Update from Eric

As you know, Eric is in India for work. We were excited to get an email from him today and he included a few journal days that have some great insight and information about what he has been seeing and doing. He said I could share them on the blog for those that may be interested.

The kids and I miss him a ton, but I am so thrilled that he is getting to experience this adventure.

November 15, 2010 (Monday)
The flight to Mumbai was pleasant, particularly since | didn't end up getting pushed back to coach. We landed in Mambai around 2300, nearly on time, but waited about an hour for a gate to open up--the first of many traffic jams in India. The airport was clean and quite nice, but the world changed dramatically when we stepped out to find the driver from the hotel. We were greeted by throngs of people, chaotic streams of traffice, wierd city smells, endless horn honking and a din of voices. Holy people density! Renga found our driver very quickly--holding up a sign with our names on it, just like in the movies. On the way to the car, we were approached by several people wanting to help us with our bags, just the appetizer for huge meals of aggressive Indian salesmanship to come. As we pulled away from the terminal, the real Mumbai (and India) started to unfold. On the fun side, there are zillions of autorickshaws buzzing about and even more scooters. They always seem to have at least twice the recommended number of people in/on them. There are no lane markers--everyone just "dances" into a free space at high speed, using honks and headlight blinkers (no blinkers) as the warnings to others. It was absolute chaos--like a video game filled with oncoming cars, scooters and then cows, dogs and people popping into the street every now and again. At one point, drivers were swerving (at about 80 km/h) to avoid a cow that was sauntering up the street, in the opposite direction. I thought the talk about sacred cows in India was exaggerated. It is not. They move wherever they want, whenever they want and everyone watches out for them, and feeds/waters them. Dogs and goats are also running everywhere, and seem to know exactly where they can stand (e.g. in the median between lanes of traffic) to be safe. All of this chaos is all the more unusual since driving is done of the left side of the road and from the right side of the car. Wow. I felt like I was on a Disneyland ride--overstimulation and no seat belt in the car! Renga says "In India, you can drive without a brake, but you can't drive without a horn." The other things that slams you in the face immediately is the absolute poverty all around. Nearly all buildings are shanty-like or at least far below Western standards. People are sitting, sleeping and squatting everywhere (even at 1 AM)--there is garbage everywhere, the electrical lines look like a bad children's experiment and the cars/trucks are rolling wrecks.

We pulled up to the gated hotel (Sun and Sand), an island of Western wealth on the beach of the Arabian Sea. Multiple bellhops jumped out to meet us--it seems there are always 2-3 eager, friendly people to do a job for one person. In a country of 1.2 billion and very few good jobs, I guess it makes sense. We checked in and went to the patio for a drink and a snack. We looked out over the beach--dogs were laying in the sand sleeping and a huge rat ran right in front of us. The mosquitos didn't appear to be out (after a hard monsoon rain earlier) but I was hoping my malaria treatments were up to full potency as we sat on the patio drinking Renga's favorite beer (Kingfisher, from his home area in the south of India). We had a bread snack filled with a spicy potato, cauliflower mixture. Renga allowed me to eat it, as it is fully cooked. He cautioned that for at least a day or two, I should eat only fully cooked things or fruit that I peeled myself. If my stomach survives the early rounds with the new bacteria in this place, then I can move on to the more interesting Indian cuisine, though slowly. Over beers, I quiz Renga about the history and politics of India, the caste system and his own experiences and family in India. It is absolutely fascinating. He "married up" by finding a wife from the highest caste (Brahmans) though his family was from a mid-range caste. This decision has caused angst for several decades, from both sides of the family. Plus, it wasn't an arranged marriage, as most in India still are. We talked of Obama's recent visit to India, and whether/how India will soon become the major world player it longs to be. We head for bed about 4am, a 9am departure ahead of us.
November 16, 2010 (Tuesday)

Today we have a quick breakfast at the hotel with an IAEA inspector (from Cameroon, he'll be meeting us at the RAPS facility tomorrow) and a couple of Renga's family friends (father and daughter) that now live in Mumbai. Running a bit late, the driver drives extra fast to make it to the airport for our short flight to Udaipur, to the northwest of Mumbai. The terrain dries out nicely up there--looks much like the American Southwest from the air. We land at a nice airport in a relatively rural area. The red carpet is literally laid out before us as we leave the airport, but it is not for us. There is a wedding party of a very wealthy family arriving soon--a band, dancing ladies and many friends and family are standing around the red carpet waiting for them. Our driver is a young man but he is instructed by an older man (Mettel) that retired from the RAPS nuclear facility and now makes travel arrangements for IAEA staff. Not needing to report for work yet, we head into the city of Udaipur for the afternoon. It takes an hour of winding through torturously narrow, winding and steep road, "dancing" with scooters, rickshaws, cows and pedestrians before we find the City Palace. We actually see a few white tourists in this area, but in general this is not a heavy tourist area. The Palace goes back a few hundred years, but looks older. It has fascinating features including parking places for elephants (slanted stone "cradles" that allow them to lay down and get up) and a wall over which elephant fights (think tug of war with entangled trunks) were staged near the main entrance. The palace is not particularly well preserved, but the decadence of the ruling Indian kings for the last several hundred years is clear: marble baths, silk, "miniature paintings" (super-fine detail, often done on camel bone) are everywhere. It is a very different look and feel (not a big or impressive in the first place, and much less well cared for) than the European cathedrals we've been seeing the last few months, but very interesting just the same. On the way out, we do some shopping in the streets, but I'm not telling you what we shopped for--you'll have to wait until I get home! I did find a very nice silk tie, complete with elephants, for a measly 10 Euro (600 Indian Rupee).

