this past week was another difficult one. residual larium effects, a bout of delhi belly that lasted a few days (i suppose it had to happen sooner or later), and to top it all off, it was that special time of the month for me. fun times all around. i can't believe i've been sick for more than a month now. re-freaking-diculous.
i stayed home a couple of days last week because i was sick. i tried to watch TV and relax, but BBC world disappeared again... the channels here are so fickle. so, i was relegated to the same 5 random channels in hindi, plus the disney channel in hindi, which replaced BBC world. i suspect "that's so raven" would be intolerable in english, but i'm fairly sure it's worse in hindi. so any TV-watching i indulged in was limited to CNBC, which is the only channel i get in english now -- really, though, i can only watch the NASDAQ for so long. i was thinking maybe if i tried watching for a little while, i would start understanding something about finance. no such luck. apparently, i learn nothing and get really bored. so i gave up on TV and went back to reading books -- all of which seem to be depressing these days. can't someone write an uplifting novel for once?
meanwhile, i did, manage to see krrish (right before i got slammed with the delhi belly). very interesting. not near as cheesy as other hindi films, fairly well made, and pretty entertaining. impressive for india's first attempt at creating its own superhero.
and, this weekend, i mustered the energy to meet up with pete to see the qutb minar complex, and also to attend the 4th of july party at the embassy. now that was quite the party. i walked in and i felt just like i was back home. it was like a barbecue in a very rich person's very large and very well decorated backyard. it was on a baseball field (yes, the embassy has an enclosed baseball field as part of its compound), so there was lush grass. sooo nice to delhi-tortured feet. and there were vendors selling all kinds of american food -- papa john's, KFC, hamburgers, you name it. they even had corn dogs. they also had plenty of alcohol, booths selling indian handicrafts and clothes, speakers playing american music ranging from madonna to bruce springsteen, and a couple of moon bounces for the kids (if it hadn't been for my upset stomach, i totally would've taken my turn jumping). and they had a very nice fireworks display. actually, the corn dogs and fireworks combination definitely reminded of me going to the texas state fair as a kid, which was, of course, one of my favorite annual rituals. so that was a happy reminscence.
the crowd was somewhat mixed... some american military, some people like me and the fellow interns -- americans who just happen to be here for a couple of months -- and some ex-pats working here. there was a very nice vibe... everyone was very congenial and welcoming, and it was all quite relaxed and chill. and of course, the world being as small as it was, i randomly met a girl from tennessee who's working in india for 6 months, and she and i happen to know 5 people in common. crazy, huh? in fact, the lady who checked me in at the entrance was an aggie. if we had been in texas, our longhorn-aggie rivalry probably would've come out in a playful way, but way out here, we were both just happy to see another texan. very heartwarming. really, it was an altogether fun evening. i wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much -- but i guess i was just glad to get a taste of home.
Posted by naseem at July 3, 2006 01:25 AMPoooooor nas!
Posted by: Artemis at July 4, 2006 02:43 AM