Is it possible that I have already been here for two weeks? Apparently. I wanted to write about some interesting tidbits before I forgot or before they no longer where interesting. The men here wear long skirts. I have no idea what they are called. Before I came here, I thought men in skirts were very sexy, but now that I am here, I have changed my mind. The men who are wearing them are gross. And often the skirts are dirty, nasty looking, well the men too. Too bad. A fantasy shot to hell. The young men wear tight pants, tight like a eastern-block bloke. The other night I saw a guy wearing very tight fitted black pin striped pants. Where am I?
Ice cream is everywhere. I can get scopes at darkly lit "ice cream parlors". I can get ice cream bars on the street corners, although it has taken me almost 2 weeks to figure this out. Oh, and cheap! A scoop is 15rupees, about 50cents, an ice cream bar is 25cents. That is the thing about these foreign countries, particularly India, the stores are not that easily identifiable. I was thinking of doing an installation. One half of the gallery would be neatly stacked piles of items that one might purchase, on the other half the same stuff, but a wider variety, thrown in a heap, covered in dust. The first one would represent stores in the West, the second in developing countries. Now it is that extreme but for me it feels like it. The other day I went to buy something to put rocks and bricks on so I could try to grow moss (oh nevermind). And I picked out this dusty old plastic tray for 55rupees, about $1.25. As I am paying for it, the young woman decides to clean it off. Why then? I've already decided to buy it. Maybe you should've cleaned it before I bought it, so I could see how nice it was.
There are goats everywhere, but there is no goat milk. I think there is goat meat but I haven't been able to identify one hanging slab of meat from another. The goats are the scavengers. Eating what ever trash people have conveniently thrown on the street (that is way they do it - sarcasm). They also seem to like to eat posters from off the walls.
There are many signs here, in English, that say stick no bills. I guess they have had problems in the past with tourists sticking up signs willy nilly. I just bought a tshirt in Vietnam that says "Post No Bills" on the front like you might see in my beloved NYC. It is almost apropos here.
There are a bazillion mosquitoes here. I have been carrying around deet for a year, this is the only place I have really found a continuous need. I even sleep under an orange mosquito net. I sprayed it with one of those long lasting toxic repellents. But still they seem to like it. I worked for about a day.
You can get milk, butter, and yogurt, called curd, everywhere, although no cheese. You can get wonder-style bread easily.
Their waste water runs in open canals throughout the city. All ending up in one huge one that empties into the sea. Apparently two of Canada's largest western cities also do the same but probably their system is underground and out of sight out of mind.
Oh, another interesting tidbit. No toilet paper. It's not just that they don't provide it, they don't use it. They literally use their hands, like a joke from childhood. I do hope they wash their hands, with soap, but the evidence for that is not strong. Siji, the young artist here, doesn't seem to. You can buy it here, but it is a dollar a roll. Good lord. So, sometimes, to fit in, I try to drip dry. No amount of shaking will make me dry. I don't know how they can stand it. It drives me nuts.
