In case you haven't heard, there have been a series of terrorist attacks in India during the last week.
In Bangalore, 9 bombs went off throughout the city within minutes of each other during the busy Friday lunch rush. The devices were set on timers and despite their low-intensity, 2 people were killed and 12 others were injured. Besides a jammed cellphone network, I was more or less unaffected by the blasts, although two of them did go off in my neighborhood. On Saturday, a live bomb was diffused in a mall that Joey and I walk through (or next to) everyday, which is a little unsettling.
In Ahmedbad, a city about 929 miles from Bangalore, 17 more bombs were detonated on Saturday. This attack was far worse with 46 people accounted dead so far and 161 people injured. A little-known group called the "Indian Mujahideen" has claimed responsibility for this second attack. They also claimed to have carried out the attack in the western city of Jaipur in May where 63 people were killed.
I was a little nervous while all this was taking place, and I half-expected every vehicle that passed me to explode. People have returned to life as usual though, so I guess I might as well too. My friend, Aj Mal, from Afghanistan has told me, "Small bombs, small bombs, no problem", so I'm doing my best to take solice in that.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Old Storm Cloud
After some thought, I decided that this update should stay off the Internet until I've secured my grades for this semester. I'm sending it to everyone on the mailing list, though. If you're not on the list and you want a copy, let me know.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Adventures at the Arabian Sea
We're traveling fiends. Last week we made a visit to the west coast village of Murudeshwara. It's 282 miles from Bangalore, and takes about 8 hours by bus. "Murudeshwara" is another name for the Hindu god Shiva, and the town is famous for its 123 foot tall statue of him. It's pretty intimidating.
The highlight of the trip was definitely the Arabian Sea. It's monsoon season, so during our swims and walks along the beach, the weather would abruptly shift from warm and sunny to violently windy with torrential rain. Torrential, I'm telling you--it felt like being pelted with icicles. In a moments time, the weather was gorgeous again, though, so we didn't mind too much. The beach was littered with interesting things. Litter, for one, but also fisherman, whale bones, enormous puffer fish, and dead dolphins. It was awesome.
The trip home was quite an adventure in itself. There were a shortage of seats, so our group had to divide between two sleeper coaches. The buses are specially designed to distribute the impact of each and every hole in the road across the two upper cots in the back of the bus (where Joey and I were sleeping). You could have told me the bus was rolling down a hill, and I would have believed you.
Things were worse on the other bus, though. One girl was awakened in the night to the sound of someone... well, he was pooping. She wasn't certain at first, but when the stench of diarrhea began to burn her nostrils, it was pretty well settled. She then saw him wrap his treat up in some newspaper and throw it out the window. When he got down from his cot a while later, he had large brown stains running down the back of his pants.
Simply hilarious.
The highlight of the trip was definitely the Arabian Sea. It's monsoon season, so during our swims and walks along the beach, the weather would abruptly shift from warm and sunny to violently windy with torrential rain. Torrential, I'm telling you--it felt like being pelted with icicles. In a moments time, the weather was gorgeous again, though, so we didn't mind too much. The beach was littered with interesting things. Litter, for one, but also fisherman, whale bones, enormous puffer fish, and dead dolphins. It was awesome.
The trip home was quite an adventure in itself. There were a shortage of seats, so our group had to divide between two sleeper coaches. The buses are specially designed to distribute the impact of each and every hole in the road across the two upper cots in the back of the bus (where Joey and I were sleeping). You could have told me the bus was rolling down a hill, and I would have believed you.
Things were worse on the other bus, though. One girl was awakened in the night to the sound of someone... well, he was pooping. She wasn't certain at first, but when the stench of diarrhea began to burn her nostrils, it was pretty well settled. She then saw him wrap his treat up in some newspaper and throw it out the window. When he got down from his cot a while later, he had large brown stains running down the back of his pants.
