Sånn er livet.

Slik ser me ut no, og slik skal me vere i ei veke. Alven i midten trudde ikkje på oss, so ho må vere alv i fire dagar, etter å ha tapt eit veddemål.

This is how we look now, and we are supposed to be like this for one week. The Elf in the middle didt'n believe us, so she has to be an elf for four days, after she lost the bet.

På fredag arrangerte jentene på Raj Maison A-Party (alle måtte vere noko som starta på A). Her er Ali Baba med ei Arabisk prinsesse.

Det var eit stort jordskjelv i Indonesia, og India og Syd-Aust Asia var på tsunami-alerten. Her er Anders og Bordviken på veg ned til promenaden for å finne ein restaurant med takterrasse og sea-view. Me vart som alle andre stogga av politiet, det er godt å sjå at systemet fungerar. Det vart forresten ingen tsunami.



Me har begge kjøpt oss det tradisjonelle plagget Longi, eit slagt skjørt for menn. Det er svært luftig å behageleg å gå med. Her poserar eg utanfor den svære gull-golfballen i Auroville rett nord for Pondicherry.

Etter solnedgang på studiesenteret vårt, like ved stranda, 10km syd for Pondicherry.


Indarar slappar av på toppen av Gingee-fjellet.


Sara og Sigurd på veg opp Gingee-fjellet.

Indiske born.

Paradise Beach, like ved studiesenteret vårt.

Godt råd: Swimming is thrill but it will kill.

Singlet-mannen og magen til Bordviken, etter ei litt for dristig soleøkt på taket.

Hair

... has been something of a recurring theme for this semester so far. That one, however, is "to be continued": stay tuned for upcoming blog post from Sigurd S!
This leaves me, to be completely honest, without that much to write about. Things are simply going swimmingly. The course is rather interesting, we (still) haven't been sick (though we have both had a couple of nasty sunburns, as will be illustrated with photos), social life is abundant and India is just spectacular.

I've been urged to write more about India as such, beyond our narrow perspective, but it's bloody difficult. The cliches are true, though: it's noisy, smelly, colourful, crazy, utterly magnificent and impossible to describe in words. I'll simply leave this to be told by our photos (hoping that they do, in fact, speak thousands of words).

To return to current affairs, it might be worth mentioning that we have signed up for a couple of extra-curricular activities. Sigurd S is doing Indian cooking, and is enthusiastic so far. His more or less subconscious reason for attending is of course the same reason why any man anywhere ever does anything: he thinks this will impress girls. Undoubtedly, this theory has its merits. Personally, however, I think my chosen course teaches the True Path to any woman's heart: Bollywood Dancing! Granted, so far I've only attended once, and it was equal parts amusing and embarrassing. Still, once I manage to shed any remaining sense of dignity, I'm certain I will reveal a tremendous talent for this delicate art form.

It's time to do some actual studying (we've recruited the cream of the crop among out fellow students for our upcoming group assignment), so it's good day and good luck for now.

Sigurd B

"The air was full of Thoughts and Things to Say. But at times like these only the Small Things are ever said. The Big Things lurk unsaid inside."
- Arundhati Roy, in The God of Small Things

Bryllaupsbileter...

Klar for bryllaup. Vår mann Babu, fotograf/bryllaupsfiksar, var glad i sari, jenter i sari og å ta bilete av jenter i sari.

Ei søt lita indisk jente.

Stolt framvising av nyinnkjøpte handkle.

Bading, India-Style, med alle kleda på.

Apekatt på Gingee-fjellet.

Våre austerrikske vener, Stephan og Elizabeth.

Lærarane våre: Ragnhild, Elisabeth, Field-Manager Selvaraj, altmogelegdama Kavita og Elida.

Kongen av Pondicherry.

Sigurd S. og to kosete gutar, på veg til Paradise beach.

Staselege Sigurd S. med si tradisjonelle indiske korti-drakt, i studioet til vår fotografven/bryllaupsfiksar Babu.

Det indiske kastemerke eg fekk av ein kar, blanda seg etterkvart med sveitte.

Bryllaup nummer 2, mat på indisk vis.

Gjengen på rom C1, Kamerat-Kamaran, Daniel og Bordviken.

Sigurd S. og ein elefant i Mamallapuram.

Wedding Crashers

Vanakkam (Indian greeting)!

Let me just start off by saying that some of this will probably not be all that interesting for all of you. I'm writing to a rather diverse audience here, from parents to buddies to strangers, so bear with me.

So what's new... Well, we've started school and it's actually rather good. School days consist of some lectures, some seminars, some studying, some volleyball and quite a bit of hammock time. Is nice.

Being the charming fellers that we are, we have of course made loads of friends. I won't bore you all with writing about people you've never met, but it's true.

Things to do with your friends in India:
- chat
- play poker
- laugh at Indians
- be laughed at by Indians
- go on excursions (I'll let the upcoming photos speak about those)
- sing old songs in canon (endlessly)
- feed monkeys (I'll leave this one for Sigurd S and the photos)
- listen to Knutsen og Ludvigsen
- achieve World Peace
- eat out a lot
- go to Indian weddings

This, at last, brings me to the title of this post. As it happens, we've been to two Indian weddings in the last three days. Background: this photographer who took (awful) group photos of our class the other day, keeps inviting some of us to weddings and (upcoming Sunday) cinemas. We're somewhat uncertain about his motivation for doing so, as he does seem to be showing us off a lot (like prime cattle or perhaps rather like circus animals). He's very friendly and I'm sure he means well, though. At any rate, we accept the invitations gladly, as these are superb opportunities to:
a) experience Indian weddings (which is loads of fun)
b) show off our recently purchased Indian fancy-wear (see upcoming photos)
c) get a dinner (good) and a show (loud) for the price of the appropriate gift (about 15 NOK)
d) feel like movie stars, as we are constantly the center of attention, almost stealing the newly-weds' thunder. This is admittedly a bit cool, and of course also extremely embarrassing, for instance when they do a 5-minute photo session of us giving a present to people who've never met us before. We've literally been photographed and videofilmed hundreds and hundreds of times these days, including three sessions in the dude's photo studio.
e) do something you can write about in blog posts lacking substance.

That's about it for now. Photos, by popular request, are coming up.

Sigurd B


"Woman, I hold, is the personification of self-sacrifice, but unfortunately today she does not realize what tremendous advantage she has over man"
- Gandhi