Location: Commercial Street
Total: approximately 7,500 rupees
12 large blue bangles: 20 Rs
-These are a gift for someone, and the last of the gift bangles I had to shop for. It's almost kind of sad that my shopping list is getting shorter and shorter as it signifies the end to come.
blue embroidered skirt: 950 Rs
-There was this exhibition of some sort at an outlet-type place and although the skirt is a bit long for my tastes, I couldn't pass it up since I hadn't bought any skirts in India yet. It's a cotton skirt with a printed leaf pattern and hand-embroidered sequins. There's also some gold sequins on the hem of the skirt, which makes it hard to decide if I should hem it to make it a more flattering length as I'd probably have to lose the sequined border. : /
dark blue, silk top: 660 Rs
-For the price, it was a sweet deal, considering the top is pure silk. It also doesn't hurt that it's a fabulously rich shade of blue with a subtle floral pattern all over it. The neckline is wide with a silver border, which is pretty nice, too. I almost didn't buy this top since I wanted it more fitted at the waist but gave in when I thought of later adding ties to the sides of the top so it can be tied back. I was also wary of buying a silk top since it means you can't just throw it in the wash, but the idealistic side of me figured I might need to dress up for something so I should have it on hand to wear with some skinny jeans and heels.
2 churidars (gifts), 1 salwar-kameez, 2 embroidered tops: app. 4,200 Rs
-I don't feel too badly about the price tag, considering I got a lot of bang for my buck (or, in this case, rupee) and 2 of the outfits were gifts, anyway. These items almost don't count since I bought them earlier, but today I picked them up since I had my own items altered. I was wary of having such baggy pants as they might make me look shorter and fatter, but they actually look okay. The top is an iridescent purple-green with a really nicely embroidered neckline (and I'm quite picky about embroidery and patterns), a matching green and purple chiffon-ish dupatta and green salwaar pants. One of the tops I bought is a nice yellow and the other is a blue top with polka dots on it. I actually saw the blue top the first time I shopped at Commercial Street nearly 2 months ago and at first, I decided against buying it. When I did change my mind, someone else was already looking at it! I considered it gone so it was amazing to be reunited with it the last time I went to that store.
5 magazines (Seventeen India, Marie Claire India, People India, Cine Blitz, Film Fare): 225 Rs
-I've been wanting to buy an issue of Seventeen India every since I realized there was an Indian edition of Seventeen and as for the other magazines, I'd bought them before and the new issues were already out. I'm trying to savor these and consider them my last dosage of Indian magazines unless I see some new ones at the airport on the way back to the US.
blue, pashmina/silk wrap: 1,500 Rs
-There's a cool, handy Indian crafts emporium on M.G. Road called Cauvery that sells all sorts of things from carved wooden items, brass items, shawls, silver jewelry, saris, bags, silk ties and even some tops and the products' quality is supervised by the government so it's more reliable than buying some of these things from other stores. Anyway, when Swathi told me there's a craftier version of Cauvery featuring northern items, especially pashmina shawls, I wanted to check it out and we actually found one on Commercial Street. I almost splurged and bought a second shawl that was a bright shade of purple, but fate intervened and all the purple ones in stock had a defect in the way they were dyed! So, I made myself content with just buying one royal blue wrap which will actually go well with my silk top.
I wish I had done a tally for all of my shopping outings, but it's a bit late to back track now since I probably can't remember which items went with which outing. Later though, I would like to do a post with a grand total tally though, complete with pictures and descriptions of EVERYTHING I bought and a grand tally of how much I spent (but perhaps not necessarily with the price of every item!).
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
falling off the foreigner radar... well, for a wee bit.
Once my churidars finally arrived from the dressmaker, I finally gave in and started wearing full Indian outfits on my own accord. You see, on this whole trip, I've only worn a salwar-kameez (tunic-type top, dupatta [shawl] and baggy pants) or churidar (same kind of top and dupatta, but with fitted pants) when Swathi does, since I felt that walking around in Indian dress while Swathi wore Western clothes would make me look like a foreigner that was trying too hard, or something. Plus, I couldn't figure out if wearing a churidar or salwar-kameez would just make me stick out more than I already do- people here stare at me or do a double take on a daily basis and I don't know if it's because I just look different or because my foreign-ness is practically written on my forehead. I wasn't sure if I'd blend in a bit better by wearing a churidar or it would just bring more attention to the fact that I'm not Indian.
