Jaipur

Five years ago I was blessed to be able to join the festivities of an Indian wedding in Jaipur, Rajasthan. The party lasted four nights with the final ceremony in the Maharajah's palace. The decorations were elaborate with chrysanthemum hung walls around marble terraces. And the food, I will always remember the food. Night after night, day after day, vegetarian spreads of several curries marbled with clarified butter fat to be eaten with a freshly made whole wheat flat bread. Spicy, but not too spicy, the tasty sensations captivated me.

For five years I have dreamed of that food and now I have the immense pleasure of enjoying it again. Same family, same town, but this time it is an engagement ceremony. All the elaborateness is still there just the ceremony is missing. Oh delicious spicy fatty savory sweetness of uncomprehendablly delicious combinations how I love thee. This is also the first time all twenty plus members of this particular family have ever been together at once. Everything is lovely and fabulous. Sort of. With such a dramatic family event will obviously come some drama and the characters in this particular family are keen to play the games. So here is the gossip.

The occasion is an engagement so all the overzealous matchmaking mothers and aunties get super excited and cause problems by starting rumors and blowing whatever they can out of proportion. There is a generational conflict involved as well that I think fuels the flames or at least increases the stress levels. The parents, for the most part, are in arranged marriages where their parents held the power and the final word when it came to choosing their partner. The current marrying age generation, at least in this family, has managed to assert themselves, both boys and girls, and marry who they like. This engagement is no exception coming from a love affair that has lasted for four years with a stubborn daughter refusing to back down to her fathers objections. I pried a bit but no one was making a big deal of it, probably a good thing, and attention was focused elsewhere. All the eligible ones are put on the spot and prodded about their marrying possibilities.

In particular, my Indian friend Kartini, and her Australian boyfriend, Scott, were the subject of such discussion. Prior to this visit Kartini spent weeks delicately breaking the news to her father that she is seriously dating this Australian boy and thus their very substantial relationship was acknowledged. Kartini's mother, Rimi, took this as clear enough evidence that they would be getting engaged. So, when Kartini and Scott arrived immediately after an undoubtedly emotional reunion (they had been living in different countries for six months prior) the first thing they were greeted with were congratulations. Scott though it was for his PHD work but in fact the whole family had been wrongly informed that they were to be married. Outraged and outdone, Kartini pulled her mother behind closed doors and shared a fantastically tearful conversation demanding, first, some respect, and second that her engagement be officially recalled. And so it was. Good effort Rimi but you are just going to have to wait a bit longer for that one.

Karini has an older sister, Riki who arrived before her. Riki didn't bring any boys with her but Rimi was kind enough to ask, in front of a crowd of family members, if she had any plans to get married. Awkwardness seeped into the room signaling for everyone to leave the mother and daughter for some one on one. Riki has been dating Cathleen for four years now and recently had a confidence breakthrough becoming more secure about her homosexuality. So, when the room was cleared, Riki collected herself and told her mother everything, and that was that. Rimi at least had suspicions and was prepared to some extent. Riki's father, on the other hand, only gets to know that she isn't getting married yet. That makes two strikes for Rimi. It has been a tough few days for her but she is a fabulous woman and takes it all in perfect stride.

Everyone seemed to be getting sick. Scott was sick, Kartini, Riki, these other people were sick too. The groom, who was sneezing, says it is because the local water is has so many minerals. Fortunately for me I grew up with Fresno well water and was nicely adapted. Rimi has been medicating everyone with batches of zinc and orange juice with fantastic results. Cousin Nanu could be seen taking half a dozen pills to cure something exotic. Remedies are everywhere. Uncle was quite sick as well. He is a brave man who traveled around Europe for four years starting at the age of 18 with only five hundred bucks in his pocket. He was bringing his American wife and two teenage daughters to India for the first time and the wife's family was giving him hell for it. They accused him of needlessly endangering his children by bringing them to a war zone. Remember the recent terrorist shootings? Of course you do. He described the week before coming as the most stressful week of his life. Even the eldest daughter, who is presently submitting college applications, got a stomach ulcer from all the turmoil. In the end the correct decision was made and after a brief period of adjustment, comfort and fun has become the norm for all.

