Boxing in the Philippines

I knew I was in the Philippines when I noticed that one of the stewardesses on the Cebu Pacific flight was named Jolly.

I have a great time in Bontoc the last two days. Today I ran on the backroads and a total of 16 kids ran with me. They would get tired and then I would head back and groups would rejoin as they caught their breath. I am teaching the kids here juggling and they are teaching me Visayan. When I get tired of juggling, I play my flute, and then they start singing, but I tell them I only want to hear Visayan songs. I am determined to learn how to speak Visayan, and I am making some progress.

Last night I was tutoring Barbie in algebra when Judith came in on her motorcycle. It is Judith's class that I will be teaching Thursday and Friday in Libas. She told us that algebra would have to wait. There was something big going on in Bontoc that evening. Well, it was big. Bontoc may only have 100 landlines, but there were between two and three thousand people at the pavilion when we arrived. They were getting ready to watch five hours of boxing. This included 25 three round bouts. Let me tell you. Boxing is a big sport in the Philippines. People used to joke that a military coup was once called off because Manny Pacquio was boxing that weekend.

It was a great joke, but it was probably true.

This was only the second time in my life I had seen a boxing match live, and the last time was over thirty years ago. The bouts were all amateur, but as the evening wore on they got better and better. I could tell by watching that one of the referees had been a great boxer in the past. He truly had presence! By one o'clock the top bouts were being fought, and I could see how skilled these guys were. It is always great to see athletes or performers who are really good at what they do, and these boxers were. And the audience was educated about the sport.

Well, I have to go. Being here, feels like going back in time. There are few televisions. Most households don't have computers, and all washing is done by hand. One would be fooled in thinking these kids are deprived. In may ways their lives are far richer than the lives of kids in the city. The way they sing, the way they play, and the sense of adventure that they have is something that I remember from when I was young. And they still have it.

Rupees and Bhats

In India the rupee has a picture of Gandhi on it. In Thailand the baht has a picture of the king. The king is revered here. His picture is everywhere. People wear polo shirts with the monarch's emblam on the front. His name is Bhumibal Adulyadej, and he is among other things a jazz fan who has composed and performed a number of songs. He has been the monarch since 1946 and from what I have read he has done quite a bit for Thailand. I say this knowing that I need to do much more research including listening to the CD of songs that he wrote. And, of course, trying to learn them on my flute. ha ha

I will be leaving for the Philippines tomorrow where I will start by teaching at Bontoc High School then going to Libas High School. I am really looking forward to it.

I am continually thinking of things I would like to see in our curriculum about Asia and several things come to mind. For India, of course, learning about the life of Gandhi is really crucial. He did a huge amount for India, but he also had a big influence on America in terms of ideas about non-violence. For the Philippines, Jose Rizal is a national hero who students really should know about. His book Noli Me Tangere was the book for which he was executed, and it was the reason the Philippines fought for independance from Spain. Having students learn about Thailand's monarch, I think, would be fascinating because today monarchs are seen as such anachronisms, but this monarch really does seem to have changed the course of Thailand's development. In Korea the amazing leader to me is the king who had his scholars totally re-invent the Korean symbols for writing. This may not seem important, but it really lead to a much more logical way of communicating and allowed so many more people to become literate.

I will finish with a few funny observations.

In India the amazing thing to see is cows wandering through the streets including highways. In the Philippines one is jarred awake by the sound of roosters. They are used in cock fighting. In Thailand the amazing thing to see is the number of stray dogs wandering the streets. If you can imagine the Loop with a dog on each block you get the picture.
Throughout Asia, the really remarkable thing I have noticed is the number of open air markets everywhere. There is practically no unemployment here, and the presence of these markets is probably one reason.

Got to go. I have a chance to run twice a day now that I have left Bangkok and I am using it. Ha ha

Growing Too Fast

Thailand is a country that makes a lot of money on tourism, but the common refrain is, "You don't want to stay in Bangkok very long."

There is a reason.

Pollution

and another reason

Traffic jams

Like many cities in Asia and perhaps in the world, Bangkok has grown too fast, and when I sat on a bus that didn't move for over 20 minutes I thought it was unusual. It apparently wasn't.

