Ramoji Film City!

Wow. It was amazing.

I think, however, it was good we were only there a day or so. Any longer and our sense of reality would have been permanently, and irreversibly, warped. Ramoji is not the India that ANY guidebook ANYwhere talks about.

The place was utterly bizarre. The "city" is basically a series of fantastical sets for "Bollywood"-style movie shoots. I don't know if it is ever used much for that purpose, but that was the thinking when it was created. Looking out in any one direction you might see a massive roman-ish fountain and palazzio, an egyptian-inspired bronze statue, a story-book or fairy tale house of some ficticious European time and a gold painted buddha. And nothing looks quite right. Instead of the fountain looking actually Roman, it looks like it was designed and created by someone who just has some notion or fancy of what Rome sort of looked like. And then when you get up close you find that a "stone" structure is actually metal or plaster or something and has been painted a fleshy pink color and then splattered with red and white and brown paint.

Add into the background monkeys roaming the streets, an odd cow here and there, and the hills, rocks and dust of the Andahr Pradesh country-side in the background and it was quite surreal. What with it being about 110 degrees the place was also fairly deserted - there weren't even many tourists - which made it even ghostlier.

Don't think I'm raggin on Ramoji Film City though - it was fantastic. I thought it was amazing and I'm so glad that I went. It has given me a new perspective on "Bollywood" and one small corner of the Indian psyche. Bizarre as it was, in a country with millions (and millions and millions) of poor people, Bollywood is fantasy come alive with Ramoji Film City giving that fantasy another level of reality.

In light of my Bollywood-awakening, we have plans to see "Bunty aur Bubli" (translation - "Bunty & Bubbly") tomorrow night. This is the current hot Hindi film out now. It has everything - singing, dancing, beautiful people, a Bollywood dynasty cast - and more. Think "Bonnie & Clyde" go to Bollywood. Stay tuned!

Languishing in an unhealthy clime

I knew it was going to be hot, that the food would be different and that there would, naturally, be some challenges in adjusting. I also had great optimism and a positive outlook that with the right attitude of open-mindedness and acceptance (not to mention great care to drink only clean water and eat only "safe" food) that I would be fine. I was even welcoming all these "differences" and looking at them as a great adventures.

I like spicy Indian food. It is one of my favorites in fact and I've always felt rather good about my digestive system and how unaffected it always has been, even under the most taxing of situations. And I've not found the food here to be killer spicy or been unable to "take it" during meals. I have found, however, that the unrelenting assault of new and spicy food has led to a bit of a system revolt when it comes to the whole digestion thing. Nothing extreme, mind you. I've not been made a prisoner of the bathroom or anything, but I have had some lower tummy cramp-age and trips to the can have been less-than-pleasant. While it tastes good, I've found myself cringing at the thought of more spice and craving something, anything, bland. For breakfast here they have something that somewhat resembles Cream of Wheat. Even that is spicy. Cheerios sound divine. At the hotel in Ramoji Film City I was lured into having "pancakes" for breakfast. I usually don't like pancakes (because they are so starchy and bland and all) but I couldn't resist. Unfortunately the "pancake" wasn't alllll that good. In fact, as I was eating it, it didn't even seem to resemble food so much. And later my stomach (and intestines) has their strongest revolt yet. To counter all this I've been drinking a lot of water and seeking out the blandest food possible and just eating small amounts. I'm hoping to find a balance between pangs of hunger and pangs related to the digestion-issues. (I've given up completely on eating a "balanced" diet.)

I also find that I get exhausted here a lot faster. The heat really has knocked me on my ass as much as I try to say it isn't. I'm getting almost no exercise but the energy it takes to loll around looking at things or going to the office or just sitting around reading leaves me exhausted at the end of the day. And we haven't even started our intense travelling yet! I'm hoping that it is really just the cumulation of jet lag, stomach/intestine challenges, my "montly friend", and all the details of a totally new environment (of which the heat is the most extreme or immediately noticable.)

