Today was my work event. And during some down time (more on that in a minute), I made a list of some random thoughts.1. Wouldn't it be fun to have this tuk tuk in the West Village? 2. Something smells. I'm not going to say it's good or bad. There's just a smell.3. There have been two black outs. I happened to be in the lobby when the first one happened. No one seemed to react. I asked the guy at the desk. He smiled and said "This is India." Okay. Good to know. And it's also good that they only last a minute.4. Somebody could make a fortune in television here. There might be 1,000 channels available on the TV. But there's not a damn thing worth watching. Not a damn thing.5. Have you ever found yourself in a conversation - you're both speaking English - but you have no idea what that other guy or gal is saying? That sums up my last 36 hours. I smile a lot. And I just realized a lot of them have my business card. I hope I haven't just awarded a whole bunch of scholarships or invited them to stay with me in New York.6. I forgot to tell you that we got the big ole' spray down before landing in Bangalore. Does anyone know what is in that aerosol can that is endorsed by the World Health Organization? They do this when you land in Senegal. I don't understand. If it's not harmful to us, what is it doing?7. My clothes stink. I don't know why. It's a different smell than referenced in #2. Maybe they didn't get the spray down before landing. I need some Febreze, which is the only thing that I did not pack.8. I'm not a germaphobe by any means. Many of you have heard my stories from my days at the hospital. I'm just not that worried about it. But here - I'm a little obsessed about the water. I just don't want to get sick. I found myself holding my breath while I was taking a shower this morning. As if I normally suck in a lot of water during a shower. And I'm craving ice like crazy. Just give me some ice!9. Yesterday Mahadeeb took me on a tour of the Lalbagh Botanical Garden. Two guys pointed and laughed at my shoes. And kept staring at them and laughing. I happen to like these shoes - a lot - and I don't know what was so funny. 10. On the tour mentioned above we were on a mega-golf cart with a guide. Mahadeeb and I sat on the back facing out, and there were about 10 other people on the cart. We stopped once so some kids could get their picture made with a statue of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (I'm not kidding). There were two tall Indian guys taking pictures of the statues and all of a sudden one of the guys jumps in between Mahadeeb and me. He said "Excuse me!" to Mahadeeb and put his arm around me and smiled while the other guy took our photo. He never said a word to me.Then as we puttered around the place, I realized that I was the only white guy in this 250-acre park, and maybe the guys weren't laughing at my shoes, but in fact, they were laughing at me because I was the only white guy taking this ridiculous tour.11. I jotted all of this down while I was sitting in the ballroom of the hotel at a work event. There were times when I was busy! Promise. In fact, I met a lot of terrific students and their parents. That makes me happy.PHRASE OF THE DAY: "Big brother. Small brother. Big sister. Small sister."Origin: Long before the Snow White garden tour yesterday, Mahadeeb wanted me to see Bengaluru Palace, which looks like Windsor Castle (not that I've seen Windsor Castle. This is what the guidebook says.)Mahadeeb told me that it would cost 200 Rupees (about $4) to take the tour. But he said if I took any pictures it would cost 500 Rupees and it wasn't worth it. Well, he was right. It wasn't even worth the 4 bucks. But I saw it - and it's my first castle tour. You gotta start somewhere.I'm sure in its day, it was a grand place. Not today. Not even close. So on this tour, this little fellow took me in about 12 rooms that were painted five or six of the brightest colors you can imagine. Now throw on a big layer of sand and a few varmits running all around the place, and you'll know what I'm talking about.And in each room were about 25 small framed 5X7 photographs of the royal family hanging on the wall. Same people in every room. In each room, he would say "First king. Last king." and point to each. Then he'd say a whole bunch of stuff I didn't understand. After 5 rooms, I figured out I needed to say something nice about the photos and then we could move on. Then he'd point out "Big brother. Small brother. Big sister. Small sister." Which, if you think about it, makes sense. I just never heard it said like this. And it makes me laugh.I had to come to India to learn that Judd and Jason are my small brothers.