We also take our grid system for granted. Not a good idea. Many people here can't seem to read maps, there are few street signs and today a taxi ride of less than five kilometers took over 90 minutes because the driver got lost.

But there are saving graces. The skytrain was wonderful and reminded me of Seoul, and apparently there is a subway system that is great too. In addition, there is a wonderful commuter boat ride on the biggest river that takes people to an amazing set of shrines.

But these are such small parts of the overall transportation system...

I wonder why transportation isn't studied more in math, science, and social studies classes. It has so much to do with global warming, the way people spend their time, health conditions, and even happiness---note that my favorite part of the day is running to school and even better running home...

Bye for now

Tai Yang Restaurant

You may never believe this, but I am putting in a recommendation for a restaurant where you should go if you get to Bangkok. It is a place called Tai Yang located near the Ibis Siam Bangkok Hotel on Ratchapralop Road.

Why am I recommending a restaurant? Well, the food is really good--A Roi is the word for delicious here-- but the main reason is that I prefer restaurants where I know the people. In Hyde Park, Pizza Capri and Cedars are the two places that I love. I know the owners, and it is so much like the past when people were less anonymous. Well, Tai Yang is a restaurant where I have been going every evening, and the owner, Pornphet Saekow, each day teaches me a new Thai phrase. The tables are marble slabs placed over Singer sewing machines with foot pedals. I remember when my mother had one of these Singer machines.. Eventually the sewing machine companies in Thailand advanced beyond the foot pedaled machines, and the old ones here were recycled as restaurant tables.

The place is simple and airy. I first became friends with the people there when there was a torrential downpour. There are books about Buddhism placed around the restaurant, and when I asked about Buddhism, Pornphet told me about the Buddhist way of life. As she described it, it was a way of life where people slow down and become less obsessed with time and possessions. With the crowding that I see in Bangkok and the huge tourist trade I can see how one can try to avoid this kind of life.

Yesterday, I met Lika who is an editor of textbooks in Thailand. It is fun trying to communicate with someone when both people have just a simple understanding of the other person's language. I know maybe ten Thai phrases, and although Lika knows much more English, it was really a puzzle how to say things. So I got out my flute and my tennis balls. There were not many people there so I showed them how to juggle. ha ha. Then I played two pieces that Danny and I composed. Music is a universal language like math, and it is so much easier than memorizing long lists of vocabulary.

It is interesting to see how people manage in places like India where the average student has three languages to master. Apparently people learn how to pickup phrases that are needed. English is definitely the universal language that is emerging, but this seems like such a ridiculous choice with the many problems that exist in our language.

Got to go.

The Influential Harry Fee

When I was little I had a neighbor named Harry Fee. He was always getting me in trouble. I remember particularly well the time he suggested I fill a paint can full of kerosene and throw in a match. The way I remember I just threw the match in without lighting it, but I also remember a huge fireball. I remember quite vividly even today. But I know that there was one time I got him in trouble. We lived four miles from school, and one day I remember looking at the steps to the bus and the green grass near the parking lot and suggesting to Harry that we should walk home.

And we made it.

Well, we made it half a mile when Mrs. Case, the first grade teacher picked us up and drove us home.

These two things happened when I was six.

But I have never lost the love of walking and running. So on my first day in Bangkok I ran and walked for 3 hours. Well, almost all of it was walking. The running was in a beautiful spot named Lamphini Park. It is a beautifully manicured place, and along the way I heard a group of people chanting and dancing to drums and singing "Hare Krishna." I passed another spot where people were practicing martial arts and two other pavilions where students were reading as a teacher read aloud to them. Nearby there were high rises that seemed not much different from North Michigan Avenue. There are cars everywhere, and as I write this I can smell the exhaust. Traffic is fast here, and although there are motorcycles and scooters right now it seems much like the traffic I would expect in Chicago.

On the way to the park I passed through some great market areas. Jay has spoiled me so I really want just to eat vegetarian food, but the street food is great to smell and look at. And the pineapples and mangos are delicious. I think the word is a roi. Remember to roll the 'R.'

