The last few days in Delhi were pretty chill. I made a lot of new friends due the tight quarters caused by 15 people staying in the apartment that usually houses 4. After learning how to take the metro train around, we saw the Gates of India and Red Fort, an impressive palace that was probably the size of the whole Ithaca campus. Another highlight was going to a movie theater here. It's slightly unnerving that they check for bombs under your car as you pull in, and that you have to walk though a metal detector before they tear your ticket. Fanna was the name of the film we saw. There is no English translation for the title, the closest thing that Suds's cousin could come up with was "to suffer in love" or "to die for love." Although terribly predictable, the movie was beautiful to watch. Obviously, I don't speak Hindi so Suds's cousin sat next to me and translated 3 hours worth of dialogue.

After running out of options and time with casting, Suds decided to fly to Bombay to see who he could find there. The rest of us left the next day and boarded an overnight train to Siliguri. Seeing the Indian countryside was a nice contrast to the loud and bustling Delhi that we had just left. I met a twenty-something med student on the way, after a few hours of interesting conversation about traveling and movies, we exchanged email addresses and parted ways.

Suds's home in Siliguri is incredible: spacious rooms, a grand stair case, 2 kitchens, and a fountain in the living room. This is a significant change considering that 5 of us are used to sleeping on the floor of the apartment in Delhi. Shortly after arriving we went out to the hardware and electrical shops to begin building lights and other equipment. I worked on scheduling and for the first time since April, I finished a One Line. Steve and Char will know the significance of that.

Pictures: We visited the Songachi tea estate which is probably one of the most breathtaking places on Earth. We toured the tea gardens and the factory. I made a new best friend. His name is Raghav, he's Suds's 11 year old cousin. I have a ton of stories to tell out about these photos, but some stories are just better in person. Ask me about it when I get home.

A serious dilemma: So we are shooting this wedding scene in Calcutta on June 30th, a date that can't be moved. After that we are planning on heading back to Haridwar to shoot the remainder of the film, according to my calculations about 3.5 days worth of shooting. Travel from Calcutta to Haridwar will take a least 1 day. The problem is that Jared, the director of photography, has return tickets set for an early departure from Delhi on July 4th, meaning that we have to leave Haridwar on the 3rd to get back to Delhi to he can catch his flight from there. Confused yet? Basically it doesn't add up. There are two solutions. Either we shoot for 24 hours straight so that Jared can shoot it all, or Suds will have to shoot and direct a few scenes after Jared leaves. Right now the later seems more likely. It pretty much sucks for Jared because it doesn't look like he will be able to complete the project that he has put the past 7 months of his life into. It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Missing the Glenview Crew... and Char.

P.S. Char, is our fish still alive?