1/31/2004 01:53:58 AM

I woke up this morning on a chilly, damp, rainy, winter-in-Delhi kind of day and thought, 'OK time to adjust and get out there and do something'. Well, what to do? Shopping, retail therapy. There is nothing like going out to lunch with woman to talk about what woman talk about while they eat and shop. A true tonic for the soul. My soul in particular.
So today I went native. The tall white woman who doesn't look Indian, speak Hindi and has been here for 3 days can at least wear 'the suit'.
This consists of:
Kufta, Shameez and Dupati. The Kufta is the long smock/nightie like thing. The Shameez are the pants with the wrinkly ankles. Getting those over my big northern european feet and calves is a physics problem.The dupati is the scarf thing you loop into a U in front. I think getting into the pants were hard because I was trying not to laugh at how absurd it was. These pants are wrinkly and tight in the lower leg and then broaden up into a giant sack at the waist. Sexy, huh? Fashion forward? Backward? Actually it's kind of cool when you put it all together. It will be interesting wearing it. At this point it's kind of abstract, it seems more like a costume for a school play.

I'm trying to master the eating with the right hand thing and using my hand, not a fork. It's not easy. Not the dexterity so much as the sensation of sticking your hand in food is so childlike and direct, it fights with all those years of being brought up with completely different table manners. But besides all that, the food at the restaurant was really DELICIOUS!!! It was south Indian food, dosas, iddlies, other things I'm not sure how to spell and in this bustling 3 level restaurant I was sitting eating with two cosmopolitan Indian woman, having a really great time in Delhi, India. How cool is that?

Walking around the Khan market (where I got the new duds) I would see non-Indians and think,'Hey they look like me'. It was weird. All the different ethnicities in NYC and living in SF and traveling extensively in Europe and a tad beyond, I never thought about it. I guess I'm a long way from what I know. I like it (at least today I do).




1/29/2004 08:01:51 AM

Arrived just under the radar of a snowstorm in New York.
It's so much warmer here, but still chilly. Presently sitting with a heater at my feet. Kinda San Francisco like. Awoke at 6am full of energy. Last night I felt I was in a stupor by 10:30pm. Could it have been the gin and tonics?

Last night, I was taken to the Delhi Colonial Club, leftover British Colonialism (is colonialism with a capital C? I guess it depends who you ask.) Had a sense of walking onto a movie set, but the lighting wasn't so good.
Life imitates art. In reading 'Children of Midnight' by Salman Rushdie, he talks about how the characters family inherited the cocktail hour being required to mimic what the previous owner's habits in order to buy the house. Symbolism, sure, but here it was in living color! Aside from the stupor and feeling adrift I loved it.




1/27/2004 02:28:56 AM

Too much running around. Chops knows I'm going and is fussy. I need to get dressed, being halfway now...the car is downstairs. How am I going to get the (much fuller than I expected) bag down the stairs? The first in my travel logistics.
Ciao for now...
Boy, am I excited, and scared. I'm really thrilled, it's really happening.
I wonder about the primary tomorrow, why?
I'll be in London. I wonder if I'll hear anything or it's just local news?



1/26/2004 04:55:51 AM

Thursday, January 15, 2004
Little bouts of panic about getting everything done before I go. Checking things off 'the list', making lots of notes, etc. Wanting to just lift off and fly into the air and arrive. Well, maybe not. I'm not that existential.

So, 11 days and counting. Speaking of counting, it's the birthday. 12:04am and I'm another year older. I may not fly, (self propelled at least) but time sure does. At this point it breaks the speed limit on a regular basis, but I get too distracted to get it to pull over and show registration. Probably best not to think about it too much anyway.

I remember last spring walking around the office, back when I worked in one, how would I ever get the vacation time collected to go to India? Funny how it all works out, huh?

Called my friend, V in Delhi and things are arranged for my brief stay before I set out for Mysore. My friend, R here sent me an amazing list of temples to try to see when I'm in the south...this trip is really happening. My final step is getting my visa, that's the friday plan. Oh...and paying off a lot of bills and debts (a necessary evil, but I'm grateful that I can).
Also, my duffle bag on wheels may not be big enough for what I want to bring. Figures.

// posted by Deborah @ Thursday, January 15, 2004




1/26/2004 04:55:30 AM

Money is in the bank (essential).
Today, went to Paragon for the water filtration system (the same one the army uses) small, compact, super efficient. An elegant invention! It will save me from throwing away countless plastic bottles while there. I can turn tap water into clean drinkable, non- microb carrying water-true alchemy! Then there is the sleep sheet for use in questionable surroundings (mattresses, etc.), the breathable money belt.

