Weekly Recap

I'm definitely starting to spend more time in Phaltan and the "amazing" roads on the way to Phaltan. Last Friday while traveling to the Megasite, Vidyut and I encountered several overturned trucks, but this was our favorite:

Fortunately the driver of the truck was uninjured and more than happy to see Vidyut and I for our photo shoot.

Friday's visit to the Megasite allowed me the opportunity to recognize a few of the safest construction workers that are working on the PDC site. This was a great opportunity to give back to the men and women that are making what was only a hole in the ground when I arrived in November 2010 into a world-class PDC. Here I am with a gentleman that consistently encourages safe practices while working at heights of over 45'!

The PDC has really come a long way from where we started last fall....

Yet another change has come in my life as well recently: The addition of a lungi to my wardrobe. This piece of clothing which is nothing more than a large, rectangular swatch of cotton has changed my life! Although it is the cheapest piece of clothing I've ever purchased, at just 98INR, I feel like royalty donning this garment after work in my flat. It's worn essentially like a towel after the shower and is extremely comfortable. While purchasing the lungi in Phaltan I was greeted by 6 men that wanted to help me, they showed me about 25 different colors and patterns, photographed me and had me autograph it! Little did they know that I would be just another Phaltanite in a few months.

Along with the lungi for the summer months here, the lizards have begun to come out of hibernation as well. Recently while at the kitchen sink I stumbled across this little guy.

"Kevin J. Lizard" was actually not as fierce as he probably appears in this photo and I kept him with me for a few hours and then released him. I was certainly more scared of little, 3" Kevin than he probably was of me.

One of Kevin's relatives is also staying at the house I've decided to lease in Phaltan. In fact there were several of his "kin" in the kitchen of the bungalow.

Hopefully this little vodoo doll that graces the entrance to the bungalow will start to keep out lizards, not just the "Evil Eye."

After seeing many bungalows and flats in Phaltan where the owners were not prepared to install A/C or a refrigerator (too cosmopolitan) finding this 4 bedroom (1 room for me, 1 for Sriram, 1 for Sarang and 1 shared room for the Vijay's and Praveen), Phaltan Palace was a relief. The little, old Muslim man that owns the place was really sweet as well and offered to let me move in immediately with him until he could move into another bungalow if I need a place to stay.

Breath taking views....

It's really hard to believe that these small, one-room shacks are right outside the bungalow's compound-like wall. I think this is where the domestic help lives that take care of the property. But, you can notice that even the smallest of shacks have satellite dishes for Tata Sky television! I've even seen these dishes on straw huts!

I will likely be the fairest-skinned of all the Phaltan mango farmers...

Finally, I also stumbled upon the Phaltan Sexual Health Clinic earlier this week...

This small van promised to cure all your sexual ills. I thought this was an awfully odd spot for my realtor to choose to meet all the Phaltan listing agents!

Even this little puppy thought this van was funny.

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.

Easter in India (Rated NC-17)

This weekend, like all good Indians, I spent my Easter Sunday enjoying tangerine juice, dahl, enjoying temperatures of 101 F and paying the property taxes on the flat. It was nice to see that our trusty government servants are working hard on the holidays.

The worst part of Easter Sunday was the shocking realization that I encountered on Easter morning.... I awoke to a flat without an Easter basket! Initially I thought the Easter bunny had simply played some cruel joke on me and hid it like years past, but after a thorough search of the flat I could only find the 3 little chocolate eggs that I had purchased from Dorabgees the night before. It was with this shocking realization that I put two and two together and figured out that it was these 3 all along that had been delivering the Peeps to me....

That's right; "Pete Man" and my parents had been the Easter Bunny all these years!

All and all it was a great weekend and I learned an important lesson; do not go grocery shopping at Dorabgees without first checking to see if you've reached your American banking spending limit for the day. On Saturday Reetika and I were shopping and ended the shopping at Dorabgees buying some much needed groceries. After checking out and being presented with a 9600INR bill I handed over my 5/3 debit card only to have it be declined! Needless to say there was panic in my eyes over the fears of having to spend the rest of the evening bagging groceries in that non-A/C grocery store, disposing of the mutton that didn't sell for the day and mopping up spilled, unpasteurised milk, but fortunately Reetika came to the rescue and bailed me out!

We haven't come up with a repayment agreement yet, but I'm assuming my amazing break dancing skills (garnered from a "tough" life on the streets of Over the Rhine), superb culinary abilities (I can slice a mean watermelon and butter the heck out of some toast) and being the largest importer of Twizzlers in the East, which I am willing to share, should be a sufficient form of repayment.

I also had the opportunity to try "chicken lollipops" this past week as well. They are chicken meat that has been taken off some part of the chicken, soaked in a sauce that tastes like fire, surgically reattached to a chicken bone and then fried. Delicious little, Frankenstein-like treats...

Culinary Firsts....

