Last Sunday the people I work with at ECM-i arranged for a "trek". Trips, particularly where there's some walking involved, here are always "treks". It's a good term.

It turned out that the problem on my face last Saturday was shingles, caused by having had chicken pox in my youth and having more stress recently than my body could handle. The virus, which my body has kept in check for 50 years, spread from my lip to my left eye lid. One interesting thing about shingles is that it only will occur on one half of the body. It follows a nerve, Dr. Dalal said, and nerves are, with few exceptions, on one side of your body or the other. Dr. Dalal had given me Acyclovir, less than half the normal amount for fear I might be allergic to it. Linda got in touch with our family doctor, Dr. Ginnings, who recommended a full dose, which Dr. Dalal was happy to have delivered to the hotel when he learned I'd be OK with it. I am very grateful to Linda and Dr. Ginnings for getting the information I needed so quickly, before I went trekking.

Mr. Sayed could not spend the day and half of Monday, as we trekkers were planning to do, in the Durshet Forest. So another driver, one I hadn't met before, picked me up to take me to the ECM-i offices, from which we were to leave. Unfortunately the new driver didn't know exactly where our destination, Law College Road, is and so we had to stop and ask directions a few times. Sometimes I could recognize landmarks and could help. We got there before everyone else. I'm not quite on "Indian Standard Time" yet, which is what my Indian friends sometimes call it when everyone shows up late for an activity.

Our expedition consisted of 17 people, I believe, counting our driver. Vasu, the manager here, drove his car and there were 4 motor bikes with 2 people each, if I counted correctly. Lohith and Jim rode with the driver and me in the rented car.

We drove north out of Pune to the Mumbai (alias Bombay) Expressway, a 6 lane cement highway, really first class. But ox carts and motor bikes, among other things, are not allowed, as the sign at the entrance to the highway said. So the motor bikes had to take a different route and they were to meet us at the Durshet Forest Lodge before lunch, which was served at 1:00 p.m. We arrived at 11:45 and the fellows promptly started up a game of cricket. I watched and took some pictures. I don't know how to play, though this modified game they were playing didn't look to awfully hard, but my face was hurting and I really didn't feel good at all. Had this not been a special event, planned to make my stay more enjoyable, I'd have gladly stayed in my hotel room bed the whole day. Acyclovir doesn't stop the spread of the sores for 24 hours after the first dose, and that would be at 7:00 p.m. that evening.

The fellows arrived on their motor bikes about 1:00, or just after, but we didn't make it to the dining hall till about 1:30. Nevertheless we were fed. But pretty nearly everything was spicy and I was in about all the pain I wanted already. Adding to it was the last thing I wanted to do and so I ate almost nothing, at the risk of being rude I suppose, but that's what I did.

A bit after eating everyone wanted to go for a swim. The air temperature was about 90 degrees F (32 C) with about 100% humidity. It had been like that when we arrived, but toward the end of the cricket game I went down a trail and found a river. It was cooler there, but as I returned it began to rain and the whole camp cooled off. Then it slowly got humid again and after a while rained again and cooled off again. I think the swimming happened while it was still pretty nice, but warm, after the first rain. Vasu and I were the only ones who didn't swim. With open sores on my face I just didn't think that was a good idea. The last thing I needed was a bacterial infection on top of the shingles. So I got a bunch of good pictures of everyone.

After everyone got dressed we went down to the river. It was a 5 minute walk from the lodge. The river didn't occupy its whole bed, so we walked out on the river gravel and someone picked up a flat stone and sent it skipping out across the water. I'm still a kid at heart, and so I picked up a couple stones and they didn't skip at all. I was having a rough time finding good flat ones. So one of the guys handed me a nice one. He must have seen my failed attempts, and this stone skipped 8 or 9 times for me. I found a few other good skippers on my own after that. Some of us started examining rocks for their oddities or beauty too. Prashant found some really nice ones. I'm bringing one home. It's quartz that looks like it was deposited in thin layers. Another was deep green on the bottom and, I think, quartz on the top, with a thin layer of something else in between. Vasu took that home to his wife who is a geologist.

There was a room with some ping-pong tables and carrom tables. We spent some time playing those next. I'd never tried carrom before. It's like playing pool with checkers rather than balls and by flicking the cue checker with your finger rather than using a cue stick. It was interesting and I was bad at it, though I got better. I knew where to shoot, I just couldn't do it most often.

