Haikus - Or - Brevity and Banality

"Don't use seven words when four will do."
~Ocean's Eleven

"Brevity is the soul of wit."
~William Shakespeare

I have been getting numerous complaints that I haven't been blogging enough lately. But I only have so many earth shattering, ground breaking epiphanies to share you know! I really do enjoy blogging, but it does take a good deal of thought and time to actually create a post of substance, interest, and moderately well chosen language. Hopefully I have succeeded with my readers on at least one of these levels. Please consider this my plea of quality over quantity. And at this point you're probably thinking, "Wow, does she have anything to say today? Hurry up, you quoted brevity and this is the longest rant about nothing I've ever read! I think she keeps filling up space just for the heck of it! Oh my gosh, I think I'm right...I think I'm right."

Anyway....poor jokes aside now, as much as I can manage anyway, no guarantees....

To change up my post for today a bit, I have written a bit of poetry here I will divulge. I have a few other poems that I will try to upload later, but they are not public worthy yet, so stay tuned for those at a later date. Below are some Haikus I have written about various personal experiences in India thus far. Haikus generally have a 5-7-5 syllable line system, which is what I followed, and don't usually rhyme. They're meant to be short and, hopefully, sweet. I'm learning how to praise myself from some expert self-praisers in the office, so I will say these are unprecedentedly ingenious (HA, okay, that's a joke for those who know what I'm talking about, don't want to set expectations too high for these). At any rate, enjoy!


India Haikus

I played a new game
Called Caroms at the office
Think I 'hit it' off

Aaj, I hear "Issko!"
"Ye!" and "Kyon?!" being shouted
Caroms is intense

If I say a phrase
In Hindi to my colleagues
They go into shock

When I hear Hindi
Now I can respond wisely
"Mai samjhi naheen"

Take care on the street
And be sure to watch your feet
- Or you'll be smashed

One night a lizard
Was crawling on my wall and
It is not my pet

If you think my jokes
Are bad - they are nothing to
PJ's here - I swear

One day it was wet
I wore yellow leggings out
That was a mistake

Are you tired of my
Haikus yet? Are you? Are you?
This is the last one

*For non-Hindi speakers, any of the words that you don't recognize are Hindi. If you're curious look 'em up! :)


Simply a list of all the foods and sweets (mithai) I can name at the moment that I've tried:
Chapati (home made tortillas), Rice, Dhal, Aloo Paratha (Potato Paratha), Gobhi Paratha (Cauliflower Paratha), Samosa, Curd (sort of like yogurt), Curry, Kadai Paneer, Dosa, Idli, Lassie (dairy yogurt like sweet drink), Gulab Jamoon (sort of like doughnuts in syrup), Lady's Fingers (actually a vegetable used in a lot of dishes). I will definitely have to figure out how to cook some of this food when I go home!

Places I've tried that are also in America:
McDonalds (called McD's casually here), Subway, Pizza Hut, Quiznos. All have many more vegetarian options that the scanty 1 or 2 options in the US, I'm very jealous of the wide variety of veg options at all restaurants in India.


Soon I'll also post some clothing photos of what I've been wearing here. So, "Keep a weather eye on the horizon." ~Pirates of the Caribbean


Here are photos of a few food labels:

Nutrition labels in India are pretty scanty for a thoroughly nit-picky, scrutinizing American label reader like myself. This peanut butter jar is actually a fairly comprehensive Nutrition label for India. Vitamins and minerals are rarely listed, which always are on American food items, along with calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol, fiber, protein, and more. People don't really care about reading Nutrition Facts here, and don't count calories the way some Americans do, which fits with the whole "Que Sera Sera" attitude (Spanish for "Whatever Will Be Will Be" from a song). It also took me a bit to figure out the calories label, because on some foods it's not listed at all or it will be listed only as "Energy." Ohhhh, it's energy (or kcal as it can also be labeled, the same unit as the Calories that are tracked on American labels), it's good for you, it's not calories to be avoided, okay, I can dig that. 

Thums Up, a popular soda in India.

Here's a little "Where's Waldo." Can you find the nutrition facts? 

Oh, here it is! This tiny little box.

Some chocolate cookies, or cream biscuits as I believe they are called here.

And, fancy that! Chocolate is energy, too! I can get used to this (although my waistline might differ).

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."
~Charles Dickens