I'm taking these remainders from the rain yesterday as a hint that I need to be eating more - looks like my butt is still TOO boney!


A young boy in the park during my walk


I'm still up high and the fresh fruit is starting to come in - these fresh apricots made a wonderful desert.

Previous Entry | Next Entry

2003-05-23 - Nalderha (Day 38)

I wake up with notice that my bike is tired of giving out warnings and is starting to get serious. Yesterday I got a little sloppy getting off the bike - with is a process which requires me to be very slow and careful - and I let it tilt a little to one side and down it comes on top of me. This morning I feel it where my ankle is swollen up and my foot hurts! I look at the clouds and they are still gray so it becomes a pretty easy decision to simply stay put, and take a day to do some homework, and work on the website.

I guess I of all people, considering I've been doing web work for 8 years shouldn't be complaining about it taking a lot of time, but you know, this thing takes a heck of a lot of time, especially when I add in the photo work on the galleries! But today was productive for the site and I put up quite a few new pages - there is the features main page and three new people articles on Renée Rakhorst, Peter Humes, and Alam Khan. I added a News section at the top of the home page so I can let everyone know if there is anything new.

A walk in a wooded park next to the hotel offers an experience which along with a question raised over lunch yesterday sparks me to write a long essay which has been rolling around in my head for a while. Controversial, its one of those things which perhaps I should just keep to myself, but my hope that it will open up discussions where I might learn something from others with differing opinions gets the better of me and I post it on the site.

The experience came when I was walking through the park and came upon three young women taking turns with one of them taking a picture of the other two with the park as a backdrop. As I was walking by, I ask if they would like me to take a photo of the three of them together. As soon as I offered I get a quick reply of, "No, that's not necessary." Walking on, I hear behind me, "Excuse me," but that is quickly followed by "Shh! We'll ask someone else." Frankly this little item bothered me quite a bit in that I'm at a loss to find a reason why there is such a subtle hostility to me. In this case, I'm dressed well, clean shaven, clean and from outward appearance should appear to be just a nice normal guy passing by offering to lend a hand. At least two of the girls spoke English from what I heard as I passed, so language shouldn't have been a problem - so I'm left wondering what is it that so instinctively caused them to reject such an innocent offer.

Not to make a mountain out of a molehill, this experience obviously is just a small item, but there has been a subtle underlying hostility that I've sensed since I arrived in India and today's experience just brought it to the fore. Obviously there is anger at the American government for the war in Iraq, that has been blatantly expressed by a couple of people so far, but that is a government, not an individual. Its an interesting question which perhaps I'll find a better answer to as the trip goes on.

A few pictures, some homework, a walk in the park and a lot of page coding wrapped up today. Tomorrow I'm off down the road to see what's around the next corner.

Previous Entry | Next Entry