I'm at the airport again, this time in Kolkata (Calcutta). I'm off to a temporary duty assignment (TDY) for two weeks. After that, I go on personal leave for two more weeks, so I won't be back in Chennai until around September 18. I'll drop in when I can from the road. I've been arranging this for quite sometime and I'm almost amazed it came through. Well, now they have plenty of time to get working on my flat. I sure hope when I return it will be liveable again... It's monsoon season in Kolkata and I could see all the flooded fields as the plane descended. There also seems to be a lot of trees in this city. I never thought of 'green' when Calcutta came to mind, normally one conjures up images of unending slums, grim despairing scenes of impoverished humanity and Mother Theresa. Well, I'll only be here for another couple of hours, so I'll leave the place on a positive note.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 8/23/2005 08:00:00 PM| |

 
The fire recovery has stalled. They've cleaned most of the mess up, but I don't think they've hired any contractors yet to reconstruct my kitchen. And after that, I'm sure they will have to repaint the entire flat just to knock the smoke odor out. I've moved out for the time being. Although the bulk of our belongings are still in the flat, I've moved the valuables and my clothes over to the flat opposite; as luck would have it, that occupant left Chennai a few days prior to the fire, so it was free. In one way, it's great that I'm still close by, but I really dislike that apartment, its layout, furniture, and condition. My own home is nothing fancy, but I can't wait until I can move back in: East or West, home is best. Or as the Chinese say: jin wo yin wo, bu ru ziji gou wo [sorry, no Chinese input capability on this 'guest computer'; quick translation: 'golden nest, silver nest, none can match my own dog nest']. I have a fire aftermath photo I want to post here just so you can see how bad it was, but unfortunately I am still offline, so I can't upload photos. And I've got some great photos from Sri Lanka that I'd like to share. It turned out to be a very nice trip and was exactly what the doctor ordered. The problem is, my computer is still filthy (though it does work). This is where Kribs has come to the rescue. He hooked me up with a guy who hopefully can help me clean my system of all the soot. He's coming out tomorrow. There's a small chance I can be up and running by Sunday, if all goes well, because the Internet connection is still good. The flat has aired out for one week now, so I'm pretty sure there is no more loose soot, but if I do move the computer back over I'll drape a bedsheet over it until they complete the renovation. Or, I may just wait until they finish the job. I should have some other news early next week, so until then...
- posted by Prince Roy @ 8/19/2005 08:15:00 PM| |

 
My house burned down. This will probably mean spotty posting for some time. It happened about 7:00pm last night. As (bad) luck would have it, I was halfway across town having dinner at a friend's house. When I found out, it took me almost 40 minutes to get home. My neighbors called the fire department before they called me, and when I reached home the fire truck still hadn't arrived. Guess what? It didn't show up for about 45 minutes after that. The AC caught fire in the storage room, in the kitchen area. The kitchen is a complete loss, and all my consumables are gone, as well as my blender, rice cooker, water boiler, etc. The fire didn't spread out of the kitchen, but because no one could get in, the smoke damage is very bad throughout the entire flat, and I'm still not sure just how bad it is. All of Spicygirl's beautiful carpets are toast, because the whole floor was flooded when the fire department finally managed to put out the fire. I went back and cleaned up a bit today, but it will take major work; there is smoke odor and soot everywhere. I'm hoping my computer and other expensive electronics will pull through. They worked fine today when I turned them on, but I have to clean all the soot and particles the best I can. Now I'm really glad Spicygirl didn't let me get a kitten, there is no way it would have made it. Oh, and if you ever have to 'burn' off some fire karma, try not to be in Madras. Not only did the fire department take well over an hour to get to my house, they also helped themselves to several items they found, including at least 800 rupees, my remaining beer that didn't get roasted, and Spicygirl's wristwatch. I didn't find out about this until today. To add insult to injury, they had the gumption to go around asking for tips last night. If they had gotten there within 15 minutes of the call, it is very likely the damage would have been extremely slight. I have a tip for them ,all right, but it is not publishable. I'm at the airport now, on my way to Sri Lanka for 3 days. I'd planned this trip for months, have already handed over the dough, and there's little I can do here anyway. And Chennai is about the last place I want to be right about now. Everyone take care and I'll see you when I see you...
- posted by Prince Roy @ 8/12/2005 10:05:00 PM| |

