Me and my gov professor

There's not much going on right now outside of papers, so I figure this is a good time to share some stories about my government professor.

Professor H.M. Rajashekara is a wonderful teacher and an all-around good guy. He's clear, understandable, and interesting, and I think I've learned more in this class than any other I've taken here. That said, on occasion he can be one weird dude.

A good portion of the class is spent comparing the American and Indian political systems, which is very helpful. Often, this discussion is derailed into him asking me about America. Keep in mind that he has traveled many times to the US, and lectured at Notre Dame and Princeton. He's not a neophyte by any means. It's just that some of the questions are rather...odd. Here's a sampler

After discussing how the middle of the country is where most of the farmers are: "What is the capital of Nebraska state? Leencawn? What is the population? How large is it? What kinds of things are in that city?" Not only do I not know those statistics off the top of my head, he couldn't quite grasp that there's not much there apart from the Roller Skating Hall of Fame.

After mentioning globalization: "McDonald's is now everywhere in India." Me, as an aside: "Yes, but I hope not many people eat it, because it's not very good for you." Him: "Really?" Cure 15-minute derail featuring me explaining why fast food is not good for you.

Talking about poverty in the US and India: "Isn't it true that the Negroes are the poorest people in America?" That was a word I hadn't been expecting to hear in India. I believe "explaining to your eminent professor that a word he just used is considered racist" is pretty much the most awkward scholastic experience possible.

I did find it fascinating that the idea of fast food being bad for you was so surprising to my professor. Apparently, globalization means we only export the bad stuff, without the necessary caveats.

And thus ends the story of Professor H.M. Rajashekara.

Sound the trumpets, it's Eliza!

Hi dudes,
Sorry it's been forever since I've posted, but I gotta say I've enjoyed
reading yours, as always. It is now about 3:30 pm on Sunday the 19,
and on wednesday I get to leave this place for a long Thanksgiving
weekend. I was going to take the train up to MA to stay with some
relatives, but I've ditched being independent for now for saving money,
because a friend of mine is driving to the same area. Anyway, here's a
summary of what I've been up to (the exciting parts, anyway):
Last weekend, my dad was in town on business, so one day we went out
for brunch, and another he brought my grandparents down for lunch in
Cro, because they've never seen the campus. For the first brunch, we
went to The Seasons buffet at Mohegan Sun. Let me tell you, it was a
pretty fantastic, and way over-filling, meal. If we're ever really
hungry, we gotta go. I probably had one of the largest meals of my
life there, so good thing it was way before Thanksgiving.
This past Thursday night we had the much-hyped "Fall Concert" that
you've probably received emails about, where Blackalicious performed in
Palmer. The Scuds opened the show, and were pretty awful, which was
disappointing. I went with George, and we left after Blackalicious'
fifth song or so, because we weren't really into it. Partly it was
because it was miserably hot in the room, and we couldn't really hear
the vocals. Some people who are more into rap and hip-hop loved the
show, but it wasn't really my thing. I was glad to see what it was
like, though. The show was kind of a test, because when the Roots came
and played in Palmer some years ago, drunk kids really trashed the
place. We were given lots of restrictions this time (no bags, bottles
or jackets inside the building, and no standing on chairs or in
aisles), and if we followed them there would be hope of another big act
coming to campus. As far as I know, things went pretty smoothly.
The last big interesting thing these days is that on Monday I submitted
an application to The Seeing Eye (in NJ) for a guide dog. I'm going to
try to get one for next year, assuming I'm accepted, but it will be a
long application process, so I won't know for some months. I figure it
would be a good idea to start working with a dog here, where I really
know the campus. Plus, that would give me a year to become really a
good team with the dog before moving to a big city. Anyway, you guys
will hear more about that when I do next semester.
Sorry for the rambling. I hope this finds you all well, and I can't
wait to see you all again (which is surprisingly soon, btw).
Talk to you soon,
E
P.S. Sarah, I love your mom for sending me a care package when you're not
even here. I have almost finished a loaf of amazing banana bread!

Fear and Loathing in Brussels

So I’ve been kicking it around Paris for a while, and the motivation to go somewhere comes from here:

Last weekend I was sick, yes, it can happen to the best of us. A lot of people had been sick before me, but I feel it had something to do with getting drunk on the Tuesday night before (we had a holiday the next day so I could sleep it off, I’m not that big of an alcoholic) in the Bastille at a bar, and then walking back to my apartment at 4 in the morning. It seemed like a good idea at the time with a couple of drinks in me, but no. Here is a note from an entry in my log.

Friday November 3rd, 6 PM, glands on my neck swollen, sinus’s swollen. Fever still stands at 102.5. Can barely move the pen across the page, much less move my head, watching the Smurfs, it actually makes more sense in French, I love you Smurfette…

As you can see, delirious with fever. I suppose the scariest part was that my host family wasn’t there, so there wasn’t anybody there who I could ask where I could stumble into a hospital. They go away a lot, which is awesome in the sense that I get an apartment to myself in Paris, but at the same time, aren’t they supposed to feed me?