Simply hilarious.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The Cat of Nine Tails
I received my first dose of chastisement during school yesterday (that’s right, on Saturday—we have school on Saturday). It was the end of my Health Economics class, and everyone was packing up their things and talking amongst themselves. I was putting things into my backpack and whistling to myself, when I hear my professor start hissing at me. I look over at him and he motions for me to come over to him. “Why are you whistling?” he asks me angrily. I’m stunned, of course, but my background in national television interviewing has taught me to think on my feet. “Uh, I’m very sorry, Sir. It will never happen again.” I stammer. “Whistling is not allowed!” he confirms, “Now return to your seat!”
I passed him in the hall later that day, and was again summoned with a barrage of sharp hisses. When I turned around, he gave a couple snaps of his finger to indicate the pressing nature of his beckon. I let out a long sigh secretly in my head and marched over to him. The conversation went as follows:
Professor: What do you have to say for yourself?
Me: I’m very sorry, Sir (assuming he was referring to that morning’s incident).
Professor: What you have done in the class is a serious offense! Whistling will not be tolerated!
Me: Yes, Sir. It will never happen again.
Professor: Did you think this would be tolerated?
Me: Well, Sir, actually I was not aware of that rule, but I know now, Sir, and it will never happen again.
Professor: You must be aware in the classroom!
Me: Yes, Sir.
At this point, he grunted loudly for good measure and walked away. When I told my Indian friends, they laughed at me, but confirmed that whistling doesn’t violate some cultural law of India. I’m assuming he just hates children.
While I certainly plan on watching my step in the future, the whole ordeal was absolutely hilarious and definitely worth the beating.
I passed him in the hall later that day, and was again summoned with a barrage of sharp hisses. When I turned around, he gave a couple snaps of his finger to indicate the pressing nature of his beckon. I let out a long sigh secretly in my head and marched over to him. The conversation went as follows:
Professor: What do you have to say for yourself?
Me: I’m very sorry, Sir (assuming he was referring to that morning’s incident).
Professor: What you have done in the class is a serious offense! Whistling will not be tolerated!
Me: Yes, Sir. It will never happen again.
Professor: Did you think this would be tolerated?
Me: Well, Sir, actually I was not aware of that rule, but I know now, Sir, and it will never happen again.
Professor: You must be aware in the classroom!
Me: Yes, Sir.
At this point, he grunted loudly for good measure and walked away. When I told my Indian friends, they laughed at me, but confirmed that whistling doesn’t violate some cultural law of India. I’m assuming he just hates children.
While I certainly plan on watching my step in the future, the whole ordeal was absolutely hilarious and definitely worth the beating.
In the Midst of the Action
We had school off a couple days ago and took the opportunity to visit the city of Mysore (about 91 miles Southwest of Bangalore). Among other things, we visited the gorgeous Mysore Palace—previously the official residence of the former royal family of Mysore. The palace is quite unique in that it can be illuminated at night in a variety of ways: with spot lights, as seen here, or with over 10,000 actual bulbs lining the walls, as seen here. Other palace novelties include courtyard tours on a beast of your choice. For $2.50, I rode the elephant.
Our fun was far from over, however. After a decision by the government of Kashmir to award a section of protected forest land to a group of Hindu pilgrims, a week of violent protests by Muslim activists ensued throughout the state. The decision was rescinded, which then caused the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to call for a nationwide strike to put pressure on the state government. The violence was much more contained down here in southern India, but we still saw evidence of the protests. We were in the middle of enjoying a delicious lunch on the way to Mysore when suddenly this crowd of BJP members swarmed the restaurant and forced the owner to shut down. Fortunately our adviser from the college was traveling with us and knew what was happening. The second he saw them coming he said, "Children! Finish eating right now, we go!"
When we got into Mysore, our van had to make a U turn because government buses were being attacked by drunk protesters throwing rocks on the road ahead. We took another street. When we finally reached the hotel, we arrived to find that it had already been closed. The van drove around to the back though, and we entered through the back door of an attached restaurant. I never really felt like I was in danger, but we were instructed to only use the stairs because the elevator could be seen from the street. It was pretty exciting, to say the least.
Anyway, I'm safe and sound, so don't worry.
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