I'm going to Varanasi, and they can't kick me out of India yet!

Hello all, or the two people who might still check this, one of which unfortunately is probably not my mom...

Once again, I apologize for the break in updating. Part of it is the fact that I am still using these cyber cafe's, the other part is I'm just lazy about it. Anyways, I am back in Faridabad after a stop off in Punjab after the Landour Language School closed in Mussoorie, the last town I was in. Actually, to give proper props to people when it's due, I didn't really end up taking many classes from LLS, but studied with this teacher Zeenat, which was a blessing, since she responsible for most of the Hindi I now know.

My hindi is going good, though it's cost some sacrifice in traveling and seeing all the treats that India has to offer. The other good news is that after much stress and extra work to make up for India's shady beauracracy, I have my "OCI," or "Overseas Citizen of India" registration, which allows me to have most of the rights of an Indian citizen, and basically come to India whenever I feel like it (basically, I just can't vote or run for president here in Bhaarat - India). This is something that people with some Indian heritage can get, and I think it applies even if you have only a small percentage of heritage from India. So no more need for visas. I think I'm going to write a blog entry on "how to get an OCI in India," since there must be thousands of other Indians who are probably frustrated with the process and entertaining suicidal thoughts as we speak. To make a long story short, the wonderful people at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) ended up losing my application, and I had to make a new one. They told me I was the only person this has ever happened to. That may have some element of truth in it, but I'm leaving out the tons of other frustrating things that they did with malicious intent, because they are the worst people in this world. Mind you, I haven't been staying in Faridabad or Delhi, and going to the MHA requires long and exhausting overnight train rides, adding to the pain of Indian beauracracy. I'm learning, slowly and painfully, how to get things done in India.

Tomorrow, I will be heading to Varanasi, where I hope to get my studies back going. Expect pictures, as Varanasi is supposed to be a super ancient and fantabulous city. Let's see if they can handle the likes of yours truly.

Due to extremely slow connections, no pictures have been uploaded onto Flickr. I also apologize for the dreadfully boring nature of this post. Next post will have pictures and will include stories of abductions, accidents, and death defying stunts of survival. As well as mangoes. Why? Because everybody likes mangoes.