Swathi doesn't wear her salwar-kameez(es?) very much though, so I figured that with 2 weeks left in India, I should just wear the Indian clothes I bought since I've been so excited about them and there would be fewer opportunities to get some wear out of them in the US, anyway. The day after my churidars finally arrived, I wore one of them and packed another for the trip to Mysore. I ended up wearing those two a lot more than I expected since the rain and mud more than dirtied the only other pair of pants that I brought, leaving only my churi pants to wear.
I felt kind of awkward the first day I wore my churidar since I wasn't used to constantly adjusting the dupatta on my small, sloping shoulders or it would get caught on something since I had yet to learn to keep tabs on it. I also felt a little self-conscious just because some people noted my change in attire, but other than that, I felt regal with a dupatta resting on my shoulders in the moments it was behaving itself.
We saw and did some cool things on our trip to the Nagarahole National Park and Mysore, but one of the highlights had to be when I actually passed for Indian, which I took as the best compliment. Back in New Zealand, an Indian someone raised my hopes when he said that I could probably pass for Tibetan, Nepalese or Northeastern due to my features and complexion and therefore, perhaps be able to blend in a bit. I've always wanted to achieve blending in and shedding my foreign-ness somewhere as it would seem to be a good indication of my immersion in another culture, so it was kind of disappointing when nearly everyone I'd met asked me if, or assumed that I was from China. I wasn't expecting anything different when we went out to see a palace in Mysore and I thought I'd be pushing my luck if we tried to buy a regular 20 rupee admission ticket for myself instead of the 100 rupee ticket for non-Indians. We decided to play it safe since if a palace employee tried to talk to me in Kannada I'd surely be outed. When we went in to redeem the tickets, the admissions person looked a bit confused and spoke in Kannada to one of my hosts. He pointed to me and moments later, Swathi explained that the ticket taker was initially confused as to who the foreign admission was for! I thought that even though I was wearing a churidar and I had a red powder bindi on my forehead from the day's earlier visit to a Hindu temple, I probably still looked like a foreigner. I admit, it probably helped that I was traveling with a group of Indian people, but nonetheless, I was quite excited that for once I flew under the radar and finally passed as Indian, even at least for a moment.
Swathi doesn't wear her salwar-kameez(es?) very much though, so I figured that with 2 weeks left in India, I should just wear the Indian clothes I bought since I've been so excited about them and there would be fewer opportunities to get some wear out of them in the US, anyway. The day after my churidars finally arrived, I wore one of them and packed another for the trip to Mysore. I ended up wearing those two a lot more than I expected since the rain and mud more than dirtied the only other pair of pants that I brought, leaving only my churi pants to wear.
I felt kind of awkward the first day I wore my churidar since I wasn't used to constantly adjusting the dupatta on my small, sloping shoulders or it would get caught on something since I had yet to learn to keep tabs on it. I also felt a little self-conscious just because some people noted my change in attire, but other than that, I felt regal with a dupatta resting on my shoulders in the moments it was behaving itself.
We saw and did some cool things on our trip to the Nagarahole National Park and Mysore, but one of the highlights had to be when I actually passed for Indian, which I took as the best compliment. Back in New Zealand, an Indian someone raised my hopes when he said that I could probably pass for Tibetan, Nepalese or Northeastern due to my features and complexion and therefore, perhaps be able to blend in a bit. I've always wanted to achieve blending in and shedding my foreign-ness somewhere as it would seem to be a good indication of my immersion in another culture, so it was kind of disappointing when nearly everyone I'd met asked me if, or assumed that I was from China. I wasn't expecting anything different when we went out to see a palace in Mysore and I thought I'd be pushing my luck if we tried to buy a regular 20 rupee admission ticket for myself instead of the 100 rupee ticket for non-Indians. We decided to play it safe since if a palace employee tried to talk to me in Kannada I'd surely be outed. When we went in to redeem the tickets, the admissions person looked a bit confused and spoke in Kannada to one of my hosts. He pointed to me and moments later, Swathi explained that the ticket taker was initially confused as to who the foreign admission was for! I thought that even though I was wearing a churidar and I had a red powder bindi on my forehead from the day's earlier visit to a Hindu temple, I probably still looked like a foreigner. I admit, it probably helped that I was traveling with a group of Indian people, but nonetheless, I was quite excited that for once I flew under the radar and finally passed as Indian, even at least for a moment.
