I had a second and final hang out session with Sam this weekend! (Happy Roveiza?) We went to the Desi-Yuppie IMAX mall/theater. We had McDonalds! No beef. Yes McAlooTikki Burger. Also, the reason why McDonalds fries are so good is definitely the beef fat, because they are nowhere near as tasty here. We went to the IMAX theater and saw Transformers 2. I gotta admit, it was pretty sweet on an IMAX screen. It was Sam’s fourth time seeing it—clearly he’s my kind of guy. Major bummer though, Harry Potter 3D was also playing but the show times were too late. ALSO I was allowed to go ALL BY MY BIG GIRL SELF. That’s right, sans little brother escort. I guess he was approved as a “nice guy,” and they came to terms with my American ways? Or they have just given up on me. However, I met Sam outside my church, because it’s the only place in my neighborhood he knows, and I got some looks from the church elders standing outside when I climbed on the back of a boy’s motorcycle.
We went on his motorcycle; typically a terrifying experience in Hyderabad, but he was a good driver and I got to wear his helmet—what a chivalrous boy. More importantly, I had “I don’t want a pickle, I just wanna ride on my motorcycle” stuck in my head the whole damn way. Furthermore, we got stopped by the cops, giving me an important Indian experience: bribery. He had a Xerox of his license (which is allowed) but it was a bad copy, so he slipped the cop 100 rupees to let us go on our way. Apparently this is standard procedure, the police stop people right and left so they can make a little money.
News flash: I just paid a visit to the lovely squat toilet facilities (that is not the exciting part). There was. A baby. Rat. In. That. Toilet. Ick. Yet cool. It was about 2 inches including the tail. We dumped a bunch of water on it and flushed it down. Just thought you all might want to know.
We started a new tactic at work. Not only do we bring the HIV testing to the hot spots, we bring them to your door. Many transgenders (TGs)/hijras/etcetcetc (but not all) live in communal situations under a guru, an older wiser person who kind of runs a giant house (and I think takes tithes). Most TGs are sex workers or beggars, so in some cases the guru orchestrates those activities. The last couple days we went to a house with 30 TGs (tight quarter). They were like one big happy family, it was adorable. They showed us all their photo albums (nice saris!). We got lots of samples, which was pretty exciting. AND AND AND there was a little old lady who lived with them and crocheted those small round end table cloths. It was the cutest and strangest combination of residents I’ve seen. Apparently she was their neighbor and had 4 sons. Her husband and 3 sons died (lots of premature death around here), and the last one wasn’t taking care of her, so the TGs invited her to move in. She makes nice doilies, and when the po-po come looking for MSMs, she helps them out by answering the door.
Speaking of which, intense police crackdown here since homosexuality was “legalized.” The law still hasn’t been enacted so homosexuality is still illegal so police harassment has gone through the roof. They keep arresting guys for homosexual sex (mostly sex workers). I think it’s a revenge thing, since the average Indian (and the police) totally disagrees with the legalization of homosexuality. No one I know has been arrested, but we shall see. Maybe the police will stop being assholes. Who knows, anything is possible.