Mangalore

Nos hat orommel jelentem mindenkinek, hogy visszaertem. A konferenciara nem tudom egyertelm,uen azt mondani, hogy huuuu, de jo volt, de nem volt rossz sem. Azt az 500 RS-t (kb. 2200 ft-ot), amit a szallasert-ellatasert-reszvetelert fizettem, megerte. Kulonosen, hogy vegul ugye sikerult oket rabeszelni arra, hogy ne kelljen 50 USD-t fizetnem - amit ugye eredetileg a kulfoldiekkel fizettetni akartak.
De nem is volt sok kulfoldi, egy pasi del-afrikabol, meg a ket "fontos ember", egy brit fazon, meg egy szloven urge, akit jeloltek iden a fizikai nobel-dijra, es beszeltem vele - allati erdekes fazon, egyreszt nyilvanvaloan nagyon ert ahhoz, amit csinal, masreszt meg talpig uriember, van humora, es szereny. Ha nobel-dij-jelolt leszek, en is olyan akarok lenni, mint o. A beszelgetesunk egyebkent igy zajlott:
(elso nap a delutani szeansz felenel ugy dontottem, hogy bevallalok egy delutani szunyat, a pasi meg pont szembejott az epulet kijaratanal):
- oh, dear, don't go walking at this time, it's terribly hot now!
- rather, but i have to take a nap, we've been travelling the whole night...
- my-my.... then definitely do have a rest. And see you later.

Oh, elolvadok :)))

Node, az utazas. sorry, de most angolra valtok.
The bus was ok, similar to any bus in hungary, not too new, and no airconditioning, but otherwise fine, and especially lot leg-space. The bus was scheduled to leave at 9:15, but it was already ca. 9:45, when we left, and there was already a stop in the next village, where we've again had a 30 min. get-on/get-off pause. And there was the bad feeling, an urgent need for a pipi... Although i've been on the toilet just before the bus left. But still. When we finally hit the road, there was no more stop, only at some villages for a minute or two, when the bus picked up the mail - yes, the night-busses also serve as postmen... At one of these stops i was jumping down the bus, and yes, i made a pipi just next to the bus, under a tree, beside 2 lovely cows... But still, soon again i felt the urge and a weird pain/burning sense down there... I guess, either i was either drinking too little (about 1l that day), or my new soap was a bit too strong - one of the guide-books mentioned that these soaps are sometimes too alkaline (lugos) for the super-sensitive european skin...
Anyway, the trip was terrible, either too hot (with closed windows), or too much air blowing in my face (with open window)... And S. happily sleeping and snorring next to me... Grrrr.... Altogether i managed to sleep about 2*10 minutes, once before the "official toilet stop", and once before we arrived to mangalore.
Oh, and the best thing is: this arrival was at 7am, so good 10 hours after the official departure. And the distance: 270km.... The reason: the road, what they prodly call the "national highway"... This national highway is about 1 lane wide, with an about 1,5m wide compressed shoulder (padka) on both sides. And the problem: the road is leading through a rather hilly region,and there is also counter-traffic on this 1 lane... And what the shoulders are good for? Well, if two busses or trucks happen to come across, they both have to technically stop, carefully pull down to the shoulders, and somehow try to bypass... This might give a reason for that 30km/h average speed we managed to reach.
The campus of the university was about 20km from downtown mangalore, there's a local bus commuting to the campus. Our accomodation was in one of the university's guesthouses. The room itself would have been ok, but one is for sure: there was no cleaning at all before my arrival, and i tend to believe, that there's been no cleaning since ages - as there were remainders from at least two different soaps on the sink - or someone's travelling with a blue and a pink soap....The night was again a nightmare, although there was a mosqito-net on the bed, but the little friends definitely did find their way through the net, so i've been struggeling to find the better solution - sleep with the blanket on, and boil below it, or no blanket, but constant bites (csipesek) and the risk of malaria.... I can tell you, none of these solutions work...

But to the better things:
Food was finally tasty, good, with some cheese (paneer). The people were kind, i've met - besides my favorite nobel-nominee - some women, who've been travelling and working all around the world - still wearing sarees, but quite changed in the brain. But it was so interesting: one of the women, who has been living in the US for a while, told me how bad she felt, as she had to come back to india, and was no more able to go out to a cinema alone, or sit in a cafe, and have a coffee... And that once an american friend of hers wisited her in india, and they went to some rural areas. And that her friend wanted to go running in the morning, and no matter how much she tried to talk her out, she went. And at the end half of the village was running after her - they had no clue if the "big white miss" had someone to chase, or what was wrong, so they've followed her to help her, if she needed....

The seminar-presentations were quite of different quality, but one is for sure: most of the people there are completely incapable to make an enjoyable presentation. Using PPT meant for most of them the following:write down everything on slides, and read it out upon "presenting" it. Super-boring, impossible to follow (as the sentences were long and complicated), a terrible indian accent to this - no wonder that i felt so sleepy at the end... But yes, there were some interesting presentations as well, and as it seems, the cast-system is definitely still a problem there - a rather acute one. But in most of the cases the papers only gave an assesment on the situation, and not even tried to make any conclusion or come up with a solution or suggestion....

My presentation was also not too much of a success, but naturally a society still not allowing women to wear sleevless tops, is not ready for CSR. And CSR is only coming together with higher standards of living - something india is not famous of. But at the same time there are already universities teaching csr.... no clue, how this works.

And then the way home. After the last "function" - as they like to call all the formal get-togethers, where everyone is thanking everyone, similarly to the oscar-gala, just longer, more boring and much more formal - we had about 2 hours to get ready, then get on the bus back to mangalore, have a quick dinner (it was realllllly good - i had palak paneer - spenotos sajtos cucc - with naan - lepenykenyer, 125. verzio), and then we rushed to the bus... We hardly left mangalore when i fell asleep, and only woke up once or twice, when the driver took the curves with a light Schumacher-like speed and angle... (yes, on the way there i was definitely also really afraid...) Arriving at 7:30 in the morning, i went back to the hostel, took a shower, and joined the boys with the bike. And now here i am, and really hope that luch is coming soon ;)

Az egyetem / the university




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