"India (fall)" via ACM in Google Reader

Out of India

2012-01-07T01:54:00Z

Well, I have been intending to write one last entry for about two months now, and my Mum has been constantly helping me remember that, so here it is finally... I am very sorry that it took so long!

Everything was very slow the last few weeks of the program... just finishing everything up, buying last minute gifts, holding out until the end. Our independent study projects were due on Wednesday of the last week and by the end it was certainly a relief to have them finished, turned in, and beyond our control. I actually felt quite good about my project upon turning it in. The difficulties and confusions were worked out (for the most part, at least) and I was able to write a paper that was at least the length it was meant to be if not the best academic work ever created. The last week, right in the middle of finishing up everything, we had a talent show where we all showed off the various skills that we had been working on acquiring throughout the term. Two friends and I had taken Bollywood dancing and were the closing number to the rest of the show, which included Tabla (drums), Bonsuri (flute), Yoga, and classical Kathuk dancing. It was a lot of fun to see what everyone had been doing and to have a closing event where all the students and their host families could get together and have dinner and take photos. We all dressed up... don't we look fantastic?

Afterward, most of the students went out just to spend time together, something we actually did several times during that last week. Our last night all together, we went to the Hotel Raviraj, our first home in Pune. We had snacks and drinks, went up onto the roof for the last time, and just enjoyed one anothers' company. It was the perfect way to close our all of our adventures together. After all of that was done, we had a couple of days to just say goodbye and get ready to head home. As much as goodbyes were sad, when the time came to board our planes we were all ready to leave.

I feel so blessed to have gotten the chance to know all the people that I did this term. From the staff at the office to my host family to the other students, each one has had an effect on the person that I will be after this trip. It was unlike any other experience I have had in a group. The students talked a lot about the relationship of our group, mostly during the last week. We all agreed that it felt more like a family than anything else. Everyone had their bad days, everyone had points when they just needed to stay away from someone else in the group, but we accepted it as fact that these were the people in whose company we were spending basically all of our life throughout those three and a half months. If we couldn't tolerate one another, the entire group would have been miserable, and everyone knew that. Whenever those bad days hit, you knew that there were people who would listen to whatever you needed to talk about and forgive your short temper. It was wonderful to be in an environment where there was only a miniscule amount of drama and everyone was just friends. I know that some of the people I have gotten close to on this trip will be my friends for the rest of our lives.

Now it has been nearly two months since I got home and and sometimes it still seems like I need to look at my photos just to remember that it really happened. But it did, and I miss it more every time I do look at my photos. It still seems very strange that the three and a half months there could pass so quickly, and even stranger at how normal my American life seems. I really had no problems readjusting to America; even my jet lag was limited to me finally being able to get to sleep on time and get up at a reasonable hour, something I can never quite seem to achieve on my own. Although, I seem to have been more the exception than the rule, because most of my friends had varying amounts of difficulty readjusting. One of them pretty much just made Indian food for the first month that he was back and quite a few got very frustrated with the materialism here. I've been lucky to be at home for these two months, so I have been able to do a lot of thinking and processing in peace before I head back to school.

So, in the interest of wrapping up, I will leave you with a couple last tips...

29) Prepare to be unprepared. No matter what you think you might know about where you’re going, no matter what you expect, your experience is guaranteed to be almost the polar opposite in some way. No amount of study, travel books, or photographs can truly capture what will be your own experience. Not even visiting somewhere is adequate preparation for what you will face when you are actually living in that place. So... the fewer expectations that you have to begin with, the fewer will be broken and the less difficulty you will have reconciling yourself with the result. Whatever the result is, I promise that there will nearly always be something amazing there no matter how dreadful or hopeless it seems. So try to find those moments of beauty that you might be missing and make the best of it. Granted, you may still have a dreadful time, I won’t deny that, but you will be far less likely to if you have a positive attitude. Trust me, during reflection you will find that the beautiful moments stand out in your memory and all of the worst moments served to make you stronger.

