winding down, winding up

Well I'm settled back in at Sangeeta's flat. Got here around noon today (Monday) and met her younger daughter, Guni, for the first time. She is home during a rare two days off from boarding school (where she is in 11th grade); the time off is a special reward for five medals she just won in competitive swimming--a very nice girl, and like a young version of Sangeeta in many ways. It's also very cool to see Sangeeta doing the full-fledged mothering thing. Ebony, the giant black lab also arrived today from Sangeeta's ex-husband's house, and, apparently is a new resident of R-42. A welcome addition: she is quite friendly and energetic, as labs tend to be (I am told).

I'm happy to report that I'm nearly recovered at this point. I'm taking smaller food portions, but otherwise feeling good. That broth-and-toast diet at the East West Medical Center appears to have taken 15 pounds off my body. Thank god it was the muscle I lost, and not my hard-earned fat. Now, rather than looking trim--as you might expect--I look like a waif who recently got flab implants. It's quite lovely. But I have discovered a new ridge on the upper part of my nose. Apparently, I lost half-an-ounce from the proboscis region. I'll have to get some silicone injecting when I return.

Actually, not much to say after that run-on post from last night. Here is one funny thing from today, though: I had been trying to get a rick-shaw for a couple minutes (from Ravi's back to Sangeeta's) when one pulled up.

"G.K. One ?" I asked. He swung his head to the right, and I kept walking.

For a moment, I was congratulating myself for being able to decode this nuanced Indian gesture: him saying no. 'A couple weeks ago,' I thought to myself, 'I would have mistaken that head-swing for the classic Indian head wag, but now I know better.' [The Indian head wag (my name, not nec. a used designation), is a "yes"-nod on a different axis; the face tilts down slightly and wags back and forth around the nose, which makes semi-revolutions in the center of the whole rotation. It is a continual source of confusion for non-Indians, especially because it seems to mean both "yes" and "yes," but reluctantly.] But you've already guessed it: 10 seconds later the scooter-wallah pulls up to me again, this time looking bewildered, and indicates the passenger seat with a faintly amused expression. I got in, and we drove off--me, put in my place by India, once again.