here's what i did on my spring break

 

soundtrack

in order to go to santosh's wedding, we had to travel 3 hours in a jeep to patna from his village house in Dewdhi. we played one cassette the ENTIRE time. this cassette had only 2-3 different songs. There were more songs, but actually just remixes of Jhalak Dhiklaja... so it was Jhalak Dhiklaja for 3 hours. that song, and the movie aksar, were the theme songs for santosh's wedding.

Ally mcbeal had a theme song... i think it was something by barry white.

each india trip has definitely had a theme:
Jodhpur: Fiza, Dhardkan, Mission Kashmir
Natalie's Wedding: Gadar, Zubeida, maybe Lagaan?
My wedding:K 3G
FCS Summer: Bunty aur Babli, Zeher
Santosh's wedding: Aksar

injection

when guddu went to patna, he was sooooooo eager to eat goat meat. he ate goat meat at every meal for 2-3 days straight. this was after consuming 28 puris in one sitting at old delhi rail station. and multiple cups of tea, servings of sweets and namkin. yes, guddu went on a food binge. and then he paid for it.

he returned to the wedding party in santosh's village feeling feverish. during the night he visited the latrine "20-25" times, sometimes to vomit. in the morning, he was escorted to the doctor and received an injection (aftermath is pictured above). diagnosis-- either over-eating or food poisoning. the jury is still out.

i thought it was over-eating, but kundun, guddu's partner in goat meat-eating, also fell very sick. he was so feverish that his head and eyes moved uncontrollably and he overreacted to all stimulation. example-- at the doctor, upon hearing the charges, kundun exclaimed "doctor! your fees are so much! just for an injection you are charging Rs160???!"

Two Weeks Without...

• email
• phone
• TV
• newspaper
• english as a means of communication
• cheese
• chicken and/or eggs (thank you, avian flu)
• toilet paper
• running water
• electricity
• clothes that are actually clean (as opposed to "relatively" clean)
• coffee
• privacy
• steady sleep
• stress
• traffic laws
• fixed prices
• veggies other than carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, eggplant, potatoes
• peanut butter
• personal space
• more than one bucket of water for bathing
• health insurance woes
• responsibility
• worry about public policy ethics, trade law, performance measures, or the Tamil Tigers
• exercise
• cooking and cleaning (besides handwashing the clothes, of course)
• shoes
• pants
• job search obsession

Guddu and I had a crazy busy time in India. I will provide anecdotes as they pop into my head over the coming days. Some pictures are uploaded-- see the photo link. Guddu was delighted to see that India had in fact NOT changed despite media reports-- it is still stuck in the 3rd world, especially the sad state of Bihar.

we are now back in richmond, feeling like life has no purpose and we make ourselves busy and stressed with pointless tasks. when you take away all of the technology and work responsibilities and ease of modern life, you are forced to concentrate on living. we feel very priviliged that we can hop between the two worlds-- comfort in the US, relaxing in the village.

Ahead of Bush visit, LeT men held with RDX

geezus! hey bhagwan! why didn't this make any news here? we're going to be at this rail station next week, so i hope all the terrorists get the bombing/bioterror out of their systems by then! hopefully the "special cell" will remain on top of things.

The Indian Express, 27 February 2006
Ahead of Bush visit, LeT men held with RDX
Two suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists were arrested from New Delhi Railway Station and RDX recovered from their possession ahead of Wednesday's India visit by US President George W Bush. Police said the terrorists - identified as Shamil and Shahin - were arrested on Sunday evening and three kg of RDX and two pistols recovered from their possession. "We had received information about their movements and had laid a trap to nab them," said Ajay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police Special Cell. The two men are being interrogated and more arrests could be made, he said.

shopping madness

it has been a harrowing few days...

first, i am sure that it is a plot by comcast to "accidently" install too many cable channels to entice you to keep the expensive service. When i called to make sure the cable guy was gonna downgrade us, the customer service rep asked-- and it did not sound like it was the first time she was asking-- "Now that you have had the opportunity to try our full service, would you consider keeping it?"

secondly, guddu and i spent nearly 6 hours shopping last night. this short radio clip will explain why it took us so long to decide what gifts to buy. the most difficult item was a pair of shoes for guddu's little brother, pappu. guddu wanted to buy a white tennis shoe. and it HAS to be a global brand-- either Nike, Reebok, or Addidas. we went to 3 A&N's, rack room shoes, shoe carnival, foot locker AND DSW. pappu wanted shoes that were "like walt's". so i called walt,"hey walt. it's kate. guddu and i are doing india shopping. what type of shoes were you wearing in india? ok-- new balances? so... maybe we should get a reebok running shoe..." then we had to find one on sale, not made in china, white, in pappu's size (i guess it to be 9?).

after we got the shoes we had a lot of wal-mart shopping. we were there FOREVER. the good things are-- they have everything so you don't have to drive all over creation, and the prices are cheap.

classes ended today. we went out on a bang discussing arranged marriage.