Occasionally I look up above these markets and see housing that looks tiny. I have no clue how the real people live here. Bangkok does have an overwhelming look of a city that lives on tourism. India had its Hindu temples and Islamic mosques, but I seem to see so many Buddhist temples here.

Last night I had dinner at nice restaurant that is located halfway in the open, and there was a torrential downpour. I ended up talking with the owner practicing what little Thai I know. Sa Wat Dee Krup and A Roi. That's where I learned the pronunciation.

Have to go soon. By the way, I had to stay over for twelve hours at Calcutta, and I discovered that there was a dorm at the airport. For about $17 dollars I got a room which included a roommate, M.D., Arfan Ali, who was a Senior Vice President of the Bank Asia LTD in Dhaka. He told me of the problems of lack of infrastructure in the area where he works. He comes from a small village an hour from Dhaka where he helps out children who go to the mosque there. He invited me to come teach there. If I keep breathing in fumes here in Bangkok, I may take a train to Dhaka to get a little change of pace teaching. Ha ha. Just joking. But it would be great to see what Bangladesh is. It is, I am told, the most densely populated country in the world with about 147 million people. The water problems seem like something I should investigate.

Bangkok and "Billions of Entrepreneurs"

I have arrived in Bangkok. After India it just looks like another American city. I had such a wonderful time in India and Korea, that it will be hard for any other country besides the Philippines to meet my high expectations. On the last day in Bangalore Jay took me to meet Vishwanath S. who is from the International Rainwater Catchment Systems Associates. This visit was really great, and Jay and I are thinking of ways that we can get the school in Bangalore to work with Ancona on a water project. Water will be a major problem in the world in the next couple decades, and it is important that people start thinking about it. The ideas I got from this visit were really profound. I will have to write more later.

After that visit we saw a green architect, and this was equally fascinating. The ideas I am getting from these discussions are really worth discusing with my students and other students I meet. Being around Jay and her husband is like being around Reshma. It is truly fun to be able to think!!!

Ashok suggested to me a book that one of his friends just wrote, and at the airport I got it. It is called Billions of Entrepeneurs. It deals with the economic boom that is taking place in India and China. When I read the first paragraph, I felt like he had just stolen an idea that I have had for the last few months. Ha ha. The ignorance that Americans have of Asia is monumental, and it really needs to be remedied. Jay and Ashok were in the US for at least fifteen years, and although they really love India, they really love the wilderness in America and the efforts Americans do try to be fair. We also are capable of making very rapid changes in America, and I am sure if we see ourselves going in the wrong direction, we are capable of turning things around.

Sambhavi, Manasa and Jayashree

ZEUS: This blog is being written by a committee of youngsters.

SAMBHAVI: Sambhavi is five years old and would like to say that Zeus juggled at her school and at her home. Sambhavi and her sister study at "Namma Shaale" - a Montessori school whose name translates to "Our school" in Kannada. Their mother Jayashree teaches yoga at the school. He played the flute for us, and my classmates called him the "juggling man". Sambhavi's cousin Sanjeev will be in her sister's class next month. Sanjeev, as most of you know is Reshma's son, and he is coming to Bangalore from Chicago.

MANASA: I am Sambhavi's sister. My name is Manasa. I am seven and a half, but that is almost eight. I learned about parabolas from Zeus. Zeus said anything that is thrown forms a parabola. He showed us how to play the flute. We blew across a water bottle, and I could make the sound of a flute. He gave us each a juggling ball and three tennis balls. And we got a big wooden drum. He and Dad will later get us a wooden flute. At school my classmates and I had a class of juggling and flute playing. We came home and played chess and monopoly, and Zeus videotaped my sister doing Indian dancing.

We had a big party at our school to honor Zeus. We had cake too.

JAYASHREE: I am Jayashree - Manasa and Sambhavi's mum and I wont tell you how old I am! I loved cooking for Zeus. He loves to eat and it was worth every bit of my effort. I cooked him dishes from North, South, Western India. No dishes from the Eastern part this time. He will have to come again. I hope Zeus has gained a little weight. He's been playing the flute so often I'm going to miss the live music over dinner starting tomorrow. We hope Zeus visits again. It has been such a pleasure for all of us. And...I am practising the very basics of juggling too.
Tomorrow I plan to take Zeus to visit an amazing group that has been building completely sustainable houses out mud brick houses and with rain water harvesting built in. He is looking forward to it. We've had some discussions on Gandhi and non-violence which I've enjoyed a lot.

