Jin's 0 to 10 scale on Indian cities

Not that I claim to know all the cities of India but I feel that I should judge each place I have visited like a beauty contest.  I created the 5 area, 10-point system method while backpacking around Europe years ago. The 5 areas are 1.Sights/things to do, 2.Shopping, 3.Food, 4.People and 5.General impression.
I did not include small towns or villages. Although the best parts of India are sometimes in those areas. 
So here's the list, Drum roll, please.... 
 

Cities	Sights/things to do	Food	Shopping	People	General Impression	Total Score
Agra	9/10	7/10	7/10	6/10	7/10	36/50, 72%
Bengalore	8/10	8/10	8/10	8/10	8/10	40/50, 80%
Chennai	5/10	8/10	6/10	7/10	6/10	32/50, 64%
Delhi	7/10	8/10	10/10	4/10	7/10	36/50, 72%
Jaipur	9/10	5/10	8.5/10	2/10	5/10	29.5/50, 59%
Mysore	7/10	6/10	6/10	8/10	7/10	34/50,68%
Varanasi	10/10	8/10	9.5/10	9.9/10	9/10	46.4/50, 92.8%

*Disclaimer: This judgment is sorely from a foreign tourist's perspective. Please do not refer this table when you're making decision on where to live. Also, this does not reflect on those from these areas or live*

As you can see, I am a tough critic. What I realized is that it's usually the people and shopping that make the city lovable or hatable. So here's to you, Varanasi, for your amazing shopping, wondrous ghats, and lovable people. 

The rest of Varanasi pictures can be found here . And all the other pics can be found on this link. 

I could be Indian, Part II

I took a long time to get back to my blog. I still want to share my experiences but I am also getting used to things here in India, hence, these experiences are becoming daily routines. The last few weeks have been quite busy with Mel, Erica and Amy coming to visit and us traveling to difference places. Pictures of the places where we went will be posted in the next few days. For right now, I would like to let the world know that I am indeed almost(8 out of 10)Indian. On my last blog on this topic had a list. I want to add more to that list. 

• I no longer require toilet paper.
• I can eat with my hands now. I still can't do rice with hands, though. I now eat rice with hands.
• Hot shower is a luxury, not a necessity
• People don't stare at me anymore, They assume I'm from Northeast of India or Nepal (not even China). 
• I don't see any problem with making 2-lane street into 6-lane street
• Traffic lights are just annoyance, you don't need them.
• Not sharing the street with the animals is just selfish. When there were no goats while I was in Delhi, I felt lonely. 
• I believe squatting for #1 and 2 have anatomical advantages. Not only do I believe, I KNOW that there's a reason why 1.2 billion people squat for #1 and #2. 
• Saying "please, thank you, excuse me" is a waste of time. Just get to the main verb/noun. ex) Can I please have the check? --> Check!, or Can I please get a cup of coffee?--> One coffee(sometimes just lift one finger and say coffee)
• You should never pay the fixed price. If he tells you $20, just give him $15.
• I wonder why Americans don't use metric system!
• My head bobbles when I'm talking to people.
• My American friends think I'm Indian.