Because I was recommended to post the gist of this here, to both reiterate previously-mentioned monetary needs and to provide information about the latest updates...

I've added a fund-o-meter to the page asking for donations. It's nothing fancy, just standard HTML; I'll update it regularly as I obtain funds. The final costs listed there are a one-way ticket to Goa (if this ends up being the final amount obtained, I shall have to start a more fervent campaign in November to get me back) and a round-trip ticket to Bangalore respectively, each including the price of a passport.

In other news, I've encountered no less than five distinct baby horned toads in the yard in the past weeks. This makes me happy, as they're pretty difficult to find normally.