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I haven't updated in a while. Originally, I was going to say that the
guest house internet rather sucks, but then I could blog like I did
from the plane- just blog into a text file, and then copy and paste it
like a good boy when I get to internet (in the office).
Honestly? I'm lazy. I've been working hard, and generally the time
where I think abstractly enough for blogging tends to be at awkward
times, like in an auto or while walking across campus. However, I
need to write this down. Not only will my Aunt Donna be upset if I
don't update, but this is for me as well; life here has
changed the way I see the world, really for the better. The result is
that as I blogged like crazy at the start of my trip, so too will I
blog at the end, starting here.
Since my last posting, there's been a world of things I've done. I
can drink tap water now, for starters. I don't make a habit of it,
but if it's all that's available, it's all that's available. That's a
big one, honestly.
A friend of mine and I were talking today, and I brought up that in
coming to India, I steeled myself for The Big Things. I haven't
really felt any major culture shock, and that is due in large
part for me mentally preparing myself for going from Champaign, IL to
Bangalore, India. However, there's a million and one small things,
the type that doesn't rear its head and make itself noticed. For
example, there is something off about India for the first
couple of weeks I was here. I couldn't tell what it was, but
something felt wrong on a basic, fundamental level.
"What was it?", asks the audience.
Stairs. Holes. Ledges, bumps, all manner of things that would get
any business or government in the US in large amounts of trouble with
regards to handicap accessibility. India is not the
place for the wheelchair-bound. As a walking person, it's something
you don't notice, but for us Americans, our world is typically flat.
Sidewalks are smooth, there are generally smooth(ish) inclines
anywhere you need to get to with minor elevation changes, and public
places either have complex ramps or an elevator for large elevation
changes. It's really a small thing for me, but it was bugging the
hell out of me until I figured it out. It's one of a million things
that have struck me about this city.
This city is very much organic; I don't see any reasonable way that
anyone regulates, taxes, or does much of anything with at least 75% of
the individuals and businesses here. Better question: I don't know if
there's any authority that knows that 75% of the individuals and
businesses here even exist. Sure, they know there's a lot of
people here and it's a big city, but beyond that, what then? After
much of the touristing I've done here over the weekend (more on that
later), I imagine the proper question is: do I know the identity of
every cell in my body?
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If I could have a *single* set of things right now...
...I'd have a miniature coffee maker and some grounds right here right now.
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...I'd have a lot of butterflies. Or something like that.
I've discovered why you don't drink the tap water in India. Last Friday, I got back to the guest house rather late, so the night shift was there. They're not quite as on the ball as the day shift. I asked for a bottle of water, as my Friday Night Adventures had left me quite parched. Normally, what they do is they go in the kitchen, and run the filter into a recycled 1 liter bottle. This time, he went back, and came out with a bottle of water, like what normally happens. It was warmer than what usually comes from the filter, but it was water, so I didn't complain. I got back to my room and immediately chugged at least a quarter of that water...
...and noticed an odd smell about the water. Much like the odd smell of the water that comes from any given tap around here. Crap.
Over the weekend, I was sick enough to make it quite the effort to go out and eat at the guest house dining service, but I was well enough so that even after catching up on some work and some movies I brought with, I was going stir-crazy. I suppose it could have been worse; I've been slowly working my way up on street-vendor food here. The food at the guest house and the nicer restaurants I've eaten at are all pretty clean; if I haven't been having the street vendor food, I most likely would have been completely unprepared for the tap water. That would have been Very Bad.
Other than that, I rather like it here. I believe myself to be the only white American here; I've made friends with an Englishman, a Frenchman, several Indians, an Argentinean, a Sri-Lankan Australian, an Israeli, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. It's exciting to feel like I'm very clearly the dumbest one here; dinner conversation has gone from advanced pure mathematics, to the economy, to climate change, to applications of nano-scale fuel cells (and the design problems going into them), to effects of climate change on India's hydrological cycle, and, as usual, lots of hypothesis of how various factors (climate change, phase of the moon, etc) effect the results of cricket matches. "Your favorite team sucking" is very clearly out of bounds here. I feel safer in India than I do back home, but I think an Indian would rather you disparage his/her mother instead of their national cricket team.
And *that* is the State of Matt in India.
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