At dinner it was once again a choice between the pain of Indian spices or the pain of hunger and I chose the lesser and ate only some bread and water. One interesting thing I've discovered is that Indians eat sopapias. They don't call them that and they don't eat them with honey or cinnamon and sugar, but that's what they are. I told a few of the guys how the Mexicans eat them and they found that curious.

Sleeping arrangements were interesting. I had a room with a three wide bed and a one wide bed. There was a little bathroom attached, but there was no hot water unless you asked that it be turned on at the office. It was 10:00 and I was tired, exhausted actually. I went to sleep sweaty and in my clothes. The two ceiling fans made quite a wind and it really wasn't bad. I took a light blanket, there are no sheets, and put it over my arms to keep the breeze off. I was asleep very shortly and slept quite well, waking up only to take my medicine at midnight and 4:30. A camp employee was to wake me up at 6:00 so I would be ready for our morning trek through the forest. No one ever came, but I woke up at 6:30 on my own and washed with bottled water and one end of a towel. I may not have been really clean, but I felt like I was. And I was feeling better that the day before. There was no pain in my teeth and very little in the center of my lip. The rest of my face still hurt.

My sleeping arrangements were very special. The other 16 people slept in a dorm room with pyramid shaped bunk beds, three levels high. Some of them stayed up late, a few till 4:00 a.m. As a result they had only two hours sleep when Vasu woke them all up for our trek through the forest.

About 7:10 we started the trek. We walked down the lodge's long driveway and across the little road, and up the hill on the other side. Then we walked back down the other side. It was pretty and green and there were a few plants blooming, though this is not the right time of the year to see most things in bloom. It was pretty and I was reminded what poor soles my Sketchers' shoes have. They will slip on anything if you give them half a chance. I tried not to and only slipped a couple times. I know to step in low spots and on jagged rocks where you won't slip, if you can find such footing.

At the bottom of the hill was a nice waterfall, complete with water since this is the end of the monsoon season. It also had crabs crawling around here and there, the smaller begin maybe an inch across the shell and the larger maybe 2.5 inches. And all over the moist face of the waterfall were little bugs that I initially thought were house flies, since they were the right size to be that. They were in fact crickets, thousands of crickets. And some of the crabs were crawling across this almost vertical waterfall face too. I suppose maybe they occasionally catch a cricket, but how they hold on I'm not sure.

Vasu had said we'd have a chance to do some rappelling, and it turned out that the face of the waterfall, just to the side of the water, was the location of choice. I couldn't see why my illness would interfere with this activity, so I followed several of the other guys up the trail to where the rappelling instructors had set up things for us to start, above the falls. I think Jim went down first, before I got to the top. I made my way over to the end of the line, slipping again on a large stone and wacking my leg good and hard, but I managed to avoid tearing my pants, so I was happy and got in line. Everyone wanted me to go next, so I did. I've never tried rappelling before, but it had a slightly familiar feeling putting my weight on the harness and trusting the rope. As I started down one instructor wanted me to let go, the point being, I suppose, that I could do that and not fall. However the safety line that was supposed to hold me wasn't tight and so when I let go I fell backward about 6 inches before it caught me, lost my balance and fell gently to the rock, and got back up again. The descent was not terribly long and uneventful except that half way down someone called out, "Photo!", and I turned around and had my picture taken. The same happened for everyone and in those latter instances I took a picture too.

While I was sitting there taking pictures and waiting between people, I decided to look and see if the skin was broken where I'd fallen. It didn't hurt particularly but I'm afraid of infections here since it's far from home and the bugs are different. I raised the leg of my slacks and there was a swelling like half a chicken egg, the egg cut from end to end, and a slight abrasion on it. I put some hand sanitizer on it to kill any germs and put my pants leg down. Despite some concern about the lump, the activity was fun and I was really glad that I was there, even if I had felt bad the previous day. And by the end of the day the lump was much smaller.

We returned to the lodge going around the hill rather than over it. Then we ate. There was one dish with "no spice", which here means it's mildly spicy. I ate some of that and bread and water and was fine.

Vasu knew of a nearby hot springs, and so we left Durshet Forest Lodge for the hop spring. We took a wrong turn or two but eventually got there. There were two pools and the larger had a building built over it, with a partition that ended just above the water. One side was for women and the other for men.

