I am reading an economics/business book at the momment. It’s called “The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, eradicating poverty through profits”. It’s all about getting groups involved in serving the poor and making money doing it. Basically the poor pay a large poor penalty on some goods. Also there are a lot of them. It’s all a bit too complex for this blog post.
So far the book seems good. Let you know more when I am finished.
Listening to How to Dismantal an atomic bomb I am still blown away by how good it its.
It’s very special. I think Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own is my first fav. Although all the tracks are fab and will become favorites soon. I feel very special knowing I got the UK and Japan only Fast Cars. Fast Cars feels like it’s the track which gave the albumn it’s name. At least from the lyrics. Pretty fun track.
I wonder when Steve is going to release his new CD. I wonder if he’ll release it in time for Christmass.
I can get prayers sung to me on my telephone. Good old Airtel. I love India.
I now have my own copy of How To Dismantal an Atomic bomb on CD. It only took a few hours of downloading to do. It even has a bonus track fast car. Don’t know if other copies have it. Do they Tom?
I have started downloading the new U2 albumn from Island Records website. Couldn’t find the CD in Delhi today so I decided just to download. I have two tracks so far and it’s very posh thus far.
Just set up Sage ATOM reader in firefox. It is so posh. I use it for looking through my comments. It’ s a really good way of doing it.
If anyone has an RSS or ATOM option on there blogs can you please publish it for me.
Saturday
Meet up with some TEAR people who were visiting a local community health project. Had a bit of a chat. Then climbed up the hill further to have a bit of a walk and catch a glimpse of the magnificant Himalayas. I ended up walking around a littleloup and coming to a place called La Tibia. There was a little coffee shop with a viewing platform on the top. I had Chia (10Rs bit of a rip of really) a packet of Lays(10Rs) and paid to look through the binnoculas(10Rs). Not a bad deal I think at less then $1 for the whole lot. The views were fantastic from the top of the planet. If anyone has any doubts about there being a higher creative force in control go look at the Himalayas. Seriously they are huge. Orders of magnitude larger and go on for a very long distance.
After this I went on a search for Sisters bizare. After calling up the people I was giving a suprise visit to twice I found it. Had a bit of a chat. Scot the American guy I was visiting had visited Duncan Hospital whilst I was there. So it was was fun to catch up.
After this I had a late lunch at the hospital. Then went to visit a family I know to finish fixing there PC. Except it took me ages to work out were there house was. I had only been there once. It was good fun visiting them. Then I was meant to go to another house to finish another PC but I had forgotten how to get to it.
So I went back to my room. I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It was pretty funky. Bit confused. Have to watch it again.
Sunday
Went to Union Church in the morning. Mainly because the people from Tear were going to be there. It was alright. Bit boring though. I really don’t enjoy singing hymns. I’ve relised this whilst being in India. They are so slow and my mind wanders. Actually my mind wanders all the time but that’s a different story. I have also found that I know songs I don’t recognise the words for once the music starts.
Managed to score an invite to lunch at an Indian guys home. He was a pretty good cook. I think I would feel a lot better about Indian food if I hadn’t eaten as much mess food as I have. The two TEAR people also went to the lunch. One of the TEAR people gave me some Australian Cabury chocolate with native Australian animals. They were fun.
After lunch went shopping in the bizzare didn’t buy much. Stopped of at a Kashmir shop on my way back to the hospital and found out about a strike that was happening on Monday. When I was planing on leaving. Made me worry a little about my travel for Monday.
Then went to diner where I meet some nice South African med students. They were good quality. We all got invited to the doctor in charges place for desert(He knew them from his time in SA).
So I managed to score an invite to desert and lunch in one day. Not a bad days work. After that packed and watched a mediocar film.
Monday.
Finished packing in the morning. Bumed around all morning doing not much. Was told I’d leave at 1pm. Said a few goodbye’s. Asked whether/when I’d come back. I hate that question I have no way of knowing if/when I would return. I guess your meant to just give the nice generic reply of I’d love to/soon I hope. But that doesn’t really feel honest to me.
Anyway left in the hospital jeep to go and find a taxi at 1pm. Shops were pretty much all closed for the strike. It’s a strike cause some Hindu priest guy got taken to gaol for committing a murder. Anyway found a taxi without any problems. 350Rs and an 1h and half latter I arrived at the station. Had to wait 2 and half hours for my train to come.
There are so many beggars at Indian Railway stations. I don’t give them money(except once to a performing kid who was a bit of fun). I am fairly lucky being a man people don’t pester me for too long. But I saw a couple of white girls who were getting hounded by a group of 3-4 beggars. I felt a bit sorry for them. It’s hard to deal with them. I really want to give them money but I don’t think it helps. Anyway it’s okay.
I ran into someone I knew at the station. How freaky is that. I meet her after my first trip from Deraduen. And here I am meeting her at the station again. She’s in the same carriage of the train as me too. But not sitting anywhere near me.
