It's Sizzling

High temperatures in Delhi are now about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I feel like I'm melting whenever I walk outside during the day. Mornings and evenings are bareable, but the daytime heat is just tremendous. I'm not sure what happened and where this heat came from, but the temperatures have skyrocketed this week. It's a little early here for this heat and it doesn't bode well for the upcoming summer months.

Go Hoyas!

So I've had a busy week and haven't had a chance to congratulate the Hoyas on their victory over UNC. From what I've heard from all of my friends, the game was amazing. Unfortunately, I didn't really get to "watch" it. But I did go to bed with my laptop so I could regularly check the score online. How sad.

I think I will have to do this again on Saturday night because the game is on at 3:30am here. I have heard that the Economic Counselor at the US Embassy is a Georgetown grad, but I have yet to receive an invitation to watch the game at his house.

And if all goes well, I will be able to watch the game on Monday night with my fellow Hoyas in DC. I'm making a quit trip home this weekend to renew my visa and I'm hopefully that it will also involve some Georgetown celebrations.

Go Hoyas!

Newsworthiness?

Over the weekend, I discovered that there were two stories that dominated the headlines here: 1) The Indian Cricket Team's astonishing losses to Bangladesh AND Sri Lanka in the World Cup and 2) Shakira's arrival in Mumbai for a concert performance last night.

I'll start with cricket. It all started last week when India lost its first match (not game) to underdog Bangladesh. The country was in an uproar, but things only worsened when the team lost to Sri Lanka on Saturday night. I've been told that it's the thought that the Indian team was athletically better combined with the nationalistic pride that made these defeats to India's neighbors so painful. Whatever the case, it's all anyone can talk about now. Everyone is ranting that the team and coaching staff are paid so much but don't deliver. I didn't realize that money was a guarantee for success, but apparently that what people think here.

Some of the players' homes have been damaged by rioting crowds and armed guards were placed outside of most of their houses after the second loss. Scenes on the news show people burning effigies of the players. There's also a parody of a commercial featuring the Indian Cricket Team that is constantly shown on every news channel. But I guess this is nothing compared to what the Pakistani team is going through right now. They are in London at the moment, on their way home after losing to the often-mocked Irish team. I've heard they are scared of returning for fear of what the masses will do to them. And there coach was murdered.

The second major new story switches from Sports to Entertainment and features Shakira, Shakira. She performed a concert in Mumbai last night. So what? Over a 3 hour span yesterday, I saw at least 10 news features about her on various news channels. One of them showcased two young Indian women trying to dance like her. Another had a quasi-interview with her that revealed her diet and exercise regime that enables her to stay so fit. Again, so what?

I've been away for the entire day (6am until 10pm) for a work trip and I'm quite relieved that I've been able to avoid the news today. I haven't read a newspaper or turned on the TV. But I'm sure the stories will be about the cricket team and Shakira. And these stories will remain headlines until another unimportant headline emerges (a la Shilpa Shetty and Big Brother). And so it goes in India...

Monkey Business

This is a true story that was relayed to a group of people at a party by Ani.

Yesterday, I was sleeping on my couch and the front door to the house was opened. When I opened my eyes, there were two monkeys in front of me, a big one and a small one. I jumped up and tried to startle them by yelling and jumping towards them. The small one ran out of the house, but the bigger one stayed and motioned back at me. I was worried that he was going to charge at me and bite me and I didn't have anything to defend myself with.

Then, another monkey came from the kitchen, and they two of them left the house together.

My dad heard me from the backyard and came to ask what was going on. I told him that there had been monkeys in the house. He went outside and saw a few monkeys sitting on the roof of the house. One of our neighbors was there and said that some monkeys had taken bananas from her house and they must be eating them now on our roof.

Once back inside our house, my dad and I were talking and my mom came into the room. She asked where the bunch of bananas that had been in the kitchen were. We replied, the monkeys must have gotten then.

Although it might not seem believable (it took me several hours to be convinced), it is true and I'm slowly learning that monkeys are a big problem in Delhi. I've even heard some crazy stories about monkeys riding buses and drinking whiskey.
Morale: Close your front door when you are sleeping so the monkeys can't get in.
Ancillary morale: If you do leave your door open and monkeys get in, have some bananas for them. That's all the want.

