While many things in India are quickly becoming more and more like the West, there are subtle differences that always remind you that you're "not in Kansas anymore." For instance, while watching a movie at a theatre in the US you may enjoy a Coke (we have that here), some Raisenets (not seen for the last 6 months), and some popcorn (you'll see...) to snack on during the show. In India I enjoyed some ThumbsUp (it's like an herbal Coke) and CORN while watching Thor last night. That's right; delicious cups of loose kernel corn is very popular here in India and is a staple at the theaters. To be fair, popcorn is also served at the theater, but for me a 3D Viking movie is not complete without a delicious cup of salty, spicy corn washed down with some ThumbsUp.

As you can see Reetika is a little bashful of her corn addiction, but together we'll get through it.

On Friday night Lucia organized a Mediterranean night at Tertulia and it was a great time. I was very excited to see when I arrived that they would be serving my favorite soup that evening. I used to pass a bar in Cincinnati called the Mainstay that would often promote a similar "soup" on it's sign board that I would see on my way home from the EDC. The event was a great time with plenty of vino flowing and amazing Italian food that Lucia cooked. There was a ragu to die for that I will have to pester her for the recipe so that I can have my dad try out when I go back for a visit.

This past week was also a NARP offsite team building event in Garudmuchi. I think Garudmuchi means "eagle" and "flat strip of land." This camp was in the middle of beautiful mountains where many eagles nested. It was certainly beautiful scenery for the event. As the events of the day wrapped up we gathered around the pool for dinner and drinks and a sort of talent show. In India it appears to be very popular for people to sing their favorite songs which is okay if you can A. Sing B. Remember the Lyrics of any Song in its Entirety and C. Like Karaoke unfortunately none of these are me. After Marc sang some Elvis, I danced to a local singer name Sheila Ki Jawaani's hit song "Tees Mar Khan" in place of singing. For those of you not familiar with the latest Hindi hits, Sheila is like an Indian Brittany Speers. As I was not familiar with the preferred dance for this song I mixed in a little Beyonce's Single Lady Dance for this little ditty....

Here is Marc on the rappelling wall.

Also, the PDC is really starting to take form. The shell handover is schedule for May 2nd, which at the time of this posting is tomorrow and appears to be a few days off track; however, if you remember from my posts in November the below picture was nothing more than a hole in the ground with a massive pile of rocks surrounding it. The site definitely looks like a PDC now, but now that the walls are up it doesn't appear as large as it did several months ago. I guess coming from the 600K square foot EDC this will appear a tad small.

I also witnessed a local traditional ceremony going on this weekend with some form of ancient technology. I'm not sure if it was some form of magic or what, but when this rectangular object was placed in a rectangular "player" music was emitted. If anyone can help me out with what this technology is I would appreciate learning more about it.