A Passage to India

Three Years Later

2009-11-03T08:24:00.002+05:30

We didn’t plan it this way; we couldn’t have if we tried. We moved to India on November 2, 2006 with dreams of a great adventure and hopes that we might make a better future for ourselves through the opportunity of living overseas. We gave up a lot to do that, we sacrificed two years and eight months away from our friends and family, we gave up our home and all of our material possessions, we dove headfirst into an unknown and foreign culture and left the familiar half a world away. We also put our loved ones through a lot during that time, we knew that the experience would not only be hard on us, but may even be tougher for those we were leaving behind as we were sure they would always worry about us.

Looking back over our time in India I am so glad that we had the experience and that we took the chance that we did. We made some wonderful friends that will be always be integral parts of our lives; we had some great adventures and saw some beautiful places. But it was never easy, it was never HOME and I could never be comfortable. As they say, I was a stranger in a strange land and there was no real place for us there, we just didn’t fit. Our values, morals and humanity didn’t match up well with the rest of the culture. To be sure, there were exceptions to the rule and we made some like-minded friends, but for the most part we found it difficult to fit in. Forget that, it was impossible to fit in and even if we lived in India for 50 years it wouldn’t change that fact that we were foreigners and would never be anything else. Because of that leaving was easy. I was most sad to leave the beautiful street dogs that I had grown to love and I still think of them often and hope that they are healthy, happy and loved. It was difficult to say good-bye to my friends but I was comforted to know that they are never more than an email away. It was also hard to be too sad as though I was leaving some friends, I was also returning to friends and family that we were looking forward to reconnecting with.

Now we’re home and have been for a few short months. But those months have been so busy, we have begun to catch up with those that we missed so desperately for so long and we have tried to settle down into a routine and remind ourselves that we are back for good. Despite the bad economic situation I was able to find a part-time teaching position just weeks after returning and have enjoyed the beginning of a new career away from the research bench. Eric has settled back into his job and our Mira and Chaya have adjusted well to their new adoptive country. We are happy, happy that we have had the opportunities that took us to India, and happy that we are now home. And exactly three years after arriving in India we have finally truly come home as we bought our new house today, a place that we hope to stay and grow and make many memories.

There really is no place like home.

Himalaya Trek

2009-07-04T18:42:00.005+05:30

SarPass
When we moved to India more than 2 and a half years ago I had a goal of seeing two of India's wonders: the Taj Mahal and the Himalayas. Eric and I made it to Agra and the Taj on our anniversary last year and when Eric was called back to the US for work I thought that my hopes to see the Himalayas were dashed. However, my colleagues knew of my hopes and three of us managed to make arrangements to trek through the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh beginning on May 31. I began the trip with a flight from Bangalore to Chennai where I met up with my friend Aditya. The next morning we caught a train from Chennai and a mere 28 hours later we were in Delhi. We then met up with Neha, another friend, and caught the overnight bus that would take us to Bunthar, Himachal. This bus ride was pretty interesting as we were in a big fancy Volvo bus which was FLYING up the twisty turny mountain road. We then got out at Bunthar and had to catch a local bus to our base camp at Kasol. And then I found out how very nice and calm the Volvo bus ride really was. The local bus was a rickety bus that had to be as old as mes with brakes that sounded oven older than that. The bus hurtled up the mountain, making blind turns on a road that was in places only one lane and the bus was so close to the edge of the road that I was certain that we were going to tumble down the side of the mountain into the river in the valley below. I thought I was going to barf. This feeling of terror and disorientation was compounded by the fact that the buss was packed (people were also riding on top of the bus since it was so full) and the radio was blaring spastic Hindi music. By some miracle we did not die and in fact made it base camp without any hurling on my part. I am going to skip any description of base camp where we spent the next 2 days because it sucked and I choose not to dwell on the negative. The actual trek is a little hard to describe, it was hard work but the scenery was breathtaking and wanting to know what lay ahead propelled you forward even if you were exhausted. Lots of people got sick, either from the water (we were drinking from Himalayan streams) or more likely from exhaustion. We were sleeping 13 women in one smelly dirty tent but I was so tired that I usually had no trouble sleeping (except you would every once in a while wake up to find that you were sliding out of the tent). I guess what I am trying to convey is that it was miserable but wonderful. It was certainly one of the most challenging things that I have ever done, both mentally and physically. I think that I will let some pics tell the story that I could never do justice to.
Base camp in Kasol
Chilling on the banks of the Parvati River near base camp
The start of the trek.
The waterfall where we had our last bath for around 7 days.
Wow, what a view.
Neha and I on the way to SarPass (yes, Neha is in there somewhere).
What up.
Me killing it at cricket. That's right, cricket.
Amazing.
My shoes were toast after the second day, thank god the shoelace that I used to hold the sole on held.

Gayatri's Engagement

2009-04-23T12:20:00.012+05:30

Gayatri and Siddharth

Ever since arriving in India two and a half years ago I have been awaiting the opportunity to wear the most beautiful yet simple garment ever created (in my humble opinion); the Indian sari. My chance finally arrived yesterday as my friend and colleague Gayatri had her engagement ceremony, or Nichayathartham in Chennai. I along with several other friends and colleagues made the journey to Chennai by train early Wednesday morning (that is a story in itself, we made the train with literally only four minutes to spare by sprinting through the railway station at a little before 6AM). Nisha, a friend and colleague is originally from Chennai and offered her parents' home as a place for us to get cleaned and ready up after our 5 hour train journey. Luckily Nisha's mother is an expert sari-draper and agreed to help Neha (another friend and colleague) tie our saris. So we all got ready and headed to the ceremony in the sweltering Chennai afternoon.

The function was held in a small un-airconditioned hall and unfortunately I couldn't see much of the rituals that were taking place on a small platform at the front of the room. There is a good deal of gift exhange between the families and it is customary for the bride's parents to give the future groom an outfit that he has to change into and the bride-to-be receives a new sari from the groom's parents which she also changes into partway through the ceremony. There are a number of blessings given and received, a ring exchange, some singing, throwing rice, flowers exchanged, etc. Pretty cool overall. Plus it gave us all a chance to dress up and look pretty. I just loved wearing my sari and hated to take it off at the end of the night (even though I was melting in the heat), but alas, I had to. Now I am just waiting for the next opportunity to wear a sari again (I have a second sari that has never been worn and some other things that I am just itching to wear) so if you know of any good parties or functions just let me know!
My beautiful sari

Gayatri's 1st sari and Swarna

Joke's on Mani!

Gayatri's 2nd sari

The lab is looking good!

Perfect Pair

I love wearing saris!

99 DAYS UNTIL I MOVE HOME!!!

2009-03-30T13:41:00.000+05:30

Good Cop, Bad Cop

2009-03-30T12:05:00.003+05:30

Okay, another update on my police case. I got a call Saturday morning from the police saying that they had the guys who hit me at the station and would it be possible for me to come in. I had plans with a friend for the day and I was in fact just leaving to meet her when they called so I told them that no, I couldn't come to the station that day but I could meet them on Sunday. I then continued on to meet my friend but found that she was going to meet me around 30 minutes later than we had anticipated so I went to visit with my dogs, Ram and Leo, who stay at the site that I was attacked. I was feeding them their biscuits and petting them when a police vehicle pulled up to the gate and the Sub-Inspector who took my complaint stepped out with the man who was the passenger in the car that hit me and several other policemen. I guess the police had decided to take the guys to the scene and ask them to describe what had happened, but they got a big surprise when they found me there! I described to the Sub-Inspector what had happened and he asked me if the guy with him was the driver. I told him that no, that guy was the passenger of the car, the driver was a bigger guy with a round face. He sent another policeman to the vehicle and he brought back another guy, the driver! I have been very worried since the incident happened that I might not recognize the culprits, it has been more than a month since it happened and I saw them for just a couple of seconds, but when I saw the driver I knew it was him. No sooner than I said that he was the driver the policemen started beating the two guys, punching them and slapping them and screaming at them in Kannada. A small crowd had already gathered to see what the police were doing and once the beating commenced all hell broke loose; the crowd swelled, Ram freaked out and started barking his head off (he is a great guard dog) and poor little Leo started yipping and running around so then I stared to run after him to catch him and calm him so that he didn't run into the street. After the police finished with their beating they hustled the men back into the police vehicle. I asked the Sub-Inspector if the men had admitted to when they had done and if they had given any sort of explanation for their actions. The Sub-Inspector asked if I would like to ask the driver directly and I said yes so he was brought from the car to face me. I began to yell at the driver asking him why he had done it, what was he thinking, what the hell! I don't think he speaks any English, or if he does he didn't that day, he just kept bowing and apologizing. A guy stepped in to translate and told me that he was saying he was sorry, he had been scared, blah, blah, blah. I told him that sorry is fine, but sorry doesn't change what he had done and how it has affected me. Sorry doesn't make me feel safe as I walk down the street or put me at ease in my own home. I also told him the scared bit is nonsense, yes they probably drove away because they were scared, but they did not hit me because they were scared. Unless two grown men in a car are afraid of a 130 pound unarmed woman. Ridiculous. I never got a suitable answer and the police asked what I wanted them to do and I told them that the men deserved to be punished for their crime so they were taken to the police station.

After all of this had taken place I packed up my things (my dog feeding paraphernalia) and went to leave as I was likely keeping my friend waiting (remember, I had plans to meet before this encounter occurred) but I first stopped to thank the translator who had jumped in to help. I found out that he is actually the owner of the car who hit me, the man who was driving was his hired driver, he had taken the car that day for service on my street and was making his way back when he decided to take some time to hit me. Apparently when the driver arrived back after hitting me he was flustered and upset and told his employer that he needed to go and couldn't drive the rest of the day. The employer knew nothing of the attack until the police traced the car back to him and informed him of the crime. Before I was able to go to meet my friend he started to ask me if I could drop the charges because the driver is poor and the police will beat him, etc. He caught me again after I had met my friend and again asked if I could call the police and drop the charges. I told him that I would call the police if he wants and ask them not to beat the men, but that I couldn't just let the attack go unpunished by the law.

Since the attack happened I have imagined in my mind what I would like to do to these guys, how I would like to knee them in the groin, stomp on their fingers and break every single one, elbow them in the face and make blood pour from their noses, but seeing them again on Saturday changed all of that. Once they were out of their car and in front of me they were transformed from powerful bullies that I feared to scared cowards that I pity. They looked terrified, as well they should be since the police certainly have no problems with beating them senseless. If they are happy to pound on them in public I can only imagine what they do once they get them back to the station. And I do feel badly about that, but police brutality isn't a secret around here and I would think that if one wanted to avoid it then once shouldn't go around committing crimes. Though I do pity them and I told the owner of the car as much, I also believe that they should be punished according to the law. Maybe they are scared enough already that they will never do something like this again but I feel that they have earned their punishment. But I have to admit that though I am not at all comfortable with the beating that they guys received, I at least know that some form of punishment was given as I saw it with my own two eyes. Even if one can perhaps not on the courts in India, the police can be counted on to dole out beatings quite liberally. There is no need for the good cop/bad cop routine here when the police can just beat it out of you. I'm still undecided on exactly how I feel about everything that transpired on Saturday, but I am pretty sure that I feel better than I felt before Saturday.

A Home for My Boys

2009-03-30T11:55:00.002+05:30

I have great news to report about the puppy that I wrote about in February. I learned yesterday that the owner of the new apartments where both Leo and Ram have been staying while the site was under construction has taking a liking to them and wants to keep them! They will remain at the apartments where they can come and go from the gated ground floor car park pretty much at will. A couple of the workers at the apartment are staying on as caretakers and will continue to look after them. They will not be chained up, they are free to wander but have a nice cool place to sleep. And I will be able to continue visiting with them for the next 99 days (yep, less than 100 days until I move home)! This is great news, hopefully a happy ending for these sweet boys who have come to be great friends with each other and with me. I am hoping that the owner permits me to take Leo to my vet and have him vaccinated and sterilized in the next couple of months, but knowing that they will be cared for after July just makes my heart sing. A hero has been found!

Update

2009-03-09T13:46:00.003+05:30

I thought I’d let you all know what is going on with my police case since I first wrote about the incident last week. I got in touch on Saturday, March 7 with another girl who had been attacked and she asked if I would be willing to join with her and the other women who had been attacked in Bangalore to meet with high ranking police officials to plea for action. I agreed and we set of in the afternoon to what I discovered was a protest outside of a central police station with more than 300 protesters, complete with media coverage and police control. A police official came out and addressed the crowd stating that there would be investigations into the cases and a meeting would be set up in 5 days or less. The media that was there managed to discover that I was also attacked and one after another, they came to interview me and ask what had happened.

The best part of going to the protest is that I was introduced to not only the other victims but also a coalition of lawyers (Alternative Law Forum) that have come together to help the attacked fight back against their attackers and the police who make it nearly impossible to file a complaint. I met with them after the rally and only then discovered that the complaint that had been filed in my case was not the correct one, a NCR was filed in place of a FIR. A NCR is a non-cognizable report, that is a report of a minor crime for which police can neither register a FIR nor can investigate or effect arrest without the express permission or directions from the court. This means that after the report is filed it dies and nothing happens. However, filing an FIR (First incident report) for a more serious crime automatically triggers an investigation. I am sure that the police filed a NCR in my case simply because they are lazy and there is no follow-up for a NCR and they took advantage of the fact that the person who filed on my behalf didn't know the difference between the two. After learning on Saturday that I had not got a FIR filed I made arrangements with one of the lawyers to meet on Sunday at the police station to file the FIR. After three hours at the station on Sunday I finally got the case filed and the police immediately determined the identity and address of the owner of the car that hit me. In case you happen to know him, his name is M. Sreedar and he lives at No 23/1 Velu maudaliyar Street Bangalore. The driver (whether he is the owner of the car we do not yet know) has been charged under the following sections of the IPC (Indian Penal Code): Section 504 of IPC; Insult intended to provoke breach of peace- up to 2 years incarceration and or fine, non-Cognizable and bailable. Section 506 of IPC – Criminal intimidation- up to 2 years incarceration and or fine, non-Cognizable and bailable.

After the FIR was filed the police came with me to the scene of the attack and I showed them what had happened. They asked if anyone that was there had seen the attack and I told them that I was certain that many of the people around there had seen it and I think everyone in the entire neighborhood knows of it and could likely direct them to more witnesses (I had already provided the names and numbers of two witness in my report). Just then a construction woman approached us who had seen the incident (I see her everyday while I feed Ram and Leo and we try to chat sometimes). I told the police that she had seen the entire thing, in fact she was standing less than 15 feet away from me as this thing happened. They spoke with her a bit and she seemed to corroborate my claim but when they asked if she would sign to attest to it, she refused. It's so frustrating, no one seems willing to get involved because they are too worried about themselves. In one of the cases where a woman was attacked she ran to a door to get away from her attacker and when she asked the lady at the door to call the police she flat refused because she didn't want to get involved. The problem with all of this looking the other way is that at some point these imbeciles are going to have to look in the direction that they have been ignoring all this time and I don't think they will like, or even be able to live with, what they see.

As of now the report is filed and I am waiting to see what comes of it but at least now I know I have the support of a team of lawyers as well as the many other victims who have taken the chance to fight back. Let's hope something gets done.

Law & Order

2009-03-03T10:57:00.007+05:30

One of my favorite TV shows from home are the Law & Order series (the original and SVU, I hate the guy on Criminal Intent and can't stand to watch him). One of the best aspects of being addicted to these shows is that one is probably showing on some channel or another at any given time, the shows are ubiquitous. This is an addiction that has been not been fed for the past two years though as the show is not aired in India. This was a surprising to me as there are plenty of American television programs over here: Lost, Heroes, Amazing Race, 90210, and tons more. So why wouldn't such a popular show make it to Indian television? Well, I have over the past two weeks developed a hypothesis following an incident that occurred now two weeks ago that I think I am now ready to share.

I was walking home from work as I do every day and each day I stop at a construction site on a quiet side street about 2 blocks from my apartment to feed a dog, Ram and a puppy, Leo who I have written about before on this blog. Leo is the little black and white pup that I am still trying to find a home for. I like to stop in the afternoons and give them biscuits and water now that it is getting hot and just play with them and pet them for a bit. On this particular day I was kneeling down emptying the contents of a package of biscuits for Ram and Leo when I heard a loud noise. This noise scared Ram and he barked a couple of times and I looked up to find a car flying down the street. The car swerved towards Ram, trying to hit him and he began to run down the street to avoid the car which was pursuing him. I was shocked and angry and wanted to stop this person from hitting my sweet and gentle Ram so I jumped up (as any normal, rational feeling human would)and ran to the middle of the street and shouted out at the car to knock it off. I probably yelled at them something like, "What in the hell are you idiots doing?" or something of the kind. This had the desired effect as it did divert the attention of the driver from the dog as he slammed on his brakes and dirt went flying as he slid to a stop. I then saw he driver put his car in reverse (the reverse lights at the back at car came on) and I wondered "What in the hell is this moron doing?" Well, he hit the gas deliberately backing into me and knocking me into a motorcycle parked along the roadside. I jumped up and ran to the driver's open window and yelled inside at him and his passenger in the front seat. I didn't get to yell long as he again hit the gas and made his escape like the complete coward that he is.

It is not fun to go through an experience like this but unfortunately what follows in India is likely worse than the original offense. After the gutless moron had run away like a sissy a large crowd (maybe 50 people or so) gathered around me, they had been drawn by the commotion caused by barking dogs, a screaming woman and screeching tires. Luckily a couple of people who I have spoken to before on the street had witnessed the incident and were a part of the crowd. This is lucky because a good many of the group certainly didn't speak any English and were just gawking at the shaken foreigner so having a couple of people there with whom I could communicate was a big help. Several members of the crowd had noted the license plate number as well as the make and model of the car and I set off to walk to the nearest police station with three of the English-speaking witnesses (calling 911 or some equivalent is not an option, if one needs the police you have to go to them, not vice versa). When we arrived at the police station we were directed to speak with an old, pudgy policeman who barely even looked up from his newspaper as my companions related the incident to him in Kannada (the local language). He was not at all bothered by the incident that had taken place less than a quarter mile from his station and told us that I could not file a report at that station, we would need to go to a different station in Hebbal, a station around 10-15 minutes away by autorickshaw. I was not in the mood to drive all around Bangalore to try to convince unabashedly crooked cops to do their damn job, I just wanted to go home so I left the station and walked home. When I got to my apartment my landlords saw that I was upset and asked what was wrong and I related to them the day's events. They were concerned, but they seemed more concerned about me filing a police report. They were scared that whoever had done this might be a gangster who might have connections with the police (the police here are not only lazy and incompetent but are notoriously corrupt and can often be bought) and and that filing a report might put me in more danger or that the "goondas" might retaliate if I pressed them even if they were not associated with the police. This might all seem a bit overly-dramatic to most of you, it certainly was to me but this is reality in India, even in Bangalore, one of the so-called most cosmopolitan cities in the country. Most of my friends and associates later agreed that it was probably safer to not file a report with the police, and anyway, they said, most likely nothing would come of filing the report anyway.

After arriving back to my apartment I called Eric and told him what had happened and he was obviously angry and worried and he immediately decided to book a flight and come over to make sure I was alright. I had also spoken to some of my friends and they were kind enough to come to my apartment and visit with me for a few hours that evening. After a couple of days I received an email from my boss (who knew nothing of this incident) describing an attack that had taken place just a few days before mine where a group of women were beaten by a gang of men after the ladies had yelled at them for driving recklessly. I decided to speak to my boss about the incident and then learned that for the last month or so women have been targeted and attacked all over the city and that my case was not an isolated incident but rather part of a disturbing and sickening pattern. The attacks are perpetrated on women who are speaking English, wearing jeans or other Western wear (on the day of my attack I was wearing jeans and knee-length kurta (shirt)) and for what reason we can only guess. Most likely we have been targeted in the name of morality, culture and “public decency” by fundamentalist Hindus or pro-Karnataka factions. Because I learned that this is a new trend in Bangalore and not just an isolated attack I decided to file a police report, but by proxy. My institute offered to file the report on my behalf so I wrote a description of the incident leaving out my mobile number and home address to try to prevent police harassment and to attempt to be as safe as possible and an official from NCBS went to the Hebbal police station (where I had been told by the first police station to file the report). He was told that a report could not be filed at that station either and they sent him to a third station. Upon finally arriving at the correct station he was told that they would not file a hit and run report as there was no serious injury to me ( I had only minor bumps and bruises and a minor case of whip-lash so I didn't bother going to the hospital) or to any vehicle that I might have been driving. So apparently you can go around India hitting, slapping, pushing, running down, or raping anyone that you like as long as you don't leave a mark. I will definitely keep this in mind in the future. Finally after telling the police that I was a foreigner and I didn't go to the hospital because I was scared or some other crap the police did accept the report and have opened a case. So let's see what happens, I'm not holding my breath.

I have never been a big fan of the police in the US. They always struck me as out to get me, pulling me over for speeding to work when I was running late and hiding around every corner to hand out an expensive ticket for what I perceived to be nothing important, some stupid pointless law. Like so many other things that I took for granted, that most of us take for granted every day, I can now appreciate not only police but the also laws that they enforce. You think it's ridiculous to get a speeding ticket? Try living somewhere where speeding laws aren't enforced at all. When the law is meaningless then there can be no order and where there is no order there is chaos. And chaos is not safe, it is not comfortable and it is impossible to feel secure once you are confronted with the reality of the situation. It is disorienting to realize that you are powerless, that you have no ally or recourse in the event of an emergency and you begin to walk though life with your fingers perpetually crossed, hoping to stay out of harm's way. How one lives their entire life like this is unimaginable.

I don't know what is happening over here but the one thing that I do know is that I can't wait to leave it all behind. As I said, it is horrible enough to be hit by a car deliberately but it is much worse to know that there is nothing that can be done to either punish or prevent it and that the government turns a blind eye to this sort of barbarism. I am not sure what direction India is headed in if this is the new Bangalore. This sort of thing happens very frequently in the North but the South of the country has always been more immune to this type of behavior and I worry that this is the face of the New India.

Now I think that I understand why Law & Order isn't shown here, no Indian would be able to believe that a police force exists that actually does its job, doesn't expect a bribe to get something done and cares for the community (not to say the police force in the US is perfect but if you are hit by a car I am pretty sure if you call 911 a cop will show up right away and actually try to help). If Indians actually knew that something like this existed then they might stand up and demand better. On the other hand, The Shield is aired in India, a police drama that is probably much more believable to the average Indian based on their pathetic experiences with what passes for law enforcement in this country.

For more information concerning the recent attacks on women in Bangalore you can read these accounts and read this and this and this article in the Hindu

Top Ten Reasons that I Never Want to See My Mom's Friend Again

2009-02-02T21:01:00.003+05:30

After nearly three weeks of tolerating the most horrible human in the entire world I need to vent. My Mom and her friend came to Bangalore to have some elective surgeries done and I have been hosting both of them at my home and I am nearly ready to kill this woman. These are some of the reasons why and are in no particular order.

1. She is a hypochondriac. She claims to be allergic to cats (she has shown no symptoms when it comes to my cats) and has belly-ached about everything ranging from nausea to diarrhea to headaches. Nearly every single day she has claimed to be suffering from some ailment.

2. She is a compulsive over-exaggerator and pity-seeker. She has repeatedly claimed that she has not slept all night when I know that she had because I have seen her sleeping and heard her snoring.

3. She is a drug addict. She needs a pill for EVERYTHING. Can't sleep (even though she is sleeping), give me a pill. Headache, pill. Nausea, pill. Pain, pill. There isn't a pill invented that she doesn't want.

4. She is a prototypical American that the rest of the world loves to hate. Loud, crude, self-centered and ignorant. She loved to go into detail about the hugeness of her daughter's boobs to any poor Indian sales-girl that she caught. She doesn't know the meaning of tact and doesn't know how to behave appropriately.

5. She is selfish. If she sees something she wants she has no problem taking it for herself. I took her shopping at a shop that I have been to many times and I know the owners. We were looking at scarves and I mentioned that I would like to pick one for myself and I went on to chat with the shopkeeper for some time and when I turned around she had already bought all of the scarves (except for the 2 ugliest) for herself.

6. She always prefaces a favor with the phrase, "I hate to ask you, but...). If you hate to ask me then don't.

7. She has no respect for this culture or these people but expects them to respect her. She gets angry when people stare at us (this happens often in India because foreigners are not that common and people are just curious) but when I pointed out to her that she wants to take photographs of random people on the street because they are as different to us as we are to them she failed to see the similarity.

8. She is rude. She has not learned how to use please and thank you properly.

9. She is shallow. She claims to love my cat Mira because she is so beautiful and can't shut up about her but hardly acknowledges my baby, Chaya, because she isn't as beautiful. This makes me want to punch her in the face.

10. She calls her husband "Daddy". As in, "I miss my Daddy." Blech.

I could go on, trust me but I won't. I just needed to vent a bit. I feel better. Thanks.

Anyone want to be a hero?

2009-01-28T12:10:00.004+05:30

I returned to Bangalore two and a half weeks ago to some good news and some bad news. My first day back in India I went looking for my feline and canine buddies to do some catching up. In the case of the ginger tom Templeton, he came looking for me as usual. I found the dog who I meet at my bus stop, the dog who is near the auto stand by my house and I found Ram at the construction site down the road. But no Leo. He had disappeared and no one seems to know what has become of him. As he was nearly grown I am hopeful that he just moved on but it is hard to say. Though Leo was no longer at the construction site I was greeted by 2 newcomers, two sweet and adorable motherless little puppies, one girl and one boy. For the past 2 weeks I have been feeding them and playing with them until a few days ago I was greeted with the sad news that the little girl had been hit and killed by a vehicle. I was of course devastated and now I am very concerned for the safety of the little boy. He is a very sweet and friendly puppy and has the most adorable reflex to roll on his back in order to get his belly scratched as soon as you get near him. He is maybe a month old and is white with black spots. I am not able to keep him as I won't be able to bring him back to the US with us when we return but I would love to find this very special fellow a home. I would be willing to pay for his vaccinations and sterilization if someone would be his and my hero and step up and open their home to this loving guy. I have met plenty of street puppies, all of whom I loved and adored but this one is even more special. I can promise you it will be one of the best decisions you have ever made. If anyone is interested please just leave a comment and I will work out a way to get in touch. Thanks.

Almost Home Alone

2009-01-20T09:08:00.003+05:30

Sorry that I have not posted for nearly 2 months, but we have been pretty busy. We toured the Golden Triangle in Northern India for around 6 days before leaving for the US on December 3. We visited Delhi, Jaipur and Agra where we had the opportunity to catch some of the sights that the North has to offer including a visit to the Taj Mahal on our 5th wedding anniversary. After our fun but exhausting vacation we headed back to the USA. After a few hours in Chicago I hopped on another flight so that I could attend a meeting on neurodegenerative diseases in New York for a few days and then met Eric in New York so that we could visit friends and family in Connecticut for another few days. We had a great time catching up with my friend from college Suzen and her family and also with my cousin Jenn and her husband. We then returned to Chicago where we moved Eric into his new apartment in Arlington Heights. We were lucky, moving day was around 40 degrees F so it wasn't too bad and I was very proud that we managed to move everything by ourselves! After getting Eric settled we spent the next few weeks spending time with our friends and family, enjoying the holidays and the great food that is responsible for more than a bit of weight gain on my part. We had a wonderful time but as the saying goes all good things must come to an end and I had to go to O'Hare and board my flight to Paris alone. I handled it much better than I thought, I didn't cry and I was very lucky to sit next to a lady on my flight to Paris who was from Bombay and we talked for hours on the plane and since she was traveling alone also we became each other's travel companion and kept each other company until we had to part ways when she boarded her flight to Mumbai and I mine to Bangalore. I arrived with no problems and immediately got unpacked, cleaned the house and collected my Mira and Chaya so that they could keep me company. Just a few days later my Mom and one of her friends, June, arrived in Bangalore and I haven't even had the time to be lonely or miss Eric too much. I am sure when they go it will be tougher but for now I am doing well. Even from half a world away Eric has been helping me sort out problems with our internet but I think that he has hopefully taught me enough that maybe I won't depend on him as much as I have this first week back in India. It is nice to do things myself, but I do certainly miss the help and most of all the companionship. Luckily we have the internet working at home (for now) and so I am able to email, chat and call home which has made all of the difference. I have probably talked to Eric on the phone a dozen times in the last week which has made the separation less painful. Anyway, all is well. The girls are fine, I am fine and Eric is also fine (but cold I'm sure). And the countdown is on.

