Day 1 of Divadom

*WARNING: POSTING ABOUT FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT*

So it's nearing the end of Day One of That Time of the Month. This morning, I put in the diva cup. It wasn't too difficult but I had trouble following the last part of the directions because I think I may have pushed it in a little too far. The last part of the directions says that you should pinch the cup and rotate it one full circle to make sure it's in place. If it rotates easily, then you're good to go. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a grip on the slippery little sucker! I pulled it out a little to try and get a better grip, but with no luck. Since, as usual, I'd left myself too little time to get ready for work, I ran out of time and just put on a pantyliner and hoped that the cup would work.

So far, no leaking, no smell, no mess, no nothing. I'm impressed! Of course, I can't be sure yet that my period has actually started, but it's usually pretty regular. The only bad thing so far has been that the stem at the bottom has been kind of poking me - I think because I pulled it out too far.

Next step, to try taking it out. Stay tuned, or not, if this is too gross. I won't be offended. ;)

My first camel ride!

In preparation for my Rajasthan trip in October, I made a trip to the Rock Garden in Chandigarh with a special mission in mind that, surprisingly, had nothing to do with rocks. My friend, Alex and I want go on a camel trek from Pushkar and camp overnight in the desert. But before I sign on to what I'm told will be a groin-wrenching 8 hour camel ride, I needed to figure out if I was allergic to camels. Considering I'm allergic to almost all (if not all) furry animals, this was a serious possibility.

So I sped my way through the maze of the Rock Garden, weaving in and out of the Indian tourists, to finally reach the bizarre carnival-like area where a single camel offers rides to children. To my slight embarrassment, I asked to ride the camel around the little area. After the 5 minute ride, I felt nothing, which was a good sign. But 5 minutes in the open air wasn't exactly a good test. But I balked at the idea of just sticking my face in the camel's dirty fur, because 1) it was dirty, 2) I didn't want the camel to bite me, 3) it would have made me look crazy. So I settled for just petting the fur and then rubbing my hand on my face while breathing in to try to provoke some kind of reaction. All I got was a small bump on my lip.

So, I'm hoping that means I can go on a short one-day camel trek and still camp out in the desert, I hope. I'll take an antihistamine and it'll be fine... (?)


Although it sounds really lame, it was SO fun to ride the camel! The last time I got to do something like that was when I was a little kid and rode a pony. Since then, I've been allergic, so this was a real treat. :D

Be a Diva!

** WARNING TO MEN: POST ABOUT FEMININE HYGIENE PRODUCT **

I finally got sick of using pads/tampons and seeing all the waste it produces and decided to order a diva cup. It's a reusable silicone cup that you insert sort of like a tampon except you can leave it in longer, there's no danger of Toxic Shock Syndrome, it doesn't leak and it doesn't smell... or so the very comprehensive website advertises. I am determined to get over my "Ew it must be gross!" aversion and try it during my next cycle. Imagine instead of a lifetime mountain of used pads or tampons (gross!), a single easily washible little cup as your contribution to the Earth. And you save money too!

I ordered it on their website ($39.50 CAD) and got it delivered to India - imagine that! They accept international orders and seem to deliver anywhere, and fast too. I got it within a week and a half in a discreet small (unwasteful) package.

If you're interested in reducing your impact on the environment, then I suggest you check out their website. They have a really good FAQ to answer all your questions. And if you're still a little squeamish (like me), then check my blog in a couple of weeks when it's that time of the month again to see how I do.

Now I can't chicken out. Wish me luck!


It even comes with a diva pin that you can use to (discreetly) advertise your support for the diva cup.

Lazy Sunday

Reading my book while sitting on my balcony during the rain. So relaxing, but still surprisingly humid and hot. I gotta get one of these (i.e. a covered balcony) when I grow up and buy a house.

Break a leg!* or Things you don't have to worry about in Canada: The ongoing saga**

Does anyone remember WAY back when we were in Grade 3 and I broke my leg in the playground, by slipping on an invisible patch of ice while imagining I was racing to the lineup to beat the classmate leisurely strolling in? I got to have a cast (in plaster - those were the days) and use super-fun crutches that everyone clamoured to try out because they were so small. I loved all that attention! I even gave my first public speaking assigment on the whole experience (you may not remember that part, the speech was a little dull).

Anyway last night, Alice (a trainee from UK) and I were walking the short distance from my house to the Silk Lounge to see her friend deejay, but we only managed to get to the end of my street. Trainees, do you remember the little fence that we climbed over so many times to get to Madhya Marg? Anyone remember the broken concrete sewer grate with a big hole in it right before the fence? Well, neither did I. One minute I was walking and the next, I had half my leg in the road.

Boy did it ever hurt. I scraped my shin on the concrete on the way down and bruised up my leg pretty bad. Luckily my legs are short so I didn't reach any sewage or anything (yuck!). I limped back to my house trying to remember what I had learned in first aid (apparently very little).

I washed, hummed and hawed about which bandage to use in my virgin first aid kit, worried about whether I should try to find some antiseptic or not, etc, etc, until I finally had it bandaged up with some ice sitting on top. It still hurt like crazy and after staying up until 3 in the morning, dutifully icing it on and off, I climbed upstairs, bum first, and crawled into bed.

Only to be woken up at 6am by my own realisation that maybe all this persistent pain meant that I had actually broken it, and that was when Worrying Sam revived herself from her long hiatus in full force. I started to panic and searched my brain for someone to call for advice at this obscene hour. I settled on Calgary as the timezone of choice and ended up speaking to a very surprised Kent.

He patiently calmed me down, quelling my pre-worries, by saying such things as no, he didn't think my bone would have started healing already from a fracture I wasn't yet sure I had, leading to an increase in the amount of excruciating pain I imagined I was going to feel, if they had to set the still unconfirmed fracture.

Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, I eventually made my way to the prestigious Fortis Hospital to get it x-rayed, had the very Indian experience of having 5 people, including the security guard, huddled around me as the doctor took a preliminary look at my leg in the middle of the ER waiting room, and found out to my relief that my tibia is perfectly intact. So no broken bones for me. Phew!

And... I got to keep my x-ray! How incredibly cool! That was definitely the best part. Crisis averted.

(Would it be very geeky of me to have the x-ray framed??)

*Credit goes to Kent for the witty title of this blog post.
**I.E. Falling into holes in the road.

My Trip Home: The Germany Leg

My gracious hosts

For my trip home this year, I decided to fly Lufthansa so that I could stop over for free in Frankfurt to visit my good friends, Johanna and Ben. I met them while they were on an AIESEC traineeship in Chandigarh last year and they graciously invited me to come visit them.

I arrived EARLY in the morning and although I didn't know it at the time, Ben and Hanna had had to get up at something like 4am to take the train in to meet me at the airport. And when I exited the transit area, they were there waiting with a big handmade sign welcoming me! Aren't they sweet?

We spent the day in Frankfurt observing some of the World Cup madness (no I didn't watch any matches), before being picked up by Johanna's parents, driving out of the city to meet Johanna's sister for a Greek dinner, and then being dropped off at Johanjimin's Ikea-themed apartment in Koblenz.

I had a fantastic time in Germany and definitely want to go back there someday. It had all the normal features of Europe (plenty of cafés, cobblestone walkways, old castles, high-quality fresh food, etc), plus the Germans were really friendly, there was apple juice everywhere (Ben - I was even able to order apfelsaft on the flight back to India), and German words are fun to pronounce.

Johanna's family took me out for some delicious Greek food in a restaurant decorated in a World Cup theme, of course. They even gave me a little present - a coffee table book about the region. :)


Check out the giant tv screen set up on the Main river to watch World Cup matches.


Soccer rules posted on all the public garbage cans in Frankfurt


The mascot of the World Cup. Johanna thinks he's indecent because he doesn't wear any pants, which made me want to laugh every time I saw him.


Even famous German philosopher, Goethe, was getting into the World Cup Mania!


A german sex shop chain started and named after an old German lady. Apparently they're all over Germany. As appears to be the European way, there were sex shops right in the middle of downtown Frankfurt.


German cycle-rickshaws!


Japanese tourists taking photos of the blonde white woman getting married. It cracks me up that this happens in Germany too! I guess it's not just an Indian thing.


In Germany, a civil wedding ceremony is necessary whether or not you have a religious ceremony as well. Outside of City Hall, here's a bride following the tradition of cutting a heart out of this banner using tiny scissors so that her groom can carry her through it.

Grocery Store Wars!

Check out this funny, but very silly video. It'll take about 10 minutes to watch.

Go Organics! Did you know that organic food is even available in India?

Corruption in India

Sitting in a taxi in Delhi the other day while pulling up to a traffic light, a police officer came over and started yelling and waving his hands about.  He was demanding driver’s licenses from my taxi and the taxi next to us at the same time and the drivers were arguing with him.  My driver handed his license over while the other continued arguing.  From the beginning, it was completely obvious what was going on – the police officer was threatening to fine them for whatever insignificant or imagined traffic violation so that they would pay him bribes.  The officer actually got into the other taxi driver’s car to harass him some more before making him pull over, get out of the taxi to the side of the road.  My driver got out and handed him a 50 Rs note to get his license back.  Then when presumably the police officer has extracted money from the other taxi driver, he came around to the other side of my taxi and started harassing the car next to us that was filled with a well-to-do Indian family.  Could it be that all three cars stopped at the red light had coincidentally committed traffic violations?  I think not.  I had half a mind to tell him off and almost did, although that might not have been the smartest idea.  That someone would take advantage of his own people like that, especially those already struggling to make a living, is just despicable.  

“Bad police officer?” I asked.
“Very bad.  In India, they are all very very bad, “ he responded.

And all I could do to help was to hand him 50 Rs tip at the end.  Now I understand better why my interpreters freeze up when I interview a police officer.  They don’t like them either.

Autumn in Chandigarh?

Driving down the street to work this morning, I noticed golden leaves fluttering down in the breeze and that the streets were lined with them. It seems that instead of the leaves dropping in the Fall as the first frost hits and the trees conserve their energy for winter, they instead jump ship before the onslaught of the unbearably hot summer. Just to give you an idea of what the weather is like here these days, here is the weather forecast for tomorrow:

Tomorrow
Sunny
Low: 20 ºC
High: 37 ºC

And this isn’t even the peak of the hot weather. I miss the “winter” here already. The winter felt more like Fall weather back home – temperatures of about 10 – 15 degrees Celsius for a stretch of four or five months. Ahh… that was nice.

All I can say is, "Wow!"

Here are some pictures of the new Akshardham Temple Monument to World Peace in New Delhi that my colleague sent me. The Swaminarayan Akshardham took the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha 5 years to construct. (Try saying that 3 times fast!)

The Akshardham monument, built without steel, is entirely composed of sandstone and marble. It consists of 234 ornately carved pillars, 9 ornate domes, 20 quadrangled shikhars, a spectacular Gajendra Pith (plinth of stone elephants) and 20,000 murtis and statues of India's great sadhus, devotees, acharyas and divine personalities.

Akshardham means the eternal, divine abode of the supreme God, the abode of eternal values and virtues of Akshar as defined in the Vedas and Upanishads where divine bhakti, purity and peace forever pervades.

Yet another monument to add to the impressive list of sites to see in Delhi!