Jogging, Independence Day, and a birthday party

so I went jogging yesterday. Why does no one believe me when I tell them that I jog SLOW? They always say "me too". That's what my friend Songjoo said. She lied. I have met many people who say they jog slow but they are still faster than me. I have yet to meet someone who jogs slower than me. I'm just saying....
Anyway, we went to the Forest Institute. It's a large tree covered campus to the west of the main city area. It was built by the British so the buildings are big and beautiful. I didn't get any pictures of them. That will have to wait for another trip.


But here's a nice shot of me waaaaay behind Songjoo and Madhukar. Notice that you can't really see them off in the distance.

SLOW

That's how I jog.





We returned to the school in time for the Independence Day flag ceremony. According to Madhukar, you can get in trouble for not having the ceremony if you run a school. It was a holiday for us foreigners. All the Indian children had to come to school for one hour just for the ceremony.

This is the courtyard of the hostel where I stay. But it's also the schoolyard for the younger kids.

 There were recitations and singing.

And even some dancing.

I was going to upload a video of the dancing but it was taking too long and the internet keeps going out. Well, the power keeps going out and thus goes the internet. So no video for now.

That evening we went to a birthday party for Madhukar's son. 

Chocolate Birthday Cake

The birthday boy - he just turned six

The last two pictures are of Madhukar's living room. There were friends and family and then all the international students. I'm pretty sure that I ate something with Mango in it at the party because I've been feeling sick ever since the party. Like, sick with hay fever/allergies. This is how I felt the last time I "accidentally" ate mango. Except last time it was more on purpose that on accident. I think maybe they used ground up mango powder in the cake or maybe it was in the chutney on the samosas. I'm not really sure. 

But on the plus side, you don't need a prescription for allegra here so I stocked up at the pharmacy when I (finally) got my malaria pills. BTW you don't need a prescription for those either. I'm not sure you need a prescription for anything here. Surely they regulate heavy narcotics... Surely... I don't really want to ask because it might look like I want some heavy narcotics. I don't. I'm just curious.

My sis says that it's one of the reasons India has a problem with antibiotic resistant strains of tuberculosis. 

Things I like about India: no prescription needed for allergy medication

Things I miss about home: ingredient lists on food packaging