30) Expect to change. While this may sound cliché and hopelessly obvious, none of us are coming back as the same person that we were when we arrived. One of the conversations that we had ove during the last weeks was in what way we felt we had each changed most. I definitely think I have come through it as a better person with a better understanding of myself and others. This is a great opportunity, so be sure to open yourself up to it and don’t shut down because it is uncomfortable, which it is. Hopefully, you will like yourself, not to mention others, a lot better when you are through.

So thank you for reading my blog throughout this term. It has been great to hear from people that they have been reading it and enjoying it. I hope I have at least provided some amusement even if you never put any of my advice into practice. This has definitely been one of the most impacting experiences of my life and probably will be no matter what else I do. Hopefully, someday I will be able to go back to Pune and relive at least some of the adventures that we had. Still, I am happy to be home and am enjoying seeing everyone again. While this journey has ended, who knows what will be next or when next will be, so I very well may be back sooner than you expect.

Accha bhetuya,

*L*

P.S. If you are friends with me on facebook, you can see many more photos there.

Mahabodhi Temple / Bihari Monk

2011-12-29T15:23:52Z

Mahabodhi Temple / Bihari Monk

Back home safe from travel.. will put up some more stuff soon. Happy holidays.

2011-12-26T22:09:55Z

Back home safe from travel.. will put up some more stuff soon. Happy holidays.

What I Will Miss About India

2011-11-18T19:08:00Z

This is it. This is my last day in India. How the heck did I get here so quickly?? In just a couple short hours I will be boarding a plane to come back to Chicago. Crazy.

India has awakened me. Just at the last moment when I thought I might “miss” it, realization set in that not only have I not missed it, I have been experiencing it since I got here. I don’t remember a time where I was happier than I am now. I am just in a really good place, body mind and soul, and I am only looking onwards for things to get better. I am completely, wholly grateful for the experience I have had in the last 4 months, it has really profoundly touched me how many things I have to be grateful for. I just feel way more full of love and peace than I have in a long, long time. I am very thankful to my family and friends who have supported me on this journey, and I am thankful for the support they will continue to give me after the journey in India ends and the rest of my journey begins. While I have always loved her, the support I have gotten from my mom since I have been here has made my appreciation and connection with her grow intensely. How did I get so lucky?

ACM Fall 2011 Farewell Ceremony

The people I have met in India will always mean something to me, and all the fun times I had with the other ACM students is something I will always remember fondly. As much as I hate to say it, thank god for facebook and modern technology for us to be able to keep in touch after this. I look forward to the times we reminisce; “Hey, remember that time we got chased down Bhandarkar road by stray dogs at night?” or “Hey, remember when you fell out of your chair at Baba’s?” and “I miss fresh lime soda – and I could use a thumbs up right now…” I am happy to have crossed paths with the people I have here, and now I know to be grateful for that too.

But enough with the sentimental reflection, this being the day I am leaving India and the last post I will write while in India, I will get on to the obligatory list of things I will miss – and not miss – from India.

What I Will Miss About India

Our puppies at ACM, Tiger and Ghee.
The rush of crossing a busy street
Limca
The laid back transportation of rickshaws
Feeling the wind on my face while riding in a rickshaw at night
Baba’s Food Mall and the good discussions had there over a plate of sliced red onions and limes
Maushee’s compassion and thoughtfulness
The plethora of animals just roaming the streets
The sense of wonder in exploring new places
Watching goats in rickshaws pass us by
Fried papad with coriander chutney
Sucheta Paranjpe
The reliable surprise on my rickshaw walla’s face when I speak Marathi to him
Repeating words twice because that’s just how they do things here
The scenery from the top of the many hills and mountains
Recognizing American celebrities on signs and advertisements which are definitely not legal
Listening to people burst into a classical Indian song everywhere
Mango lassis with slivered almonds, raisins, and shredded coconut
The Spice Kitchen lounge and the awe and bliss we felt when we went there every time
Sharing discoveries, tips, and tricks with the other students at ACM
“Indian time”
The exchange rate of the Rupee from the Dollar!!!
How people here don’t ever like to say ‘no’
The amount of Chinese food available here because it is so close to China
How predictable the weather is
Tukaram singing “Sa-raaaaah” 5 times a day
The shopping
Being able to haggle your own price for most things when shopping
The amount of different grains used in cooking here
How frugal people are and how nothing goes to waste
Chai at exactly 10 am every day
Wearing flip flops every day
How every experience is much more sensual than it is at home
Being able to get any medicines you want and need from any dispensary
Getting bisleri and Cadbury dairy milk at our friendly “corner store” after Baba’s
Saying “ujvikade” “bas bas” and “thoda thoda” several times a day
The fruit wallas having tropical fruit so fresh and local on every corner
My favorite green oranges
Salted kaju
Bhendi masala and cheese dosas
And so much more…

