Girl Scout Connection

Yesterday we returned to Golkonda Fort with Jessica's parents, who are visiting from Virginia, and we found ourselves surrounded by thousands of Indian Girl and Boy Scouts. Turns out this weekend was the annual Indian Girl/Boy Scout Jamboree, held here in Hyderabad. Aside from substituting salwar-kameez for skirts and changing the color to blue from green, Girl Scouting seems to be the same here. As always, everyone wanted to shake Violet's hand, and some of the Indian tourists at Golkonda seemed more interested in her than in the 850-year-old temple behind her. I imagine this is what it feels like to be the person in the Mickey Mouse costume at Disneyland. Violet calls the experience "being helloed," because that's what they say when they swarm her, hands out and cameras ready: "Hello, hello, hello!"