Going Quiet

I used the same title earlier today in my "work" blog at IBM. Tomorrow night I will be taken to the airport, plopped onto a Lufthansa A-320 and flown to Frankfurt for breakfast. After a delighful meal, back in the bosom of the west, I'll board another rigorously-maintained German airplane and fly to Boston. Katy will meet me at terminal E, international arrivals, and we'll go the Cape for a night. I'll spend Friday night curled up with the woman I love in a soft, familiar bed and awaken at one of my favorite places in the world, probably in time to watch the sun come up over Waquoit Bay. Sunday we'll pack, and on Monday we'll all fly off to Wyoming for two weeks of hiking with Dan, Sue, Rebecca and Alex. Omygod, HOME!

This blog will pause for those two weeks; no doubt I'll dump another half gig or so of pictures into Picasa when we get back, but it may take a few days.

Leaving India this time is weird. On the one hand, I can't WAIT to get out of here (American readers who've been to India will know EXACTLY what I mean). Frankly, I'm exhausted. India is hopelessly overstimulating to a homebody like me. Curiously, India is is an incredibly easygoing place, I think, to most of its residents. When I'm cruising thru the bustees on my bike, no one seems to be in a hurry, and there are people just lounging around everywhere (although, to be fair, the women seem a lot busier than the men...). But this doesn't translate to a middle-class Westerner here on business - not even one who cruises the bustees on a bike.

On the other hand - this has, to some extent, become home. My life here has acquired rhythm. Weekdays - up by 6:30, exercise or browse, maybe call Katy, shower, eat breakfast, go to work. Arrive at the office at 9:15 or so after walking the last bit in from the road, a little sweaty and ready for water and coffee. Read mail, catch up on blogs, do some work. Lunch with Anil. More work, more coffee, maybe chat with Dan late in the day. Fill my water bottles for the night, go home, perhaps via a restaurant. Depending on the hour, play a game of backgammon with Feroz. Then home to mail, more blogs, some browsing and/or reading and then bed.

Weekends: laundry, then hop on the bike in search of something new. Come home and blog about it, go get chaat, come home and stretch and go to bed.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I'll miss India when I'm gone - and I can't wait to go.