Saturday, October 16, 2004

Paper is done

So, I wrote my ten page paper for Civ. It's over. It doesn't quite feel like it's over, but it is.

Last weekend was relatively uneventful. On Saturday night, a whole bunch of us went to a club called 'Ola', which was OK. Drinks were reasonable, and there were a ton of people, so I guess that makes it a good place. I didn't really feel like dancing, as it made me miss Catherine. I wanted badly to dance with her, not with the fellow UofC peeps or with the random Indian guys that I met. So, I just hung out, talked to people, danced a little, and went home. I met some guys from London who were doing computer work, and some other guys who were in the army, in an armored tank division. All in all, an OK night, although I don't think clubs are worth all the trouble it is to get there. I mean, the auto-rickshaw rides are like half an hour each way to and from the hotel, and, when going home, the rickshaw drivers always charge a much higher fee than the fee they charge going there (in Indian English, a 'fee' is called a 'tariff').

Sunday was much calmer. I watched a lot of movies on TV (on HBO, Z English, and Star World), and I had lunch at Vaishali, which was good. Got a little planning for my essay done.

Monday was the same-old, but with more naps and dinner at this fabulous restaurant in the Hotel, called Puran da Dhaba. It was really good Indian buffet, with people who grilled swordfish and eggplant right in front of you. Fresh bread, lots of wonderful sauces, and veggies and meats made it a perfect meal.

Tuesday, we saw this film from 1935 about some great Poet-Saint of the area, a Sant Tukaram. The movie was OK, especially for being 70 years old. We had some lady talk, a scholar on film and especially this movie, but that too was only so-so.

Wednesday, we went to Sant Tukaram's home-town, Dehu. We saw a bunch of temples dedicated to him, and we saw some caves and huts were he composed a lot of his poetry. We had class with this guy, Dilip Chitre, who translated much of Tukaram's poetry. It was pretty nice, and I got to do a bit of hiking on a mountain.

Here's a pic of the one of the shrines in the side of the mountain, and also a photo of some bhakta guys, people who devote their lives to worshiping a god (in this case, Pandarang/Sant Tukaram).



Thursday and Friday were spent worrying about my essay, and then eventually writing it. I think it's good, but I haven't really looked back at all. I'm a little worried, but I'll save my real worrying for right before I get my grade back. One course down, two to go (and the ever-present Hindi).

I leave Pune later this evening. Anna, Andrea and I are taking a train to Mumbai, which will be 3 hours with a 3 or 4 hour layover, and then we go to Agra. The train to Agra will take 21 hours... I've got my sci-fi books that Jono picked out for me, and I have a bunch of Civ reading that I didn't complete, so I think I'll be good. Also, I love sleeping, and we have beds and air conditioning on the train, so I think I'll be a relatively happy camper. We spend a day and a half in Agra, and then we head to Jaipur (only an 8 hour train ride!), where we'll be most of the week. I'll update in Jaipur when I can.

Here is a picture of a cow outside of the German Bakery, some hippie/new-age/ashrum restaurant in Koreagon Park.


Take care, all!

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