dupidupidu

Um von Norden in den Sueden zu kommen,
wurde ein Air India Flug genommen

Waehrend Lisi sich ueber Turbulenzen machten Sorgen,
Resi im Schlaf schon dachte an Morgen

Im Sueden is recht anders,
nicht laut und fettig wie woanders :-)

An der Kueste gibts nur eins,
auf ins Hausboot alls waer es deins

Einfach einmal nichts tun,
Essen, Kateln, Ausruhen!

Koch und Skipper sind auch dabei,
somit haben wir den ganzen Tag frei

Fisch zu Mittag, Fisch am Abend,
da fuehlen wir uns ganz wohlhaben

3 Bussen mussten her,
dass wir kommen ans Meer

Mistig wars im Morgengrauen,
und viele Souvenirs wir mussten verstauen

Im Wildpark gabs Elefanten,
und wir wieder mal Bootsluft tankten

In Bangalore wird die Reise enden,
und wir euch ein letzes Mal Gruesse senden!

hugs and love,
Lizzy und Resi

Indien ist unser Reiseziel,
zu sehen gibts ja hier recht viel

Den Dalai Lama haben wir verpasst,
weil wir unser Fruehstueck haben so lang vernascht

Zum Ganges gings zum waschen,
und die Inder es abfuellten in Flaschen

Mit Lassi fuellen wir unseren Bauch,
und Chai gibts auch

Auch Yoga durfte nicht fehlen,
und einen Master wir nun haben zum empfehlen

Kopfstand und Meditation,
das gehoert hier zum guten Ton

Im Beauty Parlour neu erfahren,
das Augenbrauen zupfen birgt Gefahren

Nach langen Reisen, frische Waesche war gefragt,
dafuer sich eine ganze Familie hat geplagt

Der Norden ist genug bestaunt,
wir nun in den Sueden reisen gut gelaunt!

hugs and love,
Lizzy und Resn

Will India become a superpower?

I had the opportunity to listen to a talk given by Ramachandra Guha - a well know Indian author. His speech was about the question if India can/will/should become a superpower? The following challenges were mentioned which prevents India from moving ahead:

1)Rise of Religious Extremism
2)Rise of Left-wing Political Extremism
3)Rise of Political Corruption
4)Decline of Public Institutions
5)Growing Gap between the Rich and Poor
6)Rise of Environmental Degradation
7)Role of the contaminated Media
8)Rise of Multi Party Coalitions

I somehow found the last one very surprising. But he pointed out that the state in India which is most well functioning and prosperous, namely the State of Kerala, does have a 2-party systems since more or less ever. He concluded his speech that in what way you ever define superpower (economical,...) it might not be worthwhile for India to become one. It should better focus on itself and judge it on its own standards.

Well, the talk was pretty impressive and I read some more columms from the author. If you are interested in India and its progress and issues you might check the following Link; Ramachandra Guha

best.
Lizzy

Mantras for daily living?

Posted with my gym - funny stuff.
Didnt know that faith is my cousin???

And finally, my lovely room. You might notice my "3-bucket-luxury-shower". I really liked it! ...but I am glad you cant see the mess right now...trying to pack and sort things out...not to0 easy.



hugs.

New pic

Well, I thought about picturing myself once, got a new camera, trying it out,...will post some more relevant pictures about India over the weekend!! Sorry for my selfishness but you might be able to observes if e.g. I gained weight or not, if I got married or not, if yoga changed my physical appereance, and so on...

Energy crisis?

I dont want to withhold you the daily news from Bangalore. Today's heading, 18. July, in the The Times of India, Bangalore:


What does this mean? In short, the energy company announced "official" daily 2-hours powercuts for the next weeks! Yeah - this step is due to the fact that monsoon rain has not started yet (kinda unusual) and thus there is too less water to produce enough energy. Well, adding this offical 2-hours cut with all the other breakdowns makes half the day without electricity + I have the impression that they mean to shut down electricity EVERY 2 hours cause that would fit the experience of the last couple of days better. However, back to basics: candles are great!

Further, another kindly announcement was made in the newspaper of today:


So well, no water supply till Sunday, but thanks for informing me! However my roommates guess that our water tank might do till sunday, w'll figure out!

You see, everything is as it should be in India!

hugs.

Indian curiosities

So well,

-It took my nearly 3 months to get wireless internet connection in my apartment. But lucky me, I got it :-)

-Do you know that Indians rate Mr. Bush kinda high in opinion polls. The Economist put it in a funny way: The Pew Research Centre found that Mr Bush's approval rating in India was “still astonishingly high” at 55%. In fact, Indians were the only people sampled who rated Mr Bush more highly than they did Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. So, perhaps they know something the rest of us don't?

-Roaming around the organized grey market in Bangalore is kinda fun - in particular if your taxi driver volunteers to help you out with translation to bargain a cheap deal.

-Do you know that Indians cant say NO? It kinda amazes me all the time...well a typical conversation with a taxi driver could go like that
"Can you drive me to Mahatma Gandhi Road?"
"Yes, madam"
"Do you know the way?"
"Yes, madam"
"Whats the price?'
"Yes, madam"
"You dont know where I want to go, do you?"
"Yes, madam"
"So you are not driving me?"
"Yes, madam"
"Can you say no?"
"Yes, madam"
"Say it then"
"Yes, madam"
However, sometimes you really got stuck with all this yes, madam cause you never know and it becomes very tiring.

-Detecting or even setting a blaze in India seems not to bother anyone. In fact there was a fire for the entire afternoon in our neighbours garden. Well, first I thought I forgot to turn off the gas from our stove and thus I set the kitchen on fire but I didnt *g* so we checked the neighbours, well we were not sure if they wer burning rubish or leafs or if the grass just caught fire on its own. However, I had a balcony view on some "fireworks" the entire afternoon.

So well, time is flying by here. Just three weeks to go and I am off work! Its going fast, I am telling you.
So far, so good.

hugs.