1 week and (reluctantly) counting
Swathi and I have been counting down the days and it’s been a bit scary now that the number of our days left here has reached single-digit status. I’ll admit that with the departure date approaching closer and closer, I’ve been allowing myself to think more about all the things I want to do when I get back and I’m a bit excited but for the most part, I’m still apprehensive about coming back. I’ve become accustomed to being here so not only will I miss India when I’m back in the US, but being back might take some getting used to.
Perhaps it was strange of me to have dreamt of one day suffering from the second-hand culture shock one experiences when he/she comes back to his/her native country after having spent a long period of time overseas, but when I’d read articles written by people who went through it, I wished it was me. I wanted to be someone who had spent so much time in another country and been so acclimated to the culture and environment that when it became home and when I’d come back, home might not exactly be home. Now that it might actually happen, it’s cool that it would mean that I was immersed deeply enough in another culture, yet at the same time, it might not be as fun and as glamorous as I cracked it up to be in my daydreams. I imagine it might be like how you might think missing 2 weeks of school from being sick sounds like fun, but when it does happen, it’s actually not as fun as you thought it would be. Over the weekend my hosts and I spent a lot of time on the road and being able to spend so much time taking in the everyday Indian sights from my window just made me think about how I would miss it all. When I think about all the things I loved here, I get frustrated that I won’t get to enjoy them when I get back, like Indianized Chinese food, Bollywood’s omnipresence, the old, dirty, city streets and how I haven’t seen the same sari or salwar-kameez out in public.
Aside from the second-hand culture shock though, I also always wanted to able to stay in a country long enough for the culture to ingrain itself in me and my identity and I’m pretty sure I’ve achieved that. I really hoped this trip would test me, challenge me and change me for the better somehow and although I can’t really say if I’ve become a completely different person until I actually come back, I know my tastes have changed a bit. I hope I can get some paneer butter masala and roti, some gobi manchuri and chapattis or some chicken biriyani somewhere instead of my usual Thai or Chinese take out or be able to find some Indian magazines at an Indian grocery store so I won’t be completely cut off from what’s going on in Bollywood. Hopefully I’ll come back a more patient, mature cultured and aware person, though.
Ugh, Swathi just mentioned that a week from now, we’ll be at the airport! I can’t believe everything is finally coming to an end. Now some of our visits to Swathi’s relatives have been our last so we’ve been saying our final good-byes. As I’ve found more and more of the things I’ve been looking for, my shopping list has shortened considerably. Sometimes I wonder if subconsciously, I’ve been adding to my to-do list as an attempt for things to somehow never end. I finished the case studies for my volunteer work so a lot of my days have been about hanging out and killing time. In a feeble attempt to avoid paying an overweight penalty for my baggage, I’ve tried to be more generous in using my lotions, shampoo and the like so I can throw some things away when I leave or at least leave some space and weight for all the things I’ve bought. Halfway through the trip I thought to myself that I wouldn’t need to look for another suitcase and do a mock pack-up to make sure that everything would fit for a while but now the time has come to do just that! My room is now strewn with waffle makers, saris, bangles, bags, other souvenirs and magazines to the point that I’ve had to make piles in the middle of the room because the space between my bed and the wall could no longer hold my shopping stash which just sort of reflects all the history of what’s already happened and signals the inevitable end to my trip.
Perhaps it was strange of me to have dreamt of one day suffering from the second-hand culture shock one experiences when he/she comes back to his/her native country after having spent a long period of time overseas, but when I’d read articles written by people who went through it, I wished it was me. I wanted to be someone who had spent so much time in another country and been so acclimated to the culture and environment that when it became home and when I’d come back, home might not exactly be home. Now that it might actually happen, it’s cool that it would mean that I was immersed deeply enough in another culture, yet at the same time, it might not be as fun and as glamorous as I cracked it up to be in my daydreams. I imagine it might be like how you might think missing 2 weeks of school from being sick sounds like fun, but when it does happen, it’s actually not as fun as you thought it would be. Over the weekend my hosts and I spent a lot of time on the road and being able to spend so much time taking in the everyday Indian sights from my window just made me think about how I would miss it all. When I think about all the things I loved here, I get frustrated that I won’t get to enjoy them when I get back, like Indianized Chinese food, Bollywood’s omnipresence, the old, dirty, city streets and how I haven’t seen the same sari or salwar-kameez out in public.
