Sunday, January 8, 2012

Hyderabad January 1-5

My flight arrived iin Hyderabad at noon on Sunday January 1 and I took a bus to Abids in the city center. I checked into the Sai Prakash Hotel. When HMI had been located at its office in Abids, I had often had lunch at the hotel restaurant, but I had not stayed in the hotel before.
 
On Monday January 2, I went to the Andhra Pradesh State Archaeology Museum in the nearby Public Gardens. I had not been to the museum since they opened up their new Buddhism exhibit room. I bought many of the museum’s publications. In the late afternoon I met Vasant Bawa and had a long chat with him about heritage issues. The next day, Tuesday January 3, I did some work in the hotel and walked around the city, doing some shopping.

I spent the next day, Wednesday January 4, at the Henry Martyn Institute. I chatted with people and got caught up with email, having WiFi access there for the first time in almost two weeks. I went to a nearby restaurant for a lunch with Shobha Gosa, the academic program coordinator whose last day of work at HMI was today. Others in the lunch group included Varghese and Vijay, two of my former students.



The lunch group




Shobha and me



Vijay and me

At the end of the work day, I went back to the city with Christy Femila and chatted with her and her husband. That evening I walked around the city some more.

On Thursday January 5 in the morning I met Timothy Marthand, my pianist friend, and then went to HMI in the afternoon, where I chatted with people and browsed the internet. At the end of the work day, I took a bus to the airport, where I hung out until my flight to Mumbai left at 9:45. The flight arrived in Mumbai at 11:15 and I transferred to the international terminal, where I hung out until my flight back to Amman the following morning. I had booked a flight via Mumbai and Riyadh that was exceptionally cheap (150 dollars from Mumbai to Amman), but at the cost of having to spend 10 hours in the Mumbai airport.

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