Blog about India at www.whyindiawhynot.wordpress.com

Just a follow-up message. I’m now blogging on http://www.whyindiawhynot.wordpress.com.

India: Reading, Watching, Checking Out Things

For people interested in India, I’ve dug up and compiled some books, movies, and a website I think is really good.

A few novels that I read and enjoyed greatly. (My favorite is A Fine Balance.)
A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry, 1996
The Death of Vishnu, Manil Suri, 2001
Shantaram, Gregory David Roberts, 2005
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai, 2006
(The) White Tiger, Aravind Adiga, 2008

A few movies I watched on Netflix: Mumbai Meri Jaan, Kurbaan, Outsourced, The Darjeeling Limited; Ghandi, My Father; Mr and Mrs. Iyer; Amu; and Water.They’re all very different, but I enjoyed all of them.

A non-fiction book that I loved, even though I was completely worn out by the time I finished it:
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, Suketu Mehta, 2009

Lots of good stuff on this Website: http://www.indiamike.com/

 

Transitioning

Sunday, June 26, 2011

So much for getting the last bit of writing work off Friday morning. It was late afternoon before I hit the send button. As I was drifting off to sleep that night, I remembered something fairly important that I had forgotten to do with the manuscript. By morning I realized something else I needed to address. Aaaargh. Anyhow I took care of both things in a mere three more hours and resent everything.

I was sure that by this morning I would have a tad more energy. I knew pretty quick this morning that that wasn’t going to be exactly true. I had promised to get to Linda’s this morning so she could finish up a couple of little things on my taxes. She was hoping I could qualify for some foreign income something or other, but it turned out that I couldn’t. Maybe next year. At least I have everything now ready to be mailed after I write a couple of checks. I went directly to yoga from her place. I have hardly been in weeks. During the practice, I went from thinking I was going to fall asleep, to thinking I was as strong as ever, to hurting, to praying it would end, to realizing how great it is, round and round.

I stopped at Ace Hardware as I was wending my way home to pick up a pot and potting soil as promised so Maria could repot a plant for me. I also got some plug things to shut off some of my watering system. And I actually remembered to pick up a lasar pointer to give Junebug a workout. She was dashing around chasing a light reflection from my phone the other day. Of course, we all know that cats are 100% unpredictable, but I’m hoping she’ll chase this lasar light a while and then be so tired she’ll have to sleep more than usual.

I then made a beeline for Target to stock up on canned catfood and a few other staples like food for myself. And since Linda had a great tower fan with a white noise feature that I really liked that she bought at Target, I also picked up one for myself.

My next task is to finish up everything with GU and transition to WhyIndiaWhyNot.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Sweet Relief

Thursday, June 23, 2011

When Peggy and I talked yesterday, we discussed the possibility of someone taking over some of the second draft work and voila:
The New York editor found someone to take over on the second drafts for Units 12-15 and Peggy is going to take over 3-5. I do so hate to be a quitter, but I just couldn’t go any faster and the pressure was really wearing me out. I’m going to finish up Unit 2 and get it off in the morning. Then I’ll probably think “Now what?” I’m leaving in three weeks and do really need some time to unwind before I start winding up again. This last year has taken some of the starch out of me, although I wouldn’t have missed any of it. It’s all grist for the mill.

ghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh (Junebug’s comment on all this.)

About Libya:

I read on the Tripoli Evacuees’ Facebook page that some of them knew some of the victims, including a child, of the NATO bombing that went astray and killed citizens.

I also read a recent article about how the Libyan Embassy with the ambassador who was there when I arrived and a few other people I know from there has been set up somewhere in D.C., in a basement if memory serves.

I’m pretty close to switching over to WhyIndiaWhyNot. Stay tuned.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.

All the Help I Can Get

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I realized that my usual tricks to outsmart my computer might not be working this morning. It’s been acting up lately, but I just want to get through the work I have to do before I try to do an intervention on it. It has occasionally exhibited an attitude, refusing to let me open a file except as a “read only” file. This morning it was out of control, plus I couldn’t find some newly revised files that I had saved. I eventually got the second draft of Unit 1 Workbook, Art Log, and Answer Key corralled on one corner of my screen and managed to send them off to Peggy. Somewhere in all this, I called her and her husband answered and told me she was out. He was so nice that I almost told him all my problems, not just that I was feeling overwhelmed and needed to talk to Peggy.

