And then there was no part 2

So between my general laziness, travel week, and questionable Internet connection the part 2 about Goa has yet to materialize.  As your all undoubtedly heartbroken I;m going to combine the Goa into a massive traveling in India post that will eventually be made (maybe).  The real reason why this blog post is coming up is that India has advanced to the finals of the world cup on saturday.  And they beat Pakistan to do it.  Pakistan and India have gone to all out war 3 times in the since independence, had several sub-open warfare conflicts, and more recently India has accused the Paki intelligence service ISI of being behind several terror attacks in India, including the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2002 attack of the Indian Parliament.  Therefore this match was probably the most important of the tournament for India, with several Indian commentators calling it more important than the actual finals and likening it to a pseudo-war.  Its estimated that well over half of the Indian white collar workforce either took a half day or didn't work at all, and in Pakistan there was a similar workless situation.  (versus Sri Lanka btw)  It was interesting knowing that there were an estimated Billion people watching or listening to the match.  In the aftermath of this match, the streets which had been mostly empty during the match erupted with people shouting screaming flying down the road on motorcycles and cars etc...  The only thing I can compare it to is when Obama won the presidency in 2008 and DC erupted in similar street celebrations.  The celebrations are still ongoing, but have moved away from the streets after the initial hour or so outburst of noise and craziness.  The only reason why the celebration for a win on saturday might be bigger than this win over Pakistan is because the day after is Saturday and not a week-day.  Right so thats the update for now lets go India crush Sri Lanka.

Creative Title Part 1

So its been a while since I updated the blog, and alot has occurred since the last update.  Therefore, dear random readers you get a two part update.  So anyways this first part will be a general update about the current situation here in manipal and the second part will be about my trip to the ancestral homeland, Goa. 

So to continue with where I last left you, the world cup has been proceeding along.  India has been doing fairly well but recently lost  to South Africa in a game they should have won easily.  Other highlights so far of the tournament include the Irish upsetting the heavily favored English (at one point the English were favored 400 to 1 in the match)  and then Bangladesh also upsetting the English.  Despite these upsets there is still a good chance that England will make the next round and India seems to be in the next round as well.  Unfortunately for India while their offensive batting has been superb for the most part, their fielding and bowling (pitching) has been rather lackluster which does not bode well for them against the better teams.  Also here's a picture of the Irish cricket player who destroyed England's bowlers, Kevin O'Brien.



Yes his hair is dyed pink


Anyways, whenever an interesting match is on, or an India match, the activity among the population of manipal and I'm guessing to a greater extent the rest of the country slows down dramatically for the duration of the match.  These matches last for like 5 or more hours normally.  Also the screams increase dramatically, as the fans watching the match in my hostel scream and clap for just about everything.  For 5 or more hours.

At least they don't have vuvuzelas

Class wise i have had a slight break in actual class time as several of my professors were away at conferences, and the Indian IR masters students had a psuedo spring break.  However, that simply meant that my professors gave extra readings in their absence.  Temperature wise, its now close to or around 100 everyday, and is supposed to remain or get hotter for the remainder of my time here.  The real problem though is that as we approach the monsoons, thankfully I leave before they hit in June, it gets increasingly humid in addition to being hot, so basically similar to summer in DC.  Other big news is that this coming weekend kicks off our psuedo-break/ travel week during which the group is going to travel to Bangalore, Mysore, Ooty and a tribal area, a wildlife preserve, Cochin, and go on a backwater trip in Kerala on a boat.  I'm excited and will certainly give an update about the trip after we get back on the 27th.  So stay tuned for part two of the update, Meeting the Relatives.