If my attitude before arriving was "when in Rome..." I'm definitely leaning more towards "why on earth make things any harder than they already are?" Following this new motto I've reverted back to the barbaric practices of using silverwear and toilet paper and gone back to wearing t-shirts and khakis instead of my indian clothes. I'm so exotic here (which is just strange for me as I've always been thoroughly NOT exotic) that I figure I should just go all out with it, give the natives something of interest to look at. This is in addition to sucking up the air conditioning, shunning spicy food and watching West Wing on DVD with abandon.

Lest you think I've given up and been defeated - don't worry. We've plans to go to lunch with Sweet Pea's aunt today, check out local stuff this afternoon, do errands, see sights and even hit up a wedding Wednesday morning (a wedding at which I will be decked out in a Cinderella-goes-Subcontinent bit of vestment - hopefully I'll get the whole photo thing going by then.) I just am trying to pace myself.

Buffalo & Bobble Heads

When I was looking forward to India I kept remembering stories Sweet Pea would tell of the buffalo that hung out across the street and I had in my head this image of a motley assortment of animals roaming the streets of Hyderabad unfettered. I was envisioning at least chickens and buffalo scattered about here and there. However, since arriving I have been SORELY disappointed by the lack of livestock, parriah dogs, chickens and such. I've seen a few dogs here and there, but most of them have been rather cleanish looking and on leashes. The most wildlife I've seen has been in my bathroom (thank you mr. spider and the host of lizards slithering around the joint.) I did catch a quick glimpse of two buffalo along the side of the street Thursday night as we were driving home. They were totally inert and seemed like statues, but at least I can say I've seen them now. Hopefully I'll see some that allow for a more leasurely assement and provide some degree of animation.

The other thing on my mind today is the bobble head. It is a strange (to me) piece of body language employed in the subcontinent. It is sort of like a side-to-side nod (really, the thing it most resembles is a bobble head figuring) and is generally done with a completely expressionless face. To me it looked somewhat inquisative, somewhat irritated, somewhat disapproving. HOWEVER, turns out it is affirmative. Sort of like saying "yeah" or "okay." Sometimes it can be even, I thought it meant "I'm irritated that you are muscling into my way but there isn't anything I can do about it except give you this dirty look." Turns out he was actually saying to our driver trying to merge, "hey buddy, go ahead." Amazing. Its no wonder cultural miscommunication can lead to such disasters.

For more on the bobble head, check out "Trying Really Hard to Like India" in my list of links. Its an article by a guy who writes for slate.com and I really like his general attitude or approach. I won't go on and on saying basically the same things he is saying (and doing it less well than he does), but do check it out.

General Indian Itinerary

So, below is a very general itinerary that will give you a sense of what I'll be up to and when during my time in India.

May 24 - May 28: Hyderabad
Chillin' (or rather roasting!) around Hyderabad, volunteering at Lok Satta, visiting the LV Prasad Eye Institute, seeing some stuff, maybe some shopping, eating, sleeping, etc. In general, seeing what Sweet Pea's day-to-day life is sorta like.

May 28 - May 29: Ramoji Film City
I don't really know where this is or what it entails, but I think it has to do with Tollywood. Think Hollywood --> Bollywood --> Tollywood as Telegu, which is the language in this region. Apparently there is even a Nollywood in Nigeria.

May 29 - June 1: Hyderabad
Much of the same, less work, more touristy/shoppy stuff than before.

June 1 - June 9: Coimbature
A "wellness" retreat with yoga and other things I'm a little less clear on. This is more southern and western from Hyderabad, but is also at a somewhat higher elevation so should maybe be cooler?

June 9 - June 13: Bangalore-ish area
See the Rishi Valley (where Sweet Pea went to boarding school) and visit the ruins of Hampi (see the Indian Preview post from a week or so ago.)

June 13 - June 16: Delhi-ish area
See Delhi and the Taj Mahal in Agra. Also procure our friend Damen who is flying into Delhi.

June 16 - June 23: Ladakh (the eastern region of Kashmir, way up in the mountains)
Visit the town of Leh, go to a big festival, see Buddhist temples and other sites of holy significance. Go trekkiing in the big mountains.

June 23: Back to Hyderabad
Conclude seeing the sites of Hyderabad, dispatch Damen (to the airport) on the 24th and get ready to return to the US of A.

