Add blog entry on visit to Khammam.

2 files changed, 89 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/blends/asia2011/india.mdwn b/blends/asia2011/india.mdwn
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--- a/blends/asia2011/india.mdwn
+++ b/blends/asia2011/india.mdwn
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 [[!meta date="2011-10-18"]]
 [[!tag debian blog]]
 
-Arrival in a new country is always exciting.  This was my first time
+Arrival in a new country is always exciting.  [[This|asia2011]] was my first time
 ever to visit India, and although I have heard especially cultural
 bits and pieces, I was as usual nowhere near "well" prepared.
 
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ as had been our original planed.
 
 After a few hours of looking at the neighbourhood and talking about
 possible events during the week, we decided to cancel the hotel
-and instead go visit his parents in Khammam, some 5 hours away by bus...
+and instead go [[visit his parents in Khammam|khammam]],
+some 5 hours away by bus...
 
 This text is part of my [[Asia 2011|asia2011]] scriblings.
diff --git a/blends/asia2011/khammam.mdwn b/blends/asia2011/khammam.mdwn
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2f4aab7
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+++ b/blends/asia2011/khammam.mdwn
@@ -0,0 +1,86 @@
+# Asia 2011 - Khammam
+
+[[!meta date="2011-10-19"]]
+[[!tag debian blog]]
+
+My first morning in India I woke up very late
+in [the house of Pavithrans parents][].
+Pavithran was out organizing events for us, his father was at work,
+leaving me with his mother.  She spoke little english - unsure if it was
+lack of skills or she was humble, or perhaps she just felt as shy as me
+in the situation.
+
+[the house of Pavithrans parents]: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?way=61899027
+ "House of Pavithrans parents on OpenStreetMap"
+
+How to, ahem, do your thing at a restroom when there is no toilet paper
+but instead a bucket of water?  I decided to not yell
+for help but use my imagination.
+
+How to eat breakfast local style?  I knew from dinner previous night
+with Pavithran that local custom was to eat with my hands and that it
+(lucky for me) was tolerated in India to use left hand, so turned down
+the kind offer for a spoon.
+But were I supposed to mix rice with all the curries? Or one at a time?
+In which order?  What if a curry was too hot to dip my fingers into?
+Was the liquid stuff to drink or to mix with the rice or eat afterwards?
+
+I asked for help, and first she just smiled at my alien useless language
+and then when I persisted, she patiently demonstrated with her hands in
+my food how to do.  The only natural thing to do, really, and I dearly
+appreciate her help and patiency.  But wauw, it was mind-blowing to me!
+Since early childhood, fingers in food is a forbidden thing:
+"Don't play with the food!".  On top of that, having someone else
+handle my dish while at the table is something I associate with being
+very old and needing to be spoon-fed.
+
+In the afternoon we went for a small hike to an old stone fortress in
+the middle of Khammam - with a great view of the sun setting.
+
+Next day we went to Sarada Institute of Technology & Science where I
+gave my first [talk][] to about 100 students.  I had intended to provide
+concrete facts on Debian generally and on my pet project,
+Debian Pure Blends, but then the night before decided to radically
+shift focus to their situation in the early twenties - as best as I
+could imagine it.  Pavithran had clearly expected a different style
+talk, but I liked it and believe it was received well by the
+audience as well.
+
+[talk]: http://dr.jones.dk/blends/talk/khammam/
+ "Talk slides: Debian Pure Blends"
+
+The teacher responsible for the event, Bhukya Jabber, afterwards
+asked for hints on running Debian at their computer lab.  I suggested
+to not lock down access but instead make it easy to reinstall, and
+he explained how he was quite interested in a larger degree of
+learning-by-doing (which I had also promoted in my talk)
+but was constrained by curriculum dictated
+higher up in the educational system.
+
+Late that day Pavithrans father introduced me to [CPM Khammam][]
+- the local offices and community center of the [Communist Party][]
+- and a colleague of his at the place, N. N. Rao.
+I instantly fell in love with the place and its atmosphere,
+and now have an open invitation to come back
+to spend 1-2 months to study and to collaborate with other
+users of the place (including some kids hosted there) on Free Software.
+
+[CPM Khammam]: http://www.openstreetmap.org/browse/node/630425208
+ "CPM Khammam on OpenStreetMap"
+
+[Communist Party]: http://cpim.org/
+
+Next morning we headed back by train to Hyderabad...
+
+I am still amazed how radical it feels sticking my fingers into food.
+Not the physical feeling (I am not _that_ disconnected from my body) but
+similar to a discovery I had as a teenager: After 7 years of
+piano lessons (and numerous other instruments less patiently) I gave up
+because I felt it was too hard expressing personality through the
+instrument.  I then sang - as I had always done, just not treating the
+voice as the serious muical instrument it then became to me.
+Similarly I now learned that eating with the fingers is not just
+yet another eating style like fork+knife or sticks
+ - it is the *natural* one. Obviously, in hinsight.
+
+This text is part of my [[Asia 2011|asia2011]] scriblings.