Another Saturday in Oz

Donkeys and elephants and camels oh my! Lately India has seemed like the path to the Emerald City. Outside everything if foreign and new. The streets are lined with shops, cars, people, and animals that I would normally have to pay a $7.95 zoo entry for. Home, work, and sleep are the periods when I’ve clicked my ruby slippers and am in familiar territory. Logging on to the Web zips you back to any place you want to be – familiarity.

Went to lunch with Gaurav today and it seemed like a fairly standard Indian meal – 3-hours long, fried vegetables and fish with a multitude of sauces, curry chicken with raw onions, and…steak! Ordering steak was like standing at heaven’s gates. Getting the steak was a stark reminder that there’s no place like home for a good cut of California raised beef.

After stuffing ourselves we made it to MG road for some shopping. The stop – Bombay Store. The purchase – pillow cases and a shawl. The cost – too much for India but a steal by US standards. Arriving home from a long day of eating, dodging animals, and spending money, I was greeted by chai, Smita, and Rajan – two people and a drink that can make anyone feel at home. It’s funny, the longer I’m here the more isms seem to fade into the background – instead of a man with his head over his leg holding a fishing pole over the street being odd, it’s another day in Pune.

Tomorrow is the color festival so, with the city drenched in pink/brown/green/blue/etc., there will be isms galore.