putting the FINE! in solitary confinement

This is my last weekend in country (that's a little shout-out to JFH), it's currently Saturday afternoon, and for the last couple of hours I have been howyousay slowly losing it, and here's why:

a. The internet went out around 3:00, and typically when it goes out it does not spontaneously come back, and did I mention it is Saturday which means there is no way this would be dealt with before Monday?

2. When I sighed and thought to myself, well, at least I can watch the Discovery channel or something, I discovered that the TV ALSO IS NOT WORKING. It is giving me the television equivalent of the blue screen of death.

iii. It is 90+ degrees outside, and the air quality is "smoke" (see helpful graphic below), so it's not like I am going to go for a refreshing walk to clear my head.



But in some sort of belated (or perhaps very early) Christmas miracle, the internet has shown up again, at least for the moment. Which, thank god, because otherwise I'd have had about 36 hours staring me in the face where my biggest hope for entertainment would have been knitting and listening to tinny music emanating from my iBook. Who says the life of a globe-trotting linguist manager lady isn't glamorous?

And to prove my point, now I will go have toast for dinner.

freak show

I got to the Bombay apartment around 11:00 p.m. local time last night, then hung out with Casey and Misti for a while (Dan was already asleep). Fell asleep sometime after 3:00 a.m., so needless to say I was not up and ready to go to work at 7:30. So, my first day back at the office will be Monday. Luckily our next batch of hires won't be there till Tuesday.

I walked down to the supermarket just now and was reminded that in India, more so than usual, I am a giant freak. Especially now with my super short hair I am getting even more stares than before.

In keeping with tradition, the portly little Indian Delta gate agent at JFK called me "sir." They like to start reminding me early that I am super feminine and pretty. Thanks, India.

The weather is probably the best it's been since I started spending time here last June. It's not even sweltering, and in the mornings and evenings it is almost cool and pleasant. However, the entire city, including my bedroom, smells like a campfire. This may have something to do with the fact that the entire city is, in fact, a campfire. At least the smoke helps to mask some of the other smells. I'm talking about poop here, people.

smokin' 2

Not quite sure what to say about this. Here in Mumbai we somehow manage to have daily conditions be "Smoke" even without rampant wildfires. I think it has to do with the number of people (millions) who use open fires to cook throughout the day. Still, this week I'm glad I'm in Mumbai and not in my home town San Diego. Now that is smoke. My house down there isn't threatened, nor is my parents' house--if a fire got to that part of town it would kind of mean the whole city was in flames, and I have to doubt it will go that far. I have friends in Escondido who have had to evacuate, though, and friends with little kids who have to stay indoors because of the thick ash, and the whole situation just totally sucks. Send cool, wet vibes to Southern California, please.

linguists on the loose

Today we took the new linguists out to lunch at a place called Kobe Sizzlers. Sizzlers are an odd Indian food phenomenon--they are like those sizzling dishes you get sometimes at Thai or Chinese restaurants, but with way more weird crap. Like, there will be the main protein, such as lamb or chicken or fish or paneer, and then a boatload of rice underneath and a ton of vegetables all around (cabbage, spinach, carrots, beans, tomato, peas, baby corn, onions, and cauliflower), and then some french fries for good measure, all with some kind of gravy and served on a sizzling platter.



Here's Lon enjoying the sizzling smoky goodness:



And here are our new (and a couple of old) colleagues:



Kneeling, left to right: Alex, Robin, Abdul
Standing, left to right: Lon, Anil S., Anil K., Sneha, Anuradha, Manasi, Kulajit, Pinkey

smokin'

I love it when the current conditions are described as "Smoke." It happens disturbingly often. It makes me wonder about that sharp pain I get when I take in a deep breath lately.

Note that it was 77 degrees at 7:10 a.m. That's today's low. Right now it's closer to 95.