..SouthAsiaRocks..

Yesterday we were at the north part of the Capital. We went all around the universities up there. It was great fun and we saw a BUNCH of monkeys :) At one point, our cycle driver stopped by the monkeys, pulled out some roti (flat bread) and fed the monkeys :) It was funny to watch them eat it :) This baby monkey (below) was too cute - I just had to include him :) His mom was very protective and ran over to attack our cycle when she saw me taking a picture. In an awesome market by the universities, there was a snow cone man... they area all over this country, but I don't think I've ever taken a picture of one... so, for your viewing enjoyment - THE SNOWCONE STAND. (but if you come to visit... DON'T get a snowcone... If you do, then you will probably call it a "Giardia Cone")

We went to a 'Battle of the Bands' last night with our friend Mayank. His pharmacy school was having a 4 day celebration called Rx 2007 that ended with a 'Battle of the Bands'. We went to some of the other events too - they did all sorts of skits and things. It was awesome! They had "bouncers" that took care of crowd control but they called them "THE DISCIPLINE COMMITTEE" - that cracked me up! The discipline committee watched the crowd and if someone stood up for more than a few seconds, then about five of them would run over to the person and tell them to sit... At one point, they kicked all of the guys out of their seats and put the girls in the front on one side... that was pretty funny! The bands were AWESOME at singing ethnic music, but they were AWEFUL at most of the English songs they sang! It was hilarious! One band tried singing a "Linkin Park" song, and the singer finished the song WAY before the band did... :) We sat and...

It hailed today!!! We were in a meeting with a bunch of folks and all of a sudden it started hailing!! BIG pieces of hail! So we all ran outside and had some fun with it! Everyone was trying to grab pieces of hail... It was the most hail I'd ever seen in one place! It was cool!! OK, so if you're wondering why the title of the blog post is "Ole'".... well, that's the Hindi word for hail... It's like a party! whoo hoo!! Happy Ole' Day!

OK... so another blog of "funny things"... some things that are hilarious to me... may not be as funny to you... but I hope you enjoy anyway :) Our rickshaw driver the other day had a cool Mullet! Whoo hoo! This guy has cool shoes! Anyone can SAY that they're selling you a waterproof watch... but can they prove it? These guys were showing off their waterproof watches by keeping them submerged in a kiddie pool - that's a pretty good idea... but since I've seen this one, I've seen many other people doing it... so I guess it's not as creative as I thought it was... but still kinda funny :) You gotta love the kid walking around with their cup of milk - charming people with their milk mustashe! And last... but definitely not least.... (this one is actually funny)... I went to the bathroom the other day and looked at the water faucet inside... the brand of the water faucet was.... NIKE! hahaha!

Well, this may not be the most exciting post I've ever done, but the other day we were walking around and stumbled on a big FISH MARKET! Now, you may be thinking - ok, so what's the big deal... well, first off, there are very few meat markets in our area of the Capitol... not much demand for them... and second of all... we aren't really near any big bodies of water (and definitely not near a water source I would want to get fish from)... Anyway... this market was interesting because of two things... one - the fish... and two - it was all in another language!! It wasn't in Hindi, but a language from the East of our country! It's like we stepped into another country... well... maybe not, but it was still cool :) There were fish scales all over the ground and fish parts everywhere! It was really different to see :) Anyway, just thought I'd tell you about the fun festive fish market :)

A while back, Adam and I were in "the chawk" in the Old part of our city. I took a bunch of pics and never posted them... so I'm going to do it today :) My favorite part of "the chawk" is the spice market!! It is sooo cool! I think I sneezed a million times while we were there! They sell spices and nuts & fruits... here's a pic below of a cool guy selling some nuts :) Here's some kids (below) on their way to school on the rickshaw! It's amazing how many people you can fit on one cycle rickshaw! But hey, it's more fun with a bunch of people (right B&L?) I LOVE to take pics of people... this lady and her kid were really cute... so I had to take their pic :) These kids were cute too (and the guy behid them was pretty cool too) :) These guys (below) were taking a chai break in a really congested gully. Again... I really like to take people pics... so I thought I'd include this one too :) These guys were taking a chai-less break. In th...

Happy Holi!! Today was Holi! Holi is a lot of fun! It is definitely different to celebrate it in the Capitol as opposed to M-town. In M-town we had all-out battles on the street and it was so fun! In our area of the Capitol, people stand on their roof or balcony and throw water balloons and things at the passers-by.... some people walk the streets and some people celebrate at their house with their friends and families... we did all of those :) We threw a lot of water balloons from our balcony at people... some just had water in them and some had dark purple dye... we also had some water guns (called pichari)... While we were waiting for people to pass by, Adam was juggling some water balloons... I got this picture (below) just as one of the water balloons popped on him! Hahaha the look on his face cracked me up! We had a fun Holi and got to hang out with some fun friends! Oh, and I ate TONS of gujhia!

Yeah!!! Holi is coming!! This is one of my favorite holidays! This is the holiday where people run around like crazy and have water guns, water balloons and colored powders and dyes to throw on each other :) It's very messy, very colorful and very fun! This is a little boy (below) that has been sitting outside of our neighborhood selling colored powders and things for Holi :) We were at a BIG old bazar yesterday and saw lots of people selling colors and things for Holi... Today (Saturday) is the day before the colors. Today is the day that is actually called Holi and tomorrow is called Dhulendi... but I'm just going to call it Holi... It's all really a part of the Holi holidays and it's just plain easier to call it all Holi... So anyway, tonight, at the rise of the moon, they make HUGE bonfires that are supposed to represent funeral pyres that destroyed Holika (a demoness). Here's a picture (below) of a bonfire from last year in M-town. One of the most crucial par...