Cult Fun

We have this thing at work called the "Cult Fun Committee". I was REALLY excited the first time I got an email from the Cult Fun Committee, but to my disappointment, they were not inviting me to rad brainwashing/kool-aid-drinking parties. No, unfortunately, "Cult" here is short for "cultural" - "cultural" meaning INDIAN culture specifically. The Cult Fun Committee plans activities once a month, usually coinciding with our monthly samosa and cake group birthday celebration. This month's Cult Fun was a Saree Day. All of the ladies were required to dress in sarees, and the men were to wear kurtas (aka tunics). As opposed to the "Ethnic Day" we had a few months ago, there was no requirement that the dress be traditional, so I borrowed a more modern/trendy (and much lighter)satin and chiffon saree from Stuti's growing collection. Here are some pics of us getting our Cult Fun on this afternoon:

Stuti (the cutie) rockin' it.


Mamta and me taking a break outside


How jealous are you of this weather?


I'm down with any culture that supports mass consumption of junk food


Another monthly tradition - hand-feeding cake to the birthday people. Definitely forbidden among Philly dockers.


Navanita (winner of the day's "Best Dressed Lady" award), Swati, and Tanushree


Archana and others enjoying the first of what would be TWO cake-eating sessions today. It was also our friend Jason's last day, which apparently called for separate cakes.


Bindu in my favorite saree of the day. Pics did not do it justice - it was amazing.



Subhojyothi and Jyothi, best buds.


Lovely Satarupa


Me and the ladies working hard


Prathviraj knows how to accessorize


Jason. I positively adore this guy and am super sad he is leaving.


Our receptionist, Mona. I want to surgically transplant her hair onto my head.


Mithun and I in the office park's food court. I wanted the whole saree in the picture, but now it looks like this was taken from up on a ladder. It was not.


Ladies of Clutch Group


UPDATE: This old picture of Gulabi enjoying some cult fun of his own made it onto the site Pets That Want to Kill Themselves.com!!

Bang alone

Tim went back to the States last night to get his employment Visa so that he can start his new job as a Development Officer/Coach/Rugby Player for the South India Rubgy Football Union. He'll be gone for ten days (hopefully it won't take longer), so I am alone here again after six pretty awesome months. I hadn't even met him when I accepted this job, and I lived here alone for two months before he came out, but I'm already feeling pretty lonely and sad without him here. At least I have the company of the other two "boys" in my life....yes, that's right, two. Gulabi has a new best friend, which means I kind of have another cat. I wanted to name him Jalebi (which is a neon-orange, totally disgusting Indian sweet made out of deep-fried butter and sugar), but Tim started calling him Esteban and it stuck (long story).

He basically just showed up and decided to live here. A couple of weeks ago, Gulabi was acting more obnoxious than usual, and kept shrieking and running to the screen door at our balcony. At first, I didn't notice anything out there, but then I realized that I wasn't looking at Gulabi's reflection in the glass - there was another (larger) orange tabby sitting outside staring in at us! His occasional balcony visits have turned into extended indoor holidays. Every time I try to put him back outside, the two cats just sit mewing pathetically at each other through the screen 'til I either get all soft-hearted and guilty or can't take the noise and let him back in. As of now,I think he's been inside our apartment since Friday without going back out. It's actually better that he's here, and I'm not just saying that because I am a crazy cat lady. He keeps Gulabi occupied with wrestling and chasing and biting and voyeuristic litter box demonstrations, which means my ankles and toes are getting a break from those sharp tiny teeth. Especially nice when I am trying to sleep. So Esteban kind of lives with us now, and is going to have to pay the price for this life of luxury by getting his balls chopped ASAP. I totally hate getting attached, and I know we can't bring two cats back with us.... So it's going to be horrible when we leave, but I guess it's better for him to live here now if that's what he has decided to do than to have him out on the rough streets with all the stray dogs and caged monkeys in our neighborhood.

