Settling the Score

First thing's first - today is Sigurd S' birthday. A great big hurrah for that!

And now, the moment you've all been waiting for: here are the scores in the various card games we've been playing on our journey (starting from when we left Pondi in mid-November)!

"The Idiot" - SS:37 SB:41
"Texas Hold'em" - SS:6 SB:8
"Playcard Scrabble" - SS:3 SB:0
"Gin Rummy" - SS:26 SB:35

A brief commentary: As evident, I won our little poker tournament. I also came away a W in The Idiot, though this was, unsurprisingly, a very close race. Sigurd S' clear victory in Playcard Scrabble was a bit of an upset, as an undefeated pre-season indicated this to be my strongest discipline. Still, the most surprising result would have to be my relatively solid win in Gin Rummy, a game in which bookmakers anticipated the score to be just as even as in The Idiot. So there you have it, the culmination of our primary pass-time activities the last couple of months.

On to current events: We have now come full circle and are back in Pondicherry, from where we set out about two months ago. We had a modest celebration of New Year's Eve in Darjeeling, a district more famous for its tea than its new year parties, then headed south to Calcutta. We spent a few fairly uneventful days there, mostly hanging out and shopping (my new year's resolution is to dress nicer. Somewhat pathetically I hope this will make me more of an adult and thus capable of entering the adult world of working life). Calcutta is a fairly nice city, better than its rumor at any rate. We met up with Kari and Jostein who were stopping by on their way to Thailand and exchanged stories about the crazy Indians we've encountered on our respective travels. Our circular tour of India was completed as we flew (I know, it's a bit like cheating, but I don't think we missed much on the eastern coast) to Chennai and hopped on a bus for good ol' Pondicherry.

Returning to Pondi feels a bit like coming home: we've moved into the house we used to live in, where we are kept safe from harm by our charming security guards. We're hanging out at our favorite restaurants and are making the most of our last sunny days in India. Though it is, naturally, a bit empty here without our friends, we've received warm welcome-back's not only from our guards but also a number of waiters and shopkeepers. One of the guys from our internet joint, where I'm sitting now, was pleasantly shocked to see us again and told me he always thinks of me whenever someone says 'cheers' when exiting the shop.

Still, it is with a light heart and great anticipation I prepare for our departure from India tomorrow. Gandhi (yes, Frode, again with the Gandhi quotes), when asked about his thoughts on western civilisation, famously quipped: "I think it would be a good idea". Personally I think the Mahatma was overly negative in this statement. Not that I blame him for having a bit of an attitude, after all he did tend to come across people who were, I dare say, less easy-going than your average westerner ('easy-going' - get it?). Though the West certainly has things to learn from the East, the opposite is surely equally true. As for me, I am happy to be on my way back to the comfortable, clean, efficient, less noisy, less chaotic and far more logical ways of the West. In other words, I'd say our departure is perfectly timed.

I might be back with some remarkably insightful retrospective comments when I'm safely home, but as for now: see you soon!

Sigurd B


No one wants to pay to see your day to day
and I'm not buying it either
but I'll try selling it anyway

- Rilo Kiley