And then there is me. Since I'm only a friend I don't get to participate in family craziness, unless I did something stupid to offend people. I probably just don't hear all the gossip about me. Actually, I am a little disappointed there were zero attempts to match me up with daughters. Don't the elders think I am a catch enough? My ego is tarnished. Instead, my drama is far removed from the scene here. I am terribly love sick having realized that what I now want is the girl I left behind and who is no longer mine. In the brief moments I can stand to the side and look in objectively I can see that I am nothing unique, just another casualty of love, one among countless others. “Welcome to the club,” I was congratulated by a good friend. But from the inside, it is the whole world.

Becomming The Tourist

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=Yjni3dOwSBE

Up to the land of my ancestors I went,
Holland and Denmark were my grandfathers' decent.

I imagined lots of white and fluffy Christmas snow,
And for everyone and their mother to look like my bro.

So I packed extra clothes, warm gloves and all,
And headed north from Belgium, long gone was the Fall.

Of the snow there was none,
So I looked for other fun.

I studied the culture with lovely brick/cobblestone clues,
And found that indeed, they wore pointy wooden shoes!

The cliches kept coming
As herds of windmills running,
Out of their grainy past
And into modern electrical masts.

There was a Christmas man around complete with white beard and velvety red coat
But his name wasn't familiar, it was Sinterclaus, and he came on a boat.

Even more awkward were his gangs of black slaves,
Dressed in bright clothes, gingersnap cookies to children they gave.

But I was happy to learn, even with the wet and the cold,
Everyone was riding a bicycle both young and old.

Speaking of bicycles, I joined a good friend named Jason Moore,
Who studies the wobbles of a two wheeled mathematical metaphor.

Together we moved from The Netherlands to Copenhagen,
We missed the train so we took a bus, barely a covered wagon.

Couchsurfing.com we were ambitious and tried,
Considering Denmarks prices we would have otherwise surely died.

A bowl of soup at a cozy downtown cafe,
Costs $15 or five Californian burritos what the hey?

Two strangers took us in,
They names, Claudia and Morton.

They were friendly and generous and travelers of their own.
Staying with them I felt almost at home.

Crazy and rowdy we danced in the street,
Hella cool people were easy to meet.

With a cargo trike full of DD bliss.
We cruised that bad city “Becoming the Tourist”.

Then off to Sweden we roamed,
To an old friend's farm country home.

Swedish Christmas dinner parties are fantastic,
The spread will make your taste buds go spastic.

So we at and drank and did easy things of the sort,
I was saving energy for three nights at the airport.

Now here I am all ruffled and cute,
Flying from Moscow to Delhi without my parachute.

Netherlands Safari

It was a brisk but sunny winter's day. I was bicycling just North of the city of Amsterdam on my way to an Ajax football game, that's Dutch for quality soccer. Cars were zipping along the highway safely to my right separated from the smoothly paved bicycle and moped path by a few meters of grass and a railing. Sheep grazed in the grassland to my left. Unexpectedly, a shimmering red dot appeared on the horizon in line with the bicycle path. My eyes were adjusting to the distance as the dot approached at an impressive pace. I couldn't believe my luck. It was a real live Sunrider in its natural habitat eating up kilometers with the utmost efficiency. The Sunrider is a highly evolved species of pedal powered transporters indigenous to the Netherlands. It combines battery electric assist with human muscle to achieve speeds of up to 50 kph for at least 50 km. At 15 Wh/km when cruising the Sunrider sips energy at the rate of over 1000 miles per gallon. Later in the day, after my friend and I snuck into the game at halftime and enjoyed some invite only hors d'oeuvres in the business lounge, I spotted another Dutch native, a wind turbine swinging its arms in the sunset winds. The Wind Turbine is not as rare as the Sunrider but enjoys a symbiotic partnership with its more exotic friend by harvesting electrical energy from the wind for the Sunrider's batteries. In return, the Sunrider's passengers keep the Wind Turbine well oiled and plant new ones. It was really nice to get the chance to witness two beautiful native species coexisting happily in the Dutch ecosystem.

The next day I visited the small warehouse in the nearby industrial center where the Sunriders are assembled. This vehicle has been in development for a good ten years now and is easily the most efficient commercially available enclosed electric vehicle, a true work of art. It boasts a carbon monocoque frame with simple steering and suspension systems mostly engineered from scratch. The electric drive is from the same Chinese company I used for my trike project, Crystalite, and peaks at 1.2 kW. I got to drive/ride one myself and found it to be a bit touchy in the steering control but otherwise awesome and sexy. It was a bit like flying a small plane but on the ground. For comparisons sake, the PET feels more powerful but it also uses more energy. They cost about 5k euro fully equipped and there is a waiting list as production is slow. Apparently it is difficult to find investors to sponsor medium scale production facilities for this cool lookin' animal, even in Holland.

