Protests...and a few videos

Today we woke up a little bit early and went to have breakfast downstairs. We usually eat in the upstairs lounge, which only has a few tables, but is open later than the regular restaurant. The breakfast downstairs was way better so I think we will be eating there from now on. They have waffles and French toast!! Now I don't have to eat Chocos cereal every morning.

I was hoping to do some shopping for an outfit to wear to the upcoming wedding here, but there were protests all over the city today for the "Million March to Hyderabad," so traffic was an issue and a lot of stores shut down. Basically, some people in an area called the Telangana region want to form a separate state. They marched today to demand that parliament introduce a bill to form the state, and they want Hyderabad to be the capital. There have been protests and strikes about it recently (there was a big strike a few days before we arrived) and this was a big one. The protests have been peaceful besides a few incidents like setting buses on fire, so hopefully they stay that way.

T had to leave for work several hours early to try and avoid the protests, but said everything was fine. We are pretty far out from the city center, where the march was happening, but it was very difficult for the employees who live in other areas of Hyderabad to get into work. The police were blocking off roads and trying to prevent people from getting into the city. Apparently that didn't really work because people broke down the barriers and protested anyway. A ton of people were arrested but from what I've read/watched on TV no one was killed, luckily. It was scary to watch all of the people running down the street in an area we were just driving through on Tuesday.

On a brighter note, yesterday I read A Discovery of Witches by the pool for an hour or so; it's been in the top four on the NYT bestseller list for the past three weeks and it's really good so far. A publicist sent it to me a while back but I didn't really start reading it until I got here since it's such a long book. Basically the story is about a modern witch who is a scholar working at Oxford University. She finds a lost ancient manuscript that stirs up trouble with other creatures who are looking for it, and ends up getting involved with a vampire. Love it.

I was looking through my camera and figured I'd post the crappy video from the wedding procession on Sunday. It's definitely kind of dark but you can get the idea. It was really cool to watch.

Instead of a Bollywood video, today I thought I'd share my absolute favorite commercial here in India. It's for a new cell phone - hilarious.