11/23: Interesting India

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in the alley way behind the school. I watched two monkeys climb down from their tree and enter the street. The smaller female was hesitant, and once on the street, started howling (if you can call it that). All of the sudden a dog emerged, racing towards them. The larger male stood his ground and growled. The dog stopped. Then the male monkey turned and ran. The dog chased them up another tree. Later that afternoon I saw 5 monkeys on the roof of the building next to mine. It looked like a family, with three smaller monkeys.

A couple of days ago I was invited by a neighbor from the hostel to dinner at the 5-star hotel (The Imperial Hotel) that he works at. I sat outside amidst a beautiful garden. Just as I sat a large group of "important people" were being seated at a large table across the restaurant. There were two men sitting near me. One of the important people recognized one of the two people sitting next to me. They hugged. Not understanding Hindi, but understanding the sign language, the important person invited the two to join them, but the other man refused. And then for the next hour, the recognized man stood next to the important people table, helping out, pestering the waiters, even serving the drinks and food. His partner sat alone at the table near me the entire time. When I left the restaurant, the one was still hovering around the important people and the other as still sitting alone.

This morning I woke up at 4:39AM to the sound of music. I opened my window and there was a band playing in the street.

India is a very interesting place. I wish I understood more.