Aside from the second-hand culture shock though, I also always wanted to able to stay in a country long enough for the culture to ingrain itself in me and my identity and I’m pretty sure I’ve achieved that. I really hoped this trip would test me, challenge me and change me for the better somehow and although I can’t really say if I’ve become a completely different person until I actually come back, I know my tastes have changed a bit. I hope I can get some paneer butter masala and roti, some gobi manchuri and chapattis or some chicken biriyani somewhere instead of my usual Thai or Chinese take out or be able to find some Indian magazines at an Indian grocery store so I won’t be completely cut off from what’s going on in Bollywood. Hopefully I’ll come back a more patient, mature cultured and aware person, though.
Ugh, Swathi just mentioned that a week from now, we’ll be at the airport! I can’t believe everything is finally coming to an end. Now some of our visits to Swathi’s relatives have been our last so we’ve been saying our final good-byes. As I’ve found more and more of the things I’ve been looking for, my shopping list has shortened considerably. Sometimes I wonder if subconsciously, I’ve been adding to my to-do list as an attempt for things to somehow never end. I finished the case studies for my volunteer work so a lot of my days have been about hanging out and killing time. In a feeble attempt to avoid paying an overweight penalty for my baggage, I’ve tried to be more generous in using my lotions, shampoo and the like so I can throw some things away when I leave or at least leave some space and weight for all the things I’ve bought. Halfway through the trip I thought to myself that I wouldn’t need to look for another suitcase and do a mock pack-up to make sure that everything would fit for a while but now the time has come to do just that! My room is now strewn with waffle makers, saris, bangles, bags, other souvenirs and magazines to the point that I’ve had to make piles in the middle of the room because the space between my bed and the wall could no longer hold my shopping stash which just sort of reflects all the history of what’s already happened and signals the inevitable end to my trip.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Leave it to Erica to blog about bombs and chocolate in one post.
I haven't followed the news closely so I didn't know all the facts, but today there were some bombings in the city. They happened sometime in the afternoon and I didn't become aware of them until one of my hosts was talking to a waiter at the restaurant at which we were having lunch. We had been putting off going to Commercial Street for shopping all week until now, but the bombings and the rainy weather forced us to cut our day a bit short. Throughout the day, some other bombings happened as well so Swathi got a bit nervous since we didn't know when the bombings would stop or who was doing them and why. We wanted to avoid the rainy weather by going to a mall to shop, but the malls were closed on account of the bombings and the movie theaters were, too. I got all my news on the bombings from wikipedia when I got home since I couldn't understand the Kannada updates on the radio. If you look at the map on wikipedia I'm staying very close to Malleshwaram.
Swathi kept saying that the gloomy, rainy weather made things seem especially ominous today. Not only were things closed today, but the streets were a little less crowded. It could have been due to the weather too, but I'm sure the bombings also kept some people at home, too. Swathi's grandfather even called us to say that we should come home which we did, after making one last stop at a store to buy some more churidars. On the way back, the traffic was pretty clogged, especially in the main streets so we had to take some of the narrower back roads to get home. As of right now, we don't know who is responsible for the bombings. Some of us wonder if it had to do with an incident that happened a couple weeks ago where there was a riot after some people threw some pork at a mosque. That day, we were actually planning on going to Fun World but it and some of the other places were closed due to the riots. When we drove by, there were still crowds and riot police and down one of the streets, I could see that one of the buildings had some of its windows broken. There were even black blots on the streets where people had set some fires. At least tomorrow we're all leaving town for a road trip to Mysore and some forest place. I'll be back Tuesday and I'll try to blog some more, provided the wifi/electricity decides to be nice.
