I arrived in Jodhpur, Rajasthan last week. I have been staying with my friends the Khans. The days are quite hot now, but the nights are quite cool. The Khan children call me "Don" or "Don Mama" ("mama" being the Hindi word for mother's brother).

My best friend, Simple

With Sonam and Gauri

Kajal

Heena

On Thursday I am taking the Mandor Express to Jodhpur to stay with my friends the Khans. Until them I am here in Delhi, doing things.

The Dehradun Class



Uttarakhand


Fire in a tree, Uttarakhand


A Flower that my friend Ganesh gave to me (Uttarakhand)


Me, Divinder, Ganesh


In Delhi


Lajpat Nagar I, E-98, Balcony. Where I stay in Delhi.

Dehradun, with Yogendra-ji and Mani-ji

Dehradun, with Walt


Our Applied Hindi course ended on February 12 and we all left Dehradun. It was a sad day.

I spent the last week about 15 km north of:

UTTARKASHI

This is the Garhwal region, where Garhwali is spoken:

GARHWALI


Here you have some fish tanks in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

The bird flu has reached Dehradun.

Here are some videos that perhaps will provide insight into life here in Dehradun:



I enjoy watching this show, called "Chote Ustad". It is a singing competition show. The participants are all young kids. Here is my favorite judge, Shreya Ghoshal. She is a very famous singer. She is the best.


Some friends we like to play with:


A magazine. The article is "Bipasha Basu: Main Sexy Hoon Toh Hoon" / "If I am Sexy, Then I am"

I am going to post some new things very soon.

Tomorrow is India's Republic Day.


Ready for the first day of classes at the Doon Institute, Dehradun, India:




Illustrations I made to accompany the story I wrote for class this week:


Relaxing on a break:

Lyrics from the song "Tujhe Yaad Na Meri Aaye", film "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai". It is a very sad song. Yogendra-ji assisted me in some translating. Here are the lyrics that I copied down in Hindi. These lyrics are heartfelt! And very sad!:


"Khata ho gayi mujhse
kaha kuch nahin tumse
iqrar jo tum kar pate
to dur kabhi na jate"

All the best,
Grant

Last week was a bit rough. Some of us here fell ill and things didn't go so well. Everything is back on track now.

Over the weekend I came home and found this guy relaxing on my bed:


I am having a suit made for myself. Dehradun is an education hub of North India and so there are many students of all ages. As a result there are many nice school uniforms to observe. I went to the local school uniform shop today and convinced them that I am studying in Doon Institute's Hotel Management course and that I need a uniform. My suit should be ready after two days time. They gave me this in advance.


The following is a transliteration of a story that I told in class today. It is a love story about a man called "char aankh" (four eyes). He has four eyes. The story was originally written the Devanagari script and read aloud with some accompanying drawings. I will post an English translation later:

CHAR AANKH KI KAHANI

char aankh javaan larka hai. voh haveli mein akela rehta hai. usne haveli banvayi. haveli "night club" (nait klab) ke paas. haveli nadi ke kinare hai. char aankh is nadi mein roz roz nahata hai. jab char aankh nadi mein nahata hai voh kehta hai: "a-re! thand lag rahi hai lekin acchi lagti hai!"

ek din nadi mein nahakar char aankh ne apne dost se phone par bat ki.

char aankh: hallo, prince bhai?
prince: kaun bol raha hai?
char aankh: main char aankh bol raha hoon.
prince: char aankh! kaise ho yaar?
char aankh: barhiya hoon! aaj tum kya kar rahe ho?
prince: main park ja raha hoon. kya tum mere saath chaloge?
char aankh: ji haa, main aaounga. main tumse cinema aur khilauna ki dukaan ke bic milounga.
prince: thik hai, phir milenge:
char aankh: khuda hafiz.

char aankh prince ke saath park mein per ke nice baitha tha. voh kuch nahin bol raha tha. is liye prince ne char aankh se kaha: a-re yaar kya hua tumhe? aaj main tumhari char aankhon mein pyaar dekh sakta hoon. kya tum kissi rani se mile?

char aankh: ji prince yeh sac hai. meri dimaag chal gaya. maf kijiye.
prince: aisi koi bat nahin yaar lekin mujhse kaho kya hua?
char aankh: a-re yaar main nahin so sakta hoon. lagta hai mujhe prem rog ho gaya.
prince: kya bat hai! prem rog! shabash! tumhari jaan ka nam kya hai? tum usse kahan mile? voh kahan rehti hai?
char aankh: uska nam sapna hai. main usse "night club" mein mila. voh "khwabon ki galiyon" mein rehti hai.
prince: accha, pas hi toh hai, "nafrat ki deewar" ke samne hai, na?
char aankh: ji ha
prince: toh ab tum kya karoge yaar?
char aankh: pata nahin. main kya karu kya kahu? main mar jaounga.
prince: a-re chup! aur mujhse kaho "night club" mein kya hua?
char aankh: "night club" mein sab log nac rahe the. main janewali tha...lekin main nahin gaya.
prince: kyon?
char aankh: kyonki sapna andar aayi.
prince: akeli thi?
char aankh: nahin. apni saheli ke saath aayi aur aake gana gayi.
prince: kaunsa gana?
char aankh: "tum paas aaye, yun muskaraae...tumne na jaane kya sapne dikhaae..."
aur is ke bad mujhe prem rog ho gaya. lekin main aashiq nahin hoon. dar lagta hai. pyar meri zindagi mein nahin rahega. agar sapna mujhse pyaar nahin karti to main mar jaounga.
prince: chup raho! tum bakvas keh rahe ho! sapna tumhari hai aur hogi... sirf tumhari.
char aankh: lekin kaise?
prince: aao mere saath.

char aankh prince ke saath gaya aur "wheel of time" (veel auv taim) ke nice baitha tha.

char aankh: voh kya hai prince?
prince: voh "wheel of time" (veel auv taim) hai. in mein gyan hai aur yaha par sab kuch hai. is sthan ka nam "chill house" hai. yaha par "si-di-plaiyr", "di-vi-di plaiyr", aur bahut "glaimor".
char aankh: accha, samajh gaya.

is ke bad prince ne char aankh se dil ki batein kahin. aur char aankh khush tha.

usne kaha: dhanyavad dost! aaj mein sapna ke ghar jaounga aur usse kahounga: meri jaan, mera pehla pyaar, mere sapnon ki rani! mere bahon mein aao! ham saath saath rahenge! khush hamari hongi!

prince: shabash yaar!

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Vocabularly list for my story. I handed out copies of this to my classmates:

Today's lunch:


Straight from the heart,
Grant