I'm in New Delhi

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by YOhio

I'm watching that game too! Hey, are you going to church there this weekend? I have a buddy working for Bain in New Dehli. He's tall, has freckles and is from Price. If you see him, tell him I said hello.

I'll attend the 2nd Branch tomorrow. Meetings start at 9:30. I'm trying to call the Branch President to see which meeting is first. I'll look for a tall freckled guy and say, "Uh, hey, so are you from Price and work for Bain? Because if you are, this guy who calls himself YOhio on the Internet said to say hello." Freak alert.

Weather report: hazy fog/smog remained all day. I'm starting to think this is standard (overheard some people at breakfast remarking that there was one day a month ago when the sun came out, how wonderful). The locals keep saying it's because of all the construction. My wife, who did major research on New Delhi because we were thinking of coming here at one point, says it's because of all the dung they burn for fuel. I've decided to stop breathing.

On the massage front, the classified page of the Hindustan Times has a whole section dedicated to "Health & Physical Fitness" that is dominated by ads offering all types of massages by "educated, trained, beautiful technicians." Apparently, Russians and Afhgans are very skilled in this area.

[landpoke]

Originally Posted by TripletDaddy

There is a scene in James Bond....is it Octopussy.....where he is cruising through some city in India, being chased by bad guys. In order to stall the bad guys, he yells out and chucks a bunch of rupees into the air, causing a commotion amongst the local street urchins that all lunge to grab the cash. In actuality, he probably only threw about $20 away, but it saved his life.

It would be cool if you tried to do something similar, even if someone isnt chasing you while you are there.

I'm thinking it was much more than $20.00 because the cash he threw in the air was the big pile he'd just taken off of Kamal Khan over at the casino in one of those tense Bond baccarat showdowns. I doubt Bond and Khan were playing nickel-dime-quarter baccarat.

[ute4ever]

Originally Posted by myboynoah

I'll attend the 2nd Branch tomorrow.

Forgive my ignorance but since India was under the British regime until the 20th century, is English the majority language there?

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by ute4ever

Forgive my ignorance but since India was under the British regime until the 20th century, is English the majority language there?

Seems to be an equal use of English and Hindi. Not all Indians speak Hindi as their mother tongue. I'm going to assume that English is used as a unifier for the country in education, business, government, etc. Although my visa has both English and I assume it is Hindi, so there is some Hindi used. Television comes in both English and Hindi (the Indian movie on the plane was in Hindi with English subtitles).

It's interesting that it was the colonial language, but it really gives Indians a heads up in international business and affairs.

I'll ask someone to clarify.

[Jeff Lebowski]

How is the food?

[RockyBalboa]

How're the sandwiches there?

[CJF]

I kind of like New Delhi. It's not bad once you get over the horrible smell that punches you in the face as you get off the plane. However, getting a good steak there is a real bitch. Overall, India is a pretty interesting place.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

How is the food?

Ate at this place in the hotel the first day:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/01/...vel/trfood.php

It was very good. Apparently Clinton ate there when he visited and they have now named a dish after him. It's practically all meat. I bet an Obama dish would end up on the vegetarian menu. Bush wouldn't eat here because they don't serve beef.

More to come. I've noticed that there are a lot more vegetarian dishes here than one would find at your regular Indian restaurant in the U.S.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by RockyBalboa

How're the sandwiches there?

Finally.

Better than the old Delhi.

LOL.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by CJF

I kind of like New Delhi. It's not bad once you get over the horrible smell that punches you in the face as you get off the plane. However, getting a good steak there is a real bitch. Overall, India is a pretty interesting place.

I agree. We took a ride around the city today. The government buildings are massive and quite impressive.

The beggars are a bit overwhelming. On the way to church today my car was stopped at a light. I turned to the right and had one of those horror movie stunners. In the window appeared, almost out of nowhere, an unkept little boy swinging an atrophied left arm for effect and begging for money. The driver said nothing and I looked away. The boy moved on to the next car. The day was filled with more, yet less dramatic encounters like that. I've lived in a lot of places and traveled to more. I've seen a lot of need, but the magnitude here is very dramatic.

Church was very nice. The Delhi 2nd Branch appears big enough to be a ward. There are two missions in India now (Bangalore and New Delhi) and the missionaries are allowed to tract.

Oh, when I checked in for my flight in Memphis, the ticket agent asked who was going to "Del-hai."