Lizard in the Bathroom and Rock Climbing: Jan 20 to Jan 23

This weekend was relatively quiet except for one rock climbing outing. I spent a lot of time reading, exercising, and a little time working on my project. 

On Wednesday night last week as I was brushing my teeth, I noticed for the first time a small lizard in the bathroom. It was about three inches long and of a greenish yellow color. It was on the ceiling about 8 feet away from me. As I brushed, I saw it sneak up on a bug that was on the wall, covering the last six inches of its journey in the blink of an eye. It caught the bug and munched on it before crawling away across the ceiling. The bug seemed pretty dumb—I think it should have seen the lizard, because it was not exactly sneaking up on it as it crawled toward it. I did not see the lizard on Thursday.

On Friday evening, I was standing at the urinal, the only one in the bathroom, when I heard a small “splat” sound behind me that caused me to jump. It was my friend the lizard, who had apparently fallen from his perch on the ceiling (I had not noticed him when I walked in). On the ground about two feet behind me, he looked at me for a moment then skittered away across the floor. It took me a couple minutes to catch my breath from that one.

On Saturday evening, I went rock climbing with two international students (Saurav from Nepal and Timo from Switzerland) and two Indian students. It took us about an hour by city bus and a 20-minute walk to get to the location. As Saurav remarked, we left campus when it was light and it was dark before we got to the rock wall. I later looked up the 45-foot pinnacle rock wall online; it was labeled “indoor climbing,” but was outdoors. I realize that the “indoor” part of the description refers to the type of holds, but I am not familiar enough with US rock climbing lingo to know what an outdoor structure with indoor holds would be called in the US. This may be standard nomenclature or it may just be India.

There were no prices listed at the wall, so it was unclear how much I would have to pay (often you pay after being serviced/eating in India, even for street food) for the experience. Kathik, one of the Indian students I was with, was the only one who had been to the wall before. He led us on a couple warm up laps around the school field that was adjacent to the rock wall, then took us to the equipment room, where climbing shoes of all sizes were strewn across two dirty mattresses on the ground. Harnesses of various sizes were stuffed in a 7-foot-tall metal cupboard across from the mattresses. I looked for the biggest shoes I could see in the pile, and the first pair I tried on fit surprisingly well. The last time I put on a climbing harness was four years ago on a Garfield High School POST Outdoor Club rock climbing trip. On that trip, I belayed a lot of climbers and taught others how to properly put on a harness. One of the most important things we stressed was doubling back the straps on the waist and leg belts so that they could not come loose while climbing. It was not possible to double back the harness I put on at the Indian rock wall. If I tightened it all the way, I could loosen it a bit by simply pulling on it at the right angle. Slightly worried, I watched Kathik go first. When he had no problems coming down in his harness, I let go of my fears. In high school, we wore helmets when rock climbing; people often do not even wear helmets while riding motorcycles here, so it followed that there were no helmets for rock climbing. The wall had an “easy” side and a difficult side, each with three climbs. I stayed to the easy side and was able to get about 2/3 the way up a couple of the climbs. To get to the last 1/3 of the climb, you have to get around an overhang that sticks out about 18” from the wall. Maybe next time I will be able to get there. It was a great evening, and the bill came out to 120 Rupees.

After climbing, we went out to a restaurant nearby and had a few different starters (appetizers) and some curries with naan and roti. My favorite thing we had was Kothmir Wadi, some sort of fried doughy substance that you dip in a spicy salt. We had a second order because it was deliciously salty after the hard climbing. I later looked up what Kothmir Wadi is—the more common spelling is Kothimbir Vadi—and it is a chickpea flour cake with coriander leaves. I will be ordering that again if I see it on another Maharashtrian menu. A small cup of sweet coffee followed the meal. That was delicious too.

We took an Uber back to campus. In India, like almost everything else, Uber is paid in cash. The app does the job of booking the ride and securing the price, but not many people have credit cards or choose to pay that way. Our driver was an older man, but this did not stop him from swerving into oncoming traffic to pass as any Indian driver does.

I spent Sunday relaxing, reading, and briefly visiting some booths at a small NGO festival that was happening on campus. I met with Shilpa briefly to talk about the turmeric project, and our conversation eventually ended up at “do people order pizza all the time in the US, like on ‘Friends?’” Many, many Indian people under age 30 or so have watched Friends, some watching the whole show multiple times. It is astonishing how often this show gets brought up—I almost think I need to watch it from start to finish while I am here so that I understand what stereotypes people associate with me as an American. Maybe it would help spark conversation if I say “How you doin’?” to everyone I meet.

Today, Monday, I went outside campus to a supermarket to buy some snacks for the train. I got some figs and dates from the store—the dates were really cheap and I hope they are as good as they look! On my way back I had lunch from some street vendors, an aloo paratha and an egg pav. The paratha was especially tasty; I will be going back for another sometime, maybe next weekend.

Tonight I leave for Aurangabad for a field visit for my project; Tuesday night to Akola, Thursday morning to Wardha, and on Friday a 16-hour train journey back to Mumbai.

Street food vendor where I ate egg pav

Math Olympiad hosted on campus on Sunday 22/1

Indoor rock climbing