This cow which we saw on temple grounds was the only one in India I saw eating grass (Jemma is feeding her a flower in this picture but earlier she was grazing on the lawn.) The city ones lived on scraps like orange peels and paper. There were vendors selling freshly-made sugar cane juice and often there would be a cow on the scene eating the smashed canes.
Pleasant as they are, the cows are not pets: They give milk and dairy is a big part of Indian cuisine.
I was slow and achy--situation normal, but it was daunting just getting out the door. It takes remarkably little time to get soft both physically and mentally, but especially mentally.
In all, it went fine: I was a bit slow but ran a good distance and am hoping that the injuries of early November are now behind me for good. Whether they are or not is pretty much moot though since Boston is in April and I really don't have time to wait for injuries to heal. Update: Sunday 8:36.46 per mile 7.9mi
Monday 8:43.08 per mile 5.2mi
Tuesday: Between meetings at work and voting for Scott Brown, no time to run.
Wednesday 8:20 per mile 6.48mi
Thursday 8:16.15 per mile 5.2mi (wiped-out on black ice right at the end)
Friday 8:04.62 per mile 5.2mi
The trend was toward increasing, if still slow, speed. Also, my hip was hurting so badly that I very nearly gave up on the Friday run within the first couple of steps.
One should keep in mind though that the authorities require all visitors to remove their shoes before entering.
2. Check bags with the airline.
3. Show passports and give forms at customs.
4. Pass through security check, bags x-rayed and body groped.
Now for the stupid stuff:
5. An extra x-ray and pat-down courtesy of rent-a-cops at the Continental gate. This was especially slow since there was only one x-ray machine and was so sloppily done that it added not one iota of benefit. It did however, prevent any passengers from unloading leftover rupees in the extensive gift, duty-free and restaurants available in the terminal.
6. Submission of boarding passes at the gate with additional check of passports by armed guard.
7. An additional check of boarding passes and passports by a Continental agent in the jetway.
We were in one line or another for the 3 hours between arrival at the airport and actually getting onto the plane.
Yes, I know it has beautiful carvings and inlayed decorations. The view? Fantastic! Good breeze way up here and I can even see the Taj Mahal shimmering there on the other side of the river. It is the railing. No, the geometric designs are great and the marble is of the highest quality. It is the quantity I take issue with--they are only just high enough for me to trip over, which means that when I plummit into the moat, I will do so head-first rather than feet first.
Please see what you can do about this.
Yes, I know it has beautiful carvings and inlayed decorations. The view? Fantastic! Good breeze way up here
The beach in Kapu is like the one we go to on Plum Island, except:
No sand flies.
No crowds.
The water is warm.
There are palm trees.
The place had one major flaw which will be in an upcoming update--if I can get Internet service--harder here than I expected it to be.
We Stayed at a classic Indian country house which was retrofitted with modern things like electric lights and running water. The place had only 4 rooms but we were the only guests. The center of the house was an open grassy area about 30 feet square and all around was an elevated veranda about 15 feet deep and covered. In essence, the place was a museum that you get to stay at. The residence itself was surrounded by a couple acres of garden with chickens, ducks and geese wandering around. The beach could be reached via a 5 minute walk down a sandy path.
So far so good--what is the big problem? The first morning at 5:00 AM and continuing for 2 hours there was broadcast some cheesy song over what have to be the lowest possible quality and tinniest loudspeakers in existence. The next night it was done by 5:00 AM, having started around 3:30 AM. We came to find out that there is some obnoxious cult nearby that all the neighbors hate, but can't do anything about. I suggested that in the USA, if the police refused to help then the cult compound would find it self vandalized until its leaders saw reason.
Here is the whole thing for scale.
Notice the shiny marble of the platform at the base of the monument. It is wonderful to walk on barefooted. They make you take your shoes off, so I figured that I would take my socks off too.
