tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59181862011-04-21T17:53:34.369-07:00Into The Land Of NaanAdam Skory's attempt to respond to all the people telling him to tell them about being in India. Expect to be completely dissatisfied. You ought to just come here yourself.Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comBlogger271100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1071384822827878932003-12-13T22:53:00.000-08:002003-12-21T22:22:37.660-08:00Sat. 12/13/03
Sitting on the edge of a sand dune, I’m less than 50 miles from the end of India, and getting closer every second to my end of India. It’s kind of like the beach here, only there’s no water and a lot more sand. My solitude is broken by sounds of various herded animals somewhere not too far, and by this fly who seems to find me more interesting than the sand. The heat of the day is Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1071239393380255922003-12-12T06:01:00.000-08:002003-12-21T22:17:18.260-08:00Just got out of 2 hours 45 minutes (minus 5 minutes of intermission) of big screen bollywood. The picture had to keep refocusing, and the speakers were not ready to make that much loud and it showed. Still, it was damned good.
I couldn't understand more than 3 or 4 Hindi scentences of all the movie, but the plot was pleasantly followable. Essentially, the movie was your basic Romeo and Juliet Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1071144358515520752003-12-11T04:05:00.000-08:002003-12-21T22:15:27.103-08:00Wed. 12/10/03
Everybody told me to have very low expectations of the Taj Mahal. After hearing this over and over, I took the advice to heart so that once I did go there, I actually quite liked it and was not disappointed at all. When asking advice for where to go in Rajasthan with limited time, everyone spoke very high praises of Udaipur. After hearing this over and over, I took the advice to Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1070946844766416102003-12-08T21:14:00.000-08:002003-12-21T22:10:24.060-08:00Sun. 11/7/03
The Taj Mahal is neat.
Mon. 11/8/03
Jaipur is another crowded, polluted, but not entirely too bad Indian town. Capital of Rajasthan, the desert state bordering Pakistan, it has a few nice things too see, and alot more people trying to make money off of you seeing them than there is remotely any demand for. Throughout most of my travels, everyone spoke of Jaipur as notoriously being Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1070773560471221152003-12-06T21:03:00.000-08:002003-12-21T22:02:25.520-08:00Sat. 11/6/03
9:13 a.m.
The Ganges River. Ganga. A living god to whom all Hindus should one day come.
On any day at any time, the scene is the same: The wood is weighed and paid for, half is laid out. The procession carrying the body arrives, some chanting or singing, some silent. The body, wrapped in fine cloths and covered with beads and flowers, is placed on the woodpile. Family members Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1070430551041083302003-12-02T21:49:00.000-08:002003-12-21T21:54:33.230-08:00Sun. 11/30/03
4:30pm
Feeling very knackered and zoned out... can hardly write. Not that I haven't gotten enough sleep. I figure 'bout 4 on the train and 2:30 at the hotel after that. Should be enough to not feel as out of it as I do. Then again, not enough sleep before that, plus the sensory over-load of Old Goa, Mumbai, and now the Ellora caves and I might as well pat myself on the back that Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1070116798013572112003-11-29T06:39:00.000-08:002003-12-21T21:41:35.303-08:00Bombay is dirty, loud, gross, and I'm loving it. I think 4 hours is the perfect amount of time to spend here. Flying is so much faster than trains, oh my dear lord. You can't smell the shit from 30,000" either. Just one astounding way to travel! To be honest, the suburban railway that I took from the airport to ex-Victoria Terminal (now some long name in Marathi) in ex-Bombay (now Mumbai) was Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1070032894206803592003-11-28T07:15:00.000-08:002003-12-21T21:34:49.543-08:0011-23-03
There is now a sticker on my ratty-tattered orange notebook. It says Hindustan on it. I took it off a toilet.
