Hyderabad

July 16, 2008, Hyderabad, India. This city is lower in the country as we move south. It is not as humid as Kolkata but it is hotter. You sweat and you sweat a lot. My grandfather Max used to carry around a sweat rag during the summer and I always thought it was gross. Everyone here has a sweat rag and they use it often. This city is predominately Muslim. We see berkas everywhere. We have visited some of the mosque, one which is the largest mosque in India with a seating for 10,000. We visited the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI). They are like this areas leaders in educational leadership. They are not tied to the government so they were able to speak fairly freely about educational changes. The question of access to the latest educational research came up and they said that it is very expensive ($40, US) to get journal articles in India. The beggars here are a little more aggressive than other places. They make me feel very uncomfortable as they invade my private space. I try to be as patient as possible but when a beggar or vendor tries to repeatedly not listen to my, "NO", then I pull the double taboo. I gently grab them with my left, "unclean hand", hand and if it is a woman that is a double "no-no" as you don't touch woman in public. I squeeze their arm gently and say, "No". That usually works well, and takes them aback. This picture is a market street picture taking from the top of a mosque.