the grind and the marmite

WOW! ISP and all that's involved in it has hit be full force today. It's already November 16 (how did that happen?) which means I have only 20 more days of ISP! In those twenty I shall write a very good (hopefully) paper and complete 18 more little artworks (hopefully).

Gah! It is a lot of work, enough to provoke sounds of exasperation. Everything is still great. My two favorite British friends left today, Anna and Sally. We spent every morning together eating breakfast at the Blue Sky Cafe, for 20 rupees you can get poached eggs on toast!! They introduced me to the wonders of Marmite (bizarre stuff, but really delicious, and it's just yeast extract so it's good for you too!) and the proper behavior of true Brits. It was a lovely week-long friendship that has now come to an end, and in a way that's great because I need to become isolated and self-involved for the next 20 days if I am to complete this project.

I spent the weekend wandering around Kolkata. I went to St. Paul's Cathedral, an impressive remnant of the Raj, and I visited the Academy of Fine Arts which wasn't what I expected it to be... but was pretty cool, none-the-less.

Tomorrow I'm headed to the National Library, then to Santiniketan on Wednesday. I met with THE Tagore scholar of India today. Her name is Uma Das Gupta and it was a pretty great meeting. She was pleased with my project and thought the art component (I'm calling them "meditations") is a perfect way for a young student to get to know Tagore in an intimate way! How great. It really is great. Now I just need to prove that I can do something with it and keep on trucking.

First, however, I need to go to the bustling market to get some Marmite...

galen.