I stopped posting here and am now at medschneverends

Hi. Welcome to Epiblast! The name is partly inspired by PZ Myers famous blog, Pharyngula partly by the fact that the epiblast, a simple tissue in a developing embryo (labelled 5), gives rise, eventually, to virtually everything inside our body. It's a metaphor for how some of our simple, fundamental ideas vastly affect the other aspects of our life. This blog covers my interests; usually science, medicine, atheism, religion. I might sneak in a bit of philosophy or magic if I feel like it. I warn you, the discussion gets uncomfortable and I come to conclusions which are unconventional, maybe contradictory to yours. Don't go crying to someone if you are offended.

Travelogue: Delhi, Chandigarh and Death

Upon landing in Delhi, I did not know what to expect. Baba had always emphasised that it was a city of thieves so I was a little worried. There was a bit of a struggle between two taxi drivers because they saw the address and said I was a "First Class" passenger. I was getting nervous. The Chyks from Manila had booked a "nice" hotel for me. The weather was a strange kind of hot. It did not involve sweating and you can feel the heat in your bones.

The hotel was nice indeed, it was the best in town. It had a bird's eye view of a segment of Delhi. We've never seen any Indian city from a high point since most of our folks live in houses. Baba told me to stay in the hotel all the time but it was Delhi! And I was alone, so I had to do something. I went to the concierge and asked for a restaurant recommendation. It was touristy and the bill came to about 400 bucks for a full meal. Seeing India gate on the way, I told the taxi driver to drop me there for a while. It is a towering monument dedicated to Indian soldiers who died in WWI and the Afghan Wars. Beneath the arch, there is a flame that has been continously burning since the 1970s. It is a lovely site at night and somewhat resembles the ANZAC memorials I have seen in Australia. There were so many people offering to take my pictures for a fee but I declined. I approached a family to help me take a snap shot, though it didn't fare so well.

That night I decided to try the pool. It was half lit, as I swam halfway through, I had a thought, what if there is this massive shark hiding at the other end of the pool? As irrational as that was, I started to freak out and left the pool a few minutes laters. I really wanted dessert so I went to the Bengali Sweet Mart and ordered a wonderful Rasa Malai. I walked back to the hotel that night. The boys from Manila arrived at 4 am. They got an extra bed in the room and we shared the three beds between the five of us that night.

The breakfast at the hotel was a nice spread of Indian, American and miscellaneous food items. There's this attitude of "I must sample everything" when its a buffet you've paid alot for. We swiftly made our way to Chandigarh by flight. It was quite hilarious how the check in/security process took longer than the flight itself. But its way better than a long train ride. Anytime. Sheilaji came to pick us up there. She was a loud cheerful figure with a military haircut. She runs an orphanage called Maa Sharanam in a suburb of Chandigarh and the play, Death written by Swami Mitrananda was performed there to raise funds for the home. Though the auditorium facilities were average, the performers were on fire. The ideas came across clearly and their passion made up for the facilities.