Happy Birthday Harry!

Our Team will be driving back to Bilaspur from Kotdhar today. And it's Harry's birthday! Too bad I'll be missing that. I did get him a gift, though... I shall post a picture of it later today. Happy Birthday Harry!

I just called the hotel. Apparently they will be there in 20 minutes or so (it's 4:20 AM here so 5:50 PM there). Expect a hefty update later on today.

Update: Just spoke to Harry! Wished him a happy birthday. He sounds well. Karin is asleep as she became nauseous during the treacherous bus ride they took today. It had started raining so they expedited their departure. The tiny, poorly-maintained, cliff-side mountain roads that they were traversing then became wet and muddy. Overall it sounds like a really awful ride. And Karin doesn't do well even on good roads in decent vehicles and in stellar weather... so I imagine it was quite hellish for her.

Harry, Anjum, and Karin stayed up until midnight last night so as to kick off Harry's birthday properly. At midnight Karin brought out the Champagne and some other mini-bottle of something that she had been hauling around the Himalayas just for the occasion. Someone else got a plate of cookies together and even a candle for Harry to blow out. Harry's plan for the rest of today is to talk to many of you and to continue the celebration tonight.

Harry has continued with his triage duties but also took on organizing the chaotic manner in which people were gathering to get service. He came up with a system whereby he would have the staff write the names of individuals down and then he would call them when it was their turn. Unfortunately, Harry's Hindi isn't quite fluent yet, and the staff didn't have very good handwriting... In the end, Harry's name calling turned into serious sport. Each name he would call would bring howls of laughter. People were asking him to "Say my name next!" Eventually, the group figured out ways to get him to repeat names such as by saying "Who?" or by just not coming up for a while.

And then there were the people trying to sneak through his system. One particular group of 5 elderly women were slipping by and going to the tents without waiting for their names to be called. Harry would catch them and bring them back but they were relentless. Eventually Harry found a translator and explained to them exactly what was going on (read them the riot act). Thereafter, the 5 elderly women became Harry's enforcement team. I think he may bring them to Princeton in the fall to help handle the new pledges at his fraternity.

Their campsite was reasonably nice. It was at the top of a hill or mountain so the view was beautiful. Evening activity consisted of being entertained by stray dogs that roam the area (they even named a couple of them - Tripod and Mongoose). Apparently these dogs have somehow trained themselves and are a pleasure to be around. At one point a group of dogs did turn on Har however - growling and being aggressive - but Harry beat his chest and made it clear who was boss and they gave him no more trouble.

More later when I speak to Karin. If you feel like wishing Harry Happy Birthday call him at the Sagar View Hotel: 011-91-1978-223095 (it's GMT + 5:30 in Bilaspur).