Presentation

I got to give a presentation of myself to some faculty at Group T. How cool is that? I guess the students I was working with had some trouble explaining who I was and what I was doing there. I love talking about myself so it was easy. Here I am describing my biggest passion in life. Bass fishing. Look at the size of those mothers. Actually this was the opening slide, just trying to break the ice.

Hoping for Gezelleg

A whole month busting my butt in Belgium building (sort of) an electric vehicle to save the world is coming to a close, www.vehicledesignsummit.be/en. Actually I spent much of my applied time looking for fancy new lithium iron phosphate battery pack for the vehicle. It turns out the Chinese have the market cornered and sell packs at less than $500 per kWh. What on earth does that mean? Well, here in Belgium we want our vehicle, the Vision GT, to go at least 100 km or 60 miles per charge and we would have to spend $6,000 on a pack that would do this. Sure thats a lot of money but it is also the retail price. These batteries should be able to take the vehicle 200,000 miles before they need to be replaced but no one knows for sure. Im excited. The electric vehicle battery industry is zooming along at a whip crack pace. Interestingly, it parallels the solar electric boom. Wait a minute, we could all be driving solar powered electric cars ten years from now! Or at least a lot of us would be able to afford it. The future is going to be cool, and hot at the same time but hot in a temperature way and cool in a style way.

So how is the cruddy economy treating everyone. Im glad I planned to not work for this year. Otherwise I might be concerned. On second thought, I'll be looking for work when I get back and I dont think things will be much better by then. Oh well, Im sure Obama has a plan. He did promise to promote the development of electric motive power in vehicles to boost our economy, and save the environment. I heard him say it in a debate and I'm gonna hold him to it. Speaking of the economy, lately I have been wondering what money really is. I remember learning in school that it has a value equal to some comodity like labor or cows but sometimes it just looks like a pass card for the rich. Rich people show up to big buildings or nice golf courses, hand over some pass cards and walk right on in. Now I am far from poor but sometimes my pass cards aren't enough. I have to wonder what value these other people posess or created that earns them the right to be in such exclusive clubs. Its a tricky game for sure. The $700 bill bailout doesnt easy my doubts either. I actually heard an 'expert' on TV suggesting that it was the thought that counts, not the ammount, to give people confidence in the market. Anyways, buy some canned food maybe.

My next bit of adventure is stupidly into the freezing cold. Im gonna poke around Amsterdam for another weekend, catch an Ajax game (biggest football team in Holland), then head on over to the magical province of Gelderland from whence my ancestors came. Ill be staying in Arnhem, the capitol city and thanks to couchsurfing dot com I'll have some instant friends when I get there. Couchsurfing dot com is a bazzar and amazing facility. I haven't actually gone through the whole process yet but from what I understand it brings a world of free and friendly support to the lonely traveler. It is eerily close to online dating but sure beats hanging out at bars trying to meet locals. I actually thought of doing as a way to avoid hotel costs. Where else can a traveler meet locals? If all works out in Arnhem I'll be using couchsurfing dot com in India and China as well.

Oops, did I say India? Spiritual do do. If your are worried about my safety in India then good because so am I. I plan to grow my beard out and stay away from big cities. Thats all I got. Does anyone have a better strategy, other than not going, for avoiding roving gangs of organized ethnic clensers targeting whitie? Maybe I can get a fake Turkish passport or something.

After Gelderland I will join my good friend Jason for a romp up to Copenhagen where the people are happy but the beer is expensive. How that can be so I have no idea. I'm not exactly sure why we chose Copenhagen but here we go anyways.

Please send me lots of love this Christmas. Ill be on a plane or in an airport the 24th and 25th and 26th getting to Moscow then Jaipur. But when I finally arrive it will be curry and ghee bliss. I did have a nice thanksgiving though. Check out the pictures. I cooked all that by myself! Clocwise from the top we have a fresh salad with bell pepers and fennel, a miniture turkey, steamed greens sauteed in white wine with almond slices, my first attempt at stuffing, butterlicious candied yams, awesome gravy with truffle oil, and my favorite, cranberry rellish. The people sharing dinner are all the nice folks in Leuven who have hosted me in their apartments, my new family. I am very thankfull for them and I didn't even have to use coughsurfing dot com. The lighting is a little dramatic but you could say we had a modern Thanksgiving dinner.