Friends I have made along the way

2008-11-17T07:31:00.008+05:30

Along with all of the wonderful human friends that I have had the pleasure of making in India is a forever growing list of four-legged beasts that daily enrich my life and give me doses of both joy and sometimes heartbreak. I thought that I might introduce you all to some of my current friends who I try to visit daily if I can find them and lately, if they can find me.
One of my most favorite friends is Leo, a little puppy that I noticed a couple of months ago a few blocks from our home rooting through a garbage heap in search for some food. He was very young, alone and looked tragically thin. Despite his desperate situation he was so friendly and adorable that he was just irresistible so I went out and bought a bag of dog food and began to visit him daily. He was soon adopted by some construction workers living at the building site in the emerging structure and I became a regular visitor in the afternoons on my way home from work. Leo soon found a canine friend in Ram, an older male dog who shares Leo’s territory and his sweet and gentle temperament with the sometimes rambunctious Leo won me over so I began to bring him food everyday as well. Everyday I look forward to meeting these guys and I think that they like to see me too, at least for the food. As soon as Leo sees me he jumps up and starts trying to get into my purse or bag looking for his food, but what I believe both he and Ram like best are the pets, scratches and rubs that I dole out liberally. The downside to feeding these fellows on the street is that it invariably draws a crowd of onlookers, people with nothing better to do than to gawk at a foreigner wasting her time on street dogs. But yesterday I had a very nice experience, I had stopped to feed Leo and Ram as usual, they have been expelled from the construction site as new workers have replaced the ones who had adopted them and they now reside on a fairly busy street where they chill in front of the shops that line the road. I had fed Leo and he had fallen asleep on the steps of one of the shops and Ram, who had arrived late to the party, was finishing up his dinner when an elderly Indian gentleman emerged from the shop that we were in front of. He stopped when he saw me and I prepared for the worst, I have been scolded many times by the locals about “spoiling” the dogs and have been told that they won’t eat the dog food that I bring, and to not feed the dogs too near their homes less they be bothered by them. To my surprise and joy, he broke out into a grin and said, “God bless you” and walked away. He had no way of knowing how much his kind words meant to me that evening, I had been so frustrated with this place, with the people in this place and with just 3 effortless words, he restored me.

Another of my canine friends does not have a name, I do not know where he lives, I do not know if he is loved and cared for. I meet him periodically while I am waiting on the roadside in the mornings waiting for my shuttle to pick me up and carry me off to work. He is the most kind and gentle dog and when I look into his eyes I believe that I might be able to see his soul. I always keep several packs of cookies in my bag for such occasions, but he generally prefers to just be petted, refraining from eating too much until I have had to leave him. After every encounter with him I have to wash my hands for several minutes because the poor fellow is so dirty. He would make a wonderful pet and I wish more than anything that some kind person would pick him up, give him a bath, treat his mange, and love him forever.
I do not discriminate when it comes to my friends and so if any cat crosses my path I try to entice it to join my menagerie with extra cat food that I also carry in my pack (as you can imagine my bag is pretty full what with the biscuits, dog food and cat food). That is how I came across Templeton, the temple cat. There is a temple on my street and they love to play dreadful music from loudspeakers beginning from around 5:30 AM every day. I hated that temple. That is, until I met Templeton. Templeton is a glorious ginger tom whose muscles ripple beneath his furry coat unlike the flabby spoiled felines that you will find just down the street in our apartment. Templeton is extraordinary because unlike every other street cat I have ever met; he doesn’t have the good sense to be afraid of people. To the contrary as soon as he spots an unwitting homo sapien he wraps himself around their ankles in a buttery whirl before they realize that he is there. This is only partly true, with Templeton you most often hear him long before you see him, he is the sort of cat that knows what he wants and he isn’t afraid to ask, no, demand it. Templeton has lots of friends at the temple who bring him milk to sustain the friendship and I naturally joined the rabble of adoring Templeton fans but I bring him cat food instead. A man can’t live on milk alone, right? And he doesn’t seem to mind too much if I pet him while he eats, aren’t I lucky? But as I said Templeton is a demanding sort and last Saturday I didn’t go to work and therefore wasn’t at the temple at 6:50 to feed his majesty and he just would not stand for that behavior so he came to find me. He at least waited a few hours to allow me the time to see the error of my ways, but when I hadn’t appeared by 9 I guess he decided enough was enough, he was hungry and he was going to get his breakfast even if it wasn’t delivered. He must have a great sense of smell and could detect the odors of cat food wafting from our open windows and made a beeline for our apartment where he sat himself just under our open window and loudly began to demand that I stop whatever I was doing and get him his breakfast. I of course did as I was told to the horror of Mira and Chaya, but what can I say, I am a slave to Templeton. He stopped by a couple of other times last weekend when he got hungry; I guess he didn’t trust that I would come find him so he took the initiative. I think I have restored his faith in me though as I have made it to the temple on time every day this week to meet him. But today is Friday and I am again not going to work tomorrow so I will be expecting company in the morning.

Sorry, I actually posted this on Monday, not Friday as I had hoped. Templeton did not come to our house this weekend for his breakfast, our house is being painted and he was probably scared away by the workers but fear not, I met him at the temple this morning right on schedule.

Silver Linings

2008-11-02T23:08:00.003+05:30

I don't think that I could ever make the argument that I am a starry-eyed optimist, that I'm a glass-half-full sort of gal. But sometimes focusing on the positive is the best way, maybe even the only way to endure. You may remember a post that I wrote several months ago about the relief that accompanied the news that Eric could remain with me in India instead of returning to the US for work. Well, it seems that our luck has run out as we learned this week that when I return to India in January following our winter holiday, I will be alone. We have had these scares in the past but this time Eric assures me that it is definite and we are making plans for his return to the USA.

I should be sad, scared, worried; those would all be rational responses but instead I find myself excited, sometimes almost giddy at the thought of Eric settled back home, just waiting a few short months for me and the girls to arrive. I have happily been making calls to apartment complexes, just thrilled knowing that we will have a place to stay when we arrive back in the US, a home ready and waiting for us almost as though we never left. A home with a stove, oven, adult-sized refrigerator and washing machine, dishwasher, hot water, the list goes on and on and on...

We have been very lucky, we have had the opportunity to spend two whole years (today was our 2 year anniversary of arriving in Bangalore) living an adventure that I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would have. I have been able to share that adventure with the most wonderful guy that I have ever known, we have had some great times here and we have had some miserable times as well but we had them all together. How can I be upset about 6 months apart when we have had such an enriching two years together in India? I feel like expecting any more would be just selfish and I am so happy for Eric that he gets to go home, I know how much he misses it.

I am not an idiot though, I know that my last six months in India without Eric is going to be hard for both of us, we have already done the long-distance thing and it was no picnic. That compared to this was child's play, calling Peoria to Arlington Heights long-distance seems ridiculous when you stack that against Bangalore-Arlington Heights. But we are tough and six months isn't that long; I have Mira and Chaya to keep me company and comfort me and Eric will have Big Macs and Whoppers.

Aren't silver linings wonderful?

Last Day Bombay

2008-10-14T09:25:00.006+05:30

Well, I have survived my week and a half long visit to Mumbai (provided that I make it through this one last day). I am happy to report that I have mastered the technique that I came here to learn (okay, mastered may be a bit of an exaggeration, but I can manage just fine) so the trip was a success. I only got to see a bit of Mumbai, but from what I saw it seems not too different from Bangalore but appears to have better infrastructure. The downside of Mumbai is the weather, it is just too hot and humid to get out and enjoy yourself. I met with a a friend of a friend on Sunday to see some of the city and I was only able to walk around for a bit at a time before I felt as though I was going to melt. I visited the Gateway of India which I am sad to report was slightly underwhelming, it was under construction and was surrounded by scaffolding but even without the construction it would have been a bit of a disappointment. I expected something bigger and a bit more impressive I guess. One of the big differences between Bombay and Bangalore is the traffic; there are many fewer motorcycles and scooters in Bombay (maybe because of the hot weather?) and autorickshaws are not allowed in the main part of town. The effect of this is astounding, traffic is much more calm and orderly and you feel a little less like a spectator in a fast-paced game of bumper cars. To be fair though, Bombay instead has these really old-fashioned taxis and the taxi driver that I took back to TIFR on Sunday night seemed to think that we were in the Indy 500, he was nutters. The other great thing about Bombay is that there is no haggling over the price of a taxi ride, they all use their meters without any argument and are willing to give you your change, in fact, they are expected to give you your change. This is totally different from Bangalore where auto drivers will nearly never use their meters and almost always try to cheat their customers (both locals and foreigners). It was refreshing to catch a ride without having to first mentally prepare yourself for the battle over the cost of the trip.

As I have not had much outside of the lab to do this past week and a half, I have been going to the gym as often as I can. The gym here at TIFR (as compared to the gym at NCBS) is much bigger with a lot more equipment, but it is all older and there is no air conditioning (running 3 miles in 90 degree 90% humidity weather is a real challenge since I am a running weenie). In fact, some of the equipment is so old that they are pieces that I have only seen in old movies and old TV shows. Do you remember those machines that have a band that you put around your waist or your butt, you turn the power on and it jiggles away your fat? They have that machine. They also have a machine that you are supposed to sit on and it jiggles away your butt and thighs (I wish). Too funny. I am pretty sure that the utility of these dinosaurs have been disproven, but here they are regardless. Here are some pics in case you have no idea what I am talking about.

Another very strange thing that you find (or rather don't find) at the gym are shoes. Most people work out barefoot which, I am sorry, I find disgusting. People have no problems using cycles and treadmills without shoes and I just can't help but to imagine the fungi proliferating on the pedals and tread, yuck! I actually forgot my running shoes one day at the gym at NCBS in Bangalore and ran without them (but with socks) and I will NEVER do that again, my ankles, shins and calves killed me for at least a week. Anyway, this nasty no-shoe phenomenon is at a whole different level at the TIFR gym as they require people to wear shoes on the treadmill but the gym provides common shoes that all of the treadmill users SHARE..... I guess that I shouldn't over-react as this happens in bowling alleys across the US, but I see two major differences which, for me, make all of the difference. First, running on a treadmill in Bombay's heat and humidity is a vastly different activity than chucking a few balls down a lane in a temperature-controlled bowling alley. My socks are soaked after my 30 minutes on the treadmill, not so much after bowling a few frames. Second, the disinfectant spray used in bowling alleys. I put full faith in that stuff and am certain that it kills 99.9% of all icky nasty foot germs. Or maybe not. Anyway, you are not going to catch me padding around a gym without shoes on, or worse, using a pair of shoes that some dude just sweated in for the last hour, gross!

My trip to Mumbai has been educational, at the least, but I can't wait until tomorrow when I am back in Bangalore, back to beautiful weather, back to Eric, Mira and Chaya, back to the craziness, but familiar craziness of my Bangalore. Cheating auto drivers, shoeless gymmers and all.......

A pet's view

2008-10-05T19:42:00.002+05:30

Excerpts from the Dog's Diary:

8:00 am - Dog food! My favorite thing!
9:30 am - A car ride! My favorite thing!
9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favorite thing!
10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!
12:00 pm - Lunch! My favorite thing!
1:00 pm - Played in the yard! My favorite thing!
3:00 pm - Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!
5:00 pm - Milk bones! My favorite thing!
7:00 pm - Got to play ball! My favorite thing!
8:00 pm - Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!
11:00 pm - Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing

Excerpts from the Cat's Diary:

Day 983 of my captivity.

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are
fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for
the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in
order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape.

In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet.

Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their
feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it
clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made
condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am.
Bastards.

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was
placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However,
I could hear the noises and smell the food.

I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I
must learn what this means and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my
tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try
this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches.

The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and
seems to be more than willing to return He is obviously retarded.

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with
the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My
captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell,
so he is safe, for now...

Blogging from Bombay!

2008-10-03T21:23:00.002+05:30

Hi everyone, this is my first post written in Mumbai (aka Bombay). I arrived this morning to begin a 12 day visit to learn semi-sectioning so that I can get better images and more accurate counts of degenerated photoreceptors for my experiments. The trip here was totally uneventful and really quick and easy. My first impressions of Mumbai (compared to Bangalore) are that it is actually much more orderly; the infrastructure seems to have been planned and executed much more sensibly than in B'lore and the roads and traffic are much better (based on my one hour taxi ride from the airport to TIFR). The airport seems nice, I honestly wasn't there long as my suitcase beat me to the terminal (maybe the first time ever for that). The downside to Mumbai is that is also seems much older and the buildings are typically much shabbier and dingier. In fact most of them literally seems to me moldering away, this is probably the result of a much stronger monsoon and much more rain but many of the buildings would make GREAT haunted houses ('tis the season after all). TIFR (the institute that I am visiting) is much older than NCBS but sits right on the Indian Ocean which mostly makes us for it. I have already settled in, I am staying in an air-conditioned guest house room which is okay looking but has satellite cable and unrestricted Wi-fi! Yahoo! I may never leave! I have already made it to the gym which is not air conditioned and I think that I may have lost about 5 pounds in water weight. It is hot and humid here so I will be sweating it out at the gym but thank goodness I have an A/C room to come back to. Hopefully I will get a chance to get out and see a bit of the city this weekend so I will keep you posted. The great news is that there are several resident dogs and cats at TIFR so hopefully I can make some animal friends while I am here (I miss my fuzzy Mira and Chaya already). Okay, I need to replenish some fluids and get some food into me so good night!

Is there any good news in the world?

2008-09-20T22:24:00.006+05:30

Maybe I am just having a down day (my laptop is busted and causing me a good deal of stress), but has anyone else noticed how bad the news has been lately? Ever since we returned to India at the end of July and were greeted by the bombings here and in Ahmedabad, things have just become worse. With terrible flooding in Bihar and Maharashtra, violence against Christians in Orissa and Mangalore, another set of bombings in Delhi last weekend and now the news tonight that a blast was detonated at the Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan killing 60 (at least from tonight's latest reports) I just feel dead inside. And the line always is something like, "We will root out the terrorists and not stand for this violence!" Same old stale, empty rhetoric. It is just so played that I can't even stand to listen to it anymore. Has anyone noticed that the policies practiced by governments all around the world in combating terrorism haven't been working? Killing and bombings just lead to more killings and bombing and there seems to be no end in sight. Ick, this is all so disgusting that I think that I need a shower. The sad thing is that I really don't even follow the news too much here so I am sure there are plenty more horrible things going on that I am missing.

Don't even get me started on the news from the US; greedy irresponsible banks and corporations being bailed out by a greedy and irresponsible administration at the expense of taxpayers. Global markets shaken by speculators trying to make a quick buck betting against the economy and leaving the average investor in the lurch. How have we come to this? What sort of a world have we created? Please, somebody give me a reason to believe that the human race shouldn't just be chalked up as a poorly planed experiment by some misguided and deranged scientist because most of the time I really wonder...

On the other hand, I look to my right and Mira is sleeping on the chair beside me and she looks so peaceful and adorable. Maybe cats would do a better job of things if they were in charge. Mira is at least as qualified to run for national office as Sarah Palin is so maybe we should give it some serious thought (like McCain did, har, har). Mira for President, Chaya for VP. Sounds good, doesn't it? Certainly better than McCain/Palin. Yuck, there is just no getting away from the bad news these days...

It is hard to quit Smoky

2008-09-15T07:55:00.003+05:30

I have sad news to report concerning Smoky, after more than a month of trying to make her a part of our family we finally came to the realization that it just wasn't working and we didn't foresee any change that was going to improve the situation. We had tried everything; drugs, behavioral therapy, and homeopathy but nothing was getting us even close to a sustainable peaceful existence. We thought that maybe the homeopathy was helping with Smoky's urination and spraying issues, but on Friday I came home from work and brought Smoky in the kitchen with me so that I could do dishes (she still couldn't be left unsupervised without making a mess or being picked on by Mira or Chaya) and she went right to the corner of the kitchen and peed. I looked up to see this but also noticed that Mira and Chaya were lying at the door to the kitchen, blocking Smoky in. Even if Smoky wanted to use the litter she couldn't, because Mira and Chaya just wouldn't ever leave her alone. I realized that even if we could prevent Smoky's urge to spray and urinate, she still wouldn't be free to get to the litter box in peace. As more than a month of exposure to Smoky never reduced Mira and Chaya's stalking and attacking Eric and I could not believe that they ever would accept her and just leave her alone. Homeopathy was suggested to us for Mira and Chaya also to reduce their stalking of Smoky, but we did not want to drug every cat on the house just on the off chance that it might work. Before Smoky came to our home Mira and Chaya were fine so we felt that it wasn't right or fair to them to put them on medicines to fix the problem that we created by introducing her into the home. When we adopted Mira and Chaya we took the responsibility to make and keep them healthy and happy and I felt that we were failing them and stuffing them full of medicines would be a breach of those responsibilities on our part. On Friday night Mira also attacked Smoky and that was really the final deciding factor, enough was enough. No one was happy or relaxed, Smoky wasn't as she had developed these spraying and urination problems and was constantly being stalked, Mira and Chaya weren't as they were jumpy and on edge all the time, and Eric and I weren't as we were also on edge and not able to do really anything since Smoky required such close monitoring. It was a difficult decision and we hated to make it, but once we decided to return Smoky to her former home and owner Pami, we felt an enormous sense of relief and peace. I had spent the previous month crying so many times from despair and stress but after the decision was made I haven't cried a single time. I feel that this is an indication that we made the right decision because I just don't feel badly about it, it is the best decision for everyone involved. We took Smoky back to Pami Saturday afternoon and she happily hopped out of her basket and was greeted by a couple of Pami's cats. There was no hissing or fighting, just sniffing which was already an improvement from the scene at our house. Smoky didn't seem to be bothered a bit which was wonderful to see and Pami was happy to see her back in her home and was sure that she would be just fine and happy there. When we returned home we set about cleaning and trying to set everything back to normal, retuning bedding, pillows, stuffed animals, curtains, rugs, toys, carriers, etc. all to their original positions. Over the course of the more than a month that Smoky was with us our house was transformed to try to accommodate her and though we hadn't noticed as it was quite gradual, it had become somewhat unrecognizable. The effect that removing Smoky and setting the house back to normal had on Mira and Chaya was immediate and wonderful. They are so much more calm, they are playful again and now we actually have time to play with them like we used to. We have time to cook and we can go out and not feel guilty that we have kept Smoky shut up in her room. As I said, it was a difficult decision, but for us and our family it was the right one. We are glad that we had the chance to be a small part of Smoky's life and we are truly sorry that it didn't work out but we believe that we did everything that we could do, but there were some things that we just weren't willing to experiment with on our Mira and Chaya.

I also want to say thanks to everyone who helped us out, either by giving me moral support or giving us suggestions on what else to try. Yasmine, Lalitha and Natasha were great in supporting me but also gave tons of great advice so thank you guys so much, I am so lucky to have found such wonderful animal-loving friends here in India (it took me moving to India to find Lalitha, though she is actually in SF). My parents and especially my coworkers were a huge source of support, I can't even tell you how many days I broke down in lab and were comforted by Neha, Gayatri, Swarna and Rachana. You guys are awesome and aside from having the opportunity to meet Smoky, the other wonderful result of this difficult situation is that I made a new friend (Natasha) and I was reminded how wonderful my friends and family are and how I can count on their support no matter what.

Joy in Poopville!

2008-09-03T08:59:00.004+05:30

I knew that today was going to be a good day. How did I know? Did I read it in the tea leaves? Did my crystal ball tell me? Did I crack open a promising fortune cookie? Nope, I looked inside the litter box and what greeted me there has made my day. I have no idea what has happened to me, but I am riveted by litter box deposits and have been monitoring them like a hawk for the past month (literally, the whole month). Since Mira developed chronic diarrhea we have been frantically trying to figure out what is wrong and nothing has worked. This past Saturday we took her to the vet (where we stupidly showed up when they were closed, they close for a few hours in the afternoon and I had forgotten so we had to wait for over an hour for it to open. But to burn time Eric picked up a pizza from Domino's, and it was AWESOME!!! Which is amazing since I absolutely hate Domino's in the US, I would rather eat belly-button lint. Either my palette is out of whack or I have actually found something American that is actually better in India. Anyway, I digress). Okay, back to the vet. Again everything seemed okay according to the vet, no temperature, no swelling of any glands or organs, no additional symptoms, still no answers. We had brought in a sample for analysis in the hopes that the results might reveal the problem and we were discussing all possible causes that we could think of. I have done a ton of reading on cat diarrhea in the past month and nothing seemed to fit so I brought up the stress angle again. The vet said it was possible but he had never heard of anything like it, especially since it has lasted so long. Then I had a thought. I asked if maybe we should try to switch her food. She has been on this food for months and months but I knew that food allergies could cause diarrhea, and because this food isn't new to her I always discounted allergies as the cause. And because switching food often causes diarrhea I have not really wanted to compound the problem. But after a month you start to grasp at any straw that is available. The vet said, "Sure, why not? It can't make it any worse I suppose." So we bought the most expensive food available (Royal Canin) and took her home and switched the food immediately. I am happy to report that since that time Mira's diarrhea has reduced to the point that today she was almost completely normal! I am so happy! Poop makes me happy! But only solid poop, not runny poop! I am an idiot, but I don't care because I am so happy! I don't even mind that we have to buy the most expensive food in the universe and that we have a 4 kg (9 lb.) bag of Whiskas that is totally useless! Now if only we could get things sorted out with Smoky........
PS-You should all consider yourself lucky that I didn't post pics this time! ;-)

Harnessing the kitty power

2008-08-29T12:30:00.008+05:30

One of the purchases that we were excited to make in the US and bring back to Bangalore with us this summer are harnesses for Mira and Chaya. When we return to the US we plan to fly them back with us and since we will have to collect them when we transfer planes (either in France or Germany) and keep them until we check in for our flight to Chicago we thought that it would be good if we could take them out of their carriers and not have them take off running through the airport. We figured that if we trained them to wear harness and could "walk" them around on a leash it would give them the chance to be out of their carrier for some time between the long flights but also give us the piece of mind that we won't lose them. So I bought two harnesses with matching leashes and once we returned to India in July we set about training them to get accustomed to both the harness and the leash. Let me just say that they were not (are still are not) thrilled to have the harness on but they have improved a ton. Initially as soon as the harness was put on Chaya she would fall over as though she had been shot and proceed to roll around in an attempt to get the thing off. She would get up, walk a few paces, then fall down again as though the harness had paralyzed her legs (have you ever seen video of those fainting goats, something like that). Mira, on the other hand, never fell over but would slink along the floor as though the harness was strapped with a fifty pound weight. In order to get them more excited about harness time I would give them plenty of treats but soon discovered that the best treat of all was letting them go outside, but only when their harness is on. Chaya loves to go outside and is pretty good at sneaking out when she is not supposed to so actually getting permission to go out is the best gift that I can give her. This past weekend we did some more training after about a month off (with Smoky's arrival I haven't wanted to stress them anymore and we haven't have time to do the training with all of the room switching and stuff) and I introduced them to their leashes. Everything went great, I took them up to the roof with their harnesses on and they played for about an hour until Mira decided that she wanted to go down to the ground floor and check that out. I put her on her leash and all was well, until Chaya showed up. I put her on her leash and soon learned a couple of valuable lessons about having cats on leashes. First, cats spook easily, and motorcycles are very scary when they are flying down the street. Second, one person can not handle two leashed and harnessed cats, this may be possible for dogs but I can't believe that it is for cats. Third, make sure that the harness is on tight enough that both cats can not slip out of it when they are trying to pull their hapless owner in half by going in two different directions. Luckily Eric ended up with only a scratch down his ankle and I spent 10 minutes trying to coax Chaya out of the gutter. Lesson learned, I don't think we'll be strolling down the street anytime soon. But don't they look cute in their harnesses?
Mira, wearing a Diane vonFurstenberg number in this season's hottest color, aquamarine.

Chaya looks gorgeous in her slimming Dolce & Gabbana cotton candy harness.

Strike a pose divas!

Will the Smoke ever clear?

2008-08-29T09:33:00.005+05:30

This weekend will mark the fourth week that we have had Smoky with us in our home. It has been a really arduous and emotional month since we have grown to care for her so much but at the same time are so frustrated by her misbehaviors. She still urinates outside of the litter box though she has been a little better, but honestly she is generally kept in 2 rooms where we have put 4 litter boxes to increase her chances of hitting one. This week we noticed that she is spraying also, I am not sure if we missed this behavior since it is hard to notice or if this is just a new development. Her favorite places to spray and urinate are those spots that Mira and Chaya like to sleep so we feel that this is most likely passive aggression toward the girls. We have been keeping them separated but they still manage to fight at the door with Smoky attacking one side while Mira and Chaya bang away at the opposite side. Mira's diarrhea has persisted these four weeks and despite two different antibiotics, probiotics, and steroids, it is no better. We are exhausted with all of the stress that has descended on our previously happy little home. The girls are now so jumpy, even when Smoky is in her room, that if you try to pet them they jump a mile. Mira slinks around and they both lay just outside the door to Smoky's room, staring at it. We keep Smoky out in the house and the girls closed up while we are at home in the evenings but of course this means that we get no time with them which is really hard for all of us because they cry and meow because they want out.

Last night after I had a mini-breakdown following another door fighting session and two Smoky-sprayings I cried on the phone to my friend and cat-guru Yasmine and then had a talk with Eric about the situation. It just isn't getting any better but I am so hesitant to give up. We have decided to try one last-ditch effort: let them try to work it out (or fight it out) for themselves (supervised, of course). While we are at home we will let them be together and see if they can come to any sort of an understanding on their own. We will give it a week and reassess the situation at that time. In the words of Michael Buffer, "Let's get ready to rumble!" We started the grand experiment last night at around 8:30 or so. By 9:30 they had to be separated for the night because the fur was flying (literally, no joke, Smoky got a piece of Mira). We let them be together again this morning while we were getting ready for work and Smoky peed in the kitchen. So I guess so far everything is going swimmingly. Or not so much. It is going to be a long week I think. I wonder who will prevail at the end of the week? Judging from the pictures I would say Mira looks the scariest, Chaya's more a lover than a fighter, but Smoky is someone not to be messed with.

Our Bangalore Home

2008-08-29T08:51:00.006+05:30

I have had a few requests in the past for pictures of our home in Bangalore. I found some pics on my computer today that I had taken probably in our first week in the place in November 2006 and was so impressed by how clean and organized it looked before we moved in and mucked it up I thought I would finally post them. Enjoy!
Our Living Room.

Look at our tiny TV!

This is what we now call Mira and Chaya's room (and Mom's when she visits).

This is what is now Eric's office and it is a huge mess compared to what this looks like!

Our bedroom, and I have no idea who Fiza is but we have been sleeping with her blanket for almost 2 years!

Our kitchen, with sink, our only counter space, our stove-top (with gas cylinder) and drinking water. And trust me, don't open the cupboard underneath...

Our nicely organized kitchen shelves (not anymore).

Dining room (and yes, that is our micro-washer).

Shower-head and geyser (micro-water heater).

Our Indian toilet, take a guess as to how to use it!

Naked!

2008-08-21T08:11:00.003+05:30

Hi everyone. I have great news! After 10 months and 29 days I am free at last, yesterday I got my braces off! The entire process of first fixing the permanent retainers, braces removal, taking new impressions and photographing the final outcome took about one and a half hours, and my mouth was open at least 85% of the time so I was glad to finally be done. It wasn't really bad at all except for the removal of the glue that held the braces on. The brackets just popped right off but left behind a lot of icky glue that had to be ground off by what sounded and felt like a belt sander. It was pretty uncomfortable and the sound was just as disturbing as fingernails on a blackboard. But once they were polished I was all done and ready to see the final result. My initial impression was, "Are my teeth really that big?" They look huge since then have been mostly hidden by my brackets for almost and year and I feel like it looks as though I have too many teeth in my mouth. But they are straight, REALLY STRAIGHT! My teeth look pretty good naked. I got a chance to look at the impressions that were made just before the braces went on and I was shocked at how crooked they were. Not anymore! I will post some pics soon, maybe even those that the orthodontist took so you can really see the difference (if they aren't too graphic, close-ups of someone's mouth might be a little too much information). I am going to start using the white strips that we brought back from the US this summer tonight so in a couple of weeks my teeth should not only be astoundingly straight, but glitteringly white as well! I am not having any problems with the retainers that were fixed yesterday, I am just glad that they are not visible. The only issue that I have had is that I am lisping a little bit, my S's don't sound the best but hopefully I will be able to adjust to that and for my new and improved smile, it is worth it!

Where there's Smoke(y), there's fire...