ZEUS: The Naama Shalee School is really beautiful, and it has been great fun teaching there. Everyone knows me, and everyone knows about parabolas which by the way are pronounced as pair a bow las in India. The part of Bangalore where we are staying is so much less congested than the big cities we have been visiting although I have not really seen the central part of the city. This is really a part of the booming India that we have been reading about. I am really getting more impressed with how diverse this country is. Almost all the students here are learning three or more languages, and in this area most people are Hindu but there are lots of Christian churches too. By the way, did I mention that almost every house has a "God Room". That is the way it was described to me by one of the older students. Men here are much less likely to wear turbans. I have been listening to lots of Indian music, and it really is so much different from anything I have ever played or heard before.
Got to go. Tomorrow evening I am off to Bangkok.

Bangalore

I left Trivandrum yesterday. Sree, Anya, Domonique and Kari are off to Bombay. The visit with Sree's parents was fabulous! They were just the nicest hosts you can imagine. This whole trip would not have taken place had it not been for Sree, and I owe him a debt of gratitude!!!!!! By the way Kari knows how to juggle, and Domonique tells me that she is working on it too.

When were leaving we went to a Hindu temple. Sree, his dad, and I got two coconuts each and part of the ritual was to smash them against a stone wall then to go forward to an alter an pray. It was a ritual that Sree and his dad went through when we arrived, and this was our way of departure.

At one point I talked with the three girls, and we concluded that India had less diversity than the United States. For example, we have people from every continent while most people in India can trace their ancestry back to this country. However, I am beginning to think that this idea needs to be modified.

India has amazing diversity, but it is of a different sort than America. For example, I am now in Bangalore--the fourth city I have visited--and here the main language spoken in Kanada. All four cities have a different language!!!!!!

I am now visiting Reshma's sister-in-law Jayashrree and her husband Ashok and their two beautiful daughters. They are so much like Reshma -- smart, talented, and just so so interesting. Jayashree's one vice is that she buys books by the dozen, a vice I share, and talking with her and with Ashok is so stimulating. She is a wonderful cook and makes fabulous vegetarian dinners. She pointed out to me that India has more diversity in its cuisine than any other country, and I am really seeing this. Food differs greatly from region to region, and with different religious groups the food that is eaten greatly changes.

By the way, both in Trivantrum and in Bangalore we eat with our hands. In Trivandrum, Sree's parents welcomed us with a feast where all the food was served on banana leaves. I must say, I seem to be eating enormous amounts of food, and I am not gaining any weight. The school where I started teaching is absolutely beautiful. It is a Montessori School and all the students call me "Zeus Uncle." Interestingly, the students there seem to not have much interest in fast foods. They bring food that is cooked at home, and practically all of them say that they eat together with their family every evening and every morning. We start the day with yoga, and then they go to classrooms which are open and airy. I have started videotaping their observations, and today I had them say hi to individual members of my class at Ancona. Hopefully, we will be able to keep up these contacts. The students here like the students in the Cambridge School are really a nice group.

Have to go now.

Trivandrum

We are in Trivandrum. It is so beautiful here. It reminds me of Bohol in the Philippines. Sree's parents live here, and they have shown us a great time here. Yesterday we went on a four hour cruise of a beautiful lake on a houseboat. The food is truly delicious! You should get a link to Trivandrum.

Here are a few brief observations:

There are many more men here wearing dhotis. I have no clue how they keep them up.

Frequently one sees a whole family on a motorcycle with the mother riding sidesaddle wearing a beautiful sari and holding one of the children in front of her. The other child sits in its father's lap. It really looks amazing.

There are red hammer and sickle flags about. Both Trivandrum and Bengal have strong communist parties.

Every night at 8 the electricity goes off for half an hour.

I got a hair cut for approximately $2.50. Then I decided to get my beard trimmed. Ha ha. You would not believe how short it got. Anya insists she will make copies of the before and after. I feel like Samson. argh.

