Global Expats: Masala Dreamin’ III: Finding My Sea Legs in Bombay

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Tuesday March 15, 2011 · 10:17 AM PDT

2011/03/15 · 10:17

Written as a part of the group Global Expats

I don’t know how to convey just how weird is the sense of alienation that came with landing unprepared in the megopolis, an American moron who didn’t know enough of any of the local languages to be able to even read signage. When we arranged our flat, we didn’t know about the water arrangement that the city had made for our neighborhood, Irla. (The L in Irla is a retroflexed sound, one of several South Asian Ls that I really don’t do very well. I often confused the rickshawwallas.)

We couldn’t figure out the water issue; we simply usually didn’t seem to have running water.

Cenobyte for Global Expats

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Wednesday March 09, 2011 · 6:47 AM PST

2011/03/09 · 06:47

This diary is presented as a part of Global Expats.

About this Travelblog

This is a chronicle of our relocation from Austin, TX to Oakland, CA in 2003. Just wanted to share it with friends and fans of Global Expats.

On July 17, my wife and I closed on the sale of our Austin, TX condo, collected our payment, and, after weeks of preparation, packing, and the managing of thousands of details, loaded our cats and some travel gear into our car to begin a long, winding, not-even-loosely-scheduled trek toward the Bay Area, where our lease on our new place begins August 1.

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Masala Dreamin’ II: Desi Prices

Cenobyte

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Monday March 07, 2011 · 12:42 PM PST

2011/03/07 · 12:42

Written as a part of the group Global Expats

I never expected to move to Bombay. I detailed that in my previous diary here: http://www.dailykos.com/.... But forces colluded, and there I was.

Masala usually refers to a spice mixture, or more loosely as simply a mixture of South Asian elements. The air in our neighborhood was a masala of frying samosas and pakoras, exhaust from the autorickshaws, urine, and whatever the neighbors were cooking. It often included a dash of fecal taint.

My first few weeks there were witness to frequent bouts of illness. I’d never realized just how casually I usually used tap water.

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My Special Cheat-Sheet note for the Baggers:

Cenobyte

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Thursday March 03, 2011 · 2:56 PM PST

2011/03/03 · 14:56

Socialism isn't communism.
Communism isn't socialism.

In socialism, the saying goes,"from each according to his abilities, to each according to his contribution."

In communism, as Marx put it, it's "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."

But you people have become so brainwashed that you're convinced that programs such a Social Security, which people pay into their entire working lives, are some kind of evil handout. And then you call it socialist and communist; the two aren't interchangeable.

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Masala Dreamin’ I: An American Becomes an Expat in Bombay

Cenobyte

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Thursday February 24, 2011 · 11:32 AM PST

2011/02/24 · 11:32

Written as a part of the group Global Expats

We lived in Bombay/Mumbai for about a year in 2001-02 so that my wife could conduct research in-person for her dissertation. I never planned to live there, I must admit that up-front. But in 2001, she was scheduled to fly out for the subcontinent on September 15 and, due to events we all experienced a few days earlier, no commercial air traffic was happening here in the U.S.
It gave us extra time to reconsider things. I had a job I’d grown to hate, but that paid me so well that I felt that I couldn’t leave it. Those extra few days motivated us both, and when, a week later, we shipped her off, I made it about three weeks before I couldn’t stand it anymore. What point was keeping the job I hated and remaining shackled to the need for that paycheck when people in New York had been jumping from buildings and people had lost those they loved the most, en masse? What if one of us lost the other to some senseless, random event?

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Witness to evolution:

Cenobyte

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Friday February 18, 2011 · 11:44 AM PST

2011/02/18 · 11:44

Fish dwelling the in PCB-laden Hudson River have evolved to adapt to their presence. The rslut: PCB-resistant fish.

Fish in polluted waters have evolved into toxin-resistant super mutants
These tiny brown fish live just downriver of a bunch of General Electric plants, which had been steadily dumping waste in the river for decades until the practice was halted in the early 1980s. But the damage was done, and the particularly dangerous chemicals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, can still be found in heavy concentrations throughout the Hudson. When the dumping stopped thirty years ago, 94% of the adult tomcod had a PCB-induced tumor on their liver.

After making that initial discovery, New York University researcher Isaac Wirgin spent decades studying how the tomcod changed to meet this devastating new ecological paradigm. The results were shocking:

I started working on these fish with the hypothesis that they would be very sensitive to the toxic effects of PCBs. But the more work we did in controlled lab studies, we found that they were highly resistant to the toxic effects of PCBs and dioxin."