2008-08-15T08:56:00.003+05:30

I thought I would update everyone on how things are going with our new addition to the family. To sum it up in two words: not great. We had initially kept Smoky separate from Mira and Chaya for about a day and a half and found that Smoky was using the litter with no problem and there wasn't any serious hissing or anything going on so we decided to bring them together when we were at home (we have always kept them separated when we are at work). There has never been any actual fighting but we noticed right away that Chaya was showing a bit too much interest in Smoky. Chaya would just sit and watch her every move and when Smoky would get up and go somewhere else Chaya was not far behind. And when I say not far behind what I mean is that Chaya's nose would be around two inches from Smoky's butt. Smoky has a tendency to randomly break into a dead sprint and this simply induced Chaya to chase, which not surprisingly freaked Smoky out. With Chaya on her tail constantly Smoky has found it difficult to be comfortable enough to use the litter and she started urinating wherever she could. After a couple of days Chaya began to take swipes at Smoky whenever she managed to get close enough. After a couple of swipes and in combination with the litter problem that Smoky was having we decided that we probably needed to separate them again and try to acclimate them to each other more slowly. I have tried to read up on-line on how to address inter-cat aggression and we are trying a method that brings the cats together slowly during feeding and play times in order to try to form positive associations between the warring factions. We now have Smoky completely isolated from Mira and Chaya and we feed them on opposite sides of the same door so that they can hear each other eating. When Eric is at home during the day he lets Smoky have the run of the house and keeps the other girls sequestered in a couple of rooms and then at night we switch them. This is supposed to slowly reduce territoriality. The problems that we have had with this arrangement is that when Smoky has the run of the house she generally does okay with using the litter but she is still having accidents and you have to watch her like a hawk, which is hard to do. Secondly, when Mira and Chaya are out during the night they are constantly scratching and banging at the door to the room that Smoky is in which is irritating as hell to us and is probably very intimidating to poor Smoky. This behavior has been hard to stop as we are trying to sleep and nothing that we have tried seems to work (spraying with a water bottle and scruffing). Last night we shut them in our bedroom and then I had to put up with listening to them scratch and bang at my door trying to get out. Lastly, since we are feeding them at the door we have had to switch from free feeding to scheduled feedings twice a day. Mira and Chaya are not accustomed to this arrangement and I think some of their more recent bad behavior (all of the door banging) may be a result of this. Another problem that this has caused is that Chaya anyway has a tendency to eat too fast and not chew, and with the scheduled feedings she just overdoes it and then ends up puking. Oh, and did I mention that Mira has had horrible diarrhea for about a week and a half? If began two days after we brought Smoky home and we have been having to give her antibiotics twice a day (another fun task) which have not helped a bit. I need to call the vet again and ask what else we can do I but I really feel that she is just making herself sick with all of the stress of Smoky's arrival. I have also been very stressed as a result of all of the discord at home, I was able to fight off one cold sore, but this morning I woke up with another one and I don't have any more of my medicine so I have a feeling I am stuck with this one. We are just about at our wit's end and don't know what to do. I would feel better if I thought that anyone was comfortable with the new living arrangements but I know Eric and I are stressed, Chaya is aggressive, Mira has diarrhea, and Smoky is having daily accidents. So right now things are not good at our house and to make matters even worse it has been raining a lot which of course means that we are having very frequent power outages. Right now I just feel totally overwhelmed, helpless and hopeless. I hope it gets better, I love all three of the girls but the situation as it is right now is unsustainable. We have discussed giving it until late November/early December to improve but if this keeps up I won't be able to make it that long. If anyone has advice or suggestions, we are willing to try about anything at this point. I knew that it could be difficult but I was hoping it wouldn't be and I never imagined that it would be so bad that it would result in physical illness. I just miss the peace and quiet and harmony that we were living in just two weeks ago...

Third Time's a Charm!

2008-08-04T12:02:00.003+05:30

Well, I had to write another little post today to celebrate a major accomplishment. I have spoken before about the registration process which I have to go through following arrival into India with a new visa and how painful and frustrating it is. You have to brave the traffic to go to the Police Commissioner's Office, then brave the bureaucracy, then be sent away because you don't have some form that they never even told you that you need in the first place. I have never completed this process in fewer than four trips to the FRO (nor has any other foreigner that I have spoken to about this particular form of torture so it is not just some deficiency on my part, I promise), something is always wrong with my paperwork in some ridiculous way or another and I always leave angry and frustrated. Today was the third time that I have embarked on the registration process and I was hopeful, though not too hopeful lest my spirits be crushed, that I might get registered in the minimum two trips to the FRO after my significant amount of experience. I went armed with more paper than you'll find at a printer's shop and I emerged victorious! I had all of the paperwork that I needed, all of the passport photos that were required, the correct number of copies, and everything filled out correctly (to the disappointment and dismay of the smug government officials who relish turning away inexperienced foreigners). Tomorrow afternoon I can go and pick up my brand-new registration certificate and that will be the last time that I ever have to deal with that horrible, awful place. Hah! Suck it Bangalore Police Commissioner's Office, I WIN!

Up in Smoke

2008-08-04T07:43:00.003+05:30

We never intended to expand our family; we have been quite happy with our lives the way they are. But as often happens, fate seems to have a different plan for us. When we picked up Mira and Chaya from Yasmine and JP last week they mentioned a friend of theirs, Pami, was looking for a home for one of her Persian cats. Pami is a breeder of Persians and one of her beauties, Smoky, was having a hard time being accepted by her 17 other cats. Poor Smoky has had a tough life. She was involved in an accident several years ago which nearly led to her death but resulted only in the amputation of one of her hind legs. Due to her disability she was partially spayed, meaning that her uterus was removed but her ovaries were left in order to attempt to prevent excess weight gain that is sometimes associated with sterilization (I and Pami, in hindsight of course, believe that this was a mistake as poor Smoky suffers through her heat, but is unable to conceive). Either due to her disability or her sterilization she is not accepted by Pami's other cats who tease her mercilessly. Smoky was placed in the care of an elderly lady who loved and spoiled her until her own infirmity caused her to relocated to the US, leaving Smoky back in the care of Pami.

After hearing Smoky's story Eric and I made the decision to bring her to our house to try to integrate her into our family with the hopes that Mira and Chaya will be more accepting of Smoky. I was initially worried not only about Mira and Chaya's reaction to Smoky, but of my own. I hoped that I would be able to feel for her what I feel for Mira and Chaya, who have been with us for over a year since they were only four week old kittens. On Saturday we picked up Smoky from Pami and were greeted by a gorgeous grey lady. She kept to herself but seemed friendly enough. We packed her up in a basket and set out for the one hour auto ride home, braced for a long hard ride (Chaya hates travel and wails throughout the trip so we were prepared for the worst). To our surprise, Smoky was quiet as a mouse and sat calmly in the basket until we reached our apartment. She is such a good and sweet girl. We are keeping her separated from the girls and for the first 36 hours we just let them smell and hear each other, but not make visual contact (though there is not much to hear from Smoky except for her purring like a Porche). There has been some hissing and throat growling though the door, but I guess that is to be expected. This morning we made formal introductions which went as well as can be expected, Mira and Chaya were on edge wondering what in the h-ll we are doing to them, slinking around and getting a look at this new creature and Smoky paid them little attention. It was as though she was thinking, "Hey, what's the big deal? I'm here now, it's my house too so get used to it already!" Smoky is a quiet and sweet girl but I am quickly getting the impression that it by no means suggests that she is timid or scared. I am falling for her and her adorable face and constant purring, and I hope that Mira and Chaya do too! Wish us luck because if she is not accepted then we will have to take her back to Pami, and that would just break my heart. Just look at those gorgeous eyes!

Bombs over Bangalore

2008-07-29T08:48:00.005+05:30

We returned to Bangalore at around 6 AM on Friday, July 25 after a fantastic three week holiday in the US (see previous post). One of my main priorities upon our return was the collection of our two kitties from our friends JP and Yasmine since I missed them so much and wanted to get them home as soon as possible. We ended up leaving our house at 12 PM to head to their place and as usual, what we thought would be a quick trip there and back ended up instead leading to long visit with them since we always get talking and get wrapped up in conversation and then eating, having tea, etc (not that I am complaining, I love hanging out with these two, they are so fun and interesting it is easy to lose track of time). While we were talking their phone rang and JP answered it to find on the end of the line a friend who had been frantically trying to reach them for the past few hours to no avail. While we were chatting and having a nice afternoon, nine low-intensity bombs had been detonated at seven different sites in Bangalore (all of them quite far from where both we and JP and Yasmine live) resulting in two deaths, twenty injuries and a good deal of panic. Phone networks were immediately jammed resulting in greater panic as loved ones could not be contacted. Even my colleagues were worried as they knew that Eric and I were going to be out and about to pick up the girls but they were not able to reach me either. To its credit, Bangalore reacted much better to this tragedy that I would have expected, I feared that the panic would result in riots and violence, traffic snarls (worse than the already horrible Bangalore traffic) and mayhem. We waited a while after learning of the blasts before venturing out to go home and I was happy to find everything was normal (this is, of course, a relative term). The next day another bomb was found at Forum Mall, the biggest mall in Bangalore (I think) which is just about on the other side of the world from where we live. Sadly, sixteen more bombs were detonated on Saturday in Ahmedabad (a city in the West of India) where so far 49 people have died and nearly 200 are left injured. As far as I know, no one has claimed responsibility for the Bangalore bombing and police have few, if any, leads. Several Indian TV channels have said they had received an e-mail from a terror outfit called Indian Mujahideen claiming responsibility for the bombings in Ahmedabad; however, Islamic militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami has also claimed to be responsible for the attacks. I don't really have much of a commentary on these events, it is just frustrating to see such senseless violence which results in nothing but an opportunity for the politicians to pander and stoke the fires that already burn too brightly.

Practice Makes Perfect

2008-07-28T04:22:00.002+05:30

I apologize for the delay since my last post but as most of you probably know Eric and I were in the US for our summer holiday for most of July and we have just returned to Bangalore, landing at the new International Airport in the wee hours of July 25. I won't bore you with how our trip was, we had a wonderful time and always love to come home, there are few things that can spoil a trip to the US for us, not even flooding (which had luckily pretty much receded before we arrived in the Quad Cities) or even a freak storm with wind speeds up to 100 mph which lasted only about 20 minutes but knocked down probably thousands of trees resulting in power outages for much of the Quad Cities and the surrounding areas (this happened on Monday, July 21 at around 5 AM I think). Power, shmower, that's what I say. Living in India has toughened up a little I think, but we were thrilled when Dad hooked up the generator and even managed to get the water back on in time for us to shower before leaving on Wednesday. Anyway, the trip was awesome and we are so grateful to everyone who took the time and effort to see us, we really appreciate it. One positive development that resulted from our trip is that we obtained our last Indian visas (for now at least, hopefully in the future we will be applying for tourist visas, but no more employment visas please!) which expire on July 15, 2009 so that is our deadline for our permanent return to the US (contingent of course on the November presidential elections). Yay! Our trip back to India was uneventful though our flight from London to Bangalore sucked which resulted in me getting maybe 3 hours of total sleep in the entire 24 hour period of travel. This does not help my jet-lag at all, explaining why I am writing a post at 4 AM on a Monday morning. I am going to be hurting later...

One thing that I noticed while we were waiting for our flight in O'Hare is how much easier this gets for us each time (Okay, for me, not us. Eric is his normal controlled stoic self under almost all circumstances except of course for Indian internet customer service). To be clear, it is never easy to leave your home, your friends, you family, your "normal" way of life but it does get less painful. Actually, now that I think of it, I don't really think that it is less painful, but rather the pain is less acute. Last January I cried like a baby when I said good-bye to my Mom and Dad and sat in O'Hare weeping over our imminent departure. This time I shed a couple of tears when I said good-bye but the pain was not as sharp. Maybe it was because I know we will be home again for a visit in just 4 short months, maybe it was because I know that there is only one more set of good-byes to be said before we return permanently next July, maybe it was because I have developed better coping mechanisms. Who knows, but I am grateful that I am able to manage better. Anyway, we are back in our temporary home for one last year, and I am hopeful that the year will be fun and productive, and most of all, that it will go fast!

Overhaulin'

2008-06-28T22:04:00.004+05:30

Sorry to leave you all hanging, I hope you haven't spent the last two and a half weeks worrying that my mom has been lost somewhere between Chicago and Bangalore, she actually arrived safely, if not 45 minutes late. And I was stressing every minute. Anyway, she arrived with no problems despite the scenarios that my overactive imagination cooked up, no abduction by agitated soccer hooligans at Heathrow, no kidnapping and subsequent forced arranged marriage at the Bangalore International Airport by some deranged pervert. Nope, none of that, just a boring old trip halfway around the world. Bummer.

Not to worry though, as soon as Mom got here the fun began. Her purpose for this trip was really two-fold; first, to have some dental work, vision consultations and surgeries done and a distant second, to visit Eric and I. On her very first day in India, just four hours after her arrival, we had her first appointment at the dental clinic. She got to experience Bangalore traffic in the back of an autorickshaw which I think is an experience that she will not soon forget, in fact she might have recurring nightmares for the rest of her life. We spent the next week back and forth between home and the dental clinic (and to work for me when I could) having three root canals, one filling, one extraction, gum surgery for crown lengthening and two crowns placed. Whew, it was crazy. She completed her dental work on a Friday at around 6 PM and then next morning we were back at the hospital for her surgeries (during her dental work we had also fit in all of her pre-surgical tests, an ECG, chest X-ray and blood work as well as two meetings with the anesthesiologist). She was in surgery for 8 full hours having a mini face lift and brachioplasty (fancy doctor word for an arm-lift, why say arm-lift when you can sound way smarter by using a word with the suffix -plasty?). The surgeries went well and by Sunday afternoon we were back in an auto bumping our way back home (though bumping gently thanks to a very thoughtful auto driver). Two days later we were back out having a consultation with an eye surgeon to discuss LASIK and lens replacement. Since then we have been ordering new eyeglasses, getting cheap prescriptions and generally rebuilding my Mom. Mom is recovering well and has handled all of this like a pro but I am sure she is ready to get back home and have a vacation from her "vacation". We have had a little time to enjoy ourselves, we went out this week and spent a day shopping and went out to lunch but unfortunately the time has passed so quickly that there hasn't been time for much else. However, like I said her main reason for visiting was medical and dental, and I am very pleased that we managed to get that all taken care of in just the space of under three weeks.

Okay, the million dollar question. Why? For the readers of this blog from the US this question probably doesn't need to be addressed but for any international readers or any Americans who happen to live under a rock or have so much money that medical care isn't a financial worry, let me lay it out as briefly as I can. And please forgive me, this isn't the first time that I have talked about the prohibitive cost of medical care in the US before. Okay, let's begin with the dental treatment, I already mentioned the procedures that were done, and let me also mention that they were performed in probably one of the nicest and most expensive clinics in Bangalore. The total cost in dollars for all of the procedures that I mentioned was around $750, I think that a conservative estimate for the same treatment in the US would be $3000. Even though Mom's insurance would pay 50% of these treatments, she still saved $750. Okay, now for the surgeries, in the US the fact-lift would run anywhere from $3500-$6500 and the brachioplasty would be anywhere from $4000-6500. Mom paid $3000 here in Bangalore for both together and since insurance companies in the US won't cover these "cosmetic" procedures at all meaning that she would be responsible for footing the entire bill she saved at least another $4500. Her complete eye exam and consultation with the eye surgeon, $20. That would probably run you $200 in the States. For her eyeglasses she paid around $150 here in India for the best lenses that money can buy and saved around another $300. We stopped at the pharmacy yesterday and picked up some prescriptions that she and Dad take for high cholesterol, restless leg, acid reflux, etc. and saved another $350 on a 3 month supply of these meds (that is taking into account the 80% that insurance pays for the prescriptions, if they didn't have insurance covering this portion of their drugs they could save around $1650). Grand total saved by coming to India, over $6000 (this is a conservative estimate). Considering the cost of her ticket was around $1700 I think that it was a good decision for her to come here. Plus, she got the opportunity to visit with us and have an opportunity to travel abroad and see how the world is outside of the Quad Cities. It has been a crazy two and a half weeks but it has been great to have Mom around and I think that she is generally pleased at how it all turned out. In fact, she is making plans to continue the overhaul in January so I guess it wasn't so bad. Her visit is nearly up which means that it is only a few more days before we are homeward bound for a three week holiday in the US, and after the craziness of the last couple of weeks, we could sure use a holiday!

Where in the world is Zelma Ziegenhorn?

2008-06-11T13:51:00.008+05:30

I remember when I was in college and even for years after I had graduated from college, after wrapping up a trip to visit my parents they would always ask me to give them a call when I arrived back home, just to let them know that I arrived safely. I thought that they were being silly, didn't they realize that I am an adult and that they don't need to worry about me, it's just a three hour drive, no big deal. And because I thought that they were overreacting and being so silly, I usually forgot to make that call. I am a horrible daughter.

Now I think that I am beginning to know how they felt, and I am sure how they probably still feel to this day. My mom (Zelma, the one from the title) is currently somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean on her way to visit us here in Bangalore and I am terrified. I sat bolt upright in bed this morning at 5 AM and since then I have been continuously trying to calculate the time differences between India and the US, then India and London (where she has a connection) and stressing all the while hoping that everything is going well for her. I know logically that she is a grown woman who managed to raise 8 kids and that she is no dummy, she'll be just fine, I should relax. But my heart is shouting that I should be with her to help, she hasn't travelled often and she has never left the US, let alone gone half-way around the world and I just can't convince myself to stop worrying. I have spent most of the day near my computer so that I can check e-mails and monitor her flight progress, I know that the plane took off from Chicago eleven minutes late and that it is supposed to land in twenty six minutes, just six minutes late. I have calculated that she will have 3 hours and 44 minutes to make her way to the new terminal in London, Terminal 5, the terminal that had its disastrous opening in March. I then stress for a few minutes wondering if they have all of the kinks worked out and will she make it to the terminal okay.

Seven minutes until she lands now (sorry, I had to run off and do some work). Have I prepared her for immigration and customs in Bangalore sufficiently? I forgot to go through that with her and had to write an e-mail the day before she left trying to detail the process, did I forget something? But why am I so worried, she is a smart lady who can figure these things out on her own. Now I understand, you worry because you are powerless, you have tried to inform and give all of the help that you can and then you have to just trust that everything will work out, that it will all be fine in the end and that all of the worrying was for nothing. But you worry really because you love. Can you love someone and not worry about their safety, their happiness, their well-being, even when it is out of your control? I don't see how, and I have no idea how my parents have managed to keep sane when they have 8 kids and now 7 grandkids to worry about.

Yay, she's landed safely in London (at least according to British Airway's web-site and assuming that she made it on the plane in Chicago to begin with, oh God, now I have something else to stress about)!!! Onto Terminal 5 Mom, Bangalore dead ahead!

What's in a name?

2008-06-06T04:54:00.005+05:30

Hi all. I noticed a few weeks ago that Blogger has this cool new function that allow users to transliterate in several Indian languages. Transliteration is not the same as translation, but what it means is rather that you can type something phonetically in English script and the Roman characters are substituted with characters from some other language (say Hindi for instance) that have the same sound (or at least as close an approximation as possible). But again, it isn't a translation. For example the name of one of our cats is Chaya which is the Hindi word for shade (actually the proper spelling is probably something more like Chhaaya but that seems like WAY too many double letters for my taste). So transliteration of shade is शेड while transliteration of Chhaaya, the translation of shade, is छाया. Pretty cool, huh?

I am not sure if I have mentioned much before about the Indian languages on this blog so here is a quick primer. The Constitution of India recognises 22 languages, spoken in different parts the country, namely Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Santali, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. Just to give you a bit of context, India only has 28 states (and 7 territories) so that breaks down to just about one language per state (give or take). Hindi is recognized as the official language of the central government but in some states in the south of India (most notably Tamil Nadu) Hindi is not taught in schools and thus a large number of South Indians do not speak Hindi but instead speak the local language. In Karnataka, the state in which Bangalore is situated, most regular folks speak the local language, Kannada and often maybe just a few words of Hindi and probably even more words in English. I feel in the South you are better off knowing English than Hindi if you want to communicate with the locals.

There are a couple of points that resonate with me when considering the effects of having so many languages in a single country. The first is that I am utterly amazed at and in awe of the capacity for language among the Indians. I have yet to meet an Indian who is not at least bilingual. And I mean truly bilingual, perfectly fluent in at least two languages. This consistently makes me feel like a total idiot, I luckily can manage English pretty well and I can put together a bit of Spanish from my four years that I had in high school (but that was between 18-14 years ago, my god, is that right? Yikes!). The truly humbling thing though is that for many, many people here two languages is nothing. A girl in my lab speaks English, Hindi, Tamil, Oriya and Malayalam all fluently and if memory serves she can manage pretty well in several of others (hey Gayatri!). The thing that is truly impressive about this is that these languages are all unrelated with different alphabets and no actual similarity to one another so it is not like learning one helps you to learn any of the others. The second point that I think is worth mentioning in regards to the many languages of India is not so positive and has to do with the inability of people from the same country to communicate with one another. This is something that we, as Americans, take for granted. Certainly there is a population of non-English speakers in the US but it is very small (I can't find any numbers that I trust to support this, everything that I find on the web is from crazies who want to "defend and protect English" as if there is some war on English. Hello dummies, English isn't in danger, it is actually endangering thousands of indigenous languages because like an invasive species it moves into communities and takes over, strangling the native languages, just ask the Native Americans and the Inuits (Eskimos) to name a few). Sorry tangent, couldn't help myself. Give me a break, it's 5 in the morning and I can't sleep so I should be given a bit of latitude I think. Anyway, the point that I was trying to make before I got distracted was that it is almost impossible for me to image not being able to communicate with someone from say, Colorado because we speak different languages. Even worse, since I grew up on the Illinois/Iowa border, would I not be able to understand the Iowegians or have to learn their language in order to communicate with them? Okay, in fairness I do have a hard time communicating with and understanding the Iowegians as it is, after all, they are from IOWA (sorry Mom and the Kreinbrings, couldn't help myself). A friend of mine from work visited the US just about two years ago (hi Neha). She is from the North of India and speaks Hindi and English and has been transplanted here in Bangalore for the past several years while in grad school. She told me the story of her visit to the US and how it struck her that while she was there, maybe for the first time in her life, she could understand ALL of the conversations that were going on around her because they were all in English. She had to leave her country to understand and be understood by everyone. Very strange. Anyway, I thought that I would leave you with a little bit of transliteration in some of the Indian languages so you can at least get a look at the differences. Enjoy!

Hindi
Suzi सूजी
Eric एरिक
Kannada
Suzi ಸೂಜಿ
Eric ಎರಿಕ್
Tamil
Suzi சுசி
Eric ஏறிக்
Malayalam
Suzi സുജി
Eric എറിക്

Monsoon!

2008-06-02T14:46:00.003+05:30

The monsoon rains are a welcome event after the summer that we have had. I have already complained enough about April and was able to keep my mouth shut through all of May for fear that you all would get sick of my whining (though the temps were above 90 F 21 days of the month) but for the last two weeks, the rains have come and brought with them mild days and cool nights. When I say the the rains have come for the last two weeks I should clarify and explain that they have come every single day for the past two weeks. You can almost set your watch to them, the mornings are cool and clear, around lunchtime the sky is a bright blue with a few puffy white clouds, but in the late afternoon dark clouds chase away the puffy ones and the skies open up. According to the weathermen here the monsoon officially began on June 1, though how they arrive at this date is beyond me. I don't have a lot of faith in meteorologists so I don't even bother to try to understand how they do their predictions, etc. I figure that it is probably equivalent to reading tea leaves or something of the sort...

Anyway, back to the monsoon. I am usually pretty lucky that I don't often get stuck walking in the rain, it often wraps up before I leave work in the early evening or holds off until I get home from the gym a couple of hours later. I am not always so lucky though and walking in the rain isn't exactly for the faint of heart. In fact, walking here at all is a fairly dangerous and nerve-wracking activity and the addition of flooded streets, overflowing sewers, drivers aiming to drench you with the nearest mud-puddle and pelting rain just adds to the excitement. I have to say though, I never experienced such a sense of accomplishment at just getting home as I have here in India. It is like being on American Gladiators each and every night except that instead of facing 'roided up opponents you instead have to take on vehicles, animals, the elements, the crumbling infrastructure, and the Travelator equivalent, the locals. All of this makes Helga look like a sissy, and if you can make your way down and across the streets every night, you are truly a champion. Some days I make it, and other days I have to admit that I suffer the agony of defeat. I have been hit by at least 2 motorcycles (okay, really just bumped, but still), I am accosted by strangers wanting either money, to talk, or god knows what, I have stubbed my toe so badly that it poured blood, I have tripped more times than imaginable, dodged more autorickshaws than I can stand and a few weeks ago I fell into a ditch while trying to side-step a mud-puddle. Luckily I landed on my feet but it was pretty embarrassing crawling out nonetheless.

On Saturday evening we experienced probably the most impressive rain shower that I have ever seen. I guess a shower isn't really an appropriate term, more like rain torrent. It was crazy and the rain came down in a way that I have never experienced. I was sure that the water was going to flood into our apartment because it just couldn't drain off of our balcony fast enough (we even have 2 drains). Lucky for us though, no flooding, just a power outage from around 5:30 PM until 9:30 PM. Despite the new set of problems brought on by the arrival of the monsoon, I will take it over the long hot days of summer anytime!

Paranoia

2008-06-02T11:30:00.003+05:30

I just thought that I would include an addendum to my last post as it has kicked up a fair number of paranoid delusions among former students in the GH lab who are now afraid that the senior members felt similar disgust and disappointment toward them (ahem, Shantala and Rashmi). Take it easy you guys, if we thought you were idiots or didn't like you believe me, you would know it.

The Donald

2008-05-22T12:06:00.004+05:30

One of the responsibilities of a graduate student, post-doc or PI is that of mentoring and training new students. It is a valuable and important part of a scientist's training that they not just be able to plan out and perform experiments, but that they should also be able to teach the art to others. If after all a scientist can't explain his work to anyone, what is the use of having done even a single experiment? I feel that knowledge is really only valuable if it is shared, if you found the cure for cancer but never bothered to tell anyone then who cares?

I have, to date, directly mentored nine students and have had a couple of great experiences, many good ones, and a couple of bad ones. But I have never had a horrible, heart-wrenching, pull-your-hair-out, drive-you-to drink one. Until now, that is. Just over two weeks ago a new student joined the lab and was I was tasked with giving her a project and supervising her while she was here, we will call her Abhira. When Abhira arrived in lab I immediately sat down with her and explained to her that I was not familiar with her educational background so if I was going either too fast or too slow in explaining her projects she should not be afraid to tell me and I would make adjustments accordingly. I have found that this disclaimer is important to give as most students are embarrassed to admit that they aren't following so I try to put them at ease right away and tell them that when I first joined a lab I didn't know a petrie plate from a Pasteur pipette so they have no reason to be afraid to ask me anything (though I do of course assume a basic knowledge of biology, like the difference between proteins, DNA, etc.). So after spending quite a bit of time with Abhira on her first day she assured me several times that she understood what I was explaining and that she was comfortable enough to get to work with the flies that I had got started for her and had been collecting for about 2 weeks. Her first task: take the flies from old vials, transfer them into new vials with fresh fly food and return the vials to the rack exactly as they were. I left her to this very simple task and when I checked in on her some time later I found that she was not putting the tubes back in the rack in the proper order and everything was all mixed up which meant that I had to discard around 40% of the flies that I had spent the last 2 weeks collecting and caring for. Aughhhhh! I was very cool and calm and explained to her that she clearly hadn't understood what I had told her so in the future if she has any doubts she should just ask me and I would be happy to clarify. I gave her several pertinent journal articles and a book on fly husbandry and genetics and asked that she do the reading to get up to speed and also continue practicing a technique that I had taught her that would be required for her experiments. A few days later I sat down with Abhira again to discuss her project only to discover that she either hadn't read or comprehended anything that I had given her. She insisted that she had in fact read and understood all of it, but after quizzing her briefly I found that this couldn't possibly be the case. When I asked her what type of experiments were done in one of the papers which she swore she read and understood she told me that they did blah, blah and blah in flies. I told her that couldn't be true as the researchers who published this article don't even use flies in their experiments. Lied to yet again. I asked her to describe to me each of her three projects that she was working on in lab and she couldn't even cover one. And when I asked her to tell me the genotypes of her flies she not only couldn't tell me what, for sure, they were, but she would actually make things up, I guess hoping that I also wouldn't know what I had given her! Additionally, when she was stumped, instead of saying she wasn't sure or didn't know she would just sit there silently and stare at the paper as if the answer would magically appear on it if only she could stare at it long or intently enough. I thought to myself that I would just sit there and see how long she could silently stare at the paper before simply saying, "I don't know" but I got bored after a couple of minutes and had to speak up. Aughhhhhh! So after this disastrous meeting I told her that she had the entire weekend to read up as I had already told her to do and on Monday or Tuesday we would meet with the head honcho Gaiti (I had privately met with Gaiti and told her of my difficulties with this student and asked that she provide a second opinion in case I was being overly critical or something). On Tuesday we met and let's just say that it didn't go well. Abhira continued to be absolutely clueless and make up answers if she wasn't sure, for instance, "What chromosome is blah blah, blah on?" "Ughhh (complete blank and desperate look), it is on chromosome 2." "No, it is on the X chromosome." Why not just say I don't know??? Complete and utter torture. I submit that the CIA should incorporate Abhira into any techniques that might be used on suspects in place of water-boarding and other unethical means of acquiring information. Speaking with her has to be worse. Anyway, Gaiti and I again met privately and she suggested that Abhira stay just until the end of the week and continue to practice the technique that I had taught her and perhaps by Friday she might be able to look at a couple of experimental flies instead of just practicing. She, however, misunderstood that she was being dismissed due to her dishonesty and incompetence and thought instead that Gaiti asked her to leave because there wasn't enough time to actually finish her experiments. I decided that she needed to be set straight on this so I met with her yesterday afternoon and explained to her that she had to leave because she had continually lied to me about her understanding and I wouldn't work with someone that I couldn't trust. I also told her that I believed that she didn't understand basic biological concepts because she was unable to grasp very simple things that I was trying to teach her. She was shocked by this and stated that she didn't feel she was lying and since she hadn't worked with a foreigner before maybe that was the reason for the problems that we were having. This is, of course, horse crap since none of the Indian students I know would accept someone lying to them either, and I told her so. But I assured her that it is okay, this was a learning experience for her and that I was sure that she wouldn't make the mistake again and to not get too upset by the situation. I then went on to give her some advice on how she might improve on the technique that she had been practicing and we went back to lab. She then proceeded to completely ignore the advice that I had given to her and do what she thought was best. Nice. I again scolded her and after following my advice things her technique improved a bit. Did I mention that I started having a drink every night when I arrived home to try to relax and get her dullness out of my head?

