The latest happenings

Well - I thought you might be interested in some of the latest headlines from our local newspaper, the Hindustantimes:

- There are a bunch of people dying due to an infected batch of boar meat. They seem to have found the source, but people are not getting treatment in time to recover.

-A tigress was killed in a local game reserve. They have 7 suspected poachers in custody.

-20 local traffic police were relieved of their duty because they were clearly too unfit. 81 officers were called in for a fitness test. 70 showed up and 20 failed. They have been given a month to get back in shape in order to get their jobs back. Their chest has to measure more than their waist!

-One of the famous Bollywood actresses is having her baby shower. The list of attendees was specified.

-An angry husband bit off the nose and lips of his wife. Apparently she refused to return home from her parents house...(I can't imagine why)

-We're fully up-to-date on all of the cricket scores. Apparently they won an argument with the WADA (World Anti-Doping Assoc) to be exempt from the whereabouts clause (big to do)

Meanwhile, back at the Duggals, the monkeys are having serious territory wars. Apparently the monkeys were bothering tourists in Mussoorie, so they trapped a bunch of them and released them down here in Rajpur. Now there are all fighting over territory. We learned that we need to carry a stick when we walk and whatever you do, don't look them in the eye - it's a sign of aggression.

We've started to call the Duggals the Egg Pushers - they keep trying to tell us its ok to eat eggs - that lots of other students do. We're were teasing them that they are trying to get us to go to the darkside and that we were going to report them to Rajiv! They laugh.

As for other news: We've been on a field trip to a place called Purkul where there is what appears to be a very well run organization that has a school for the poorest of the poor children and also trains disadvantaged local women to sew - they then sell their handicrafts and hopefully will be self-sustaining. I'll upload photos when I can.

Our yoga course is going well - according to students who have been here before, Rajiv is in the best mood they've ever seen (yikes) - I'm glad he's my yoga instructor and not my doctor - no bedside manner whatsoever! He bursts out into rants quite frequently, last night we got a lecture on the book Slaughter House Five and what a travesty it is to eat meat. One of our students is a chef from New Orleans - poor guy took the heat for that one.

We're starting the preparations for Patanjali's birthday party. We've made rangolis on the ground - elaborate designs filled with bright colored powders, and wicks that will go in oil lamps. Sue and I got new Indian outfits and sparkly jewelry for the occasion and modeled them for Mrs. Duggal yesterday. We wanted to make sure we didn't have them on backward or something!

Other than that, I don't think I have anything else to report! Neither of us have had any Delhi Belly (yet) - unlike many of our fellow students.

I can't upload pictures at this cyber cafe - I'll do that at my next opportunity.

Until then - I hope all is well at home! xoxo dmt