What I Will NOT Miss About India

The horrible pollution
The rude and sometimes cruel people you sometimes can’t avoid
Being stared at constantly everywhere we go
Papaya and pickled mango
Black boogers
The questionable sanitation and cleanliness of kitchens everywhere
People trying to rip us off because we are American
Not being allowed to go out at night
Harassment
The unreliable internet
Daily power outages
Idea! Phone company (worst. company. ever.) and generally all administration headaches
Corrupt policemen and politicians
The distinctive smell of burning garbage
How people trash the environment and throw garbage everywhere because they don’t think it is their responsibility
Public defecation and urination everywhere… yuck
People being cruel to animals for no reason
Missing out on so many delicious looking foods because they have gluten in it

Maushee and Sarah B - Farewell India!

I will be posting some more when I get home to reflect on my experience and to post some more things about my trip that I wasn't able to post while I was here. Goodbye India! I'll miss you!!

You will always have a special place in my heart, India!

Ill be back for Christmas!

2011-11-18T10:11:44Z

Ill be back for Christmas!

Host parents.

2011-11-14T05:46:00Z

Host parents.

Diwali Travel Break

2011-11-14T09:47:00Z

We had a week to travel over the Diwali break at the end of October. 2 other girls and I traveled to Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra. One of the cities in Rajasthan we went to was Jaipur, and between Jaipur, Delhi, and Agra, this travel route is commonly called the Golden Triangle.

The Golden Triangle is much further north than where I study in Pune

Rajasthan
After 25 hours of traveling via the infamous Indian trains, we arrived in our first of two cities we visited in Rajasthan: Udaipur. This beautiful and cozy little town nestled around Lake Pichola is well known for the romantic and incredible scenic views over the lake and surrounding mountains. Palaces converted into luxurious hotels dripping with decadence, like the famous Lake Palace, and forts high up in the nearby mountains are what bring tourists flocking here. But for me, my favorite part was walking around the narrow, winding, hilly streets full of vendors and little shops full of merchants begging you to come and look at their colorful handmade crafts and gifts. The food in Udaipur was delicious, and perhaps my favorite meal in India thus far, was at a tucked away serene garden restaurant called "The Whistling Teal." With white daybeds on the terrace covered by white tents and green plants, I felt like I had left India and found Nirvana - the food was ridiculously delicious. I mean, really ridiculously, obscenely tasty. We lounged there and ate, talked, drank zesty lemony iced tea, and simmered in the blissful paradise we found before setting out to venture the streets again. The way the shopkeepers decorate and arrange their goods is beautiful in and of itself, not to mention the beauty of the handmade gifts themselves. I did a fair amount of bargaining for a fair amount of things from Udaipur - I would come back here any day! It just may have been my favorite place I have visited in India - and by now, we have visited quite a few places. (You can see more photos of Udaipur in my album here).

Lots of bags and parasols for sale in Udaipur!

Camel leather journals all made with handmade paper.

