things not to forget about Mumbai

here I sit in an internet cafe, sweating profusely, fresh out of a tour of asia's largest slum.

slum tour- we went on a tour of Mumbai's (and Asia's) largest slum, Dharavi, and got exposed to what it's like to have more than a million people packed into a square mile. The residents make do though, and keep busy with countless mini industries, including processing recycled goods from both the city and abroad, then selling the raw materials back to manufacturers.

gandhi museum- Gandhi's old house in Mumbai was turned into a museum about his life and work.

raj from rajhastan- Raj was a friendly young man who introduced himself on the street, then took us out for chai tea, then drinks, and offered to help us find pants or anything we needed in the city the next day. then we deduced that he was just interested in our girls.

jain temple- as part of a city tour we embarked upon the second day, we were lucky enough to see an annual festival held at the Jain temple. it gave us a chance to see Hinduism in action.

mumbai trains- the ones we rode had no doors, letting you lean out the side into the night air as you rode.

mumbai markets- spent a whole lot of time bargaining in these. all the fine silks you've ever dreamed of, and the price is right.

calaba's back streets after midnight- dangerous.

day n nite

if you like hip hop, check this out.

infancy to infinity

infancy to infinity,
from Allah to the trinity,
they try to cure the sin in me,
but they're still preaching cynically

"conform to this, or burn in hell"
"under heaven's banner we can kill"
"you have no choice, it's all God's will"
today that product doesn't sell

see I'm looking for the best in us,
identifying what to trust
cause in the end each of us must
define parameters for 'just'

there's passion, greed, there's lust and rage
life lives and breathes and comes of age
reprints can't keep up with change
while words and blood fade on the page

core values shift, laws get rewritten
and God just doesn't seem to fit in
priests cover ears we use to listen
as old faiths fall to new decisions

from knowledge to the act of mating
we were born to feed our cravings
the future's bright, the past is fading
why not play God? it's us who made him

so keep what works as we move forward
say what we need and not one more word
don't kill or steal and love thy neighbor
then cut the rest with occam's razor

you strive for heaven, fearing hell
but life's more than a righteous shell
what happens after? no one can tell
so live each day and live it well

japanstats.

Japan now has a far higher percentage of single women between the ages of 20 to 40 than the United States--higher than almost anywhere in the world except Scandinavia.

80% to 90% of single Japanese women live with their parents, as do about half of the men in their 20s. Most pay little or no rent and do no housework.

Only 1% of Japanese children are born "out of wedlock," a phrase still used here. In the U.S., 32.8% of births are now registered as "non-marital."

Q: What is the Fertility rate (babies per woman) in Japan in 1950 and in 2000?
A: 1950: 3.65
2000: 1.35
(Tokyo, 1998: 1.06)

Full article:
http://www.ezipangu.org/english/contents/news/naname/kekkon_etc/kekkon_etc.html

Devil's Advocate

Discussion/debate game.

Goal: Discuss specific topics that involve abstract philosophical, religious, political, and ethical arguments. Each speaker has a time limit. Everyone gets their say.

Debate format. The person who can get the most people to agree with their viewpoint is the winner.

If you have the time to read it and think this game could be(come) fun or interesting, please suggest any changes that would help or ideas for discussion topics. I'm planning on playing a simplified version with my Adult English Conversation class, and this version with anyone who's willing. Somebody? Please? The idea came earlier this week as I and the other three ALTs sat around discussing and pondering similar deep issues at the Ueki Board of Education office, while the students all ran around outside on spring break.

The young bachelor

The young bachelor hits the sack directly after an 宴会　dinner party on Monday night and wakes up at 3:30am Tuesday morn, roused by a strange shifting sound in his apartment. Still half asleep beneath the comforter, he imagines leaping up unclothed, flinging aside the sliding door to the living room and tackling the thief that has stolen into his house. Will he be able to grab the miniature crowbar from the tool drawer in time to crack the intruder's skull, or should he just rely on his fists and feet? Maybe two robbers are out there, so the first would have to be dispatched quickly. Better go for the crowbar.

He wonders what the Japanese laws regarding physical harm done to strangers on one's own property might be. He wonders what his chances against two hardened criminals might be. His guess is "not good". Straining his ears in the darkness for another sound, he hears nothing but the usual cars on the highway and the two clocks. Relief. His tense muscles slowly relax. Though deep down he knew the house was empty all along. And what would he have really done had there been a stranger out there? Who knows. Hopefully what his Long Island-dwelling Grandpa did a few weeks ago when he awoke to hear a burglar rustling outside his bedroom. Leap up, throw the door open and bellow "GET OUT OF HERE YOU SON OF A BITCH!". How would he say that in Japanese? Doesn't matter, the bellowing should do the job. Always best to avoid physical confrontation. His Grandpa is as much wiser and tougher than his grandson as he is better at skiing, fly fishing, and theoretical physics.

Now the young bachelor is wide awake, and after another half hour studying the dim contours of his bedroom waiting to be drawn back into an unfinished dream, he gives up, gets up and takes the thick red fleece robe off its hook and steps into a pair of wool-lined slippers. The apartment is cold and quiet. He pours a bowl of cereal and makes a pot of tea in the kitchen, then moves to the living room couch to sit and eat. For some reason this particular bachelor finds a big bowl of late night cereal both mind-blowingly delicious and uniquely comforting, and tonight is no exception. Contented, the young man opens the Murakami novel lying nearby and reads the A.M. hours away, sipping tea with the perfect balance of honey dropped in, the pleasant reality around him slowly bleeding into that of another world. Around six he sets down the book and goes for a run under the purple sky and through the green fields, and around seven he sits down at his laptop and recounts the morning before getting showered and dressed for work. A surreal start to an otherwise normal weekday, but not entirely foreign to the bachelor lifestyle.