“#$@%!!”
April 23rd, 2009 § 1 Comment
I have a little time this morning before heading out to get a tour of the very special Horticultural Society garden here in Cal thanks to my internal alarm clock. Since a time difference of 9.5 hrs makes my head hurt when I try to convert it, I’ve been leaving my BlackBerry on Eastern Standard Time and set my wristwatch to “Indian Stretchable Time” so that I can easily communicate with folks at home and here. Because I need to leave the house on the dot at 9:30 a.m. local time here in order to meet the guide on time (Mukund’s father is on the board there and has so generously hooked me up with a visit of the grounds,) and I was concerned that I’d make a mistake setting my BlackBerry alarm to an adjusted Eastern Standard Time, I swapped the time zones on the devices. I woke up on my own this morning only to run in histerics and check my now EST-set wristwatch and find it reading “10:15″ which, in my groggy state, and without an a.m./p.m. readout, gave me a minor heart attack as I had forgotten the switch up! Boy was I relieved to find my BlackBerry and remember all was good and that I actually had all the time in the world to eat breakfast and get ready. It was 7:45 a.m. in Calcutta.
Here are just a few more images from the trip thus far, because of time this morning. While I’m still here, as you can imagine, it’s an impossible task to send an assortment that will convey the whole trip, so I’m just sending bits and pieces starting from the beginning. Otherwise, I’d be at home all day and not be able to go out and about as I have been. So, I will get more detailed when I have a chance to sort through everything once back in the States. I have taken hundreds of pictures on both my BlackBerry and my digital camera, and have only now begun to sort through them on the computer.
One other quick note, on my city travel progression (itinerary in extremely brief form,) to better orient you:
New Delhi/Delhi -> Mussoorie -> New Delhi/Delhi -> Agra/Fatehpur Sikri -> New Delhi/Delhi -> Calcutta
A poppy in Mussoorie. They close up when the light fades during dusk.
Veg pizza in Dhanolti, a short excursion from Mussoorie, served with tomato ketchup and Indian mustard.
You'll see a lot of these on the road here in India. They are Ambassadors, now manufactured by Hindustan Motors, and are one of the cab varieties (along with the many other motorized - and not - transportation) available in the country. They are known for their heartiness as well as flexibility with parts, making them very easy to fix. We took this one to Kempy Falls, another short excursion from Mussoorie.
india has pizza