Well, I wrote something about some adventure companies in India, but that was a quick note about my asia itinerary back in October. and this is another quick note..

So, I tried to contact a company called Ozone India, which I first read about in a magazine (Outside?), then later found out that my friend Niket Sirsi has a cousin that works there, so I contacted him, Vinay. I guess I was coming from a too-American mindset or something, since he wasn’t really giving me the kind of information I wanted, or timely or specific enough, I didn’t feel like I was getting anywhere.
My cousin Rajeev ended up finding us some outfits to go with.. he found a couple of different options, and as I’d semi-expected, a few of them didn’t work out. Somehow, we ended up going rafting (and a weak-ass hike.. the “long” “2 hour” that we did in like an hour, but maybe I was hiking too fast. Poor Rajeev. Though I wish I still had that endurance now! Aye, how fast it goes!), through the aforementioned company, Kali Rafting, and it was cool enough. I almost convinced him that he should pay me to do his website, since the Contact form didn’t work, and I think he was having other problems with his webmaster.
I’m rambling now, so we continue in extended..

That was weird. His webmaster was from Bangalore (this guy is out in Dandeli much of the time, on the west coast of Karnataka, beautiful country!), and worked for Google. I have a lot of faith in the g00g, in many ways they’re my favorite technology company, and I feel like they do a lot of things right, including (especially?) in their hiring procedure. But it sounds like this guy was just lame-status! I couldn’t understand it, he sounded pretty.. semi.. -incompetent. Strange.

But I digress.. we got in contact with a couple of guys.. one was named Nagendra, some sort of adventureconsultant, and another was (his friend?) Santosh. The latter seems to be starting a new copmany, with a semi clever name, Get Off Ur Ass, which goes perfect with the (what’s the word? bastardized? hyperreductionist?) english that a lot of the youth (or just computer-using?) Indians are using nowadays. Funny, interesting, strange.. well, he added me to his addressbook on plaxo, I think it was (now that’s the third one of those sites I’m on?! Aye!), and he just sent me an email saying that his site was up now.. interesting stuff all..
I don’t remember why I decided to write this entry, other than to put a link to the site.
I have some attachments they sent me that talk about trekking locations, canoeing supa reservoir, and the rafting in Dandeli, so if anybody’s interested in me resending that (maybe I could post it online too? Not sure/hard to say) I could, though theoretically it should all be on the aforementioned website..

It’s really interesting though, the whole, and new, indian adventure tourism industry, ya know? It was cool though when we went to Dandeli (w/ Kali Rafting adventures), they considered me a native (even with my accent! Something that never happens here in Mexico…). Maybe it’s just cuz I was indian, which was good enough. (Which apparently, isn’t here, I’m still “just” a gringo! ack.. ;^) That was cool though because we got to get the good rate.. I forget how much, but it was a fraction of the 30-50$ that I would have had to be pay as a “foreigner”. Yeehaw! Another funny part was when I was telling them that I was from Shimoga (my mom’s hometown), and they seemed to believe me.. even with my accent, and the fact I spoke 0 Hindi. So strange! Yet funny.. It’s much harder to pass for a Mexican/native spanish speaker here though. Though, after meeting David the other day, a Mexican born and raised in the states (Texas) that speaks fluent Spanish, and who everybody knows is from the U.S., I decided I need not stress about it. If he can’t pull it off, I’ve got no chance.. only a little bit of curiosity from people about my real ethnic background.. anywho, I ramble, so, ta! -@

  
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