home sweet home...

i am, for all intents and purposes, home. i have arrived in baroda, gujarat, safely although by way of a rather lengthy, circuitous route. five weeks of orientation and hindi study followed by two days of travel. a nauseating taxi ride down the himalayas to a seven-hour train from dehradun. a six-hour layover in delhi - enough time to gobble up a fattoush salad and stock up on some good snacks in preparation for the final leg; a thirteen-hour train ride from delhi to baroda. given that some fellows in the south have upwards of 50 hours on the train to reach their placements, i consider my trip an easy one.

i have set up temporary shop in the group's conference room, a large room with a small cot and a huge air conditioner. i have met the group's staff - all women except one sweet man, veersing, who met me at the train station. i stumbled off the train with my luggage in tow and found myself face-to-face with a man repeating my name aloud. his english is non-existent but his calm demeanor and the sweetness in his eyes (as well as the sweetness with which he fixes the dogs' meals, read below,) convey plenty.

a few other tidbits worth mentioning. for those worried about my physical wellbeing vis-a-vis good food (and by that i dare to imply a world beyond the stale arena of starches,) fear not. sugar & spice, a much beloved deli/grocer that is located in the lovely khan market in delhi, is also here in baroda. it is here, right here, JUST across the street from my work.

for dinner last night, much to my delight, i went to a south indian restaurant with indira and maya, the two wonderful women who founded the organization where i'm working. turns out the restaurant they chose was already at the top of my list of food spots to hit up; it is the guiness book of world records holder for the LONGEST DOSA ever made. over four feet long! needless to say, i ordered a dosa. it was scrumptious.

moving from physical to emotional health, promising news in this department as well. there are many animal lovers among the staff, indira being one of them. because of this, there are two dogs that regularly relax at the office (and receive two meals of bread, dal, and milk a day, lovingly prepared by veersing.) cheetah likes to sit on chairs and makes herself quite comfortable either on the woven chairs downstairs or on the bench on the 2nd floor patio outside. boloh (who has already figured me out and enjoys my treats and affections,) spent most of the afternoon yesterday spread out on the cool marble floor upstairs, a few feet away from my office door. i could see his paws twitching and hear his dreamland growls as i reviewed some work documents. there are few better ways to make me feel at home. it was a good first day.

today i've been trying, without much luck, to figure out how to wirelessly connect my macbook to the internet. if anyone has any ideas, please holler. otherwise i'll be back with more updates - and pictures - as soon as i sort this out.