Alas, the travels are over.  I guess it is time to start unpacking.

Kaizar and I finish our ice cream cones as we make our way towards the Castro District in San Francisco. It is one of those perfect contradictions of a San Francisco day. The sky is a beautiful sunny blue, but the cold wind doesn’t seem to care.

I always thought of San Francisco as a boisterous, cosmopolitan city. But today it seems strangely quiet. Though the Castro is busy, other neighborhoods seem devoid of people. The sidewalks are missing Delhi’s pan-wallahs and vegetable sellers. Motorcyclists don’t jockey for space where sidewalks should be. And no one is calling out that they will pick up your recycling or trash.

The first thing I noticed about the room was that the wrinkles were softer. People’s faces did show signs of aging. But the lines cut less deeply into the skin.

That was because nobody here worked in the sun. I had gotten used to seeing thousands of people who earned their livings on Delhi’s streets: autorickshaw drivers, construction laborers, street vendors, hawkers. But these vast cross-sections of Delhi society were missing from the room.

One thousand rupees equals about $25 USD. And when you only earn Rs. 2,000 – Rs. 5,000 a month, you are unlikely to be found standing in line at an international departure terminal.

Is this one of India’s largest daily newspapers? Or a new magazine by Larry Flynt?

I typed this up exactly as published today. I’m not sure who is coming up with the copy at the Times of India:

Ahh, the mundane tasks of moving.

I’m vacating my New Delhi flat, and I have a few items for sale. I live in the Arjun Nagar / Safdarjung Enclave / Green Park area. Easily accessible from main roads.

(UPDATE:  ONLY THE BED IS LEFT)

I’m leaving Friday night, May 30th, so everything needs to be cleared before then. Make me an offer.

Photos below.

Saturday, May 31st, wasn’t supposed to have any meaning. But as the date looms closer, I am filled with excitement, sadness, and a sick feeling in my stomach.

Perhaps as much as a year ago, I bought a roundtrip ticket to India. I did it using mileage points, and so I had to pick a return date that I couldn’t change. August 2008 was too far into the future for United Airline’s booking system, so I went with May 31st.

My logic? If I didn’t get into my summer Hindi program, I’d have an exit back to the U.S. I did get into the program, but the exit is calling anyways.

Probably out of sheer laziness, I failed to explore the Boric acid option. Apparently, boric acid is a nontoxic way to kill roaches. You spread the powder around, and when the roaches take their midnight stroll, the acid does its work.

Instead, I took to surprise ambushes. I’d fling open a cabinet door, sweep the roaches onto the floor, and stomp on them. But eventually, I made a startling discovery — I didn’t have to worry about cleanup.

If I stepped away for five or ten minutes, a swarm of ants would emerge from the same cabinets and take the dead roaches away.

“Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about the empty desperation of modern life?”

A large room has been rented at the Constitution Club. A banner has been placed on the wall. Everyone seems a bit excited and energized.

Like most conferences, there is a certain pacing. The morning brings its slow gatherings and takings-of-seats. But by mid-day, old friends are reuniting, and battle-tested colleagues are saying hello.

It is a meeting of a national coalition to pass an HIV/AIDS law. There are NGO staff here. There are advocates from the Lawyer’s Collective. And there are many people from HIV Positive networks — Indians with HIV who have turned their life challenges into a source of energy and purpose.

State Supreme Court says same-sex couples have right to marry

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/15/BAGAVNC5K.DTL

05-15) 11:16 PDT SAN FRANCISCO — Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.

In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the “fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship.” The ruling is likely to flood county courthouses with applications from couples newly eligible to marry when the decision takes effect in 30 days.