Peggy and I talked later. She is a real pro and really nice. She gave me all the help and support she could. I mentioned that her husband had been very nice to me. She told me that he’s a minister and used to listening.

Maria was here this morning. She is such a reassuring presence. I even don’t mind the sound of the vacuum cleaner when she’s here. I asked her if she could come again next week instead of in two weeks.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Second Drafts Underway

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Bright and early I organized Units 1-5 in preparation for churning out second drafts. I then tackled GU stuff I’ve been avoiding for weeks, even though I’d done most of the actual work on it. I’m just going to stuff it all into an envelop and send it off tomorrow. Another item (almost) checked off the list.

Flush with these small accomplishments, I decided to tackle the email from the public library about using Overdrive to download all kinds of great audiobooks, e-books, and epub books. Don’t ask me what the differences among any of these are, but I digress. It’s always so humbling to deal with technology. I eventually had some minor success, but soon found myself checkmated at the next station of the cross.

I’ve returned to looking over feedback from Units 12-15 as a possibly, but not assuredly, less humbling experience.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.

The Countdown Begins

Saturday, June 18, 2011

I was on my feet at 6:00 this morning to get the two exercises I wrote in bed last evening into Unit 15. I managed to get a couple more ideas up and running before I had to clean myself up and head to the Village Inn for breakfast. I had a bag of books in the car to return to the library after breakfast, which I actually remembered to drop off. I hit the computer as soon as I got home and had just about cranked out most of the unit when Julie arrived for our shopping date. She brought me some sticky rice things wrapped in lotus leaves from the Father’s Day celebration she was coming from, which I vaguely remembered as not liking, but I was so hungry when she arrived that the one I wolfed down tasted pretty darned good. We had a really relaxed and successful shopping expedition at Park Mall. I immediately headed back to my computer when I got home and put the finishing touches on Unit 15 and sent it off!!

I felt myself switch to the counting down mentality sometime late yesterday. One foot on the shore and one foot in the boat can only be sustained just so long.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Getting Close

Friday, June 17, 2011

We all agreed that “Take Care of Mom” is a really good book at our book club meeting last evening. We also celebrated Margie’s birthday and planned yet another “despedida” for me a couple of days before I take off for India.

Dan is here cleaning up the yard. It’s a relief to see all the dead stuff moving out. And he told me that two or three of the six bougainvillea planted last spring in the back are alive!! Could have fooled me.

Babu called this morning and we had a really good connection over Google Talk. I took the opportunity to chatter on about tiny matters concerning my trip to India. It’s mostly to clear my own mind.

I realized this morning that I hadn’t gotten “topics” for Unit 15 from New York editor and I was already deep into the exercises following the grammatical outline from the editor in California, so I whipped off an email to NY kind of hoping it would fall through the cracks, but she whipped one right back with a list of topics. I will work some of her ideas in for sure. Will told me she teaches ESL, which I hadn’t known.

I’m getting close to closing out this blog and moving on to WhyIndiaWhyNot soon.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Reservations Made for India

Monday, June 13, 2011

4:00 p.m. I booked my flight to Mumbai and made my reservations at the Residency Hotel-Fort in Mumbai. I felt quite happy when these two tasks were done. It was so much easier than last year. Now I’m starting to look forward to my next India adventure.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Up early to finish Unit 14 and get it off. No sooner had I hit the send button than I got feedback on Unit 13 from the New York editor which she had sent to Peggy. I looked at it briefly, but it was like trying to read Chinese. I’m sure it will make sense later.

Somehow I made two lunch dates for today. I’m usually really careful to put all such dates into my Yahoo Calendar right away. I got it sorted out, but had a moment there.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.

Things Looking a Little Clearer

Monday, June 13, 2011

I just got off the phone with Editor Peggy. She’s great and I hope I have an opportunity to work with her again. This contract writing is so different than anything I’ve done before. The schedule has been adjusted somewhat and I may or may not be relieved of a couple of units. There is a real deadline when everything has to go to the copy editor, which means I have to get everything back to Peggy in time for her to go over it again before the deadline.

When asked, she assured me that my stuff was not substandard (that’s what she said/what I heard: not any worse than anyone else’s ). The really extreme pressure has been because a previous writer and editor quit.

Now I can go ahead and make my reservations to fly to Mumbai.

This website is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows’ own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State.