people should be in bed, there was not some creepy guy sitting next to a woman for some vulgar means (which is all too common on the 1 in Austin). What has been the cost of equality on the [US] buses? It would be nice to solve problems on a topic by topic basis [gender segregation on buses...Good, gender segregation in corporateAmerica...Bad] ... but, alas, the world is more complicated than that. All i know is, on the surface, it's nice.

Exceptions to the "rules" The buses get massively over crowded. Which is a bit of an understatement. What i mean to say is, the buses get so full that inside people stand pushed up against their fellow 8 Indians. I neverunderstood how crowds crush people at rock concerts until i rode anIndian bus at rush hour. Outside the bus, people (usually men) hangfrom the doorways (since there are no doors). The entire bus tilts,as if about to tip over, and the undercarriage (shocks & struts alike)moan in pain. Yet again, the sight and sound of India seems unreal.The first time i saw this, i thought the bus was broken, but when hordes of people exited the bus and the bus righted itself from its15degree tilt, i thought...oh. For these situations courtesy,politeness, and segregation do not apply.
Just git' on the bus,
there's no need to discuss much,
just git' yourself free

Yesteryear

2005-08-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

I sent a vast amout of emails to "the people back home" while i was in India this summer, these are some of the excerpts.

I've sent some emails to workpeople in Austin, which Cary though yall might think are funny/entertaining/etc. Give it a read... and if itsnot good... well i'm on malaria meds which make me have strangethoughts. ;)

***The following is in response to an email where my coworkers"jokingly" said they would blame me for everything that could go inthe next few months...Sorry 'coworkers' for sending this twice***

Hopefully the BAC (Blame Ashley Clause) is working to its fullpotential, i'm sure it will be better utilities next week when Ronnie[our boss] comes back [from Israel].A little foray into my 'vacation'. excerpts from Ashley journal:Words alone can not prepare one for all India has to offer. Gettingoff the plane and going though customs was life as usual. We had thebenefit of a driver coming from Cary's program to take us to the guesthouse. It was just outside the airport where India, the one everyoneknows and loves, begins. Traffic lanes are better paved and markedthan Austin streets. Huge bike lanes line the side of the road, anenvironmental accomplishment unparalleled. These amenities arecoupled with a complete disregard for the spirit for which they exist. 2 words: Controlled Chaos. You could not say that cars were weavingin and out of traffic, because that implies that there was somethingfor them to weave into and out-of. Instead, the entire paved surface(bike lanes included) is a free-4-all of getting ahead of the people(or cows) around you. Horns continually blaring, not to expressoffence at fellow driver's actions, but rather as a type of advancedSONAR system that we Westerns have yet to discover. The horn soundalerts fellow drives of the relative position of themselves to otherdrivers, so in swiftmoving traffic one must continually blow ones horn as to know where you are.Hang on, I got more in a second...

***I got kick off the computer by another guest then resumed with thefollowing****

Don't believe the hype. It's hot, hot enough to kill the weak, but
it's not that hot. I grantee you the air pollution is going to get yaway before the heat will. There are 3 basic rules to get by here: 1.Drink water 2. Drink lots of water 3. While you are drinking lots ofwater, drink water. I realize after being here a day and a half, thattour/travel books should not publish "how to travel on 500 Rupees aday" instead they should publish "India, how to survive on 5Liters ofwater a day". FYI the high is usually around 42+/- 0.8 and the low isusually 35+/-1oCThe current exchange rate is 42.50 Rupees (Rs.) for $1.00 usd. I have not eaten a meal yet for over 100 Rs, and the food is so much betterthan I though possible. I've eaten a fair amount of Indian food inthe states, but this stuff here is off the hook. (did I say thatright?)Almost everything is built from a red sandstone, which looksbeautiful, but makes me feel hotter just looking at it. The architectwho build the Taj Mahal has a mosque he built here in Delhi (OldDelhi). The archways are a most impressive sight, especially if youcan line up a view of several in a row. Old Delhi is narrow streets,street vendors, crumbling buildings, poo on the street (some of whichis dog) a cornucopia of colors and smells.Most land is dirt. The areas that are green usually have a 1inchdiameter hose with the water running at half max. If anyone wanted togo in on a sprinkler company, I'm there. Efficiency is not the nameof the game (or anything else for that matter).After being in London for 4 day, I can understand why the people wouldwant to colonize India… and after being in India for 4 day I canunderstand why the Brits would give the country back to the Indians.

2005-08-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

Crazy Cow!!!

Haiku?

2005-08-11T05:12:00.000-07:00

I am hot, Real hot
I am sweating and smelling
India, god damn