Cultureclashtastic Resumes

Pete McCarthy, author of McCarthy's Bar, insists that it is important to always travel with an out-of-date guidebook in hand. It's just funnier that way. So when, after a few strokes of good luck, I found out I was going to be spending some time in India again, I quickly went to a used bookstore and found The Handbook of India, copyright 1958. Chapter three of this book reads, "Rajasthan, of all parts of India, is perhaps the most thrilling! ... Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, is a magnificent town." So far, so good.

I leave for India this Friday and should be to Jaipur by next week. Jaipur is where I will be living until late August, taking classes trying to learn Hindi. The one thing I can say with certainty about India after spending half of last year there is that hilarious mishaps and cultureclashtastic adventures are to be expected. I have accepted that I'm destined to be surrounded by awkward situations for a huge portion of my near future. I am however, reassured by a statement from The Handbook of India, "Houses with latticed windows line the street. Their rose-pink colour lends enchantment to the scene and makes it almost magical at sunset," this is how Jaipur got its nickname: The Pink City. It seems the girl with pink hubcaps and the people of Jaipur may have at least one thing in common. I think we'll get along great.