Today I woke up late. My usual habit of sleeping late and waking up late is creeping in. This is definitely a sign of comfort. I didn’t have time to eat anything so I tried to browse the super market half awake. The market doesn’t have any ready to eat foods other than bananas and greens (oranges). This is just a sign of how India … Continue reading November 27th: 2G Mobile Internet

Happy Thanksgiving Family! I would have enjoyed eating dinner with ya’ll again. I haven’t seen most of my family members in over a year. This is the longest I have been out of touch-touch with them. Hope they are all getting fat and warm. Today I got a phone number! Getting a phone number was like revealing the map in Age of Empires. I went … Continue reading November 26th: Faster Than Google

The railway crossing gates are raised and lowered by a man operating a crank handle. He waits in a railway side shack for a walky-talky message to alert him to lower the gates. His large old body laboriously turns the crank and cuts off traffic. The chaotic traffic stews in its containment as motorists habitually squeeze every bit of space. We are all stuck with … Continue reading November 25th: Chicken Mantra

When the rich are developing a plot of land into a mall, tall building, or apartment complex they allow the workers to live on the work site. This simplifies the logistics and makes work possible at any hour of the day. The government and the builders zone this settlement as the “legal slum”. The workers illegally bring their families into their settlement. The settlement gets … Continue reading How a Slum is Born

Today was my first Sunday in Sahakara Nagar (Saha). I had no plans what so ever. So I took a late afternoon walk around the area. I was feeling a bit blue. I am not yet capable of leaving the area. If I told a taxi driver a famous place in the city he could take me there. On the other hand, I have no … Continue reading November 24th: A Little Sunday

Today, I woke up to check on my soaking chickpeas. I actually don’t know if they are chickpeas. The bag said Kabuli. My eyes said chickpeas. I don’t know how to prepare chickpeas. Last night I tried to boil them. They tasted chalky. I remember that I had seen beans soaking somewhere in my memory closet. I left them to soak over night. This morning … Continue reading November 23rd: The Highway Madman

This morning when I crossed within the school gate a little girl grabbed me by the arm and said,” come with me Ana”. She dragged me up three flights of stairs and toward her classroom. Before her tiny muscular arms shoved me into her classroom, I managed to tell her that I had to go to my assigned room. She released me from her affection … Continue reading November 22nd: More Magic

The walk to school today was fair. I came across a man in Hindewy clothing with a painted cow. I took a photo the duo. I gave the man some rupees. Its great to use the currency from Hyrule (Legend of Zelda). When I find one on the ground I hear the fantastical music from the game and I lift it over my head in … Continue reading Journal Entry 4: Beauty and the Gym

This morning’s walk to school was less stimulating than yesterday. I negotiated that I would come to school later and avoid deadly rush hour. I arrived at school to find the remedial kids playing concentration games with the head of the department Mrs. Lakshimia. The word for Mrs. isn’t used at the school the teachers are referred to in Kannada as Brother/Ana and Sister/Aka. The … Continue reading November 20th: Meeting the Students

I’m naked, wet, and the lights are out. Sounds like the beginning of an X-rated movie, but unfortunately this was me during my first power outage. I had just come out of the shower, the shower is actually a faucet that I sit under while bathing myself with a cup, when zaga-ram the lights go out. My dripping nudity made me feel vulnerable. I sat … Continue reading Journal Entry 2: First Day of Work

I was picked up from the Bangaluru airport by a man who didn’t speak any English. During the nerve wrecking 40 minute drive to my apartment he and I communicated with pantomime. Thank you Amity. High five Rikyo! A theme of India has been duplicity, this lesson I received from an HR guru working for one of India’s largest conglomerates. “About Indian when any statement … Continue reading Journal Entry 1: The First Day in Bangaluru