Finally I present some photographic evidence of my visit in India.



A view of Delhi rooftops from the well-protected balcony of our flat.



Varanasi a.k.a. Benares. Holy river Ganga was flooding after monsoon. Smoke comes from burning bodies.



Actually, the river flooded so much that some temples on the river banks were totally flooded...



...but that did not stop people from worshipping them from dry land.



Supposedly the lizards feed on insects. When given a choice between sharing a room with reptiles or mosquitos, I'll choose this fellow anytime.



The papaya lassi had a vomit-like aftertaste and rest of the food was highly below average, but the scenery from the rooftop terasse of the restaurant in Manali was certainly nice.


Do you have problems choosing which tarpaulin to get? Look no further!



The most naked things in India are the statues in the National Gallery. This is one of the more decent ones. A lot better than Maxim.



President's residence. Considering that chistians consist a 3-4% minority in India, the Brits had to disguise the cross as a... well, whatever that is.



Diwali is the festival of the year. Supposedly a combination of christmas, new year and every religious holiday, it is a time when gifts are given and firecrackers are used in generous amounts. Obviously, some people in Mumbai would prefer that there would be a little less noise.



The lyrics of the song lie... Indian moon is not hotter than the sun - how else would the giant ants survive there?



Sunset in Goa.



The Krishnas seem to know something that I do not.



Electrians wanted. Apply to Malviya Nagar, G-Block, New Delhi.



Ioana tries the job of a basket salesperson.



2/3 of the Malviya Nagar trainee flat residents in Lodhi Gardens. From left: me, Bozo, Ioana and Dana.

[piru tätä kategorisointia - tämän pitäisi kuulua sekä Intia-, että Irlanti-kategorioihin, mutta eihän nyt mitenkään onnistu. Olkoon nyt Intia kun siitä o puhe vaikka vihreällä saarella tämä on kirjoitettu.]

Paluu läntiseen maailmaan sujui ongelmitta. Wienin modernin taiteen museon Erwin Wurm -näyttely ja Tower Recordsista vitosella irronnut Ninja Tunen 2006 sampleri johdattivat takaisin länsimaisen rappiotaiteen pariin ja toimivat raikkaan ilman ja Dublinin kuppiloiden ohella mainiona terapiana väsyneelle matkaajalle.

Nyt on elämä helppoa ja laiskaa. Ei tarvitse kuin kiipeillä, käydä teatterissa ja juoda Guinnessia. Voisi yrittää miettiä mitä jäi Intian reissusta kouraan ja teenkin oitis mahdottoman naiivin listan aiheesta:

• En kävelijän asemassa kunnioita suojateitä tai punaisia valoja enää edes sen vähän vertaa mitä ennen reissuun lähtöä.
• Olen omaksunut tiukemman "elä ja anna elää" -asenteen enkä oikein osaa katsoa ketään nenänvartta pitkin.
• Delhin jälkeen Dublinin katukuva näyttää siistiltä, kadulla kulkevat nuorukaiset komeilta ja naiset kauniilta. (Tämä on huomattavan radikaali muutos entisiin näkemyksiini aiheesta!)
  
• Nautin sateesta.

Katsellaan kauanko tätä riemua kestää. Ja katsellaan kerkeänkö Suomeen jouluksi. Pitäisi katsella lentoja mutta kun tuo selaimen osoiterivi on niin kovin kaukana että en jaksa millään kurottaa sinne asti kirjoittaakseni ryanair tai jotain.

Kaikki kiipeilevät kotipojat ja -tytöt voi vähän fiilistellä Fontainebleun meisinkejä youtubesta: "You can get rid of your temper, but not by losing it". Kuka lähtee ensi kesänä kiertämään Alppeja Volkkarin minibussilla?

A half page full color ad from the Indian Express on November 20th 2006.

The actual text will follow...

After the saturday hash run (means 8-9km of jogging on a weird route, not cannabis smuggling) we had a slight urge to continue the drinking binge. And how convenient, the Sikkimese population of Delhi were having a party. But as so many times before when we have tried to go out in Delhi, the savonian superhero struck again.

