HW & AGI

i've finally figured it out. actually, i had to be told and i hate that. of course i'm talking abot the HW. it's the indian equivalent of the western "whatever."  but it's like whatever with a twist. it means more than that. nevermind, i'll just stop now.

i've had a wonderful 2 days. no, 3. had i been asked about my view of calcutta 3 days ago my response would have contained a fair amount of negativity. it's dirty, it's loud, it smells, men elbow you on purpose when you walk down the street (it's not my fault, even if i am showing skin like in bollywood..ha!) and it's THE most humid city we've been in so far. while waiting for a bus for a mere 10 minutes i was drenched in sweat. i could feel the little beads forming on my legs and arms, then sliding down, as if i were in the shower.

it's not my fault, even if i am showing skin like in bollywood..

my current view of clacutta is much more pleasant. what happened to change my mind? many things. let me list them.

1. a beautiful park with beautiful people. to put this into persprctive, i first need to explain one of the low points of calcutta...this is the last one, i promise. Men here are bad. they have more lude comments, they stare more, and they attempt to touch you more. yesterday, jen and i decided to go to "horse park", so termed by us due to the abundance of horses . we were followed by some teenage boys who thought it would be fun to taunt us, and ask us for watermelon. normaly we tell them to go and they leave. not so on this particular day. they followed us around,practicaly chasing us and trying to grab us. we were not impressed, and started yelling. when one of them grabbed jen's ass i became extremely angry and had to really refrain from hitting the boy who was all up in my grill. their following us continued for a good five minutes, and when i asy following, i mean walking right beside us, their hot breath against our skin. we finally managed to away, but one boy decided, just for good measure to give my ass a nice big slap and run away. i was livid. but they didn't bother us again after that. anyways....i came to the conclusion that the only reason this event occured was due to my AGI - ass grabbing invitation. it's my dress that shows a minimal amount of skin by western standards, but by indian standards is an invitation to grab one's ass. i wear my AGI with pride, i don't enjoy the results though. Anyway,..i'm talking nonsense but the point of this story was to explain the beauty of the next park: families, people asking me to be in pics with their babies, couples, dressed in traditional indina clothes, and not one person trying to grab us. the park itself was clean, green, and  inviting. it was the turning point for my feelings of calcutta.

2. the cheapest, most amazing india food in the dirtiest little deserted restaurant. the place looked sketch. they didn't have mineral water, they didn't have rice, and there were no other ppl there. but we were hungry so we stayed. good decision. sometimes it's those hole in the wall places that are the most pleasing.

unfortunately, the rest of my list will have to wait. it's 9:30 and i have to be up at 6am to go volunteer (another reason on my list for my new found fondness for calcutta). my brain is telling me to do yoga, and i know my body would benefit, but it's saying the opposite, and it's thinking of the rock hard bed it has to sleep on, and it's saying it would rather be in that 5 star hotel with the nice swimming pool , but my bank account won't allow it even though it allowed for the shopoholic to purchase $200 dior sunglasses, which is ok cause i got a free eye exam that i didn't need, and the children at the orphanage bent my $1.20 aviators, and now i really have to go 'cause the clock on the computer is wrong and it's really later than it is.