Namaste!: Boo!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween in Hyderabad!

Halloween may not have exactly reached the general population of India quite yet...but it's celebrated in full force at the Google office. On the 31st we arrived at work to find the entire building decorated w/ lots of festive Halloween decorations...lots of orange, lots of black, lots of ghosts goblins and ghouls...just like home. We had been encouraged all week long to come dressed up for the occassion...and many people were showing their spirit. Halloween is still in it's early stages here, which means people still mostly dress up as scary looking costumes: witches, (lots of witches), ghosts, mummies, vampires, faces painted white with varying amounts of red blood incorporated...that kind of stuff. The holiday hasn't quite transgressed to the stage it has in the US where people will dress up as anything and everything, especially if it allows girls to wear little skimpy outfits. Anyways, it was quite a lot of fun to see everybody in costume, and having a good time with the day.

When 4 rolled around, we got to leave our desks early and head to the cafe, where there was a full-blown Halloween party in effect. To be honest, it had seemed like a lot of people hadn't dressed up earlier in the day...but they were just saving their costumes for the party. Lots of people were looking quite scary. There was a costume contest, which was fun, which I got talked into entering...and won runner-up in the 'creative' category! (much more competition in the 'scary' category). That was pretty sweet, first time in any sort of costume contest, certainly the first time winning anything. :) Even Roy the big boss man over here was dressed up, looking sharp in a black suit as "Gilbert, Roy Gilbert" (James Bond).

Happy Halloween!!!

Gilbert, Roy Gilbert and a pair of dice.

Selin, always the creative one, decked herself out as a houseplant. Quick, which one's Selin and which is the plant??? :)

Here's me! I'm an Indian street-vendor. So over the weekends, I've picked up a lot of goodies...sort of funny really, as a few weeks ago, we were traveling with a bunch of expats, who were talking about the street vendors, who are all over the place. Basically they were saying "who would buy that stuff? Balloons? drums? etc?" Well, as they were saying that, I walked up....playing my drum and holding my pack of balloons. :) Guess I'm a street-vendors dream...but hey, I like the stuff. Other people can buy the expensive things...keep the little crafts, the drums, the balloons, the tshirts, the bootleg CD's comin' my way! Selin (little miss creative) came up with the idea for my costume a few nights before Halloween, as we were trying to figure out what to be.

Matt Schweitz (a fisherman) and me

"Best Price Best Price!! I give you good deal!!" Here I am in action, putting on my best bargaining face. Must've been pretty good, I guess, as I was rewarded a 500 rupee gift certificate at the end of it all! Those trinkets just paid for themselves, booooyah!!!