Further up and Further in

We were supposed to be in Bangalore today for a day of CES teacher training (which CES is fondly referred to by some I know as the 'paid ministry of the church') but a somewhat ridiculous complication arose. No matter. I know that Lisa wasn't particularly looking forward to a six-hour leaving-at-midnight train ride to Bangalore and the return trip the following evening. As I was telling a friend just a few days ago, I've seen quite a few ridiculous things in my time. This one ranks pretty high on the scale of the absurd. The reason we didn't go to Bangalore is because a famous film star died on the 13th. He died of a heart attack, he was 77 years old. No foul play. But riots broke out in the city after his death, and 3 rioting mourners and one policeman were killed when police attempted to control a crowd of 20,000 trying to enter the stadium where the actor's body was being displayed. Access to the stadium was restricted, so of course the mourning fans torched buses and police vehicles, threw stones and smashed cars. And they stoned Microsofts' offices also, because Microsoft probably had something to do with Rajkumar's death. Their offices are close to Rajkumar's house, after all. You can read BBC's report here.
So we didn't go to Bangalore. It's just as well. I had thought of Bangalore as being a generally calm sort of city, but perhaps that's a mistaken notion. Bangalore is known for having a cooler sort of climate, so I wonder what would've happened if Bangalore was experiencing the temperatures we are enjoying in Chennai. I don't realize how hot it really is until I see that foods and lotions and things that I have are turning to liquid at room temperature. My sunscreen no longer remains well-mixed at room temperature, it separates into lipid-soluble and water-soluble components. Chocolate must be kept in the refrigerator. Makes me wonder what's happening to my insides. Maybe I'm liquidizing like my lotions. The point is, I don't think we could've had riots like that in Chennai over the death of an actor. Not at this time of year. It's too darn hot.

You know, people are brilliant. Rioters especially. Protestors fall in that same category I think. For instance, here in the US, there have been loads of protests going on about immigration laws. OK, that's fine with me. I don't mind that they're all here. But what I think is the BRILLIANT part of these protests is that they were using their country-of-birth's flags to protest America's immigration laws. Um, if they want to be Americans so bad, why aren't they flying the American flag? I think someone pointed it out to them, because they finally started using the US flag. But, HELLO! Does that make sense? NO.

Some people just make no sense.....

Hmm. I thought the part about throwing stones at Microsoft's office in Bangalore was especially brilliant. Some people are just dumber 'n a bag of hammers.