guest post: one down in the bribe tribe

Fortunately, one of the calls to the police had gone through and the swat team stormed in within two minutes although these were the longest 2 minutes of my life. Ironically, it was the concern and anxiety of a senior officer from the Lokayukt who was calling the team to monitor progress that was keeping the critical phone line busy!
Like trained commandos, every member of the crack team got busy in something — video-graphing evidence, detecting traces of the powder, searching the office for cash, removal of cameras from my body and analysis of the recordings. Two hours later Khan and the typist were formally under arrest being led out of the building into the waiting police van.

choo choo

train ride from karnataka to andhra pradesh

comfort

I arrived in Hyderabad on Wednesday October 28th in the dead of the night. The streets were paved and empty, clean as if never been used, silent like the calm before a storm. Through my haze of blurred travel-vision I peered out at my new home and thought, “Well, this seems like an appropriately timed unexpected answer to my question: Where am I going?” I had envisioned dust in the air, fumes from the burnt garbage seeping through the air vents, people tapping on my shoulder selling me unnecessary items like bouncy balls and whistles. I had envisioned the hectic, uncontrollable, absurdly comical and lovable world of India that I had remembered from 3 years past.

india

Which India is the real India? Which India is going to be my India. Which India will I let into my heart, sweep me off my feet, and dance all night with? Which India will choose me, take my hand, guide me through the crowded streets, and force me to get lost in her imperfect perfection?

intersect

Tomorrow I embark upon a new adventure: the west coast of America for 3 weeks! I will be attending/volunteering at the BeDo Social Intrapreneurs event as well as the SoCap 2009 conference in San Francisco, traveling up to Seattle to visit the sister of my heart, and visiting the rural parts of China at the very end with my sweetest companion and comrade.

water

The glee continued to surprise and delight me as its honesty and unfiltered exhilaration persisted throughout the following few days. Seeing someone so absolutely thrilled with the mere sight of water is like watching a baby take her first steps. Trepidation, sincerity, discovery, euphoria. I tried to capture a moment in which I had felt that way in the near past and was left empty handed. Had my maturity washed away my innocence and unabashed appreciation for the simplest of things in life, abandoning me for what I like to call ‘wit and class’?

nam

Rain. Rain rain rain. Somehow I’ve hop scotched my way around the world enough this year to avoid a majority of every city’s I-woke-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed-and-I’m-PMSing-and-I-cant-find-my-damn-keys day. But my luck hath runneth dry. I kicked off my winter vacation this year with the postponement of three days in Ho Chi Minh due to a business trip to…

the road less traveled

I have a goal in life; to visit 100 countries before I die. According to About.com, there are 195 recognized countries in the world. I am skeptical about that number because I think the number of unrecognized countries is at least half that number. And to clarify, I would love for the majority of that…

obamaobama

The “wow” statement encompasses a multitude of thoughts and impressions from that simple conversation in the wee hours of another Sunday Morning run. This one happened to be a bit different from the last given there was a tiger involved, 2,500 people, and some pretty old temples, but the warmth of the country remains the same.