Many people here really are very unhappy with George Bush's foreign policy. Is this a surprise?

Leaving Calcutta

It was 3 a.m. when we left Calcutta, and the air was still warm and humid. At the corner a block away from where we stayed there were four people sleeping on mats on the sidewalk, and at the other end of the block there were five more people sprawled out. I had come to Calcutta with images of poverty that were pretty dreadful. For the past twenty years I have been hearing about how there are people living on the streets in this city, and often there are reports that one will be walking past people dying there. In the week that I was in Calcutta I encountered two people begging. That was actually less than what I would find in Chicago, but these were a little boy and a mother with two kids in hand. It does appear that these people on the street are making some kind of a living selling things at the markets that they have there. They get their water from a pipe at the corner, and they do their washing at that corner. Cooking is often done on the street with a little stove. I am told that everyday 1.5 million people make their way into Calcutta to sell things so the question is: are these people on the street permanently living there or are they just there for a short period. I cannot ask them because they speak Bengali. In Delhi it was Hindi, and in Trivandrum it will be Malayalam. Some people speak English, but many do not, and I doubt that these street people do. And how would I ask them anyway? It is clear that many parts of India are booming, but the streets where I spent my time were very crowded. filled with exhaust from vehicles and the constant noise of cars honking. I wish I could find out the life story of some of these people. I do not see people dying on the streets, but I do not see evidence that the children living on the streets will be able to compete with children who have a more permanent place to stay.

By the time we get to Bangalore on the way to Trivandrum we see an airport that looks like it could have been built yesterday. It has the modern look of an airport that could be anywhere. This was "shockingly modern relatibvely speaking" according to Dominique.

I must go...

Cambridge School

Teaching at the Cambridge School in Calcutta was a wonderful experience. Sarjesh Makherjee who owns the school was a great host just as Tom and Jocelyn had been in Seoul. I have been so lucky! All the administrators, staff, and students at Cambridge made me feel at home, and I only wish I could acknowledge everyone personally. I probably ended up seeing just about every student in the school, and I feel like I have lots of new friends.

The Cambridge School has a direct connection with Cambridge University, and in size it is very much like Ancona. Classes are small and there is an emphasis on discussion, questioning, and life long learning. Most of the students are from India, but a sizable proportion are from foreign countries. In fact, nine different countries are represented with the largest representation from Seoul. I got a chance to practice my Korean in almost every class. For the most part my teaching started with me juggling and then discussing with the students how this was related to ideas of parabolas and the work on Galileo. Well, almost all of it was like this. I left out a little of the physics when I saw the preschoolers! I also got a chance in most classes to perform some of the songs Danny Buenconsejo and I will perform in Cebu. A group of Korean students performed a gospel song with voice and flute, and then I joined them playing Arirang while they sang.

It is always fun to be able to relate juggling tricks to Galileo, and I certainly noticed how all the students seemed to know of the work of Isaac Newton. Well, I guess since he was an alum...

Following these physics and music lessons, we would talk about what America and India are like. Most kids knew much more about America than any of us know about India. With the high school students there were several very memorable discussions in which the students complained that India is being overwhelmed with consumerism. It was a pleasant surprise to see people complain about malls and the jobs that they are taking from poor people, and when several of them noted gleefully that the first McDonald's in Calcutta had burned down in an accident, I realized I was really not in America! Ha ha. It was great to hear that good taste still exists.

After Three Days of Teaching

This is the end of my third day of teaching at the Cambridge School in Calcutta. I have had a tremendous time teaching kids from preschool to high school and have made many great friends among the students and the faculty.

The Cambridge School is much like Ancona. It has small classes with bright students who are not afraid to question and think. Most of what I have taught has been from my lesson about juggling and algebra although I have modified it greatly for younger kids. I am really looking forward to having my students in Ancona share experiences with the students here. They would really like to do the same. Their knowledge of America is far more extensive than what we know about India. They can all tell me about Barack Obama, and, of course, Michael Jordan. Of course, there was the student who told me he thought that Chicago was a city in the state of Boston, but for the most part they are not pulling my leg. ha ha

Calcutta was, on my first trip around the city, a more prosperous looking city than Delhi, but I was told that this was just appearances. There are, indeed, some beautiful places here, and the lake where I run each day is one of them. Anya, Domonique, and Kari were happy to discover that there are malls here too. In this respect Calcutta looks like the new India that we keep hearing about.

