Our family grows and Vodafones

We've been pretty busy as of late. We went to bed with plans to cook an American brunch of french toast, apple pancakes, omelets, and fruit salad, but when we woke up Rachna said we had to hang the signs in Bharat Bhawan (the art center on the other side of the lake where the Yes Men Fix the World premier is tonight). We rickshawed it over (first time on our own) and talked to some of the artists there before Rachna arrived. They pay Rs. 200 a month and have access to incredible facilities, a deal we're hoping to get in on so that we can mass-produce some Bhopal propaganda or something equally awesome. Bharat Bhawan is similar to Sambhavna in that when you walk in its gates, you feel like you're traveling worlds apart. When you enter Sambhavna's gates, the air clears up and the noise dies down and space opens around you like magic. The picture on the right is of the view from a ledge that we sat on admiring the view, reading (demonstrated by Dede, left) and talking about communal living and tipping.

Besides relaxing in the sun at Bharat Bhavan, we made and set up some more Yes Men posters.

We rickshawed home, had some lunch, then hopped the back of two ICJB guys' motorcycles to the Children Against Dow Carbide meeting. Most open, thrilling form of transportation yet. The meeting was going smoothly, everyone liked our ideas and we're excited to get the project started tomorrow. The best part, though, was the breakdown. They decided to postpone the rest of the meeting agenda because enough had been accomplished, and all of a sudden everyone started singing in Hindi. Once they were done with that, kids would request songs then get up and do their individual dance routines. Best meeting ever.

The Yes Men Fix the World premier later that night. The house was packed and we laughed louder than anyone else there, but everyone enjoyed it and we highly recommend it to all of you out there. Check out their website to see if the movie will be showing anywhere near you: www.theyesmen.org.

It was a long day, but I don't think we can say anything's taken us as long as it did to get our cell phone chips today. We had to go to the same place three times before coming away with newly equipped inter-India Vodafones. The first time, the guy behind the counter told us we needed a resident's identification, so we walked the blocks back to the clinic and got copies of Sathyu's passport. When we returned, he told us that we actually needed three separate passport photos of him. Are you serious? Where the hell are we supposed to get three passport photos of Sathyu? He probably doesn't even have those. This sucks.

But being the resourceful little girls that we are, Dede remembered that we'd been snapping shots of him at the premier last night and that they were still on my camera in her bag! So we took a rickshaw to a photo place on Hamidia Road and had them crop and zoom in on the above photo to be just his head. They told us it was going to take at least half an hour to get the pictures done, so we went to the Taj-ul Masjid (third largest mosque in Asia, built in 1877) in the mean time with our neighbor friends. This is a picture she took of us in front of a view from the side of the mosque looking shine-tastic.

Bottom line: we got our mobiles and now we can call Roopa any time we want! Yes!!

By dinnertime tonight, our modest gang of volunteers (Maude and us) had grown by three: two journalists and a Kashmiri guy working with ICJB. And now it's time for bed.

Hogaya.