Namaste. I'm in India! The realization is now everywhere, surrounding me. I write you from what looks like a prison-turned-cybercafe, with high-pitched Gujarati music echoing off the walls (which is a fortune, since it has appeased and quieted the drunkard yelling that dominated beforehand). This might have to be short, sweet, and coarse, since my Tungsten doesn't like the voltage of India yet.

Despite a rough entry, I have successfully oriented myself in Ahmedabad, the 5 million person capital of Gujarat. Those of you familiar with India's geography will be a bit surprised at this. Gujarat is the farthest west coastal state of India, more than a fair shake of several hundred kilometers from Delhi, as I had originally planned to be. Naturally, this begs some explanation.

Making my connection flight from Phuket to Bangkok, I read in the newspaper of the World Social Forum, a gathering of activists from hundreds of various causes. It sounded like an interesting mixture. A dose of exposure to activism every now and then is good for the health. I checked my ticket and, as it turns out, the remainder of my flight connections are Delhi -> Mumbai -> Paris. With the news that the WSF was being held in Mumbai, I serendipitously decided it was worth seeing, and to continue past Delhi and make Mumbai my entry into India. This also works out for the better since I will manage to meet up with a contact in Delhi whom I would otherwise miss.

Naturally, spontaneity gets you in trouble as often as it gets you into fun. I was fortunate to get a bushelful of both. I arrived into Mumbai to learn (should I have been surprised?) that the influx of 75,000 peaceniks into Mumbai had completely saturated every hotel in Greater Bombay for the next 3 days! Arriving as I had at 3AM, I decided that the best course of action was to throw my bags somewhere safe and find the WSF, stay there for the day and catch a night bus to Ahmedabad, Gujarat, which is along the way to Delhi.

Along the way, I've managed to get ripped off by a couple taxi drivers, which is pretty hard to avoid on your first day. (The meters throw in an extra zero, consider there to be an invisible decimal point.) More importantly, I haven't been ripped off that badly, nor have I been mugged - and I think I've learned how to avoid being overcharged in the future.

The downer of losing a bit of money was balanced out by the surprising quality of the World Social Forum. It had its problems (a bit too many chiefs without any indians, to use a terribly antiquated colloquiam.) but for the most part was an educating day of learning about the rougher ends of how the globalizing world is changing the world. I attended a seminar on how we can waive Iraqi debt caused by Saddam, and afterwards there was a series of lectures on tourism. One was by a Peruvian - it was spirit-lifting to hear South American spanish again. Other than the conferences, there were endless marches and drum dances, mostly for regional South Asian causes that I hadn't seen much coverage about, such as dalit rights (equality for the so-called "untouchables" of India's caste-aways). Hopefully I'll have some photos for you soon.

At the end of the night, a crowd halted a huge truck full of Coca-Cola drinks and, with much entertainment and tumult, pushed it several hundred meters, out of the convention grounds and back to the street. The driver, having no other option, put the gears in neutral and simply smiled out the window. Despite the popularity of the gesture, I cannot think of a way anyone can stop the Coca-Cola juggernaut en verdad.

After the forum, I returned to the office of the travel agent who I'd bargained a bus ticket with, to pick up my other pack and chat about India over some Saag Paneer. I've eaten a lot of food now, including meat and dairy food, from both restaurants and vendors - a sort of challenge to see how my body can handle the food here. So far, no surprises, fortunately.

With that, I should close for now and get my bearings on the city. All is well here. India is insane, but having ramped up from Argentina to Thailand and now India, the difference is not a shocking one. Traffic is somehow one notch crazier - here you've cross the street successfully if you aren't bumped too badly by oncoming rickshaws, you're bound to get nicked a bit here and there, but the objective is to avoid a solid hit. Horns blare off without end - and on their bumpers almost all vehicles have phrases such as "Keep Distance" or "Stop Horn OK Please." Nonetheless, I've found the right mindframe, and I wrap myself in the chaos like a warm blanket.

P.S. I received this as a piece of spam in my inbox. Admittedly it's written by a tech savy capitalist, but when you read the metawords as they are, I find it to be a new form of poetry, recollecting some of the same spirit of what it's like to walk down a street in India. Enjoy:

botanic nazareth breadroot chamber galaxy bibliophile tubular alphanumeric eisenhower deign hope blade cicada leapfrog brass brahms audacity gaiety crawford glyceride savoy label ,toolkit debonair evil mart parry zurich scalp dane tennyson instructor conjunct disaccharide degradation bound clean naomi millikan decertify diathesis coronary contemptible cyclops hardworking countenance pillsbury countersink deflate continuant period purport disambiguate artisan bob cope impede emphases shearer pitiful deaconess sophistry venomous ;cuckoo bennett ponder shook caputo global imaginary flabbergast actress nicotine praiseworthy decathlon ziegler effluent scribe dextrous archipelago - quota sachs vance paramagnetic wild cutler brutal hemorrhage _homeward thunderclap floc climatic binomial immiscible craze scottsdale scruple bluegrass died biracial bronchiolar ruthless alexandra aristocratic numerate jukes contest cauldron . chancellor haiku decent bialystok are gloria tariff not quintic hookworm cricket autistic gardenia .beak mayhem chirp dispelling kidde denotation neologism spirit marshall . errantry schneider winston bribery creak perish loan siderite apologia abed conclave gaff incomprehension auction sneeze acquisition neuropathology muse tompkins monochromator antisemitic poole ; alexandre bateman figurine carnation ammoniac simulcast cackle heroes honoree ceil flood library ambient maureen jackman metaphor spectacular type landau celesta ethanol elysian committable physiotherapy demarcate up regis commonality taxi buttock flee colby chao anglicanism upperclassmen alkaloid agitate effloresce benight yeshiva peculiar