I know how a snail or hermit crab must feel, bringing its home everywhere. Whenever I travel regionally, I bring my own pillow and as much of "home" with me as possible: shampoo, shower cloth, toothpaste. Books, electronics, electric toothbrush. This is why I prefer to travel by car rather than by plane. The car is another piece of home that I ( Read more... )

There is one useful piece of advice I learned from my father, or was it from Madonna? "It doesn't matter." These days I invoke this idea so often, almost every day. The latest situation where it is applicable is my return to India. I have been planning it so long, it has turned into an obsession. I have started planning things in relation to it, ( Read more... )

Things are 85% under control. That's a big accomplishment given at the beginning of the weekend they were only 25% under control. I worked all day yesterday and today and made a lot of progress, got a lot done. It's never completely done. I wish some days I could literally just sit there and twiddle my thumbs. Alas, I am swimming in a pile of work.

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When a monkey spends its days swinging from vine to vine in the jungle to get around, where are the vines connected to at the top? They are the monkey's connection to the universe. The vine becomes taut when the monkey grabs on to it because up at the top the universe is reassuringly holding on to the other end.

When a spider sits on its web, bouncy ( Read more... )

I will go to the Bahai temple this morning. Then Gurgaon to visit one of our offices and meet some of my coworkers. After that, heading to Noida, another suburb on the opposite side of Delhi to visit our other office and meet the rest of my teams. It will be a nice way to finish off what has been a long but interesting trip with a variety of ( Read more... )

Spending brief moments in a place I cannot begin to comprehend, with its endless intricacy. All Persian stories, like the one about the young lovers who were interrupted by a nosy ex, setting off a flock of storks, can easily be translated into Gay by changing a few names and gender pronouns.

I am staying at a five star resort while outside the ( Read more... )

Now that I am thinking clearly again and not under the influence of testosterone for a few brief hours, a couple quick thoughts.

India is by far way more developed than Nepal. Nepal is like life 100 years ago. India is like 50 years ago. In those 50 years a lot of useful things were invented: central air, hot water, the space program, etc. ( Read more... )

I figured out why I'm enjoying this trip so much. In Nepal's frigid mountains, and now in Jaipur covered in clouds, I have found moments of intimacy that seem so absent from daily life in the US. Here conversations take place behind closed doors, (or in the mountains) people share intimate details about everything. It's actually quite nice and lots ( Read more... )

Exciting news of the day, aside from that my projects are getting done at work, is the Indian visa came in the mail. I was ready to leave for work when I noticed the FedEx envelope stuffed under my front door. I think I mailed it in two weeks ago, so good turnaround time. I would put the difficulty of obtaining this visa somewhere around medium. ( Read more... )

Work is way too busy. Even too tired to jack. Early morning 8am call with India tomorrow. Need to apply for the visa. Will get Nepal flights once Nirmal writes back. Also need to book a rental car for Thanksgiving. What do I want to accomplish on this my third trip to Hawaii? Hang out at ABC stores, flirt with local guys, perhaps go swimming at the ( Read more... )