Lights Out, Five Minutes

01.31.09 Saturday

Internet in India is turning out to be an interesting thing to access. On Saturday we took vans from The Village Fort to the city of Jaipur (the Pink City), where we proceeded to do a walking tour of part of the city, and, with a bit of time to kill before a Bollywood flick, a few of us tried to check our email at a hole-in-the-wall Internet café. Right as I was to send out one of the few emails I have had time for, my computer went, as did my co-travelers John and Ally’s computer.

“Lights out. Five Minutes," bellowed the tall, mustached man who would soon taking my money.

He was right, five minutes later, the power came back on and I could finish checking my e-mail. This, my friends, is a perfect example of Internet in India.

That night I went to my second Bollywood flick. This was in a famous single screen theatre, whereas my first movie was in a Mumbai multiplex. Again, the movie was highly entertaining, though this was more of a Jekyll and Hyde love story that was called Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, or as I like to call it, "Never Fear, Raj is Here!" We were able to score some cheap popcorn and again, I was entertained by Indian movie crowd of cell phone talkers and crying babies.

Earlier that morning I saw my first elephant in this land, which I am sure made my fellow travelers relieved to draw my attention from the cows.


Seriously, there are SO many cows roaming free, or more commonly, sitting lazily. It is craziness, and I am fascinated. Having grown up in small town South Dakota where when someone’s cows got out the phones begin to ring in houses across the area to round them back up, free range cattle do, indeed, fascinate me.

We also had a tour of Amber Fort, where there was at one time a very large pleasure palace for some king’s concubines and wives (pleasure palace meaning a garden) and also a large hall of mirrors.
They were also setting up to shoot a new movie in the courtyard there.

We learned all of this info from our short, mobster-esque guide from Calcutta who wore fake Armani sunglasses and had seriously slicked hair. Naturally, a picture of the two of us together for you.