Hoya Saxa

I still can't believe I'm missing the best Georgetown basketball season in 10 years! As much as I would like to, it's hard to keep up on the games real-time because of the time difference and the fact that no one cares about college basketball here. I was laughed at last weekend when I called a bar last week to see if they could show any of the games. The Cricket World Cup had just started and that's a priority for everyone here.

But, I will be watching the Georgetown-Vanderbilt game this week at the US Embassy! As it turns out the one American I'm friends with here works at the embassy and graduated from Vanderbilt. He's invited me to join him at 5am Saturday morning to warch out teams battle it out at that Meadowslands. While it's not as great as watching the game FROM the Meadowlands, as some of my friends will be doing, it's better than nothing.

So Saturday morning, bright and early, I will head to the US Embassy wearing my finest Georgetown gear!

HOYA SAXA!

What's in a name?

I'm confused. I'm trying to plan a trip to Kerala, the southern tip of India, for April and I can't figure out which towns I want to visit. This is because most of the places there are known by two names. Often, the names are quite similar, but for the unfamiliar, it is quite confusing.

Today I learned that Kochi was Cochin, that Thiruvananthapuram was Trivandrum, and Alleppey was Alappuzha.

What makes this even more confusing is that many Indians still refer to cities by their old names. I even noticed today that many of the airlines (including the national carrier, Indian Airlines) still list some cities by their old names. One website even listed both the old name and the new name!

In fact, I found a whole list of Indian cities and public places that have had their names changed on Wikipedia, but here are a few of the more common ones (new name = old name):

Mumbai = Bombay
Chennai = Madras
Varanasi = Baranas
Shimla = Simla
Kolkatta = Calcutta
Pune = Poona

Many of these changes return cities to their "Indian" names after the British rule, but some of the proposed changes would also change Muslim names to Hindu ones. An interesting fact.

Coming to America

Ani was approved for a visa to the U.S. yesterday. His excitement yesterday was surpassed by his excitement today when he discovered that he'd been granted a 10-year, multiple entry visa. These days, this is no small feat.

As I've recently learned, applying for a visa to the U.S. from any country other than the EU countries, is quite a process, even for just a tourist visa. The application process involves collecting supporting documentation on your employment, financial history and property ownership. It even culminates in a visa interview, where the documentation is reviewed and the consular officer tries to determine: 1) if you are a terrorist and 2) if you are at risk for staying in the U.S. after your visa has expired. Fortunately, Ani is neither a terrorist nor at risk for staying in the U.S. And I'm sure the fact that he's a government employee helped.

This is quite a contrast to the Indian visa, where you simply need to produce a letter from your employer for a business visa or your plane ticket for a tourist visa. I tried to explain that this is probably because most people have to be convinced to travel to India, so of course the Indian embassy would make it easy, but Ani couldn't seem to understand why someone wouldn't be dying to come here. Those of you who've met him can attest to his undying love of India and somewhat naive belief that it's the greatest country in the world.

But now that he has the U.S. visa, it's time to celebrate. All of his family and friends are excited (and a bit surprised) that he got the visa on his first try. I've heard stories from numerous people about applying and reapplying for a visa to the U.S., some unsuccessful in the end.

According to Indian custom, when something exciting happens in your life (birthdays, promotions, babies, you name it), you have to treat everyone else, instead of the other way around. So I'm sure he'll be spending the next week or so treating his family and friends to dinner or drinks. Sounds like fun.

An Extra Night in Delhi

Jen's flight back to the U.S. on Saturday night was cancelled due to the big snowstorm there last week. Fortunately for Jen, this worked to her advantage as she got to spend the night in a great hotel, attend a few parties on Saturday night and explore a new area of Delhi on Sunday.

Upon hearing that Jen's flight was cancelled, Ani immediately exclaimed that she would get to stay in a 5-star hotel. Jen and I kind of laughed at this, but it proved to be true. Here, unlike at home, if your flight is cancelled for almost any reason, airlines will provide accommodations for you - and at the top hotels. Once Jen finally got through to the airline, she inquired about the hotel room. She was told that she could stay anyway - no limit - and the airline would reimburse one night's charges when she arrived at the airport the following day.

Ani immediately called The Imperial (this is where I get manicures and pedicures when I want to be pampered) to a book a room and to our amazement, Jen was upgraded to a suite when she checked in. The suite was huge and featured a big, fluffy bed, a pillow menu, and two giant, flat-screen TVs.

