Basketball at Midnight

According to the news, the stock market tumbled 7% due to the house failing to pass the economic bailout bill. That’s wild! and being in India probably insulates me from the full effect of that news. I hope you were all shorting the market. I wasn’t.
I’m in Varansi, the holy city of [...]

Available at my Photo Archive, the following albums are now posted. In this post, they are in order of date taken, but there are some albums I still haven’t parsed through yet:
See all the albums at the main page, here!

Udaipur, in southwest Rajastan.
Jodhpur, in west Rajastan.
Jaisalmer, in northwest Rajastan.
Pushkar, in central Rajastan (along with [...]

The passes are still closed, but we had to get out. Becky bought a flight for $210 from Leh to Delhi two days in advance. More on a budget, I bought a flight from Srinigar to Delhi for $60, and then I rushed to arrange a jeep from Leh to Srinagar. Although [...]

It’s not cold, at least. Well, not right now, in the middle of the day. It gets cold at night, but I’m surviving well enough.
I’m still here in Leh, the irrigated river valley surrounded by frigid desert, surrounded by snow-capped mountain peaks. It’s pretty enough, especially when taking tea in the mid [...]

I wrote this on September 9 but apparently mis-saved it. I’ll leave it here for the minute in case it is of any interest to the readers.
I wonder if I can make a statement along the lines of “A state’s biggest issues crowd the streets.” I’m not exactly sure how to phrase it, [...]

I left Puhkar, and it’s daily highs of about 90 degrees, at around noon, two days ago. After a train ride, sleeping for 3 hours in the airport, and a brief plane ride, I arrived in Leh, Kashmir, India yesterday morning. Becky, a friend from Washington University, met me in the airport, and [...]

So, I am sick. Fever with no other major symptoms, which was quite worrying to me. Fever and diarrhea, no problem! Fever by itself, cause for concern.
So, yesterday, I went to the pharmacist to see what he said, and he gave me some paracetamol and sent me on my way. That [...]

Pushkar, Rajastan, India.
This is, perhaps, the last stop I make before Delhi Domestic Airport. I’m about set for a break, and Pushkar is as good as any other. My other option is to go to Jaipur, the capital, which just seems like far too much hastle for me right now. I don’t [...]

Gender
I’m not sure how much I complained about gender roles and separation in Malaysia, but I had a lot to say, regardless of whether it was said. Well, even if it wasn’t written or you forget, summon up your various preconceptions towards Muslims when it comes to gender roles, even if they’re overblown. [...]

Although much of India is similar to my 2004 journey (although that journey was to other parts of the country), I have found a couple very notable things that are quite different:
Cell Phones
Cell phones are now ubiquitous, and everyone except for myself seems to have at least one, and often two. Why they need [...]