June 29: Sojourn back to NYC and then California.

So much to do!

L V Prasad Eye Institute

Okay, so I just did my thing on how much Lok Satta (where Sweet Pea has been working and where Sweet Pea's mom has been super invovled since its inception) rocks.

Now it is time to go on and on about how much the L V Prasad Eye Institute rocks (www.lvpei.org). It was Sweet Pea's dad's idea, why they moved back to India in 1986 and something he was able to make a reality and it is totally amazing.

L V Prasad Eye Institute is a world-class eye hospital, research, and training centre located in Hyderabad, India. Its mission is to provide excellent and equitable eye care to all in a caring and compassionate manner. The Institute's six areas of focus are comprehensive patient care, sight enhancement and low vision rehabilitation, community eye health, clinical research, education and training programmes, and product development.

First off, in a physical sense it is sooooo well designed, maintained, clean and effiecient. In 1986 the area that is now the hospital was a pile o' rocks and dust. Now, anywhere you are you see trees and grass and plants. There is an artist in residence and an art gallery on the sixth floor. Just about any wall you can find here has art on it. Instead of patients being schleped (spelling??) from room to room as they do an initial exam, get tests, get treatment, etc., it is the doctors who move around so taht the patients can rest comfortably. If they do need to move from the waiting room or to a room with particular equipment or something, they are personally shown the way. There are no signs anywhere in the hospital showing where things are. This is because there are people who show you the way personally. Not only is this just plain compassionate and caring, but it helps give the "hospital" a non-hospitally feel. There are also so many other small details (like white walls and black railings so people with low vision are able to see it better) that I don't have the time to go into that just hlep to make it amazingly designed.

They also are able to provide care for any and all who seek it. ANYONE. No money? No problem. And we aren't talking some "mortgage-your-future and that of your children" payment plan. They have four levels. Those who pay nothing, those who pay a nominal fee, those who pay extra because they can and want to, and those who pay a lot extra because they can and want to. In this way, along with the fantastic support of people here in India as well as people around the world, quality eye care is available to all.

I don't know the details of everything all that well, but they are also setting up clinics in the villages and have so many other programs (such as rehab, counseling, a conference center, an eye bank - as in donated eye organs, and more) that are also kicking ass.

So check their website out too and learn about all the great things goin' down in Hot Town Hyderabad :)

I've always thought Sweet Pea was a pretty amazing creature and not knowing her parents all that well I always wondered about the ingredients that worked to make her so kick ass. Well, wonder no more do I!

Lok Satta

When Vaidya came back to India last fall she started working with an organization called Lok Satta (www.loksatta.org). Basically they work to promote and improve democracy in India. Their projects are pretty extensive but include trying to make the government more efficient and responsive, reduce coruption, ensure a free and fair electoral process, make political parties themselves more democratic and accountable, ensure rights to information, and more. Seems rather daunting in any political system. And if you know anything about India's political system... Well, one might just think "why bother?"

But they totally kick ass. They do amazing work and have astounding results. They've only been around for seven or eight years and their tangible, real accomplishments are increadible.

They've gotten the government to take up a toilet construction programme that has resulted in nearly 2 MILLION toilets being constructed in the last three years. Now, for "westerners" that may seem strange but considering the lack of infrastructure and desperate need for sanitation, that is HUGE.

They've been able to release the criminal records of the people running for election so the voters know who on the ticket has been convicted of murder, rape, armed robbery, etc. (Now, I've been working in the criminal justice field and believe that criminal records aren't the best way in almost anything to determine who is good/bad, but a HUGE percentage of politicans here are not just "criminals" but total thugs, drug lords, mafia kings, etc.)

They've worked with local, grassroots groups to do amazing things like build a road in half the time, for less money and lay down water pipes in the process. They've worked for political funding reform, proportional representation, direct election of the heads of states, water use committees, school education committees, regulation of energy, elimination of short delivery at gas stations, voter registration, women's empowerment, the strengthening of local governments, election watches, and more!

