I've been absent from the blog for a couple of days. I was a little 'under the weather' and spent the entire day Monday in the hotel room. So I'm well qualified to report on what our rooms are like and what can be viewed on Indian TV.

Our accommodations are "4 or 5 Star". This hotel caters to western visitors. The room size is a bit smaller than found in a nice U.S. hotel and furnishings are similar; built in closet, large mirror, small fridge, desk, three telephones, nightstands, television, bathroom in each room with shower, toilet, sink, floor drain and hairdryer. We even have in-room coffee pots! The floors throughout the building are marble - there is a lot of that here. Hallways and rooms have decorative patterns of beautiful brown, ivory, green and black marble.

A breakfast buffet is included with our room and it offers a variety of both western foods and indian foods, as well as the wonderful Indian Coffee that Steve wrote about in an earlier blog entry.

Indian television in the hotel includes a variety of options. A little more than half of the stations broadcast in Tamil, while the others are in English. There is also one German-language station and one French language channel. Sports coverage this week has kept close tabs on Tiger Woods and his U.S. Open win as well as broadcasts of the Euro Cup 2008 Soccer games. Indian television seems to be quite enamored by MTV - music videos. Mostly these consist of a lead singer backed by a group of about 20 singers performing carefully choreographed numbers in scenic locations. Melodies have the sound of traditional Indian music, but the dress and actions of the performers show the influence of western culture, especially the dancing and physical contact between the men and women. In this culture men and women (even those who are married) do not touch in public. It is not uncommon for women to hug women and men to hug or hold hands with men, but we have seen very little contact - beyond the occasional handshake - between men and women. This is untrue on television.

Other TV choices include BBC (British Broadcasting) news 24/7, a number of Indian soap operas, the Disney channel and a variety of American shows and movies.