What is the World Coming to?

mysore palace
Originally uploaded by qiubuo.

The Times of India had a headline this morning, "What is the World Coming to?," with pictures of grass growing in Antarctica, snow in the United Arab Emirates, and the tsunamis. California is getting its share of weather phenomena too, it seems. Well, at least there will be a lot of work for Gilles.

If you would like to donate money for tsunami relief, moveon.org has some options. The US is only giving 35 million. India is not accepting foreign government aid, saying they don't need it, but I'm sure Sri Lanka will need a lot, and the Indian Red Cross and other private agencies are accepting donations.

Keep in mind that given the local economy, even $2 makes people light up, so any little bit helps. I'm beginning to feel some expat guilt over this. I tried to take my clothes for ironing and the watchman insisted on doing it for me. He took the clothes to the ironman and brought them to my door, and when I gave him 10 rupees (20 cents) he was all smiles. Gilles gave the maid a 300 rupee bonus ($6) for the holidays and she was very happy. It's just strange to think that we're not making any sacrifice at all in giving them a few bucks, but they treat us like we made their day! We've also had a hard time cooking for ourselves, because our pasta always comes out soggy and the chicken always has weird parts in it, whereas we can call and get a whole meal delivered in 15 minutes for around $3! We have come to appreciate eating at home and not having someone spoon-feed us our food (they always insist on serving us, which means emptying out the dishes onto our plates as quickly as possible, basically as soon as there's some plate showing. If any of you have seen the speed at which Gilles eats, you'll know that I often get only a third of the food that he gets!).

At any rate, Happy New Year!