A Great Article

There is a wonderful article on BBCNews today regarding the effect of globalization in Bangalore. While Bangalore is growing at staggering rates, the development of the infrastructure isn't keeping pace. The article touches on that as well as just how big the IT boom is here. One thing to take note of is the shanty towns at all the building sites that they discuss. I'll try to take some pictures of what they mean. The people who build the fancy and expensive high rises can't afford rent here, so instead they live in tents made from tarps at the building sites. I see at least a dozen on my way to and from NCBS. It's really heartbreaking.

A few more pics

OK, by a "few" I mean 392. All of them are from the diving portion of the trip and most of them are from under the water. However, most of them have labels and you can download the whole folder, if you have any interest in that. You can also view a slideshow of the pics.

OK, back to reading Aurobindo now... I am on page 672... only 428 pages left. :0

Thailand Liveaboard Pictures

Superiority Complex

I’m sure it is obvious to many of you that I am Brad’s superior. Indeed, any interaction that you have with either of us will result in the quick conclusion that Brad became a fortunate man when he married the extraordinary girl that is, well, me. If there is a guru in the family, I am that guru with Brad as my indolent yet enthusiastic disciple.

If you fail to recognize the truth in this matter, you need look no further than the events that transpired recently. I went to Brad’s campus to meet him for lunch one day last week, at which point he handed me a letter, addressed to his Superior. (Exhibit A) Within the envelope was a letter that invited me to a celebration of all superiority at DVK, to take place this afternoon. In truth, the section of the letter regarding the intention of the entire community to honor and laud their superiors was in boldface font, clearly indicating that this was the ultimate desire of all involved. Please do take notice of the use of the phrase your reverence when referring to me in the first line of the third paragraph.

While I was not certain if I wanted to take advantage of this occasion, as I never am one to brag about my superiority, my feelings were swayed this very morning when Brad begged me to join him this afternoon. “Dear wife,” he proclaimed, “it would not be good of me to salute others when clearly you are the one who is most deserving of such an auspicious occasion.” Therefore, to please my husband’s need to exalt my very existence, we departed for the campus this afternoon.

When we got there, we were invited, by the Dean of the institution, to sit in a section for luminaries. We sat through a lovely series of speeches, songs and even some interpretive dance before gifts were bestowed upon each of the students' Superiors. While I did my best to remain modest and coy, I could not help but notice that there was thunderous applause when my name was proclaimed from the podium. Yes, the gentlemen and gentlewomen who attend classes there are clearly aware of how great I art. I gracefully ascended the platform and gathered a delightfully wrapped package into my hands.

The presentation of gifts went on for a few more minutes, after which we were given a small portion of light snack with a scrumptious serving of tea to accompany. The final remarks spoken, Brad and I mingled with the other guests, many of whom were quick to acknowledge how superior I am. Although one of Brad’s professors made the mistake of calling me his guardian, I quickly corrected his blunder, which he was gracious enough to admit.

When we arrived home, I opened my package to find a folio of the softest faux blue leather with the words “Philosophy Faculty Day” emblazoned across the cover. (Exhibit B) So if there is ever a doubt in this flat that we call a home regarding who should be praised, I will always have my gift to show Brad, demonstrating that the world at large concedes that I am, and forever will be, Brad’s Superior.

Exhibit A: A glorious invitation

Exhibit B: The gifted folio

Finally!

So, after much aggrevation and a lot of fighting with winkflash, the pics are LOADED! WHEEEE! There are a lot of them (I think over 300) so feel free to peruse as many as you like. There are shots from all aspects of the trip: wandering through Bangkok, wandering by coral underwater, wandering around the boat. Truly, that's all we did for two weeks: wander.

I've included 31 of our favorites here. However, if you click this handy link, you can be awed and inspired by the rest.

Brad and Elizabeth's Thai Adventure Pics

And now, a preview:

With all of our gear, we couldn't quite fit in the picture.

A leopard shark. People came so close to it,
as you can see from the pic Brad took.

A manta ray. There are no words. We'll try,
but it's beyond intelligible language to describe.

On our way back to land after two weeks on a boat. I got
land sickness that night.

The man who made the trip: John.
He was the dive captainof the boat.

On the surface in the water.

The best product description I've ever seen.

Brad riding the undersea subway.

Brad and a manta ray.

Batfish. They were each 2 - 3 ft. across. And shimmery.

A blue spotted sting ray. We had a close call with one that
made us think we were going to have our own Steve Irwin-esque moment.