In lighter news, Swathi's brother ordered some chocolate cake by accident (from the name he thought he was ordering a fancy chocolate drink) so I had no choice but to help him, despite having stuffed myself with Indianised Chinese food, mushroom manchuri and the strawberry shake I'd ordered for myself:
Chocolate cake (with sprinkles and chocolate chips embedded in it), vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup and of course, an enormous dollop of whip cream- mm! I actually ate so much this afternoon that I wasn't even hungry for dinner, 4-5 hours later. Nevertheless, I forced myself to have a bit of rice, leftover chicken fried rice and a small scoop of veggies. Now I've got to pack up for tomorrow's trip since we're theoretically leaving the house at 7 am in a 14-person bus.
Swathi kept saying that the gloomy, rainy weather made things seem especially ominous today. Not only were things closed today, but the streets were a little less crowded. It could have been due to the weather too, but I'm sure the bombings also kept some people at home, too. Swathi's grandfather even called us to say that we should come home which we did, after making one last stop at a store to buy some more churidars. On the way back, the traffic was pretty clogged, especially in the main streets so we had to take some of the narrower back roads to get home. As of right now, we don't know who is responsible for the bombings. Some of us wonder if it had to do with an incident that happened a couple weeks ago where there was a riot after some people threw some pork at a mosque. That day, we were actually planning on going to Fun World but it and some of the other places were closed due to the riots. When we drove by, there were still crowds and riot police and down one of the streets, I could see that one of the buildings had some of its windows broken. There were even black blots on the streets where people had set some fires. At least tomorrow we're all leaving town for a road trip to Mysore and some forest place. I'll be back Tuesday and I'll try to blog some more, provided the wifi/electricity decides to be nice.
In lighter news, Swathi's brother ordered some chocolate cake by accident (from the name he thought he was ordering a fancy chocolate drink) so I had no choice but to help him, despite having stuffed myself with Indianised Chinese food, mushroom manchuri and the strawberry shake I'd ordered for myself:
Chocolate cake (with sprinkles and chocolate chips embedded in it), vanilla and chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup and of course, an enormous dollop of whip cream- mm! I actually ate so much this afternoon that I wasn't even hungry for dinner, 4-5 hours later. Nevertheless, I forced myself to have a bit of rice, leftover chicken fried rice and a small scoop of veggies. Now I've got to pack up for tomorrow's trip since we're theoretically leaving the house at 7 am in a 14-person bus.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
a day in the life of a... I don't know, lady of leisure?
Things are usually kind of quiet when we're spending our weekends down at the farm, but the other day was pretty cool. Well, it got off to a gross start, but after that, things got a lot better. It was kind of one of those mornings where you get up and debate if you should shower because you're still kind of decent and it's not like you're up to much that day anyway (or, am I the only person that does that?) so I just walked around outside in my pajamas. Of course, as luck, fate or whatever you want to call it would have it, I was just admiring the trees lining the dirt path when I felt something on my head. At first, I thought nothing of it and thought it was only some water when I ran my fingers through my hair. I couldn't be sure, but when I ran my fingers through my hair again there was no mistaking that a bird pooped on my head! On. My. Head. Some would say I stormed into the house, but I would call it 'walking with urgency'. I even let out a scream as I went up the stairs (with urgency) as I was just so disgusted to have bird crap entwined in my hair and on my hand. Some people thought I was mad about something when they heard me screaming and I could hear them laughing when they found out what really happened as I was about to shower. The morning's events gave me no choice but to shower after that!
After I was all nice and clean, the day improved considerably, starting with the large, wooden swing being moved outside. It's really cool to be able to swing indoors (it feels fairy tale-ish or like something in a movie), but one can't swing very far because of the furniture and the people passing behind it. That afternoon I ended up sitting on that swing for what felt like hours. I guess since everything was so peaceful time seemed to pass by so slowly that I had no idea how long I was actually on that swing. I hadn't gone out much on the farm so sitting on that swing was the perfect way for me to enjoy the peaceful outdoors and burn some calories. It almost seemed too perfect that I could watch some butterflies hovering near the flowers and things seemed so tranquil. I kept thinking about how the color palette of the surroundings couldn't help but be burned in mind- the green trees, the reddish earth and the cloudy blue sky. Having a big swing all to myself with the breeze in my hair and no agenda to worry about made me feel like such a princess. It was sort of surreal to be thinking, 'Do I keep swinging or shall I play with the puppies a bit? Perhaps I should go inside and have some tea. No, I just stay out here..' I tried to savor it all because I don't know when I'll get to have another day like that!
