Shopping sights

I went out shopping and I saw a whole range of interesting sights.


A typical view of the houseboats.

Where I bought my vegetables.


Cloth for a new suit.

What is the fake horse doing in the mall?

Is it the real Pizza Hut?


And, yes, shepherdesses with their sheep.

Scorpion stealth

There was a scorpion in my room this morning.

I was picking up some clothes from the floor and it was underneath. Black and scary. Only that's not what I was thinking.

I thought: "The boys haven't been here in my room, what is that plastic bug doing on my floor?"

Then it moved. Yich.

So I trapped it under the heavy Lord of the Rings movie box until I had time to do something about it.

Later, we froze him and now he's securely pinned to some styrofoam.

Going to the garden

We visited a garden today. The children and flowers were plentiful.

Their faces

One of the hardest things about living here is the beggars. Their need is so real. So in-your-face. What do I do about it? What can I do? My attitude about it changes from day to day. I feel the least generous when they pinch me. But even then, I might pinch somebody, too, if they had so much more than me.

The view

There are some nice sights on my way to teach every day.

Views of mountains and trees.

But this is not one of the nicer views I also walk past.

Free range cows

Where is the best grazing?

It would be interesting to ask the cows.

There's a cow and her calf who seem to like the edges of my driveway.

There must be some choice greens around the transformer where a sheep once got fried. (Roasted lamb and no power for the surrounding houses for several days.)

As you can see, the animals are still permitted to graze near it.

But their favorite is the trash heap, because that's where I see them every day.

Unpacking progress

It's taking me a while to unpack. I'm at a standstill, actually. So this is how my room once looked and how it will likely look for some time to come.

Auto rickshaws

Driving an auto rickshaw must be a tough job.

If the engine breaks down, you've got to know how to fix it.

It must be nice to sit down and take a rest.

To take a nap, even.

A young driver in training?

Harrowing traffic

My first experience back in India was a taxi ride. It was one of the most harrowing I've ever experienced--which is saying a lot. There were squealing tires and fish-tailing as we had some very close calls. Shew, I'm still alive.
I decided to give you a glimpse of the traffic here. So you can see what's on the roads.

The traffic cop. Like his uniform?

This is where we parked the car to go shopping. (It's the green one with a roof-rack in the corner.)

As you can see, we needed to wait a while before the car was able to be freed.

You can hear the traffic for yourself:

And this is some of the unexpected traffic that goes by:

Pipe technique

This is how you fix a leaky pipe.

Until you get a chance to fix it as well as this.

And that might work for a few days.

And this is where you put the pipes you haven't needed for the last 15 years.

Just make sure you don't block the road or the cows' grazing.

The sounds and smells

If I could insert a smell here, I would. There is nothing like the combination of spice, heat, humanity, and, well, stink that hits you when your plane lands in India. I would happily share that with you.

What I can give you is a sound to experience. A sound with a view.

I didn't miss the call to prayer while gone, but it still is like coming home, it's so familiar. And it doesn't let you be isolated from your surroundings even from inside your home. It chases you right into your home and bedroom to haunt you.