Done with Bangalore. Strange to think of how used to it all I got. It's really something else, the difference between how one experiences a foreign country when one is always traveling and moving around, and when one stays in the same place for a while. 8 weeks isn't long enough Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1069340998948442982003-11-21T00:54:00.000-08:002003-11-21T00:54:55.233-08:00So many new and wonderful sensations! The idea to do it first popped on and into my head, I think, whilst on a train in Kerala. The instant I thought of it there was no doubt that I had to do it. I just knew that it was gonna be really nice. So, I decided that I would wait till I'm done with teaching, then I could mark my grand exit from B'lore and start of my mystical magical travels with such aAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1069340551867264592003-11-20T07:02:00.000-08:002003-11-20T07:02:57.606-08:00Tue. 11/18/03
I wish air travel was as easy as busses and trains, and one could just hop on and off and change plans around at a whim. I wanted to try and stay an extra week, as that would make a world of difference in being able to see all the places in North India I want to see. As far as contacting United Airlines to see about changing my connection from Bangkok to SFO the internet failed my Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1069084941469540812003-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:002003-11-17T10:10:10.606-08:00Fri. 11/14/03
"Mmm... I simply must have the recipe!", if only I could actually say that at so many of these restaurants I could compile one helluva cookbook.
Now, for the sake of proper appreciation on your part of this blog entry, imagine that I am writing this in unitelligably catastrophic handwriting in a ratty-tattered orange notebook. Which, mind you, is precisely what I'm doing. You are Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1068660419203701112003-11-12T10:06:00.000-08:002003-11-12T10:08:48.576-08:00Here I sit with too much to tell, so will mostly not try to tell it. They really need some new shitty synthesized muzak in this internet cafe this one tape is really getting old. Sometimes they play such awesome rockin' stuff... but at least once or twice a night some one puts the damn-ed tape on. I theorize that one of the employees made it and gets a sick thrill out of having a captive audienceAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1067953734000975802003-11-04T05:48:00.000-08:002003-11-12T09:13:35.773-08:00GUEST ENTRY by Shalini Vimal:
He [David] later took me out to the most incredible chocolate cake because he knew about my intense craving for real chocolate and lack of its presence in my bloodstream therefore only exacerbating my homesickness. The cake was called “chocolate excess”, what an oxymoron, yet nonetheless exactly what I needed—a rich moist cake with chocolate mousse and fudge Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1067882373638349302003-11-03T09:07:00.000-08:002003-11-03T09:59:36.660-08:00Reading through the guide book and hearing stories of Goan adventures inspired the idea in my mind that renting a motorbike would be an incredibly dangerous idea, which of course means, sign me up right now. In pursuit of this I've been asking all over town in countless bike shops about renting motorbikes. After giving me blank stares, usually I had to ask for "hiring" bikes, with my r's rolled. Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1067683411044372812003-11-01T02:43:00.000-08:002003-11-01T02:43:32.846-08:00Sleeping in is good no matter what country one's in.
I had been meaning to get up a blog entry for a few days now, but I've been pretty lazy. I was going to on Wednesday, while I loaded up pictures, but they moved the computers around in this place and so I ended up installing the software for the camera again on a different computer. But Windows sucks and it took way to long, and, well, you get Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1067354564809394812003-10-28T07:22:00.000-08:002003-10-28T07:24:56.726-08:00I wonder if I had grown up somewhere more tropical if I would even notice the bugs. Goddam they're everywhere. Ugh! I bought ant poison today, and as a response, the ant gods decided to have dozens of freaky littled winged dying ants falling onto the dinner table and onto my and everyone else present's food. Seems one just can't win.