 
My Next Assignment: Take 3 Forget everything you read here. The powers that be have decided I am going to Taiwan after all. Naturally, with Spicygirl working in Hong Kong this wasn't the greatest news we could have received. In fact, it was a downright pisser. But we have to make the best of it. I remember it being about a 1 1/2 hour flight to Hong Kong from Taipei, so I'll have to start paying for everything on my credit card that gives me bonus miles. I'm hoping there is some silver lining in all this. Besides the most obvious fact that it would be really nice to live with my wife, I was totally fired up about the chance to learn Cantonese. Now I'll have done my first two tours in the Foreign Service without any language training at all. And we were very much looking forward to being in a city where our family and friends would want to visit us. Madras has been an impossible sell, and Taipei is too far off the beaten track. Hong Kong is one of those dream cities that everyone wants to visit, both for its own intrinsic appeal, and because every other cool place in Asia is easily accessible from there. Well, Spicygirl says you can all still go, but rather than the nice digs we would have had, you'll all have to squeeze into her shoebox flat. And my doors in Taipei will always be open as well. Make the attempt to get there and you won't regret it---as a tourist destination, Taiwan has never received its just dues. I have to admit I am kind of looking forward to living in Taiwan again, after an absence of over twelve years. My main goal is to attempt to recoup my former fluency in Chinese. When I left in 1993, after a stay that totaled over 3 years altogether, I was dreaming primarily in Mandarin. It's been so long now since I've lived in a Chinese-speaking society that maybe I can never reach that level again, but I'll try my darndest. In any case, I'm due to report sometime next summer, so that gives Poagao plenty of time to plan my 'homecoming' party.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 8/10/2005 12:00:00 AM| |

 
Chinese Food Lovers in Northern Virginia, Take Heart! If you haven't read my earlier entry, 'battle of the NOVA Sichuan restaurants', you might want to do so now. Not long after I wrote that piece, the Formosa Cafe closed its doors for good. Although I thought Charlie Chiang's came out ahead overall, there were a few dishes that the Formosa Cafe prepared exceptionally well. What's more, its owners are sure-fire authentic Sichuanese; in fact, they are from a county suburb of Chengdu right next door to Spicygirl. At the time, I promised that as soon as I found out the new address, I'd update to let any interested readers know. We searched for weeks, but by the time we left Virginia for my post here in Madras, our efforts had went for naught. I'm happy to report tonight that I've finally found their new location: 14005 Lee Jackson Memorial Hwy., Chantilly, 703-631-5888). It's got a new name, "Sichuan Village", and apparently they've sold out in a sense, as they now feature the awful stuff-your-face buffet that has become the recent plague on Chinese cuisine in the US. But they still maintain a real Chinese menu, that I hope contains what I thought was an absolute gem back in the day: mala douhua(r) 麻辣豆花儿. I encourage anyone in the area to seek this place out, especially any colleagues at FSI who are China-bound. I'd like to get some feedback on whether the owners brought their Formosa Cafe quality (as far as the Sichuanese specialty snacks go) with them to the new digs.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 8/04/2005 11:25:00 PM| |