We then visit the nearby Hindu temple. The stone carvings that completely cover the exterior depict dancing women, Karma Sutra "topics", elephants and horses. Renga goes to pray in front of Vishnu while I hang back, get busted for snapping a picture with my phone, and sniff burning incense. From the temple, we can see the Lake Palace (beautiful white palace that appears to float on the water) and the new "palace" that is the modern hotel that Bill Clinton apparently stayed at a few years ago (our tour guide for 2 hours was quite proud of that fact). Our tour ended and we made our guide hugely happy with the pay--just 5 Euros for 2 hours work. About 6pm, we started the drive out of the city to the nuclear facility--about a four-hour trip with much of it at very slow speeds navigating the city congestion. We stop for fresh fruit at roadside stand (papayas, bananas and pomegranates), getting several kilos of it for a couple of Euros. We are now about halfway through the drive--Renga is sleeping, our Indian driver and guides are silent, and I'm typing away on my laptop in the backseat in the dark. About every fifth keystroke, I make a mistake, mostly because the roads are filled with potholes bumps. I may pull out my new Kindle (Thanks, Tom and Sue!) and read a little Rudyard Kipling to see how other Westerners have viewed India in the past.

This next part should probably be viewed as incoherent rambling, but I am jetlagged and philosophizing with myself in the dark, so maybe you can cut me some slack...India seems to be a land of such ironies: it has nuclear weapons but has asked for IAEA safeguards (which is why we are here) on its civilian side to buy international goodwill and ensure a steady supply of nuclear fuel from the West. It has some of the wealthiest and brightest people on the planet (and a huge number of those people), but also has fully one-third of all of the people on this planet that live below the poverty level. It has animals wandering around the streets, protected by the Hindu beliefs in nonviolence and sacred creatures, but yet we saw a city block swarming with Muslims that were buying and selling goats to sacrifice on the holy holiday that is tomorrow. Perhaps most striking to me: despite all of this choas, squalor and poverty, nearly every person is either smiling or has a neutral expression. Smiles come quickly and laughing is everywhere. While waiting for our driver, I went over to a playground where about 10 kids were playing. There were only a few run-down toys, there was dog and cow feces everywhere, yet they were all smiles and laughs. When they saw me, they came running over, immediately switched from Hindi to English to ask my name, where I was from, etc. I was a rock star for 30 seconds before heading for the car--high fives with Hindus and Muslims when I walked away, being careful not to run into a huge bull laying in the middle of the street.

The drive to the RAPS nuclear facility (6 pressurized heavy water reactors, 2 more units under construction) ended up taking over 5.5 hours. For 2 hours, we were on 4-lane highway, then we turned off onto a one-lane, beat-up old road for the remainder (all in the dark). In some stretches, there was no pavement--just rutted gravel. We passed through numerous little villages--all with some level of electricity, lots of cows and dogs, a few run-down homes and that is about it. People were often sitting on the side of the road around cooking fires having tea and dinner. We stopped at one of these stands so that our driver could "drink a tea." While there, we bout a few warm bread balls, right off of the fire (stoked with wood). It being bread and fully cooked, I tried them (just eating the insides). It was quite tasty (I was starving, though) and appeared to be a simple mixture of wheat flour, water and salt. The seller was clearly proud of his little stand (where several locals were eating big meals, using only their hands as utensils) and tried to sell us lentil soup and other good-smelling stuff. We passed, ready to get on the way. At one point, the road is blocked by 5 cows sleeping in the middle of it. They do not move for the horn, so the driver gets out and in a very friendly sort of way, taps a cow to move. It does not, so the driver gently grabs the tail, twists it a bit and the cow moves away. We proceed.

Finally, after several hours of bone-jarring travel on the one-lane road, we arrived at the nuclear facility area. It is a closed community built specifically for the 4,000+ employees of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India that work here at RAPS. The site was chosen, though it is several hundred kilometers from the metro areas that draw its power (Mumbai and New Delhi) because of its remoteness and access to water (a huge reservoir is adjacent to the site). The nuclear community is clean and wealthy by Indian standards--there is even a swimming pool (not open this time of year) and a tennis court (kind of) for the town. We are welcomed at the guest house by more than 5 young staff that have been waiting for several hours to get us settled and cook us dinner. It is now 11pm, but they don't show an iota of frustration at our late arrival--all smiles and eager help. Renga, Mettel and I have a fine Indian meal (lentil soup, spicy chicken, rice, tortilla-like bread, spicy okra, etc.) and talk about the history of RAPS, the recent Obama visit, and India's nuclear power plans. We head to our rooms about midnight. The rooms are like military barracks--functional but little more. The bed is hard and built for a short Indian person, but it is first-rate after a long travel day. A cockroach scuttles away when I turn on the light in the bathroom. The toilet and shower are right next to each other--no dividing walls and no shower basin. The water just flows slowly to a floor drain over by the sink. I'll try that tomorrow...
November 17, 2010 (Wednesday). This is a "rest day" and an Indian (Mulsim) holiday. I go for a jog in the morning, seeing the nuclear community for the first time in the light. It is not every day that your morning jog takes you past 15+ monkeys, but this day it does. I don't know what kind they are (will learn) but they are not bothered by me. The go about their grooming and eating--on the ground and high in the trees. Crazy. Around the corner are 8-10 cows sleeping in the middle of the road. I jog down the road, high above the reservoir, within view of the 4 cooling towers and the steam plumes (very cool). The shower is cold and water is sparse, but it works fine as a counter to the heat (80+ F already today) and humidity here. At breakfast, Renga and I talk some shop about the RAPS facility and radiation detection technologies. He also tells me more about his previous work in astronomy and the instrumentation he built for RF and microwave detection in that field