And they do it in a very positive, proactive, empowering way. One of my frustrations with "social justice" work in the US (and elsewhere) is that it is very complaint-focused. We talk and talk and talk (to each other, to the media, to politicans, at conferences, in reports, etc.) about the problem and why it is just so problematic. And we do a lot of planning as well. And often it is just very negative, disheartening and depressing.

I'm not about to idealize anything (particularly an organization I've known for two days that works within a political system I'm a total, and literal, foreigner to!) and I don't want to demonize social justice work in the US (which is so wide ranging and has its own phenomenal-ness) but I just wanted to rave about what seems to be a great organization doing really great things here and what about it I find great.

They are positive, they make real, good change, they empower the grassroots to be their own advocates and, in general, Lok Satta is very inspiring and well... it rocks! Check their site out if you'd like.

A spider the size of a kitten

So I've been here a few days and am still trying to master the art of personal hygene... The tools at one's disposal for such maintainence are quite different from those we use at home and clearly take some getting the hang of.

Showers or baths, for example. Sweet Pea has running water at her house and a "shower" with a shower head and all but the water pressure is such that it doesn't really work like the sort of shower I'm used to. So instead one fills up a big bucket and uses a measuring cup to douse one's self with water. It is a method that works (I'm told), but like anything, requires some practice and/or instruction. I've been taking "showers" everyday and definitely emerge feeling cleanER and more refreshed, but not exactly squeaky clean. Also, things are hotter and dustier here so I tend to "ripen" a bit quicker as well.

Then there is the toilet issue. I'll try not to be too graphic here... Again, Sweet Pea has toilet paper at her home, but the house practice is to use water to clean oneself after #1 and toilet paper (perhaps with some water as well I'm told) for #2. So, I was all trying to be native and go with the "when in Rome..." theory. However, I really don't understand the art of managing to splash water on the specific area. And since I'm not exactly a 3-year-old having a real life demonstration is sorta out of the question. Consider the pants that are in the way, the position of the body, arm, pants, toilet, etc. and then the laws of physics... I think I managed to splash down most everything except the particular part targetted.

And then my "monthly friend" came to town while I was out of the house. I won't go into more details... I think you get the picture.

So, at the end of the day I was feeling so... foul. I was hot and tired and felt so grimey and gross. We had dinner, watched a lil' West Wing (on DVD) and then I scampered to a very welcome shower. I was gonna go all out and use a lot of water, a lot of time, a lot of soap and wash EVERYthing - twice.

I filled the bucket and had already gotten myself all wet when I saw it in the corner of the shower area. A spider like no spider I'd ever seen before. It was MASSIVE. Honestly, it was as big as a kitten. Well, a newborn kitten at LEAST - maybe even one that was several weeks old.

I didn't know what to do. I couldn't shower with it there but I was still gross and now naked and wet as well. And I couldn't leave it to escape and breed or return with a host of its friends. I don't like to kill anything, but if I tried to catch it with a cup, slid a piece of paper under it, and take it outside, it probably would have knocked the cup over and then made spit wads of the paper to throw at me. Besides, I wasn't about to get that close to it.

So I took the plastic chair/stool that is in the shower and weilding it like a sword and shield combo, smashed the spider with one of the stool legs. The spider, not killed or even maimed it seemed, started jumping up and down and scurrying around. HORRIBLE!! In a panic I bashed it repeadetly with the stool leg and it was torn into about 5 pieces. Yick.

After the shower I splashed water over it all and tried to wash it down the drain. Despite it being rent limb from limb (and limb and limb) the pieces were still too big to go down the drain.

So there is sits still. I survived, but am now rather terrified of the shower (and whole bathroom area in general.)

Arrived! Hyderabad, India

Now for the conclusion of the wayward princess's journey to India...

Last time on Wayward Princess we left Brooke in the middle of a 14-hour layover in Dubai, UAE. Did she make it to India? Did her luggage?

The short version: Yes and Yes.

The details...

What I have concluded is that every single headache, hassle or frustration can be directly attributed to the ineptitude of the JFK ground crew of Emirates Air. India - the "developing nation" - didn't nearly lose my luggage. That was the ground crew at JFK. Dubai (how many of you had really ever even heard of Dubai before?) managed to get me a visa, through immigration, through customs and to a hotel all in about 90 minutes. It took the JFK ground crew about 3 1/2 hours to do far less.


