Mark Twain on India

Mark Twain is one of my favorite writers and I count Huck Finn as one of my favorite books. What I didn’t know was that he spent some time traveling in India! Here are a few of my favorite quotes from his time in India. I also have a new appreciation for his mustache now- it is really sweet!!!

"India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grandmother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only."

"So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked."

"India has two million gods, and worships them all. In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire."

I love all three of these for different reasons- let me know what you think! Here’s one more of his, talking of travel in general that I love:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

Last Weekend in Ooty

I spent last weekend in Ooty, about 3 hours by car northwest of Coimbatore in the Western Ghats. I had a great time and needed a break from work. It was really relaxing and absolutely beautiful- I ate great food and drank fresh tea, saw some beautiful mountains and wildlife and got to check out some gardens around town. Ooty is a ‘hill station’ (resort-y towns built at high elevations) created by the British in the 1800’s as the summer headquarters for the Madras (now Tamil Nadu) government. I can see why, the weather was great there, it was hard to come back to the heat of the Tamil Nadu plains!

The town of Ooty- almost at 8,000 feet, it didn’t feel like India. It was really cool, I actually had a fire in my room at night to stay warm. It was also really nice to be able to walk around and not sweat my ass off!

Adorable.

Tea Plantations- they look ripe for a good frolic but I hear there are three reasons why you might not want to: fertilizer, snakes and leaches. You’ve been warned.


They still are beautiful though, some of the most striking scenery I’ve ever seen!

I took the toy train down from Ooty, it's called a toy train because it rides on a very narrow gauge track. It was built in the 1800's by the Brits and it was a really charming way to leave Ooty. It still runs on a steam engine too, which is pretty cool and totally old-school!

There were great views from the train the entire ride down

This monkey was hanging out on the roof of a train station waiting for handouts- I saw a lot but didn’t get very many good pics.

Sunset in the Western Ghats.

Moustache is the Beauty of Men.

Well, then I just made my upper lip beautiful. I've been getting props all day from locals that have seen me around bearded the last couple weeks too!

How I'm Livin'

I just wanted to share a couple pics of where I’m staying for this month, outside Coimbatore. I am on call 24/7 so I’m pretty much stuck here all the time unless I’m responding to a crash or eating at the local place down the street (the food there is excellent). I do have lots of good reading material, plenty of work to do, and I really enjoy the company of my five co-workers/roommates. We have been enjoying the cooler and drier weather and I’ve been having fun talking over tea and a cricket game. Still, I can’t wait to visit home in about 2 weeks where I can talk over coffee and football!

Cricket! I’m an awful batsman but a worse bowler.

The tall building is an under construction temple and those thatched huts surround three sides of my building.

Tea time with my coworkers/roomies

Sunset from the roof

The mountains from the roof

Swine Flu Panic

Unfortunately, the number of people testing positive for H1N1 has risen to over 1,000 here in India. There were a few cases when I arrived in June, and I was even screened before I was allowed to leave the airport. Last week there was the first fatality related to swine flu and this week the first death in Tamil Nadu- a 4-year-old who lived… at the apartment complex in Chennai I was living in for the first two months I was here! The government has quarantined the entire apartment complex so I’m happier than ever that I’ve been in Coimbatore for the last two weeks! I’m having nightmares of going crazy quarantined in my flat for an indefinite amount of time so I’m relived I got out just in time. The quarantine seems like a drastic measure to me, I don’t think that they would do this back home. However, I also realize that population density is so much greater here than it is in the US that the flu does have the potential to spread at a much quicker rate.


I see many similarities between the way swine flu is being treated here and back home by the media. As many of you know, I am often very critical of the media, how it focuses on sensational stories rather than substance (look what happened to coverage of Iran as soon as Michael Jackson died, or what happens to real political news as soon as there is a sex scandal involving a politician) and when it does have a real news story, it often blows it out of proportion and uses it to create fear. I was strongly critical of the US media’s initial reaction to swine flu in the spring for this reason. Unfortunately, the same thing seems to be true here. Swine flu is an easy story and most important, it SCARES people, and scared people buy newspapers. I’ve seen the words crisis, pandemic, epidemic, catastrophic and disaster used way out of proportion when talking about swine flu. The pictures they use are equally alarmist- biohazard suits, children laying deathly ill in beds, and masses of people on the streets with surgical masks on. Again, swine flu is a real problem, no one has immunity because it is so new, but it seems not many more people die from this strain of flu than any other kind. I wish the media would consider that even though they can sell a lot of papers by scaring the crap out of people, this is not what journalism is supposed to be about, they could report the facts in a much calmer, more rational way. I’m talking to you both, US and Indian media!

Stay healthy everyone- keep washing those hands!

Cell Phone/Flashlight

India, like many developing countries has problems with electricity, it often goes off for an hour or two, especially during peak hours. This can be more than annoying, it can be downright treacherous trying to stumble through a dark room full of obstacles or find what you need. Carrying around a flashlight would make sense but that’s just one more thing you’d need in your pocket and would be a pain, but they have a great solution over here- a flashlight built into every cell phone. Seriously, I have yet to see a phone without one over here. They’re a little LED light on top of the phone and they do a surprisingly great job lighting things up. Smart thinking- I’d actually like one on my phone back home- it comes in handy more than you’d think, even when the power is working!

Male Fashion in TN- Collared Shirts and Either Pants or a Lungi

In the professional environment, everyone has a collared shirt on back home. Outside of that, people prefer t-shirts, especially on hot summer days. Here in Tamil Nadu, no one wears t-shirts, save a few younger people (including my friends at work). Almost EVERYONE wears a collar here it seems like. The poorest people, those living on the streets, doing construction- everyone. And it’s damn hot here! I don’t really get it and this is another area where I’ve asked around- ‘what’s this all about’ but have yet to get an acceptable answer. Just a different style I guess but I feel like I’m totally out of place it whenever I walk around with a T on.

Also, shorts are almost unheard of except again, with a few younger people. Pants everywhere- I just don’t get it, it’s too hot for that! Fortunately, some people cool off here with traditional Indian legwear called a lungi. I kinda want to get one but I’m still not sure how it would be taken. I’ve heard it called a manskirt by some expats but I don’t think that term does it justice, it’s usually worn by more working class people that would totally kick your ass so I wouldn’t be caught calling it that. It’s certainly cooler and breezier than pants and if I was a local I would totally wear it. The great thing about being here is I feel out of place and get stared at anyways so might as well just be more out of place and wear my shorts and a t-shirt. Just an observation.