As we approached the venue of the party, I noticed a young man with blood all over his face leaving the scene in the shadows of the houses. A polica car was parked in front of the club, and a massive amount of young people with northeastern Indian features were pouring out. Another police car was also approaching. Our local friend did some inquiries and found out that supposedly a cop was beaten in the party earlier and the polica were taking names of people. Being on the guest list, our friend suggested that we move away ASAP. I saw a few police officers taking down a young man and started kicking him while he was on the ground. Bystanders were visibly agitated and some were about to intervene, but the police had to only lift his bamboo stick into striking pose to make the crowd go back.

We left and I could not help but to think about the recent case in Finland when a bypasser recorded with his mobile phone how security guards used unnecessary violence and after the video was released in the net the police started an investigation. Then again, YouTubing a clip about Indian police brutality would hardly lead to any legal action here, in the world's largest democracy.

Really, the next post will be about taxes...

Thanks to Maria's example, I set a statcounter for this page. Now it seems I have received visitors through Google keywords "indian sex" and "sex travel in mogolia". In order to try to maintain some kind of sense of decency regarding Google ranking, I guess I should not write about India Today's young men's sex survey results. (Only thing to mention: of unmarried men between he age of 16-25, 49% have had sexual encounters with prostitutes or call girls.)

As I still haven't finished my thorough economical analysis and the text titled "tax free for tourists (and businessmen registered ans political parties)" is not yet ready, the competition in the post below is still open.

Update: recent keyword activity reported by statcounter: `delhi fuck me now` and `tissigalleria`. I love the internet. BTW, Vuodatus.net is doing some kind of maintanance and it seems that commenting does not work very well at the moment.

As the city government of Delhi is enforcing the supreme court's order to shut down 41 000 to 44 000 (varies according to the source) shops that are operating in illegal buildings or areas that are planned for residential use, and as paramilitary forces are deployed in market areas to stop protests turning violent, it is time to escape reality into the wonderful world of women's and men's magazines!

Marie Claire, Indian edition

This came as a surprise. I expected some international harmless stuff, and found a magazine that actually deals with women's issues. And not only women's, the last one had an article about transgender people, hijras (of which Maria recently wrote in her blog in Finnish).

The 'on your mind' page has a few interesting things from readers, quite different from the western ones. Let's have a look on a few problems that an Indian woman might encounter in her relationship:

and another one:


For the first one, there is the usual advice of trying to work on the relationship to make it work blah blah and then in the end something I did not quite expect:


e.g. 'get a lover or get a divorce'. In a country where brides are burned and domestic violence is almost a norm, I do hope this advice does not lead to too much bloodshed.

Cosmopolitan, again the Indian edition

Now this seems to be normal international bullshit with a few changed images. What makes it interesting, in addition to the lingerie ads, is the contrast to the apparent values of Indian society. In a society where openly talking about premarital sex seems to be a taboo, the following advice what to do to your boyfriend (not husband!) is almost scandalous. Or maybe the readers more attuned with the Indian culture can correct me.

Anyway, as this is a blog for the whole family, I have censored the words penis and frenulum (although I have no idea if frenulum should be considered a dirty word or not).


Maxim, yes, you guessed right: the Indian edition

While the women are wondering what to do with their relationships, the men are pondering age-old questions about babes in bikinis and the realness of explosions. This brings us to our competition:



Write your guess for the right sequence in the comments! The first one with the right guess will win a real indian edition of his/her favourite magazine of the ones listed above, delivered when I eventually get home! Competition is open until my next post, which will be a little more intellectual and probably titled "tax free for tourists (and everyone else)". If no right answer is provided by then, the closest one gets the price. Cheating will be punished by the karmic cycle.

Disclaimer: I have not bought any of the above magazines and do not endorse in any way buying any of these. They belong to my ex-flatmates Karo and Olga, who got them for free at some festival market.

Olen nyt palannut Delhiin.

Olen myöskin lukenut Supernaiivin. Se on ihan mukava kirja, mutta ei se mielestäni ihan maailmoja kaatanut. Olen kyllä aivan samaa mieltä päähenkilön kanssa elämän prioriteeteista.