Lucky for Jen, her cancelled flight also meant that she could enjoy one more night in Delhi. First, we went to Nic's place in GK-1 where he'd gathered some friends for a casual dinner on his huge rooftop terrace. Afterwards, we headed to an expat birthday party with an Indian theme. Most people were wearing traditional Indian dress, but [I forgot to tell Jen to wear her sari. After this party, we stopped by a nightclub for a bit, but I was disappointed by the lacking of Bollywood music. I was really hoping for Jen to experience the craziness of Indian dancing. Next time.

I was to lazy to get out of bed in time to meet Jen at the hotel for breakfast, but I did make it there in time for lunch. But this was after, I took advantage of the wonderful, piping-hot, powerful shower with a bath tub. Bath tubs are rare here and it can be difficult to properly shave your legs without making a mess in the entire bathroom.

After lunch, we walked around for a bit and then stopped for coffee. Then in the evening, we went to Pahar Ganj, the main backpacker area in Delhi. There, we enjoyed fresh lemon mint water at Ani's friend's falafel shop and chai masala at another of Ani's friend's guest houses. Then, back at my apartment, Jen enjoyed her last Indian meal in India, before heading off for the airport.

Boxes Galore

After hearing about wooden boxes for months from Nic and Louise, I finally ventured to Sharma Farms this weekend to check it out for myself. And of course, I brought Mike and Jen along. Mike was especially excited to see the boxes after seeing and reading about them on Louise's blog. And he planned to buy something, if he saw anything he liked.

As it turns out, Sharma Farms is not just a wooden box store, as I had imagined, but an antique furniture warehouse. Of course, nothing is that antique because you cannot remove anything from India that is over 100 years old. But upon entering, we were overwhelmed at the size and scale of the showrooms. They had everything you could imagine there - boxes, desks, wardrobes, beds, doors, and more.

We spent several hours there, wandering through the crowded, dusty aisles. We didn't even see everything. There was just too much and it would have taken a few more hours and a lot more energy.

In the end, Mike left with a bench and a box and I left with two wooden tables with inlaid bone. Actually, we didn't leave with any of these things. I have to go back to Sharma Farms next week to "inspect" our purchases before they are packed up for shipment to the U.S. And then they will make the long 45 day journey to the Boston, where, hopefully, one of Mike's brothers will pick them up.

And because Mike and I spent so much money, Jen got this lovely vase for free!

The U.N.

Last week, Chimer commented that he wanted to meet some of the "United Nations" that I hang out with here in Delhi. So on Friday night, I gathered some of my friends for a great dinner at a new restaurant in town. Representation was average and included people from the Netherlands, the UK, Ireland, Canada, India and of course, the U.S., but it offered a little glimpse into the life of an expat. Really, it's quite the same, only the people you hang out with are from all over the world.

The Wonders of Udaipur

I've been slacking on my blog for the past week because of weekend travel, visitors and a fairly busy work schedule. Then last night, when I was finally ready to write on my blog, my pirated wireless signal didn't work. But it's up and running now, so here I am with more scoop on what I've been up to during the past week.

Last Tuesday morning, I returned from my weekend trip to Udaipur with Jen, Mike and Neil (one of my co-workers). We had a wonderful time in the city, which is located on the man-made Lake Picchola. Udaipur is definitely the first Indian city that I would say I'm dying to return to.

Our hotel, Udai Kothi, was wonderful and had a very nice rooftop terrace and pool. The old part of te city is very small and we could walk across the whole of it in 30 minutes, which we did several times. Of course, this usually took longer because we'd stop to take in the sights or visit shops along the way. The first day we treated ourselves to a wonderful (and rather expensive) meal at the Lake Palace. As the name suggests, the hotel is located in the middle of the lake, but the only way to enter the grounds it to be a guest or have a reservation for lunch or dinner.

At the recommendation of one of my colleagues, I immediately reserved a table for lunch as soon as we decided to visit Udaipur. The meal was spectacular and the enormous fixed price menu posed quite a challenge to Mike and Neil. Sadly, we left the Lake Palace and slowly made our way back to the hotel. That evening, we remained at the hotel and spent the evening in the rooftop restaurant.

