nufsaid

October 2010 - Posts

• G’day

  There’s a gecko on my ceiling. And someone told me the first animal I’d see in Australia was a man-eating spider. Shows what you know, cobber. Off to Kakadu national park in the Northern Territory now for three days, so see you when I get... Posted Oct 30 2010, 09:25 PM by NufSaid Select Tags... SaveCancel Filed under: Travel, Australia [Edit Tags]

• Singin’ Singapore’s praises

  When I was 17 and applying to go to university, I remember having a flick through the University of Luton‘s prospectus (my school really encouraged us to aim high). The prospectus has stuck in my head for the decade or so because I remember being... Posted Oct 29 2010, 09:10 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, merlion, Singapore, marketing, branding, lunton, airport [Edit Tags]

• Fish with legs

  Look, look – legs! After two weeks of having to cover them up and being ferried around all the time by drivers, I’d almost forgotten I had a pair of these. Not that I’m one for flashing flesh, but it was so nice to get to Singapore this... Posted Oct 27 2010, 04:22 PM by NufSaid Filed under: fish, Travel, feet, hobbit, fish pedicure, merlion, fish spa, Singapore [Edit Tags]

• Ta-ra t’Raj

  So my sojourn to India has come to an end. I’m currently writing this sat at a bus stop outside Mumbai airport – I’ve arrived a tad too early for my flight and the man with the machine gun at the door won’t let me into the terminal... Posted Oct 26 2010, 09:45 AM by NufSaid Filed under: Nuffield, Travel, India [Edit Tags]

• Slow mooving traffic

  I’ve mentioned earlier how crazy the traffic is in India. Aside from the bonkers car and rickshaw drivers, the roads have to contend with beggars, street hawkers, families piled onto motorbikes and, most randomly, cattle. Cows are bloomin’... Posted Oct 25 2010, 07:41 AM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, cows, Travel, dairy, Food, India, cattle, Indian agriculture, hindu, hinduism, Ghandi, religion, dairies, indian roads [Edit Tags]

• The opposite of slumming it

  For the first time in nearly a fortnight, I managed to sleep properly last night. Partly it was because there was a bolt on my bedroom door (I’m paranoid about sleeping in hotels by myself, regardless of which country I’m in), but mainly it... Posted Oct 24 2010, 07:00 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, India, slums, hotel [Edit Tags]

• Taxing taxi talk

  Having spent the last two weeks practicing it, I’ve become rather adept in the art of pidgin to try and make myself understood here in India. So adept, in fact, that I’ve inadvertently started speaking in loud, slow, broken English all the... Posted Oct 24 2010, 06:17 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, India, Home Simpson, pidgen, Jebus [Edit Tags]

• Chasing developments in animal genetics

  Apologies for ruining Mr Geography’s pen pal dreams, but I didn’t come back from the sticks married to an emu farmer. I did, however, learn some interesting facts about Rod Hull’s special friends: 1. They are growing in popularity in... Posted Oct 23 2010, 05:54 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, United States, farm, Food, Australia, India, Europe, cattle, ag, agricultural science, genetics, goats, Indian agriculture, emu [Edit Tags]

• Agriculture’s a scream in Maharashtra

  I’ve never had to repeatedly bite back a scream when I’ve been interviewing someone before, but then this has been a trip of many firsts, so I guess it shouldn’t seem too weird. I had a pretty jam-packed day yesterday as I was given... Posted Oct 23 2010, 03:08 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Food, India, agricultural science, fruit, spiders, maharashtra, indian farming, kvk [Edit Tags]

• Using larvae to help India’s farmers

  Have you missed me? I’ve been out at the sticks checking out farms and they don’t tend to have much tinterweb access there. Or electricity, for that matter… I know I’m pretty lucky to be seeing parts of India that your general... Posted Oct 23 2010, 01:41 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Travel, farm, Food, Government, India, ag, Indian agriculture, carming, sericulture, silk, silkwork [Edit Tags]

• Farming science, a flight and a freak-out

  So had I a bit of a wobble yesterday. The stress of nearly being kidnapped, coupled with a hair-raising five-hour drive from Hisar back to Delhi so I could catch a flight to Mumbai (or Bombay, if you insist on being colonial) got to me. It’s a tad... Posted Oct 20 2010, 01:38 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Travel, Government, India, ag, research, agricultural science, mumbai, bombay, Indian agriculture, Haryana university, Hisar [Edit Tags]

• The fastest-growing milkmen in the Punjab

  I’m getting a bit behind in my posts here so I’ll try and quickly fill you in on the dairy I visited on Monday (I just had to get my diary to check then – I’ve completely lost track of days in this place). As I said in my previous... Posted Oct 20 2010, 11:53 AM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Travel, milk, dairy, Food, India, ice cream, cheese, export [Edit Tags]

• So who’d pay the ransome?