Teen nyt listan mielenkiintoisista ihmisistä, joihin olen Goan reissun aikana törmännyt:

• Mumbailainen taksikuski, joka kysyi meiltä keskusrautatieasemalla, minne olemme menossa. Vastasimme, että Goalle. Tästä mies riemastui ja totesi: "You foreigners, when you go to Goa, you just... fuck and go, fuck and go, fuck and go..." Näitä viimeisiä lauseita tämä hymyilevä mies korosti lantion ja käsien liikkeillä riemukkaan irvokkaasti. Valitsimme kuitenkin toisen kuskin.
  
  
• Nigerialaisheimon prinsessa, joka ilmoitti olevansa hyvin kallis vaimo - hänen maassaan kun on miehen tapana maksaa myötäjäiset - sekä daaminsa kaikki kulut ja silloin tällöin tarjota jokunen illallinen myös tämän ystävättärille. Minä pidän enemmän eurooppalaisista naisista. He kun ovat niin halpoja.
  
  
• Edelliseen mitenkään liittymättä, liikemies John, myöskin "from the Nig". Mies esittäytyi: "I'm a businessman. I give and I take." ja myöhemmin, sivellen ylähuuliaan "If you need anything, just give me a call." Kokkelikauppias selkeästi otti illan aikana enemmän kuin antoi, sillä seuraavana päivänä saimme kuulla että hän oli illanvieton päätteeksi ajanut skootterillaan metsään ja joutunut sairaalaan.
  
  
• Intialaiset miehet rannalla. Eipä mikään ihme, että kovin moni daami ei viitsi olla yläosattomissa vaikka mieli tekisi. Siinä missä me länsimaalaiset miehet vilkuilemme näteimpiä auringonpalvojattaria häveliäästi syrjäsilmin, intialaiset miehet kerääntyvät laumana ympärille ja tuijottavat arastelematta jos pintaa on näkyvillä yhtään enemmän kuin mitä sari peittäisi.

Ok, lesson learned: next time I will book tickets a lot in advance.

We are in Vagator in Goa and there is no way of getting back to Delhi for the next 3 days. Every bus and train is too full, thanks to the masses returning home after Diwali festival..

On the positive side, I think this is one of the better places in the world to be stuck in.

I'm currently in Mumbai with Tuure. We are heading to Goa for the weekend, and we'll meet Tameka, Ioana, Tiina and the turkish girl whose name I always forget there.

We arrived by train from Delhi to Mumbai Central this morning. We had bought the tickets fot the first part of the journey well in advance, and we were supposed to get tickets to Goa this morning and  continue.So we went to ticket office. All tickets to Goa were sold out. We took a taxi to another station that has a tourist ticket office. All tourist tickets gone. Taxi driver recommended his friend's bus company - of course the prises there were ridiculous, probably because of taxi driver's commission, so we declined.

Back to train station to ask for ticket without seats. Not possible. "But go to Victoria station tourist office, ask them to reopen reservation for night train and assign VIP seats to you. But hurry!" - so taxi to Victoria Station and a little queueing and then dialogue with the tourist office man:

-Hello sir, can you reopen the booking for this train and assign us VIP seats?
-Not possible.
-Aren't there any seats left?
-No second class, only AC.
-Can we take those?
-Yes.

This reminded me of discussion on the climbing wall (that was under repair) yesterday:

-Is it possible to rent shoes?
-No.
-But it says in your internet site that shoe rent is 30rs per day!
-No, it is 50rs per day.

It will take a long time before I start to understand how this country really works.

Tuure tells in Finnish in his blog about a Bomaby taxi driver trick..

Ajattelin aloittaa maanantain toimistolla omistamalla muutaman hetken kirjoittaakseni otsikolla "maailman enstex homoin maa ja kansallismuseon tissigalleria" mutta kunnia vaatii vastaamaan haasteeseen.

To confuse things more, I will answer to questions in English.

1. Kirja, joka muutti elämän

Some introductionary book to philosophy by someone. There was actually just a few paragraphs there that led me to some kind of satori. It was about Martin Heidegger and an extremely crude summary of it would be: 'people spend most of their time and energy worrying about the future, but the only thing that is certain in the future is death. So stop worrying and get on with your life before you die.'

