Crazy thoughts and observations

Alright, here are what've been on my mind for the past few weeks, as well as strange things I've noticed:

1. In restaurants, there are four staple ways of preparing meat items (chicken, fish, mutton): Fry, Chilly, Manchurian, and 65. You can pretty much guess as to the first two. The last two stump me. The Manchurian style isn't even really all that Chinese. And 65??? These are just boneless, spiced pieces. How did "they" get 65???

2. Speaking of meat, I have a question about mutton. Not mutton in general. As we know, mutton (something I don't eat) is a fancy way of saying sheep meat. You can get mutton at almost any non-veg restaurant throughout the South, and apparently, it's really popular. Well, I've traveled throughout the South, even to and through at least two hundred small villages and farming communities, and I have yet to see a single sheep. Which begs the question: Where is the mutton coming from, and is it really made out of sheep???

3. You know how, in the U.S., we often say that minorities look alike? You know, all Indians or East Asians look the same...well, I've begun to notice that here. I swear, most South Indian men follow a couple of forms, either super skinny, slim but pure muscle, or slightly stocky but not really fat. They all have the same bushy mustaches, and wear similar clothes. I keep thinking that I'm seeing the same people each day, and when someone does recognize me, I have a hard time placing him. With women, it's easy. Their outfits are so bright, you don't even notice whether they look the same or not.

4. Kids and pens. I've talked about this before, but it's worth another peek. No matter where you go in India, kids will ask one of three questions: "Pen?," "One pen?," "One schoolpen?." Why? Who told them to ask that? And why is this so universal? Is this a same request in other developing countries as well? Many of my fellow travelers and I have pondered over this issue, and so far, it confounds us.

5. As Cartman would say: "Damn Hippies." Yes, they are everywhere here in India. Coming for spiritual enlightenment, meditation at ashrams, instruction in yoga, and, of course, MARIJUANA (or weed, hashish, dope, the ganj, etc.)...not that there's anything wrong with that. Many of these hippies have left the real world, and have been traveling in India for years, lighting up along the way. They dress in "travelers" clothes, which really accentuate the fact that they don't belong to the real world. They learn, somewhere along the line, that Indians wear these...and of course you'll never see an Indian wearing them. They also have a know-it-all attitude that just kills me. Hell, I'm Indian, and I haven't even come close to knowing it all. In fact, I've become more cautious, saying to fellow travelers that: "In Saurastra Gujarat, we do this..." because who knows if they do the same things in the rest of Gujarat? But the hippies...they know...Damn hippies.

6. You know what warms the cockles of my heart? No, not when hippies are wrong, or when I can tell Indian men apart, or when I know that I don't need to even deal with mysterious mutton meat (MMM). Sure, they're great. But what's better? Kids in school uniforms. Not because they look cute or they match or they all ask for schoolpens at the same time. No, it's because they're getting an education. Especially seeing schoolgirls puts a great smile on my face. So sue me, education makes me happy. Hell, I was in school for 18.5 years, and the rest of the time, I was either in diapers or teaching. Education of kids in a developing country ROCKS!

7. I like the number "seven." That's all. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, and it'll be posted later.