An unwelcome guest

Careful visual analysis has confirmed the presence of a small brown furry rodent in my room.

This mouse is basically like a ninja. I see him dart from under my desk for a moment, and then scurry back. He then completely disappears from view into the shadows. The desk is attached to the wall so I can't life it up to try and nab him.

Tomorrow, we try and find a place in Mysore to get a mousetrap.

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Apparently I need to keep updating despite the fact that nothing interesting is really going on at the moment. So here goes!

Last night I dreamt that I was being attacked by giant bugs. I remember scratching at my arm to get them off me. This morning I woke up with several very deep scratches on the inside of my elbow. Not fun!

I'll have more to talk about once the Dasara festival gets going. It has its origins in Hindu warriors worshipping their weapons, but these days people generally worship their cars. Assuming Wikipedia is accurate on this, I am completely serious. Updates to follow.

PIZZA

I finally made it to Pizza Hut tonight. I am relieved to report that this is one part of Western cuisine that India has managed not to screw up. Sure, it's mass-produced greasy junk, but oh my god it tasted heavenly.

This past month has really made me appreciate how lucky we are to live in a nation of immigrants. I do enjoy Indian food, but it's beginning to seem like every restaurant has the exact same menu. It's chicken, paneer, and/or vegetables drenched in a very spicy sauce. If you want to really go crazy, you can order Chinese food! I hope you like fried rice.

I had gotten so spoiled by having the options of so many different ethnic cuisines available to me at any given time. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the Italians, Greeks, Mexicans, Jews, and everyone else who decided America would be a swell place to live. You really can't appreciate it until you spend an extended period of time in a place where food choice is so limited.

In non-food related news, we had another short trip this weekend. The highlight for me was climbing approximately one zillion steps to see a gigantic statue of an important figure in Jainism whose name I have already forgotten. The better part came when I was discovered by a gaggle of Indian kids. The oldest one, who spoke pretty good English, informed me that they were fascinated by my hair. I guess curly hair doesn't often make an appearance in this country. We spent the trip down the stairs discussing the differences between cricket and baseball.

We also saw some cool temples that were pretty much like the other one I described previously, so I'm not going to rehash it again. I'm now looking forward to the Desara festival next week. We have a week off from school, and I plan to spend a whole bunch of time downtown getting crushed between thousands of tourists. Should be fun.

Food poisoning RULES!

I don't have much to say here except that should you ever be in Mysore, do NOT order the Prawn Curry at the Hotel Sandesh's restaurant. Last night sure was tons of fun.

Coorg Light

I hear there have been complaints about lack of updates here. I'm alive, I swear.

We got back yesterday from a trip to the region of Coorg. Someone apparently told Mother Nature that Americans were coming, and she decided to unleash the remanants of monsoon season on us. Despite that, it was pretty cool seeing an old Hindu temple on top of a mountain in the mist and rain.

The not so cool part came when I got back to the entrance of the temple and discovered that I had forgotten to put my sneakers under shelter. They were completely soaked. I had to purchase the World's Most Uncomfortable Flip Flops in Coorg as a temporary replacement. Apparently the selection of footwear in a size 12 is rather limited in this country.

Despite that fiasco, we made up for it the next day. After spending the first part of the day washing, feeding, and riding elephants (details to follow), we went to a Tibetan community about a half hour away from there. We were lucky enough to get into the monastery and sit in on some sort of Buddhist ritual. There were about 150 monks in training sitting at long tables and rythmically chanting something in a language none of us could identify (Pali?). Every so often someone would crash two cymbals together, or blow a horn. We also got to see one trainee, who couldn't have been older than 15, get whacked with a belt for slipping up at one point. We watched for about 20 minutes, and who knows how long this had been going on before we got there? I don't think I'll be tempted by the monk lifestyle anytime soon.

As for the elephants, it turns out they can move more stealthily than you might imagine. I almost got rear-ended by one down by the banks of the river. We got to wash them (their skin feels like very tough leather; apparently a tiger can't bite through it) and ride them. Some people fed them, but I have a strict policy against sticking my hand into the mouth of any creature than can kill me by stepping on me.

Now we're back in Mysore to continue this crazy "school" thing they expect us to do. Updates to follow if anything exciting happens.

You may now address me as "your majesty"

For I have apparently conquered one of yoga's ultimate challenges: the King of All Poses. This is the one that involves leaving your neck on the ground and raising pretty much everything else up into the air. You know it's great because you have to do a counter-exercise immediately after it to prevent blood pooling in your brain.

Aside from flirting with unconciousness, it's been an eventful past few days. We spent Monday visiting the summer residence of Tipu Sultan, a Muslim ruler of the state of Mysore who led one of the most effective anti-British resistance movements. We also stopped by a little shack to see sugar being made (the smell is absolutely legendary) and visited an 800 year old temple that had been desecrated by Muslim invaders. The architecture really is spectacular, with hundreds of little figures carved into the stone walls of the temple. I'll post pictures once my Internet connection stops sucking, which is scheduled to occur in the year 2054.

This weekend we're going to a temple where we'll be blessed by elephants. The hits just keep on coming.

An enthralling evening of traditional Indian performing arts

That post title is a lie.

After completing the aforementioned sari shopping and vowing to never again be dragged along on shopping trip with ten girls, we went to a performance at one of Mysore's many palaces. The first part of the performance consisted of an English professor (who appeared to be about one thousand years old) singing some songs in Kannada. I admit I'm a complete cultural Philistine, but I was struggling to stay awake. The man was accompanied by two drummers and violinist, and was singing in a voice that was essentially a monotone. Combine that with words that are total gibberish, and you get a recipe for stupefication EXCITEMENT!

The dance performance was a bit better, but I've never been able to appreciate dance on the level of others. It's one of my gaping character flaws. However, all was redeemed when we went to the Sandesh (best restaurant/hotel in the city) for Dr. Vidya's birthday dinner. We got to teach her about the American custom of blowing out the candle on the cake (which the restaurant staff hadn't even lit) and watch her expression of total befuddlement when we serenaded her with "Happy Birthday." A nice capper to the evening.

And now back to Kannada studying.

Power shopping

By virtue of being one of five people in the Kannada class, I have been drafted to be part of the shopping expedition for Dr. Raju's wife. Dr. Raju is our Indian host, and his wife's birthday is tomorrow. We're getting her a sari. And they want me to come help. I have no idea why, since anyone who knows me knows that clothes shopping is one of my least favorite things to do.

As long as I'm shopping, what kind of souvenirs do people want from this country? Leave a comment!