2. Kirja, jonka olen lukenut useammin kuin kerran

The sad nerd in me is revealed. I think this has to be 'the Lord of the Rings'. Or Alun Richardson's 'rock climbing for instructors'.

3. Kirja mukaan autiolle saarelle

Martin Heidegger: Sein und Zeit.

4. Kirja joka teki minusta hupakon

Populaarimusiikkia Vittulanjänkältä. I love laughing aloud when reading a book in a crowded bus. It is a truly relieving experience, a short moment of time when maintaining appereances is momentarily forgotten.

5. Kirja, joka sai minut kyyneliin

Da Vinci Code. I felt cheated after reading it. It made me sad, thinking about the shortness of life and the hours I wasted reading the book.

6. Kirja, jonka toivon tulevan kirjoitetuksi

A new version of Erwin Kreyszig's 'Advanced Engineering Mathematics' that would actually have pedagocical value.

7. Kirja, jonka toivoisin jääneen kirjoittamatta

Erwin Kreyszig's 'Advanced Engineering Mathematics'.

8. Kirja, jota luen parhaillaan

Adam Smith: Wealth of Nations, Hermann Hesse: Siddharta, Life of Biddha by some random historian. For some reason I always seem to start new books before I finish the old ones.

9. Kirja, jonka olen aikonut lukea

Only one? I cannot do that. Here's a list of books I've planned to read and probably until the end of my days this will remain as a plan:
Waltari's 'Sinuhe', Joyce's 'Ulysses', Quran (or whatever the current proper spelling is), Ilias & Odysseia, Volter Kilpi's 'Alastalon salissa'

10. Haasta 5 bloggaajaa

No I won't. But, dear reader, if you have a blog and haven't answered yet to this little quiz, please feel free to do it now.

I'm afraid my answers reveal that in truth I am truly a boring person.

Edit: How could I forget 'Das Kapital' from the answer of question 9?

Finally I managed to photoshop a panorama together. A view from the top of Dangmachan peak (5150m) which we climbed last month. Here.

This picture is proof of the quality of my camera and the shaking of my hands.

There is a dance festival in Purana Qila. Every evening there is a performance from some part of India. Last one is on sunday. Well worth the free entry.

Several things have influenced me on this little piece: Reading Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, starting to read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, browsing an article that mentions "marketisation of citizenship" and finally having been locked out of my home yesterday because I lent my keys to my new room mate, a guy from Munich doing a development traineeship, who usually arrives home before me.

Here, individual´s living zone seems to be his/her home. Murakami´s book reminded me of the beautiful feeling of being alone in a big city. Tokyo seems to offer as much as any western city for an individual seeking a peaceful time without having to hassle with other people.

India's big cities suffers from the 'tragedy of the commons' - all the space has been either occupied by private homes or has been harnessed for moneymaking. One of the oldest capitalist systems could not be transformed even though the decade or so of independence it was under socialist government rule. The problem in a lone westerner's eye is that you essentially have no public space to hang out. Sure, there are the streets and the few parks. But you don't have any benches. There are no libraries, no designated 'dynamic meeting points'. Sure, Delhi has its own share of starbucks clones. But once you're done with your drink they bring you the bill - it is just plain impossible to go there with a book and spend a few hours reading. After the museums and galleries have closed, your only chance to spend quality time outside home is to go shopping, eat out in an expensive restaurant where they don't throw you out as your plate is empty - or to go to someone else´s home!

A manifestation of this is a nuisance caused by our new flatmate, whom I will now publicly bad-mouth. (This girl had dreamed of coming to India since she was 15 and had read and researched about India since then. Somehow, she managed to avoid any relevant information about dress-codes and arrived without a single decent piece of clothing.) When we threw a welcome party for our 3 new flatmates, she managed to find an indian guy for herself, and now they are demonstrating the lack of public space in Delhi by locking themselves into her room regularly for hours almost every evening - and not letting her roommate in there until very late in the night!

