misc. stuff I don't think i've mentioned before

We can get up to the twentieth floor to the roof. The view from up there is quite different from ours so far below and we can watch the sun set, sort of. (It mostly just disappears into the haze.)

We live in a complex of highrises. This is a first for us. I never thought about how, in buildings with this many floors (20) and several apartments on each floor (3), there will never be a time when all units in each of the (8) buildings will be fully repaired and renovated. (translation: hammering and banging and sawing, all day long)

When we walk in or out of our building, the security guard stands at attention. Often he salutes us. I just love that.

Just outside our walls, the foundation for the next new highrise-city is being prepared. Digging and pumping and drilling all day long.

They're also building a new elevated metro line on the main road. Yes, there is a metro in Kolkata; it was the first in India if I'm not mistaken. Progress is quick on this new line and we've been impressed at how much has been accomplished since our arrival. It adds to traffic congestion a bit, and I don't think I need to mention, to noise levels.

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Yesterday marked three months since our arrival in India. We have just over a month left. Originally, we intended to stay longer, but the plans changed one too many times over the last eight months and I seem to have reached the limits of my flexibility. A total of four months sounded good to everyone involved and we're all happy with the new plan. Especially because it involves a quick trip over to Malaysia because what the heck, why not.

(I mean, there is a job we want to check out as a possible option for sometime down the road.)

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They label packaged food here with a symbolf of either a little green circle in a box or a red one: Veg. or Non Veg. Very useful.

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Oh, one final miscellaneous note: apparently A. just noticed that some people here speak English. After one recent conversational exchange, A. turned to us in surprise to say: "Hey, I understood what that man said!"