So last Wednesday, Shehrish and her parents took off for Delhi to visit her uncle and niece. I was home alone with one of her maids from Wednesday to Sunday without much to do aside from going to work and coming home. At first I appreciated the down time, being able to read, download music, eat when I wanted to etc., but things were somewhat difficult in that Shehrish's dog understands more English than her maid (not an exaggeration). One time I thought she was insinuating that I needed to shower again when in reality she wanted me to lock the door. I felt like I had mastered the art of non-verbal communication with Nepali people, but apparently I need to improve.
Friday was yet another 'bandh' (political protest, where everything is shut down for the day/night), and that Friday dragged on endlessly. I read two books, Disgrace and Outliers, and both were huge failures. Outliers is a popular book by Malcolm Gladwell, but it turned out to be a nearly 300 page run on which hammered home these two facts through myriad examples: people with affluent parents and people who work hard will probably do better in life. Was it a NYT bestseller? Of course it was.
On Saturday I had my first lesson with Nisha, who agreed to give me free Nepali lessons. Free, in the sense that I didn't pay her directly, but ended up getting stuck with the entire tab for the evening. We went to Electric Pagoda and had dinner and drinks with other friends before heading back early. We shared a cab, and after she got dropped off I got stopped by policemen and had to get out of the car. I was roughly searched and interrogated by a young looking cop. Unfortunately, neither of us spoke each other's language, so the interaction was complicated and frightening. After about a minute or so of grilling me with questions in Nepali, he let me get back into the cab and head back.
I got back and was a little shaken up by this whole incident. We had only eaten nachos at Electric Pagoda, and I was still hungry, so I grabbed some leftover rice from the refrigerator and heated it up. I thought it tasted a but strange, as Sita Di had made plain rice for lunch, so I got some ketchup to stir in. Upon mixing in the ketchup, I realized there were grayish chunks of meat in the bowl, and I realized I was eating the dog's food. Missy (the dog) eats a mixture of rice and meat which is kept in the refrigerator in a pot that looks just like the one I had my lunch rice in. I nearly threw up, but was able to keep it down. It is the only meat I have ingested in over a month now, as the vegetarian diet has been going well. Always look before you eat.
Shehrish and her parents got back on Sunday, and the rest of this week has been rather routine: get up, school, come back, read, check/watch NBA, listen to music, eat dinner, shower, watch Dexter, go to bed. I can't decide if I sort of like Dexter or if it's terrible. The acting is pretty bad and the concept is weird, but its mildly entertaining. Julia Stiles was introduced as a dark heroine for season 5, which I feel is a huge mistake, but I'm admittedly picky over TV, only thinking series like The Wire, Sopranos and Mad Men are fantastic. Early seasons of Lost, The Office and House were good, but quickly burned out once the writers had exhausted interesting themes. Does anyone else agree with me that Seinfeld sucks?
The NBA playoffs have turned out about as good as I had hoped for, aside from Chris Paul and the Hornets making a completely improbable run at the title. I hope I don't jinx anything, but it could be the first time in my life that my two favorite teams in a league (Chicago and OKC, not necessarily in that order) play for the title. I think I would have to pull for the Bulls in this scenario, but Kevin Durant is my second favorite player in the league (behind CP3) and Oklahoma City has no former Dookies.
I still would pull for Chicago and I love Derrick Rose even though he came out of Memphis, but would also be happy for Durant to win a title early in his career. An OKC win would be sweet for monetary reasons as well, as I put the remaining $25 in my old Bodog account on the Thunder to win the title at 18-1. I never bet sports anymore, but when I did, I would almost never bet long shots (or relative long shots). To win one and turn $25 into $450 would be pretty sweet. Go Bulls/Thunder.
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