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Notes from the Field (Archived)

Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Greg Wilson heads to India to search for dinosaur-age fossils.

Getting Reacquainted with India

I've been here nearly a week and our work is humming along pretty nicely right now. We have four workers from the village of Naskal that now know exactly what we're doing and how to do it, which is great. We've collected and sieved about three tons of fossiliferous sediment. Hopefully we'll find some good mammal jaws and teeth in the concentrate; so far it looks a bit sparse unfortunately.
 
Indian sunsetIn addition to our work, I'm starting to feel more at home in India again. It always takes awhile to remember all of the little intricacies and cultural differences and of course I learn new ones each time I visit. For example, I've been eating breakfast at this corner shop for four straight mornings. They serve puri and dahl. Puri is a circular-shaped fried bread and dahl is basically a lentil-type sauce that you dip the bread into. It's really tasty. I also order coffee with my breakfast, but everytime the coffee doesn't show 'till I'm done with my puri and dahl. I've tried reminding them and have even ordered chai (tea) instead, noticing that I was the only one ordering coffee and maybe it takes longer to make or something. But today what I realized was that they only bring chai after you've eaten or if you aren't eating. One to grow on.Dr. Wilson's breakfast
 
Because I'm outside the main tourist cities people are surprised to see a non-Indian, so they'll just come up and start asking me 20 questions. They'll sit down with you if you're at dinner, which is fine because I enjoy the company and I end up learning some Hindi or the local language, Tellagu.
 
Repostar (which means "I'll see you tomorrow" in Tellagu)
Published Monday, February 12, 2007 1:01 PM by kwilliams
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Comments

 

Jen Dale (Finance Dept) said:

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and feelings of what you are experiencing.  It is wonderful to read and it makes me feel like I am getting to experience it as well.  

February 13, 2007 8:31 AM
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