From 00bd2b7d0794ee8192361e20add2a989f5725318 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jonas Smedegaard Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:01:56 +0700 Subject: Add blog entry on visit to Khammam. --- blends/asia2011.mdwn | 2 +- blends/asia2011/india.mdwn | 5 +-- blends/asia2011/khammam.mdwn | 86 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 3 files changed, 90 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) create mode 100644 blends/asia2011/khammam.mdwn (limited to 'blends') diff --git a/blends/asia2011.mdwn b/blends/asia2011.mdwn index 5c1229d..00c848a 100644 --- a/blends/asia2011.mdwn +++ b/blends/asia2011.mdwn @@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ course was set for a 2½ month journey with [Debian Pure Blends][] as main theme: 1. England: [[London]] - 1. [[India]]: Khammam, Hyderabad, Mangaluru, Bengaluru + 1. [[India]]: [[Khammam]], Hyderabad, Mangaluru, Bengaluru 1. Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City, Can Tho 1. Thailand: Bangkok 1. Malaysia: Putrajaya diff --git a/blends/asia2011/india.mdwn b/blends/asia2011/india.mdwn index 726c043..6fc4970 100644 --- 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 --- /dev/null +++ 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. -- cgit v1.2.3