This morning she arrived and spoke to me again and said she was feeling very bad about all that had happened and I told her it was okay, don't dwell on it, just learn from it and don't repeat the mistake in the future. About an hour later she approached me and told me that she had just used the technique that she had been practicing on MY experimental flies and she was ready to look at them under the microscope. WHAT!!! I asked who had given her permission to take my flies, I had certainly not given her the green light to proceed as I felt she wasn't ready to do the experiment yet. She stammered that she just thought that it would be alright, blah, blah, blah. I asked her to show me which flies she had used and found that she had again screwed things up royally since she didn't bother to think about what it was that she was doing. That was the last straw. Stealing my flies and then screwing it up on top of it all. I told her that she had to leave, there was a bus departing the campus in 45 minutes and she needed to be on it, I was done dealing with her. In the words of The Donald, "You're fired." She stood there looking at me like a stupid cow, with vacant thoughtless eyes and I was so disgusted that I just walked away. She followed me and asked that if she did exactly as I said could she stay and I told her no way, get out, it's done. I have never been so frustrated and troubled by a student and though I am relieved that she is gone, I also feel confused and unsure. Could I have done anything more? Is this my fault in some way? I don't think so but it is still hard to not feel bad about the entire situation. How can The Donald do this so regularly and not feel badly about it? Maybe if I had a couple of billion bucks and really bad hair I would feel better...

The roller-coaster that is our lives...

2008-05-14T14:56:00.005+05:30

Hello all. Yeah, I know what you are thinking, "Three posts in one day? Why doesn't this girl get off of her butt and do some work?" Well, the truth is I don't feel like it, I am in too good a mood to spoil it with experiments and bench work that just haven't been cooperating recently. So why I am in such a good mood today? Well, to explain that I need to go back about three weeks. That was when Eric and I made the difficult decision that when we returned to the US in July, for Eric it was not going to be a visit, but rather a permanent move back to to the US while I would return to India at the end of July in order to complete the last year of my fellowship. This was a decision that was a long time in the making but the situation in Eric's group at Motorola was such that his return to the US seemed necessary in order for him to position himself in the company so that he had more flexibility than he has while he is in India. It is complicated and I don't even understand all of the intricacies but regardless of all of that, we decided that he would leave India permanently. This was a tremendously difficult decision for obvious reasons, who wants to spend a year away from their spouse, especially when your spouse is situated 5,000 miles and eleven and a half time zones away? But it was difficult for logistical reasons also, where would Eric live, would it be safe for me to continue to live in our apartment without Eric's presence, what would we do with the cats if I had to move, how would I manage to do everything that needs to be done without Eric's help, would Eric manage find something other than fast food or cereal for his meals, who would I bore to death with my endless chatter, would we see each other just once in the entire year, how do you file taxes in our situation, what about our finances, etc? But mostly, after more than 12 years together, how could we be apart? Most of you didn't know either Eric or me before we were a couple. We as a couple pre-date nearly all of our closest friends (except Eric's St. Mark's chums), Eric and I met just maybe a month after I met my closest friends from college. My oldest nieces and nephews are unaware that there was ever a time B.E. (before Eric). Our lives are so intertwined, it is difficult to imagine how they could ever be separated. I am sure any of you who have been in such a long relationship (and I am sure many of you have even longer marriages) would have difficulty imagining how you would be able to maintain two households in two different countries literally on opposite sides of the globe while retaining your sanity and any quality of life. The last three weeks have been both heart-breaking and scary as both of us started to get used to the idea of this separation and began to make arrangements to deal with the situation.

So why the good mood then? Well, yesterday Eric received word from his supervisor that it was fine for him to remain in India, at least for a while longer and he needn't plan on remaining in the States in July. When he shared this news with me last night I was just in a state of shock. Though it had only been 3 weeks since we made the decision for him to stay in the US, I had spent a lot of time imagining life without him here. We had made a number of arrangements to prepare for his departure, I had applied for alternate housing, had booked a single ticket for my return to India at the end of July, we had closed our joint savings account here in India, we had spoken to our landlord about Eric's departure, etc. And now everything has changed again, for the better of course, but I feel as if I am on a run-away roller-coaster, and I am blindfolded. The news is naturally great for me, there is no downside. But for Eric, who has sometimes struggled to find happiness in India, it is more of a mixed bag. On one hand he is happy that we won't have to be apart for the year and we don't have to make plans for his and my living arrangements but on the other he had already begun to imagine life back in the US. While I was fretting about how I could manage without him in India he was dreaming of Whoppers, fried chicken, orderly roads, quiet streets and at least reasonable infrastructure. Any one of those things would be a decent substitute for a measly old wife, so you can probably understand his quandary. Regardless, he is coming back to India with me and I booked his ticket right away before he could change his mind!

Indian Shower

2008-05-14T14:11:00.007+05:30

No, not rain shower, not the kind that involves shampoo and soap, but the kind that we in the US give to celebrate big events like marriages and births. As far as I can tell, what has been come to be known as the modern baby shower is a purely American invention. When I mentioned to my French friend that we were throwing a shower for my friend and colleague Debleena he looked at me like I was crazy. Even after I explained the concept of a shower he still didn't think that there was an equivalent, at least in France. Then again though, this is the same fellow who, when I mentioned that we were having this party for Debleena looked at me and said, "Oh, she's pregnant?". By that time she was at least in her 7th month and it was pretty obvious that something was brewing beneath her kurta. He explained his ignorance by pointing out to me that he had to change the way in which he looked at Indian women, ONLY in the face. But that's a post for another day... Not surprisingly the baby shower is also unheard of in India (at least in most of India). There are some ceremonies that are held prior to the birth of the baby, mostly for the purpose of ensuring the health of the mother and the fetus. One of the most common is the valaikappu, also known as the bangle ceremony, a Hindu ritual for a mother-to-be. It is usually held in the 7th or 9th month of pregnancy and is a time when family and friends gather to convey their best wishes to the soon-to-be mom and dad. Usually the big difference between the American baby shower and almost all Indian pre-birth rituals is that it is considered unlucky to give gifts to the baby before its birth so any gifts presented in Indian rituals are for the mother-to-be.

When I presented the idea of a baby shower to Debleena and explained what it is she was happy to be the guest of honor and didn't mind receiving gifts for the baby before its birth. So last Saturday a small group of us gathered and had our own littler version of a baby shower here in Bangalore. We had gone shopping for gifts for the baby and after a nice lunch watched as Debleena opened up her first gifts for her new addition. Since it is considered bad luck to get things for the baby before the baby is born, she and her husband didn't have a single thing for their new charge. No clothes, no diapers, no car seat, no bottles, NOTHING! This is something that I find so strange, but it is the way of life here. In fact, when we went to pick out things for the baby at the shop the salespeople were slightly confused when we couldn't tell them that we didn't know the sex of the baby that we were shopping for. As far as they were concerned, if we were shopping for a baby, then the baby must already be born! The shower was good fun and Debleena received a few gifts that will hopefully come in handy in June when the baby is due. Congratulations Debleena!

Isn't Debleena too cute?

Oooooohhh, tiny fingernail clippers are so sweet!

GH lab ladies gathered to wish Debleena all the best (from left to right: Neha, Shantala, Debleena, Nisha, me, Gayatri and Mamta)!

What a cute little shirt for the new baby!

What could they all be??

Summer Colors

2008-05-14T13:30:00.009+05:30

After long last I am posting some pics of the jubilant colors that can be seen in and around Bangalore in the summer. I have no idea as to the names of most of these, but enjoy nonetheless!

The road leading into the NCBS campus is flanked by mango orchards and some really beautiful flowering trees.

There is bougainvillea everywhere, here is some inside of the NCBS campus.

A lovely clump of red flowers on a flowering tree.

More bougainvillea.

Mango trees!

No leaves on this one, but some lovely orange blooms.

So many jackfruits!

More beautiful blooms, this time in purple.

Finally, April is Over!!!

2008-05-02T08:15:00.004+05:30

Well, two summer months are over, leaving only one to go. We were lucky that March was very mild but April turned out to be a real scorcher. We had temperatures above 90 degrees F for over half of the days of the month and so far it looks like May is going to bring more of the same. The forecast for this week is highs around 96 though I would guess that we should be hovering near the low 90s instead, the forecast always seems to be on the pessimistic side. I, on the other hand, am an optimist. In my search for upsides to the blistering Indian summer I have a couple of other things to add to the list: watermelon, jack-fruit and the beautiful flowering trees that somehow manage to look fresh and lovely while the rest of us look wilted and worn out. I took a walk with two of my colleagues about a week ago to take some pics of these gorgeous trees, I will post them when I get some time. Jack-fruits, on the other hand, are the world's largest tree-borne fruits and they are delicious! They look like overgrown hedge-apples but when cut open reveal wonderful and fragrant yellow pods that are very fleshy in texture but are so yummy! I have been told that one has to be careful when cutting into a jack-fruit as it is VERY sticky and it is usually best left to professionals. You can buy pre-cut jack-fruit pods from street vendors for Rs5 a piece. Come to think of it, I should stop this weekend and pick up a few to munch on!

How do you spell relief? R-A-I-N

2008-04-24T09:17:00.002+05:30

I now understand why many of my Indian friends get so excited about rain. After 11 straight days with temperatures topping 90 degrees, we received a brief respite yesterday evening in the form of a few brief but substantial showers. Ahhhhhhhhh. The cooling effect of the rain is amazing. Our apartment was much more comfortable, the girls were not so whiney and life is just much better when you aren't sweating. The forecast is for more hot weather but at least for one night we got to enjoy the benefits of a mid-summer rain. Huh, I guess I just discovered another positive about the summer here, the April shower.

HOT

2008-04-22T12:37:00.008+05:30

I graphed out the daily highs and lows for April so far. We are in our 10th day of over 90 degree heat, and no cool down is expected anytime soon. I'll update this to let you know how much worse it gets, but it is supposed to be like this until at least Friday. BLAH! By the way, did I ever mention that my gym doesn't have air conditioning or even a single fan? It doesn't and it's miserable.

Care Packages, Yippee!

2008-04-22T09:59:00.003+05:30

We are currently a grumpy lot around our house these days. The heat is unrelenting and it is so hard to stay cool, even with the fans on it is pretty uncomfortable. I actually feel that since our roof is so hot the fans are nothing more than the fan that one finds inside a convection oven, not meant to cool but to rather circulate the hot air for even cooking. And we are certainly cooking. It is at these times when life seems the hardest that the packages that are sent by our friends and family help to keep up going. My friend Suzen recently sent several boxes of Girl Scout Cookies that were practically inhaled (Eric had the Thin Mints and the Tagalongs were mine). For Easter my parents FedExed a baggie full of Crystal Light On the Go packets which really come in handy in the hot weather since we are drinking water almost constantly. And this weekend we received a package from my friend Jen which was full of goodies for us as well as for Mira and Chaya. We aren't able to get cat treats here, they don't exist as far as we can tell and they are pretty finicky about what they'll eat (I'm afraid Eric has spoiled them rotten and of course I didn't have a thing to do with it). Jen very kindly packed some treats for the girls and also included for them a little toy as we don't get cat toys here either, except for the homemade variety, which are invariably preferred anyway. The little purple crab is so cute but I thought that they wouldn't be interested as they prefer aluminum balls and plastic bags to anything that we have brought them from the US. But to my surprise they attacked this thing immediately and just love to play with it! In fact, they love it so much that Saturday night I was awoken by a cat thrashing about on our bed only to find Chaya with her new toy in a death grip. I don't know what it is about this thing but they are crazy for it. But, true to form, they did spend a significant amount of time playing with the box, go figure. Anyway, they are loving their toy and their treats, I imagine that these gifts are making these hot days more bearable for them too. We appreciate everything that our friends and family have sent us, each of you have made our lives more comfortable and brought a bit of home to us here in India. Thank you!

Indian Summer, the real deal

2008-04-16T14:59:00.003+05:30

After a mild March summer has come to India with a vengeance. We are experiencing daily temperatures with highs at around 95 degrees and lows sometimes at around 78 degrees. Since Sunday we have been roasting and there is no relief in sight. Aside from the heat there are a few other annoyances that are ushered in with the warm weather; more frequent power outages due to increased energy consumption that comes when all of the business crank up their air-conditioning. I don't personally know of any home that has air-conditioning here in Bangalore so I assume that it is the businesses that are hogging all of the energy during the summer months. Water shortages and rationing also accompany the summer months. We try to conserve during the hot months, but I have to take a shower in the evening so that I can cool off enough to sleep and again in the morning to wash away the sweaty consequences of trying to sleep when it is so hot out. Our apartment get particularly hot since we live on the top floor of the house and the roof bakes all day and the heat very nicely gets transferred to our apartment. In the evening it is easily several degrees cooler outside of the apartment than inside. Well, why not throw open the doors and windows and let some of that cool air in, you might ask? Mosquitoes are a problem at all times of the year but are particularly bad during the summer months. As it is I often get bitten badly at night when I have kicked off the covers on the bed, and that is with the doors and windows closed and/or mosquito netted. The mosquitoes are not the only creatures that make their way inside during the summer months, the ubiquitous ants multiply in number and seemingly take over the kitchen and the cockroaches scuttle around in the bathroom (at least until Mira or Chaya finds them, and then they are nicely eliminated). Speaking of Mira and Chaya, the hot days have made them ornery and desperate to run outside in the cool hours of the morning and evening, leaving Eric and I to chase them all over the rooftop before finally returning them to the safety of our steaming apartment. Mira is so annoyed at it all that she has taken to urinating on our bed, and did so last night with us in it! Anyone want a cat?

This year though more than last, I have decided to also try to partake in the positives that come with summer. So far I have only come up with one positive, mangoes are ripening all over India and are now available so for dessert last night I had my first 2 of the season. Delicious! I will try to think of other good aspects of the summer but until I come up with any more I will be satisfied with gorging myself on the bounty of the season.

Yay South Africa!

2008-04-15T09:53:00.000+05:30

Good job South Africa, now let's keep it up and spread the word!

Incredible India

2008-04-11T08:36:00.004+05:30

What up South America and Africa?

2008-04-04T15:09:00.005+05:30

Hey South America and Africa, what did I ever do to you? And don't think that I don't notice you Russia, because I do. But the one that really stings is Moldova. (Confused? See Clustrmap in the bottom left.)

Miscellaneous

2008-04-04T14:12:00.005+05:30

Hi everyone. Sorry that I haven't been keeping up on the posting as of late, I had a couple of presentations that I had to give but I finished up the last one today so now life can get back to normal. So since I made my last real post not a lot has happened but I will try to come up with a few things to talk about. I hope that everyone had a nice Easter, we sure did! We treated ourselves by making reservations at one of the nicest "Western" style hotels for Easter brunch in their restaurant. It was really nice, the restaurant was decorated with Easter baskets and Easter eggs and the champagne brunch was quite nice. There was a ton of food and best of all, there was all different types of cuisines, Lebanese (yummy pita pockets), ham, a turkey, an antipasto table full of cheeses, olives and cured meats, crab, shrimp, oysters, clams, chicken, just everything that you can imagine. But it didn't come cheap, the final bill was over $100 for both of us, but it was worth it for a special occasion.

The summer is upon us here in Bangalore, though we have been having really strange weather. March and April are supposed to be just about the hottest and driest months of the entire year so I was sort of dreading their arrival but instead of hot dry weather we have been getting quite a bit of rain which has kept it nice and cool. This is nice for us since we are pretty comfortable in the cool temperatures but the unseasonable rain is causing problems with the summer crops and everyone is a bit worried about the mango crop this year. People here sure love their mangoes, and I will also be sad if there aren't mangoes this year because they are quite yummy, it's too bad that the US doesn't get good mangoes, they are really good... Anyway, along with the summer comes the power outages, we get at least a few a week, they usually don't last long but last Sunday we had a bit of a rainstorm with some wind and the infrastructure here is pretty shabby so of course the power went out because either some pole came down or a tree fell and knocked down the wires. The power switched off at around 2 or 3 PM and it didn't come back until around 8 or 9 PM. Eric and I piddled around for some time but eventually got bored and decided to go outside and play catch. We brought our gloves and a couple of balls with us to India so that we could toss it around every once in a while so that when we eventually return and hopefully pick up on slow-pitch again we aren't too rusty. We have no place to actually play catch so we just played right in the street in front of our house, moving to the side to let people, cars, trucks, and motorcycles by when they approached. It was a lot of fun and since the power was out along the whole street pretty soon curious neighbors were peeking over their gates to see what the strange foreigners were doing in the street. We had a nice time and we were even able to teach one guy how to throw (until he let loose a wild pitch and hit one of our neighbor's motorcycle). We stayed outside until after dark but pretty soon we forced inside by the mosquitoes. Ah yes, the mosquitoes. With the rain has come hordes of mosquitoes that I chase around the house like a crazy woman trying to kill. I usually get several every day. I have also noticed that Mira and Chaya have joined me in my never-ending battle against the mosquito, though their favorite prey item would definitely have to be the cockroach. Every couple of days I will find either a whole cockroach that has been played with to death, but usually I just find a leg or two here and there. Gross! But I guess it is better than me finding them and killing them. I would have never guessed that cats would turn out to be such good exterminators. Why call the Orkin man when you can just bring a kitten home?

Mira and Chaya are both doing well, Chaya maybe a bit too well, she is getting a little chubby and Eric has started calling the poor baby "Fatty" and other cruel and hurtful things. I will include some pics, you can decide for yourself if she is fat, I prefer to think that she is just "healthy". They are just about one year old already and I am trying to break myself of the habit of referring to them as "the kittens" as they are hardly kittens anymore. They continue to provide us with endless entertainment except for when they are sleeping which is from around 11 AM- 8 PM or so. Last Sunday when the power was off we couldn't play with them since they were snoozing the entire time. They are mostly well behaved and we have recently learned a new game, they love plastic bags and I have taken to tying a string around one of the handles of a big plastic bag and I run around the entire apartment pulling the bag behind me with two kittens chasing me and the bag. I wonder what our downstairs neighbors think is going on... It is good exercise for them, and me too. I also learned last night that they love the laser pointer. I was practicing my talk and I had it out and they would just sit and stare at the little red dot moving all over the place. I think that we are going to take video of them moving their head back and forth and set it to music. Pretty funny, at least for us.

Okay, that is a glimpse into our fun and exciting life!

How can you tell that these are my kittens? They love shoes!

It is a bird, is it a plane, no, it is Super-Mira!

What are you looking at?

One of Eric's favorite (and stupid) jokes, "Chaya has a weight problem, she can't wait to eat!"

Only in India...

2008-03-28T09:13:00.005+05:30

Aircraft hits dog at Bangalore runway, 2 injured

DOGGED DOWN: A Hyderabad-bound Kingfisher aircraft nose wheel collapsed after it hit a dog on the runway.

A Kingfisher Airlines aircraft on Thursday hit a dog on the runway at the Bangalore Airport during its takeoff causing the nose landing gear to collapse.

The aircraft, having never left the ground, came to a halt on the runway and the crew performed an emergency evacuation of the 25 passengers on board. Two guests stumbled whilst evacuating and sustained minor sprains while all others are safe.

“I am happy that all guests on board our flight are safe. It is most unfortunate that the dog-menace at airports in India still persists and that an incident occurred today in Bangalore,” Chairman and CEO Kingfisher Airlines Dr Vijay Mallya said.

“All guests travelling on this flight will be provided with transport and hotel Accommodation in Bangalore as required and offered seats on a Kingfisher Airlines flight of their choice to Hyderabad," Mallya assured.

The ATR was under the command of Captain Mmopi who has over 11,000 hours of flying experience, according to a press release by the airlines

According to the commander, a black dog crossed the runway whilst the aircraft was on its takeoff roll, and because the runway is dimly lit, the crew did not notice the animal till it was too late to take evasive action.

The aircraft is disabled and will have to be jacked up and towed off the runway. The Kingfisher Airlines Flight Safety Team is already on the spot and will conduct a full investigation in conjunction with the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and airport authorities.

The HAL airport was closed to all outgoing and incoming flights till the runway was cleared. The two injured passengers were taken to hospital.

Operations at the airport finally resumed at about 0130 hrs IST on Friday morning.

Two flights, IC 771 (Kolkata-Bangalore) and IC 904 (Delhi-Bangalore) were diverted to Chennai due to runway closure.

This story would almost be funny if it didn't make me fear that the reaction of the government or the people would be to round up all of the black dogs that they can find and kill them. And notice of course that the collision was the fault of the dog, not the airport authorities for providing dim lighting on the runway. My friend Neha also pointed out that there isn't just a dog menace in India, but a cow menace as well as an accident occurred in February where another plane killed a cow. Jeez, what universe have I ended up in???

So Photogenic!

2008-02-28T09:32:00.005+05:30

I am posting a couple of pics that were taken just after Christmas at a dinner that my grandparents hosted for ALL of the family. We had to be put in a separate room as there were more than 30 of us (and this is just siblings, spouses, and their kids)! I'm glad I didn't have to pick up that bill!

Myself and all of my siblings, a prize to anyone who isn't a Ziegenhorn, married to a Ziegenhorn, or related to a Ziegenhorn who can name all of us and put the name to a face (I'll be checking the comments to see who the big winner is)!

Yeah, I know, the braces are HOT.

Creative Way to Waste Time When the Boss is Gone for the Day...

2008-02-27T13:36:00.001+05:30

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	8.6
Mind:	7.8
Body:	9.3
Spirit:	7.8
Friends/Family:	7.4
Love:	10
Finance:	8.5
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Prevent War with France, Vote Obama!!!

2008-02-26T12:10:00.003+05:30

Eric and I were having dinner with a French colleague of mine last Friday and as often happens, the talk turned to American politics and this fellow had a very interesting viewpoint on the Primaries that I had never considered but I think warrants serious consideration. Our French friend reminded us that their current President, Nicolas Sarkozy is currently dating a super-hot former supermodel, Carla Bruni who is presumed to be the soon to be French First Lady. If Hilary Clinton wins the primary and goes on to win the general election in November, the not so hot but mysteriously irresistible Bill Clinton would be the First Gentleman(?). There is no way that the former President Clinton would be able to restrain himself in the presence of the uber-hot Bruni during international summits, the G8 meeting, and any numerous diplomatic visits. Once their affair is discovered the inevitable consequence would be the Franco-American War (the spaghetti is so good, how could we resist such a delicious sounding war?). So cross your fingers and pray that Obama will be victorious. Though come to think of it, we haven't kicked France's *ss in a while, it could be fun.....

Nighttime Haikus

2008-02-22T08:23:00.004+05:30

I have recently been reading the blog of a very intelligent and passionate female PhD student at Harvard. She is very funny and is a terrific writer, making her blog quite addicitve. I have put off plenty of work the past couple of weeks in favor of getting caught up on her thoughts. If you're curious, check out this link, but be warned, she doesn't mince words, can be a little graphic (okay, a lot graphic), and she drops the F-bomb pretty liberally. Anyway, she has inspired me to consider that perhaps "science dorks" can be a bit creative as well as nerdy and annoying. So a few days ago while I was struggling to go back to sleep after a not-so-unpleasant early morning awakening, I thought these up, so here goes nothing!

Nighttime Haikus

Contentment is our
Mira sleeping on my chest.
Rest for her, not me.

In bliss every night
Eric and I sleep with our
arms and legs entwined.

Each night our Chaya
wakes us up with her crying.
So sweet, pet me please!

Caught Between East and West, A Tale of India's Growing Pains

2008-02-20T09:03:00.013+05:30

I have found that India is truly a place of extremes; extreme temperatures, extreme population, extreme poverty, extreme wealth, extreme beauty, extreme devastation. As India finds herself moving at warp speed from a third-world country to a global super-power, a good deal of conflict can be found between those people on the leading edge of "Westernization" and those who cherish the India of old. I feel that India is struggling to find its voice in the global community and is trying very hard to earn the respect of the "Western World", trying to win a seat at the global table, if you will. One of the most obvious ways that I have noticed India trying to break onto the world stage is through sport. I have recently seen commercials airing with the ultra-famous Bollywood star Sharukh Khan (complete with rippling abs) rallying the citizenry around India's new Formula One team, Force India. There isn't much controversy surrounding this sport endeavor (except to me, why are Indians racing sports cars while the roads in the country are a disaster? And doesn't learning to drive in India give drivers an unfair advantage, I mean really, if you can drive in India and survive to your 20th birthday without either killing yourself or being killed on the roads isn't that equivalent to steroid use? Both give equally unfair advantages.). Unfortunately the Indian female athlete is not as lucky as her male counterparts.

First of all, I guess that I should say that "the Indian female athlete" is something of an oxymoron, Indian female and athlete are almost utterly contradictory. It is in fact so contradictory that when you do a Google search for "Indian female athlete" the first few articles that show up are about an Indian "female" athlete who won a silver medal in the 2006 Asian Games failing a "gender test".* No joke, check the link if you don't believe me. Though it is quite common to see boys and men outdoors playing the ubiquitous cricket, I have never once seen a girl included. Nor have I seen groups of girls playing anything at all. I feel that some of the potential reasons for this are the standard reasons that would apply to any culture, but India's culture also throws up a few more roadblocks to any potential female athlete. For instance, girls (and especially women) are expected to dress in a very "modest" way. Legs are not meant to be exposed and even bare shoulders can be considered scandalous. Imagine any female athlete; now put her in long pants and a loose sleeved shirt, what sports' uniform is that? None that I can think of. In combination with modesty, girls are also taught from a very young age that fair is beautiful and great care is taken to stay out of the sun for fear of darkening the skin. This compels them to stay inside and not participate in sport.

Despite these obstacles some Indian women have had the opportunities to participate in a sport, and a few have made it nearly to the top of their sport. Sania Mirza is a 21 year-old female tennis star who is currently ranked 31st in the singles category and 18th in the doubles category and hails from Mumbai. Unfortunately she has been plagued by scandal throughout her career for a variety of different reasons. As a tennis player she wears the typical women's tennis uniform, ie. short skirts or shorts and sleeveless shirts. This has caused a great deal of controversy and in 2005 a group of Muslim clerics (Mirza is a muslim herself) issued a dictate that she cover up while playing tennis otherwise she would be a "corrupting influence" on young Indian women. In January another scandal involving Mirza erupted when a photgraph was taken of her resting her feet near a small Indian flag. A private citizen pressed charges under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act. She has also been in trouble for shooting a commercial near a mosque as well as for stating at a leadership conference that "whether before or after marriage, the most important matter is that sex is safe" by which she obviously meant that pre-marital sex is hunkey-dorey (at least that is how a number of her countrymen interpreted it and responded by protesting and burning effigies of her).

The unfortunate consequence of all of this scandal is that Mirza has decided to no longer compete in any tournament held in India in order to avoid conflicts and has even considered quitting tennis altogether. If India wants to be a player on the world stage, it will have to figure out how to do so in a way that is acceptable to all of its billion citizens, a task that has so far been impossible to achieve.

*How stupid do you have to be to fail a gender test, a geometry test I can understand, but a gender test???

