It's raining Dosa

I couldn't figure out a creative title for this one. Therefore, for those of you that know me it's no surprise that this is something totally disgusting. The story begins like any other day, classes, a little bit of studying and then lunch with Grady (the other guy not staying in the hotel). So we get done having coffee and some south indian food and as we are walking up the stairs Grady goes oh crap, its raining again. I it has been raining for at least 3 hours every day in shimla (not normal for may/june). I find this wierd since it is hot and there are not many clouds in sight. As Grady gets to the top of the stairs, he goes OH SHIT! It's not rain, its puke. Some stupid drunk kid is puking all over the public benchs and it is flying over the staircase we were walking up and splashing us. Needless to say I was pissed as hell. I start yelling at the kid and his friend gives me the thumbs up sign and keeps laughing like a drunk idiot. I was about 1 millisecond from kicking the kid square in the face (I had my hiking boots on). However, i was quick to remember that indians flock to the scene of anything remotely interesting, so instead i just walked away disgusted. Also, I am sure the hangover that idiot had the next day from the beyond crappy indian brandy and whisky is enough punishment.

Luckily nothing really got on me, just a few splashes. However, it was still gross beyond belief. Welcome to India, the land of surprises. It really is Incredible India in more ways than one. Grady bore the brunt i think.

This weekend was pretty fun. A group of us went out to this town 3 hours from here called Narkanda. It is exactly as the rough guide described it, the size of a cricket pitch. There are 2 hotels, a few stores, 3 places to eat and a few random shops. It is at about 9,000-9,500 ft. I can't remember. IT is known for some good hiking with great views of the himalays. However, the weather was not great. It rained and was really foggy. We did a 14 km hike up to 11,100 at one of the highest points around the Shimla area. There is a small temple on the top. It was rainy but the forest was really nice and it was great to get away from Shimla (even though it is small).

The second day I went on an organized trek around the hills of Shimla set up by the school. It was nice. We hiked down to a waterfull then up and around. We saw some good wildlife. Lots of birds and a huge family of black faced langurs. THose are the big silver monkeys with black faces. We also saw a snake but it was to quick and small to identify which means it for sure was not a cobra.

We also went to a girls ashram last week which was great. This was organized by the program. It was about a 1.5 hour drive away. The girls were all under the age of 13. We brought them presents and they loved it. IT was a blast and it was nice to cheer the kids up. I brought them a bag of M&M's from the states. A lot of them didnt know what it was ( which makes sense) so I had to show them it was food. They then sang and danced for us. One girl sang some bollywood tunes really really well. Their living quarters were very simple but nice. SOme of the kids were aghast at how little they had but after seeing inside some peoples homes around India, it may not have been extravagant but it was ok. Most of the kids are sent their becuase their parents cannot afford to take care of them, but many still get to visit their parents. Anyways, it was nice to do something for them.



so this is the day after that I am publishing. I need to remind myself to write to you about the horrific experience we had at the "law school" we went to see where we were insulted and set up to look like idiots. ANd some idiot girls from my program told me i was embaressing everyone when i defended our country and told them they were just masquerading hate speech as academic (the other professors thought i was in line but these girls really pissed me off)

---

---

---