The dome of the Golden Temple with a stand
where people hang bells with prayers on them.

A ghost pipefish. While they aren't rare, they are very hard to
find as they are ~2cm in length. We were fortunate to see this one twice.
The amateur photographer from the Netherlands was jealous!

The galley where we ate and hung out between dives.

Elizabeth hanging on while being towed back to the ship.

A christmas tree. If you get too close, they close up.
This is very close up. They are 3-4cm in length.

A humphead parrotfish. As John said, a fish so ugly
that even its mother couldn't love it.

A hermit crab. Isn't he cute?

A thornback boxfish. They are VERY rare in the
region where we're diving. Tomas was very
impressed that I found it.

I found Nemo!!

A Jenkins Whiptail Ray. He was going through the
"carwash" getting a bath. (And yes, At the Carwash was
running through my head while watching him.)

Pearl eyed moray eel. They are very rare.

A praying mantis shrimp. They are very shy and hard
to spot. This one kept moving his tail closer to me,
like was going to strike me with it.

One of many sunrises.

Tiny little fleurs. They were maybe 10mm wide.

This is what pure joy looks like.

A sea urchin. They were so cool. I love the orb in the middle.

Tiny crabs. This is Brad's favorite pic from the trip. There
are three in the picture and the largest was 2-3cm.

Fleurs and bells at the Golden Temple in Bangkok.
I rang one of the bells and it was terribly loud.

Little shrimps. Anyone hungry??

Squid! They are so cool! They float along and are irridescent.

The balance of nature

One of the most amazing fish that we saw on our diving trip was a scorpionfish. They are hard to spot, usually, because they lie still on the bottom and wait for an unsuspecting fish to swim by for them to eat. They are impressive because of their camouflage. You can see that well in this picture, but you have to look closely to see it:


However, we became most amazed at what nature has not blessed them with...

Brains.

Our First Hindu Wedding

Elizabeth and I were invited to our first Hindu wedding, which was held this morning. The puja ceremonies began around 8:30am with the bride and the groom attending separate worship ceremonies. There were a number of traditional activities, including a time for the new inlaws to wash feet. Below, I put a few pictures, for those interested. Around 10:00am, the groom closed his eyes and was hidden by a cloth while the bride was escorted in with her eyes closed. Next, the bride and groom held hands and repeated some vows and some other ceremonial things. Then there were a few pictures, a greeting line, and then most people went downstairs to eat lunch while the family performed more rituals. Several folks were kind enough to sit and explain the meanings of most of the traditions to us. If you are curious, feel free to ask. Chances are, I won't know, but either someone else on the blog will know or I'll ask my guru. We had a great time and learned a lot and had some memorable experiences. The ceremonies were still going on when we left at 3:00pm. Most people had gone by that time to rest and get dressed for the reception. The attire for the wedding is pretty casual, but the reception is formal. Since we were both tired and had a lot to do, and since the reception hall is an hour drive from our flat, we've decided not to go back for the reception.
We'd love to hear from you, even if it is just a short "hi" so that we know someone is out there and thinking of us.

Edit by Elizabeth: Here is a picture of the lunch we were served. It was VERY TASTY! (Kathrin, this picture is totally for you, girl. It was all vegetarian cuisine.)

We are back!

We have arrived safely and soundly in Bangalore. Can't say that we didn't both wish the plane would have kept going back to the US, but it is at least nice to be back to familiarity. I begin a new class tomorrow morning on "Heidegger's Concept of God" (sounds more like Theology to me than Philosophy, but we'll see).

While in the Similan Islands, Koh Bon, and Richeleu, I did 49 dives and Elizabeth did 45 dives. We took an average of about 70 pictures PER DIVE... that's in the neighborhood of 3,000 pictures, PLUS what we took on dry land. It will take a little time to sort through those and pick out the goodies, but we will absolutely post them when we get the time to do that... Some are quite good and we are excited to share. Reef Sharks, Leopard Sharks, sting rays, manta rays (wow... manta rays!), lion fish, moray eels, and ghost pipe fish (very cool), and lots more to see.

We are taking today to relax. We've spent nearly the entire day in bed watching TV and movies (we finally got to see the Survivor finale today... I'm crushed that Ozzie lost). Tomorrow Indian reality will be upon us once again.

We hope to hear about all of your holiday adventures, as well, and I promise we'll both tackle our correspondence soon, too!

Namaste, Brad