PS-Yee ha to Title IX!!!

Disaster Recovery

2008-02-15T14:23:00.001+05:30

Thank goodness I have married the smartest and most patient man in the universe. Eric to the rescue, he fixed the blog. Three cheers for Eric!

Blog Disaster Strikes!

2008-02-13T19:19:00.002+05:30

Sorry anyone who happens on the blog today, like an idiot I decided to try to play around with it and inevitably screwed it up. I think the content is pretty much fine, I just need to make it look pretty which is no small feat when your Internet connection SUCKS! Not to fear, I will fix it ASAP!

Sympathy Pains

2008-02-13T15:46:00.005+05:30

The saga of the Indian GI bugs continue... I mentioned in my last post that on Sunday morning I was feeling not so bad so I boiled up some chicken livers that we had bought for Mira and Chaya the previous day. After they had cooled down Eric chopped them up and let the girls have a feast. They have had them before, it is one of the treats that we give them in addition to their regular food. In the early afternoon while I was moaning and groaning on the sofa we heard the unmistakable sound of cat vomiting. We both got up to see who it was and found Mira throwing up all of the liver that she had eaten. We weren't really concerned because, well, cats puke a lot. At least ours do, which isn't surprising based on what we find them chewing on. Their favorites include paper (paper bags, boxes, mail, newspaper, whatever), our mop, our broom, our fingers, less frequently toes, ants, lizards, cockroaches, furniture, toys, really just about anything. So when she puked we didn't think much of it, just cleaned it up and moved on, nothing to see here. Well, later that afternoon I was admitted into the hospital and Eric came back home for a bit to gather some things for our overnight stay and tended to the kittens as we figured that they would be just fine if left alone for the day. He left plenty of food and water and cleaned out their litter so they were set.

When we arrived home on Monday afternoon we had about half a dozen surprises waiting for us. There were big piles of vomit in just about every room and we found signs of kitten diarrhea in the litter. Later that afternoon Mira puked a couple of more times so we figured that she was the culprit. She was definitely not acting her normal obnoxious self so we were concerned. I called up the vet and he said to bring her in the next morning. So Tuesday morning we packed Mira into her basket and took her to the vet where she was also diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis. The vet, a very nice guy, Dr. Pawan, started to explain what gastroenteritis is and I told him not to worry, we were well acquainted with it. The vet tried to give her IV fluids as she was also severely dehydrated, but she was having none of it so he had to slightly sedate her to get the IV into her. She also received a bunch of antibiotics to try to kill the bug and then we took her home armed with a couple of prescriptions to pick up for her. Just for reference, the cost of the vet visit was $7.50 (including the IV and antibiotics and her prescriptions had to be around $.50). We were instructed to keep her on a liquid diet for yesterday and today and introduce her to solid food slowly and a bit at a time. Yesterday she was still feeling so badly that she wasn't that interested in food at all except to sit by her container of regular food and whine to make me feel as horrible and guilty as possible. I broke down (I am a weenie) and wet down solid food in plenty of water so that it was mushy and gave it to her, and she just drank the water. Today has been more challenging, Mira is a very fussy eater and she has been snubbing anything and everything that I have put before Her Highness. I spent about 45 minutes making a very nice chicken liver stew for her (and burnt myself and managed to spray chicken liver stew from the blender all over the kitchen in the process, disgusting, I have a bad history with liver) and she won't even touch it! Luckily Chaya is like a garbage disposal and pretty much eats whatever Mira won't bother with (which probably explains why Chaya is looking more and more like a furry piglet rather than a kitten). Mira is beginning to get back to her normal self, and hopefully the McCoy/Ziegenhorn household will manage to be GI bug-free for the next few days at least!

Down For the Count

2008-02-13T10:59:00.008+05:30

When I wrote my last post on Saturday I actually wasn't feeling horrible, but as the title implied, I was just sick and tired of getting sick. Because I really wasn't feeling that bad Eric and I decided to do some grocery shopping so he met me after work and we took a rick (autorickshaw) down to MG Road so that we could pick up a few things. We like to go to MG Road for groceries because there are a couple of grocery stores that cater to Westerners where you can find "exotic" things like lettuce, etc. Anyway, after around one and a half hours of shopping (most of the time is spent getting from store to store) we headed for home and I was feeling okay. One the way home we ran into a horrible traffic jam (the reason for the jam we found was because the police here are absolutely dumb, they were directing traffic at an intersection and have no idea how to do it. As in, they weren't letting opposing turning lanes go simultaneously, each group of vehicles was going one at a time and they would let that one set of cars go for AT LEAST 5 minutes before stopping them and letting the next set of vehicles go. It is hard to explain but trust me, they are idiots). While we were sitting in the rick I started to feel really horrible, I was getting hot and sweaty and my body was just aching. We finally made it home and I thought that maybe I was feeling badly just because of sitting in traffic in the heat surrounded by fumes so Eric and I went for a little walk to drop off our ironing and to pick up something at a local grocery. That was a mistake. By the time that we got to the grocery store I didn't feel like I had the strength to stand up so I sat on some bags of rice while Eric gathered our things and then we headed back home. The rest of the afternoon I crashed on the couch cuddled under a blanket to try to stay warm (it was around 85 degrees out but I had the chills). Then the vomiting started, gross.
This lasted through the night but by Sunday morning I was feeling okay, I still had a low grade fever but compared to the previous day I felt like a million bucks. I managed to do four loads of laundry, make Eric a batch of cookies and cook up a pot of chicken livers for Mira and Chaya (more on this last part in the next post). I even managed to eat a bowl of oatmeal (I hadn't had any dinner the previous night and couldn't keep down any Sprite either). But by the early afternoon I was vomiting worse than I had on Saturday and my fever had hit 102. I tried to take the antibiotic that I normally take for GI bugs, but it just came back up. At this point I think that Eric had had enough of my barfing and said that it was time to go to the hospital and I was feeling too crappy to put up much of a fight. We arrived at the hospital (same place that I am having my braces done at and that Eric had his finger taken care of, one of the best and most expensive in Bangalore) at around 4:30 PM and went directly to the ER. We waited maybe 15-20 minutes until I was brought in and seen by a Dr. who concluded that I most likely had acute gastroenteritis (bad-ass GI bug) and that I should be admitted due to severe dehydration. After conferring with Eric (who had to wait outside of the ER) it was decided that I would be admitted and they set about readying a room for me. I was in my bed at the hospital at around 5:30, just one hour after having arrived in the ER, not bad, eh?

The rest of the story isn't that interesting, IV fluids and antibiotics, blah blah blah, was released the next day. But there are a few things that I found funny. First, nurses are called sisters. A lab tech asked me to give a sheet of paper to the sister and I was absolutely befuddled. Uh, all of my sisters are around, say 4,000 miles away. Second, female patients are presumed to be absolutely stupid. When I first arrived a nurse came in and showed me the call button which is on a little corded remote thingy just like at every hospital in the world I presume. Another nurse came in a few minutes later and explained to me that this thing was the nurses' call button and I only need press it if I need anything and I politely told her that yes, I knew what it was. Her response, "Oh, did your husband tell you?" Right, without a husband a lowly female could never figure out a thing. This happened several times where I felt that Eric was being spoken to instead of me. Oh well. Another note on the call button, in India that thing WORKS!!! I was admitted a few years ago while we were still living in Streamwood for a kidney infection so I think that I have a pretty good comparison between Indian and American hospital care and India wins big time. I could pound on that blessed call button when I was in the hospital in the US and I swear that sometimes the nurse wouldn't come for over an hour. Here, it was almost like one of those electrified dog collars with remote, I had the remote and the nurses ran into the room no more than 2 minutes after I pressed it as if I had given them a shock. It was awesome to feel like they actually gave a crap how I was feeling and cared about what I needed. Maybe I just had a bad experience but in the hospital in the US I had to beg and argue for even a Tylenol to help keep my fever down and I remember being left alone in a room in the ER while I was experiencing fever of 104 degrees with horrible chills and no nurse would respond to my pressing the call button and all I wanted was a blessed blanket. Best care in the world my ass. Not that I'm bitter or anything. Okay, the nurses were good, the Drs. were good, my room was nicer even than I one that I had in the States with a shower in room and even a futon for Eric to sleep on (he only had a chair in the US) though there was only one TV for both me and my roomie to share (bummer since she is an old Indian woman who doesn't speak English). The food sucked, but doesn't all hospital food suck? Oh, and when I was discharged I got ALL of the results of my labs, every test that was done and all of the readings, I am sure I have never got those in the States, let alone official copies. So, the bottom line, the cost. I am going to basically give you the exact cost (in dollars, using 40 rupees=$1) of everything and then let you know how much it cost when I was in the US in 2005.

Pharmacy items (this includes a two week course of antibiotics to be taken after I was discharged)

Vasofix $2

Tegaderm- Quantity 2 $1.17

Pantodac IV $1.42

Scalp Vein Set $.21

IV set- Quantity 2 $3.90

Dolo 650 mg tab- Quantity 4 $.16

Ciprox 200 mg/100 ml- Quantity 2 $.93

Metris 500 mg/100 ml- Quantity 2 $.77

Normal Saline- Quantity 2 $.89

Thermometer $1.63

5 cc syringe-Quantity 1 $.12

non-sterile gloves- Quantity 4 $1.65

Sterile water- Quantity 4 $.40

Electrical Powder $.32

Metrogyl 400mg tab- Quantity 39 $.67

Ciplox 500mg tab- Quantity 26 $5.63

Pantodac 40mg tab- Quantity 13 $2.27

Emeset 4mg tab- Quantity 4 $.98

Room Charges $40.50

Labs

Blood count $6.25

Urea $1.75

Creatine $1.75

Serum electrolytes $6.25

Urine $1.88

Urine-pregnancy test $3.13

Potassium $1.88

Stool $1.88

Potassium $1.88

Dr. Charges

Kiran K $7.50

Chandrika K $7.50

Daily nursing charges $8.75

Nurses injection charges $.38

GRAND TOTAL: $116.38

That's right, $116 for everything including the ER and 2 weeks of antibiotics. It's ridiculous.

Let's just do a little comparison for fun. I have already told you that the standard of care is better than in the US, but for the sake of argument let's pretend that it is equal. My three day stay at Central DuPage hospital cost $12,950.75 (that is minus the additional tests that I had to have done there like CT and ultrasound but does not include after-care prescriptions). That comes to $4,316.91 a day, only 37 times more expensive than in India. Trust me, I do not make 37 times what I did when I was paid an Indian salary, not even close. Sound equitable to you? Now for some real fun, let's compare a few specifics that the 2 hospital stays had in common (remember also that my stay in the US was more than 2 years ago and I am going to guess that costs have not come down at all, call me crazy). First the cost of the room, in the US in 2005 a 2 bedded room would run you $1230. Let's see, how much is the same (actually better) room in India in 2008? Oh, it is actually 1620, oops, I forgot that is rupees so divide by 40, you get $40.50?!?!? That can't be right! But it is, and it just goes on and on and on. Standard saline, $10.38 in the US, $0.44 in India. Is salt water really that hard to come by in the US? Okay, the labs: CBC in the US- $79.75, in India $6.25, Creatine lab- $18.25 in the US, $1.75 in India, Potassium reading, $28.50 in the US versus $1.75 in India. Dr. Charges for one day in India $15 for 2 Drs., $144 in the US for 1 Dr. You get the picture, I need not go on.

Anyway, I am back home now, feeling much better and everything is fine. Too bad the same can't be said for the American health care system, it is sick, it is broken and it is just wrong that the American citizenry is having the wool pulled over their eyes. Has any person reading this who has gone to the ER been seen in 15 minutes? I remember going to the ER at 3 or 4 in the AM a few years back and I still had to wait around an hour to see anyone. Isn't the big fear that ooohhhh, scary phrase here, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE will be horrible, that the quality will be bad, that people will have to wait to see a Dr.? Isn't it that way ALREADY!!! Of course it is! WAKE UP PEOPLE, socialized medicine is not a dirty word, it is simply a BETTER WAY!!! I have met a few Europeans here who rave about the health care systems of Spain and France, they have used these systems and THEY WORK!!! The BS that you hear about socialized medicine being evil is just not true! We need to stand up and DEMAND better, why does the rest of the world deserve it but not us? Tirade over, I'm exhausted.

Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired

2008-02-09T10:05:00.001+05:30

Tomorrow marks our first full month back in India since our Christmas holiday in the US. India apparently missed me as it had a gift waiting for me and despite my polite attempts at refusal it continues to give this gift again and again. Over the past month I have endured at least four bouts of Delhi Belly, Montezuma's Revenge, Karachi Crouch, call it what you will, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I take my antibiotics, it clears up, and a few days after coming off of the treatment, it returns. It is awesome; really, it is.

I was not surprised when we returned to India to learn that I had gained 3 pounds as a result of stuffing my pie-hole for three weeks straight. With the help of Delhi Belly, the weight is gone! Maybe I can try to market this a weight-loss regime.

Gained a few pounds? Tired of going to the gym and not getting results? Your troubles are over: introducing a simple weight loss treatment that works with just one dose! For just two easy payments of $19.99 you will receive via mail a bottle of fresh Indian water. Simply drink and wait for results! Just call 1-800-E COLI 4 U to receive your bottle in the mail immediately and weight loss will be on its way! (Side effects include headaches, body aches, fever, vomiting, lethargy, explosive diarrhea, dehydration, malnutrition and possibly death. Users should not operate heavy machinery unless the machinery is equipped with an on-board toilet, in fact users should not be more than 6 feet away from a toilet at any time during the treatment. Toilet paper not included.)

Big Bad…..Bird?

2008-01-18T13:43:00.000+05:30

Okay, quick quiz. Which do you think poses a greater threat to the United States: terrorism or the bird flu? If you said terrorism then you are watching way too much cable news. The reality is that while terrorism has certainly grabbed the headlines every day since September 11, there are actually other problems out there that are of more concern though you would not know that if you rely on the news or the administration to keep you accurately informed.

As most of you know, the bird flu has made the news off and on (more often off) since the first human case was detected in 1997. There have been outbreaks of the most virulent stain of the bird flu since then, but those have mainly been confined to Asia, specifically India, China, Indonesia and Vietnam and others. The bird flu has so far reached only as far west as Nigeria and so many in the United States may have the false notion that we are protected by the Atlantic on our east and by the Pacific on the west. This is, of course, not true, as we are also well aware that we truly are a global community now and not even an ocean is too large to traverse.

So who cares about a virus that infects birds anyway? Well, under normal circumstances, no one, but this is a very special virus. The wondrous thing about viruses that have made them such a success over the course of history is their ability to adapt, and to adapt quickly. The goal of a virus is the same as that of every other living being, to survive. In order to survive a virus needs a host, it cannot survive on its own, but the virus faces a significant challenge once it infects its host. What happens to the virus if and when it kills it host, where does it go from there? The virus has its best chance at survival if it can infect multiple species and hop from host to host. Luckily this is a somewhat difficult feat for the virus to achieve, but unfortunately for us, not an impossible one. The bird flu virus is special in that it is sometimes able to jump hosts and infect humans, though it isn’t yet very good at it. Because the bird flu isn’t very good at infecting humans that means that the flu doesn’t spread very well. But the virus keeps changing and there is a very real chance that someday soon it will get very good at, and then we are in trouble.

How much trouble? The problem that humans face when a virus jumps species is that it is absolutely unfamiliar to our immune systems. Most of the viruses and bacteria that we experience are like the pesky next-door neighbor, they always find a way in and stick around longer than you might like, but at least they aren’t strangers and we know how to get rid of them. It is the same way with common pathogens, our immune systems have already seem them and have provided us some protection by producing antibodies that detect the foreigner and immediately kick start the immune reaction. The virus that causes the bird flu would be completely different from any other virus that our immune system might be familiar with, and we would have no immediate protection from it. We can look to the past to get an idea of just how devastating a new virus can be to the population. The Spanish flu ravaged the entire world from 1918-1920 and lead to the death of 2.5-5% of the world population with around 20% of population suffering from the flu to some extent. 50 million-100 million people worldwide died as a result of the Spanish flu at a time when the world population was only 1.8 billion (let me remind you that that is less than the current population of only China and India combined). Another important point to make about the Spanish flu is that though it happened nearly a century ago when travel was much less common and international travel was incredibly rare the disease easily spread from its origin in the United States all over the world.

So what can we expect if and when the virus makes the jump to humans? It doesn’t look promising, there have been 350 human cases of the bird flu reported so far (as of Jan. 15, 2008), and of those 217 died, that is a mortality of 62%. Estimates of a bird flu pandemic range anywhere from 2 million- 150 million deaths worldwide though most experts agree that the death toll will be probably less than 10 million. These figures depend entirely on a couple of things, how easily the virus is transferred from one person to another, how lethal it is, and how effectively the global community responds to the pandemic.

I bring all of this up to try to make the point that I am pretty worried. A couple of days ago I was flipping through the channels on TV to try to find something decent to watch when a headline on the news grabbed my attention. The bird flu was detected in West Bengal, an Indian state in the east of the country. I know that the bird flu was found in India in February of 2006, but at the time I was living in the US and India was a far-away foreign place whose problems didn’t really affect me. Now I know better, and I am concerned. Why am I so worried? The entire world is depending on each and every country in which the bird flu is detected to act swiftly and responsibly to contain the threat and try to prevent its spread. After living in India for over one year I have never seen the government do a single thing either swiftly or responsibly. Additionally, ignorance abounds in India and there are reports that in the villages that possibly infected birds are being culled, villagers are either not turning in birds for culling or are handling the live and dead animals in the traditional dress (read, half-naked) with no protective gear and dumping the culled fowl in the nearest bodies of water. God help us. I don’t want to be an alarmist, but I cannot imagine a worse scenario, the responsibility of containing the bird flu in Indian hands. The government is so inept, it would simply be overwhelmed and I am sure that the world over people would suffer as a result of its incompetence. One could be sure that in the US the government would act swiftly, it might infringe on every citizens’ civil rights, suspend habeas corpus and start involuntary and unnecessary quarantines, but you can be sure that it would act. Well, as long as white people are in danger.

Anyway, I think I’ll skip the chicken for a bit.

Back to Bangalore Part Deux

2008-01-14T08:46:00.000+05:30

Hello everyone! Eric and I have just returned to Bangalore from our three week holiday in the United States where we had a wonderful vacation spending time with our family and friends. I hope that you all had a very happy holiday season. Christmas time just isn't the same without snow and cold weather and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I wasn't bothered by the temperatures at all, in fact I think that I spent more time outdoors while we were visiting than I had while we were living in the US. I feel that we were so lucky because none of our flights were affected by the winter weather but we were also able to enjoy plenty of beautiful snow while we were visiting. Our plans were only altered by bad weather one time during the entire three week period which was wonderful because we had the chance to see and spend time with so many of our friends and family. There are so many things that I enjoyed about our trip home but the things that I will probably remember the most: hanging out at the farm with Mom and Dad just relaxing, the time that I got to spend with my baby niece Natalie, even when she was projectile vomiting all over me, Matt and Janele hosting their first Christmas, Kevin opening a bottle of wine with a deck screw, power drill and a pair of pliers, snuggling with my parents' super-wonderful cats Bubbles and Opie (pictured below), dinner with the family at the Iowa Machine Shed (all 30 of us), and talking to Jill for hours about who knows what and introducing her to America's Next Top Model (sorry Jill). And did I mention the food??? Oh, Mom spoiled us something fierce, I must have gained 20 pounds! I am already missing the comforts of home, but we were able to bring back more than 2 whole bags (around 70 pounds probably) of food from the US to help us get by for the next six months.

Our return to Bangalore was uneventful, and after the hell that we went through in Delhi trying to get to the US for Christmas, we were very grateful for that. We picked up our girls Mira and Chaya the day that we arrived, we were so anxious to see them and bring them home since we had missed them so much! They recognized us right away (thankfully) and after chatting with Yasmine and JP for a bit, we set off for home. True to form, Chaya whined and cried all the way home, but as soon as we got them both inside they hopped right out of their baskets and made themselves comfortable. We opened all of the new toys that we had brought back for them and they set about to making an unholy mess. Some things never change. They seemed to be a bit skinny to me, but I am not sure if that is just my eyes playing tricks because I became so accustomed to seeing and playing with Opie and Bubbles, both of whom are literally three times the size of our girls. They seem to have settled in with us once again as they are eating well and are as naughty as ever! But we wouldn’t have them any other way…

To tell the truth, it is difficult to be back in India, I think that it always will be hard to leave our life in the US for our life in Bangalore. I wish that I could say that it gets easier for us but it just doesn’t. There are some wonderful things that we have experienced while living here, but it is not our home. We could live here the rest of our lives and not feel like this is home and also never be accepted as anything but foreigners. We are grateful that we have the opportunity to visit the US every six months, without those emotional and physical recharges I think that living here would be impossible for us. So with that in mind, we are already counting the minutes until we can visit home again in July. Thank you to everyone who made our trip this holiday season so special, we appreciate everyone taking take to visit with us and we will see you all again soon!

Sweet Opie loved to sleep with us at night!

Bubbles is the softest kittie ever!

Separation Anxiety

2007-12-18T08:38:00.000+05:30

We were so lucky to find a place to keep Mira and Chaya while we are visiting home for the holidays, our friends JP and Yasmine have graciously offered to board them along with their approximately 20 other kitties while we are gone. So yesterday morning we packed up the girls along with all of their stuff (who would have ever guessed that cats have "stuff") and headed to their temporary home away from home. Chaya HATES to travel, she meows and makes other noises that I am not even able to define all through the ride, whether we take an autorickshaw or a car, it just doesn't matter, she hates it all. So she was yowling the whole way there which makes a stressful situation for both them and me even worse. We got them to their temporary lodgings where they found that they would be sharing their room with a comparatively HUGE Persian cat for just the day. They did not regard this with much enthusiasm, in fact, they assumed the fetal position (or a close approximation of it) and tried to disappear in their baskets. Our poor babies. They stayed in their baskets for at least a few hours while I chatted with JP and Yasmine, and Chaya only ventured out after I came back to check on them. This bravery was short-live though; as soon as Chaya saw that the big Persian was following her around she jumped into Mira's basket where they again huddled together. I felt (and still feel) terrible, I hope that they have relaxed a bit by now and that they have a good time with JP and Yasmine. I know that they are in excellent hands (certainly better hands than mine and Eric's) but I still worry and miss them terribly. Last night when I got home from work I was so sad that they weren't there to run to the window to greet me with their meowing. It was nice to pack without them climbing into the suitcases and dragging our socks all over the house as they are normally famous for, but it was too quiet, too boring. I thought that maybe I would sleep more soundly without the noises that they make at night with their climbing, jumping, and general trouble-making, but my sleep was actually more disturbed by the lack of noise.

I miss my girls, but I am also excited to come home. I am sure that the girls will settle in and be fine, but I have to admit that part of me will look forward to coming back to Bangalore to collect them and bring them home where they and we belong, at least for now...

Ferocious Felines

2007-12-06T11:02:00.000+05:30

One of the main arrangements that we have had to make in preparation for our visit home for the holidays is to plan for the care of Mira and Chaya. Bringing them with us is not an option so we have had to think of other ways that their needs can be met while we are out of town. This has been a bigger chore than we could have imagined. Back home in the States it would have been no problem to give the key to a neighbor and ask that they stop by every day to replenish their food and water and clean out their litter boxes. Any person there would be perfectly comfortable carrying out these simple tasks and unless they had severe allergies would be happy to do it. Not so here. The main issue is that most people are afraid of cats. That's right, afraid of little furry creatures that weigh no more than 10 pounds (Mira and Chaya weigh in at a whopping 4 lbs.). I absolutely can not understand this. I have already described at length the number of stray dogs in the streets which somehow do not frighten nearly as many people despite their obvious larger size and greater aggression. And I cannot contribute this irrational fear to lack of exposure as there is no shortage of stray cats in India. Finally, India is famed the world over as the home to one of the greatest felines ever, the regal Bengal tiger. I would think that as close relatives to this splendid animal, cats would be respected, not feared. Now that I think of it though, the only time I have seen or heard anything in reference to a tiger is watching a few sleazy 80s style heros fighting them in F movies (I could never offend B movie stars like Eric Roberts and Billy Baldwin by placing these Indian movies in their class).

We thought that the best situation for our kittens would be to have someone come to our apartment to give them food and water and clean their litter once a day, 10 minutes tops. None of our coworkers live close enough to us to manage this, and the one who does is both a bit scared of cats having never had exposure to them and is also going for a visit home during the time that we will be gone. We do not know any of our neighbors, they are all middle-aged or older Indians and they regard us with caution. We then thought that perhaps our landlords who live just below us might be willing but then realized that they (along with most other middle-class Indians) don't even do their own cleaning or dishes so why in the world would they consider cleaning our kittens' toilet when they won't even clean their own. We then thought that maybe the person who actually does clean their toilet might be interested in making some extra cash so we asked our landlords if they would run the idea by their maid.

A bit now about Indian maids (the following are observations based only on my time and experience so far in India). It would probably not come as a shock to you to find out that maids are very poorly paid, I would say that they earn anywhere from $0.50 to $1 an hour. These women are unskilled workers and are infamous for being lazy, thieves, unreliable and stupid (at least according to 95% of their employers). They are often married with a couple to several children. It is also not uncommon that they are the sole or major breadwinner due to a husband's injury, alcoholism, or good old-fashioned laziness. Money is usually so tight in a maid's home that she will take extra food from the homes that she is working in to feed her family and often the employers will pay for certain things for the maid's family such as school books and clothes for her children. We thought that based on the real need for extra money in most maid's homes, our landlord's maid would jump at the chance to make some extra cash. She comes every day to clean their apartment so we assumed that it would be no trouble for her to pop up to our apartment and spend 10 minutes at the most giving the kittens fresh water, pouring out some dry cat food, and scooping out their litter with the pooper-scooper. We were offering to pay 1000 Rs for this service which comes to $6.58 an hour (if it actually took her the full 10 minutes). A no-brainer, right? I know that if I were cash strapped and trying to take care of my kids I would do almost anything to try to make ends meet. I was shocked when our landlords told us that she didn't want to do it because she is scared of cats! Maybe money isn't as tight for her family as I thought, or maybe she would just rather take a hand-out than actually work for her money. I can guarantee that if my family was in need, I would do ANYTHING to put food on the table, even if it involved something that I found distasteful like maybe spending 10 minutes in a room with a bunch of cockroaches (my least favorite animal). Oops, I forgot, I do that already in my own home for free! Anyway, I am on one hand relieved that she was truthful about her feelings and said no because I doubt that she would have done a very good job with the kittens if she doesn't even like them. On the other hand though I am surprised and frustrated that someone who definitely needs extra cash isn't willing to work for it. How can anyone help the less fortunate if they are not really willing to help themselves? Regardless, we need to find some other way to have our ferocious and terrifying Mira and Chaya cared for in our absence, unless we just pack them in our luggage, I wonder if we'd make it through security. I have included some pictures showing the girls at their most ferocious. Aluminum balls, silk flowers, and bills BEWARE!

Chaya loves to play "fetch" with little aluminum balls, and she stares at it intently until I finally toss it for her to retrieve.

She is ready for the next toss!

Mira is a very smart kitten, she tears up all of the bills that come in the mail!

When there aren't any bills to destroy, a flower will do.

More Birthdays and Anniversaries, plus some Animal Advocacy!

2007-12-01T10:00:00.000+05:30

It is so hard to believe that December is already here. The weather here is the same as always, sunny and warm, making it no easier to accept that Christmas is nearly upon us and that 2007 is drawing to a close. With the start of December comes several important occasions, our anniversary is on the first (celebrating 12 years since our first date and 4 years of marriage) as is Eric's Gran's birthday (Happy Birthday Gran!). The second marks the birthday of my dear sister Dawn (Happy Birthday to you too, Dawn). I unfortunately had to work on my anniversary, but I did leave early so that Eric and I could go out and have lunch together. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and putting off the housework...

On the following day we went to meet a lady that I had met through a blog on-line. I had found a blog early last week that discusses cats in Bangalore and I posted a comment in the hopes of finding some like-minded individuals. Cats are DEFINITELY not popular pets in India so it is difficult to find products for cats and also advice and care for cats is hard to come by so I had hoped that I could make some contacts to maybe help us out if and when we needed. A lovely lady named Yasmine e-mailed right away and invited us to her home to meet her, her husband JP and her 20 cats and one dog. So we made our way there Sunday not quite knowing what to expect. We were greeted by two of the sweetest and most intelligent people that we have ever met. Oh yeah, and we also got to meet their 20 cats (only 19 though as 1 has gone missing) as well as the 2 cats that they are boarding for friends while they are out of town, and a mother cat and her 5 newborn kittens which Yasmine rescued from the school that she works at and the one poor cat-abused dog. It was a wonderful visit, Yasmine and JP are very caring people who want to try to improve the conditions for animals in India and have been working very hard at it since they were teenagers in Bangalore.