On Monday, we ventured to the City Palace, which is located on the banks of the lake just across from the Lake Palace. There, we stumbled upon the start of the 2007 Himalaya Rally, an antique car race that crosses India, as well as parts of Nepal and Bhutan. The start was rather formal and each of the drivers was greeted by the Maharana of Udaipur, who still resides at the City Palace.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon wandering the streets, shopping and trying to learn to play tablas. I'm not very musically inclined, but I did have a lot of fun. As we made our way back to the hotel, we wandered the streets a little more and spotted an elephant. Jen and Mike kept remarking that they saw an entire zoo during their time in India!

Mac n' Cheese

Jen brought me a box of Macaroni & Cheese from the States, which we ate for dinner last night. It was soooo YUMMY.

Another Visit to Old Delhi

On Saturday, I started my work as Delhi tour guide and took Jen, Mike and Kory to Old Delhi. Kory is an Accenture friend who's working in Hyderabad for a few weeks. I convinced him to come up to Delhi for the weekend since I thought a trip to India would be incomplete without seeing Delhi and the Taj Mahal. And it worked out perfectly too, since I'd already planned to show Jen and Mike around on Saturday.

We started the day by traveling to Old Delhi and as soon as we stepped out of the car, the haggling started. We were able to fend off the cycle rickshaw drivers and made it to the Red Fort on our own. After exploring the old fort for a bit, we returned to Chandni Chowk and hired two cycle rickshaws to take us through the streets to the Spice Market. We wandered around for a bit, but our noses were quickly overwhelmed by the strong (but surprisingly lovely) scents.

Next we headed for Jama Masjid, one of the largest mosques in Asia and one of the few that non-Muslims can visit. The full name of the mosque is Masjid-i-Jahan-Numa, which means "the mosque commanding a view of the world. The courtyard is huge and can hold up to 25,000 worshippers. I actually didn't visit the mosque on my last trip to Old Delhi, so it was nice to finally seeing it up close.

a

Afterwards, we wandered more (yes, this is a theme) and found Karim's, a Delhi institution. Our walk to there took us through the very interesting Car Parts Bazaar, with yes, old cart parts! But we were all a bit disappointed with the food at Karim's and it definintely wasn't as good as I'd remembered.

Exhausted, we finally headed back to my apartment in the much calmer New Delhi to relax and get ready for our overnight train journey to Udaipur.

Partly cloudy sky. A pleasant day for shoppers.

This was the weather forecast for Delhi today in the Hindustan Times, no joke. I'm constantly amused by the Indian papers here, even the larger, well-established ones. I guess there's a bit of excitement here after a few days of rains and a drop in temperatures. Fortunately for me, Jen and Mike, we missed the cold weather because we spent the weekend in Udaipur. More to come on that.

Jen, Udaipur and Indian Body Building

I've been slacking with my blog this week due to a busy work schedule and last minute preparations for visitors. Jen arrived in Delhi last night and Mike is scheduled to arrive tonight. In addition, Kory is in Hyderabad for work for a few weeks and is coming up to Delhi for the weekend. It'll be a full house, but also a lot of fun.

Plans for the weekend include sightseeing in Old Delhi on Saturday and then a trip to Udaipur, The City of Lake Palaces, for a few days. Jen and Mike will then continue on to Jaipur, before returning to Delhi on Wednesday. Unfortunately, I changed our plans last week and decided against visiting Jodhpur. This means we'll miss out on all of the fanfare generated by the Liz Hurley-Arun Nayar wedding festivities that are going on there. Lucky us.

I'm happy to report that Jen had a very exciting start to her India trip. After meeting her at the airport, we immediately headed to an Indian wedding! This was one of the more over the top ones I've seen. The whole place was decked out in pink and baby blue, and a bubble fountain and a MOON BOUNCE! We were stuffed with a huge assortments of Indian food that continuously appeared before us, while some guy kept adding really bad Indian whiskey to our glasses of Coke. Jen also got to witness the craziness of Indian men dancing first hand, which is one of the most fun and funniest things about India.

But the highlight for Jen was probably her introduction to nearly every member of the Indian body building community. No, I am not kidding. The brother of the groom is a former body builder (and Commonwealth Games Medalist in Body Building, as we quickly learned) and it seems that all of his body building friends were in attendance and interested in meeting the two American girls there. I can't remember all of the titles, but I'm sure we met the VP and Secretary of the Indian Body Building Association, as well as Mr. India 2005 and Mr. India 2006!

What a start to her trip, but I'm not sure I can keep up this about of excitement for the next week.