My dehydration (see end previous entry) I think very much Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1067102534420413652003-10-25T10:01:00.000-07:002003-11-01T02:09:52.436-08:00Well, I officially like Diwali. Asked at a shop if they had any fire-crackers, and before I could do anything about it a guy hops on a bike and rides off. Other guy tells me he's off to get me a box. Well, I certainly did not imagine that the box would be so big! Sooo many things that go boom of every kind imaginable. Needless to say, I'm now somewhat deaf in my right ear and have no hair on my Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1066985153043192252003-10-24T01:45:00.000-07:002003-10-24T01:45:52.710-07:00It's Diwali. Big Hindu festival. "Diwali, the popular festival of Indians, celebrates the return of Lord Rama and Sita from exile. It also celebrates the day Mother Goddess destroyed a demon called 'Mahisha' & Victory of Good over evil.The day is celebrated by lighting lamps, diyas, visiting relatives, feasting, and displaying fireworks." They seem to REALLY do the fireworks here. Mind you, I am Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1066751800271789602003-10-21T08:56:00.000-07:002003-10-21T08:56:39.726-07:00I actually successfully subdued a room of children and gave them an assignment and made them do it and maybe even learn something and it was actually pretty cool. I tell ya tho', I don't know if I'd make too good of a real teacher; I definitely can't help having favorites. I really like the smart kids and some of the dumb ones I find myself having a hard time putting up with. Yes, that does make Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1066639590632535432003-10-20T01:15:00.000-07:002003-10-21T08:25:54.706-07:00Back from Pondicherry. Cut school today as a result of being super "knackered" (a.k.a. tired) and not wanting to deal with the kids' pleasant reactions to the state of my skin. I have, despite years of earnest warnings, let the bedbugs bite. Luckily the bites are only localized to one arm, one shoulder and the back of my hands. Oh, and the best part is that they are horribly contagious, all you Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1066385224117701722003-10-17T02:41:00.000-07:002003-10-17T03:07:04.280-07:00The classes on my schedule for this afternoon - I have already had the privilege of finding out - are classes in which I am completely useless. That being the case, and today being a friday, I took the only acceptable course of action: I left early.
I'm leaving tonight at 9:00 on a night bus for Pondicherry. ("Situated on the Coromandel coast, about 160 kms south of Chennai, lies the Union Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1066144238927984792003-10-14T08:10:00.000-07:002003-10-14T08:13:22.700-07:00Second day at SKIDS. Went quite nicely. Learned some more signs. It's been determined that I will most likely work with the junior-high level kids, though exactly what I'll do I s'pose is to be determined. I think most likely I will work on language developement with a few kids individually. I think that would be best, so then I could get to know them and get used to communication with them, Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1066042940991748502003-10-13T03:51:00.000-07:002003-10-13T04:02:21.186-07:00Went to the Sheila Kothavala Institute for Deaf Studies, which I will now and 4ever call SKIDS. Good impressions. Some of the kids there seem to really benefit from the special attention and are probably more advanced students than their unimpared peers in normal schools. Language of instruction is English from the very beginning, but I guess they must formally teach the wee tots to sign, since Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1065959427034170002003-10-12T04:50:00.000-07:002003-10-12T04:50:27.280-07:00Today was ok. Woken up really early by what sounded like Ganesh after too much beer pissing on the roof. The rain here is insane. Lucky me, I was all cozy in bed and able to fall back asleep without even getting (unnecessarily) wet.
Out of a spirit of friendship I helped make a little birthday-page for these British girls to send to their friend, and am hosting it. She'll never know if y'all lookAdamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1065851553603943732003-10-10T22:37:00.000-07:002003-10-10T22:52:33.846-07:00My first pangs of missing home: wanting to sleep in on a lazy Saturday, but being unable to for all the dogs and the vegetable and newpaper vendors and the construction workmen banging away. And no big bowl of cereal as consolation for waking up so early! Of course, it was only like 9:00... God. My life is hard.
I have blessed y'all with pictures.
Saw some of the local nightlife. They seem to be Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1065784747601144232003-10-10T04:02:00.000-07:002003-10-10T04:19:07.633-07:00I really like working at the YMCA shelter. It's really crazy there. Some of these kids, you have to just wonder what life has been like for them, what with all their obvious physical and emotional scars. Some of them have got some serious physical scars. It's amzaing how they still seem able to enjoy life and be loving and learn, etc etc. Really makes you stop and consider for a second. The Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5918186.post-1065693277619063142003-10-09T02:09:00.000-07:002003-10-10T22:57:16.750-07:00So, like, and stuff...
It was suggested to me that I start a blog. Normally I scoff at such ideas. Imagine, me keeping a blog! Well, under my current circumstances, I figured that it might not really be that bad an idea. So here I go.
I serpose I will go back to the beginning of my trip, and try to make it up to now:
My flight from SFO to Narita was uneventful. Narita was exactly the same as it Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16220614632241027883noreply@blogger.com