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Published: July 14th 2006
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Before I start, I’d like to
welcome Pat and Bob to the blog. Lovely to have you with us and hope to have comments from you regularly!
Boogeyman
I don’t think I’ve explained the comedy that Indian hotel life entails. I can laugh now, but my first morning in India actually began with quite the fright … Couldn't sleep very well the first morning due to jet lag. Rather than fidgeting in bed, I decided to get up and do some work. Ordered a coffee from room service to keep me company while I got going. Granted it was early, but 20 minutes later I started jone
zin for the caffeine. Poked my head out of the room to see if the waiter was on route and instead got the fright of my life. I was met by a sweating, burly Indian man who peered intently at me, before ducking his head and scribbling notes into a large ledger.
“Errr… hello”
“mornin sir! morning!!"
At 4 in morning, I thought it best to position a large (hopefully) impenetrable object between me and said boogeyman. Closed the door.
Left it at that.
2 am the next morning I yanked from
Kids at Govern't School
1 govern't supplied egg every 2 weeks sleep by the lullaby of heavy snoring coming from outside my room (you’d think I’d be used to that hey Jude ). Opened the door quietly and spied the boogeyman sleeping on the bench adjacent to my room. Closed the door, but resolved to get the mystery of the snoring fiend sorted out.
Before heading off to work later that morning, I planned to stop and have some breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Running late, I came rushing out of my room and ran smack into him.
“mornin sir! morning!!”
Head went down again and notes were furiously being added to his ledger.
“ehmmm … what are you doing?”
“I’m entering on your comings and goings” ( Indian Head Wobble )
“a haa … why?”
“so we have a record, sir!” ( Indian Head Wobble )
“nice! … why?”
“for security, sir!!” ( Notable lack of Indian Head Wobble, intense eye contact )
Okay got it. Said boogeyman is the security guard who; if in Canada, would be charged with stalking. Turns out he’s a lovely man with a propensity to fall asleep on the job and happens to sweat a lot. (I've been getting up early
and turning the music on my laptop on, in the hopes that he finds somewhere else to sleep on the job - no luck yet!)
Special Salad
Indian customers can yell and order you around a lot. It’s a cultural thing and means no harm. As
usual though, I tend to take pity on those being yelled at to get the coffee, pick up the napkin, write this order down, why aren’t there any boiled eggs - I want boiled eggs not fried, turn the music down, why does this cost so much...
The trouble is being good at making friends can come back to bite you. Despite limited English on their part and no Tamil on mine, I’ve struck up friendships with the waiters and we smile, laugh and point at things a lot. Incidentally, I’m convinced that we have absolutely no idea what we’re laughing about or pointing at. Anyway, in the process of making friends with the wait staff, they’ve taken it upon themselves to sneak little treats to me, complimentary, on the house - just don’t tell the house! I know, I know - ethical quandary, promote pilferage or bonding? It’s easier to select bonding when language serves as a barrier to discussing morals. All good and well, until the first bite into my “special” salad. I haven’t tasted chicken in over four years. It defeats the purpose when you’re a vegetarian. Smile, Jay don’t heave your cookies. Chicken farm investors are pictured here somewhere.
Tsunami Sites
Travelled to some of the areas hit by the Tsunami today. In Chennai the numbers killed and affected were low in comparison to the communities further south. The people have struggled to recover. There are still psychological fears among the fishing communities. After the tsunami, aid agency’s helped fisherman to purchase boats and netting through various livelihood programs. But for months, many couldn’t get themselves to go back to the sea. Even when they did, fishing for the first while was not productive. There are theories of how the displaced water caused fish to be dragged out of the area or that the fish simply migrated away.
Stopped at two schools to see some of the recovery efforts. Some equipment from IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps has been moved into permanent institutions to make use of the stuff. Water filters for example, can be better used in schools to purifying water for kids (who are the most vulnerable to water borne diseases) and guarantee that they get to drink the clean water. Kids were great, but it was stunning to see the difference between the private school (religious affiliation) and the government run school. The kids at the govern't school were so poor, but they are still some of the luckier children in this country. There's a photo on this blog of the kidlets having their lunch. Today was a treat day because they got to have an egg that the govern't pays for every 2 weeks.
Cultural Moron
Ended the day by showing my demonstrating my incredible lack of knowledge. Stopped by with my guide to have a bite to eat at a restaurant in Mamallapuram. The food was amazing - fried cottage cheese (paneer) in a spicy sauce with fried rice and veg. Yum, no chicken.
“This food’s great, Alex - is this traditional Tamil Nadu food?”
“No sir, it’s Chinese.”
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