2 August, 2004

Dear All,
So I know it has been way too long since I’ve written an email, but things are different now and I’m a new person. Actually I’m the same person, just thinner, wetter and corrupted. So much has happened since I last wrote, so be prepared for an email of epic proportions. I am now moved into my apartment in Delhi, so my communication lines are wide open. Where to start? Well, a couple weeks ago some friends and I made a day trip down to Dehradhun, a city near Mussoorie. The main highlights of the trip were great food at the famous Kumar restaurant as well as sweets at the famous Kumar sweet shop. Kumar. Another interesting occurrence was when we ventured into the local coffee chain called Barista. It is basically the equivalent coffee bean or starbucks out here. While I didn’t partake in the drinking of coffee, there were board games and a guitar available for patrons to use. I hadn’t picked up an axe (guitar) in a while, so I thought I would try my hand at it. I started playing some chords (G, E, etc…) and I was invited to sit down with some locals. We started chatting and one of the two gentlemen was a doctor and happened to play guitar himself. He began to play Hotel California by the Eagles and by the end of it, there were about twelve of us singing including the employees. All of the locals new the words by heart and it was definitely a memorable experience. After the good doctor finished playing the song, I thought it would be a good idea to break the guitar over his head. Against my better judgment I refrained and left the guitar intact. Another amazing experience happened a day before we were set to leave for Delhi. There is a small area called Happy Valley nestled in some foothills near Mussoorie. We took a taxi to Happy Valley and were amazed at what we beheld. First of all, we ate at the local Mess Hall and were greeted with our first sighting of beef on a menu since arriving in India. The meal was tasty and then we were shown around the area by a local who works for the administration. Happy Valley is a Tibetan orphanage where over 2000 Tibetan orphans live and go to school. It was amazing and we were treated with such hospitality and generosity. We were invited inside one of the classrooms and it was truly an auspicious occasion. I had never been to an orphanage before and it is truly a different experience to see the faces of thousands that have no families in their lives. The kids were lively, happy and some of the cutest I’ve ever seen. A truly heartwarming experience. The next story involves myself, a couple of friends and a monkey with a baditude (bad attitude). In Mussoorie there was a monkey that would come around our place of residence and make faces at us. He wasn’t very nice most of the time. One time I attempted to feed him and he gave me a lot of attitude and acted like he was going to lunge at me and bite me. I was just trying to be nice, but he wouldn’t have it. One day we came across him and he was going through our garbage. I walked by him and he bared his teeth. I wasn’t too happy about that, so I bared mine and he ran after me. I ran only a few steps before he gave up, but he left a really bad taste in my mouth. Now I just want to say before I continue that I love monkeys. Anyone who knows me understands this fact and knows that I would never harm a monkey. Having said that, a few days later he followed my friend Mike home from the store. He was growling at him the whole time and Mike didn’t appreciate that. We walked outside later that day and he was on our roof. That morning I had taken a few extra pieces of toast and some apples to have some fun with the monkey in question. Well, there he was sitting on our roof with a lot of attitude. We cut up the apples into SMALL pieces and began to throw LITTLE pieces of apple at him. Most of the attempts were failures as we really had to lob the TINY pieces of apple at him to even come close. Well, I happen to throw one and it happened to make contact with the monkey somewhere on his body. He was immediately infuriated and began to run after me on the roof. I was really scared and hid behind a car while watching him. I’ve never seen a monkey so angry in my life. I really thought I was going to get jumped and was quickly planning my escape routes. There were about ten to twelve people watching the whole thing happen and it was quite hilarious but also quite scary. I knew if push came to shove that I could hold my own with this monkey, but the idea of getting bit by a rabid monkey was not high on my list. While the adrenaline pumped through my system I encouraged my friends to create a distraction so I could run. Had there not been such a large number of people watching, I’m positive he would have jumped on me and it would have been a good old fashioned brew ha-ha. I managed to escape unharmed, but I must admit that I was more physically scared at that point in as long as I can remember. The day that we left Mussoorie, our monkey made a final appearance and sat on the roof and watched us leave. In other news, we took our Hindi final and it was a breeze because the teachers were so good and helped us out quite a bit. We have also started trying to speak Hindi as much as possible on a daily basis in attempts to become somewhat fluent before we depart this continent. The day we left Mussoorie we made the ten hour journey by bus and by taxi. Mussoorie was an amazing place and completely surreal. When we arrived in Delhi, we quickly showered and changed and decided to treat ourselves to a nice meal. 18 of us made our way to the famous TGIF restaurant in Delhi. It was an amazing experience and other than the waiters all being Indian, the burgers being lamb, and the Indian MTV on the television, it felt like we could have been back in the states. There was flare everywhere and the DJ, yes they had a DJ in TGIF, was playing awesome American music featuring such artists as Bon Jovi and Aerosmith. It was a great experience and we found a nice club locally that played a mixture of Indian Music and popular American artists such as Pink and 50 cent. It was a really fun night. The next few nights we stayed at the YWCA before finally moving into our respective apartments. The food at the Y was amazing when they let us order off the menu. I must admit that I don’t care much for most Indian food other than my Mother’s cooking. I like the occasional Indian meal, but I really miss pasta, burgers and Mexican food. I have started cooking on my own and will probably eat a variety of said cuisines and try and gain back some of the weight I’ve lost. Speaking of, I don’t have a beard anymore and am currently sporting a variation of a goatee. I think I’ve probably lost five to ten pounds since I’ve been here due to lack of eating very much. I plan on becoming fatty before I return, so worry not about my