India post 3 - 2011

This post is going to be about Traffic in India. If you've never been there, it's hard to explain what traffic is like in India, but let's start with the cars. Or should I say Cabs? The parts of India I visit are commuter societies. People are always walking, running, driving, GOING somewhere. And the cars and traffic support this. For example, below I've linked some pictures of the cute little 3 wheeler cab that is very prevalent. I've never been in one as my drivers always drive either little SUVs or sedans (the luxury of a company driver). 

So, here are some basic observations about Indian Traffic:

1. Lanes don't mean anything. Neither does right of way. If there is space, take it, or someone else will. Whoever noses in and pushes ahead deserves to be there.

2. Honking is required. Oh yes, Required. Honking is not rude in India - like it is in the US. I asked an Indian with whom I was sharing a cab home from work late one night what was up with all the honking. He said that it means "here I am" or "I'm coming up on you" or even "warning, I'm here." One big truck I saw had "please honk" written on the back. So go-figure.

3. If a pedestrian looks at you motions with his hand, he will walk in front of your vehicle.

4.  If a pedestrian motions with his hand, he will walk in front of your vehicle.

5. If a pedestrian is anywhere near the road, he will walk in front of your vehicle.

And here is my work volunteer project - chemo caps. Work allows us to take a half day to volunteer every year, the knitting group at work decided to put our skills to use. Sadly, I couldnt be there for the knit-in - and I also couldn't afford to take the half day off since I was on business travel. So I did it on my own on the weekend. We made more than 30 hat!

And here were some socks (yarn is flat foot) that I was working on during the trip (I finished them already, this pic is from the trip).

India post 2 - 2011

Alright, I promised more posts about India, so let me continue the saga with the First Hotel I stayed at. Below are some pictures of my little apartment, (you know, before I found the roaches and had to go somewhere else.......and thow away my toothbrush)

First up - the living room. You may not be able to tell from this distance, but that's a really nice leather love seat. The furniture was pretty nice in this place, overall - it did seem a little spartan, plain, but I was only there for sleeping, so that didn't really matter.

Here is the little kitchen which is in a nook next to the living room. I had a fridge, a sink, a microwave, and a toaster. There were also some plates. I had no washing supplies, though. This is where I cooked my easy mac at midnight to keep me from getting sick off the Malaria pills.

 

This is easy mac - my dinner approximately 5 nights in a row. I can't bare to really even think about it right now. It's not real food. Real food is not that color. Thank you, easy mac, for keeping from getting sick, but please wink yourself out of existence until I need you again. You are seriously grossing me out.

Here is my bedroom. I had two twin beds pushed togther - not quite sure why.

 Here is the view from the other side

 Here is my bathroom - note the bucket and pitcher where you would normally expect, oh, I don't know, shower curtain.

Here's me on my way to work in my Indian clothes

And here was a little slice of heaven after lunch. Mango Cheesecake.

And here are the famous socks, toes kitchenered.

India post 1 - 2011

Well, I may be back from India, but I had no time to blog while I was there. That's the trouble with business trips - you think you'll have all of this time, but instead you end up working the full day + in meetings and trainings, etc, and then working some of the day for your normal time-zone. In India, that equates for me to working from 8am Indian time to about 7pm Indian time, taking half an hour to grab dinner at work, and then working until around 11pm (or 10:30am my office time). At that point, it's the hour cab ride  back to the hotel so you can fall into bed in order to be able to get up for cab again at 7 am. That's how it goes. It's good, but doesn't leave a lot of time for other things. 

Speaking of other things - do you know what my main amusement was while I was there? KNITTING. Actually, let's begin with what I did on my way to India. That's right, I knitted an ENTIRE PAIR of socks!! See below for the progress pics during my 26 hours in transit. 

The Beginning.

Showing that I am at Heathrow Airport with the heel flap done and the gusset started.

Interesting aside: did you know that in England, women wear poofy mini-dresses, and have two legs (according to their bathroom signs)? I guess this is one of the big differences between American and English women. American woman (according to our bathroom signs) have one central leg and a-line knee-length skirts. According to both signs, neither group of women has any arms or feet, and all shave their heads.

Back to the sock pictures. ere is my foot with the mostly done sock in super comfy economy class. See, I could almost manage to stretch out my entire foot.

Here we are at landing. Note, I am calling these "Done" and saying that I knitted an entire pair of socks because the knitting was done. As some of you know, you cannot take a tapestry needle on the plane. So, I had to wait to kitchener the toes. If only I had learned the knitted kitchener that Gigi tried to teach me....

I leave you with a couple of pictures of the Indian countryside from my window.

I may secretly have taken a bunch of pictures, so expect a few more posts about my trip to India - provided I get the time to blog!