Yes, in the last thirty years, the tomcod have mutated, and every fish that has ever been taken out of the river in the last few years has been found to possess a gene that greatly reduces the dangers of PCBs and dioxins. It's allowed the fish to survive in waters that would be lethal to their counterparts elsewhere, but the fish have suffered in other ways. They likely grow slower than other tomcod, and they may have reduced resistance to other dangers.

http://io9.com/...

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Evolution is a real, observable phenomenon.

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I didn't descend from no monkey!

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Get your filthy paws off me, you damned dirty apes!

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I am a leftist. I subscribe to no particular faith.

Cenobyte

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Wednesday February 09, 2011 · 8:01 AM PST

2011/02/09 · 08:01

I want to approach this in such a way as to not offend - though on this subject that may well be impossible.

I'm not a believer - I do not believe in "God," or any "gods." I am an existentialist.

Cenobyte

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Monday February 07, 2011 · 8:53 AM PST

2011/02/07 · 08:53

Another "Isolated Incident" of wingnut violence:

Los Angeles (CNN) -- A 42-year-old Los Angeles man is in custody after allegedly making death threats to a former congresswoman, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

Sheron Nelson was arrested Friday on suspicion of making felony terrorist threats against retired Rep. Diane Watson, according to a statement from the sheriff's department.

http://www.cnn.com/...

Cenobyte

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Thursday February 03, 2011 · 9:36 AM PST

2011/02/03 · 09:36

It seems Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika sees the writing on the wall: He is promising to end nearly 20 years of "emergency" rule "in the near future."

Saad Djebbar, an international lawyer and Algerian analyst, said the regime has clearly been affected by the region-wide demonstrations that have led to the toppling of one autocratic regime in Tunisia and threaten another in Egypt.

"My take is that the regime may be preparing (for public protests)," Djebbar said from London. "They want to produce some sort of trick that would show that reform is underway, like what (Egyptian President Hosni) Mubarak is doing in Egypt, who appears to be using all of the tricks in the book to avoid being removed."

http://www.cnn.com/...

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Who's out next?

Egypt

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Yemen

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Jordan

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Algeria

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More "isolated incidents" - this one targets Rep. McDermott

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Wednesday February 02, 2011 · 8:33 AM PST

2011/02/02 · 08:33

Charles Turner Habermann, a wealthy California man, has been arrested for threatening to kill Seattle congressman Jim McDermott.

A California man accused of threatening to kill Seattle Congressman Jim McDermott has been arrested and charged in federal court.

Charles Turner Habermann -- a 32-year-old Palm Springs, Calif., resident with a $3 million trust fund -- was arrested Wednesday morning on allegations that he made threatening phone calls to the office of the Seattle Democrat late last year.

Federal authorities contend Habermann admitted to making the calls because he was angry about taxes, but said he wouldn't risk losing his trust fund by attacking McDermott.

Federal prosecutors in Seattle described statements left by Habermann in two Dec. 9 phone calls as an "expletive-laden" effort to influence McDermott's vote on tax policy. According to charging documents, Habermann to have threatened to kill McDermott's friends and family, then, in the second call, threatened to put McDermott "in the trash."

http://www.seattlepi.com/...

Cenobyte

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Tuesday February 01, 2011 · 8:33 AM PST

2011/02/01 · 08:33

From CNN:

(CNN) -- The king of Jordan dismissed his government Tuesday and appointed a new prime minister with orders to implement political reform.
The dismissal follows several protests calling for change in Jordan -- protests that echo demonstrations that have swept across North Africa and the Middle East in the last few weeks.
King Abdullah II asked Marouf Al Bakhit to form a government in Jordan that will implement "genuine political reform," the Royal Court said in a statement.

http://www.cnn.com/...

He's not alone in hearing the footsteps marching up behind him.

Cenobyte

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Friday January 28, 2011 · 10:16 AM PST

2011/01/28 · 10:16

Yep -- Joe Liebermann is still an asshole.

As Egypt cuts Internet access to and from the outside world in its efforts to quash the popular uprising, it is worth revisiting the fact that Joe Liebermann wants the government here to have that very same power.

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Global Expats: Masala Dreamin’ III: Finding My Sea Legs in Bombay

Global Expats: Our 2003 move from Austin to the SF Bay Area

Masala Dreamin’ II: Desi Prices

My Special Cheat-Sheet note for the Baggers:

Masala Dreamin’ I: An American Becomes an Expat in Bombay

Witness to evolution:

I am a leftist. I subscribe to no particular faith.

Another "Isolated Incident": Man arrested for death threats

Middle-East Dominoes: Algeria's President Tries to Head Off Revolt

More "isolated incidents" - this one targets Rep. McDermott

Middle-East Dominoes: King Abdullah II sacks government

Egypt turns off internet, Lieberman wants same option for US