Our hotel, the wonderful Poonam Haveli, was up around the corner on this street

The second stop in Rajasthan was Jaipur. I am going to be blunt and honest about this one. I did not like Jaipur - I loathed it, I would not go back, and I don't have it in me to suggest it to other people with a straight face. The people were very pushy and aggressive and we seemed to have more people trying to cheat us here than other places. When you say no to a hawker trying to sell you something you will never use, they don't give up - at least for us, they didn't. It is hard to describe exactly why I didn't like it, but the energy of Jaipur was very stagnant and negative. We were there for the actual first day of Diwali, which may have added to the frustrations I had while there, but overall, I just couldn't wait to get on to Delhi. We saw a few cool things while we were in Jaipur at least, and I got some cool photos. The highlight of Jaipur for me was visiting a famous astrologer near the City Palace, and got an incredibly accurate basic horoscope reading. I am still thinking about some of the keen things he picked up on... (You can see more photos of Jaipur in my album here).

Inside City Palace in Jaipur near a neat door.

Another neat door inside City Palace in Jaipur.

The astrologer that I went to in Jaipur - doesn't look impressive, but it was!!

Delhi

I heard shady things about Delhi and that it was the most sketchy place in India from other travelers so I was unsure of what to expect when we got there, but I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised. The first place we visited during our 3 days in Delhi was the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India. There were a lot of people there but it was neat to see none-the-less. The Baha'i Lotus Temple was something all 3 of us were very excited to see, and for good reason too. I had a beautiful spiritual experience while inside the Lotus Temple, but the temple itself is so beautiful to look at, its no wonder why people of all religions visit here. There are 7 Lotus Temples built around the world, and wouldn't you know, one of them is just 15 minutes away from my house back home! The food at our hotel was fantastic - seekh kebabs that had me dreaming about them for days... We finally were able to find the Spice Market, which for me was very cool. We knew we found it before we saw it just by smelling the rich aroma of spices and herbs in the air. One thing we didn't have planned but spontaneously decided to go see was the Rajghat, which was very cool because it was the site where Gandhi was cremated. They built a beautiful memorial park around the platform he was cremated on. Delhi is a big, clean city with wide streets and great sightseeing - all things I didn't expect from it. (You can see more photos of Delhi in my album here).

Jama Masjid - The largest mosque in India

This is the spot where Gandhi was cremated, Rajghat in Delhi

India Gate all lit up at dusk with a lively crowd

Arakashan Road in front of our hotel, Ajanta Hotel, at night

My friend, Jill, in front of the Baha'i Lotus Temple in Delhi

A stall in the Spice Market in Delhi

Agra

The last day of our Diwali break, we took a day trip from Delhi to Agra to see the obligatory Taj Mahal. It is every bit as majestic as it seems in photographs, tv, and stories. Of course, we went on a saturday afternoon around sunset during the week of Diwali. This means it was CROWDED. I completely expected it though. The Baby Taj is another neat place to see in Agra, as well as Agra Fort. (You can see more photos of the Taj Mahal and Agra in the album here).

The Taj Mahal

The Baby Taj in Agra

The saddest monkey ever in Agra Fort

What do you see??

The woman pictured is a villager of Yurutsepa in Ladakh- a...

2011-11-10T05:36:00Z

The woman pictured is a villager of Yurutsepa in Ladakh- a village consisting of two people. The village itself is one large, 150 year old structure that houses this family, surrounded by earth from which the family harvests barley and peas during the four months when they aren’t buried in snow. When they are buried in snow during the remaining eight months, they relax, they sleep, and they have wedding festivals. There are over 350 Ladakhi wedding songs. Every Ladakhi I have met hitherto has a different song that they carry with them through the day..

She was tying up her dzo ( a burly yak-cow hybrid that loves escaping their masters) when I hastely took this photo of her. The painted ram horns pictured are a sort of village protector.

Ladakhi people are the most emotionally stable and beautiful people that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.. Despite recent disruptions to their economic and ecological balance as the result of India opening the area to tourism in the 70’s (something described in a beautiful book called Ancient Futures), they are a culture that transcends the anxiety of mere subsistence without preoccupying themselves with the woes of materialism and overconsumption. The middle way of Buddhist economics…

Photo

2011-11-10T05:19:09Z

Who Could Live in Pne?

