thursday update

First and foremost, Casey is doing much better. In fact, we think he will live. And check this out: the doctor made a house call at 3:30 a.m., gave Casey medicine (including an injection), then came by again this morning (unasked) to check on him and bring him some rehydration tablets to mix with water. The total bill for all this? Six hundred rupees. That's what Americans call, wait for it, $14.83.

Apparently the doctor "sent the bellboy to the chemist" to get some of the medicine. I really like how Indian English maintains a lot of British-ish elements. We're all ladies and gents here, for example, even when we're just getting our hair cut or going to the bathroom.

We are hiring a Hindi tutor to come to the office twice a week and we are very excited about it. I predict we will soon discover that the mysterious script on the back of the auto-rickshaws says "Horn OK Please."

Since much of the Mumbai office is still empty, upon arrival we naturally grabbed three prime pieces of window real estate, which have not only incessant car honking and street noise speaking for them, but also an A/C profile that has exactly two settings: Icelandic Thermal Hot Spring and Icelandic Glacier In January When You're Naked. Anyhoo, you do get a great deal of mesmerizing amusement value any time you stand up and look outside. We three can often be spotted in a row, leaning and looking down the five floors to the major road outside, cameras at the ready, and saying "Oh man, did you see THAT?" Some cases in point from today:





Yes, people, we are in the middle of a megacity. And it's hard to beat a couple of cattle and a wooden cart when you really need to maneuver those crowded urban thoroughfares; I think we can all agree on that. Unless you've got an elephant you can ride, of course, but now I'm just stating the obvious.

Also, I looked up from my chair at some point to encounter this:



The rigging on this guy's gear was seriously scary. And it involved a long metal chain (the kind of chain you use to, say, lock up your bike, or to keep your little brother in his high chair while you go roller skating), which occasionally would slam against the glass next to my head. Alex and I both decided that meant it was time for a coffee break. They're big windows, though, so India's answer to Cirque du Soleil was still in full swing when we got back. The glass is mirrored outside, so I don't think the guy even noticed us staring and pointing at him in terror.

I'll leave you with a photo from our farewell dinner the other night for our colleague Brian. Priya had a knot in her back and upon hearing this Lan helpfully jumped up in the middle of a supremely elegant restaurant in one of the city's grandest hotels and started elbowing Priya in the back with the kind of unbridled enthusiasm usually not witnessed outside of hot dog eating contests and all-girls' junior high school pep rallies:



I [heart] my colleagues!