Indian Efficiency?

One of the most efficient places I've experienced in India is the Pune airport. I'm sure the primary reason for this is it's small size, but it still never fails to impresses me.

Without fail, on the 4 occasions that I have flown in here, baggage arrives in the main terminal (which you walk to) just as passengers enter the terminal. Even yesterday, my bag was the ABSOLUTE LAST bag to be placed on the carousel, but it still arrived much faster than most bags would have in any other airport, Indian or otherwise.

Happy Holi!

Holi Greetings from Delhi and Pune!

I started the day in Delhi so I could witness some of the Holi festivities in the capital city, and concluded it at a dance party in Pune. Actually, I didn't witness much because I was nervous about venturing on to the street and getting pelted with colored powder and water by neighborhood kids. So instead I decided to sleep in...

My plan was quickly foiled since my neighborhood was up celebrating. I awoke to the sounds of lots of kids in the streets and music coming from down the road. And then my upstairs neighbors started a party of their own - complete with all of the top Hindi and Bollywood tunes, along with musical appearances by Justin Timberlake, Dirty Vegas and whoever sings Bad to the Bone.

And my attempts to stay clean and dry were also quickly foiled. A few of my friends arrived with bags of colored powder and scolded me when I said I didn't want to get dirty. But inevitably, I succumbed to their pressure, although I quickly changed into fresh clothes as I had to leave for the airport, much to the dismay of my friends.

But it was great to see people in both Delhi and Pune enjoying the holiday. Everywhere I turned, kids, motorcyclists, rickshaw drivers were covered in various colors. Again, Holi is the celebration of the triumph of good over evil, as well as the celebration of the arrival of spring. I'm not quite sure where throwing colored powder on your friends came into plan, but it's definitely a cool way to celebrate!

Directions Please?

I spotted this wonderfully humorous sign on the street yesterday near my neighborhood and I just had to take a photo of it. I had two main problems with this sign.

First, it is located on the right-hand side of the road, but of course they drive on the left here, so the sign would have been visible only to people going in the opposite direction. And the backside of it would not have been of much use to them.

Second, the first 3 places listed on the sign have a down arrow, meaning they are located BEHIND you. What's the point of showing this sign to someone who has already passed Siri Fort Auditorium, Safdarjung Hospital and Ring Road??

I just don't understand.

Chai Anyone?

First of things first. Chai means tea in Hindi, so when we order a chai tea at Starbucks, we are really asking for a tea tea. Now that I know this, I am greatly annoyed by it. Now on to more important subjects...

Indians love their chai. Maybe this is because of the influence of the British, I have no idea. All I know is that when I visit any office, I'm constantly bombarded with offers for chai or coffee. And since I am a foreigner, my hosts are usually kind enough to request it chini cum, which means less sugar. This is generally necessary because Indian chai and coffee can be unbearably sweet. Actually, I kinda like it, but few of my friends do.

In any case, I'm beginning to think that maybe Indians' love of chai relates to the fact that it's a perfect and well-accepted excuse not to do work. In the afternoon, you can often see groups of men gathered on the sidewalks for their afternoon chai breaks. Or groups head out of the office together to take up to an hour to enjoy their chai.

At no time should work interfere with these chai breaks. When Joey and Jarret were in town, we went to the train station to purchase tickets for our trip to Jaipur a few days later. While the ticket agent was assisting Jarret, someone came into the office with chai for the ticket agent. He immediately stood up and excused himself for "2 minutes only." He was actually mid-transaction and stopped so he could enjoy his chai in the corner with his friends! Nevermind the waiting customers! Much to our surprise, he did return a few minutes later, but we were too shocked that he'd even left to care much.

When discussing breaks, 'chai' can also be replaced by 'cell phone.' This is because people will talk on their cell phones ANYWHERE and at ANYTIME. I can't tell you how many times I've had someone stopped mid-conversation with me to answer his or her cell phone - usually without an 'Excuse me.' Or, if I walk into someone's office, I have to sit and wait for them to finish their (usually personal) phone call. If the situation was reversed, I would surely quickly wrap up my personal conversation so I could attend to the work conversation. But maybe that's just how we do things in the U.S...

So the lesson to be learned here is that is in India a break, whether it's a chai break or a cell phone break, has more importance than actual work. Visitors have to accept this and plan accordingly. You cannot be anything to change it.