Not only does this demonstrate a total lack of room sharing etiquette, but seems to repeat the pattern you can see in the Indian roads and in queues of shops and offices - wherever there is empty space take it and claim it as your own.

And now a completely different subject. I promised Kaisa to post a picture of our new water dispenser. It is called 'Mister Cool' and it is pink. Sadly, the pictures were not sharp enough to be published.

Edit: preliminary intelligence reports indicate that Chandigarh, Corbusier's child, offers park benches and public spaces in the european style.

It is a sad fact that the Indian society is even more repressed regarding open displays of affection than the Finnish one. Now, this is the culture that has brought us Kama Sutra and where every decent home has a big stone phallus, but nowadays hugging is not appropriate in public, holding hands is revolutionary and kissing is a sacrilege. (Of course, men are allowed to hold each others' hands or sit on each others' laps in the most tender and gayest fashion.)

Apparently this repression has not always been the case but was imported by Victorian Brits.

Of course, even before them there have been holy men who take their celibacy seriously. For example, the buddhist monks of the northern mountains. In times of distress they chant 'Om mani padme hum', a mantra that is considered a panacea. The meaning of this chant is either 'the lightning strikes the lotus flower', 'the jewel in the lotus flower', or plain 'lotus flower'. I prefer not to reproduce the rather apparent symbolism here, because you can read about it from numerous sources, including this one.

This leads to two different interpretations. A) a distressed monk calms himself by thinking about sex, or B) 'om mani padme hum' is just a local way to say 'voi vittu!' or 'for fuck's sake!

(If you are interested in the adventures of the detached penis of Shiva, read here how it burned like a thousand suns and was so long that even though Hari (that is Vishnu) in the form of boar walked along the penis for 4000 years, he could not find its end. Truly is hinduism a mighty religion!)

It's a delight to come to work after another weekend stuck home with a sickness, trying to endure the heat of the polluted city. But starting the computer and browsing the news: Anna Politkovskaya has been murdered and Noth Korea has (supposedly) made a nuclear test...

I was planning to write a very short humorous text about the meaning of the mantra 'om mani padme hum', but I think I'll leave it to another, happier day.

We have a new flatmate from Ivory Coast. Also he thinks that Delhi is too hot.

Simple answer to the question. We are on a trek. In the valley where the gods live.

Edit 27.9. Back in Delhi. Did not quite make it up Kanamo. Instead we were up at 5120m on Dangmachan peak. Some kind of story to follow later.

Ihmiset menevät Varanasiin kuollakseen pyhän Ganga-joen (Ganges) rannalla, siirtyäkseen tästä kivuliaasta jälleensyntymien syklistä iäiseen rauhaan kun heidän tuhkansa sirotellaan elämän jokeen.

Synkältä näyttää yksi maailman iäkkäimmistä kaupungeista. Vanhankaupungin ulosteen ja muovijätteen vuoraamien kujien varjoissa elävät kastittomat ryysyläiset saavat elantonsa kuolemasta ja turistien härnäämisestä. Sokkeloisessa kompleksissa ei ole etelää, pohjoista tai itää. Kaikki tiet vievät ihmiskunnan auringonlaskua kohden. Vain venekyyti joella tarjoaa rauhaa kaupustelijoilta, huijareilta ja katulapsilta.

Kun vene lipuu virtaa alas ja ilmeetön, päänsä kaljuiksi ajellut oransseihin kaapuihin sonnustautunut saattoväki nostaa läpitunkevan katseensa rannalta kohti matkaajaa, viesti tuntuu selvältä: et kuulu tänne, miksi olet kiinnostunut surustamme?

14/9 lisäys: Tuurella on samasta reissusta hieman pitempi teksti.

Tämä NGO, jolle teen hiljakseen töitä, rahoittaa toimintaansa myymällä paperituotteita verkkokaupan kautta sekä tarjoamalla rikkaille ihmisille reiki-hoitoa.

Flunssan iskettyä tarjosivat minullekin ym. hoitoa. Eihän minulla ollut jälkikäteen sydäntä kertoa että ei se yhtään miltään tuntunut.