This week marked some culinary firsts here in Pune; first batch of Indian cuisine that I love and first beef experience outside of a hotel. "Khati rolls" have pretty much changed my life. Imagine a tortilla that is thick, greasy and delicious filled with some magical sauce, more greasy cheese and tender white meat chicken; this is a chicken reshmi seekh roll. Another option that instantly made my face red and sweat under my eyes, the bhuna mutton khati roll, which loosely translates to "roll which causes indigestion and heartburn" in Hindi or "roll that Reetika thinks is funny to have me try" in Marathi.

The next culinary delight was a trip on Saturday to "Burger King." This was unlike any Burger King that I have ever visited, but it was awesome! It is an outdoor establishment near the Westin in Pune that serves steak burgers. These steak burgers are again different than those in the US, more like a beef pot roast that has been pulled apart, soaked in yet another type of magical sauce and plopped on a bun. Regardless of the fact that it was about 190 degrees on Saturday the hot burger and cold, green apple Fram soda were delicious. I could barely finish half of the steak burger, but Reetika surprisingly was able to down 2 of these steak burgers, a large fry and 8 gulab jamuns...

Behind Burger King was "Birdman Poultry" which offers "chicken lollipops." I have no clue what a chicken lollipop is, but am really wanting to find out! There is also a great restaurant which serves a mean pineapple pancake and Hoegarden on draft for the perfect Sunday brunch. The place is called Prems and has an awesome beer garden like feel to it. Not quite the the Hofbrauhaus, but still a great place to chill.

Summer Time in Pune and a Few Firsts

It is now officially summer here in Pune and that means extreme heat and it's only March. Apparently it will continue to get hotter and hotter over the next few months until the rains start in June. Fortunately a great friend has introduced me to the perfect partner for this summer's weather....

This "Tender Coconut" ice cream from Natural Ice Cream is amazing! This company is a serious rival for Graeter's back in Cincinnati.

I also took a trip to the local slaughterhouse on Friday. I think I smelled it before I seen it. The market was an open air slaughterhouse where the meat is cleaned and cut in front of the patrons on large tree stumps. The visit reminded a little of Sinclair's The Jungle.

The trip to the slaughterhouse preceded my dinner plans to a sushi restaurant here and I really hoped these little sharks wouldn't end up on my plate later in the evening....

Fortunately I couldn't recognize the sharks if they were in roll form later in the night. The sushi and sushimi were amazing and the unagi was pretty tasty as well. Probably the coolest part of this place was that sushi is served on a large, battleship-like boat where the chop sticks serve as oars. As you can see my friend was thrilled when the SS Deliciousness showed up. Unfortunately I didn't see octopus on the menu, but I'll definitely keep my eyes open on the next visit. I've taken a real liking to Harajuku and plan to visit whenever my longing for Mr. Sushi comes back.

Just a warning for all my readers: Do not be fooled by made-for-TV movies for sale at Landmark for $2. While initially it appeared "Megasnake" was going to be an epic adventure that would open my eyes to the global threat of megasnakes, I was sorely disappointed with this choice. I do not have a PhD in zoology, but I'm starting to doubt the existence of megasnakes as well after watching this film ;-)

Of course Saturday was the World Cup match in Mumbai between India and Sri Lanka. I was completely hooked to the match the entire 9 plus hours. For the first time in a long time I felt like I had a real connection with cricket and while happy that the match ended with India victorious, I was sad to see the match end for the night. The celebrations throughout the course of the match were epic and really fun. There were times during the match that I was having so much fun and felt so chill that I thought "there is nowhere else in the world I'd rather be than right here, right now."

The Impact of India vs. Pakistan Cricket on My Workday

This evening on a conference call with Doug he was teasing me about the laughter he heard on the call before he joined. I explained to him my clear schedule today and free time I was enjoying. Amazing the availability I had today compared to a normal Wednesday......

Pre-India vs. Pakistan Calendar (typical week)

Today: India vs. Pakistan Match Day

The Pune Lockness Monster

Yesterday while traveling back to my flat from CIL I couldn't help but to notice a crowd of around 100 people standing at the bank of the river. Additionally there was a massive traffic jam as people were looking into the river from their cars and bikes as well. I couldn't see anything in the river and asked Shashi, my driver, if he knew what was going on, but he didn't know either. I quickly forgot about this as we continued on our way back to Koregaon Park.

This evening while traveling back from CSS to the flat Shashi informed me that a snake had been spotted in the river yesterday and that is why the crowd had formed (mind you I've seen more snakes in 4 months in India than in my 28 years in the US). I asked if it had been a snake the size of the one from Anaconda or something like that and he said he didn't know. Finally Shashi reluctantly broke down and told me that his curiosity got the best of him and after dropping me off he drove back to the river (45 minutes away), parked the car and got into the crowd. After a 1/2 hour staring into the river he asked what everyone was looking at and was informed that a snake had been spotted in the river. He then proceeded to spend another 1/2 hour staring at the river to no avail for the snake to surface. The snake never did.

I laughed so hard at Shashi telling me this story because it reminded me of another life lesson I've heard here in India: if you go to a market, spit on the ground and stare at it, within minutes a crowd will join and stare at it with you!