But enough whining, following my last entry I went back to my room to sleep for a couple more hours before heading to the airport for my 3 am flight.

Now, I mentioned the JFK ground crew being my main affliction in this journey (and yeah, I'd also said I wasn't going to whine anymore, but this is the last thing, I swear.) What with me being many thousands of miles away from this nefarious ground crew you are probably thinking "what else could they possibly do to you?"

The evil arm of the JFK ground crew is long indeed.

When they started boarding for my flight to Chennai I presented myself with my passport and visa and boarding pass. Missing, however, was the TICKET! At JFK they neglected to furnish me with the new ticket for my new series of flights!!! They had given me a ticket for Dubai --> Hyderabad but the passage I was to take was Dubai ---> Chennai ---> Hyderabad.

Clearly it worked out, but it was a somewhat stressful moment for me (at 3am after having already traveled for 42 hours or something and with about 14 hours of travel ahead of me yet.)

But anyway, the rest of the journey went pretty smoothly. Chennai was actually very easy to deal with and the predominant impression I have from my time there is one of utter and total boredom. I was so tired of travelling and sitting by that point and I had a headache so I couldn't read or write or do a puzzle or anything and there wasn't really anywhere to go or anything to look at because it was tiny and even though it was a brand new country and continent to me, there really is only so many times you can look at the one food vendor or look at the five advertisements. What I ended up doing was sitting, staring at the board with flight departure information, for about 5 or 6 hours (collecting my bags, customs and getting to the domestic terminal took a total of about 45 minutes.) The person who was sitting next to me on my original (cancelled) flight from JFK was there also so that provided a degree of diversion but it was very very very much like watching paint dry. Our big excitement was the times when the flight status of some plane or other changed or everything moved up the board a spot (there were only about 3 flights/hour in the whole terminal.)

But I'm here in India now and its lovely and I will tell stories of all that soon!

Flight Canceled! Dubai, UAE

My original flight had me flying out of JFK to Dubai, 90 minute layover, and a direct flight to Hyderabad, India (the home of Sweet Pea Gullapallit.) Not exactly easy-peasy, but pretty great as far as these things go.

Like a well behaved international traveler I arrived at JFK 3 hours before my flight that was 11:30pm.

In orderly fashion we all boarded the flight and I was starting my plane sleep - a sort of very uncomfortable very very tired and can't read but can't REALLY sleep - as we pulled out of the gate. In my daze I didn't really notice it but we stayed just out of the gate for quite a while. A long hour while in fact. Then the captain said they were checking some mechanical stuff and it would be just a few minutes. Well, long story short around 2:30am we all got off the plane and the flight was cancelled.

Did I say long story short? I should have said long mini-chapter short. That was just the beginning!

So I was at the very back of the plane and was therefore at the very end of the line to tell them my name, final destination, a phone number and if I needed a hotel. For some reason these little facts were needed by the airline (though they should have had everything except if I needed a hotel) and for even more mystical reasons it took an hour and a half to get this information from everyone.

Being last in that line also meant I was last in line to get on a bus to go to a hotel. So there we are, I'm all dressed for Hot Town Hyderabad and its 4am and freezing and I'm waiting outside with a crush of grumpy people for some mysterious bus that does not seem to be coming. EVER! Like it is a surpise at 4 am that there are buses needed? Didn't they know this around 2:00 when the decision to cancel the flight was made??

So anyway, around 4:30am I finally give my luggage to a bus driver and board my bus thinking, "Finally I can relax a little." Despite the club-like atmosphere created by the techno music bumping through the bus (just about the LAST sort of music we needed) I was feeling a little more rested and a little more warmth.

Then I just happen to look out the window and see one of my bags looking a bit wayward on the curb with the bus driver getting into the bus about to drive off. I leapt up and rescued my bag from an African man who was carrying it off away from the bus and think "wow, that was close." I didn't see my other bag anywhere so assumed it was on the bus. Silly princess, why ever would I make such a logical conclusion? About 5 or 10 minutes later a woman who was poking around a pile of wayward luggage that didn't look to be going ANYwhere came walking down the aisle with a bag that sorta looked like mine. She stopped right next to me in the aisle and looking down I realized, "hey, that's my bag." "Umm... that's my bag," I said. "What?" she said. "That's my bag," I said. And upon examination, she realized that yes, it was my bag.