I have already described the conditions of the shelter from which we adopted Mira and Chaya, Yasmine has reported this shelter many times to the government and has actually managed to get herself banned from the facility because they apparently find it easier to ban her than to improve the conditions for the animals. The life of most animals in India (at least in Bangalore) is difficult at best. There is huge population of stray dogs and cats which leads to a great deal of starvation of the animals. Every day I will find at least one dog that has been injured by a car, broken and missing legs are very common and these dogs almost never get treatment. Animal dumping is a huge problem, people will adopt a puppy and find that it is too much trouble or has outgrown the apartment and they will just throw it out. Often if a pet becomes ill or old or disabled, it is also dumped. New litters of puppies and kittens will be thrown out because the owner never bothered to have their pet sterilized but doesn't want the babies. Additionally many people see their pets at stats symbols are want only pure-breed and are not interested in adopting a stray at the shelter. There was an effort to sterilize the street dogs, but in the last few months that practice has been minimized in favor of simply picking up the dogs and killing them. This was in response to a couple of incidents that happened in Bangalore last winter where two children were killed by packs of stray dogs. It is of course, terrible that 2 children were killed but based on the conditions in which these animals live and the abuse that they suffer at the hands of humans every day I would think that these tragedies are inevitable events that are brought on the population by the same population. When you hit and kick a dog, can you blame it when it bites you? Of course not.

Before coming to India I would never have claimed to be an animal lover or an animal advocate. I believe in the humane treatment of animals, but I am not a vegetarian and I do believe that there is a need for animal testing. But my heart goes out to the cats, dogs, horses, and even cows of Bangalore that are living in such an incredibly hostile environment all alone. I feel that we have a responsibility to all animals to look after their welfare, were are after all the only species that can so profoundly affect the lives of all other species. I have been horrified by the conditions that these animals are experiencing and I found that I was complaining about it often. But complaining doesn't help so I have decided to volunteer at another neighborhood animal shelter and start making cash and food donations to pay for food (proper food is quite expensive here as it is all imported as far as I know). I don't have much time to offer, but something is better than nothing. Eric and I also want to assume responsibility for the stray dogs that live on our street, we would like to make sure that they are well-fed, sterilized and vaccinated. If only 1 person on every street would do just these simple things, the problem would be nearly solved! With the help of Yasmine and JP, we hope that we can make a small difference in the lives of some of the animals of Bangalore. Wish us luck!

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Mahatma Gandhi

Thanksgiving, a Second Time Around

2007-11-23T16:00:00.000+05:30

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you all had a happy holiday. It is sort of amazing to me how quickly we can learn to adapt and adjust to pretty much anything that life throws at us. After one year of living in India we have indeed learned to manage in this place, despite its vast differences from home. However, though we might have adjusted we certainly have not forgotten the traditions of home and we certainly miss them. So this Thanksgiving we were not content to celebrate with rotis, rice and subzis, but instead longed for the typical Thanksgiving Day feast with turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and all the rest. I was very lucky to have met an American last year who had been in India for a bit longer than us, and she mentioned a restaurant in Bangalore that hosts a Thanksgiving dinner. It is named The Only Place, and aptly so as I think that it is the only place that serves Thanksgiving dinner. I had filed this bit of valuable information away in my brain and a week before the big day I called to make a reservation, I was not leaving this up to chance, we HAD to get a table. Luckily the restaurant took my reservation and all I had to do was wait for my feast.

We went for dinner at 6 PM on Thanksgiving and were happy to see a buffet waiting for us to attack it! We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, potato salad, pasta salad, steamed vegetables, cranberry sauce, garlic bread, and pumpkin pie for dessert. I wish that I could say that the food was wonderful, but the quality and taste was only okay. However, it was still wonderful to have turkey on Thanksgiving, and I was thankful for that. In celebrating Thanksgiving properly this year it made it easier to remember why it is we celebrate it at all, and I was able to take the time to give thanks for all of the wonderful people and things in my life. Eric and I are both so lucky to have friends and family who have supported us through everything, even when we said we were moving to India. We have asked so many favors of so many people and everyone has been wiling to oblige us so graciously. Upon arrival to India we made a new set of friends who have also been so kind and helpful and continue to aid us in navigating our way from day to day. So this Thanksgiving we thank all of you, all of our friends and family for all that you hove done for us thus far.

P.S. Happy Birthday Amanda! I remember November 22 so many years ago when Grandma woke us up and told us that we had another little Kim. I am pretty sure that my response was, "So what?" Now I see what the big deal was. I love you and miss you!

Home for the Holidays!

2007-11-15T08:56:00.000+05:30

After missing out on not one, but two huge Ziegenhorn holiday dinners last year, we have learned our lesson. We are coming home for Christmas and New Year's and we are so excited! We are only disappointed that we have to miss Thanksgiving again, but we think that we might at least be able to get a proper Thanksgiving meal, more on that later if and when it happens. We arrive in Chicago on December 19 early in the morning (pray for good weather for us so we make it in one piece and on time) and leave in the evening on January 8 (so we can also celebrate my oldest sister's birthday with her on the 4th). It is hard to explain how much it will mean to us to spend the holiday season at home with our friends and family, it is something that I didn't think that I would miss so much until I was half a world away. We can't wait to see you all!

Got a light? On second thought…

2007-11-15T08:48:00.001+05:30

I guess that I should not have been surprised when we moved to Bangalore to find not only plenty of smokers, but plenty of smokers lighting up American branded cigarettes like Marlboro, Camel and Winston. I guess the one thing that can be said for Big Tobacco is that they know how to market their product and find new consumer pools. As the number of American smokers has declined slowly but steadily over the last few decades Big Tobacco has shifted their focus to expanding overseas markets. And there is probably no better market for cigarettes than the Third World. When one considers the example of India, there is a huge population that can be exploited, and many in that population are absolutely ignorant as to the health risks of smoking. And just as in the United States, in India the majority of smokers are among those who can least afford it, both economically and physically. Unfortunately, the purchase of tobacco often depletes the family’s already meager finances, contributing to the major problem of malnutrition in the Third World. And buying cigarettes is SO easy in India. Don’t have enough cash to buy a whole pack? No problem, you can just buy single cigarettes from any shopkeeper.

But some Third World countries are fighting back. Thailand has been fighting with Big Tobacco since the early 1990s to stem the flow of imported cigarettes. Until 1990, Thai law prohibited the import of cigarettes claiming that chemicals and other additives contained in US cigarettes might make them more harmful than Thai cigarettes. The US brought a case against Thailand under GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) to the World Trade Organization (WTO) arguing that this infringed on free trade. The US won their suit and Big Tobacco was free import as many cigarettes as they could shove down Thailand’s throat. Since Thailand has been forced to accept imported cigarettes, the government has employed a different tactic in preventing smoking. In 2005 the Thai government began to require that each package of cigarettes include a health warning that covers at least 50% of both sides of the package. And this is no weak Surgeon’s General Warning saying that smoking is harmful to the health, it includes not only a verbal warning, but a pictorial one as well. And as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. As Eric and I were looking around the duty free shops at the Bangkok airport before returning to Bangalore, these cigarette cartons caught our eye. It would have been impossible for them not to, the images are very graphic and I would think quite effective in preventing the purchase of the carton. We snapped a few pics to show you, and after reading up a bit about the different warning policies around the world, I learned that though America started the trend of labeling cigarette packages with health warnings, today our country has one of the smallest, least prominent warnings placed on its cigarette packages. Sadly, another example demonstrating that in our culture, corporate interests take precedence, even over public health.

Gone crackers

2007-11-09T17:44:00.000+05:30

Festival season is upon us. We missed out on Navaratri (Nine Nights) and Dussehra (Tenth Day) while we were in Thailand. These festivals are quite complicated to explain as they celebrate different things in different states, but the one common thread is the victory of good over evil. In Southern India, Eastern India and Western India, the festival of Navaratri which culminates with Vijayadashami commemorates the legend in which the Goddess Durga vanquishes the demon Mahishasura, an event that is said to have taken place in the vicinity of the present day city of Mysore in Karnataka which is only about an hour and a half away from Bangalore. This festival is known as Durga Puja and is huge in Bengal, the eastern state which has as its capital Calcutta. In Northern India, the same 10-day festival commemorates the victory of Ram, a prince, over Ravana, the ruler of Lanka, who according to the Ramayana (an ancient epic that forms the basis for many Hindu beliefs) had abducted his wife Sita Devi, and held her captive.

In Northern India, this festival is highly celebrated. The Ramlila, an abridged dramatization of the Ramayana, is enacted with much public fervor all over northern India during the festival. The burning effigies of Ravana, signifying the victory of good over evil, brings the festivities to a colorful and loud close as the effigies are lined with firecrackers. In Bengal in Eastern India, Durga Puga is a huge festival (the biggest of the year in this part of the country) celebrated by the building of pandals (huge stationary float-like objects) to honor the goddess. Everything is lit with lights, and from what I gather, the place goes crazy. In the south, people set up altars for the goddess Durga where they offer up small objects from which the goddess is to derive enough power to defeat the demon. In addition, on the 9th day, the South and North Indians also offer up their tools to Saraswati and do not work on that day to allow the goddess use of the tools of their trade. On the tenth day (Dussehra) prayers are made to their tools (be it books for students, cars for taxi drivers, etc.) and according to my friend Neha, everyone straps banana leaves (or banana branches) on everything (on cars, motorcycles, autos, buses), at least in Karnataka.

Now, on to Diwali (Deepavali), the festival of lights that celebrates the victory of light over dark which was celebrated this weekend. Diwali is the homecoming of King Ram and his rescued wife Sita after ultimately defeating Ravana following a war and a long exile. The prince’s path home was supposedly lit by oil lamps that his subjects left out to light their way. One of the major traditions of this holiday includes Lakshmi Puja. Lakshmi Puja, marks the most important day of Diwali celebrations, when Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and Ganesha, the God of auspicious beginnings are worshipped across Hindu homes, followed by lighting of lamps all across the streets and homes, to welcome prosperity and well-being in. Many people actually leave their doors wide open to allow the free entry of these things (and a good number of mosquitoes, I imagine). As far as I can tell, the major tradition of Diwali is bursting fireworks. Imagine the 4th of July simultaneously on crack and steroids, for 4 days straight! The firecrackers started on Thursday morning around 7 AM and when we got home from work in the evening it was also pretty loud and a little nerve-wracking to be honest (our kittens were in a constant state of terror). This continued all weekend, and even on Monday morning we heard crackers bursting. It was loud enough that we closed all of our windows to try to block some of the sound, but even then there were times that we had to shout to hear one another even when we were standing right next to each other. On Friday night I went to a Diwali party hosted by the NCBS, and I got to watch the Lakshmi Puja and then we played some games and ate (the universal method of celebration). We also went to the roof and watched fireworks bursting all around us. From up there it was actually quite nice, so many beautiful explosions and we were a bit removed from the noise which made it all the more enjoyable. There is obviously no regulations on fireworks here, so every kind imaginable were being lit by people of all ages, from small children to the elderly. And I honestly think that ALL the people here lit at least one cracker, it was pretty crazy. Anyway, we made it through our first Diwali, and I think we suffered no more than minor hearing damage. Hopefully the next festival will be a bit more quiet…

Birthday and Anniversary Celebration

2007-11-09T12:34:00.000+05:30

The beginning of this month marked two very important dates, our one-year anniversary celebrating our arrival in India (November 2) and my birthday (November 3). And how did we recognize these landmark dates you might wonder, with a feast, with a party, certainly something spectacular? Unfortunately both dates slipped by without much notice because we had our minds on other things. On our one-year anniversary of living in India, we took Mira and Chaya to the veterinary to be spayed. It was quite a different experience than I imagine one would have in the US, so I thought I would write a bit about it.

First of all, I had to make the appointment almost 2 months in advance as the hospital that we went to told us that they only perform 2 surgeries a day (this is a government animal hospital with an affiliated veterinary college where they train students). The night before the surgery I went to the vet pharmacy armed with a list of items for the surgery given to me by the vet. The owner is responsible for bringing all consumables to the surgery so I bought the anesthetics, bandages, sutures, needles, syringes, surgical gloves, antiseptics, etc. The following morning we took the girls in and the vet asked me to sign a form giving permission for the surgery stating that I had been informed of the risks and understood the procedure. I had done enough research on my own such that I did understand, but not a single person at the clinic had told me a thing about the procedure. I told them I would not sign until someone took the time to discuss these things with me, no way was I signing an informed consent form until I was informed. Wow, this was a new concept to them, that they actually explain their actions and answer questions. I have found that professionals here expect to be trusted and believed unconditionally and are not generally receptive to questions. I am, I’m afraid, the worst nightmare of these people as I have an aversion to trusting without question and following direction without explanation as to why it is I am doing what I am doing. Anyway, after being properly informed, we handed our girls over, one at a time, to be shaved and undergo their surgery. Chaya went first and we got her back immediately after the surgery just as she was coming out of her anesthesia. It was actually pretty scary because she looked like she had just snorted a couple of lines of coke. Her eyes were bugged out and she was thrashing around in her basket which was terrifying since she had just come from surgery and I was afraid that she would tear her stitches. We had to wait until Mira was returned to us before we could go, and when we got her, she was as different from Chaya as could be. While Chaya responded as though she were high, Mira seemed as if she were dead. She would position her head in such a way that she looked like she had been hit by a car. This was equally terrifying. They were both wrapped in a bandage that covered the whole of their torso, leaving only their four legs, head, and tail exposed.

We got them home and Chaya sprung right from her basket and immediately fell down. Neither of them had any sense of balance and would just continually fall over while walking. They then both starting vomiting, either from the anesthesia or vertigo, I don’t know. After staggering around for a couple of stressful hours, both finally settled down to sleep. The next few days involved much sleeping and Eric and I playing nursemaid, bringing the kittens their food and water (they started to eat a full day after the surgery), taking them to the litter, and administering their medicine (we had to give an oral antibiotic 2 times a day and it took us a while to figure out the best way to do this without anyone getting hurt, namely, poor Eric). We were also instructed to bring the kittens back to the vet every 2 days, which we have been doing faithfully since last Friday so that their progress can be monitored. Their stitches were taken out yesterday but they are still in their full-body bandage, at least until tomorrow when we take them to the vet again and hopefully they will let us take it off of them. They are getting back to their old selves, they are now able to jump again (initially they were not able to even jump onto the sofa or bed to take a nap) and are playing a bit here and there. I have posted some pics of our sick little girls, and hopefully they make a full recovery soon!

Terrific Thailand

2007-11-09T11:51:00.000+05:30

Hello everyone! Greetings from Bangalore, you will be happy to know that we got our visas issued in Bangkok and made it back to India safe and sound last week. We arrived in beautiful Thailand on the morning of October 18 and after dropping our bags at our hotel went straight out to find the Indian Embassy. We were in quite a hurry as applications for visas are only accepted from 9 AM-12 PM and we wanted to get our applications submitted before we flew off to Phuket the following afternoon. We arrived at around 10:45 and waited in line until we were able to speak with someone who told us that the gentleman who gives the interviews was out of the office, but would be back in 5 minutes and we would be called when he was ready for us. I found this pretty funny since this guy basically works only around 4 hours a day and he can’t even manage to be his office during that time. And, not surprisingly, 5 minutes turned into around an hour and a half before this guy came back (hey, you can take the government official out of India, but you can’t take the India out of the government official). Luckily though, even though it was after 12, we still got our interview. Eric and I went back and met this fellow and gave him the letter from the NCBS explaining why we were there and why we needed a visa. He glanced at it and immediately said, “No, we can’t issue a visa based on this.” I immediately just started shaking with nerves and asked that he please just READ the letter. After he read the letter he asked why we hadn’t applied in India and I told him that I had but hadn’t received the renewal yet and that Eric was told that he couldn’t even apply until my visa arrived meaning that at minimum his visa would expire and leave him (and maybe me) essentially stranded in India. He then agreed to forward our request to the Indian Consulate in Chicago since they were the original issuing entity and leave it up to them. Whew, at that point we were pretty sure that it would be okay, but until the visa is in your hands, it is difficult to relax. It takes 5 business days to process visas, so we set off to try to relax anyway.

The next afternoon we took a short, one-hour flight to Phuket, the Pearl of the Andaman. We arrived at our hotel in the evening and were blown away by the resort, it was grand on a scale that I have never experienced before. We made our way to our villa, which was also spectacular and mostly spent the week relaxing by the pool gazing out on the beautiful Andaman Sea. We met a wonderful Irish couple who we hit it off with really well, and by the end of the week they had invited us to come visit them in Ireland and we asked them to visit us either in Bangalore or Chicago. We hope to take them up on the offer! We hired a driver for one day and he took us all over the island showing us the sights: beautiful beaches, amazing temples, a gigantic Buddha, stopping along the way to pick up snacks from the local street vendors. We also stopped and took an elephant trek, where we rode an elephant up the mountain and back down again. It was an amazing experience, but I was pretty terrified most of the time. The path was quite narrow and very steep and muddy and I was so afraid that our elephant, Lemon, would get a huge foot stuck in the mud and tumble over with us strapped on top of her!
I also made friends with Charlie, one of the gibbons (a small ape), while we were at the camp and took some time to groom him, he was so friendly! The food was amazing the entirety of the trip, we both just loved the Thai dishes and ate plenty! Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and the week was over before we knew it, and we made our way back to Bangkok on Friday.

We spent the weekend in Bangkok visiting the sights; the Grand Palace, the Golden Buddha (I've included a pic), the Marble Temple, and the Reclining Buddha at Wat Po (another pic). We also learned that Bangkok is a FANTASIC place for shopping. I bought silk pillow covers that would easily cost $20-50 for $3, silk prints, figurines, all sort of stuff for our home once we return to the States. Bangkok is also a wonderful place to have high quality tailored clothes made for cheap, so Eric had 4 shirts and 3 slacks custom made for a real bargain (and who says men can’t shop). I also bought 2 beautiful pashminas for $3, I think the one I bought in the U.S. a couple of years back was around $50. If you ever get a jones for shopping, I think that Bangkok is probably the best place in the world to go; you get the best of the West and the East, Western quality in a modern and clean city with Eastern prices. A couple of notes on the country: first, the prostitution is insane. You couldn’t walk for very long before seeing some middle aged or older Westerner with a beautiful Thai girl on his arm. You, of course, aren’t certain that she has been hired by him, but I am pretty sure that most of the time that he has paid for her company. It wasn’t terribly in your face, but I did sometimes get a bit disgusted when seeing these mismatched couples walking together. Another thing that is even more obvious than the sex trade is the outright worship and reverence of the King. His picture is up everywhere, and people wear yellow polo shirts with the king’s emblem emblazoned on them almost as if it were a uniform. Some days around 50% of the Thais that you met on the street would be wearing this shirt, and it was a bit surreal. One thing is certain in Thailand, don’t mess with the king.

On Monday we made our way back to the embassy to see if we would be getting our visas and we dropped our passports off with no problem (they keep your passport for a couple of hours to actually put the visa into it) and picked them up later in the day with our beautiful new visas!!! We are legal in India for another year! I was so happy and kept opening my passport to look at the new visa to make sure that it was really there. It was such a battle to get it, that finally having it was such a sweet reward. We spent the next day at a tech mall to take advantage of Thailand’s cheap prices one last time before finally coming back to Bangalore, and maybe for the first time, I was happy to be coming back. Not that I didn’t like Thailand; I loved it, but our kittens and friends were waiting for us to come home, and maybe Bangalore is becoming just that, home (even if just for a while).

In the interest of full disclosure, one week after we left for Thailand I received notice that my visa renewal filed with the FRO in Bangalore had been approved (notice was given 5 days before my visa was set to expire) so it was too little too late.

Visa, Revisited

2007-10-17T08:15:00.000+05:30

I wanted to update you all on our visa nightmare. As you might remember from an earlier post that I wrote in August, Eric and I are in the midst of trying to deal with our visas for the coming year. I applied for my extension in August with the promise that it would be ready in a month and a half, at which point we could then apply for Eric’s extension which would take an additional month and a half, leaving us a month and a half before we were scheduled to leave India for our visit to the US for the holidays in December. The only wrinkle in this is that of course, you can’t take an Indian civil servant at his word. Knowing this, we made a contingency plan. We booked a flight to Bangkok, Thailand and a hotel room near the Indian Embassy so that we could simply apply for new visas for both of us in case my visa didn’t come on time. Good thing we did, it has been over two and a half months, and surprise, surprise, no visa.

One of the most irritating aspects of this debacle has been actually trying to convince the head NCBS administrator that this is indeed a debacle. He has, since August, stubbornly refused to believe that the visa will not arrive in time despite all evidence suggesting that it will probably never come at all. As soon as we booked our flights and hotels in Thailand, he suggested that perhaps it wouldn’t be necessary that we go, that my visa should arrive before that time. I replied that no one would be happier than me if my visa did arrive before we left as I had gone through a considerable amount of trouble to apply for it, and also since I had already paid for it. I continued that regardless of this, Eric’s visa also needs to be renewed and that certainly wouldn’t happen before our December cut-off. The administrator assured me that we needn’t leave to renew Eric’s visa, as long as my visa was renewed, his renewal is automatic. First of all, in India, nothing is automatic. Second of all, that is complete rubbish, actually it is insane to suggest that you could just hold up your spouse’s visa and claim that you are somehow covered by it. Even as late as last week when I was gathering the paperwork for our visa renewal in Bangkok, this same fellow suggested once again that maybe we wouldn’t need to go, that my visa could arrive any day now. I can only assume that this guy is a mindless ignoramus. First of all, my visa IS NOT here, we have absolutely no assurances that it will be here, secondly, what about Eric’s, and thirdly, even if there was some sort of divine intervention and we opened our passports to find that we had new visas for both of us, we have already booked our flights (one to Bangkok and another to Phuket), and we have booked our hotels in both locations as well and there is no refunds when you cancel. This guy is either ignorant or unimpressed with all of these things, and it makes me crazy. He also was responsible for writing a letter to the Indian embassy in Bangkok on my behalf for our visa extension basically stating that I have a job at the NCBS, blah, blah. In it, he outright lied about why it was necessary that we go to Bangkok for our visas. He refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem with the Indian government’s ability to take care of business. I rewrote the letter, there is no way that we are going to shoulder any part of the blame for this thing, and we have followed the rules to the letter. When December rolls around and my visa still hasn’t arrived from Delhi, I am looking forward to going into this guy’s office and informing him that I was absolutely correct to be concerned about the arrival of my visa, and that he should never again regard someone’s affairs with so little care.

Though this guy has been a royal pain, I have been encouraged by the support of a few key individuals. My lab-mates have always offered a sympathetic ear when I needed to vent and comforted me when I returned from my disastrous visits to the Foreign Registry Office. My boss has completely thrown her support behind me and has acknowledged the necessity of our trip to Bangkok and has helped me whenever I have asked. Most surprisingly, the head of the institute approached me a few weeks ago and mentioned that he had heard of my troubles (I tend to make a lot of noise) and that he would have the institute pay for airfare since we had no choice but to attend to this issue out of country. I have not seen a rupee yet, but I was heartened to learn that the people that mattered knew the situation and wanted to help in any way that they could.

Anyway, I have again assembled all of the paperwork required for our visa application, tonight I will pack our bathing suits and sunscreen, and we depart for Bangkok tomorrow morning at 3:30. We are crossing our fingers that everything will go well for us at the embassy, if not, we will have no choice but to get on a flight coming back to the US because our visas will be expired. Wish us luck! Thailand, here we come!

Gandhi Jayanti

2007-10-02T09:51:00.000+05:30

Today India celebrates the birth of one of the most famous and influential individuals of modern times, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or more famously known as Mahatma Gandhi. He was born on October 2, 1869 and spent most of his 78 years working towards Indian independence and subsequent reconciliation following Partition. He pioneered civil disobedience and rejected violence and has served as a model for civil rights movements around the world. He is truly the most amazing individual that I have ever learned of and he should serve as a model to the whole world that much can be accomplished by wit and diplomacy without having to resort to violence. This June, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution declaring October 2 to be the "International Day of Non-Violence". If only a resolution could achieve peace, Gandhi would be proud.

Star Struck (Literally)

2007-10-01T09:54:00.000+05:30

I sometimes wonder what has happened to our culture and why we care at all about the famous. With all that is happening throughout the world, how is it possible that a terrible performance by a chubby and talentless Britney Spears at the MTV Video Awards not only makes the news, but leads it? Who cares about coked out Lindsey Lohan, perpetually intoxicated Paris Hilton, and Anna Nicole baby-daddy? Give me a break, these stories aren't news, but somehow they manage to creep into the press and seem to have taken over the cable news networks.

So, what is our fascination with celebrities, particularly fallen icons who somehow always manage to find themselves back in the limelight, though the source of that light is often from a policeman's Maglite. My theory is that we are drawn to the fallen (or falling) star because their stories reassure us that celebrity isn't all it's cracked up to be. Who could be envious of a celebrity like David Hasselhoff after seeing him struggle to eat a burger, okay, forget about the burger, after seeing him struggle to sit up and form complete sentences while his teenage daughter taped his bender? I would say that we seek out these stories because they serve to humanize the celebrity, but I feel that instead, we love to see the suffering and unendless stupidity of those of our species that have everything and manage through their ridiculous carelessness, to lose it all.

I am, however, relieved to say that no matter how celebrity-obsessed our culture is, it could be worse. Take for instance the case of India. Reality television was stolen by the United States from Europe, and even though most of us would probably like to give it back since it has evolved (more like devolved) to include shows like I Love New York (a spin off of the critically acclaimed Flavor of Love), Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?, and Temptation Island, India decided to try their hand at it. And so Indian Idol was born. The show is virtually identical to its American step-sister except for its potential to lead to mayhem and bloodshed. Prashant Tamang, an ethnic Nepali youth from the eastern state of West Bengal, beat Amit Paul from a different sate, Meghalaya, after a closely contested final round last Sunday which in turn inflamed regional rivalries. Tamang, as an ethnic Nepali, does not look like the average Indian, and in fact looks like an East Asian. Apparently this difference in ethnicity lead to some initial animosity which was quelled when the contestants appealed for peace. However, a radio talk show host threw out a couple of ethnic slurs when referring to Tamang, sparking violence in East Bengal where THOUSANDS of protestors took to the streets. The protest turned violent (as often happens in India) and around 60 people have been injured and countless cars burned and stores looted. A curfew has been imposed and the army has been called in to maintain order.

Who would have guessed that reality TV could be so devastating? After learning of this story I was pretty grateful that there was no violence between Texas and Pennsylvania when Kelly Clarkson beat the pants off of Justin Guarini. I really think that we dodged a bullet; we all know how much Texans love to fight. Just imagine the result of infighting between Ruben Studdard's Alabama and Clay Aiken's North Carolina. Oh, the horror! Actually, imagining a fight between Ruben and Clay is pretty entertaining and would probably make for some pretty good reality TV itself. Certainly no one would stoop so low as to air washed out celebrities fighting. What, FOX, the last bastion of taste and class, has aired Celebrity Boxing, are you kidding? There goes the moral high ground.

Oh, to Have a Cat's Life...

2007-09-28T08:48:00.000+05:30

I thought I would post some pictures of Mira and Chaya's long and difficult days as kittens. Poor things, how do they manage?

You think you're safe under that pillow, think again!

What, am I doing something wrong?

My god, this thing put up a GREAT fight!

That's right, this is MY sofa and you can sit on it when I am finished with my nap!

Kitten yin and yang.

Bringing new meaning to "lean on me".

Full Metal Racket

2007-09-25T08:22:00.000+05:30

I have finally decided to delve into the medical and dental tourism trade that is booming here in India (though I am not technically a tourist). After several years of looking into orthodontics in the United States and being discouraged to learn of the high costs and almost non-existent coverage from our insurance company, I resigned myself to the idea of life with a crooked smile. I was interested in getting standard braces to straighten my twisted chicklets and found that it would cost me around $6000, with our insurance covering just $1000. If you could put a price tag on my vanity, you would find that $5000 is much more than I am willing to spend. But now that we are in India, procedures that were once out of the realm of possibilities are now not only possible, but also quite affordable, so I went out searching for an orthodontist. I had a couple of consultations and finally settled on an orthodontist who trained and practiced in England until a couple of months ago (I just now realized that maybe the training in England is not so impressive judging from English grills). Anyway, she is very nice and seems to really know her stuff, and she is based in the excellent hospital that Eric went to for his finger infection. Total cost of braces, X-rays, impressions, fixed retainer after the treatment, all appointments and any other hardware: $470. No joke (and by the way, I know that $470 is a lot of money for most Indians, blah, blah, blah. I don't want to get into that discussion again; I am speaking as a Westerner).