 
I’ve returned from a weekend trip to Tirupathi, along with a group of ten colleagues and friends. Tirupathi is one of the most famous pilgrimage sites in India, and some believe it has the highest number of pilgrims in the world. Tirupathi is actually a small town in Andhra Pradesh, about 3 ½ hours by train from Chennai. It is surrounded by many hills; these are where the temples are. The most famous is located in a place called Tirumala. Click on that link to learn more. We left Saturday on the afternoon express train, which departs from Chennai Central. This station is always packed with humanity: We arrived early evening and in our hotel bar I tried a new beer, fittingly enough called Knockout High Punch Strong Beer: The beer’s label sports a drawing of Muhammed Ali standing over Sonny Liston. I had two of these and a bottle of my old standby Hayward’s 5000. Definitely not a wise move. Why? Because at 0200 the next morning we started out on our pilgrimage to Tirumala. This begins on the outskirts of Tirupathi at Alipiri and consists of a long hike over a series of hills. Just as in China, there are steps carved into the path almost the entire way up. Unlike Chinese pilgrimage walks, however, most of the path also is covered and well lit: This hike is not an easy one. It is about 15 kilometers and takes around 4 hours. I thought the first hill was the toughest. Those steep steps were murder, especially after only two hours sleep, and the unpleasant effects of too much super strong Indian beer from the previous evening (actually just several hours before) still coursing through my system. Note to self: next time on the night before a strenuous hike, try orange juice instead. That’s probably what I’m thinking here: It’s actually a good thing we did this in the middle of the night, because there was a nice breeze and not too many other people. In fact, some parts of the trail were deserted, which provided a rather surreal setting, given the subdued lighting: We saw a good bit of wildlife, including these large deer/elk-like animals: We knew we were getting closer when we started seeing these signs: Notice the fine for defecation, urination or spitting in open places. All set at 25 rupees, or approximately 60 cents. The middle hills were deceptively easy, but the final climb is painfully brutal. It’s not as long as the first hill, but about as steep, and though not as difficult, fatigue makes it just as tortuous. Once you reach Tirumala, the whole place becomes alive with vehicles, hotels, restaurants, all catering to the pilgrim and devotee trade. Many services are free of charge. One of my main reasons for doing this trip is that I wanted to experience ‘tonsuring’, my new favorite word. You may have read one of my previous entries, when I became a Buddhist monk for a week. They clipped my hair short, but Indians go the full-monty, and use a straight edge razor, something I had never done before. I couldn’t wait. We found a place that offered the service, free of charge to both men and women. You stand in line and when you get to the counter window, they pass you a ticket and a razor blade, and you walk through a set of doors into the tonsure hall. Many Indian males tonsure when they visit Tirupathi, but it is rather nonchalant; some women do as well, but for them it is far more serious, done only by those that have a very important request to make of the Lord. Sad to say, only three in our group undertook the tonsure. I wet my hair from a water bucket and stood in line to wait my turn. First he gave me a quick shave: Ouch! He rubbed my face with some kind of stone that is supposed to stop the bleeding from any cuts. It burned like mad, and was the only uncomfortable part of the tonsure. Then, the real work began: Too Late to Turn back Now... Final touches: Voila! A Brand-New Guru! Here I am getting my forehead markings done: Afterwards we went into the temple itself. It is one of the most elaborate I’ve ever seen, and you have to experience the crowds to fully comprehend the power of the place. It’s also unusual in that it allows non-Hindus into the inner sanctum, where you can actually see the Lord image. Normally, you have to stand in a queue for several hours, but we got really lucky and received a special VIP darshan ( a darshan is an audience in the inner sanctum with the Lord image). This made all the difference, because our guide could explain to us the various sections of the temple and what we saw in each. They have a strict rule against photography, and so unfortunately I can’t post any pictures of the temple interior. We all wore appropriate dress; I had on a silk dhoti and avastaram (sp?). The temple provided us with a cottage to rest after we concluded our temple darshan, and here I am in my dhoti: Although we were on the road back to Tirupathi by noon, we were all exhausted from the early morning hike. We hired a taxi to take us back to town, because we had to catch the 1700 train back to Madras. The view from the mountain was superb: Finally, homeward bound, and exhausted, as you can see: Several of us took vows as a result of the pilgrimage. For me, the most important is a dry month, meaning no intoxicants of any kind (in the Buddhist sense of the term), to include caffeine. I will also strictly observe all Five Precepts. The plan is to uphold this vow until my upcoming birthday in Hong Kong next month. NOTE: All photos in this post © 2005 by Some Guy From Tulsa.
- posted by Prince Roy @ 8/02/2005 03:30:00 AM| |