Every now and then, Swathi and I have tried to make something or have non-Indian food of some sort for a bit of variety. We've had some pizza (including the Chik 'n' Spicy from Pizza Hut which was quite good) and made French toast with cinnamon from the farm, wee slices of bread (the bread slices are smaller here which makes them much cuter) and big chunks of sugar sprinkled on top since we don't have any maple syrup on hand. There's also been the occasional dose of vegetable masala ramen noodles which have also been pretty good. After intervals of sitting on the swing and giving tummy rubs to the puppies, I got to mooch some fries that Swathi made. For some reason, I thought that frying French fries required batter so I was somewhat surprised to learn that one can make fries by literally just putting some chopped potatoes in hot oil. Aside from some salt (because fried stuff and salt are a great combination), we seasoned the fries with some chili powder which was the bee's knees. It wasn't too spicy; it was just right. I would've taken pictures, but the lighting at the house wasn't all that great and I was too hungry and impatient to bother whipping out my camera before eating the fries.
A huge swing, playing with puppies and french fries... doesn't that sound like a good day?
After I was all nice and clean, the day improved considerably, starting with the large, wooden swing being moved outside. It's really cool to be able to swing indoors (it feels fairy tale-ish or like something in a movie), but one can't swing very far because of the furniture and the people passing behind it. That afternoon I ended up sitting on that swing for what felt like hours. I guess since everything was so peaceful time seemed to pass by so slowly that I had no idea how long I was actually on that swing. I hadn't gone out much on the farm so sitting on that swing was the perfect way for me to enjoy the peaceful outdoors and burn some calories. It almost seemed too perfect that I could watch some butterflies hovering near the flowers and things seemed so tranquil. I kept thinking about how the color palette of the surroundings couldn't help but be burned in mind- the green trees, the reddish earth and the cloudy blue sky. Having a big swing all to myself with the breeze in my hair and no agenda to worry about made me feel like such a princess. It was sort of surreal to be thinking, 'Do I keep swinging or shall I play with the puppies a bit? Perhaps I should go inside and have some tea. No, I just stay out here..' I tried to savor it all because I don't know when I'll get to have another day like that!
Every now and then, Swathi and I have tried to make something or have non-Indian food of some sort for a bit of variety. We've had some pizza (including the Chik 'n' Spicy from Pizza Hut which was quite good) and made French toast with cinnamon from the farm, wee slices of bread (the bread slices are smaller here which makes them much cuter) and big chunks of sugar sprinkled on top since we don't have any maple syrup on hand. There's also been the occasional dose of vegetable masala ramen noodles which have also been pretty good. After intervals of sitting on the swing and giving tummy rubs to the puppies, I got to mooch some fries that Swathi made. For some reason, I thought that frying French fries required batter so I was somewhat surprised to learn that one can make fries by literally just putting some chopped potatoes in hot oil. Aside from some salt (because fried stuff and salt are a great combination), we seasoned the fries with some chili powder which was the bee's knees. It wasn't too spicy; it was just right. I would've taken pictures, but the lighting at the house wasn't all that great and I was too hungry and impatient to bother whipping out my camera before eating the fries.
A huge swing, playing with puppies and french fries... doesn't that sound like a good day?
I'm going to blog more, really!
I know, I know, it's been a heinously long time since I've last blogged, and believe me, I feel badly about not blogging all the things I've wanted to tell you guys. I even have a list going of posts I want to do and I've had a couple false starts in getting back on the wagon. If it's any excuse, the electricity in the city has been going on and off and even when the power comes back on, it doesn't necessarily mean internet access because the store that provides our wifi may not have any electricity. Today the wifi was working for a few fleeting moments and right now the signal has been decent. So, hang in there. If all goes well, I may just inundate you guys with lots posts. : )
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
New roomies/wifi= : )
I learned the hard way that one shouldn't leave his/her mosquito net down during the day:
Long story short, it was quite creepy to find a gecko in my bed and to say that I was freaking out was an understatement. Swathi can second that. : /
I also learned the hard way that there aren't just resident geckos in the farm:
These ones I don't mind so much, as long as they stay on the other side of the screen...
