Before writing this entry, I was sitting behind a desk, planning how to rid myself of my adversaries (staff we are going to fire) and intermittently stroking the cat napping on my lap; in short, I basically felt like a James Bond villain. Yet while being in charge of people has markedly increased my feelings of misanthropy, I am not at the point where I want to toss my staff into a shark tank. Fingers crossed that my termination strategies prove more successful than those in Bond movies. And that my opponents are not James Bond.
It was somewhat shocking to see that a month had gone by since my last update: time has been passing incredibly quickly. My life hasn’t changed very much: working a lot, trying to make time for graduate school applications, and, occasionally, having fun with people from work. Recent highlights include not working for at least half the day on the past three Sundays. That has been a nice relief: last weekend I went to see Harry Potter 7a, before that, I was on semi-holiday (work retreat) to Chennai with JM and VT, and before that, I did a Swarthmore alumni interview. Over the retreat, we played full contact 500 with a Frisbee for nearly 3 hours, which proved exhausting, but one of the most enjoyable things I’ve done since coming to India. I almost managed to acquire a reputation as a dirty player, which my interior Philadelphia Eagles fan truly revels in.
What else is there to say? it looks like I won’t get a holiday to the United States until March due to the needs of the project, but I plan to be around for both Swarthmore’s spring break and the week or two following it. Over at least one of those weeks, I’ll be at Swat and bothering people to swipe me into Sharples, Ziggy C./Flo Sleepa-style, so hope to see many of you then! I’ll probably post more about work in a bit, since I have some slum notes typed up. For now, I guess I’ll talk a bit about some of the hottest Delhi styles.
In the United States, if you wear Playboy brand clothes, you are probably kind of a scumbag. Here, it is one of the most popular brands for men. I’m not quite sure how Playboy achieved such a high degree of success when its main product is officially illegal in India, but I’ve seen people as young as three years and as old as seventy sporting the bunny: it is especially odd to see someone in full traditional Indian garb…. with an accessory playboy earring. This includes one of our senior data entry operators: someone had to tell him to start dressing more professionally after he wore both a Playboy shirt and earring to a meeting with a vendor.
And then there are the English language shirts where the wearers don’t understand what they mean (I hope). The other day, I saw a five year old kid with literally the most filthy shirt I have ever seen, so much so that I will not reproduce it here*. He wanted to shake my hand**, and while I ordinarily would want to smack an adult with such a shirt upside the head, I complied with his request. At the least, the shirt’s presence in developing country slums probably means that it was not successfully marketed elsewhere. Lots more things like this, but time to go head to bed.
Addendum: Congrats to GA on his exciting news, though it makes me fear that we are dangerously close to becoming adults. Please don’t lose your pirate ways and become the Man. Pretty please?
*If you want a hint, the abbreviation is stfuas, with a drawing of lips next to it.
** This is a very common occurrence with little kids, who seem to find my presence endlessly amusing.
It is sad how easy it was for me to imagine you as a Bond-style supervillain. Luckily, once I imagined you wearing your helmet, I was not as scared of your villainous ways.
ReplyDeletePS-I am super jealous that you get to go back to the States and see people over spring break.
PPS-I would hazard that we don't have too much to fear in the Greg-becoming-the-Man department. I mean, there was chalking involved in his proposal. How anti-Man can you get?
Thank you. I will never become The Man. See you in the spring, come hell or high water.
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