this one is for the linguists

Long Distance Scrambling and the Typology of WTF-questions: A Minimalist Approach to Life in India

Tonight Gina and I were discussing the Chomskyan grammar of life at the Asia Pacific office and at points I was laughing so hard I almost thought I would die. Think "SPEC of AP" and "Long Distance Passive" and "Blocking Effects" and "The Last Resort Principle" and "Dependent on the Syntax of Local Processes" and "Local Binding" and "Long Distance Head Movement" and so on.

OK, you probably (1) had to be there and (b) had to have spent at least four years of your life immersed in X-bar theory and (iii) have I mentioned the copious amounts of alcohol? Gina just dragged her jet-lagged ass to bed, but seriously, I am still laughing.

india: entertainment capital of the world

Gina and I just polished off a bottle of wine and now we're flipping through the available TV offerings. This guy has been talking for the last 15 minutes:




Updated to add: OMG we just cruised by that channel again and now he's SINGING!!

Jesus tapdancing christ! It only gets better (different channel)!:



Do we think YOG SCIENCE CAMP is anything like band camp?

things to do in bombay when you're dead inside

Question: what is black and white (and green) and cute all over?

Is it this puppy that hangs out near our office? Yes, if you don't look too closely at his mangy fur.



Is it this baby sweater set I made out of sock yarn? I hope so.



And here's a lace baby hat being blocked on a cereal bowl:



That's all I gots. What can I say--I have been here enough that on weekends I prefer to just hang out at home and avoid the noise and crowds and smells and sights and general bombardment of the senses that comes with Bombay. Today Casey and I spent the afternoon watching DVDs and, um, drinking hard liquor.

Alex and Robin went to a museum today, so maybe they will have more interesting things to post.

beverage news

First of all, the trip to Delhi was a great success. We met 9 applicants who were all promising to some degree or another. Offers will be made. Also, Delhi is covered in monkeys. Just FYI.

On to the important stuff: beverage news.

1. You should make your own masala chai with whole spices. I will tell you how. Take the following and crunch them up a bit with a mortar and pestle or with a pulse or two in a spice grinder: 3 black peppercorns, a piece of star anise (or a few fennel seeds), 3 cloves, 2-3 green cardamom pods, and a small piece broken from a stick of cinnamon. Dump that along with a slice of peeled fresh ginger into a pot with 2 cups water and 1 cup milk or soy milk. Bring it to a boil for a few minutes. Turn off heat and dump in 3 rounded teaspoons of loose black tea and let it steep for 3 minutes. Strain everything into a teapot or mugs or whatever. Sweeten to taste. Enjoy the spicy goodness.



B. You should also make your own fresh lime soda. Squeeze some limes. Make some simple syrup (boil equal parts water and granulated sugar till the sugar is dissolved; let cool, then store in fridge). Pour about 1" lime juice in a glass, add a glop of sugar syrup, and top off with chilled club soda. We like to add a few shakes of salt, too. It's like Gatorade, except yummy.



iii. It is hard to get good coffee here, and in any case we do not have a coffee maker. I have discovered the beauty of the Greek "frappe." In a cocktail shaker put a couple of ice cubes, a Tbsp. of instant coffee (preferably the powdery kind, it dissolves easier), a couple glugs of milk or soy milk, about a Tbsp. of sugar syrup (see above), and about 1/2 cup water. Shake it up real shakey. Pour into a glass. It will have a nice head of foam.




d. We have now flown a couple of times on Kingfisher Airlines--yup, the same Kingfisher as Kingfisher beer. And yet Indian law prohibits the consumption of alcohol on domestic flights. THIS IS SO, SO WRONG. On the other hand, the flight attendants are gorgeous. Seriously, they are hot. Did I just say that in my out loud voice?

be vewy qwiet, we're hunting lingwists

Just in case you thought life in India was all about relaxing drives through monsoon-flooded streets and delicious tofu that is worth its weight in gold and adorable little cockroaches who just want to be your friends, that's all, is that so much to ask, tomorrow Alex and I have to get up at the crack of ASS to catch a bargain basement Indian Air flight to Delhi (we are nothing if not Fiscal Disciples). We will be interviewing at least 9 people in two 3-hour sessions over two days; back Thursday night. Wish us luck finding future colleagues!

Casey plans to take advantage of this situation and stay home drunk for two days at the apartment. So, if you receive any cryptic emails from him with no capitalization and rampant typos, you can blame it...oh, wait.

i'm so saree

I have nothing special to report; I just liked these photos. They are a bit fuzzy because they were shot with maximum zoom out the back window of a car. But I sorta dig the effect.

And then here is another fine shot from the drunken office party:


All class, all the time. That's us.

And, dudes. If we finally get an apartment (see Alex's post below) there are going to be BURRITOS cooking within 3 nanoseconds of our moving in. Incidentally, the nearest supermarket is called D Mart, except there is a triangle logo after the D that makes it look like "D A Mart." Perfect!

UPDATE: Did I say "moving in?" I meant "shifting."

partily heartily

Last night was the first annual [mumble-nameofcompany-mumble] Asia Pacific Big Ol' Party with Dancing and Food and Booze. It was so much fun!! It took place at a hotel down the street from work. Traffic was so bad at 6:00 that the people who decided to walk arrived faster than those who left earlier in cars. However, it being monsoon season and all, the ones who drove arrived much less, how you say, totally drenched. Gina was thinking of having a wet tee shirt contest, but only because she was a shoo-in for first place:


Our colleagues over here are a hoot. Some of them seem pretty demure in the office and then you get them on a dance floor and LOOK OUT. I was enlisted for some prolonged swing dancing moves by Godwin, our office manager (the Daniel T. of AP, as we refer to him). These photos aren't from the swing dance interlude, but you get the idea:




I sooooo do not know how to swing dance, incidentally, but it turns out that apparently only one member of the couple needs to know what he or she is doing.

Extensive hypothesis testing throughout the course of yesterday evening allows me confidently to assert that paneer tikka is nature's perfect food. (Because in nature the cheese comes straight out of the cow and directly into a bath of tasty spices and then falls into a tandoori oven and is served with coriander chutney...do I have this right? I don't leave the city much.)

Apropos of, um, well OK nothing (unless maybe he also loves paneer tikka!?), I will also report that I have a major crush on someone:


I watched The Namesake on the plane the other day (along with 17 other movies...damn that's a long flight from JFK to BOM) and I fell in lurrrrve with a certain Irrfan Khan. The double R is for Rrrrrrroww! I like to think of him as the Indian Jeff Goldblum. Casey says he has bug eyes, to which I say (a) what's your point, and (ii) you are just jealous now leave me alone with my screen saver please.

Oh, and speaking of people who are "the (other nationality) (so-and-so)," meet Vikram, our party emcee, a.k.a. the Asia Pacific counterpart to SF's T-Todd:


Vikram's nickname around the office is Big Trouble. And there's Priya with her gorgeous naturally curly hair in the foreground. (I am on a campaign to convince her that her curls are a major feature, not a bug. Seriously, people: girlfriend has some sexy hair.)

Oh! And also yesterday we had our first Hindi lesson. Poor Don and Priya had to be in a class with three linguists who kept turning to each other and saying things like "So Hindi is SOV, then?" and "Ah, it's a flap," and "Cool, postpositions!" and "I got yer velar fricative right here."

Hum khush karmchari hain! (We are happy employees!)