This detour added a good deal of time to our trip, not only in the going there and the getting lost on the way, but also it took us to a different route through back roads and little villages. It was interesting, but when we finally got to a nice two lane highway, we were still 98 kilometers from Pune, and the lodge was only 100 km. or so in the first place.

Worst of all, we had an accident along the way back. Our car and Raghu's motor bike were ahead of the others. We stopped to let the others catch up and finally Raghu went back to see what they were doing. Then he didn't come back, but eventually we learned by cell phone that Raju and Girijesh had been in an accident. Neither was hurt badly but Vasu had driven them to the hospital to make sure they were OK. We went on, with the addition of Prashant to our car. He had been riding with Raghu.

As we drove back we passed one waterfall after another. It seemed that each was more beautiful than the last, or at least different and the others would ask if I didn't want to stop to photograph each one we came to. I kept deleting pictures that I had a single backup of, which I didn't completely trust. So I was careful to delete only the ones that weren't so good. Finally, after yet another spectacular waterfall, the camera's battery went dead, and that was it for more stopping. Though the original plan was to return to work at noon, We got back to Pune in the evening and I arrived at my hotel after 6:00 p.m. It was longer day than expected but a very enjoyable day for me.

The next day I went to work. Mr. Sayed didn't feel too well as we were driving to work. He couldn't think of the English word for how he felt, but he held up a finger and moved it around to trace a vertical cylinder with it. I assumed he was dizzy. I asked if he wanted to pull over but he said he'd be OK, we'd just drive slowly, and that's what we did. He waited at ECM-i for a family member to pick him up.

The day was somewhat uneventful otherwise. I worked on various stuff, like getting some code working. In the afternoon I finished the discussion started Friday with Rahul and Jitendra. Then I had a discussion with Prashant about code he's working on. And finally there was a phone meeting with several of us in Pune and Brian in Dallas. All these talks went well, but we ran well past the time Mr. Sayed's company had been told I'd be down, probably be an hour.

Pradeep, who is in the real office next to Vasu's office, that I'm using, wanted to ride home with me again. He lives near the hotel and it's a long drive, so this is good for him and I have some company on the way home besides Mr. Sayed or another driver. We went down to the waiting car and there was Mr. Sayed in the front passenger's seat and his son was driving. Pradeep and Mr. Sayed both speak Hindi, so they had a long talk about Mr. Sayed's health and then later about a tooth Pradeep needs to get worked on. Pradeep told me that Mr. Sayed had a bad ECG reading in the morning and they wanted him to be admitted to the hospital. He said no, he'd check in that evening. He had some work to tend to first. So he was going to the hospital after Pradeep got home. I felt very bad that the one day I'd been late coming down to leave was the one day Mr. Sayed really needed me to be on time.

And now it's Wednesday, Sept. 6th and the final full day of the Ganpati celebration. ECM-i employees are taking a holiday. It had been originally scheduled for yesterday but Vasu figured the streets would be jammed with people and Ganpati idols and we wouldn't be able to get to work or home in any reasonable amount of time. I felt pretty good today. The area around my left eye is sore, but I actually shaved my upper lip today. I hadn't done that since Saturday.

There were no plans for my day, so I thought I'd go out trekking on my own, in the area of the hotel. I had asked for Google Earth place markers for my hotel and for the ECM-i offices before leaving, but they had been sent too late for me to get them while in Dallas. So I searched through the load of unread emails I still have for one to tell me where I am. I found the email, with latitude and longitude rather than place markers. It said,

Ecm-i software Pvt Ltd, Pune, India - 18°30'36"N 73°49'48"E Hotel Blue Diamond, Pune India - 18°32'17"N 73°53'10"E