20 minutes on the treadmill at the Lalit in New Delhi. The roads surrounding this place were filled with traffic and the verges were filled with stuff (people, vendors, rubble, piles of building materials etc) Plus the air in Delhi was thick with smoke--not the kind you might think, auto pollution, but rather wood smoke. At first this was a mystery but then I paid attention and noticed that rubbish and wood fires were pretty common. The pollution was so bad that even in-doors, one could see it in large rooms and smell it everywhere. I figured that the air would be at least better inside and it wasn't practical to run out of doors either way. The health club had a treadmill so I figured I would give it a try.
It was awful! I hated that I was a slave to the machine--a half-second of running at the wrong pace and you are thrown off the back or hitting the front of it. I could stand only 20 minutes. Afterwards, it felt as if I had just smoked a whole pack of cigarettes.
The next run was in Agra. It was still polluted, but not quite as bad as Delhi. The streets were just as bad, or maybe not quite so bad, but pretty bad and the hotel sat in a multi-acre compound. I ran 6 laps through the compound in 40 lame minutes. The only thing of intrest were the shotgun toting guards walking their posts.
The last was on the beach in Goa. I ran up the beach for half an hour and then ran back for half an hour.
Our guides insisted that this was fog, but my nose said it was some kind of wood or paper burning smell--kind of like what hangs over a campground in the Summer.
It was weaker inside of the hotel and weaker yet inside of our rooms, but never absent. Large metro areas often have air pollution, but the ones I've been too mostly featured the hydrocarbon varieties--diesel soot, gasoline exhaust--that sort of thing. Manhattan was a little of an exception, what with the street vendors cooking out of carts, but this was far stronger.
As we traveled about the city, I saw that people would routinely gather sticks or trash and burn it. It has been cold here, so it may be for warmth, but my in-laws say it always smells like that, so possibly it is just to get rid of refuse.
There are some benefits though: Light rays!
Hot places seem to be made mostly of masonry while cooler places use wood. I'm not sure of what the reasons are for this; I presume it is some combination of material availability as well as suitability to the climate. Heavy stone, concrete or brick structures are hard to keep warm in Winter but they are great for staying cool in hot weather. Also, in the US South West, the Medereranian and the Middle East there is not so much forrest, so it all kind of makes sense.
So, I have been in a place where nothing looks familiar, since I have always lived in Northern climes. It is a lot like being around an "announcer". This is a term I just made-up since I don't know if there is an actual name for this personality. What it is is a person that makes declarative statements all the time: It can be very draining in either of the two flavors. Flavor one, they stay things which are true and obvious--the implication being that you are an idiot for not already knowing each fact which is pointed to. The other flavor is worse, they make declarations which are risible, false or wrong-headed. You are left implicitly agreeing to their nonsense if you stay silent, or stuck arguing with an idiot if you don't stay silent. The constant revisitation of (sound) assumptions leaves one tired and wrung-out.
It is sort of similar when you are in a forign place. Nothing looks familiar and so the assumptions about what you will see, hear and smell are not met and you get that same feeling of unease.
Also, when masonry is not properly maintained--it really shows.
Properly maintained:
Not properly maintained.
In normal household, bulbs are forced for the holidays. In Pecchia house, bulbs force you.
I had these in a paper bag in the basement and planned to plant them next Summer, but they decided to sprout anyway. If they bloom I will post.
Later finally came and I made the desk top: As has become routine with Ikea, there were missing parts--one of the two T-legs was nowhere to be found. I kept all of the boxes in one spot so there is no chance it was misplaced. I checked the receipt and we did indeed pay for two legs. The only conclusion I can come to is that they didn't give us all of our boxes.
I was tempted to drive all the way down to Stoughton today and get the part, but it is an hour each way and another task awaited me right after noon and this would wipe out the first half of the day. Eh, we will order it after the new year and just say "no" to an hour (each way) to get the part.
Instead of the big drive I...
The lag-bolts are hidden under the flanges of the coat hooks and counter-sunk because the hooks are solid metal in the back.
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