But there are other places which we would never see in Chicago. The place where we stay is nice, and I am indeed thankful that it has air conditioning. Calcutta is very humid. When I look out my window in the morning, I see a small group of people gathering around a pump where they collect buckets of water. There is usually one or two people with soap washing up there while others are filling their buckets. Across the street is a beautiful woman in a bright yellow sari She is wearing earrings and a nose ring She is the street sweeper for these two blocks. At least once every day while I am waiting for our driver I see someone running past with his rickshaw. I have become used to seeing bicycle powered rickshaws, but to see someone running with another person seated behind me was truly an amazing thing for me. I don't see too many runners in this city, but this is clearly an example of India's distance runners.

There are many people here with servants, and this reminds me of the Philippines. There are also many people living in temporary housing -- often tents. But what I see here also are people sleeping on the street. In a country with lots of cars, lots of malls, these extremes of wealth are truly jarring. I have gotten to know just a few people on the streets. One older man with a long beard asked me if Anya, Domonique, and Kari were my "followers". If they are, they certainly haven't been showing their guru enough respect. ha ha

Sreer finds the traffic with its constant honking almost intolerable, and I am beginning to agree with him. I am amazed that I have not seen an accident yet. The air pollution here is like what I have seen in Payatas in the Manila area. You can smell it. I have now discovered that the improvements in air pollution in Delhi were a result of laws there. Natural gas is now proving to be cheaper than gasoline, but it happened because of governmental intervention. Apparently, its air pollution was really intolerable, but today it is much, much better. Dust from the dry conditions is what remains, but this is an amazing improvement over what has occurred in many Asian cities. This is something that many cities can learn from.

I have been really impressed with the quality of the newspapers here. Chicago's papers really seem to go in to so little depth compared to what I am reading here. I am finally getting some sense of what the issues are related to the Nuclear treaties, but in America I am not sure that I would have even recognized that this was an issue.

My access to the internet here has not been too good. I will hope to get pictures as soon as I can.

Just North of Calcutta

We are staying in an area just north of Calcutta where we are just relaxing for a day. I have been really thinking about transportation a lot lately. Of all the countries I have ever been to, this country seems to have the most chaotic transportation system. However....

It is the country that seems to be dealing the best with the energy crisis.

I had this in the back of my mind and thought it was just a random thought that should be ignored, but then I noticed a letter to the editor in the paper here.

The writer praised bicycle riders for being the solution to many problems. Three of them were:
1. The energy crisis
2. The problem of pollution
3. The need for exercise

Now, this solution is something I hear practically no one talk about with the exception of my friend Jamie Kalven. Certainly the vast majority of people on bikes would probably prefer a Lamborghini were all expenses paid for so the problem seems to be economic.

India is the country where I have seen compressed natural gas being used along with propane. I also saw some evidence of electric powered motorcycles. The real price of transportation, however, is not just the fuel price but also the road construction, the price of the vehicle and the price of parking. Many countries can barely afford to maintain these things just for the use of the very wealthy.

So much for transportation. I will have to solve this problem some other day. haha

While running today, I was again struck that the heavy labor of carrying dirt in construction seems to be done mainly by women.

Other random thoughts:

-There are so many people who open doors and serve here. It is so much different than Korea and the US, but very similar to the Philippines.

-In Korea, I wanted to write down the name of a political figure, but I only had a red pen. Tom told me not to write his name down in red. It is apparently bad luck or perhaps an insult.

-In Korea, people celebrate the 100th day after someone's birth or the 100th day that a couple has been together.

-In India two cars often share one lane in passing and often a car will pass a truck on the left with inches between the vehicles leaving one to think the end is near.

I have little time for the internet here so I will have to race to a finish. Bye for now.

