Dispatch from India!

Okay, first a correction--The town Tiger is from is Hamirpur, not Hamirapuhl like I said, in case anyone is looking at a map.

Secondly, nice job against the Thunder Chickens boys. 3-5 is a loss but could be a lot worse! Congrats on your goal Larry, but I want my linemates back when I get home!

Thirdly, be sure to link me here with the new website Schultzie :)

Well, we are in Amritsar, which is about 30km from the Pakastani border (forgot what that is in miles, hopefully around 2000). No...it's not that bad, although do check the papers because with what happened in Mumbai, tensions are higher and I am sure there are the usual hardliners that wand to spark a military conflict. If that happens, I'm probably gonna see if I can get an earlier plane! I'm not too worried, really. They nabbed a bigshot in the group over in Pakistan yesterday I guess, which is probably good. Some things you just can't control.

Anyhow, like I said before, there is the holiest temple in the Sikh religion here. Sihkism is an interesting sort of combo between Hindu and Islam and is very inclusive. You've probably seen Sikhs aand not really realized it; they're the ones with the distinctive turbans that they pretty much wear all the time, as well as these really sweet long beards. Some of them are so long that they have these little mesh deals they wear under their chins to sort of gather them up so they don't hang so low. We had a little visit with a distinguished looking guy on the street today, and I was trying to to check out all this stuff and be all impolite.

Actually, people have been pretty nice, but it's always a judgement call when they ask where I'm from. It's probably silly, but sometimes I say,

"Me??...I'm Canadian"

"Really...what city sir?"

"Winnepeg. You know, kind of in the middle"

"Ah yes. Cold"

"Yep"

So far nobody has really asked much past that but I do have a bit more of a cover story ready just in case. Let's say the guy continues the above and then says;

"My name is [insert indian name], and I live near the main bazaar. What is your name?"

"Me?. Oh my name is Chris. Chris Boyko."

(Nobody besides the AK Bars will get that one, but trust me on this one)

Anyway, it's miday now, and we have a pretty nice hotel accross the street from the train station, which is good being we have to catch a 5:00am train tommorrow back to Delhi. From there it's pretty much right to the airport and onto a plane and we're heading down to Kerela, which is near the southern tip on the western coast. Yep....it's almost beach time baby! I even brought my hammock just for that leg of the trip. Today we're just kinda being mellow, all that road travel is exhausting here. It was kind of a funny Indianism last nite too

The main roads here in Punjab are actually really good by Indian standards, but Tiger, like a lot of people here, seem really literal. Let me explain. Imagine an upside down triangle, pretty much an equalateral one. Label the points A on the left, B on the bottom, and C on the right. A is Armristar, where we were going, and C is where we were after about 5 hours of driving. B is just another city. Now, the road from C to B then A is really nice, but twice as far. C to A is closer but a horrible road and a bunch of slow moving overfilled horse carts hauling crops. Guess which route we took? Fastest way is the shortest route, right? I'm gonna need new dental fillings after this trip, I'm tellin' ya. It would have been much faster if we'd taken C to B then A, but Tiger didn't see it and there you are. It was sad to send him on his way tho. We gave him a monster tip of 1000 rupees, but that's what happens if your customers like you I guess. I wish him well in his life and let us know when he's getting married to at least one of those women. Weddings are crazy here but that's a story for another time.

Okay, that's good for now.

From the Far East

-Kai #10