I entered that to Google Earth and found both locations. It turns out the hotel is just south of the bridge over the river that is next to the waterfall. That was the first landmark I'd noticed while looking at Pune from space with Google Earth back in Dallas. And I remembered a note someone had made about a German bakery. It looked like it was just around the corner. So I drew a map both of the road to work and the roads north and east, got my recharged and memory emptied camera, my hat, and a small bottle of water and set off. I went to where the bakery was supposed to be but found only other shops. But I saw a few foreigners, possibly Americans, getting into a van and went to the driver and asked. She said, "Right down there." and pointed. "If you go past the bamboo stand you've gone too far." I thanked her and walked the way she'd indicated. And I'd only gone a few dozen steps when there was a partly obscured sign that said, "GERMAN BAKERY". It was over a "garage door shop" that was closed, or if not over it, at the edge of it, and the next shop was covered with bamboo. I looked around and went into a shop just before the closed garage door, with tables and chairs, and a couple of men sitting at one. I asked about the German bakery and they pointed in the direction the woman had. So I went and stuck my head in the bamboo covered shop. Past some tables and chairs, and through another door, was the German bakery. I asked for an "Apple Crumb", which was the label on some fairly large, good looking pastries. The Indian asked me, "Eine?" I replied, "Eine.". He wrote 30 on a slip of paper and handed it to me. Then he explained in English that I must pay the man behind me. I did this and returned empty handed and was given the pastry. I ate it as I walked back to continue my walk. I walked across the bridge and learned that it's the Fitzgerald Bridge, completed in 1867, and then I continued north to the corner of a golf course, though I couldn't see what it was really. I went east and joined up with the road I'd been on just north of the bridge.

I was undecided for a moment whether to turn back or go on eastward and go back over the next bridge. It was awfully hot and I had little water with me. But I suddenly realized that any number of little shops would probably sell water. So I went into the first one I found and there was a refrigerated case, or formerly refrigerated at least, with a lock on it. I told a young man working there what I wanted and he said he didn't have a key. He made a motion out the door and around the corner, and I eventually followed that suggestion, when I understood it, and found another shop where I bought a large mango drink for Rs. 22, 50 cents U.S.

I continued northeast, walking beside a wall now, and came to a broken down, but once fancy gate. I noticed a sign saying "Gandhi National Memorial, Pune". The grounds looked beautiful, despite the poor condition of the gate and sections of the wall. I walked on and found another large gate, also somewhat broken, but next to this one was an open door and I could see some guards on the other side. I walked in and up to the guards, who were chatting with a young man who appeared to be a friend. One guard stood up and walked toward me. We smiled and said hello. He told me the hours and that they're open 7 days a week, I think, but not today because it's a holiday. So I left. I'd like to go back before I leave, but I don't know if I'll manage that.

I continued east till I got to a road that I knew, from Google Earth, goes to the next bridge east of the Fitzgerald Bridge. I walked down that road and it started to rain. I took shelter under the overhang of what looked like a ticket window where an old wall met a closed gate. I stood there a bit and a motor bike with a boy I'd judge to be 15, came up and parked near me. He came over and stood under the same overhang. He tried to keep a little distance from me for politeness sake, but the overhang was small, and after a minute we started talking. That was pleasant. Another fellow came after a bit and got under the shelter too, but the rain stopped after another minute and I don't remember talking to him. The young fellow drove off and I went on southward.

It started raining again when I got to the bridge. There was no shelter, but the rain wasn't too heavy and I had the camera in its case and I put my hat over the case and figured the camera would stay dry. I crossed the bridge and it had stopped raining by the time I got to the other side. I even got some pictures. One of them was of people on a cement area that went down to the water. I assumed that this must be a place where they take their Ganpati idols to immerse them in the river.

I'd seen round tanks at the south end of the bridge on Google Earth and when I got there I realized that these were probably a sewage treatment plant. I took a picture and walked on. I tried to see a way to the cement platform as I walked westward back to the German bakery and then the hotel. I didn't have much luck till I heard drums on a side street and there was a much smaller procession than I'd seen the previous Saturday, with a Ganpati idol, coming toward me. I went down the street to take some pictures. There was a lady dressed all in white doing the same. She was a foreigner too. She had a movie camera. We both followed the procession back to the street I'd been on. Then we started talking a bit, though it was hard to hear her over all the drums. She's a psychologist from Toronto, here to extend her education in some area that I couldn't make out. She's been here a year and will be here till next March. She also was sick with the flu, but couldn't miss photographing the Ganpati festival.

I took some more pictures and then the camera wouldn't work. I saw I'd bumped the dial on the top and set it back to where it should have been. The camera still wouldn't work. I thought maybe the battery had run low, so I went back to the hotel and took the battery out and put it in the charger. It was fully charged in 10 seconds. Hmm! I put the battery back in the camera and tried to take a picture in the room. Nothing! Then I heard beep . . . beep . . . beep . . . . I'd bumper the delay timer accidentally besides turning the dial on the camera when I was out. I turned off the delay, gathered my things and went back out.

