Jitu

The Indian way of nodding and showing the dialog partners some kind of approval might be irritating to some foreigners. Instead of nodding by moving the head up and down, the movement is somehow to the side. It looks quite similar to a “No”, if someone does not know.

One day I went down to the system administrator’s office, because I wanted something from then. So I started to explain, what I needed and the admin did that movement to show me that he understood. But I did not know what it meant and I thought that he did not get me. So I started to explain the issue more detailed causing his head to shake even more and I thought: “How can somebody like that be a system administrator? He does not have any clue, what I am talking about.” After a while I asked him, if that head movement means “Yes” and he agreed just by shaking his head as he did in the last 10 minutes…

.

Holi is a very colorful festival. This year it was celebrated on 4^th of March. A few friends and I went to celebrate Holi near Gymkhana (the sports hall of IISc). Basically it consists of throwing colored powder or water on each other. But it makes a lot of fun. If all color was over, we started to tear shirts and pants apart. And after that water and mud is used to color the others.

A clay jug was filled up with colored water and fixed high above the ground. Groups from several departments competed to break the jug in the shortest time. Basically a human pyramid had to be built so that the guy on top could smash it with a stick.

Some of the colors takes several days and plenty of bathing sessions to get removed from the skin. I still have a colored eyes and ears (the worst and most painful parts to shrub under the shower, especially with soap). But I am looking forward to celebrate it again next year.

.

Yesterday I annoyed a few people by taking a few photos on campus. So I looked like a tourist walking around with the camera taking photos of every location that might look nice in a family album. And why did I do it? A friend of mine told me that the blog does not contain enough photos. So here are a few more.

.

In the back of the Main Building there is located the so called “Birdshit Road”. In the evenings hundreds of birds are sitting and chatting in the trees. During that time you can hear the splashing sound of dropped shit almost every second. So far no bird hit me, but I better do not challenge my luck as it happened just a few days again with a friend. He told me, no bird had hit him so far and he got hit twice in the following days.

Birdshit Road. In the evenings it is pure luck not to get hit by the bird sitting on the surrounding trees.

Check out the audio file recorded on the road in the evening: The birds of Birdshit Road

.

I am living in room 1G-007 (“double 0-seven” – James Bond) in one of the new blocks of the student’s hostel. It is quite big compared to the other hostels available and it can be quite noisy at night. My room is located near the exit so that everybody who enters or leaves the building passes by my door. The inhabitants of this block do not miss an opportunity to show me, that I am not alone (and I am used to be waken up by the birds at my place at home). Often there is a group discussion going on about the latest developments in one subject at 3 in the morning. My neighbor likes to whistle and sing in the middle of the night, because the acoustic is quite amplifying in the narrow hallways. In addition: The TV room is just in the opposite of my window. So, I get used to all the noises and I can sleep better with every night. But one day I might make use of my license to kill…

There are basically 3 messes on campus: A, B and not surprisingly C. I am alloted to the C-Mess. The food is as expected: eatable. A few people keep telling that C Mess is the worst and I should change to another mess, but for the short period that I am here, it is not worth it to cause all the trouble. There is at least one thing which makes C Mess unique: The altar with 4 pictures of gods. These pictures are enhanced by LEDs which blink and flash in several colors all the time.

.