safe by the sound

The terrible tsunamis of Sunday have fortunately not effected our plans but certainly have made us upset. we are in northern goa, in a beach hut surrounded by palm trees, having perhaps too nice a time. Happy new year to you all~ we love you!

Quiet Moments are Life's Rewards

the title of this blog comes from a picture of a waterfall with these words emblazoned across the top that hangs on the wall of our hotel room in Mumbai. it is ironic of course because our room is separated only by a lattice window at the top from three other rooms, all of which were full of laughing, joking indian men last night. we fell asleep to their cackles and woke to their giggles. bombay is the most expensive place to stay in india, so we are paying dearly even for this sort of accommodation. nonetheless, alp and i are having a fun mini-break in the big city and have walked and found our way around like the hardened travellers we have become. there are beautiful and romantically crumbling british building left from the raj-era and it feels much more cosmopolitan here than other indian cities in the north, like new delhi. we have become intrigued by the parsi community in bombay and pune, as they are actually followers of the ancient element-revering zoroastrian faith and have placed fantastical symbols (like men with horse bodies and wings) about town. traditionally parsis leave their dead on the towers of silence to have their bodies picked apart by vultures and birds of prey. sadly, these places are kept off limits but i suppose that adds to their mysteriousness. we have heard the bad news about the tokyo rose closing and hope that final blow to the coolness of charlottesville will perhaps inspire some of all you to head over here. scoot~ ingrid

Yes we are in Mumbai right now, the only reason being the finding of a metal rigging to go on the back of a 1973 Enfield. We had a meeting on Wednesday in Pune with Bhargavi who is the head of Bapu Trust (click title), an organization helping women and the mentally ill. And the news is that we will stay in Pune for a year working part time with them. Our request was that we work part time so that we can write our book, and ofcourse we will not be getting paid. Finding a job is much easier when you dont want to get paid, because they cant say no. Well we observed that poor Bhargavi was traumatized by another german volunteer. apperantly she was more trouble then she was worth, asking by the hour what to do. We assured Bhargavi that we are pretty laid back and are happy not doing anything just as much as we enjoy doing things. At the same time we will attend the prestigious Iyengar Institute of Yoga four times a week. To the rock climbing enthusiasts out there let me tell you this, Pune is a heaven. There are beautiful cliffs and Iam sure many caves all over Maharastra. So we will be buying a bike tomarrow, and we had to come to Mumbai for the luggage rack because without it we cant take our stuff with us, but being a tourist implement it is especially hand made welded metal. Really grungy but it will do the trick. We are planning to head for Goa on Monday and spend the new year there. Hopefully on a more quiet beach and we will party with the crowd elsewhere. Then we are planning to head further south to Kerala, everyone beit Indian or foreigner seems to think highly of Kerala and we might spend more time there. All of this of course on our bike. We plan to go to Sri Lanka in February for a month where we will apply for the employment visa. So that is the outline of the plan. We feel that all of the things we wanted to do in India or in Asia came together in Pune and are very happy of the outcome of all our previous trials and failures. It is never a failure if it opens another door and who knows if you are heading to where you want to be by failing. Important thing is not to lose motivation. So high-ho to you all,
Alp!

Pheeling Phun in Pune

After a week in Pune, with and now without Manish, we have decided this would be a wonderful place to stay. Manish has gone off to Goa for a film festival and allowed us to further take over his hostel room. It is quiet and extremely peaceful on campus because the school is out of session but the guards are starting to become wary of us, traipsing in and out of the school with no chaperone. We spent four days intensely reading the Illustrated version of the Da Vinci Code out loud. Pune has many charms unique to itself. All of the apartment buildings have names scrawled on the sides and there are delightful old British-looking stone and wood buildings. We have found fresh figs, tasty papayas, and a beer store yards away from the entrance to the school. Walking around the Muslim section of town, we came to an old church-cum-chicken slaughterhouse where nearly one hundred hawks were gathered, swooping down and bombarding trash dumpsters filled with scraps, flinging dissattached chicken feet across the streets. Otherwise, Pune is extremely modern and progressive. Women abound (which is unusual for most Indian cities, where men certainly outnumber their counterparts) and ride around the town on zippy motorscooters, wearing mujahhadin-like headdresses to keep out some of the pollution. Pune also specializes in desserts and we have tasted wonderful creme caramel, chocolate mousse, and homemade ice cream (real reason y ingie wants to stay in Pune). There are several Iranian-style places around too and we have recently shared, over an apple-flavoured hookah, fantasies and thoughts on our upcoming, highly-anticipated novel. Most of the restaurants are outside, with patios, furthering the feeling like we are on perpetual vacation. When we realize some of our plans (i.e. motorcycle purchasing, etc), you all will be the first to know!
There is a new ablum of pictures on Pune, click the title!
I and A