the beach, and a change of plans

when i first came to india, i came on a multiple entry visa, which means that i was supposed to be able to stay for 6 months at a time, leave for a day or a week, and come right back.

since then, someone from the US was found to have gone to india a few times to scope out sights for the 26/11/2008 terror attacks in mumbai, and the indian government changed its rules regarding tourist visas.

saturday is heather's birthday, and we planned a trip to the beaches of thailand for her birthday, and so i could do a "visa run". my 6 months runs out on january 12th.

so there's a new plan. heather and i are both going back to the good ol' US of A on january 20th. back there i will get an employment visa, because i found a job here as an editor. i'll get a legitimate employment visa, and come back in a month or two. in the meantime i can visit people back in the US, including my family in florida.

but for now, it's off to jomtien beach in pattaya, thailand, for a week of fun in the sun!

Apple Tablet Predictions

disclaimer: this post is not about india. moreover, it concerns a certain upcoming technological trend and product which may not be of interest to all readers.


this month, on tuesday, january 26th to be precise, Apple is expected to announce the next revolutionary product in the tradition of the iPhone or iPod: a tablet computer that will change the world and an industry the way the iPhone and iPod have. i want to publish some thoughts and predictions before the announcement.
it looks like it will be called the iSlate, be about 10 inches long (looking like an oversized iPod touch), and have a touch screen (with no physical keyboard), a front facing camera, an SD card slot, wifi connectivity, and possibly 3g data connectivity as well. it will not have an optical drive (dvd player). it will be all touch screen, and a touch keyboard will appear on the screen when needed. (there are even rumors that the screen will change and grow bumps for the keyboard for tactile feedback, apple has a patent for that, but i doubt it will appear on the first generation device.)
it will have a new OS, somewhere between the iPhone OS and mac OSX, with new multi-touch features. the interface will be amazing, revolutionary, like nothing we've seen in any other device. you will use only your fingers to write, draw, drag, resize, and everything else.
the iSlate will function as a basic computer, allowing for word processing and photo display, as an internet device for surfing the web, downloading and streaming audio and video, and video conferences. but the killer app, the real reason it will be revolutionary, is that it will be an eReader.
everyone is familiar with eReaders these days, from the amazon kindle to the barnes and noble nook. it's a device that lets you read books or newspapers on a portable device by downloading them from the internet.
when the iSlate comes out, it will make the kindle look like the other mp3 players looked when the iPod came out. cheap, ugly and junky.
and the iSlate will revolutionize the publishing industry the way that the iPod revolutionized the music industry and the iPhone revolutionized the smartphone industry. in fact, it will just about save the newspaper industry.
you will be able to buy subscriptions to newspapers and magazines, have them automatically downloaded to your iSlate, and read them when you want. unlike the current eReaders, it will be in full color. these tablet editions of periodicals will contain the full text of the print editions, in a very easy to read format, with full color, interactive moving videos and charts. you can read the periodicals in any order, or in the same order as the print edition. pictures will spring to life as videos. diagrams and charts will be animated and interactive. and because the screen will be so bright and beautiful, they'll be able to use the same font size as in the printed edition.
and this time, apple has been proactive. they have been secretly working with publishers for a couple years, so that content will be available immediately. they saw what happened to the music industry with the iPhone, and they don't want to be left behind this time, so they are already working on content. here is an example from sports illustrated. as you can see, it's just like the magazine, only more so.
the idea of a portable electronic newspaper has been science fiction until now, but the iSlate will make it real, in a most beautiful way. people will once again read newspapers, and magazines will take on a new life. and the publishing industry will be forever changed.
you heard it here first, folks!

Happy New Year!!!

it's been quite an eventful december. we took a trip to the beautiful beaches of goa, where we stayed with a couple we met in the mountains of dharamsala. i got a job being a subtitle editor. i had my first gig with my band in india, singing and playing drums. we stayed at a hotel on the beach here in mumbai, courtesy of one of my band's guitar players, who manages the hotel and gave us a room for new year's eve. we saw the year change on the beach, amongst the people, dancing under an eclipsed blue moon. and now, we're making plans for 2010.
there's more detail to follow, but for now, farewell 2009 and greetings 2010. may all beings experience happiness and the causes of happiness, and be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.

