18 January 2006

post-tour post

the tour is over, long live the tour. we had a great group of people this time around, which made the experience wonderful. not that last year wasn't great, but with a year's experience under my belt, I found it a bit easier to deal with the ups and downs of the tour schedule, negotiating gender/ethnicity/nationalism with the tour guides, and in general figuring out how this dynamic works. 20 people thrown together to tour India for 2 weeks--sounds like a reality show in the making. The truth is, without the cameras rolling, people are fairly civilized.

I am now ensconced in my new guest house, which I found due to the glories of the interwebs, and which is as promised a family guest house, well-run, and in a nice suburb of Delhi. Ruth arrives tomorrow for her first trip to India, which I will ease her into. And I'm heading down to Baroda in a few days to give a talk at the university there.

Delhi is a bit crazy with preparations for the 26th of January, Republic day, which involves large military and police parades through the streets. They have to do on-site rehearsals constantly, so it gets a bit tiresome being diverted around major sites, and having major sites closed all the time.

But, the food is great as usual, and I'll have a few moments to relax here as well. I'll be posting pictures soon, so watch for it...

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