• Beer: 400rps. The cheapest bottle of beer in the only bar (or whatever lounge) i've visited: 225rp + tax + service charge ~ 400rp (6-7 euros!). A bottle of kingfisher in a shop is 30rp. At least the indian beer bottles are 650ml. I pity the fools who ordered Heineken and got 330ml cans for 600rps. There really is no Kneipeszene here. (Also a strong variant of Kingfisher is available - around 8% alcohol. Apparently this was very popular when import of foreign alcoholic drinks was forbidden. It seems that Indians like to get drunk in their own homes on hard liquor.)
  
• Cup of coffee ~60rps. This seems to be a standard price in all the starbucks-clones. You can find a Barista or a Coffee Day equipped with heavy air conditioning equipment at any market area. List price for coffee is around 40rps but taxes and service are added. A cup of tea (chai) at a street stall costs maybe 5rps. If they have benches you might have to pay 10rps. I guess that the price is tax-free...
  
• Toilet paper 40rps. Single packed and wrapped in plastic. Buying 4-packs is slightly cheaper. (Essi, do you know where to get 6-packs for 110?)
• A masala dosa or bean curry with bread or similar lunch dish in a small restaurant is around 30-40rps, everything included. Some tourists with weak stomachs might want to buy bottled water to go with that.
  

The winners are Niamh and Maria. They were both really close to the right order. Maria gets bonus points for mentioning the prices, but I'm not sure if it should be considered cheating to live in Delhi...

I have to add to the list some other stuff: New eyeglasses 1800rps, 6 pairs of monthly contact lenses  (the type that can be worn for 7 days continuously) 1800. And these contact lenses are imported from Ireland, where they sell the same stuff for more than double the price! Anyone want to order? Just send specs and I'll go have a chat with the people at Princee Opticals...

And one more thing: For the price of one Heineken, you can make an 8h train trip from Delhi to Amritsar near Pakistani border, have lunch, visit the Golden Temple and take the night train back.

This entry is for the brave trekkers heading to Himalayas in September. Follow this link.

Let's have a little quiz! As the enlightened reader might have noticed, I'm currently in India, where things are generally cheap. What is cheap and what is expensive might not follow western logic. To demonstrate this, please try to put the following items in order by their price. Bonus points will be awarded for guessing the price right.

• A roll of toilet paper
• A Cup of decent coffee in a cafe
• Lunch in an indian restaurant
• A bottle of beer in a bar/restaurant

Right answers will be revealed later.

As promised, this should be better. It even has pictures (finally)!

Indian trains are nice. Every major station has a considerable amount of scammers. Of course to counter this, there are a lot of railway officials. Now as they have no uniforms, whereas some of the scammers have, you have no idea who to trust. This makes it all more exciting.


Instead of air conditioning, the 2nd class carriage had an impressive array of fans on the ceiling.

Trains have no restaurant car. This would be highly unnecessary and counter-productive ergarding employment. Every few minutes someone went through the carriage chanting "chaichaichai" or "coffeecoffeecoffee" or a name of some delicious-looking snack they were selling.

At every station the train was invaded by beggars who woke me up by tapping or scratching my hand and were patiently (stubbornly?) waiting for the white man to reward this unwanted alarm clock service by a handful of rupees.

Entering Punjab the amount of beggars was on decline. Punjab is a rich land, with a lot of agriculture and hard-working sikhs, who have been raised on stories of blood and martyrdom and who are still friendly towards everyone. The traditional sikh headwear, the turban, is a welcoming sight in the midst of the sea of entrepenours who want to cheat tourists. This might be a horrible misunderstanding and oversimplification, but the sikhs seem view foreigners as people and not as walking chests of gold. One reason might be that this group that consists of just a few million people is doing economically very well.

The Golden Temple, a holy place of the Sikhs was the reason we took the train. By we I mean me, Tuure from Finland and Ioana from Romania.


Tuure doing the tourist thing

Much more impressive in the night.


El Pene of Amritsar, commemorating the slaughter of around 2000 unarmed peaceful demontrators by british troops.

Tuure has more and better quality photos on his website.
Edit: 29 Aug - major rewrite because I was bored and this entry was too long.