Another day in paradise

I’m really loving my Sundays lately.
i start waking up kind of early, out of the house by 9. over to Café Coffee Day for a morning bite to eat and drink. then i get in a rickshaw and ride over to Bandra Kurla Complex. it is built on reclaimed swamp land, and comprises lots of new buildings, offices, courthouses, industrial sites, and a few schools. our destination is the American School of Bombay, which lets us use there field for a super fun game of Ultimate Frisbee. today we shared the field with a soccer camp, and there were only about 10 of us, but it still worked out great, because the short field was fun, fast breaks were shorter so much more possible. it’s a game of expats, amerians and brits and a couple indians that went to college in the US (or grew up there) and have come back (repats i guess). it was a great game. after frisbee we can use the school’s pool, so we swam for a while which was heavenly.
then a few of us decided to go eat at The Bagel Shop, a place in Bandra, that bakes their own bagels and puts whatever you want on them. I had mozzarella, pesto and tomatoes, and heather had cream cheese and green olives. by then it was 4 on the clock, so we went home, rested for a little while, and then heather and i headed out to see 2012! we were waiting to see it and today was the day. the opening scene is in india, which thrilled us and the rest of the audience. we had a great time, we love our disaster movies, and this was the best once since Independence Day, in my estimation (hey! i just noticed they had the same director!). after the movie we headed over to a sweet shop for some chocolate mousse, and then took another crazy rickshaw ride back to our neighborhood for a late snack. i predictably had a dosa and we also had watermelon and tomato soup. then we took a rickshaw home.
but as we were walking through the back alleys to our apartment, we heard music, which got louder, and we saw a party going on. we started moving a bit to the music and that’s all it took for the party goers to grab us and invite us in. it was a fun little birthday party with fog and lasers and dance music. and it turned out that we knew the DJ’s, they live in our building. i met them when i first moved in, they made me tea (well their mother did). they live downstairs, and they have Shure and other music related stickers on their door, so i stopped once to talk to them. and yesterday heather met them. DJ Sam and DJ Sachin are their names, and we waved at them in the corner of the party, it was so nice to see them, they even played the Akon song heather likes. we started dancing and of course everyone came over and started to dance with us. they offered us tequila shots (i actually had one), and we met the birthday boy (he must have been 24 or 25) and wished him a happy birthday. after a few minutes it was time for us to go, we blew a kiss to the one girl who gave us shots and danced with us the most, and the birthday boy thanked us. we waved goodbye to our friends the DJs and headed home, tired but exhilarated from a full and fun day. only in india, my friends. only in india.

26/11

it's the anniversary of the terrorist attacks in mumbai. i remember the day last year, to me it felt eerily like 9/11, roiling feelings of dread and nervousness, not knowing what's going on, wishing you were there while thankful that you're not. i was teaching as the news trickled in, trying to get in touch with friends in school and outside of school, trying to get news on the internet while not neglecting my students.
this one the first attack outside of the US that i could remember where they targeted foreigners. the terrorists entered mumbai from the water, at the Gateway of India, the monument built by the British, from where the British left in 1947 when India got their independence. it's in the Colaba district, a very touristed area. some travelers to Mumbai only ever see colaba, it's where the guest houses are, where many hotels are. When we started hearing about what places were being attacked, I shuddered. I had been to almost every one. Leopold's cafe. The Taj Mahal Hotel. Victoria Terminus (now officially called CST) train station, the Ville Parle Train Station. and the Nariman House, home to Chabad. While i had never been there, i had been to synagogues in mumbai, which has a pretty good sized Jewish population, 3 or 4 active synagogues, and a Chabad house for locals and Israeli and other Jewish travelers. jewish people were targeted. they also looked to single out those holding american or british passports. The attack lasted 3 days, and 166 people were killed.
i was already planning on coming to India, and this only made me feel more strongly about it. and while i didn't know where in the country i would be placed by AJWS, i was starting to feel that i would end up here in mumbai. and i have.
and i love this city. it's exciting, beautiful, exhilarating. it's on the ocean so there are beaches and there is hardly any pollution. it's very diverse with significant muslim, christian, buddhist, sikh, jain and jewish populations, as well as many western expats, and we all get along. (the muslims here don’t understand the radicalization of pakistan and they condemn the attacks as much as anyone.) there are hopping clubs and quiet temples, there are cafés and parks and seaside promenades, there are film shoots happening all the time, and the food is amazingly fantastically delicious and healthy.
the city has bounced back since last year, as india always bounces back from invasions, introductions of new religions, traumatic events and everything else. it’s all absorbed, transformed, and integrated into her. we are all mumbaikars and we love our city. we will never forget the victims of 26/11, and the heros that day. the train announcer who calmly told people to leave the station from the rear exit, over and over, until the terrorists found him and shot him. the group of young Sikhs who brough food and water to the security forces battling the terrorists. the muslim chai-wallah (tea-seller) who ran into the station and helped people to leave and then served tea to survivors and reporters covering the story. the police and other officials who fearlessly walked into the maelstrom, like the firefighters did on 9/11. the caretaker of the baby at the chabad house, who snuck the child out even as the rabbi and his wife were being killed. the workers and guests at the hotels who fought back, knew where and when to hide, how and when to escape, and saved many lives in the process. we remember the fallen and the survivors, and we come together not in fear but in love, in democracy and freedom.
living well truly is the best revenge.