Oh, and apparently, word of my cat ladyness is spreading throughout the Indian feline community - there was actually a third orange tabby on the balcony the other day, a rotund guy with a big fluffy glamour-tail! But luckily, Gulabi and Esteban hate him with a passion so fierce that the mere sight of his effeminate orange ass causes them both to be instantly infected with rage virus. So just two cats for now. Here are some other pics of the new besties gaying it up:

Wonder la

Wonder la, India's largest amusement park, is about an hour from our house here in Bangalore, so we decided to make the trip this weekend since Erin and Matt only have a couple of days left in India. I feel like India must not have any actual amusement parks if this is the largest - although it was clean and had some fun things to do, it was much closer to Sesame Place than Six Flags in size and ride options. Although, I am totally afraid of heights, so I'm kind of just complaining for the sake of the thrill-ride seeking reader, I guess.

We went on a couple of nauseating spinning rides, one of which turned us upside down over and over for three minutes straight, while the other lifted us up quickly and dropped us over and over again. I liked that many of the rides featured copyright-violation rip-offs of famous cartoon characters, like Scooby Doo, Lion King, Woody Woodpecker, etc., but with different colors so they weren't exact copies. There was also a ridiculous "Cinema Magic" virtual reality experience, called "Mazy Mine," which was a somewhat dated simulator ride featuring a white hillbilly who makes the audience take a ride through his dangerous mine shaft. My favorite, however, was the Dungeon Ride, Wonder la's version of a haunted house. It had scary Indian music and skeleton's in sarees! I thought it would have been scarier and more realistic if they had a room full of beggars, eunuch's trying to castrate you, and rabid stray dogs, but it was still pretty good.

Wonder la also features a bunch of fun water slides, wave pools, a lazy river, and a Rain Disco. It was quite like an American water park, though we did notice a couple of stark differences. For one, everyone wears full clothes at the water attractions - I'm talking jeans, button-down shirts, salwar suits, formal sarees..... we stuck out quite a bit already, so Erin and I modestly covered our bathing suits. Like the buses here, there is also a segregated area of the wave pool for ladies and children, so they can frolic without fear of groping pervs. Oh, and no alcohol at all in the park, which I am not complaining about, since I had a beer poured on my head at Geauga Lake when I was 8. Also, a lot of the babies were wearing eyeliner, even in the pool, which shows how much more glamorous they are than American babies.

Pics below. You can see the full album here.

2010 So Far....

My New Year's weekend, in reverse order that I am too lazy to change (being less lazy was not a resolution this year).


Avatar 3D - Seriously, if you have 500 Mill to spend on a movie, why not invest a little in good writing? No character development, trite, and full of cliches. But it looked pretty.


Some dude checking out Jagadesh


Movie theater snack offerings. Rs. 47 = $1


We had Chili Tomato flavored popcorn. The theatre also had a dim sum station, a cookie place, an American corn vendor (of course), and various indian treats that are not pictured.


Jagadesh was smiling in the first picture I took, but he made me take one where he wasn't showing his teeth, despite the fact that they are perfect and he looked much better in it.


Mamu, our house guy. He fed Gulabi while we were in Kerala, and claims to have given him medicine everyday, but we don't know what medicine he could possibly be talking about.


Coconut break with Matt and Erin, our friends from the Rainforest Retreat in Coorg. They are staying with us for the next week, until they move back to Philly.


Matt and Tim showing off their lunghis


Baby Goat


Looks way better than Avatar


Oldster goat


Paper dosa


Masala dosa


Spring dosa


Ravi dosa


Dog eating chicken feet


Lady wearing a chicken t-shirt talking to Matt and Erin about the dog eating chicken feet


Matt is into the lunghi


He gave one to Tim. They got a lot of laughs and stares out on the streets


New Year's Lunch/All Day Gorge at Stuti's house














Puris





Corn pakoras with tamarind chutney


Pakoras frying