(One of the MTV-clones shown on cable in Ireland has a show called "The next song will be better". I think nothing can describe better the hopes of people watching those channels.)

This time I want to apologize to both of my readers, that I cannot keep this entry short.

Last thursday we were supposed to host a party but one of my flatmates, Daniela from Germany, got food poisonign and had to go to the hospital for 4 days.

It would have felt a bit awkward to have the party then at our place, so the part was moved to another trainee house.

Great party! I enjoyed a weird movie flashback when one of the indian guys, who did seem bigger than the others but not that big - suddenly took off his shirt and started posing like a bodybuilder (and he had built a considerable body mind you) - A surprise executed in the tastefulness of Ichi the Killer - only this time bloodshed was avoided.

Other people at the party: One of the locals, Adi, was in party mood again. He used to date a Finnish girl and obviously learned something from the finns - he was the first depressed Indian I've seen. Andreu, who studies in Barcelona but comes from Catalan pyrenees should already be on his way to Everest base camp - I am so jealous! Should not be a problem for an Ironman competitor.

On saturday we had an Aiesec conference. I would have wanted to go to Varanasi with Maria and her friends for the weekend, but we could not afford to spoil relations with the aiesec people. After all, they should provide us help with our little water problem at the flat.

Me and Tiina held an impromptu presentation about Finland, improvising on a slightly modified slide set provided by Tiina's turkish flatmate who had been on Erasmus in Turku. The fluency of the whole presentation was a total surprise.  Surely I have never been as relaxed when having to speak to a room full of people without having prepared anything to say.

What can be more interesting? And what can be more beautiful? (Tuonne vaeltamaan kuukauden päästä, jos saadaan karttoja jostain.)

Tuktuk, tuo armoton taksityöjuhta, maakaasukaksitahtisten kuningas, tuntuu siunaavan ajajaansa käsittämättömän hyvällä avaruudellisella hahmotuskyvyllä - miten muuten selittää miten nämä arjen sankarit navigoivat tämän kaupungin liikenteessä (joka ymmärtääkseni on vasemmanpuoleista)?

Jos tällaiselle riksakuskille tarjoaisi hieman koulutusta laskuopin ja  abstraktioiden tekemisen aloilta, tulisi hänestä varmasti maailmanluokan differentiaaligeometrikko (jos sellainen ala on olemassa).

Seuraavaksi kirjoitankin siitä, mitä eroja on intialaisella ja suomalaisella palveluyhteiskunnalla, mutta siihen voi mennä hetki aikaa.

..has never been so spicy. And this was the first time I have seen cheese underneath all other things in a pizza. And the bill says "Grapefruit juice" instead of "beer" - I guess they might not have a license - or maybe they are educated enough to notice that Kingfisher really does not deserve to be called a beer.

The place was called Little Italy in Defence Colony and I recommend avoidance.

Hat doch Spass gemacht, ich und 4 Deutsche. 2 andere Praktikanten und dazu einige Touristen.

Finally got diarrhea. Slowly recovering. Decided to try to organize a trek in Spiti desert in September. Pretending to be busy at work. Plenty to write but no idea where to start, so I won't.

Yesterday we, that is me and a finnish girl Maria and 2 of her friends, were visiting sufi muslim bazaar, where people were playing music and engaging in various activities of obvious religious significance. We met a very entertaining and cosmopolitan man in his fifties who took us to drink tea at one of the stalls (and organized us to sit in a way that I was sitting between him and the three girls).

This was all very nice. However, after the activities had ceased and we were on our way out, my companions were attracting a bit too much undesired attention. What the young men wanted and what they thought they could get by acting as they did, I cannot imagine. Maybe its a universal thing to act like an idiot to get attention.

 I think Maria has some pictures of the place in her blog. Oh, and finally I saw crowds of miserable beggars. Never mind the blackouts (and therefore lack of air conditioning) in 40C heat and the continuing lack of running water. Those are a small nuisances.

