Mobile Conoff June 30, 2009
Posted by KG in Delhi, FS Life, Language.1 comment so far
Fresh off a two week TDY in Calcutta, I’m on TDY with the wife in New Delhi. Sweeping pronouncements about the three big Indian cities (sorry, Chennai) to come.
A note to FSI students headed to language-designated consular jobs: learn the words for “left,” “right,” and the local terms for each individual finger, and learn them well. Along with “income” and those pesky family relationship terms, these will be the most important words for your job (shocker!). This message brought to you by the words “sajja” and “kabba”, “jamna” and “dabba,” and “dahanu” and “bahanu,” left and right in Punjabi, Gujarati, and Oriya.
Full Circle? June 8, 2009
Posted by KG in Calcutta, Family, India, Travels.1 comment so far
The first two weeks of my second year in India have been spent in Calcutta, my ancestral home.
It’s been a ball being back here. Living in a temporary apartment has meant two weeks without television. Commuting to and from work takes about two minutes, each way. My Bangla has probably never been better, and since I’m expected to use Hindi at work as well, I’m working on learning the mental tricks needed to switch between three languages at a moment’s notice. The chance to stay somewhere other than with family has forced me to get familiar with a part of the city I didn’t know well before. Best of all, I’ve been able to spend some quality time with family, some of whom I haven’t seen in many years. Despite it being less than a year since I last saw my grandmother, she’s looks to be about 150 years old now.
In my infinite wisdom, I packed my camera, my computer, but not my flash card reader, so no photos of Calcutta (or “Kolkata,” for the more prosaic/politically correct minded) just yet. But thanks to the many people that made this difficult-to-arrange TDY happen.
Signposts on the Road June 2, 2009
Posted by KG in Etc..2 comments
It has come to my attention that recently I have managed to pass a few statistically noteworthy points in a number of different ongoing endeavors. Here’s a self-generated list of the ones that immediately come to mind, in order of how important I think they are.
- One year of actually living with my wife (at this point, I think we have three anniversaries)
- 20,000+ visas adjudicated
- One year down in Mumbai
- 50 revocation memos
- 30 years of being alive
Reef Bleg May 25, 2009
Posted by KG in Blog, Traveling.add a comment
Does anyone have recommendations for a good non-urban base for seeing the Great Barrier Reef? We’re working on putting together our R&R, and we’re thinking of a week in Queensland, preferrably away from Cairns and Brisbane. The sheer vastness of Australia is a bit overwhelming and the cost of some of the all inclusive island resorts is even more so. Any suggestions for places to stay that are outside of the city but would not break the bank?
Summer Vacation’s Gonna Be Awesome! May 21, 2009
Posted by KG in Mumbai, Photos.1 comment so far
“I’m so tired of the hustle and bustle of the big city. Let’s head to the beach this weekend!”
Juhu Beach, May 2009
Bread Cred May 12, 2009
Posted by KG in Food, Mumbai.1 comment so far
There’s a lot to praise about Indian bread. Delicious, buttery naan that burns your fingertips, just a little; earthy chapattis used to scoop simple curry; parathas stuffed with fenugreek, or paneer, or nothing at all, served with black daal. Starch-lovers have good reason to pig out on Indian breads alone.
But bread in India is a wholly different thing. If you’re sick of chapattis, or just want a sandwich, India makes life difficult. Directly put: western-style bread in India is generally crap. There are a handful of boutique-y bakeries around Bombay that claim to sell crusty bread, but whatever is on the shelves is at best a pale, squishy, flavorless imposter. We use bread we pick up from the local “gourmet” bread shop for basic sandwiches, but really this stuff would be best torn up and fed to the pigeons.
We’ve concluded that there’s one exception to this: the Bombay Baking Company, in the JW Marriott. On Sunday night, I cracked into a fresh loaf of rye I bought there to make a turkey and cheddar sandwich, with dijon mustard. I think my words after the first bite were “oh my god” — the bread was that good.
I feel slightly pathetic, or that at the very least I’m losing the little bit of Bombay Street Cred I had. Bread from a bakery in a five-star hotel! Of course it’s good, and expensive, and an elitist indulgence. But when you’ve been away from home (and the greater Western world) for almost a year, the appeal of decent, crusty bread is self-evident.
Don’t get me started on bagels.
Sweatasana April 30, 2009
Posted by KG in India, Mumbai, Yoga, fitness.add a comment
For about two months, I’ve had a post in draft about how consistently odd yoga is her in Mumbai. The fact is finding a decent yoga class here is just extremely difficult. It seems the concept of a Saturday or Sunday morning class is not something folks here think of.