taste the rainbow

There was a story on NPR the other day about skin-lightening cream in India, and how they’re starting to market it to men after years of selling it to women here. Heather and I have seen the commercials for them, and I didn’t know whether to laugh or cringe. I’m settling on cringe.
there are all kinds of products, skin lotions for men and women that contain moisturizers and sunblock and some kind of lightener like lemon juice or enzymes that break down the melanin in the skin.
i guess from the cosmetics industry’s point of view, there’s 500 million more potential customers, but the idea freaks me out. with both genders. i love india so much, the people, the culture, i hate to see them be influenced by the west, but anyway it’s much more complicated than that.
is it just to stand out, to look different? in the West, (white) people go to tanning salons and buy creams to get their skin darker, is that so that they stand out? is it the same thing with skin-lightening? since most people here are some shade of brown, is it just to stand out?
are they trying to look more Western? the trend is very popular in show business, from actors and actresses to models of both genders, almost everyone you see on TV, movies and magazines has light skin, and they’re always trying to get lighter. is that the trend because they’re copying Western media? I hope not.
For there are a few indigenous reasons, too.
There is the north-south rivalry, for one. people from south India are generally much darker than those from the north, and there’s a rivalry between the two that you see a lot. Even in the language; for years the north has wanted Hindi to be the official language of India, but in the south they don’t speak Hindi, they speak Tamil or Kannada or Mayalayam or Telugu, the languages of the states down there, and they are very different from Hindi. That’s why English is so important here; it is spoken all over the country, unlike any of the regional or state languages.
the north-south difference is also very much related to history. throughout India’s history, it’s been invaded multiple times, and the vast majority of those have come from the north, through pakistan and afghanistan, and down into the subcontinent. all of those invaders, the persians, the mughals, and the most important one, the so-called aryan invasion, were all lighter skinned people.
(the aryan invasion is the theory that lighter skinned people entered india about 1500 BCE, bringing with them a language that was the mother language of both Hindi and Latin/European languages. while sometimes disputed, the theory is widely accepted and the Indian culture we know in the north is descended from these people, while the earlier Dravidian people are the ancestors of south Indians, because the aryans didn’t make it that far south. and yes, hitler was enamored with indian culture and stole the term aryan and the symbol of the swastika from the story of those invading people.)
anyway, all those invading peoples had lighter skin than the indigenous people, so light skin is also associated with power and success.
and dark skin is still associated with some of the lower castes, with light skin associated with brahmins or other higher castes.
for all these reasons, it seems that indians are trying to lighten their skin. in newspaper ads by families looking for mates for their children, a light skin color is often mentioned as a desired trait. that’s been going on for a while, but this marketing of skin-lightening cream to Indian men is new.
i guess it’s easy for me to say as a light-skinned outsider, but i have the same reaction as when i see young indian women in jeans or falling for other western trappings. i think, your culture is so rich and so beautiful, your clothing and food and everything, please don’t lose it.
but with the entire history of india, outside influences are absorbed and somehow become wholly indian, the indian culture just absorbing, redefining, and integrating them until everything becomes Indian again. India is strong and only getting stronger, so i guess it’ll just roll with this trend as well, and come out the other side still as Indian as ever, even as the culture changes and grows.

it’s been a long time since i rock and rolled

i think i’m in a band now! i answered an ad for some europeans that were playing in a classic rock band and needed a drummer. it’s not my first instrument, but i played for a couple years with Bandworks back home so i can hang in there. it turns out they also need a singer so i volunteered for that too. it’s crazy doing both at the same time but it’s a fun challenge.
there a guitarist and bassist from england, and also a 2nd guitarist from germany i think (he wasn’t there last night but will be at the next rehearsal). they’re all about my age (read old), but that means we like the same kind of music, pink floyd, rolling stones, dire straits (sultans of swing), david bowie, etc.
they rent out a studio which appeared to be in someone’s house, a room they turned into a rehearsal studio, with microphones plugged into amps, and drums set up. they brought their own guitar and bass. they’re not the greatest players in the world, it’s no Funky Little Shack, but then again i can’t really play drums for the shack. besides the fact that they would never let me get anywhere close to that drum kit! it was really really fun to be playing again, it looks like we’re going to rehearse once a week, and at some point even play at parties or bars. it’s nice to have that, and the frisbee and swimming on sundays, to keep me active and out of the house. i also still want to take hindi lessons (i have a couple leads for teachers) and maybe indian music lessons. i’m speaking some hindi in the shops, and with rickshaw drivers, but before too long i’ll try to fold lessons into my activities as well. things do move slowly here but i’m starting to realize i won’t be here forever so i’m going to get everything out of the experience that i possibly can.