Am I taking too many precautions? I am not a tough-travel-the-world-type. I don't even know if I aspire to be. Traveling is great, it's inspiring, jumpstarts ones sense of wonder and broadens ones horizons. It's not an easy thing either. I think this is a minor drawback. I aspire to experience life, in its many forms. Travel is one of the bright and shiney ones.

// posted by Deborah @ Friday, January 02, 2004



1/26/2004 04:55:11 AM

We've got blog! My web tech is a master! Tanks Got! At the last minute, no less. So in my lack of trust, I cut and paste. And now, and now, I've got two, got two and it's too long long and repeats, repeats twice, two times again.
Oh well...
More to come of the pre-adventure.



1/26/2004 04:30:28 AM

Monday, November 24, 2003

Today I got my shots for the trip. Typhoid, Polio and Hepatitus A,two in my left arm, one in my right. My left arm is kind of sore. I have tetnus to get and then the malaria pills starting a few days before I go. Still in a holding pattern for exactly WHEN I'm GOING. All will be revealed.

// posted by Deborah @ Monday, November 24, 2003




1/24/2004 10:18:40 AM

Leaving in less than 3 days. Ahhhhhh!!!!!
Trying to get everything done. Trying to be excited and not panic. Realizing what I can and cannot do, this is a bit disappointing. Some of my (dear) friends are telling me how much they'll miss me. My response is to tell them to keep in touch by e-mail. Sure, it won't be as instant due to the time difference et al., but I'm totally reachable. They are reticent about this being a good stop gap. I reassure them, 'it's not that far away when we have e-mail'. Are they being overly concerned about the distance or am I in denial?
So what else?
My website is still not up due to technical difficulties and an overextended web tech.
It's really cold and I'm looking forward to being warm (I hope I don't regret that thought).
Made arrangement to be picked up at the airport by a Tibetan friend of a friend from yoga. All done by the miracle of e-mail. My friend assures me this will make things easier upon arrival at the Delhi airport (it can be kind of a circus). Actually that parenthetical comment is what I hear India can be like all the time. As a neighbor said laughingly when I told him I was concerned about walking into a drama, "It's all a drama, whatever form it takes. When you surrender to it is when you can start having a good time."
OK. Now remember:
1. surrender to the drama and
2. don't be attatched to outcomes,
3. oh and have fun.
Yup, that's the ticket...
*sigh*
(I know I'll miss my friends a lot too)
Why am I doing this? I wonder this on a daily basis.
Just because.
Remember when you could say that and it explained everything?
Maybe it still works.



1/15/2004 11:06:58 AM

Little bouts of panic about getting everything done before I go. Checking things off 'the list', making lots of notes, etc. Wanting to just lift off and fly into the air and arrive. Well, maybe not. I'm not that existential.

So, 11 days and counting. Speaking of counting, it's the birthday. 12:04am and I'm another year older. I may not fly, (self propelled at least) but time sure does. At this point it breaks the speed limit on a regular basis, but I get too distracted to get it to pull over and show registration. Probably best not to think about it too much anyway.

I remember last spring walking around the office, back when I worked in one, how would I ever get the vacation time collected to go to India? Funny how it all works out, huh?

Called my friend, V in Delhi and things are arranged for my brief stay before I set out for Mysore. My friend, R here sent me an amazing list of temples to try to see when I'm in the south...this trip is really happening. My final step is getting my visa, that's the friday plan. Oh...and paying off a lot of bills and debts (a necessary evil, but I'm grateful that I can).
Also, my duffle bag on wheels may not be big enough for what I want to bring. Figures.



1/03/2004 06:48:12 AM

Money is in the bank (essential).
Today, went to Paragon for the water filtration system (the same one the army uses) small, compact, super efficient. An elegant invention! It will save me from throwing away countless plastic bottles while there. I can turn tap water into clean drinkable, non- microb carrying water-true alchemy! Then there is the sleep sheet for use in questionable surroundings (mattresses, etc.), the breathable money belt.

Am I taking too many precautions? I am not a tough-travel-the-world-type. I don't even know if I aspire to be. Traveling is great, it's inspiring, jumpstarts ones sense of wonder and broadens ones horizons. It's not an easy thing either. I think this is a minor drawback. I aspire to experience life, in its many forms. Travel is one of the bright and shiney ones.