laptop is working again. Kind of

My laptop is working again! Yes, my laptop has been shit out of luck broken for the past month. The charger for it refused to work until a couple of days ago. It used to just buzz and not charge the laptop, so I figured it was toasted. Just for shits and giggles, I tried it out again, and lo'! It works! Great success!

So, what I've done in the past month: traveled to two world heritage sites (the Ellora and Ajantha caves near Aurangabad), made a beach trip that ended up with me spending most of the night with an Iranian at the hospital (and I would later get the WORST sun burn of my life; lesson learned, never mix the beach with vodka before putting on sun screen), and it's Ganesh Fest '09.

Yessir, that's right, it's time to welcome the annual return of everyones favorite elephant headed deity (I think the real name is Ganesh Utsav, or Ganesh Celebration). It means that on every street in India, there will be at least one giant shrine built for Ganesh. Sometimes there is a large stage for people to say prayers and bang on the drums. Other shrines are a small tent with a statue of Ganesh next to giant speakers playing Rihanna and 'Dance Pe Chance'. That reminds me, I was also in a Bollywood dance.

Our work celebrated Indian Independence Day by having all the employees dress in kurtas matching the orange, white, and green colors of the flag. Thus I had to buy a new kurta. Great. We also spent a week practicing a Bollywood dance to the song 'Dance pe Chance'. The song is a huge hit here. We were marvelous, of course. I think there is supposed to be a video floating around of us somewhere, but I'll have to look more in to that.

So the whole Ganesh thing is really amazing. Every night there are prayers to Ganesh, and then usually dancing and/or games. Yeah, it puts lighting the town Christmas Tree back home to shame. I'm trying to explore the city to find all the largest shrines, but taking pictures of everyone praying to Ganesh feels kind of weird, but no one seems to mind me doing this.

I'm sure I'll think of more stuff that I've been up to later, but now, I have to go to bed. Ich bin muede.

I meant this to be about paintball, but it's actually about fast food in India.

Happy Friendship Day. Yes, that's a real holiday here. I don't really know the details, but I guess it's traditionally a holiday that little kids celebrate together, or for college kids to get drunk. I guess it's like Indian Halloween. Except instead of costumes, bracelets are exchanged. Since I got no bracelets, I'll take this to mean I have no friends. To celebrate Friendship, we got a group together for paint ball at the Mariplex, the most American place in Pune. In addition to paint ball, they also have a McDonald's and KFC. I was expecting a McDonald's in India, but I was kind of surprised to find a KFC here. The KFC is super popular as well. I think it's become more popular abroad than it is back in Boston. The French and Germans who tell me over and over how much they despise McDonald's secretly admit to liking KFC. Go figure, right?
While I haven't had any, fast food here is pretty similar to how it is back in the States, except there is no beef. Instead, it's all chicken burgers. McDonald's even sells a vegetarian chicken burger here. Wrap your mind around that one. McD's and KFC are the only only two actual chains that I've seen around here. There is a Burger King, but there is no relationship to the American counter part. I tried it out today. It was pretty bad. It's incredibly cheap, and the only place I know of where you can get actual beef hamburgers. At least, I think it was beef. I'm not really sure. It wasn't anything to write home about, but I guess it is notable enough to blog about.
I haven't really found a reason to eat fast food here. First off, there is nothing fast about India. Everything takes a very long time. Secondly, food here is really cheap. A good meal at a decent restaurant costs Rs. 150, about 3 American. A good lunch can be had for about Rs. 50. People eat out here usually five or six times a week. The places that I've gone to have all been amazing, despite my roommate contracting pretty horrible food poisoning a week ago. Lesson learned: don't drink the milkshakes. Milkshakes are kind of weird here, they're insanely popular, and available in any flavor you could desire. Mango is very popular. In fact, most things are available in Mango flavor in India. I'm becoming pretty partial to Mango corn flakes.