So.... somehow I managed to get to the hotel, with all my baggage, and get a room and get into said room by about 5:15am. I slept a nice little 5 hours, got back on a bus and back to the airport.

I wish the saga ended here...

But no. There I waited in line for several hours (they didn't have anyone at the counter and then had only one or two people doing all the reticketing) before being told that I no longer had a nice little connection in Dubai to Hyderabad. Now I have a 14 hour lay-over in Dubai, fly to Chennai (aka Madras), where I have to collect my bags, navigate through customs, get to the domestic terminal and check into a different airline to then fly to Hyderabad - all of it after this loooong journey and by myself, a little gringa whose never been anywhere more exotic than Italy. Oh, and with a 6 hour layover.

So there it is, I had spent MUCH more time in line than sleeping, hadn't eaten in 20 hours and was now needing to deal with a much more daunting journey. And I hadn't even left yet!

And here I am, Dubai, United Arab Emerites, playing at an internet cafe. Funny, just before leaving I was talking about hoping I wouldn't have a very eventful journey and things are getting off to a less than smoooooth start!

But anyway, since then things have been pretty smooth (knock on wood) and my fellow passengers have been quite friendly. I've made several friends, been offered the use of an apartment in Dubai and invited to a wedding in Hyderabad. Not so bad.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of the adventures of the wayward princess's journey to Hyderabad!

India Preview - Hampi

Some info on a place Vaidya are going to during my trip in India... A friend of hers is going to be a lil' tour guide for us in Hampi. Here's what he has to say about it...

Hi Vaidya,Nice to hear from you. I was remembering you some timeback when i was planning my trip to Hampi. It will be my pleasure to show you the site. I will be there. Before i say any thing on the trip i should give you abrief introduction.

Its a vast Archaeological Site of which only the Coreis 25 Sqkms. In the Last 20 years there is a lot of research by a dedicated team of Archaeologists,Architects, Art Historians etc. (For more details seethis web site: www.vijayanagara.org). You will get anessence of the kind of research happening on the site for the last 20 years. In short i should say that itwas one of the biggest cities in the world during15th, 16th centuries, a METROPOLIS.

It was declared as a world Heritage site in the year1986 as a group of Monuments considering the outstanding universal values of the site. However itsa site in distress because of the haphazarddevelopments.What you can see on the site today of the erst whileVijayanagara kingdom is only parts of the excavated sites. Rest is all Archaeological. Therefore its veryimportant for a visitor like you to get a correctunderstanding of the site with in your short visit.Ican help you in that.

Moving Out

Friday was my last day of work and I have now sold, donated, packed, shipped or trashed all of my wordly belongings.

It has been somewhat stressful, but being the anal creature that I am it all went pretty smoothly and according to plans. I had been getting rather stressed about a few wayward bits that didn't seem to interest anyone but by Sunday everything but some curtains, a beat-up worktable and a living room chair (none of it in primo condition) were whisked away by various people. I had been keeping track of how much money I made from it all at first but got a bit frazzled and caught up with other stuff so didn't get an official tally. I think it was around $400 though (maybe even a bit more that that.) And $400 is about what I will have spent on moving supplies and shipping once all is done. So I came out about even.

In the end I emerged relatively unscathed from it all (discounting my mosaic of bruises.) The one significant casualty (so far, I should say - much has been shipped but not yet made it to CA safe and sound) was my lovely Chagal print which went careening down several flights of stairs, breaking beyond repair along the way. I also managed to have some sudden tweaking spasm in the neck/shoulder/back area. Through all the painting and packing and lugging boxes and furniture and what all here and there I was fine - probably because I'm so strong and powerful. The very last thing I did, as we were driving out of town, was drop my keys in my landlords mail slot and somehow something whacked out my neck/shoulder/back area and I've not been able to turn my head to the left or lift my right arm up above my head since. I don't really need to do those things at the moment though so all in all, I'd say the moving out went pretty well.

