May 23, 2008
photos
So... I was able to use some of the lenses I bought.
Here are few of the pictures I took so far.
You could click on the pictures to enlarge :)
A girl sitting under a tree in Raj Ghat, Delhi
Sunset at the rooftops in Patna, Bihar
Inside the Red Fort, a soldier standing in where, in the past only the royals were allowed to stand in.
In an "Auto"... speeding the streets
The Red Fort, Delhi
Posted by coyojon at 12:53 AM | Comments (0)
May 19, 2008
Indians as businessmen
I guess this is a very biased opinion of India that I found so far with dealing with India. So bear with me and I do hope this is not the best part of India.
I think there is a fundamental problem with the way people deal with their work here. I think many Indians lack the mind of the straight forward cliché “business is business”. I found that many people cannot take care of their work the way they should be; many lack professionalism. The mindset is, let’s just let it be; it’s not my work and I don’t want to take care of everything. My equipments through UPS are not coming this way in Patna so I had to figure out what went wrong. The UPS from Kolkata contacted me through phone and told me I had to get the package cleared for customs.
Consequently, I just couldn’t work throughout the day in the fascilities; the equipments are imperative for the research. I came home to Dr. Ghosh’s place and started contacting the Kolkata office of UPS. A guy called Mario Alexander picks up the phone and tells me I need to tell him a fax number in order for me to get the necessary documents, and send them over. First, I told them the fax number. I wanted to make everything extra sure. So, I asked and reconfirmed the fax number I was supposed to receive the documents. He told me the right thing, but I had no incoming documents for the next three hours. I called him again and asked about the situation. After re-checking the numbers Mario replies:
“I think I sent it to a wrong number.”
OK…. Things happen right? Although I really watned to get over with this, he said he will send it over. Now, he calls me and asks for my email address, to which he can send the documents. This was the most amazing experience I had with calling a email address.
“The email address is my name spelled out at gmail!”
And I called him out every single letter. We cross-checked two times. He told me to wait on the phone. Now there was no response on my email account.
I called him again and now he just tells me a wrong email address. So I did the exact same thing over again and told him I will text him my email address. And he replied with the infamous
“No problem”
You see. I think ‘No problem’ means ‘Nine problems’, as ‘no’ stands for nine in Hindi. He basically makes the thing all wrong again! I asked him for his email address and tell him:
“I will give you an email … all you need to do is reply to that address with the documents.”
He says ok.
Now after waiting another hour, I have no reply. So I called him again. He says “the system is down”. I have no idea what that means but he cares less to explain. I think his brain system is down to do this kind of work.
I talked to Gaurav and Shanu, the nieces of Dr. Ghosh, about this matter and they say “Everything in India needs to be said and confirmed three times in order for you to secure something”.
Well I sure experienced that again when I went to get my SIM card of the cell phone recharged. The number they tell me after payment is a wrong one and they care less to give me a right one. They say they have no responsibility in making that number right. Basically, they have no idea what the right number for recharging the SIM is and do not care about what the customer is receiving. Its in their interest to just get them sold. The shocking part was that this was not a xenophobic incident, because I waited outside while the students helped me out get it recharged. Many told me this regularly happens throughout India.
Maybe it is because I’m in the infamous Bihari state or because I had bad luck throughout the day….But it was not a pleasant experience. I hope I get my equipments fast so that I can actually work and not stare at the ceiling all day.
Posted by coyojon at 12:10 PM | Comments (0)
May 18, 2008
Normal Life
The blazing sun wakes me every morning as I get tangled up in the mosquito nets. I am staying with Dr. Ashok Ghosh of A.N. college of Patna. With the help of Dr. Ram Boojh, I had the chance to come to contact with Dr. Ashok Ghosh and am at his residence. His family is kind to provide me with the necessary room and food throughout my stay here in Patna.
The equipments are not arriving from the states. I still need my GPS system and the depth sonar system to get a 3D image of the basin of the Ganges River at the sites I want to make the biodiversity assessment. So… Without any choice, I am trying to finish my preliminary research and get familiar with the people around.
The national game of India ( I didn’t know there was anything called a “National Game”) is said to be field hockey. However, the real deal with everyone is an amazing obsession with a game called cricket. I got so tired of everybody asking me whether I am able to play cricket, so I decided to have a game with the professors’ nieces. The game itself was alright… But the funny thing was that while we were playing in an empty lot, people from the whole village came over to watch a weird looking person awkwardly swinging his bat. Whenever I threw the ball into the wrong place or made a wrong decision, people started laughing frantically. The scene practically became a theater for the people. After thirty minutes, the whole lot was crowed with people trying to see me. I was the Jim Carey-ish awkward American playing their favorite game: maybe a weird but reasonably amiable combination.
So I decided to get a cell phone in India. Unlike the CDMA mobile format in the US, the Indian mobile system is operated by attaching a prepaid chip called “SIM card”. The annoying thing for being a foreigner is, although it is very easy for Indians to get a SIM card, there are many requirements for foreigners: 2 copies of your passport, 2 passport size pictures, proof of residence in India, and a sponsor to be contacted in for responsibility issues. Along with these documents, the applying foreigners must submit these documents to a governmental organization after getting registered in a cell phone shop. Dr. Ghosh thought this was just too much time consuming so he bought a SIM on his name. So I hope I get it activated soon.
Indian food seems to be working really well for me. The flaming and fresh bits of herbs and spices are everywhere: even a simple dish called mixed vegetables gives you a pretty numb feeling flaming burn that last for a long time. I don’t know about other, but it works perfectly fine for me. : D Well, now I’ll have to go now to get Mrs. Ghosh’s specialty: the fish curry. Later!
Posted by coyojon at 12:39 PM | Comments (0)
May 08, 2008
lenses
There is always a funny feeling before a trip to another country and it always gets more intense when I try to gear up to take pictures...
I bought two new lenses for my Nikon:
-Nikon Fisheye NIKKOR Auto 1:3.5 f= 16mm
: an old, classy 20 year old manual lense that I am dying to take documentary pictures along the streets and scenaries
-Nikon AF NIKKOR 75-300mm 1:4.5-5.6
: a zoom lense which I hope to take some good pictures of the dolphins.
Posted by coyojon at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)