  There was a good few minutes yesterday afternoon when I genuinely thought I was being kidnapped. It says a lot about me that during that time I a) updated my Facebook status with words to that effect and b) started thinking about whether I could surreptitiously... Posted Oct 19 2010, 07:31 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, farming, Travel, farm, India, kidnap, Indian agriculture, soap factory, soap production, cotton [Edit Tags]

• Paint job

  I’m back in Delhi in preparation for some farm trips tomorrow and staying in what is probably my favourite hotel so far. I ask you, dear reader, how would you describe this decor? Well, apparently I’m experiencing “the feel of an English... Posted Oct 17 2010, 05:07 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, India [Edit Tags]

• The long and crazy road

  Guess who got run into by a motorbike today? Given the amount of bonkers drivers around here, I figured it was only a matter of time before I saw an accident, I just didn’t think I was going to be involved in one. Before anyone (i.e., mother) panics... Posted Oct 17 2010, 04:23 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, India, delhi, Commonwealth Games, geography [Edit Tags]

• Bags of marble

  I came over a bit Princess Di today. I’m not sure I really perfected the coy, doe-eyed look, but I tried my best: This was the fifth attempt at trying to get someone to take my picture for me in front of the Taj Mahal. The first person managed to... Posted Oct 16 2010, 05:02 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, India, taj mahal, princess diana [Edit Tags]

• Agra do-do-do*

  So here I am, just chillin’ with my adopted family at the Jaigurudev Temple just outside Delhi. Considering the fact they chased me around the temple and fetched someone to translate that they wanted a photo taking with me, they don’t look... Posted Oct 15 2010, 02:41 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, India, tousim, big girly wimp, agra [Edit Tags]

• Checking in with chickens

  (A title for Daniel, there) Ol’ Whip-cracker Abram will be happy to know that today I went to a farm. Two farms, in fact and a feed mill. I headed about an hour out of Delhi to a place called Gurgaon. The city’s in the next state to Delhi... Posted Oct 14 2010, 07:30 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, Communication, farming, Food, India, chicken, globalisation, poultry, debenhams [Edit Tags]

• I’m still standing, yeah, yeah, yeah (and so’s the stadium)

  There’s really nowt like listening to the sound of 300 squeaky bagpipes whilst sitting below a load of soldiers with sniper rifles, is there? Day two in Delhi and it’s been as random as the first, though for better reasons. I’ll write... Posted Oct 14 2010, 06:27 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, India, Commonwealth Games, Scotland, bagpipes [Edit Tags]

• I’m in Delhi and I’m fine. I think.

  There’s a yak in the alley outside my window. I’d lean out to take a photo but I’m not sure the glass will stay in the frame if I jolt it. You’ll just have to believe me, it’s there. If this was the weirdest element of my... Posted Oct 13 2010, 04:09 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Nuffield, Travel, India, Scared, Commonwealth Games [Edit Tags]

• Cocks on sticks

  *Ding* (that one’s for you, Rach and Scase) A few of my other Nuffield chums have experienced the joys of foods on sticks at agricultural shows in the US, but I doubt any of them would have come across this (in)famous Nottingham delicacy. These... Posted Oct 12 2010, 09:45 AM by NufSaid Filed under: Agriculture, Food, Nottingham, cocks on sticks, Goose Fair [Edit Tags]

• My leaving party

  It was so nice of the big cheeses at FW Towers to throw me a going-away party at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane yesterday. Thanks to the 1200 or so people who made the effort to turn up, and to the Prince of Charles for the video message –... Posted Oct 08 2010, 07:18 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Farmers Weekly, London, Farmers Weekly Awards, John Hoskin, FW Awards, party [Edit Tags]

• A taste of India

  It’s my last weekend in the Big Smoke before I head off on my Nuffield travels to India, so my friend Fuzz decided to ease me into Indian culture with a visit to Wembley. Wembley, I learned yesterday, is a bit of an Indian enclave in north London... Posted Oct 03 2010, 06:52 PM by NufSaid Filed under: London, iPhone, Travel, India, Indian food, Wembley, Kurta [Edit Tags]

• Light packing

  I’ve managed to rent my room in my flat out for the three months that I’m away travelling around India and Australia, so I’ve spent the last six hours trying to ram my possessions into a couple of suitcases and a storage cupboard above... Posted Oct 03 2010, 05:28 PM by NufSaid Filed under: Travel, Packing, moving out [Edit Tags]