Arrival in Pune (Poona)...

Yesterday we flew from Chennai to Pune and it is soooo much cooler here! We are at about 2000 feet in elevation and it makes a HUGE difference. Also, Pune is a major center of IT and call centers. If you are calling a company and getting India, there is a huge chance you will be calling someone in Pune. Consequently, with the job availability leading to increased wealth, it is very Western here. We walked to a department store last night and not one person messed with us. No rickshaw drivers followed us, nobody begged or ran after us, it was kind of eery. I was on my guard for people approaching and it was uneccessary. Although, I still had to make sure that I wasn't run over by the insane traffic! This is also a "college town" as there are a lot of universities here so there are a lot more young people than elsewhere that we've been.

Yesterday we went to a science center at the university that is promoting hands-on science! It was kind of like the Little Shop of Physics at CSU where they take hands-on toys with minimal cost and materials into schools to show physics concepts. These people are trying to train teachers and show them that they can do cool whiz-band demos that don't have to be with expensive materials.

Last night we tried to have a "Bollywood Night" and watch an Indian movie at the hotel but we couldn't get it to work. There is a movie coming out tonight called "Singh is Kinng" featuring Snoop Dogg where it is a Sikh guy (they are the religion who wear turbans) rapping. Almost all of the Bollywood movies are musicals and quite campy and I can't wait to see one with a rapping Sikh featuring Snoop Dogg! It is really hard to get movie tickets in a country of over a billion! Everyone wants to see the same movies and so we are going to try tonight but still have three other cities if it doesn't work out.

We have a day off Sunday and I will have internet again then. Just wanted to let everyone know that I have made it safely to another city. Check the map, we are quite close to mountains and I can see them in the distance!!! I think they are called the Ghats! Ha!