CURRENT MISSION

Trying to make the most of being the big white elephant in the room while in India

ABOUT ME

I graduated from the University of Wisconsin a year ago
and immediately went on to work as a lifeguard at a Jewish socialist summer camp and had to figure out creative ways to get ten year olds to relinquish their candy to the communal pot.
Then I came to India where through some bizarre karmic rule of opposites, everyone has been forcing their candy/paranthas upon me.

Living in India has made me a little religiously promiscuous and more tolerant of traffic circles.

I've also given into embarrassing Indian cliches such as starting yoga and piercing my nose.

But I'm proud that cliches no longer deter me from trying fun things.

Oh, and I invented a Rajasthani smiley (unless someone already has)
@:~{)cool na?

PHILOSOPHY

Listen, Absorb, then Respond

Interests

Tea, roofs, Internet radio, hiking, conversations, the lizard resting above my clock right now, people who are opposites, people who are the same, amazing coffee (sadly teaching myself to deal with Nescafe, but I dump in half the jar), self deprecation, Urdu ghazals (or painful attempts to translate them), laminating things, obscure old books, Wisconsin beer, learning to run further distances, activists from the developing world, complimenting people on Couchsurfing

• books
• documentaries
• beer
• coffee
• yoga
• running
• volunteer work
• hiking
• camping
• statistics
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Movie: Shawshank Redemption, Garden State
Book: Amartya Sen's, Jonathan Safran foer the Red Tent and whatever I'm reading at the time
Music: Trying to discover new stuff here is difficult (besides the Bollywood masala and creative ringtones which definitely have merit in their own right) but Dar Williams, Bob Dylan, jazz, the Clash, Paul Simon, Tool, anything really

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Had a Buddhist monk give me a lesson on how to ride his motorbike

Teach, Learn, Share

I am learning to make dal lithi (for my future Bihari dhaba..duh)I know a lot of obscure public health statistics about India and if you're interested in doing some volunteer work I can probably set you up with some contacts? Oh and I'm starting to make radio documentaries, so I know how to use Audacity.

•