Soft Target My Ass.

First and foremost - I'm fine. For the most part. I still have Amelia Amoeba with me, and I'm a little tired.. But otherwise, I'm fine. Secondly, this post won't be as long as I would like it to be - mostly it's just going to have to be an explanation as to why I haven't been blogging, and why it will be a little different in the future.

Without going into too much detail - the job that my family does here is pretty unforgiving. We have bugs on our phone lines, our staff is paid to inform, we get followed, our e-mail is read, and our pictures are taken. For the most part, the interest is in my father. For the most part.

Now, because of my association and friendship with my father's counterpart in the American Embassey, the Indian Ministry of Defence has declared me a "soft target" (isn't that so misleading?) to gather information from and intelligence on. Like I know anything. (Which I don't. Just to clarify).

So, in the past week, I've been given a crash course on how to say, "I don't know", "I'm not sure" and "He's out of station.. and no, I don't know where"; in as many ways as politely possible. It would be interesting enough if I was just pleading ignorance.. But in this case.. I pretty much am ignorant.

For those whom I've been fortunate enough to talk to on the phone lately - you understand my frustration, and know that this is pretty much a breaking point right now. For the rest of you -I'll just fill you in.

Security hass been tight here, and not really getting any more relaxed, as I previously had thought it would. I don't go anywhere myself, and then usually not without my driver, or my brother. It's gotten to the point where I'm also having difficulty wearing western clothing here, it's pretty much just easier on my nerves, and my butt, to cover up and not be pinched so much. I'm not exactly a flaboyant, sexy dresser when it comes to daytime wear, and I'm highly respectful of keeping my chest and shoulders covered.. But I've now been relegated to Indian wear 5/7 days. Which is fine, it's easier by far I suppose.

I'm just finding this country that I love so much - is a little hard to tolerate lately. I'm in a very unique position, I realise as much - and as all of you know - I will find a way through, beyond, and above this. I just have to figure out how to do it in long pants and the occasional head scarf.

So - from here in, I can pretty much only tell what HAS happened, nothing that WILL happen, nothing about where we WILL be going or WANT to be doing or anything like that. I know that won't change too much for you, but if I start sounding vague, I need you to know why. It's journalistic integrity. ;-) The least I can hope for is the MOD squad at least get a good laugh out of my blog. So read on Defence Ministry.. Let me tell you what I really think..