~
We finally have wifi over here so after about a month of not being able to use the internet on my laptop, it's like I've almost forgotten all the things I wanted to do once I had wifi. It was easy to remember that I wanted to go to iTunes though, since I wanted to see if I could find any of the Bollywood songs that I've been hearing so much of lately. When I got to the iTunes homepage and looked at the top 10 downloads, I hadn't heard of any of the songs! I looked at the top 100 as well and most of the songs are unfamiliar, which although it might sound strange, it quite excites me that I've been missing out on a lot of American pop culture and the like. I guess the wifi might change that a bit since I'll be dawdling around online more, but I've always wanted to be so far away from the US and gone for so long that when I come back, everything seems so new and foreign- the new TV shows, references to the latest celebrity gossip, the music videos, songs on the radio, etc. It's a weird desire, but I've always wanted to be left out of the loop like that. Well, I have a lot of little daydreams involving my going overseas like having multiple kinds of currency in my wallet, but that's another story. Anyway, I actually wanted escape American pop culture and its omnipresence because I got a bit tired of it and I wanted to have some fun getting into other cultures, and although it would be nearly impossible to escape American pop culture completely, at least here I've been able to get away from some of it to some degree. I'll willingly overlook the many Coke/Pepsi ads since it's been pretty fun as I'm starting to recognize the big names in Bollywood. I couldn't help but be proud of myself when I was able to recognize Krrish references in the film "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic" and on the back of a bag of KurKure chips. When I first came to India, I could only begin to recognize faces here in the commericials, ads and pictures here and there but now I don't get Aamir Khan, Saif Khan, Imran Khan and Salman Khan and I no longer refer to Abishek Bachchan as "Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan)'s husband", who by the way, I used to get mixed up with his father's name, Amitabh.
Now that there's wifi,I can upload pictures directly from my laptop (and not a flash drive) and I'll be able to sign on to AIM. This should mean more blogging, but eh, we'll see.
Long story short, it was quite creepy to find a gecko in my bed and to say that I was freaking out was an understatement. Swathi can second that. : /
I also learned the hard way that there aren't just resident geckos in the farm:
These ones I don't mind so much, as long as they stay on the other side of the screen...
~
We finally have wifi over here so after about a month of not being able to use the internet on my laptop, it's like I've almost forgotten all the things I wanted to do once I had wifi. It was easy to remember that I wanted to go to iTunes though, since I wanted to see if I could find any of the Bollywood songs that I've been hearing so much of lately. When I got to the iTunes homepage and looked at the top 10 downloads, I hadn't heard of any of the songs! I looked at the top 100 as well and most of the songs are unfamiliar, which although it might sound strange, it quite excites me that I've been missing out on a lot of American pop culture and the like. I guess the wifi might change that a bit since I'll be dawdling around online more, but I've always wanted to be so far away from the US and gone for so long that when I come back, everything seems so new and foreign- the new TV shows, references to the latest celebrity gossip, the music videos, songs on the radio, etc. It's a weird desire, but I've always wanted to be left out of the loop like that. Well, I have a lot of little daydreams involving my going overseas like having multiple kinds of currency in my wallet, but that's another story. Anyway, I actually wanted escape American pop culture and its omnipresence because I got a bit tired of it and I wanted to have some fun getting into other cultures, and although it would be nearly impossible to escape American pop culture completely, at least here I've been able to get away from some of it to some degree. I'll willingly overlook the many Coke/Pepsi ads since it's been pretty fun as I'm starting to recognize the big names in Bollywood. I couldn't help but be proud of myself when I was able to recognize Krrish references in the film "Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic" and on the back of a bag of KurKure chips. When I first came to India, I could only begin to recognize faces here in the commericials, ads and pictures here and there but now I don't get Aamir Khan, Saif Khan, Imran Khan and Salman Khan and I no longer refer to Abishek Bachchan as "Aishwarya Rai (Bachchan)'s husband", who by the way, I used to get mixed up with his father's name, Amitabh.
Now that there's wifi,I can upload pictures directly from my laptop (and not a flash drive) and I'll be able to sign on to AIM. This should mean more blogging, but eh, we'll see.
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