Cow Count: 127
Mitchell's Digestive Forcast: More info than you want
A Video that I took from the window of the local transit train:
The happenins:
So things are still fairly slow and thats fine by me. The majority of my time has thus far been spent playing, thinking, reading, and exploring the city. The streets here are a sprawling maze of random turns and countless little shops. Even the Taxi drivers seem to have given up on knowing where things are... we've yet to have a auto-rickshaw ride that did not operate by the method of getting close to where we are going and then asking two or three times for directions.
Went exploring/ walking around the other day. Found a train station and hopped a train to a part of town that looked interesting... the video above was taken out the window.
Last night we went to an absolutely delicious BBQ place where I had some of the first meat i've had since being in the country. Its a pity that more Indian people don't eat meat because with all their skills with seasoning they cook up some screamingly good BBQ. Had a live band singing western covers- highlight was Simon and Garfunkel's "Cecelia"
Research is going very well... The director at MIDS offered us full use of the library there and to look over our project proposal. Yesterday we met with a friend from teju's father's med school days who now works in government... we asked him a whole barrage of questions which he patiently answered. He then gave us the contact information to a man who will help us set up meetings with 5-10 NGO's in the next couple of weeks for our research- a huge breakthrough!
Musings:
Recently encountered James 1:25. a verse that was very challenging... a call to start doing the work and pursuing the path laid out ahead of me. There is much more here working in my heart... Lots that i've thinking about, but can't yet formulate or will choose not talk about it in a blog post...
Would like to offer a correction to my previous thoughts here. Further research (I used Wikipedia... please don't tell PLC) has revealed that I had confused the stages of life (Ashram) with the Aims of life (purusharthas) These seem to be not all that different from many of the goals that I observe in myself and in the Judeo-Christian culture in which I was raised. Perhaps pursuit of wealth, love, righteousness, and salvation are not mere cultural constructs of either, but tell us something universal about the human spirit.
quick cultural observances:
Puns are flying around all the time here as any well educated adult speaks at least three languages. (English, Hindi, and a local Language) The mixing leads to all sorts of wordplay which i'm sure i would find impressive if I understood what was being said.
kindly is used instead of please especially on signs as in "kindly don't smoke here"
Thanks for reading, caring and supporting!
Much love,
Mitch
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3 comments:
Dear Mitch,
Since Teju told me about this blog yesterday, I read all the posts and enjoyed reading them. Under the subhead "Musings" you write about the stages of life.
Someone had the right general idea, but had probably mixed up the information in his or her eagerness to present this to you. The stages of life are called "ASHRAMAs". What you mention in your post are called "PURUSHARTHAs" (the lower case "s" to indicate that I am anglicising the word to create a pleural). There is a rather simplified definition of these in the Wikipedia. There is really no puritanical streak in me now, but there is no "Hindi culture". Did you mean "Hindu"?
I am glad that you seem to be having a wonderful time. Happy tidings. -KR
Mitch - it really is great to read about your trip - yours is much more exciting and adventurous than mine. I'm in Munich now and leaving for Shanghai shortly...I'll wave when we go over India.
Take good care - I'll keep checking in to your blog.
Greg
Ah... I did indeed mean Hindu culture. Additionally thank you for the correction... I'll see to fixing the entry.
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