So here I am sitting on the train. I decided that it’s probably safe to use my laptop on the train so here I am listening to music and preparing a blog entry. I didn’t charge my battery though so I only have an hour and a bit of battery. I am going to be so bored when it goes flat.
I should describe the Shatabi train for you my blog readers. The one I am on is an 8 passenger carriage train. It has air conditioned carriages with partially reclining chair seats. The carriage I am in feels as though it was made in the 70’s or early 80’s. Each carriage seats 64 passengers with sufficient but not great leg room. The train trip is about 5 and a half hours long covering a little over 300km distance. Food is provided on the train. It starts with tea/coffee and a snack. Followed by a juice popper. Then a meal latter in the trip(veg/non veg). The meal is Indian food in the style of airline food. In fact in many ways the service is similar to a plane. The mixture of people on this particular train is probably about 20 % western and 80% Indian. The cost of a ticket on this train is about 500Rs(less then $20). Which means that it’s a middle class train through and through.
It 6.44pm now which means I’ve made it through nearly two hours of this trip. I can’t be bothered to right any more for now. Maybe more latter. Maybe not.
It appears not.
Tuesday
Staying in quite a nice house in Delhi. I have wireless net access from my room which is quite funky. I have to go and find the new U2 albumn soon.
In Mussoorie at the momment. Nicest place I have been. It’s in the foothills of the Himalayas 2000m above sea level. You can see the Himalayas from the top of the hill. Walk up there yesterday. 20 minutes walking up a very step path but it was worth it. The Himalayas are veary beautiful. Mussoorie is also very relaxing. I like it a lot.
Nice people at the Hospital I am staying in too. Today my mission is to find the pizza shop in Mussoorie so I can have a nice meal. I am sick of rice + dall. Should be fun.
It’s also my Dad’s birthday. Happy birthday Dad!
So annoying they have set up the new online enrolment so it closes at 8pm every night. But I am not in Australia so it become 2.30pm that it closes. Bunch of dogs!
I am in Herbertpur at the momment. Visiting the hospital there. I am very tired as I went to bede at midnight when I had to get up at 4.30am. Stupid David. And I could of sleeped in another 30-45min.
I am looking forward to a good sleep tonight. Mobile phone recption here is patchy but at least there’s somewhere I can call out on my local sim.
Next week I am contemplating being a tourist. Might be fun. Though I feel as though I have done enough solo train travel. If I had a friend I definately do a bit more travel.
I am enjoying being in Delhi at the momment. It’s good fun. Last night I went out to dinner with a friend who was at Duncan while I was there. It was good fun. We had a mixture of Thai and Chinease for dinner. Then went to Barista’s for coffee. So much fun to be able to choose what to eat.
Today I am going to see F 9/11. I am not sure if it’s a good idea but it’s on at the right time. I brought a John Mayer (Room for squares) CD for $3.50 at a music shop here. I am trying new things at the momment. Although I did have Maccas for lunch today.
I have to say city life is agreeing with me. I had to put on a jumper yesterday, that was odd. I need to buy a jacket because I am going to a place where it snows soon.
I am back in Delhi now. It’s a very wonderful place.
The journey from Satna was long and arduous. It ended up taking about 4 long uncomfortable hours. The roads were apaling even by Northern Indian standards. We got in at 11.30pm and I got shown to my room. I had no idea where breakfast or devotions were held, or even what time. I was woken up at 5am by the Hindi Music. I thought to myself must be Davali now. Another 10 days of Hindi music and Hindu messages blaring from loud speakers 18-24 hours a day. Otherwise things are looking up.
There’s an Australian couple living here at the moment which is fun. The cooks in the mess are really friendly. The people I am working with here know there stuff. So it’s all pretty good.
I got into Varansi about 12.30pm. The driver and another guy from the hospital took me to get some lunch. I wasn’t very hungry so I ended up just having some rotti. We then dropped of the other guy from the hospital and went to the hospital. On the way I saw some quite pretty scenery. There were some trees which looked a bit like gum trees. We also traveled up on to a platoo. Anyway I quite enjoyed it. It took about two and a bit hours to get there. Once there I was deposited at my room and left to my own devices.
I was pretty impressed with the room. Cable TV and hot water heater. No much in English on the cable TV but there was cricket and movies. There wasn’t much for me to do in Robertsganj so I spent a lot of my time stuck to the tube. I eat alone and sometimes had 4 dishes to serve to myself. Food was probably very good Indian food but some meals I did not like much.
I fixed a printer problem and a few other small things but nothing particularly exciting. I was very glad I reduced my time spent there by a couple of days.
The jeep ride to Varansi was uneventful. However once we got to Varansi after having some lunch we went to the station. The indicator board said that my train was 1hour and a half late. But when we talked to people it was actually running on time we found. Indian Railways also announced the train was arriving for about 10 minutes before it got there. I think City Rail might be outsourcing to the Northern Indian Railways. They seem to have too many similarities.
I caught 2nd Class AC for the first time. It was a bit nicer, just a little more space and privacy. There was a little mouse/rat on the train which was funny.