British English?

Spurred by Asher's calling me out, I submit my first (ever) blog entry (luddites: unite!)

India is amazing and overwhelming and frustrating. The size of the place, the depth of poverty, the noise, the smells – of wonderful food and jasmine flowers, of rampant pollution and urine – everything is writ large. Very few people speak English, so it's been isolating at times. It definitely makes you think about how important having a community is. Go Woos!

While there are a lot of important policy and ethical issues that my experiences in India raise, I figured I'd add some levity to this conversation for my first blog entry. In particular, I've found some funny wording.

I love Indian food, but having it at every meal can get tough on the stomach and the psyche. So this past weekend in Hyderabad, I went to a couple places that serve other types of food. The menu at one place included (I write this exactly as it was written):

Plain D'ble cheese pizza

Topped with Just more & Cheese

Chilly Chicken Pizza

Veg. Franky

Chicken 65 Pizza

Topped with...Chicken 65 and Cheese

[65 is a common food adjective: “aloo 65” “paneer 65”, etc. Rumor is there may be 65 spices or these were developed in 1965...]

Also, at the hotel I stayed at, there was a list of Rules and Regulations. The first read:

Lodgers are requested not to disturb or cause inconvenience to other inmates of the Hotel. [emphasis added]

And the last rule read:

If any lodger is found acting in contravention of the Rules and Regulations or misbehaves or is found undesirable, the Management reserves its full rights to eject such lodger from the premises at once.

I was glad they didn't get a good look at me.

peace, -Will