I am now just utterly exhausted. I don't think I realized how stressed and tired I was. I took a two hour nap yesterday when Ajay and I got to Endicott and was still feeling so tired I thought I was going to vomit. Amazing isn't it?? 8 hours of sleep has helped a bit but I still feel wasted.

Lukcily I'll have a week to rest and relax when I first get to India and Sweet Pea is still working. Rumor has it the temperature there is 108. Good god! I'll just have to hang out at home in the air conditioning sucking down cold Mango lassi.

Wanna See My Bruises??

I have, at times, been known for grace, poise, balance. Unfortunately that is not the norm. The norm is clocking someone in the face with my elbow when I try to give them a hug or my uncanny ability to fall up the stairs. Once, when practicing my serve (tennis), I managed to do a somersault followed by a series of rolls. This feat concluded with me laying on my back in the mid-court staring at the sky trying to figure out how it was I got there. Witnesses don't even understand how I managed it.

So you can see that even in normal circumstances the world can be quite a perilous place for a sandpaper princess such as myself. Now try to imagine the dangers posed by moving. Last weekend I managed to drop a big box on my thigh. It doesn't seem possible (considering laws of physics) to be able to do this but I'm talented. As a result I have a big juicy bruise just below the shorts line. I think I've also been careening into things because I've been noticing all sorts of other bruises as well. One on my hip, some around the knees, the back of the calf, etc. Moving will soon be over though and my "real" adventures will start.

In the meantime I've decided that instead of a come-on like "wanna see my tan lines?" that I'll try "wanna see my bruises?" I find the "wanna see my tan lines?" line to be pretty boring. Apart from being lame it is pretty predictable - its really just like saying "wanna see my boobs?" or "wanna see me naked?" The person you are talking to knows just what sort of body parts you are talking about with such a line. "Wanna see my bruises?" though is must more mysterious and therefore much more exciting. If I asked you and you said yes I might just whip out my elbow (likely clipping you in the process). I might, however, reveal a bit of the hip. Or I might take any number of pieces of clothing off to show you… who knows what! Much more exciting isn't it??

So… wanna see my bruises?

King-Fu Hustle

I LOVED IT! It was phenomenal, fantastic and everyone should see it.

Actually a lot of people probably wouldn't like it. I thought it was great though. Hilarious and great kung-fu (in an insane, over-the-top, sort of way) and visually quite fabulous. Classic good v. evil that is very satisfying.

I think that's about it.

I wanna see it again. And again.

Non-attachment

This whole quitting my job, moving out of my apartment and leaving the country thing is really great but also kinda stressful. There is just soooooo much to do before I leave. Nothing killer, just a sheer quantity of a bajillion things to do. Any one of these three things - quitting my job, moving or going to India - would have a legion of details relating to it. Combine it all and you get the Roman army.

Okay, I'll end the horrible analogy now and move on to what is really great and exciting.

I love getting rid of things. Some practical/pack-rat part of me gets very nervous when I sell, donate or toss out anything. This reluctance to part with anything even includes tattered socks I've had for 12 years or cartoon pencils I've had for almost 20 year. Honestly, nestled comfortably in my jar of writing implements are pencils I have had for as long as I can remember. It is sick in its own way.

However, another part of me loves to get rid of things. It is just so lovely to let go of things and not have to deal with it anymore. On a tangible level that would be clothes, files, silverware, tables, book cases, books and other such worldly belongings. The more you chuck, the less you have to organize, clean, pack, ship, etc. ALSO, the more money you get when you sell it. While it is somewhat uncomfortable to be living without a desk, bedside table, kitchen table, pillows on the couch, etc. it isn't all that bad and it makes me do things differently. It is so easy to fall into ruts and get attached to a particular way of doing things. Getting rid of things is very calming and a good antidote to the stress of quitting, moving, traveling.

This applies to things of a non-material nature as well. Chucking responsibility and involvement with projects, programs, places, and such helps clean out the mind and remind me that most of what I spend my energy on isn't really important.

What is essential is invisible to the eye.