A short one ...

Well, after putting in 12 hour work days for the past 2 days, I'm fuckin' tired. So far, its been for a worthy cause. At least I've done actual analysis for some income statements, not just the sourcing for data.

I've been looking forward to this.

To Ryan: Yes, I speak mandarin to the Taiwanese girl. More like broken mandarin. But I daresay, I've improved a bit. ( She never laughs at me!) I love her to bits, but she's leaving in mid-April. I'm really gonna miss her.

I've got a new male French room mate who arrived today. He seems alright.

Ok, I think I'll go now, I got work tmr. Will write something more substantial soon.

1770 Metres above sea level

And I'm saying "Hello!" from the Himalayas. McLeod Ganj to be precise. That's twenty minutes away from Dharamsala. I'm waiting to catch my bus back to Delhi (in about 4 hours) and have decided to put this time to good use.

Up in the mountains

Its beautiful up here. I do want to upload photos, that's logistically pretty challenging.There are monks in the street. Technically, there isn't that much to see - your usual markets and nature trails, but the most enjoyable thing is actually being situated here. Its a little bit touristy, but still it remains largely untouched by any epidemical commercialization. Just Stacy ( the Taiwanese girl I've grown close to) and I. Think Swiss Alps in terms of view, minus luxury accomodation.

I'm also freezing my ass off here at night. Its however very pleasant, when the sun's rays warm up the mountainsides. If its of anyone's concern, I also busted my budget big time. And its about 2 weeks more before I get my pay again. I guess shopping at Nine West at the beginning of the month wasn't too good an idea, was it?

A little bit more on the Singaporean Guy

Speaking of the Singaporean guy I mentioned in the previous post, the last thing I would want would be to do an injustice to him. Don't get me wrong - as a person he's been nothing but graciously generous in helping out a fellow Singaporean. I thoroughly enjoyed his friendship very much. He's also been there when I needed whine time. I guess the mistake was taking it past the border of friendship, when he didn't quite feel the same way. I guess I have to rectify that mistake in order to salvage what's left of this friendship. So the last week or so, I've pretty much kept my distance, so my emotions can be kept in check. Believe me, I think you guys know this already. Aside from the you-know-who, I've recovered from romantic mishaps with surprising ease in a short period of time. Fortnight is the max. After that, I'm good with the whole platonic status again. The ones that aren't worth it, I cut out of my life. Gangrenous limbs, are hardly healthy to have.

I've been pretty good this week, I've updated a number of times.

One last point, I've got some mostly non-indian male aquaintances coming to me saying " Oh, I didn't know you preferred indian men " after stumbling across the last post. I think its almost a bit idiotic, when they keep repeatedly asking, "Why do you prefer them?" "I suppose you like dark features", and even " Do you like black men?". Sometimes I'm gritting my teeth and could barely control my fingers from typing fuck off.I hate having to repeat again and again that I character is of utmost importance and skin colour a distant second or third or fourth - I don't even rank it.One of them even equated black men with indian men.

I know making an exaggerated joke out of my slight bias for dark featured men, is bound to receive certain responses from ruffled egos. So I try to take it in my stride. However, continuous inane questions really get under my yellow skin. I was reading Chrissy's latest post, about being happy and not giving a shit about what people think. Inspired, I'm telling the rest of the annoying interrogations to go away.

Back from the loo...

Ok, let me continue my updates.

Travel plans - Tomorrow, if all works out according to plan, I'll be on my way to Dharamsala, in the Himalayas. Well, if geographical names mean zilch to you, its where the Dalai Lama is.Thing is I've not booked the bus tickets ( It's a 12 hour drive from where I am ) nor the accomodation, I'm just heading to the interstate bus station after work tomorrow, crossing my fingers till they turn blue and passionately hoping that there will be tickets.

I actually went out with this Singaporean guy for a while. Things haven't worked out. Its funny right, your dear friend with the Thambi-fetish, wound up going out with a Chinese Singaporean guy for 2-3 weeks. Close friends would probably have a good idea what I would normally find attractive. I think in this case ( nothing to do with skin colour, I just lap it up sometimes, the ruckus I create when I mention that I find Indian guys particularly physically attractive ) differences in character are too wide to overcome. Plus, I don't think he's that into me. I realized after an upsetting Sunday afternoon. He's pulling the same shit on me, I think you guys know who.I'm out before I'm getting burnt.Anyway,before this erupts into a potentially explosive topic, lets move on to the safety ledge of political correctness as well as onto greener pastures.

Just a disclaimer:
Despite my ostensible thambi fetish, I'm open into the entire assortment of colours. I suppose I do value integrity,intelligence,humor above differential shades.

Done with the 'love-life' bit.

Miss you people.

Yes, I'm still alive.

Hello there dear friends,

I know I haven't exactly been conscientious in updating my blog. But here's some updates in my life.

Re: The Room Mate

I'm talking about the Lithuanian one. I decided that her personality was a bit too strong for me to take 24/7. Nice to hang out with in certain instances - say parties. Outgoing sociable - but terribly in your face. She's pretty genuine, but continued exposure to radioactive materials, tends to be slightly less than healthy. So one day, tired of it all - an opportunity opened up. The company had decided to move another apartment of people into a new apartment ( Here's some background: The company has 3 apartments, one of them was shit, and they decided to shift the people into a better dwelling place, so I tagged along). She was quite conveniently travelling that weekend, so I saved myself tedious explanations.

This new place is quite a lot better. Its a hell lot cleaner. Plus I get an attached bathroom to the bedroom. Also, I figured when new people move to an apartment, household norms can be set.When I initially moved to the old dirty apartment, the rules were already set ( First commandment being: Thou shalt leave your dirty mess around, because there would be a cleaning lady cleaning up after you. Second commandment being: Even if the cleaning lady doesn't perform her function effectively,living in glorious filth is a cultivated second nature). So in the new flat, since my new room mate has not arrived yet; she would be here tonight, Korean girl, we can set the norms. The other two existing flatmates ( A Taiwanese girl who's become my good friend, and a very nice French lady, I like very much) seem to be pretty considerate. Rule is, take off footwear before entering my room.

And the toilet is clean. Bad thing is that I have no internet connection, which also means I have to find the time to head to the internet cafe and I haven't found a practical solution to uploading photographs yet.

Ok, I've updated you about the living conditions so far. Thing is I need to use the loo right now, and the one here is dirty - so I gotta head home to use the loo!

Ciao ladies and gentleman,
I will continue writing again later maybe or in a couple days

Much love.

P.s. I miss you guys- friends and family back home :)

Post-note dated 1 December 2006 : To be honest, my first room mate is one of the people I miss the most from the Indian Experience. Only just realized that... She's a great chick.