health. Speaking of, many of you will be incredibly surprised to hear this next story. We were at a bar called the Hotel Gold Regency. It was in a really urban area and we were sitting down to drinks at the bar where a live band played Indian music. All of my friends were drinking and I ordered a drink from the mocktail section of the menu. As I sipped my drink I didn’t think it tasted good and eventually stopped drinking it. I had finished about half of it when my friend inquired about why I didn’t finish it. I told him it tasted weird. It turns out that the waiter brought me a Rum Punch instead of a Rose Punch. It was quite loud in there, so it could have been an honest mistake, but I guess I drank. I felt nothing at all and I think that most of what I drank was OJ since my straw was at the bottom. I’m sure something like this has happened to me before, but it was a strange feeling to know that I had really consumed alcohol for the first time in my life. I was not angry as I understood that it would do me no good. So I have officially been corrupted. Worry not as if I do decide to drink, it will most likely be in the comfort of my home in the states with the people I care about around me. Don’t judge me. In other news, our apartment is really great. I have my own room in a 3 bedroom place and there are five guys total living in our place. A family lives on the ground floor of the apartment and we reside above them. We get along great and are in the process of building a ping pong table for our place. We also have a pretty open room where we play handball. That’s right, handball just like in elementary school. Yesterday we explored our neighborhood and I found gold. There is a McDonalds down the street from our apartment and it is amazing. Yesterday we had one of the most amazing dining experiences ever at McDonalds. We walked in and it was really busy and a lot of rich people were there. We placed our orders. I ordered a Fish filet combo which came to 95 rupees. They give you a game piece in which every person wins something. I won a McSwirl which is amazing soft serve ice cream with a hard chocolate shell served in a cone. The place was super busy so they got us a table and sat us down and then brought our food out to us. They were incredibly nice and constantly asked us if there was anything they could do for us. The service was amazing and the food was just like home. While the menu features no beef, it does feature such Indian favorites as the Veggie surprise and McAloo Tikki burger. We walked out of McDonalds completely satisfied and with a feeling of joy in our hearts because the people were so amazing there. Our neighborhood also features a park that we can walk to in about seven minutes. We bought a basketball yesterday and played basketball for a couple of hours in the 90 plus degree temperature and incredible humidity. It was so good to play basketball again and we are going to try and play twice a week. We finished it up with a friendly game of horse and it was amazing to be doing something so familiar in India down the street from our apartment. The park also supposedly has tennis courts which I will frequent if that is in fact the case. Our apartment also has a weight bench in it, so hopefully I can get back into shape. Speaking of school, I have not started at the University yet and probably won’t start for another couple of weeks. I visited the study center the other day and was pleasantly surprised by a package waiting for me. It was from Faizal and he had shipped my ipod, a magazine, and some balance bars to me. It was truly special to receive mail and the ipod is constantly running. Another amazing moment I had was something that I have cherished my entire life. I had a bowl of cereal. I purchased three boxes of cereal and a carton of milk that doesn’t need to be refrigerated for some reason. I sat down in the squelching heat and enjoyed a bowl of froot loops, made with wheat and some other nonsense, but it was amazing. I am now back on track eating three bowls of cereal per day. So the food situation is improving steadily. Back before we left Mussoorie, after our final exam, we invited the teachers over to our house and put on a talent show for them. I made up a poem that involved a mixture of Hindi and English and it was a hit. Other students also danced and sang. A good time was had by all except for a few guys who had diarrhea. Speaking of, I really miss my own toilet at home. There’s nothing like home court advantage when you really have to go. Unfortunately there were 9 different people that went to the hospital when we were in Mussoorie. Some people had parasites, others had pneumonia and still others just had a case of sliding into first and feeling something burst. Today may have in fact been the first day of the monsoon season we need so badly here. It’s really late as it is and if it doesn’t hit, there may be a water shortage. We were walking to the post office today and it started pouring like nobody’s business. There was thunder and lightning and it was incredibly warm at the same time. Rickshaws were riding through the flooded streets and autos struggled to make it, some getting stuck. I’ve never seen flooding like this in person and we were literally up to our knees in water in the streets after only an hour or two of rain. The waters threatened our sandals and we secured them by curling our toes. The rain eventually subsided but the streets remain flooded. If in fact the monsoon is here, it promises to be long, strong and down to get the friction on. We were completely drenched and most of the buildings lacked power during the rains. I just found out a day or two ago that Shaq was traded. There is a guy that rides through our streets everyday selling fresh vegetables and there are juice stands all over making fresh shakes and smoothies. Life in India is very interesting. I am slowly getting settled and carving out my little niche here. I can already feel a connection to this place that will be hard to be without. I have been here over six weeks and now the time is beginning to fly by. I spent the entire month of July in India. In less than two weeks I will be 1/3 finished with my time here. I am trying to savor every moment, every feeling, every smell (and there are a lot of them). I will try to keep the updates a little more frequent and as soon as I manage to get my blog up and running, I will send the link. There is a 24 hour internet café by my apartment, so my access is as good as it gets here. I hope to hear from all of you soon and hope to write more personal emails now that I am back in Delhi for the next five months or so. I will be traveling a lot, but I look forward to each day. Thank you for reading and please don’t forget about me…
Zameer Noordin Rayani
9871298897
EAP India Study Center
8/17 Sri Ram Road
Civil Lines, Delhi
110054