PHOTO; work by Jenny Kosteckishaw

Paints and pens banned at the Taj…

http://chaipilgrimage.com/2011/11/

Jenny created this Taj mostly from memory — Security only allowed a pencil and held her markers, pens and paints at the gate.

What's a kiwi dollar worth in rupees...

1 New Zealand Dollar = 44.91926 Indian Rupee

10.00 NZD                    = 449.19      INR

http://themoneyconverter.com/NZD/INR.aspx

I have my International Driving License….

Now I can ride a moped or a scooter in India. And I have no doubt I am a better driver than this guy

Look out India…I now have a phrase book…

"Making Out in Hindi" is a fun, accessible guide to contemporary Hindi as it's really spoken. It's the perfect phrase book for everyday interactions, and includes slang and street expressions not covered in other phrase books. Features include: A pronunciation guide. Notes on the Hindi language and Indian culture. Guidance on male and female usage.  Includes references to Bollywood films.

I’ve added sunglasses…

…to my long list of things to take to India. I refuse to buy an i-pod. Read Mark Manson’s blog about India…

“I have been to 40 different countries. Yet India made the most indelible impression of any of them. And not for all of the right reasons. Frankly, it’s not a pleasant place to be.

The first thing that strikes you about India is how dirty it is. In a word, the place is disgusting. All of it. The entire country. Never before have I seen mountains of garbage the size of a small house stacked on the side of a road, in broad daylight, in the middle of a city, repeatedly. Dumpsters tipped over and overflowing. Mounds of trash — wrappers, cups, papers, napkins, strewn all about, mixed with sludge from the soda and urine and spit coagulated from thousands of daily passersby.

Like the dust, the garbage never ceases. …And that is the second thing to strike you about India. The poverty….. Limbless men stewing about in their own feces….. A man with his leg literally rotting off to the bone, maggots and all, laying on the curb. It’s everywhere. …After a couple days, I was excited to hire a driver to go to Agra because I figured I’d be able to see some countryside and escape the stench and horrors of the city. But no. The entire four hours between Delhi and Agra was an unending stream of people, garbage and cars, with billows of dust drafting in our wake the whole way down.”

POST MASCULINE ; Radical new perspectives on life:DUST OVER INDIA (6.12.11)

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://postmasculine.com/a-dust-over-india

About Mark Manson…

Mark Manson is from Austin, Texas, USA and graduated from Boston University in 2007. He began coaching men informally that same year, taking them out to local bars and helping them approach attractive women.
Mark founded Practical Pick Up in 2008 and has since worked with hundreds of men in 12 different countries and four different continents. He’s given over 40 public presentations worldwide and has been interviewed for news shows and magazines. In 2011, he changed his business to PostMasculine.com.  He currently lives a mobile lifestyle traveling and residing across the globe. He can be reached at mark@postmasculine.com.

 

 

SheWee…

I thought Mum and Christine were playing an elaborate joke on me… when they both told me I could buy a She Wee to avoid using toilets in India. Have a look at Paul Henry talking about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXE3yRgmZ5s

A long drapey scarf a la India…

I cannot find another magazine… so I can join my ‘FREE GIFT scarf’ to another second one.  Needed to think about THAT earlier obviously. Ironically even the dairy owner (Indian) at the corner does not have any old copies of that issue of the Australian Woman’s Weekly.

May have a solution… Spotlight has a big sale of organza curtains. Mum said “ Do not think you are going to bring that around to me to hem!”

“Nope- all good I am going to do a rolled hem on it myself” (Yeah Right!)

 

List for india…

·         Namaste ear rings

·         Buddhist necklace

·         Small box of English biscuits (Light ones)

·         Small 6-pack of ‘V’ or some energy drink

·         6-pack of Coca cola

·         Box of extra bung pills

·         Surgical gloves

·         Hygienic covers for toilet seats

·         Couple of rolls of toilet paper

·         Lightweight blanket to cover train seats

·         Lightweight blanket to cover beds

·         Long drapey scarf

·         Small laundry line

·         Camera and long lens and short lens

·         Camera battery charger

·         Adaptor for battery charger

·         USB cable for camera

·         Clothes…not too many …need more room for tonic water.