Running in Delhi

None of the three young ladies took me up on my offer to go run so I had to do it myself. It was so much easier running without the afternoon traffic so I got a chance to run behind some of the bikers. There are many of them! The park where I run has several groups of people doing yoga and meditating. The seem to end with clapping which I, of course, appreciated greatly because my speedwork is getting better. ha ha.

Across the street from the park is a huge dirt field where there are people living in blue tents. I was about to think that these people were all down and out, but having started Gandhi's biography I have begun to wonder. He talks in it about moving to smaller and smaller quarters to save money, and I have begun to wonder how many of these people are actually working. Two kids ask me my name and I shout it back, and then another asks where I am from and I yell, "Chicago". For the most part people speak HIndi, and I am a little surprised to hear English. I have noticed both here and in the Philippines that poorer people seem to be very attractive. For Americans who prize being thin and having tans this seems understandable. It was interesting to notice that some of the people from the tent area bring buckets to get water from the irrigation hose in the park. I remember Reshma telling me once that for poorer people the time spent looking for water is much greater than for middle class people.

We will be leaving for Calcutta this evening. We have really enjoyed getting to know Mr. Banga. He is a Seikh, and he has a great sense of humor. Last night we had dinner at his house with his two boys. His wife and the two house servants served us, but it was disconcerting to see her not eat until we were finished.

We visited a shirt factory this morning. Outside were about twenty bicycles and a handful of motorcycles. There were metal containers called diffin which men use for carrying their lunches. The men working at the sewing machines were in their twenties and thirties, and they might have been the people that I was racing when I returned to the hotel. Ha ha.

I will have to end here. I have so much to say, but I have to rush. Lunch is waiting.

Delhi

I have arrived in Delhi, and it is so different from any place I have ever been! After arriving at the airport, I was taken by Mr. Banga's driver to the hotel where Sreer Nair, his daughter Anya and her two friends--Domonique and Kari---are staying. We have done much travelling in Delhi, New Delhi, and areas south in the last two days. We have seen the Taj Mahal, the memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, the Bahai Temple, the Quaban Tower, and the Swaminarayan Temple. (I am hoping that I have not butchered any spellings). The Taj Mahal is truly amazing, and Gandhi is one of my greatest heroes so these have been great experiences. The Bahai Temple was wonderful, and I am getting a sense of the amazing history of this country.


Domonique thought that, "The Taj was rather cool with its all around intricate symmetry." Kari noted that people were more interested in taking pictures of Americans than they were of the tourist sites. Anya can only say that she is hungry having had some of the worst McDonalds in the world can obtained here. The think that putting Mc as a prefix is not sufficient for making this a truly American corporation. Anya believes the quality of the food at this franchise is truly McNasty. LOL. I must admit that the traffic here has really been overwhelming. Coming from Seoul where there is such order and precision, the roadways here are amazingly chaotic. I have seen on the roads, the following: bikes, bicycle powered pedicabs, carts pulled by bikes, people, oxen, horses, and camels, scooters, motorcycles, people on foot, cars, buses powered by compressed natural gas, and motorcycle powered tricycles. I think I may have missed something, but there is such a mixture speeds and vehicles everywhere that it feels like total anarchy. Cars weave in and out often keeping within inches of one another, and I am amazed to have not seen an accident yet. Manila seems so organized next to this. Am I criticizing everything? At first I was. The mixture of speeds with each vehicle makes for very slow movement at times. But in time I began to wonder whether all this was bad. Mr. Banga is the manager of a factory that we visited today, and as we entered I noticed that the parking lot was filled--twenty five bikes! I am sure that if they had the money, the workers would all be driving cars. But would this ever be possible?? I really wonder what will happen as oil becomes more difficult to obtain. Will we be starting to use other alternative ways of getting to work?

I went running when I returned from our travels today, and in a large park it was comfortable if a little hot. Walking on the way back, I suddenly decided I would just jog anyway even if it involved weaving through traffic. The opportunity to outrun one of the bicycled powered pedicabs was too much to resist and I did win even if the driver didn't know we were racing. Then I decided to see if I could keep up with one of the motorcycle powered tricycles. Argh, he pulled away just slightly. Tomorrow I will have to see if man can beat machine.