Market Visit (w/ Video) + Note on Flip Recorder

After some strong thunderstorms yesterday, the skies were clear this morning. Things are settling, slowly, into a bit of a routine. 4:30 a.m. still comes early, but I am slowly getting used to some of the daily experiences: breakfast of fresh fruit salad and some kind of smoothie (watermelon today), no TV (I'm not that big a Bollywood fan), timing phone calls home to accommodate the 9.5 hour time difference.

I went with some other students downtown for lunch, about a 15-20 minute auto rickshaw ride. After lunch, I visited the main Mysore market with them. The sensory overload is intense, with a rush of noise, color, people, and smells. The areas with flowers and with spices are impressive. This is not the Bardstown Road Farmer's Market.

The short video above is from outside the market.

About the videos on the blog: This is all made possible by my brilliant wife, who gave me a Flip Video pocket video recorder a few days before I left for India. Before getting this device, which is smaller than a pack of cigarettes, I had been a desultory and unmotivated photographer. I wasn't sure how much I would use the Flip, but it has been wonderful. It's supremely easy to use, and I can seamlessly (and mindlessly) move the day's video from the recorder to the netbook computer to Youtube. Then, it's easy to "embed" the video in the blog. David Pogue, the NYT tech guy, has written a good review of the device, which I recommend to all video klutzes like myself.