i was going to start this entry with a definition of "monsoon", but the words "heavy rainfall" seemed like quite an underexaggeration after my weekend trip to a rajmaji, a village in the maharashtran mountains. perhaps this entire entry will be an understatement of my adventurous hike. or maybe i'm just trying too hard to be exciting. after a rickety train ride at 6 in the morning, we arrive with...rain...big surprise. i was already contemplating building...

i'm in such a bad mood and i need to write about it as my personal journal is unreachable. today i am sooo sick of india...culture shock? probably. nothing gets done and you can never give people the benefit of the doubt because they never come through. ever. i guess that happens at home sometimes too. and then the rickshaw drivers lie and tell you they know where you want to go and then we end up driving around for an hour in the dark completely ...

last night, we went to the hindi version of "othello" called "omkara". luckily i knew the story as i do not speak a word of hindi. i really enjoyed the movie despite the language difference. we were all very amused by the fact that no one in the movie kissed the entire time, but they definitely showed everything else in the similar category. apparently kissing is more scandalous than everything else. it definitely portrayed the idea that kissing is more terr...

oh and i have a india cell phone now. email me if you want my number.

well, now i must follow up zach's superb writing. in my defense, he has spent over a week on that letter. now for The Update: my birthday on friday was a lot of fun here, the group threw me a surprise party and said it was only because i am "the baby of the group" and it is their "duty to take care of me". as you can see from the pictures, they even ordered me a cake. on a funny note, the hotel owner (that i had never met before) gave me a black and gold...