I walked down the street, past the German Bakery, to the place where the camera had stopped working. There was a large Ganpati there. I'd previously asked the psychologist how the natives feel about us foreigners taking pictures. She said that usually they are willing, but on festival days it is always perfectly all right to take pictures. So I took a few pictures of the large display and the preparations that were being made. Some men were working on a gold colored dome framework.

I walked back to the road that goes from the hotel to the Fitzgerald Bridge, Koregoan Rd., and decided to take the narrow continuation of the street I was on to see if to goes to Pune Center, where I'd bought water my first day in Pune. It does. Having been to such fancy stores before I suspected that I wouldn't be allowed to take my camera, and certainly not my camera bag, inside. I'd have to check them at the door. I could even see the place for doing that. I didn't want to part with the camera so I walked on. There was another stage-like display for a Ganpati, but the idol was already gone. But as I approached, I saw that there was a small road to the left and it appeared to go to the river. There were other Ganpati processions on the other side of a sort of entry way. I walked in.

I'd hit the jackpot! People from all over were bring their Ganpatis to this park. There were two pots, about shoulder high for me, into which people were putting what I think were flowers. There were brightly colored Ganpati idols all over and people bringing more in all the time. There were snacks on sale from the backs of bicycles and there were rides for the small children. It looked like Americans at a county fair except for the difference of religion. One lady in particular struck me as someone who had such a "Smalltown, America" look to her. Give her a farm dress and move her to Iowa and you'd never know she hadn't been there all her life, at least till she started speaking Marathi or Hindi.

I took a lot of pictures. There was a water tank there and I got pictures of one family immersing their Ganpati idol in the talk. The man dipped the idol a few times and then let it sink. There were small children everywhere and they all wanted their pictures taken. One little girl made all sorts of cute poses. She must have been about 8 or 9. I took a lot of pictures of other kids too, and I'd show them how they came out. They thought that was a lot of fun. Some teenagers wanted a group shot too. I told them that they could get it from the Internet next month and gave them the URL.

A very pretty teenage girl in a sari came up to me with a yellow colored sweet in in a bag in her one hand and a large pinch of it in her other hand to give me a sample. I said my hands were dirty and quickly got out my hand cleaner, used it, and then accepter her gift. It was good. Then it occurred to me that I should have taken her picture, but she was gone and I didn't see her again. I did see the psychologist again. She had walked slowly with the one Ganpati float I'd seen when my camera went bad. She arrived shortly before I left the park.

When I went out to the street by Pune Center there was a Ganpati procession coming. I took pictures and, as had been typical with all of them today, the dancers saw my camera and would react with much enthusiasm. They'd get closer, make wilder motions, smile, whatever they thought would make a good picture. Those riding on the float would wave. One large group riding in a truck, with people of all ages, motioned to me that they were inviting me to ride to the park with them in their truck. I don't like to get to involved with religious ceremonies when I'm not a member of the religion. It just seems disrespectful, even if I'm invited. Maybe they didn't know I wasn't Hindu, just as some Texas kids believe the whole world is Christian. Everyone was very friendly. I got a lot of good pictures and had a great time.

Returning the way I'd come, I noticed a little Italian restaurant. The sign said, ". . . and Pizzeria". I wanted to ask the psychologist if the pizza was any good, but I didn't. I went back to the hotel, got cleaned up, moved my pictures to the laptop computer, and went back for some pizza.

The restaurant was small inside, with 7 tables of different sizes on each of two rows, one on either side of the central aisle. I was given a small table for two with a couple of black smudges on the table cloth. A waiter brought a menu. It was a book of 10 to 12 pages. A couple of pages were different types of pizza. I noticed with amusement that for some varieties it cost extra to get it with cheese. But I found one that came with cheese and pineapple. Rather than my usual, Canadian bacon, this had mushrooms and onions with the pineapple. That was called the "Exotic" pizza and I got one. It was good and just the right size for one. Another page in the menu had desserts. One of these was a mango cheesecake, which they described as "delicate". It was like a jello cheesecake, that I've had back in the U.S.. It was good but not too cheesy.

And finally, I'm finishing off the day by writing this travel log and uploading pictures to my Mac at home in Corinth, Texas. I took a few more on the way to the restaurant. Those only exist in the camera at the moment. It's time to go to bed. There are lots of explosions outside. Some are firecracker size explosives. Some are more like barrel bombs and really make a boom. People are happy and having fun. I'm happy too and will enjoy a good sleep. That's all for tonight. - Garr