So Saturday afternoon I went and had the brackets glued on; having your mouth wide open and lips pulled back in a quite attractive snarl for 45 minutes after having your teeth acid-washed is truly under-rated. After ripping up the inside of my cheeks the entire weekend, I went yesterday for the main event; the arch wires. Ahhhh, I am really feeling it now. I don't even notice that my cheeks are like hamburger since I have the disturbing feeling that my teeth are going to fall right out of my head. I feel like Tommy Lee at the MTV Video Music Awards (that is, if Kid Rock didn't hit like a girl). Right now I am taking Tylenol to relieve the pain but Eric keeps pressuring me to get my hands on some Vicodin, I guess he wants me to end up like Rush Limbaugh. Hey, maybe he is right, who wouldn't want to end up like Limbaugh, a hateful hypocritical bigot with an approximate listening audience of 13.5 million weekly. I guess that his listeners must be able to forgive or forget the three divorces and drug addiction problems. Family values just aren't what they used to be, I guess; but I digress. Another popular suggestion for pain relief due to braces that I found on the web is smoking marijuana. Apparently one feels much better after smoking a blunt; the only trouble that I see with this suggestion is what do you do about the subsequent munchies??? Maybe these guys are right, I could end up like Bill Clinton (and, in fairness, probably almost every person in America). Right now I think that I will stick to my Tylenol. Anyway, I thought that I would include a pic of my new metallic look and also a poem that my friend Neha sent me about dentist woes, it is pretty accurate. Enjoy!

Ogden Nash

This Is Going To Hurt Just A Little Bit

One thing I like less than most things is sitting in a dentist chair with my mouth wide open.

And that I will never have to do it again is a hope that I am against hope hopen.

Because some tortures are physical and some are mental,

But the one that is both is dental.

It is hard to be self-possessed

With your jaw digging into your chest.

So hard to retain your calm

When your fingernails are making serious alterations in your life line or love line or some other important line in your palm;

So hard to give your usual effect of cheery benignity

When you know your position is one of the two or three in life most lacking in dignity.

And your mouth is like a section of road that is being worked on.

And it is all cluttered up with stone crushers and concrete mixers and drills and steam rollers and there isn’t a nerve in your head that you aren’t being irked on.

Oh, some people are unfortunate enough to be strung up by thumbs.

And others have things done to their gums,

And your teeth are supposed to be being polished,

But you have reason to believe they are being demolished.

And the circumstance that adds most to your terror

Is that it’s all done with a mirror,

Because the dentist may be a bear, or as the Romans used to say, only they were referring to a feminine bear when they said it, an ursa,

But all the same how can you be sure when he takes his crowbar in one hand and mirror in the other he won’t get mixed up,
the way you do when you try to tie a bow tie with the aid of a mirror, and forget that left is right and vice versa?

And then at last he says That will be all; but it isn’t because he then coats your mouth from cellar to roof

With something that I suspect is generally used to put a shine on a horse’s hoof.

And you totter to your feet and think. Well it’s all over now and after all it was only this once.

And he says come back in three monce.

And this, O Fate, is I think the most vicious circle that thou ever sentest,

That Man has to go continually to the dentist to keep his teeth in good condition

when the chief reason he wants his teeth in good condition

is so that he won’t have to go to the dentist.

Our Star

2007-08-17T15:06:00.000+05:30

Well, our kitten is famous. Not only is she famous, but she has made into the latest issue of one of the most prestigious science journals in the world, Nature (which, by the way, my work has not made it even close to making it into this journal and my kitten makes it in after only about 2 and a half months of life, some people have all the luck). Mira, the several billion-year old star (not to be confused with our kitten) has recently been found to have a 13 light-year long tail, and is the first star ever discovered to have any such appendage. You can read more about it at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6947607.stm or if you are a physicist, you can read the article at http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v448/n7155/full/nature06003.html (I could barely make it past the abstract). I think that I see a resemblance, though our Mira is much cuter. The list of similarites between the star and the kitten is growing:

1. Our Mira can probably give the star a run for its money when it comes to gas emissions.

2. Both have tails (okay one is 13 light years, but since when does size matter?).

3. Both move very quickly, the star at 80 miles per second, and our furball can't be far behind.

4. Both leave in their wake plenty of destruction and waste.

5. Both continue to astound scientists, one captivates an entire field of physicists, the other mesmerizes just one, me.

Pb or Not Pb? That is the question.

2007-08-17T10:34:00.000+05:30

I grew up during the 80s in the age of Atari and Nintendo so I only risked rotting my brain. So thankfully (or regrettably) I missed out on the earlier era that had chemistry sets that allowed you to make gun power or military grade C4. Also I missed out on the toy guns and weapons that could take down low flying aircraft. It is actually amazing that the US did not suffer negative population growth after the 60s and 70s because most children should have been killed off due to mishaps with "Easy Bake Ovens" and "Lawn Darts". Maybe DARPA secretly had a deal with manufactures such as Mattel and Whammo for training children to fight the Soviets or maybe it was a huge Fascist social Darwin experiment.

The latest Mattel recall of nine million Lead (chemical symbol Pb for all you non-chemists) based toys has started me thinking about the various deathtraps passed off as children's toys during my parents era. I really don't see what the big deal is. So what if Lead causes nephropathy and dementia. Nietzsche once said, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Of course he suffered from dementia and later died of pneumonia but hey you can't win 'em all. Lead really can't be any worse than what was found in "Shrinky Dinks" or "Super Elastic Bubble Plastic" right? Also weren't Tonka Trucks just big blocks of Lead with wheels? People are over-reacting to this latest Pb based toy scare. Hell, its not like our government and corporations are exposing us to something really dangerous like Mercury or something. Those of us with kids should just calm down, grab a nice plate of salmon or tuna and watch the little ones play with their "Silly Pants Elmo" and "Ernie Lightup Musical Pal". Why is it that the Ernie toys are chocked full of Lead but the Bert toys are Pb-free? Aren't they supposedly a couple ... of guys living together?

Let's save our outrage for when Mattel dips into their archives and re-releases the "Mattel Agent Zero M Sonic Blaster 5530". Because then we all will know that DARPA is at it again trying to training our youth to fight the new Commies - Al Qaeda.

Oh, if you haven't heard or seen the "Mattel Agent Zero M Sonic Blaster 5530" then you will be happy to know that the toy can emit a blast of compressed air that produces a 157dB sound wave capable of rupturing and causing permanent damage to the ear drums of adults and the kid using it. I attached a picture of a kid holding one. He is probably about to take down a flock of geese or maybe a twin engine Cessna.

And no that is not a joke or doctored picture. You can still buy this TMD (Toy of Mass Destruction), "Mint In Box", on Ebay for the Buy It Now Price of $2495.

Independence Day

2007-08-15T21:24:00.000+05:30

The Indian civilization has been on this earth for over 3,500 years but today it celebrates only its 60th birthday. August 15 is the day that India gained her independence from Britain, and became a sovereign nation. The story of the journey to Indian independence is a dramatic one and, like any good story, filled with interesting characters as well as a great deal of tragedy. I have been reading a very good book called “Freedom at Midnight” which documents the enormous undertaking that was Indian Independence. Unlike our independence, India’s was not won at gunpoint, but was rather earned in greatest part by the non-violent efforts of Gandhi which wore down British rule the way that water will eventually wear down even the hardest of stone. Of course the Freedom Fighters and politicians like Nehru and others were also critical in Indian independence, but by all accounts that I have read, independence would not have come to India without the great Gandhi Ji.

I think that I will tell a bit of the story of Indian independence because it is such an interesting story, and one that if it hadn’t actually happened, would be the stuff of fiction. The story is very long and complex, and I certainly can’t do it justice here, but I wanted to share just a taste, especially about the partition of India, which certainly is on the mind of all Indians as they celebrate their Independence, because it came at such a high cost.

In 1947, the British had finally submitted to India’s cry for Independence, and appointed a new Viceroy and Governor-General of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten, to oversee Indian independence and work with the Indian politicians to sort out the details of the hand-over of power. The Muslim League, a political party in India, led by the very shrewd Jinnah, saw the impending departure of the British as the perfect opportunity to demand that a separate Muslim state be carved from India. Jinnah argued to Mountbatten that the Hindu majority in India would persecute its Muslim minority after the British withdrew, and in effect issued an ultimatum that the British could partition India into two states, one Hindu and the other Muslim, or else India would erupt in a violent civil war and Britain would leave behind an India in flames. Jinnah claimed that India would be “divided or destroyed.” The atmosphere in parts of India was very volatile and the British felt a great deal of pressure to withdraw quickly in the hopes that their departure would quell some of the violence that was whipping through parts of the country (riots during the Muslim League’s Direct Action Day of August 1946 in Calcutta resulted in over 5000 deaths in just a single day). The British had little choice but to submit to The Muslim League’s demand for an independent Muslim state so it was decided that each of the 565 princely states that made up India at the time would choose which country to join, either India or Pakistan. Those states whose princes failed to choose either country or chose a country at odds with their majority religion, such as Kashmir, became the subject of much dispute. Kashmir was eventually annexed by India, but India and Pakistan continue to do battle over this idyllic piece of earth as a result of the poor decision of one prince. The result of partition was the division of the Punjab, the Northwest section of India, into two halves, the western-most part became West Pakistan and the eastern section became the western border of India. Additionally, in the east of India, Bengal was to also be divided into two, with the eastern-most section becoming East Pakistan and the western section becoming India’s eastern border. So Pakistan, as Palestine is today, was a country with discontinuous borders, the two halves separated by the massive India. This is, of course, an untenable situation and East Pakistan eventually declared its independence from Pakistan and after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, became what is today known as Bangladesh.

At midnight between August 14 (Pakistan’s Independence Day) and August 15 (India’s Independence Day) both countries were freed from British rule. There was little time for jubilation as those individuals who found themselves within a country that they did not wish to live began a mass migration where 14.5 million people crossed the borders to what they hoped was the relative safety of religious majority. Based on a 1951 Census of displaced persons, 7,226,000 Muslims went to Pakistan from India while 7,249,000 Hindus and Sikhs moved to India from Pakistan immediately after partition. The newly formed governments were completely unequipped to deal with migrations of such staggering magnitude, and massive violence and slaughter occurred on both sides of the border. Estimates of the number of deaths range around roughly 500,000, with low estimates at 200,000 and high estimates at 1,000,000.

Okay, now time for the color commentary. First of all, the idea that one country could almost completely withdraw from another after about 350 years of occupation within the span of a few months is flabbergasting. Additionally, not only did the British have to hand over power and withdraw in only 2 months, they also had to oversee the separation of said country into two parts (three really when you consider that Pakistan was geographically split in two). That means that every single thing that India possessed had to be divided, as fairly as possible, between the two countries: her army, her treasury, her government, even the inkwells in her government offices has to be divvied up. And all in two months’ time. It must have been mad. There is much debate to this day concerning Partition, those in India generally feel very strongly that the British made a terrible decision in submitting to Jinnah’s demands. Additionally, it is thought that they are largely responsible for the debacle following Partition due to their haste in leaving and thus left the business of public order up to the two fledgling governments which were ill prepared to deal with the migration and violence. Others would argue that India and Pakistan wanted the British out as soon as possible without considering the implications that it might have on the ability to enforce law and order and that the British felt that their presence in India was fanning the flames of Hindu/Muslim violence (sound familiar anyone?). My personal feeling is that the British were between the proverbial rock and hard place. I feel that the similarities between the British presence in India and the U.S. presence in Iraq are a little sickening. As in, why is it that we cannot learn from history? The British would not have found themselves in such a terrible position if they had never involved themselves in Indian affairs to begin with. They became so entrenched in the country that they could not effectively extricate themselves when it became apparent that their presence was no longer welcome (not that it ever really was). And now the story is playing out again in Iraq, and if we believe that America will be remembered lovingly by Iraqis when Iraq’s Independence Day rolls around, I just think of how the Indians remember England on their day of Independence and I am not so convinced.

Happy Independence Day India.

Visa, it’s everywhere you want to be, except in India.

2007-08-14T08:49:00.000+05:30

For those of you that aren’t extremely familiar with international travel, one typically is required to obtain a visa from the country to which you are planning to travel, think of it as a permission slip from the host country. As Americans, we are very lucky that our government has made agreements with many other foreign countries which allow us to forgo this process. We rarely even consider the possibility that we might need a visa to enter a country since we don’t often need one. However, when entering a country for purposes other than tourism, most (if not all) countries require that the individual obtain a work visa. In the case of our move to India, I was required to get a work visa, and Eric got what is known as an X visa, in his case a co-terminus visa as he is joining his employed spouse in India. Some of you might remember how much I complained about what a pain in the butt getting these visas were, we were turned away the first time because they claimed at the Indian Consulate that we were applying prematurely and to come back closer to the date of our departure. We went back and again waited in a long line, but were approved and told to return the next day to pick up the visas, which we did. In retrospect, I am not sure why I thought at the time that this was such a pain. Knowing what I know now, I should have kissed the guy who approved us and handed us our visas the very next day. That was last October, and our visas are valid only for a year, so they are up for renewal.

Another lovely aspect of the visa process is registration. When we arrived in Bangalore, within seven days of landing, I had to go through a process known as registration. This involves driving to the Police Commissioner’s office near downtown Bangalore (read: hellish traffic) with a ton of paperwork proving who I am, why I am here, etc. The particular pleasure of this process is that you are operating in an information blackout. The application form is not available on-line, nor is the list of paperwork that needs to accompany your application. To obtain both of these you have to actually brave the traffic and pick them up (by the way, they change the application form and list of paperwork at random, and very frequently such that you can not just get the information from friends and/or colleagues that have gone through the process before you). Only after getting these forms and collecting your stack of papers can you go to the office to get registered. I would also like to mention at this point that I have no idea what registration is actually FOR. Are they worried that foreigners are more criminally inclined than their Indian brethren and should thus have a record at the police station before we get into any trouble? Is it for our own safety (doubtful). I am not sure. Anyway, back to registration. So you travel down to the Police Commissioner’s office again, only to find that they want additional information that is not included on the list of required supporting documents. For instance, when I went through this heartwarming process the first time (accompanied by 2 Indians from my institute to “smooth” the process, i.e., assure that bribes were not solicited by the officials) I had assembled all of the paperwork on the list, including letters from my institute stating my purpose for being in India and stating that I was financed by my institute. These documents were signed by an administrator at the NCBS. When I tried to submit my documents for registration, the official gleefully turned me away because I had not brought proof of this official’s Indian-ness. No joke. I guess that I was supposed to know that I needed not only copies of my passport, but of the passport of anyone who signed any document that I needed as proof of my legitimacy. So we had to come back to get copies of this fellow’s passport (actually his Internal Revenue Card, I think this is sort of like a Social Security card) and then brave traffic a third time. They accepted my documents and told me to pick up my registration the next day. Cool, mission accomplished, it only took four trips to get it done (this also works out to 2 days off work as each trip takes a half day minimum mostly due to traffic and waiting in line).

So when it came to getting our visas renewed, I have no idea why I thought that doing it in India would be a good idea. A friend of mine from France had advised that we just leave the country and have it renewed while there (don’t ask me why it is easier to renew a visa for one country in a different country) but I wanted to be a good worker and didn’t want to take time off. So, when Eric was able to get a day off, we set out with 2 NCBS representatives to begin the renewal process, 90 days prior to expiration, as instructed. I had assembled all of the forms that I could imagine but we did not have the application form or the list of required documents (remember, these can only be found at the Police Commissioner’s office). We picked up the application form and the list, and found that there were a bunch of things that we didn’t have and also didn’t know what they were. Anyway, they did start to process the forms, and I received a slip of paper that I was told to take to the local police station where I live (god knows why). We also had to go to a bank to pay the fee for renewal and get a receipt indicating such. When we got to the bank I realized that they had only processed my forms, not Eric’s as well. I was pretty worked up about this as Eric’s visa expires the same day as mine so his really needed to be renewed as well. So after paying my fee, we went back to the Police Commissioner’s office to inquire about Eric. Well, they said that my visa needed to be dealt with first and only then could we worry about Eric. This makes absolutely no sense, one would actually think that it would be much more efficient to process them together since Eric’s visa is dependant on mine. Whatever, I do not think that there is even a word for efficiency here. So we went off to the police station to drop off my form, where Eric and I parted company and he made his way home. He had already wasted half of his day unnecessarily, why waste any more? So I went into the police station and waited while some schmuck sat around until he was ready to talk to us (any public official that has even an iota of power loves to abuse it and throw it in your face given the opportunity). He looked at the form and asked for passport photos (these are a must have here, even to get a SIM card for a cell phone you have to hand over a couple of photos, so it is just best to carry some with you at all times) and a copy of our rental agreement. Of course I didn’t have a copy of our apartment rental agreement with me, why would I? It wasn’t on the list of paperwork that I needed and I certainly had no idea that I would end up in my local police station that day so why would I bring it? So I told them that I would drop it off since I walk by the station every night on my way home from the gym. Uhhh, nope, dropping by after 5 PM wouldn’t work as it was too late (I actually walk by the station around 8 PM, so that was definitely out of the question) and dropping it around 7:30 AM when we drive by in the morning was too early. It does not inspire great confidence when you find that your local police station is not a 24-hour enterprise. God help you if you are attacked outside of normal business hours (which, by the way are around 10-5 with a two hour lunch break from 12-2, this is for I think all government offices). Anyway, this guy then grabs a police officer and says that he is coming with me to my house. WHAT!!! So we head off to my apartment, apparently so that the police officer can verify that I live where I say I live and so that the people from whom we rent can attest that we live there and aren’t axe murderers (like they would even know, maybe we are silent killers). We pull up and I get out of the van with the police officer and Eric comes to the door and asks, “Why are the police here!?” I didn’t even know so I told him to not bother even asking. So he spoke to our landlady for a bit (during which time I took the opportunity to go up to our apartment and say hi to the kittens and use the restroom). When I came to my door, the policeman was standing there and asked if he could look in. What the hell for????? Anyway, he peeked in and said, “Nice.” If we get robbed in the near future, I will have a pretty good idea who is behind it… Back to NCBS to get the remaining paperwork on the list.

Two days later we were back at it again, heading down to the Police Commissioner’s office to submit my documents and to inquire about when we can start the process for Eric. Earlier in the day I had spoken to my French friend and told him that the visa renewal process was underway and told him of my adventure a few days before. He went on to tell me that he had actually tried to renew from India in October, and had yet to receive the renewal (even after 10 months!) and had decided to just go out of country to get it done. He also told me of the only other foreign post-doc that he knew of that had also tried this and received the extension only after many months (more than the 90 days that they claim) and in the meantime could only exit the country with permission, but could not re-enter, effectively preventing his exit from India). So I was very worried, but I went anyway. I met with the visa official and he went through my documents, and, with pleasure said that he couldn’t accept them as I had not included proof of the Indian identity of the administrator that had signed off on my paperwork. With equal, or perhaps greater pleasure, I whipped out of another stack of papers that I had brought (just in case), the proof that he wanted. I wasn’t going to get screwed again, I had learned my lesson from the registration process. He still got me though, he wanted copies, and I had only an original so I had to run across the street and make copies, but at least I didn’t have to go back to the NCBS this time. So after he accepted my papers I asked when I could expect to receive my renewal. “Oh, about a month and a half” he said. I was not convinced and asked how would I know if it had come. He said that I just needed to stop by the Police Commissioner’s office to check. Oh, how convenient! I asked if there were some phone number that I could call to see if it had arrived so that I didn’t waste a trip if it wasn’t there. “Oh, just come and see’” he said. He then said that maybe I should ask this other fellow in the next building when I took to him a form that needed to be submitted. So I went and asked him, and he told me that the other guy would know since it is he who receives the visas. I told him that the other guy sent me to him, so if the other guy was the one who was to receive my visa and he doesn’t even know it, that I am pretty confident that I am screwed. He laughed and I informed him that I was not making a joke, I did not believe that I would ever receive my renewed visa if it were left up to these idiots.

So I also inquired about Eric’s visa renewal and was told that he first had to register (he hadn’t because his visa, unlike mine, didn’t require it and as he saw how frustrating it was for me to do it, he smartly opted out). Fine, he has to register first. I went and asked at the information desk if I could please get the application form and list of supporting documents so that we could get him registered. The fellow asked who was registering and I told him my husband was. He asked to see his passport (which I didn’t carry) and I asked why, all I wanted was 2 pieces of paper. What purpose could it possibly serve to check passports just to hand out 2 pieces of paper? Do they think that they are handing over state secrets, maybe the codes for their nukes? The guy told me something ridiculous about the paper being imported and expensive (by the way the paper is of less quality than my toilet paper) and I screamed at him if the paper is so expensive, I can just pay him for it!!! I lost it at that point. That is exactly what I mean by an information blackout. They make it nearly impossible to know what to do and make everything as difficult as possible. It is particularly frustrating because we are here trying to do some good, and we are treated like criminals or potential terrorists.

I was very angry and upset and my Indian escort (who I have now become convinced are actually handlers that are meant to pull angry Westerners off of Indian officials when they are pushed to their breaking point) tried to comfort me by telling me that getting visas are difficult anywhere and I informed him that I got my Indian visa in one day in the US (so shut it). I burst into tears and called Eric and told him as much as I could. I made it back to work where I related the day’s events to my lab mates, and then to my boss and NCBS administrators. My frustration was mainly that I did not (and still do not) believe that my visa will come in a month and a half, I do not believe that it will come even before it expires (end of Oct.). If I have to wait for mine to come before applying for Eric’s, then his will definitely not come before it expires, and most likely would not even come before we come home for Christmas (Dec. 19, we already have the plane ticket). This means that we would not be able to re-enter India. And Eric’s renewal is, of course, contingent on Eric registering. After the experience that I had, I told my boss and the administrators that we were absolutely NOT going to register Eric. I have had enough of this crap to last me a lifetime, and I am NEVER going to willingly subject either Eric or myself to it EVER AGAIN. I told them that we were going to leave the country to get his visa renewed, if mine actually comes before we go to take care of his, wonderful, but if not I will reapply for renewal out of country. I also told them that we are leaving India in December for the U.S., and if we are not able to re-enter India because the government cannot get it together, then so be it. We, by that time, will have done all that we can do, we can only do so much.

So, to make a long story short, by trying to save time by renewing our visas in India I actually wasted a whole day and will have to leave anyway to get anything accomplished. The upside is that Eric and I are going to Thailand to renew our visas (it is supposedly the best place for renewing Indian visas). We plan to spend a day in Bangkok to turn in our visa renewals before flying to Phuket to lounge on the beach for a week. After this experience, we deserve it and I also hope to have a few drinks and put it all behind me (hopefully the tsunamis will stay away while we are there, wouldn’t that just be a perfect ending to this story, Suzi and Eric get swept away trying to renew their visas because they couldn’t get it done in India). We will then head back to Bangkok for a couple more days to see the sights and pick up our renewed visas (hopefully, or we will be on an plane back to the US)! There are a couple of upsides to this debacle; I have always wanted to go to Thailand and we are very excited to have the perfect excuse to go. We are hoping to take advantage of the sex trade there, it supposed to be the best in the world (just kidding, I don’t want this blog to be flagged for elicit content). Finally, the other positive thing that has come from this experience is that I have learned my lesson, you cannot get anything done in India, and I vow that I will never try to again.

Caste Away

2007-07-23T13:29:00.000+05:30

I am sure that most of you have heard of the caste system that has persisted in India and defined her societal interactions for thousands of years. The caste system is a hereditary system of classification into the social strata wherein an individual inherits from his/her parents at birth their position in society. As a birthright, the caste into which you are born is your caste for life and upward mobility from the lower castes such as the scheduled castes (which generally consist of former "untouchables" ) and those that fall within the Other Backward Classes (this is the "technical" term for a grouping of over 3000 lower castes) is impossible.

Though the caste system has been illegal in India for over 50 years, its influence is still starkly evident every day. There exists in this country a palpable sense of position that time has not yet erased, and a knowledge of being better, or lesser, than your neighbor. The idea that "All Men are Created Equal" is absolute nonsense here, which gives rise to some very uncomfortable and difficult situations for a Westerner like me. And as hard as I try to understand, I simply can't and I am often frustrated and infuriated by the side effects of this backward and ignorant system.

Eric has already described the violent and demeaning scene between the police officer and the auto driver, a consequence I believe of the caste system. The effects are usually not so dramatic, but the result is always the demeaning of the "lesser" person. For instance, my trainer, after knowing me and working with me for many months, still insisted on calling me only "Madam". So during my workout he would encourage me by saying "Good work Madam", "Fantastic Madam", etc. I found this to be quite uncomfortable as I felt that he was elevating me to a position higher than the position at which he placed himself. I strongly feel, and hope that all other Westerners (and ideally, all humans) agree, that no person is better than another. There is a time and a place for addressing others with respect, but the gym is not one of those places. So I asked that he please call me Suzi. His reaction to this request was that of complete confusion. He asked, "Do you really like your name, is that why you want me to call you by it?" I told him that no, I was no more fond of my name than the average person is, but that my friends call me Suzi and I hoped that he would please consider me a friend.

This issue of position is also disturbingly evident in my workplace. The professors here are no less than tyrants that seem to delight in berating, belittling, and demeaning those that they view as "lesser". This includes, well, everyone. Post-docs, graduate students, master's students, junior trainees, janitorial staff, kitchen staff, support staff, administrators, service representatives, salespeople; it seems that almost no one is immune to their wrath. I have personally witnessed this and it is a sight that literally makes my stomach turn. There are certainly bad bosses all over the world, but I have never seen or heard of such mistreatment of employees to the degree that I have witnessed here. (And remember that I am in one of the premier research institutes in the entire country, a place for higher learning!) The students and staff seem to tiptoe around for fear of arousing the attention and subsequent anger of any given professor. As you might imagine, this does not particularly lead to an atmosphere of collaboration and honest discourse if one is constantly living in fear of your boss, so ultimately the science suffers (and I am sure all other forms of industry suffer as well due to this environment). I have seen my boss berate and humiliate many of the students in our lab, lashing them verbally for little or no reason at all. Particular care is taken that this be done in the middle of the lab, to assure the maximal humiliation by the presence of a captive audience. It is disgusting and despicable and I honestly don't know if I can continue to stand by and watch this type of behavior for another two years. The professors are nothing but bullies, so insecure in their own intelligence (often for damn good reason) that they exert their position of power by instilling fear and loathing in their students, constantly kicking them down to keep them in their place. This results in a population of meek, submissive worker bees, afraid to think or question for fear of being the target of the boss's unpredictable rage. I sometimes consider it a miracle that any Indian educated in India can think for themselves, as it seems to me that this urge is immediately quashed by a tyrannical educator.

The complete and utter lack of respect for students by their bosses was made evident to me yesterday, when I heard the story of a senior graduate student here. Students at the NCBS have a tenure, and if they have not yet finished all of their work for completion of their PhD, they have to ask for an extension from their boss to continue to provide a pitifully small stipend as well as to set aside a room in one of the hostels (NCBS has two dreary dorms where students stay, not for free, without television, in some cases without internet, and the student has to provide even a bed for the room). This particular student has had a successful graduate student career by any measure, she is hard-working, she is intelligent and she has submitted a paper to a very reputable journal, which is currently under review. Her tenure is up at the end of July, and she has asked her boss for a three month extension during which she would be writing her thesis, the final requirement for completing her PhD. Her boss, who has been her mentor for the past seven years, said no, why would he continue to pay her while she is writing? What this means is that she has no income and she will be thrown out of her room unless there is some intervention on her behalf. In addition, because her PhD isn't yet completed she is not free to pursue a post-doc or other industry jobs that require a PhD. That is what seven years of intense work gets you, thrown out on your ass without any concern for your well-being. That is how the "lesser" people are viewed by the professors, expendable commodities that you throw in the garbage after you have finished with them.

I have so far been fortunate enough to not be targeted by any of the professors here. I am not sure if my Western heritage provides me with some unseen force field against the caste system, or if it is just a matter of time before someone tries to make me aware of my "place". I hope that if that day comes, I am prepared to stand tall and make known that not I, nor anyone, is lesser than anyone else and anyone who thinks different is an ignorant fool.

Chaya and Mira

2007-07-17T08:54:00.000+05:30

Well, after intense deliberation and negotiations, Eric and I have picked names for our kittens. The kitten with the white paws and chest is called Mira (pronounced MEE ra) after the Hindu heroine Mira Bai, a woman who was persecuted by her husband and her husband's family for her devotion to Lord Krishna despite their insistence that she worship Durga instead. Her husband sent her away to drown herself because of the shame that she brought to his family, but she was rescued by her Lord Krishna and freed from her marital bonds. She went on to become a saint, a philosopher, a poet and a sage. She is a very atypical Hindu heroine because she does not represent the ideal of the loyal and dutiful wife, and as our new kitten is also quite headstrong, we thought that Mira is a nice fit. Mira also happens to be a red giant star approximately 418 light-years away in the constellation Cetus, and like the star, our kitten is sometimes gaseous.