23.8. Edit: Link corrected.

Jos jotakuta nyt kiiinnostaa, tyoni on rakentaa jonkinlainen content management system ifshalle. Aikataulu on joustava ja kolleegat ymmartavaisia - teen siis sen minka ehdin ja pysyn niin kauan kun viihdyn.

Kollega totesi etta mita vaan softaa voidaan hankkia mita toivon - kaikki on halpaa kun mikaan ei ole laillista. (Hoh. Kohta on laillistakin kunhan jaksan instailla apachen, mysqlin ja phpn).

Kolme harjoittelijaa/vapaaehtoista on ehtinyt sotkea taalla ennen minua ja  kotisivutiedostot - niin valmiit, keskeneraiset kuin hylatyt ideatkin - on hajautettu kahdelle kovalevylle noin miljoonaan hakemistoon ja dokumentaatiota ei ole lain. Ei nain, lapset, ei nain.  Ja skandithan eivat ole enaa ongelma.

Never mind plans. Never mind long texts. Keep it short:

• I arrived here in Delhi 5 days ago
• I enjoyed the hospitability of Karam's family for 2 nights
• Then I got to the trainee flat where there is no running water
• It's hot. Air conditioning is the only thing that keeps me sane and allows me to sleep in the night.
• Other people have found this to be true also. That's why everyone uses air conditioning and the power grid can't take it - that's why we have blackouts every now and then in our block.
• Camera's out of battery. Once this problem is solved I won't write anything boring more but post some photos.

 

I got some info from the brother of one of my colleagues:

From: rajat <email removed>
"If you want to trek in the arid areas (high altitude deserts) and also
some real high altitude stuff, I'd suggest you go to Kaza from Manali (by
public bus) from where you can reach Kibber village (also by bus). You
will reach Kibber village (13,000 feet) the same day you leave Manali.
From here, you can climb the Kanamo peak (19,800 feet). This is not a
technical climb and any fit climber can make it. There is a wildlife
sanctuary there as well and the Ki monastry near Kibber, will complete the
Tibetean experience that you may find interesting. Very different from the
rest of India.
...
Rgds

Rajat"

I also found a shop that seems to sell a nice variety of equipment - also
maps and guidebooks. They are located far in the northside of Delhi, in
Kamla Nagar. Check www.stikage.com. Rucksacks and sleeping bags seem to be
really bargain! Have to go and chech the quality though.

I was hoping to do the trek without porters. To support local economy and
to be sure, we might want to hire a guide. (I just got news that my tax
refunds are being processed - I'll be a rich man soon!)

But basically I'd say we should go in fast with minimal gear - Rucksacks
full of food but otherwise as little as is required to survive. Technical
gear is not necessary as the peak should be mostly free from glaciers but
I'll have to talk about this with Rajit. Maps seem to be available but the
quality of them makes a guide a very nice option.

As I have no idea how fit each of you is, I'd suppose that we make the
peak in 'base camp´ style. Meaning that those wishing to reach the summit
leave early with daypacks and the others can stay at the camp (or village
- have to check distances) and get a rest day.

Acclimatization might be an issue worth thinking about.

Also für die, die Deutsch sprechen:
http://www.trekkingforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3542
(also some english there)

Another one:
http://www.himadventures.com/peaks/ladakh/kanamo.html


If anyone needs some specialized trekking gear from Europe, mail Niamh
(email included in the list). She'll be here on the 10th of september and
can bring some expensive stuff from Ireland.

cheers,
   Reima

-----------
My first comments:

Some things to clarify:

-This would be mainly a hike with visits to interesting places along the
way.

-On one day there would be a summit attempt for Kanamo. It is not a
technical climb, but rather a strenuous walk up. This is for those who
want to do this and are able to do this. We'll see who is fit for the
altitude and who is not - altitude sickness might prevent anyone from
attepting it, even me :(  For For peaks less than 6000m no permit is
necessary.

-the time would be the second half of september. A few days are required
to acclimatize before starting to hike. Hike would be myabe 4-6 days,
depending on the chosen route.

-we need a kerosene stove unless someone of you has seen white ('coleman')
gas sold somewhere around Delhi.

-one link more: http://trekking.cc/forum/showthread.php?p=4662

 cheers again,

   Reima