Honestly? I’m lazy. I’ve been working hard, and generally the time
where I think abstractly enough for blogging tends to be at awkward
times, like in an auto or while walking across campus. However, I
need to write this down. Not only will my Aunt Donna be upset if I
don’t update, but this is for me as well; life here has
changed the way I see the world, really for the better. The result is
that as I blogged like crazy at the start of my trip, so too will I
blog at the end, starting here.

Since my last posting, there’s been a world of things I’ve done. I
can drink tap water now, for starters. I don’t make a habit of it,
but if it’s all that’s available, it’s all that’s available. That’s a
big one, honestly.

A friend of mine and I were talking today, and I brought up that in
coming to India, I steeled myself for The Big Things. I haven’t
really felt any major culture shock, and that is due in large
part for me mentally preparing myself for going from Champaign, IL to
Bangalore, India. However, there’s a million and one small things,
the type that doesn’t rear its head and make itself noticed. For
example, there is something off about India for the first
couple of weeks I was here. I couldn’t tell what it was, but
something felt wrong on a basic, fundamental level.

“What was it?”, asks the audience.

Stairs. Holes. Ledges, bumps, all manner of things that would get
any business or government in the US in large amounts of trouble with
regards to handicap accessibility. India is not the
place for the wheelchair-bound. As a walking person, it’s something
you don’t notice, but for us Americans, our world is typically flat.
Sidewalks are smooth, there are generally smooth(ish) inclines
anywhere you need to get to with minor elevation changes, and public
places either have complex ramps or an elevator for large elevation
changes. It’s really a small thing for me, but it was bugging the
hell out of me until I figured it out. It’s one of a million things
that have struck me about this city.

This city is very much organic; I don’t see any reasonable way that
anyone regulates, taxes, or does much of anything with at least 75% of
the individuals and businesses here. Better question: I don’t know if
there’s any authority that knows that 75% of the individuals and
businesses here even exist. Sure, they know there’s a lot of
people here and it’s a big city, but beyond that, what then? After
much of the touristing I’ve done here over the weekend (more on that
later), I imagine the proper question is: do I know the identity of
every cell in my body?

That is all.