The second kitten which is dark all over has been named Chaya (pronounced CHI ya), which in Hindi means shade. Chaya is also the Hindu goddess of the beneficial effects of muted and dappled sunlight. We felt that this was a pretty apt name due to our kitten's dappled appearance. I have included several pictures of our kittens so that you all can meet them! (I have a feeling that I am going to be one of those annoying pet owners that love to talk about their pets and show pictures constantly, so be prepared!)

To err is human, to purr is feline.

2007-07-16T12:37:00.000+05:30

While we were visiting the U.S., our good friend Jill was kind enough to let us stay at her place for about a week. I guess it is probably more accurate to say that Jill's two cats, Squints and Berkley, let us stay at their house. We enjoyed their company so much that when we returned to India, we decided to look into getting a couple of kitties of our own. We guessed that cats would be the most appropriate pets for our lifestyle as we are not home during the day and as cats are far less needy than dogs (and since neither Eric nor I really care that much for dogs) it was an easy decision. Also since I managed to kill the last pet I had (the virtual pet, Seaman, who hated me so much because of my lack of attention to him that he constantly insulted me before finally going belly up, literally), I figured that the lower maintence, the better.

I guessed that the appropriate place to try to get a kitten would be an animal shelter. As luck would have it, my bus stop is directly in front of a veterinary hospital and I assumed that they would also have a shelter, or at least be able to tell us where one is. So two Saturdays ago Eric and I made our way to the hospital and were instructed that the shelter was directly behind the hospital. I have never actually been to an animal shelter in the US, but I have seen them on TV in documentaries and other shows so I thought that I had an idea of what to expect. I was wrong. The animal shelter seemed to be in two or three buildings, all clustered together. It was not difficult to figure out where the dogs were as you could hear constant barking coming from two of the buildings. I am no animal expert, but I am pretty sure that so much barking must be extremely damaging to the dogs as their stress level must be through the roof. The cats and other miscellaneous animals were kept in another building. "What do you mean by miscellaneous animals, what other types of animals are kept at a shelter, guinea pigs and hamsters perhaps?" Yeah right, more like chickens, ducks, goats, horses and cows. That's right, looking for something to keep you warm at night, how about a cow? Just go to your local animal shelter and pick one up! Okay, back to the shelter... The animals were actually kept outside, with little or no protection from the elements in metal cages with dirt floors. We spent the whole time near the cat cage, where all of the cats were kept together in one large cage. It is difficult for me to describe the smell; it was as though every cat on the earth was lined up to take a turn in a fairly large litter box. It was so strong that you daren't take a deep breath and nose breathing was kept to a minimum. And in this filthy, smelling hellhole were kept around fifteen cats, from adults to a litter of newborns, some clearly diseased and all starving. They were fed, but their food consisted of bread soaked in milk. First of all, giving cow's milk to cats is not a great idea; it can often make them sick and almost always give then diarrhea. Secondly, cats are strict CARNIVORES. I dig that most Indians are vegetarians, but come on, give me a break, give the cats some damn meat. Unlike dogs, who are omnivores, cats can not make many of the essential vitamins and amino acids required for survival and have to obtain these from the meat that they eat. So every one of the cats were for all intensive purposes, starved. There was no litter box, the cats just did their business wherever and had nowhere comfortable to rest, either in the filth on the floor, or on wire racks within the cage. Not surprisingly, some of the cats had gone rather mad and would run wildly through the cage, others would hiss at you if approached, and others were limp and completely weak. It was miserable and utterly heartbreaking.

We had initially planned to check the place out and then bring home one kitten the next weekend, but after seeing how horrible the shelter was we decided to rescue two, and we just couldn't leave them there for a whole additional week. We told the people at the shelter that we would be back the next day to get our kittens, we couldn't take them immediately because we didn't have a single thing for them, no food, no litter or litter box, no basket for bringing them home, nothing. So we immediately stopped at the first pet shop that we could find. Now I should mention at this point that having a pet is a fairly new concept in India and the pet culture is completely different than in the US. For instance, we stopped by the vet hospital after leaving the shelter to inquire about spaying and/or neutering. The vet sort of looked at us strangely and asked, "You mean that you want to have your cat sterilized?" Uh, yeah. I mean seriously, has this guy never heard of Bob Barker or seen the Price is Right? Animal population control is not a priority here, and street dogs are constantly reproducing, I actually don't think that I have ever seen a female dog on the street that isn't either pregnant or nursing. I guess that it shouldn't be a surprise that animal population control isn't an issue here as there isn't any more thought given to human population control. Anyway, as I was saying, pets are a new thing here, and apparently the only pet to have is a dog. So the pet shop was loaded with all types of dog food, dog treats, dog toys, but almost nothing for cats. We were able to find some kitten food which we bought, but when I inquired about kitty litter and a litter box I again got a strange look. No kitty litter, but they would happily build me a wooden litter box. Right, a WOOD box would be perfect to absorb all the little kitty piddle. My god. Anyway, we tried three other pet shops and still no litter. So, in a panic, I called my friend who has a friend who has a cat and asked where she gets litter. She directed me to a shop quite a distance away and since it was getting late we decided to go the next day to get the litter. In the meantime we went to the local shop that sells all sorts of stuff and found a plastic tub to use as a litter box and a plastic basket to carry the kittens home in. So the next day we went to try to find this pet shop for the litter, and after walking up and down the same street for about 25 minutes Eric finally spotted it. We went in and found kitty litter, but no pooper-scooper, no toys, and only one kind of treat (vegetarian by the way). But at least we got the litter. That same afternoon, we went back to the shelter and picked out two tiny and skinny four-week old sisters (the mother and any other siblings were not there) and brought them home. Since then our days have been a whirlwind of kittens and poo and piddle. Luckily, they warmed up to us very quickly, the first night we had them home they were already crawling on us. They are doing pretty well with litter, especially considering that they had never used it before since there wasn't any at the shelter. They are putting on some weight, the food was the very first thing that they found when they came home with us and I look forward to the time when they are tubby kittens instead of skinny ones. I am quite embarrassed to say that our kittens don't yet have names, even after one week. Right now we are considering some Indian names (duh) and some Greek names (inspired by God of War II, the video game that Eric is playing currently). Hopefully we will make a decision soon and post some pics of the newest additions!

Back to Bangalore

2007-06-27T17:19:00.000+05:30

Hi everyone. I just checked out the blog and realized that June is almost over and neither Eric nor I have made a single post all month! What a couple of slackers. However, as we left for the US on June 5 and only returned to Bangalore on June 23, I think we have an acceptable excuse. Though we returned to India on the 22nd (to Delhi, then on to Bangalore on the following morning), we really only got readjusted to the time difference today (last night was our first night of actually sleeping at NIGHT). I personally think that three days for readjusting to an almost 12 hour time change isn't too shabby.

Anyway, we had an awesome visit to the US, we are so happy that we got to spend so much time with friends and family, though of course it still wasn't enough. We got to meet a couple of new babies (Kim and Josh's baby girl, Natalie and Jen and Andy's baby girl, Allison), see how some others had grown in the last seven months (Alex's little girl Zachia, Jen and Andy's son, Evan and Eddie and Ashley's twins Ryan and Haley), congratulated some newlyweds (Matt and Janell), saw my baby brother married (Brandon to LeAnn), wished some who are about to be married the best (Steve and Amy), watched a TON of baseball/softball, and tons more. As you can image, we were busy, but were loving every minute of it. But don't worry, we made sure that we got plenty to eat either between or during visits (sometimes both during and in between). I swear I spent most of the trip with a delightfully upset stomach.

The only down side to our visit home is that after two and a half weeks, we had to again say good-bye to everyone. When we left for India at the end of October, I had just finished my graduate work and had been so busy with writing and defending my thesis as well and writing fellowships and trying to put together a final manuscript, I was utterly overwhelmed. We had also sold our house and had packed all of our belongings into a storage unit and were living out of bags with Eric's aunt and uncle and were trying to get everything packed for our move to India. I was so freaked out about what work was going to be like in India and how life in general was going to go and where were we going to live and how we were going to get around... My point is that with all of these things going on I really never had the time to think very hard about all that I was leaving behind, not just our home and our way of life, but most importantly our friends and family. That was very different when we left last week. We are now settled in Bangalore, I had no worries about what we would be facing when we stepped off of the plane so all I could think of was what we left behind. About how my three month old niece will be nine months old the next time I get to see her and how much I will be missing in her life (and her mother's, love you Kim) while I am away. About how by the time Eric and I return permanently my nephew will probably have his driver's permit (which I am sure causes fear and loathing in his parents). I wonder who is playing cricket with my other nephew in our absence... We will be missing Matt and Janell's and Steve and Amy's wedding receptions later this summer, and Kim and Josh's wedding in July. That doesn't even count the birthdays and anniversaries and other little daily events that we took so much for grated. I am feeling less sad now that I am back with my friends here in India, but we are missing everyone so much and counting on everyone to keep us updated on life back in the US. I can't wait for our visit in December and I am looking forward to getting caught up with everyone again. My fellowship has been finalized so we will be here until June 30, 2009, but we will get through these next two years six months at a time, always looking forward to our next visit home to be with the family and friends that will sustain us until the next time.

Reverse Sticker Shock

2007-05-31T08:46:00.000+05:30

I have of course heard of the rise in medical tourism, wherein people who are seeking medical treatment travel outside of their home country to recieve said treatment, most often because of the high cost within the home country. India is a very popular destination of medical tourists, and after our experience yesterday, I understand why.

Eric had been complaining for a day or so that his little finger on his right hand was hurting him. It was a bit swollen and a bit red so we applied a topical antibiotic to the cut and covered it with a Band-Aid. This continued until yesterday around noon when he called from work and asked if my friend Mamta, a M.D., might be able to look at it. I thought that he was being a little bit of a drama queen since it looked okay when we left for work just a couple of hours earlier, but I thought that Mamta and I would humor him. When we met up, it was obvious that something was really wrong because his finger had swollen to a huge and disgusting size and looked like a sausage about to pop its casing. We decided that we should go immediately to the hospital to get this looked at because it was so gross and Eric was in alot of pain. We set of to the nicest looking hospital that we could think of since none of us had ever really been in a hospital in Bangalore (Mamta has only been in Bangalore for 10 months or so). We knew that this hospital would be much more expensive than the typical hospital, but we didn't want to mess around just trying to save a few bucks. Little did we know that we had nothing to worry about.

When we arrived at the hospital we promptly filled out a brief registration form; name, birthdate, address, the typical stuff. It was so nice to not have to sit for forever filling out all of the insurance paperwork and all of the other crap that has to be done at US hospitals. We waited maybe five to ten minutes before we saw that surgeon who diagnosed the problem, and then waited maybe another five minutes before the procedure was started (they numbed his finger with a local anestetic and then made an incision to drain the fluid, and dressed it). He was done in about another ten minutes. We then took the prescriptions and the paperwork to the cashier to pay. I was hoping that it would be under 8000 rupees, which is about $200. I am not sure what the equivalent procedure would cost in the US, but when I dislocated my shoulder I am positive that we ended up paying at least a couple hundred bucks, and that was in addition to the pleasure of having been made to sit in a freezing ER for two hours with a shoulder out of socket before actually receiving any treatment. I was absolutely shocked when the total cost was 1772 Rs ($43.59). This price INCLUDES the cost of the prescriptions (a one week course of antibiotics and three days worth of pain killers). And also remember, NO INSURANCE. That is the actual cost, no strings attached. My god, my jaw just about hit the floor. I am still in a state of shock. And the other factor that makes the cost even more shocking is that the hospital that we were at is actually NICER than any hospital that I have ever been to in the US, so imagine what the cost would have been at a more typical Indian hospital; probably $30 tops. I thought that I would just include that price breakdown that was included on our bill for those that are interested.

Registration Fee-100 Rs ($2.46)

Antibiotic-806.74 Rs ($19.84)

Pain Killer-71.65 Rs ($1.76)

Surgical Blade-3.26 Rs ($0.08)

10CC Syringe-7 Rs ($0.17)

Sterile Gloves-33 Rs ($0.81)

Consultation Charge-250 Rs ($6.15)

Doctor Charges-500 Rs ($12.30)

So if any of you are needing any medical procedure and are looking for a bargain, please consider visiting us in India. We were so pleased with our experience, we are looking forward to our next injury.

Working Girl

2007-05-21T15:12:00.000+05:30

Well, I have an update concerning the ban on women in the workplace after 8 PM in Karnataka. After many demonstrations and vociferous protests by women's groups, the government saw the light and decided to withdraw the ban. I suspect that my sarcasm-laden post on this issue was brought to the attention of the Labour Minister and greatly influenced the decision. Okay, maybe not, but I am grateful that the people here made a stand and demanded fair treatment. With all of the apathy here concerning the people's ability to affect any sort of change, I feel that this is a very positive result. You go girls!!!

The Best Day Ever!!!

2007-05-13T08:42:00.000+05:30

Well, I think that it is safe to say that yesterday was definitely the best day that I have had yet here in India, and probably ranks about in the top five of my best days ever. Before coming to India I had applied for two different fellowships in the US to support my work in India. There are two reasons why I did this. First, I knew that my salary in India would be pretty terrible, just around $450 USD a month. This was a little demoralizing because even though I would have my PhD, I would be earning a fraction of my graduate student salary. If I were awarded the fellowship, however, my salary would be on par with an American salary, which would be very nice to have in a country with low costs like India. The second reason is that being awarded a fellowship is very prestigious, and a great thing to put on a CV. So, while I was writing my dissertation, in my spare time, I also wrote a couple of fellowship proposals (har har har). One was submitted to a private foundation that is interested in finding a cure for Huntington's Disease (which is what I study) while the other was sent to the National Science Foundation (NSF), one of the two major federally funded research funding agencies. The fellowship that I applied for with the NSF is called the International Research Fellowship Program (IRFP) and is meant for American scientists who would like to do their research abroad, and as an NSF fellowship, is very competitive. I learned in February that while my proposal to the private foundation had made the cut to the top 10 proposals, it was not funded. Huge Bummer... Anyway, I have patiently been waiting since early October to hear back from the NSF, and yesterday morning I got the news that my proposal was chosen to be funded!!! I was ecstatic. I had hoped to get it, but I never expected to so it was a wonderful surprise when I received the e-mail. The downside: now I have to deal with the bureaucracy of a huge American funding agency, but the upside is that I know that my (and your) tax dollars are hard at work!

I thought that my day couldn't possibly get any better, but I was wrong. Eric and I were sitting at home later that afternoon when a guy from the post office knocked and said that we had a package and we could come and pick it up in a few minutes. When it comes to packages, I never know what to expect, who sent us goodies this time? Last month some friends of mine from Northwestern (Barbara, Janice, and Lisa) had surprised me with a package of food so I had no idea what to expect this time. My parents had put a package in the mail in early JANUARY that hadn't arrived, but we all had pretty much given up hope of that box ever arriving. Well, it was my lucky day because the package was from my parents, and stuffed full of so much yummy goodness that we just don't know what to do with ourselves. Oreo cookies, M&Ms, candy hearts (remember, the box was sent in JANUARY), granola bars, and the list goes on and on and on... I think I'll go have a snack to celebrate MY BEST DAY EVER!!!

But it's for your own good....

2007-05-07T15:06:00.000+05:30

I was stunned to read on Friday that Karnataka’s Minister for Labour had announced that the government had decided to ban women from working past eight in the evening throughout the entire state. The reasoning behind this action is that in order to combat a recent increase in crimes against women, the best solution is, of course, to keep women off the streets after sun-down. It would be ridiculous to suggest that any effort be made to prevent such crimes by boosting the police presence, by catching, prosecuting and punishing the offenders, or by educating males that violence to women is immoral. It is much easier to just keep the women at home, preferably barefoot and pregnant.

In a stroke of brilliance though, the Minister made it clear that the ban excludes women employees in information technology (IT) and Biotechnology or women employed in hospitals and other essential service sectors. Because, as everyone knows, women in these sectors are given at graduation a protective force-field which prevents them from being robbed, raped, murdered, etc. So I guess that the government is interested in protecting women, though not all women, and not at the expense of India's standing as the call-center capital of the world. Still, it's good to know they care.

I have a great idea in case this doesn't work. Maybe the next measure should be to require all women to stop wearing revealing clothes. Oh, wait, the women here don't wear revealing clothes. Well, maybe they should stop wearing make-up. Oops, most women don't wear make-up. Okay, I guess the only remaining solution is to wear a full burqa, and if that doesn't work perhaps never leaving home at all or when leaving home is absolutely required, taking a male escort everywhere is best. Hey it worked for Saudi Arabia and just look what a peaceful and balanced society they have. After all, it's for our own good...

Wild Elephants in Wayanad

2007-05-07T13:16:00.001+05:30

I again had the opportunity to get out of the city for a few days, so some of my friends and I made our way to Wayanad, which is the northern district of Kerala, the state that borders Karnataka to the south. Wayanad is home to an amazing wildlife sanctuary located within a remote rainforest reserve, and also to lots of coffee, tea, and other spice plantations. Like Coorg, it is a beautiful and tranquil place to visit where you have ample opportunity to reacquaint yourself with nature.

Unfortunately the planning and organization of the outing was not so tranquil (suffice it to say that anything that could go wrong did go wrong), but all of the stress and confusion was washed away once we set off driving through the mountains. We spent only a full day there, but we had the chance to visit a really nice waterfall, go on a wild goose-chase ending at an ancient temple, and enjoy a couple of nice long drives through the mountains. The highlight of the trip though was the drive back. As we were leaving, what I assume to be the daily afternoon downpour came, and with it came a drop in the temperatures from the high 90s to the mid to low 80s, making for a very nice cool down. As a result of the comfortable
afternoon temperatures, the wild animals in the sanctuary became active, and we were treated to many sightings on the trip back, including around a dozen elephants (including a couple of fuzzy babies)! It was too cool, they were just lumbering around in the forest eating, paying all of us absolutely no attention. It sometimes really strikes me how different this place is, down to the crops and animals that one sees when out and about. I think that the only thing that is the same is the cows (although they have some varieties here that I have never seen before). Here is a short list of the crops that I saw being grown here (for the farmers out there reading this blog, yep Dad, this is for you): rice paddy, coconuts, palms, mangoes, tea (the first two pics are of a tea plantation), coffee (the third pic is of coffee flowers), pepper (the vine growing up the foremost tree in the first pic is a pepper plant), betel nut, and bananas. The wildlife included elephants, monkeys, wild pigs, deer (though a different species that we are accustomed to hitting with our cars), and the ubiquitous cow.

We had good fun, but either Neha or Gayatri is in charge of planning the next!

There's No Place Like Home

2007-05-02T12:35:00.000+05:30

Well, after long last (and a lot of procrastinating) we have finalized our arrangements to come home. We plan on leaving Bangalore on the morning of Tuesday, June 5th and we should arrive in Chicago that same evening. Our return ticket is for Thursday, June 21st departing from Chicago and arriving into New Delhi (where it happens to be around 117 degrees right now, by June it should be a little hotter, not that one would notice at that extreme). We are so excited to be coming home, and can't wait to see everyone. We are initially planning on spending the first half of our visit in the Chicago-land area to visit with Eric's family and our friends, and then drive out to the country to visit with my family and attend my brother's wedding (ie, the generation of yet another Ziegenhorn, just what the world needs. If you hadn't noticed, we multiply like Gremlins). We hope that we get a chance to visit with all of you, so let us know if you will be out of town during part of our visit so that we can make arrangements to get together. See you all soon!!!

"Miles from Home", the "American Gigolo" kisses a "Pretty Woman"

2007-04-28T22:48:00.000+05:30

The other day I heard that Indians were burning effigies of Richard Gere and that a magistrate has issued an arrest warrant against him. At first I thought that India had finally imported the movies "Dr. T and the Women" or "First Knight" and people were outraged at how tragically poor both those movies were. Instead Gere, who is a longtime HIV/AIDS advocate, actually came to India to help promote AIDS awareness since India now has more HIV positive people than any other country. The protest happened because Gere kissed actress Shilpa Shetty on the cheek at the event. So Shetty and Gere allegedly violated an obscenity law against any public displays of affection or public acts that can be considered indecent. The kiss on the cheek was considered "beyond vulgarity" by the conservative Shiv Sena party who were the ones responsible for the protest. Thankfully not all Indians are calling for the heads of Shetty and Gere.

What makes me confused and angry is that if the Shiv Sena party is so outraged at this so called vulgarity then I wonder what frack they are doing about the countless number of people using the public streets as their own urinals. I am tired of seeing and smelling urine. The people doing this do not even try to be modest and spare the public the sight of them handling their dinks. It is really pissing me off (pun definitely intended). I have seen more penises in my six months here than Jenna Jameson has in her entire career. Where the hell are the flaming effigies and arrest warrants for these people! The people doing this are not all poor or homeless either. So the root cause is not one of poverty. Also I won't even get started on the public acts of defecation.

So anyone can essentially be charged with a crime for displaying any type of public affection and it doesn't matter if they are married, dating or friends. I wonder if it is even considered acceptable to hold someone's hand or put an arm around them. Are those acts, if done in public, also defined as vulgarity? Each of the three penal codes that Shetty and Gere allegedly violated can carry up to 3 months jail time. I guess the moral of the story is that public amorous behavior will not be tolerated under penalty of imprisonment but feel free to piss and sh*t in public.

Had Your Lunch?

2007-04-12T13:51:00.000+05:30

The first time that this question was asked to me, I must admit, I was completely befuddled. Sure, it sounds like a simple and straightforward question, but as with many situations, context is paramount. So here was the situation:

I had gone down to the reception area of NCBS (where I work) to get a set of keys for a common freezer that I needed access to. There are always a couple of fellows who sit at the front desk and are meant to act as security as well as key dispensers. On this particular occassion, only one guy was there, and after I asked for the key and was in the process of signing it out, he asks, "Had your lunch?" Now, as I do not really know these guys (I don't even know their names, though I am always friendly with them) I was kind of taken aback as my immediate thought was, "My god, is this his way of asking me to have lunch with him?" Luckily I had already had my lunch so I was able to say (truthfully) "Yes." I kept this to myself as I was not exactly sure as to what had transpired, though I was pretty sure that this guy was totally into me.

Well, as time has passed I have had to accept that Security Guy is not into me, because every time that I go down to get a key, I am asked if I have eaten something or another by whichever fellow happens to be there. I thought it possible that maybe one or two of the security guys might have a thing for me, but all of them? Not likely. After inquiring about these strange questions to my lab mates, I have found out that asking if one has had breakfast, lunch, dinner, or tea is the Karnataka equivalent of asking "How are you?" My lab mates found it quite hilarious that I had thought that this guy was hitting on me, and it has taken quite a while for my bruised ego to mend, but I will NEVER again try to read between the lines in cross-cultural dealings.

Maybe this doesn't sound so strange to you, but I just keep imagining the look that I would get if, when checking out at a grocery store in the US, instead of the obligatory, "How are you?" I asked the cashier "Had your lunch?"

Easter in Madikeri

2007-04-09T16:43:00.000+05:30

I hope that everyone had a nice Easter this year. We celebrated the holiday by taking a couple of days off of work and going with some friends to Madikeri, which is about 160 miles outside of Bangalore. Madikeri lies in the Western Ghats, one of the major mountain ranges in India, and the city is around 1,200 feet above sea level. We left with our friends Roopa, Ravi, and their daughter Ananya, early Friday morning and arrived in Madikeri in the early afternoon, just in time for lunch! One of the specialties of the region is a pork curry, and as pork is quite rare in the Bangalore area, the omnivores among us (Eric, Ravi, and I) took advantage while poor Roopa and Ananya were forced to watch the ensuing gluttony. It was delicious. After eating ourselves nearly to death, we made our way to our lodging for the weekend, and beautiful old home nestled among the hills. The area is known for coffee growing, so we took a little tour of a coffee plantation where alongside the coffee, pepper, cardamom, and vanilla are grown.

After a long day, we settled in for the night (after the obligatory hour long power outage) and soon discovered that we were not alone in our bed, but were instead sharing it with a few visitors; namely cockroaches (who really had a taste for Eric's toes)! This is the price that we had to pay to get away from the noise and pollution of the city. I suppose that when you decide to get out and enjoy nature, you shouldn't be surprised when nature decides to enjoy you in return. After two toe biting episodes, we figured out that we could tuck our covers under the mattress really tightly and leave the light in our bathroom on to keep the critters away.

The next morning we got ready for the main attraction, a trek to the peak of one of the mountains. We drove out to a tiny little town at the foot of the mountains and proceeded to get into a four wheel drive which took us the rest of the way (about 4 miles of pretty rough roads) to the base of the mountain. We decided (wisely, I think) to scale the easier of the two mountains that we had to choose from, and with our guide leading us, we took off. The next hour or so was spent climbing up a narrow path to the summit. It was hard work, and the heat and humidity made the trek quite a task (at least for us, but our guide did not have a drop of sweat on him!), but it was worth the effort for the view. Spectacular! We made our way down the mountain and took a well-deserved break at a beautiful waterfall before having a home cooked meal back at "base camp". After returning to our lodging, the evening was spent by myself and Ananya picking up fallen flowers to make a collage and reading stories during the daily power outage while Eric got caught up on some of his radio shows (Roopa and Ravi spent the evening out meditating, no I am not kidding). After a hard but fun day, we prepared to face the cockroaches once again. The tactics implemented the previous evening did not fail us this night, and Eric suffered nary a single bite.

On Sunday we slept in and leisurely prepared for our departure. On the way back to the city, we stopped in Mysore and visited the palace which was (and is) the home to the Mysore Maharajah. The palace is beautiful, and certainly rivals those that we saw in Europe. After lunch in Mysore, we headed back to Bangalore. Back to congestion, traffic, noise, and so many people, but also back to hot water and cold drinks (the power in Madikeri was not stable enough for us to get hot water or for the refrigerator to continually work), and most importantly, cockroaches that know better than to crawl into bed with us!

Despite the cockroaches (and the slugs, I won't go into it, but cockroaches were only but one of our evening visitors), we had a great time, the scenery was beautiful and the company was fantastic. We are already looking forward to our next trip out of the city, and we'll keep you posted!

The Beggar and the Performer

2007-04-05T09:41:00.001+05:30

It's been awhile since I posted but I wanted to share an interesting situation that both Suzi and I found ourselves in while in Singapore. So we were walking down a famous shopping area named Orchard St. and we happened to pass by a street performer who was pretending to be a statue. This guy was dressed in silver clothing (pants and long shirt) and any exposed skin was covered in silver paint. It was about 90F with what felt like 100% humidity. I immediately thought of the Dennis Leary song A**hole where one of the lyrics is "I walk around in the summertime saying How-about-this-heat". I controlled the urge to mess with the guy by saying something as jerky as that.

We continued walking and stopped by many of the malls to do various shopping. A couple hours later we started to head back to the hotel and again walked past the same performer. He was still in the exact same uncomfortable statue position. It had been at least two hours since we last saw him so we slowed a bit just to admire him. After about a minute we continued walking and that is when we noticed a beggar sitting directly across from the performer. When looking more closely at the beggar we realized that he had no arms. The man's left arm was amputated above the elbow and the right arm was taken almost to the shoulder. We continued walking and I said to Suzi that I wanted to go back and give the guy some money. She asked me who I was going to give money to and I said the performer. Suzi looked puzzled and replied, "Instead of the guy with no arms?" Feeling a little foolish I started to agreed with her about giving the money to the beggar. However, it brought up an interesting question. Do you give money to someone that is working hard performing for a living or do you give to a disabled beggar? I think the common initial response would be to give to the guy with no arms probably out of pity. However, the performer is at least working for a living doing something that the disabled guy could probably also do if he wanted. Anyway, since I am a bleeding heart liberal I gave both men money and I walked away happy.

About a few blocks away we came upon another guy with no legs sitting in a wheelchair. I screamed silently to myself, "Are you fracking kidding me!" I mean there is only so much a person can take. Unlike the other disabled guy this man was playing the horn for money. He was actually pretty good. Also he had a prime spot on the corner so at every red light he was guaranteed an audience. It's all about location, location, location. I did not have much money left so I went back to the first disabled guy and took back my money. I drew a few horrified glances but what was anyone going to do. Also it is not like the guy with no arms would stop me right? Of course I am kidding. I gave whatever money I had left to the wheelchair guy.

With no more spare change left I seriously expected to next see a deaf mute blind quadruple amputee playing a flute before we got back to the hotel. Thankfully the rest of the walk was uneventful because I really did not feel like going to an ATM.