The Piccadily Lucknow

... in excrement. <br><br>The right hand toilet was western. Similar to the trainspotting toilet. This negated the need to strip off and was my favored dropping off point. That is until I misjudged my stance (no sitting on the thing, no way, just semi squatting at a 45 degree angle and holding on the sink tight for dear life) and shat everywhere. Had a vain attempt at a clear up operation. But it was beyond hope. I ...

... his head ... as they do ...........in the end we just gave up and we couldnt stop laughing <br><br>..... imagine being on a cycle rickshaw (with a bucled back wheel, which all and sundry were kindly pointing out to the driver...but he seemed unperturbed) ...... in the middle of a 6 lane London street with everyone cutting everyone else up.... it wouldnt happen .... it was hairy at times!!! in the end all we wanted was a bar!! hehe but it was a good ...

... namaste' and we loved it. It's easy to feel sad when you see the conditions they are living in compared to our own, but if you look past the basics, you see how rich their lives are. I think their lives will always be a struggle but not in the way that we know it. Their houses are clean, they do lots of cooking and eat three meals a day. The ingredients they use are so cheap and so accessible. They all live together in family groups and everyone ...

... with legitimate products, which is surrounded by little shopping districts, which have the same products but 100% cheaper! OK. So maybe they arent real, but they look real! And they have things that you've never even heard of back home, like Sony shoes and Oakley backpacks. Well, the backpacks technically said 'Oakey', but the O logo was there, so it counts.

... approached us and exchanged some words in Hindi/Urdu with one of my friends. Apparently, he told her that we should go sit in the front "VIP" section, and he pointed us towards a separate, side entrance that led into the front seating area with the couches and armchairs. We made our way over to the VIP section, which was almost completely empty, and chose a row of couches to sit on. While it was nice to get the good view from the VIP seats, I couldn't help but be ...

... as in most Indian cities, is crazy! Unlike in the U.S., where there is a relatively limited number of types and sizes of vehicles on the road, Lucknow's roads (and most roads in India) are fair game for bicycles, cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws, scooters, motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, and even the occasional oxen or horse-drawn cart (called a "Tonga" in Hindi). With so many different types of vehicles on the road, getting anywhere takes quite some time since ...

... in. The organization has 13 staff members, 6 men and 7 women, and they all seem very nice and so committed to their work. Only 4 or 5 of my colleagues speak some level of English, but I will hopefully use this as an opportunity to improve my Hindi and, in the mean time, I'll use my non-verbal communication skills. Following the morning staff meeting, Paula took Sharon and I to see an apartment they had found for Sharon, since she wanted to have her own place, and I ...

... UP. She asked me what I was doing at my NGO and I told her that I was doing research and some capacity-building around women's reproductive health. She then told me that she was very interested in getting funding from the U.S., and asked me to tell her how long an NGO had to be operating to apply for U.S. grants. I explained that I was not that knowledgeable about international funding options from U.S. foundations, but offered her some good foundation-based websites ...

... in a sleeper coach with beds and berths instead of seats and aisles. Each birth had 6 beds in a bunk bed arrangement, with people on the top bunk having to step on the lower people's beds to hoist themselves up. Three friends and I found our beds and hoped that the two unoccupied beds in our berth would remain that way to give us room to spread out. My friend Leah bought an Indian newspaper to read on the train, and she pointed out to us the odd and amusing ...

... Vengaboys-esque title song and later gig-scenes include full participation from the American audiences.... Ready? and 1 2 3 BOXSTEP and GRAPEVINE and BOXSTEP and 1 2 3 SQUAT THRUST.... I know line-dancing is popular in some parts of the States but there's something unpalatable about this image of the Big Apples socialites getting down to cheesy Indo-pop that would be more at home on the school disco scene. The implausible global adoration of a lyrically bereft keyboard ...