Some Ramblings

Thought I'd ramble here and tell a few stories instead of posting pics and get some pics up next time. I had a really productive week, research-wise, and now I've interviewed half the minimum number of people I wanted to talk to. I'm feeling really good about that progress and hope to be here long enough to finish up with no problems. As many of you know, I'm continuing to have visa problems, which may possibly cut short my time here. I certainly hope not and am praying lots and doing what the various Indian authorities tell me to do. We'll see what the outcome is. No more to say about that 'til the end of next week, at which point we may have an outcome one way or another. On to lighter topics...

So I had a crazy encounter this week. One of the other interns was giving a talk about her research to our team at work, but I was going to have to miss it b/c I had an interview at that time. So I went down the street to buy her some good luck flowers. It was just a brief walk on a public street in the middle of the afternoon. Well, I had never seen this before, but apparently, there are men who dress as women, wearing sarees and makeup, and shake down people for money. I was walking down the side of the road and what I thought was a very ugly older woman but then realized was a man walked right up to me and grabbed my upper arms really hard. He shook me and was saying something that I didn't understand. It plumb scared me to death, especially since his grip was so hard. I pulled back, and he let go, so I turned and started to walk away. He grabbed one of my arms as I turned, and he gripped me pretty hard again. I was really concerned about doing some terrible faux pas, but I was also pissed, so I hit him. Not in the face or anything. Just hit hard with the heel of my hand on his wrist/forearm that was gripping me to break his hold. It did break his hold, and I think it startled him. I said, "Illa!" ("no" in Kannada) b/c that was the only local word I knew that seemed appropriate. And then I continued to walk on to the flower shop, bought my flowers, and headed back. I told a gal at work what had happened and asked if what I'd done was a big problem. She said absolutely not. Apparently, these guys who dress as women will physically harass people (without causing real harm, no beatings or anything, just shaking or gripping or patting) and ask for money. She said cross to the other side of the street and avoid if possible, and if it's not possible to avoid them, smack or push them away if necessary. Whew. What an adventure.

I had a nice weekend this week. Since I had some interviews on Saturday and some phone interviews in the middle of the night with people in the U.S., I took Friday off and treated it like a Saturday. It was so much fun. I threw caution to the wind and decided to go to three different parts of the city to visit particular restaurant and shops that I'd wanted to see. It was so fun. I went to Ulsoor Lake, which is beautiful and green with a nice walking path. By Ulsoor Lake is this restaurant called Rogue Elephant, which serves really delicious non-Indian food. I had hummus and fresh pita bread and a salad of fresh figs and panacotta with a balsamic reduction over wild greens. Amazing. And the restaurant is just 5 or 6 little plastic tables outside behind a plant shop; you'd never know it was there unless you knew to seek it out. (I read about it in a book.) I also went to a store called FabIndia, which is a chain with shops in several areas of the city. I went all the way to Koramangala, a neighborhood quite far from where I stay (an area of the city called Sadashivanagar), b/c the FabIndia in Koramangala is supposed to be one of the largest and have one of the best selections. It was really great. I just stayed for hours looking at every little thing. It reminded me a little of Pottery Barn with a clothing section. It had great housewares, linens, decorative items, a line of body products, clothes and some shoes, all made in India. Some things were about as cheap as you'd find anywhere else around here, and some seemed priced quite high. But the shop itself was very Western in that prices were marked; all was lit with electric lights, goods were laid out with decorative displays and stacked on labeled shelves; employees would help if you asked them, but there was none of the hard sell approach that is common here. I bought myself a leather tote bag that is really sturdy and would work great as an overnight bag or bag for a day out at a festival or something. It could easily hold a laptop, a purse, and a sweater; a change of clothes and a sponge bag; or good-sized picnic for several people. Hopefully, those examples give an idea of the size. Mom, Heidi, Hilary, Judy, Dad: If this sounds like something you might want as a gift, let me know! I'd planned to do my gift shopping with Heidi in Goa, but if all goes to heck and I don't get to go to Goa, then I'll be making a gift run to FabIndia. I'll let you know about the trip status, and you be thinking about a bag. If not a bag, then maybe a nice cotton shirt or scarf... Those are plentiful and nice. If Goa pans out, then we'll have more options, like handicrafts and jewelry. Yay!

Today I went to church, and it was good. Afterwards I came home and finally did some cooking. (I was so proud to light the gas burner with the clicker thing without catastrophe. Whew.) By "some cooking," I just mean that I fried a couple of eggs, but, hey, that counts, right? I ate so much on Friday that I'm still a little off my feed. Food doesn't sound great but my tummy is empty, so eggs were easy. And they were surprisingly delicious. I'm finding that I have some sort of standby travel foods that I associate now with being out of the U.S. and fending for myself, foodwise. Eggs, hot tea with sugar(!), cut up tomatoes and cucumbers. These are my quick and easy comfort foods.

After brunch, I walked to Sankey Tank, which is probably a manmade lake. It seems about the size of Greenlake to me, but I'm not too good with measurement estimates, so take that with a grain of salt. Anyway, there is a nice path around the lake, and it forms an almost-closed C shape b/c there is a small area along the lake edge that is inaccessible. This is fortuitious for those of us seeking exercise, since it forces you to walk almost a double loop: walk to one end of the C and turn around and keep going to the other end of the C and walk back to where you started. If it were a closed loop, I'd almost certainly just do one loop and be done with it. Anyway, it's picturesque and was almost deserted, so I had a nice walk/jog. The lake is enclosed by a fence and is set down lower than the street areas on the other side of the fence. I couldn't seem to find where to enter but saw an opening in the fence that I thought I could probably squeeze through. I was undecided til I saw a group of little boys squeeze through. Then I thought, "What the heck" and scooted through myself. It drew a few looks from people walking along the street nearby, but no one said anything. That is one of the nice things about being a foreigner: people expect you to be a little odd, so it seems to confer a little more freedom in acceptable behavior. Anyway, while I was walking/jogging, it was pleasant and peaceful. There as almost no one around, though sometimes people walking up on the street level on the other side of the fence would look down and see me panting along. One little boy yelled, "Hello, madam! I love you!" Cheeky thing; I thought that was adorable but just kept jogging (wheezing) and waved.

Well, those were the highlights of my week. Love and miss you guys! I'll post some photos next time; I know that's what most of you prefer. :-)