We got lucky about two months ago, and have been going to a decently timed class twice a week. It means we need to think about dinner well ahead of time, and have about thirty minutes to chill out at home before going to the studio, but it works, sort of. The style of yoga they like here is fun, and strenuous, and… boring. Sometimes it feels a whole lot more like a fitness boot camp and a whole lot less like yoga.
But after 11 months here, I finally took a yoga class that was — well, it was the best yoga class I think I’ve ever taken. For two hours, we went deeper into poses I thought I had down well, and moved into poses I’d never thought I could hit before. The class was on a rooftop, and the weather has been cripplingly hot and humid, so I came home drenched; my tank top was literally translucent by the end of the two hours. Sadly, the teacher wasn’t sure when he would be teaching class again, but I’m going to keep on the lookout.
The ironic part is that the teacher was an American, transplanted here a few months ago, and even more unbelievably: someone that used to teach at Flow in DC. 11 months in Mumbai, 5000 miles away, in the birthplace of yoga, and the best class I’ve ever taken was taught by someone I could have been taking class from back home.
Sigh.
Things I Never Thought I’d See (or Hear) April 18, 2009
Posted by KG in Etc..1 comment so far
A man with “I’m Never Gonna Dance Again” as his ring tone. An extremely large and overweight man, in my gym’s locker room.
*shudder*
No You May Not Write On My Wall April 11, 2009
Posted by KG in Internet.1 comment so far
Last night a friend took me to task for the fact that I don’t use Facebook. This was after he had had a few drinks, but the sentiment seemed honest — according to him, my steadfast avoidance of Facebook put me in the same category as those people who proudly state they don’t own a TV, or don’t see movies made in the last ten years. Not a choice of luddite ignorance, but some sort of pseudo-elitist avoidance of the latest cultural zeitgeist.
Naturally, I take umbrage with that statement. Yes, I don’t use Facebook, and yes I’m in the minority amongst my friend circle. But it’s not because I don’t like the idea of social networking, or that I think I’m too good for it. But buying in to the whole Facebook enterprise at this time just sounds useless. I spend a lot of time on the internet already. Why do I need something else on the internet, where I can tell people about the fact that I’m about to go grocery shopping? Where I can see what random guy who sat next to me in 9th grade biology is doing? Or where I can let everyone know that I’m a tremendous fan of the writings of Dr. Mahinder Watsa?
So no: not better than you or cooler-than-thou for not having a Facebook page. Just phenomenally uninterested.
And Now I’m: Planning Our Next Vacation March 28, 2009
Posted by KG in India, Photos, Travels.add a comment
Getting back to work after two weeks off has been relatively seamless, which I suppose means that we actually live here now — that is, Mumbai’s become home. Scary.
But before shifting out of vacation mode — and consequently not writing about our trip anymore — I thought I’d write about a couple of notable moments and answer a few questions.
The Taj Mahal: By all means, if you ever plan to go to the Taj Mahal, go at sunrise. Not for any particular view of the sun actually rising, but because the only people there that early are western tourists, mostly quiet, polite, and respectful. I was surprised at how peaceful and serene the Taj felt — not something I was expecting considering its the largest tourist draw in all of India. Rumors abound that soon tourists won’t be allowed to climb up to the marble platform of the Taj to see the actual dargah; I’m glad I had the chance to watch my wife pirouette there while she still had the chance.
The Tiger: We saw two wild tigers at Ranthambore National Park, about two hours south of Jaipur. The odds for an actual tiget sighting were low — we were in a huge 20 person “canter” that made tons of noise and took a path into the park that was (as we found out later) not very popular with the Wild Indian Tiger set. But we got lucky. You know your tiger sighting is a good one when your guide is taking pictures with his cell phone camera. The entire experience at Ranthambore was an extended, uninterrupted highlight. Once you get into nature, into the Indian countryside, the beauty of this country becomes abundant and awe-inspiring. Our “hotel” near the park, Khem Villas, was incredible. During the day, the wife and her mom took advantage of the resort’s spa, while I alternately swam in or baked by the plunge pool. For two nights we slept in luxury tents, dined on locally grown vegetarian food, and went to bed listening to birds and crickets, under thousands of stars.
The Desert: Probably the other amazing part of the trip was out in Jaisalmer, in the middle of the Thar Desert. It’s one thing to tour an old fort — something we did all over Rajasthan — but to walk around a living fort, where people still live, is something else altogether. Further out from Jaisalmer, we rode camels to the Khuri sand dunes, where we watched the sun set. The colors of the desert are not something I’m ever going to forget.
The Camera: When you have subjects that are so photogenic, I don’t think you need a fancy camera. But for the record, I’m currently using a Canon 450D/XSi, and throughout the trip used my new EF 28-135mm lens.
