42 Degrees

Celsius that is. For those who think in Fahrenheit, that converts to 107.6 degrees. The humidity, recorded at 16%, barely even registers but everyone predicts when the humidity will arrive. I acknowledge that Delhi is warm, but I had no idea it was that hot! And it really surprises me that I'm not melting at 42 Celsius after my prior week spent in cold, cloudy, 4 Celsius Dublin, Ireland. Ah, well. I'm heading north soon; hopefully for white water rafting on the Ganges (near the source where it's clean and COLD).

Dublin Days

A simple list of what saw over in 8 days in Dublin. Technically, I only had 3 days to sight see because I was working the other 5....so if you are familiar with Dublin, you should be impressed. This is in chronological order:

Trinity College - kids these days.....
Grafton Street - American consumerism has been imported; love Brown Thomas
St Stephen's Green - urban park with blooming tulips
Temple Bar - "cultural center" with a lot going on, including a farmers markets and...
The Stags Head - a proper Irish pub with Guinness on tap
Dun Laoghaire - shouted at a violent sea and met NorCal bakery couple at a farmers market
Glendalough, Wicklow Mountains - hiked in the mist and rain
Guinness Stock House - a freshly brewed pint high above the Dublin skyline
Malahide - sadly the castle was closed but the beach was fabulous
Grand Canal - one long walk and one short jog; convinced me that I could live in Dublin
Book of Kells - great museum exhibit; wonderful ornate pages
Dalkey - played with dogs on the beach...again, fabulous
The Mermaid Cafe - dinner date with myself

Many thanks to Tim for showing me around; both on foot as well as in his new Audi A3. My parting wish is that whenever I return to Dublin, I will swim in the Irish Sea with his father.

Soul Cleansing

Clean air, cloudy sky, blowing fog and biting cold temperature could not have been more welcome after three months in India. My Irish Sunday - latte in hand, a coastal farmers market, a hike in the hills and a quiet dinner of tomato soup with whole wheat toast – absolute heaven.

Tuesday Morning

To my delight, the brand spanking new airport in Hyderabad has a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf Café open at 5.30am. This morning I ordered a non-fat latte with a beaming smile on my face and enjoyed each sip immensely. As much as I love my morning cup of chai, I like lattes better and I’ll be dreaming of Martha Bros for a couple of nights.

When I got back to Gurgaon I saw monkeys at the toll plaza. I’ve read stories about unruly packs of monkeys in Delhi but have only seen a few around the city and none, prior to today, in Gurgaon (there was one adorable pet monkey in Agra…it was straddled, arms clasped around its owner's waist on a motorbike….).

All this happened before 9am. Let’s just say it’s been an active Tuesday morning and today, April 15th, marks my three month anniversary of living in India. The time has flown and it has already been a life changing experience.

PS I have approx 10 postings pent up to describe my trip around India with ME and my plan is to put them up in chronological order so if you want to read about that trip, you’ll have to dig into the archives at a later point in time.

Elephant Walla

I had to pinch myself last Wednesday night as I placed a call to an elephant walla (this translates to elephant guy) to arrange an elephant ride in Delhi for the seven expats/visitors who were going to be in town on Sunday.

The experience ranked high on the bizarre scale as I rode atop an elephant that mingled with traffic on a side street in Delhi. However, when it was over, my feelings about the morning were mixed. It may sound strange but I could not connect with the animal (as a reference point, I now connect with cows and dogs on the street, sometimes within a single look) and spent a fair amount of time trying to decide if the animal was better off carting people around in Delhi but not knowing what alternatives the elephant had. I became frustrated because I couldn’t communicate with the elephant owner or even determine how old the elephant was (somewhere between 35 and 75 years old). And then there was the haggling over the price with the elephant walla and the realization that bait and switch tactics have become too common. Even as I write this post I am still not sure if the whole experience was enjoyable and bizarre or just bizarre.

I finished the day with 5 hour brunch at the Oberoi. All the lobster, sushi, salad and dessert I could eat with complementary pour of Moet. That part was enjoyable.