Two nights ago, on Thursday after a long day of class, Micaela texted me saying she was having people over for pancakes, and asked me if I’d come. I hopped on my bike around 6:20 and rode to the South Gate in the dark. I’m getting really good at biking in the dark. I parked, and started waling on the road outside towards the apartment, hoping to hail a rickshaw for the 30-minute trek. I caught one just down the road, and hopped in for 20 Rs. He took me to the apartment, and I went upstairs to find a heart shaped pancake with Nutella on it waiting for me. Sydney, Micaela, Karen, Karissa, Rachel (one of the Duke girls) and a couple guys I didn’t know were there. Two of the guys were Indian (one from Mumbai, the other from Mizoram), one guy from Saudi Arabia, and the other from Libya. They spoke to each other in Arabic when they thought no one was listening. I tried to listen a lot. Arabic is such a cool sounding language.

Micaela took pictures, but I don’t have them yet, so I’ll put them up here when I get them. After a couple hours and a lot of pancakes, we decided to head out. I hadn’t really thought out how I was going to get back, but my new friend from Libya was like, “I’m taking Sydney back, just hop on my bike.” Um, YES! So I squeezed in the middle (3 people on a bike – there is nothing more Indian than that, except maybe 6 people on a bike). It was a really short ride, but super fun, and we were back at Tagore. Micaela also got a picture of the excursion, so I gotta add that one too 🙂

Yesterday, I was productive basically all day – what?!?!? Then at night, the productivity came to a grinding halt when I FINALLY went to go see “Ra One” with Jess. We left from the Main Gate together at 6:36pm, and hopped in a shared rickshaw to Gachibowli. We paid 14 Rs. for that, hopped in another shared to Medhipatnam, and it was another 20 Rs. between us, but the guy broke down, so we hopped out and just hailed an empty rickshaw for the rest of the way. We got there ten minutes before the movie was supposed to start (about 20 minutes longer than it usually takes), so I went and bought our tickets, and Jess went to get our food. I met her there just in time to order the usual McSpicy chicken sandwich meal with Diet Coke and an oreo McFlurry. YUMMMM. In India, you can take food and stuff into the theater, so we went in with our bags, and just ate through the previews and the beginning of the movie.

The movie was SO good – I will definitely be purchasing this one (it will be even better with subtitles). Sharukh Khan gets on my nerves, usually, but I really liked him in this. It was, I believe, the most money ever spent on the making of a film in India, and it was basically the Indian version of “Tron.” It’s funny that I’ve gotten so used to going to a movie and having to think so hard the whole time I’m there because I’m trying to understand the Hindi. It will be a relief to understand dialogue again when I get back. Additionally, I had unknowingly signed us up for the 3D version of the movie, and we were in the second row because we had bought tickets so late. Seats are assigned in India, which I really like, except when we are so close to the front 🙂 People in the theater were so funny – they cheered when Sharukh Khan came on screen and there were a lot of sort of inappropriate references in the movie that even I understood. It was so fun!

Also, it occurred to me yesterday around noon that all the Khans are Muslim. Duh. So Salman, Imran, Sharukh, Aamir – some of the biggest names in Bollywood. This is what I love about India. In politics, people are partisan, there is fighting about religion. Meanwhile, the entire country is going to see “Ra One” and cheering as Sharukh dances with Kareena Kapoor. People are a lot more accepting than they portray themselves when they are talking about it. But add in some Bollywood and anything goes. See the link below for the extensive list of Bollywood Khans 🙂

http://www.indiamarks.com/guide/Ruling-Khans-of-Bollywood/595/

On the way back, we argued for a rickshaw and got it down to 200 Rs. The driver almost killed us at one point – he was driving straight for a bus parked on the side of the road, and only slammed on the brakes at the last minute. The road was nearly empty because we were in Gachibowli by that point, but a guy with his friend on a motorcycle rode up next to us, and asked the driver “Kya Hua?” (“What happened?”). He muttered something I didn’t understand, and the guys on the motorcycle followed the rickshaw a while to make sure it was ok, and then waved at us as they turned towards Hitech City.

Also, I bought a couple movies, and they came in the mail yesterday – still waiting on a couple, but I am SO excited. I’m going to have a great collection when I get back to the US. Everyone get pumped. Every time I miss India, which I’m sure will happen a lot, I’ll watch one.

I will be leaving for the airport in almost exactly 16 days to the hour from now. So much to do, people to see, things to buy! I am going to Charminar in a couple hours with Jess, Val, and Karen to get some bangles and some other stuff, so that will be fun. Toodles for now!