Theresa here is clearly won over by either the easy going charm of Ronald McDonald or the erotically freshly shaved Kalyan.

This photo above was taken on my last day in Hyderabad, obviously outside a McDonalds. McDonalds in India is quite a bit different, by the way- all the menu items are noted with either a green or red dot, indicating whether or not the item is vegetarian. (One good looking vegetarian option was a falafel burger, but I didn’t try it. Did I really come all this way just to eat at McDonalds? Well, kind readers, rest assured that I’m kicking myself now. (I did try some chocolate shake though, which was excellent. Hey, look at that, embedded parentheses!!!))

Anyway, the time has finally come. This is my last India entry, as of this trip anyway. I thought I’d take a brief moment here for we three of our little band.

My whole reason for taking this trip in the first place was because of my buddy Kalyan. I’ve known him pretty much longer than anyone outside my family, we go way back to the mean halls of Harker Academy in 6th grade. I’ve used him recently as an excuse to travel to places I’ve never been to, having gone with Cherise to visit him in New York City last year, and this year seeing him in India. Though born in India, he moved when he was very young, and starting to work in India last year has been his first time back for an extended period of time, and I believe his first time going alone.

Given his ethnicity, we’ll say this made Kalyan the ‘inside man’ of the team. His powers included knowing enough Hindi to keep us from getting screwed by taxi rickshaw drivers, and having a keen sense for upscale themed restaurants.

Theresa I had never met before this trip, but she’s another long time friend of Kalyan’s, having known him since his days at Berkeley. She’s travelled to Russia, and speaks Russian very well, and now works in Washington DC. Hmmmm… travels to Russia. Works in DC. Nobody’s raised any eyebrows over this? Litvinenko anyone?

Obviously, acculturation and being a master of disguise is Theresa’s power. Her efforts and abilities in this group included being able to acquire hotel reservations and communicate over the phone with the management on the other end of the line none the wiser as to her foreign origins.

Then, there was me. Tall and white, the sun gleaming off my shorn head. My efforts in the group included attracting large groups of young Indian men, and doing battle with swarms of young children, distracting them long enough for Kalyan and Theresa to escape and enjoy the tourist sites while I was slowly and brutally felled by the Indian youth, and also taking the most dangerous seats in rickshaws and automobiles. I never thought it possible, but I was apparently the strongman of the group.

Also, I documented with the occasional photo.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve included a photo of myself yet, so here you all go:

I was sitting on top of a fortress wall to get this view:

I felt a little sorry to be leaving India after just ten days there. It was my first truly different (brief) living experience, and I quite enjoyed it. I strongly believe a person has to leave their comfort zones to grow and truly become creative, and India did just that for me: I’ve never been placed in the sort of situation before where I don’t speak the language, don’t know the area well, don’t have the modern creature comforts we all take for granted here in the first world, and barely have any remnants of the culture I’m familiar with around me, save for a strange version of a few fast food restaurants. This has probably been said better by other people, but as scary as it sounds, it’s something everyone should try. You’ll be a better person for it, and probably find it isn’t as hard as you think it is.

I’ll leave it at that for now. I’m currently working on a website, so I’m not going to blog about Hong Kong until that’s up and running. I have plenty of other material in the meantime however, so I’ll be updating here still while you’re all waiting on my slow web coding. Until then!