So I spent the weekend in my bed with the brief exception of going to a concert on Saturday, in which I was definitely hallucinating all the way through. I resolved to finally break out my Eurorail pass the next weekend and go somewhere, and since Brussels was an hour and half away, why not? I needed to figure out how the thing worked anyway, because that’s what I’m doing all of Christmas break. Now people have asked, “Adrian, why are you going by yourself”? Well, I just needed to go somewhere, and it was last minute decision to go somewhere, and well, I feel like I don’t really have any close friends on the trip that I can say, “lets to go Brussels!” at a random time. So I booked a bed at a youth hostel, packed my gear, and headed off.

The point of this essay is simply this: If the European train system was a woman, I would marry her, kidnap her, and take her home with me without a moment of hesitation. It was so easy to activate the pass, get my ticket, get to my assigned seat, and go to Brussels on a high speed train in an hour and 20 minutes. And the ride was so smooooth! It blows Amtrak out of the water, picks up the pieces, and sends it on a monkey steered rocket into the sun.

So I got to Brussels, got on the metro, and found the youth hostel where I was staying. It was actually pretty nice: comfortable beds, free Wifi, lockers for your stuff, a kitchen, and large TV. I roomed with a girl from Canada, two girls from Germany, and a guy from Brazil. And all for something like 25 dollars a night: that’s about as low as it gets.

Everything you have heard about the country is true. There are waffle stands and vendors, and people selling them out of their trucks, and you can get them with hot jam, or berries, or powdered sugar. I had one the morning after I arrived with jam and hot chocolate near the town centre, and it was heavenly, and I was so hungry. More on that later.

So I puttered up and down the cobble-stoned streets, poking my way in and out of beer shops and choclatier’s, and around this way and that. Walked up the main hill of the town and saw the giant cathedral of St. Michel, city hall, and the Royal Palace of Belgium. A lot of the older buildings have a very baroque architecture that is quite both striking and almost grotesque in a beautiful way. That makes no sense, I know, just go with me on this one. It was getting dark, so I wandered back past Parliament and stopped at a Friterie Went back and got my coat, and headed out in search of meal.

You can realize how hungry you are when suddenly you’re walking around, and looking down the street at all the lit up signs of places to eat, and you say to yourself, man, McDonald’s wouldn’t be such a bad idea for dinner. And that’s when you realize that you don’t have any money in your pocket either, or anyone to eat with for that matter. There was place near where I was staying, which was called Le Grand Café. It must have been a two-floor restaurant with a lot of people inside. I looked at the menu, and I definitely could have afforded to go in and eat there, but I couldn’t bear the awkwardness of going into a restaurant by myself and sitting there alone. The funny thing is, I must have walked by it twice that night, and each time I just stood there for a minute and watched people eating and eating through the giant glass windows. Just watched them stuff food in their mouths and gulp down water, wine, and beer, and stood with my goddamn mouth hanging halfway down my face. I eventually found a small Turkish joint, and had some kebabs.

When I came back to Paris the day after, I went to a concert with a friend, and I was so relieved to have someone to talk to and hang out with. It kinda makes me nervous, because this is the sort of thing I'm going to be doing for most of Christmas break, I just hope I can handle doing it for three weeks or so.

In any case, I brought back a supply of jam, chocolates, and beer. I probably should go to sleep so I can go to class in the morning…Peace.

Bombay/Mumbai/I don't even know anymore

Three months into the grand South Indian adventure, we have finally made it to India's cultural capital, as well as its most populous city (I think). 16.4 million people live in this city, and at any given moment half of them are about to run you over as you attempt to cross the street.

Despite the near-death experiences, this is easily my favorite city in India so far. Yesterday we all had the slightly surreal experience of taking a tour through Jewish Bombay. The Bene Israel community of Jews here claims descent from one of the lost tribes of Israel, and DNA tests have shown that they are Cohanim. In any case, although the community has dwindled to about 2000 thanks to emigration to Israel, there are still many standing synagogues throughout the city.

We had a wonderful guide whose name I could not spell or pronounce in a million years who showed us all the wonderful places. I can't upload pictures on this cafe computer, but these looked like any Orthodox synagogue you'd find anywhere in the world, complete with upstairs balcony for the women.

That was nice, but the highlight of the day was when we attended Shabbat services (in Hebrew, completely incomprehensible) and ate dinner at the cantor's home. It was me, two other students, Ed, and his family along with the cantor, his wife and 2 kids, and his in-laws. The little dining room in his apartment was pretty crowded, but I think I can safely describe out first sight of challah in three months as a religious experience. The rest of the meal was too delicious to be believed. I've never thought of hummus as a Shabbat food, but after last night I'm willing to change my views.

I spent today taking the walking tour of Bombay described in my guidebook. My favorite part was making it to Oval Maidan, which is kind of South Mumbai's version of Central Park. When I got there, I counted about 15 pickup cricket matches going on despite the fact that the place isn't really all that big. It was impossible to tell where one game stopped and another began. I was also treated to the heart-stopping sight of a little kid dashing into the street to retrieve the ball. I really wish I had brought some baseball gear; I could be a great cultural ambassador here!

We might go out to a nice nightclub near our hotel tonight. Apparently this is where all the Bollywood stars go to be seen. Wish us luck in making it past the velvet rope.