2011-11-04T09:20:00Z

Towards the end of the program, many of our ACM students have reached the peak of their emotional frustrations about the mishaps they had during both their intellectual pursuits and leisurely travels. And my roommate told me that he would leave India with mixed feelings. There isn’t any doubt that this has been a rewarding experience for them, but I sense that their (or, rather, our) feelings, especially about life in urban India, are as complex as the heterogeneous Indian society itself.

I have to say, however, that I have learned to love India to the extent that I feel like I could survive here happily, and this is something that is surprisingly rare among the American students I have been studying with for the past semester.

Against all odds, I ‘d say that there is something to love in the middle of the unbelievably lethal traffic, among the surly police officers, in-between the piles of stinking trash, and in the heart of pesky beggar kids. Life is hard for those squashed in this swarm of humanity, and yet, life here is tenaciously beautiful.

I could live here and be happy. I’m glad I can say that.

Mahabaleshwar Retreat

2011-11-04T09:14:00Z

We took a weekend retreat to a beautiful hill station a few hours south in the Western Ghat mountains called Mahabaleshwar. The retreat was for our ISP presentations where we each give a mini briefing on how our projects are going, what obstacles we have run into, what we are learning, and then get feedback on them. It is actually a pretty helpful weekend put together by ACM, and I loved Sucheta and Dr. Hemant Apte's company to such a beautiful place.

Krishna River Valley in Mahabaleshwar

Horseback Riding into the Sunset!

In the little town of Mahabaleshwar by the lake, there are horses everywhere and Indian men trying to sell you a ride. The tiny odd town by the lake is mostly horses, corn vendors (delicious, delicious, amazing grilled corn rubbed with lemon and salt!), and little bhel puri stands. I was a little freaked out by the thought of climbing up on a horse and riding it, which is precisely why I decided to do it. I chose the biggest horse I could find, which was named "Wanted" but I decided to call him Blue (which was oh-so-clever of me seeing how he had a blue-ish color to him). It was fun, and I enjoyed every adrenaline-filled moment of it. It is extremely humid and foggy in Mahabaleshwar, so that plus a beautiful pink sunset made for a very memorable trip near the lake.

This is the horse I rode, Blue/Wanted.

Someone told a corny joke... Ok, that was bad.
We were just having too much fun!

Hotel Mayfair

We all stayed at the small, but very roomy and accomodating Hotel Mayfair that was very close to town, but private and perfect for our retreat. They made the best soups and food for us - and the strawberry ice cream was to die for! Did you know Mahabaleshwar is known for its strawberries? Everything is strawberry flavored and boy is it good. We all stopped for strawberries and cream at a little sweet stand on the way back to Pune, too - delicious. Right down the street, about 5 minutes away, is lots of little shops with everything from pashmina scarves, hand-carved wooden housewares, jellies and jams of all sorts (mostly strawberry, though!), and "channa stalls" to buy all your favorite flavored/spiced/roasted chickpeas, nuts, and dried fruits. The people are charming and nice in town and it had a lovely feel to it - a very pleasant surprise as we had no idea what to expect from this mysterious ISP retreat ACM had planned for us!

A scooter parked outside our hotel - is this Italy or India??

Our room at Hotel Mayfair - big and comfortable!

A little temple behind the Hotel property that I found when exploring

Breathtaking Viewpoints

We were in Mahabaleshwar for the whole weekend, but on the second day we went around sightseeing to several viewpoints nearby in the mountains and the views were spectacular. It was a beautiful day - the weather there is crisp and cool at night (my favorite) and sunny, very humid, but not too hot during the day. It was a great time. Sucheta also took us to see the source of the Krisha River which was a very neat thing to see since we were up high in the mountains. The sources of rivers in India always start from a temple (built around it) as rivers are considered a sacred Goddess in India.

A gorgeous view of the Western Ghats

Sweet monkeys - I'm lucky to have captured this moment!

This is the source itself of the Krishna River that flows out and down the mountain,
which is inside the Mahadev temple in Mahabaleshwar.

All the ACM students at a viewpoint in Mahabaleshwar

A Southbird Adventure

2011-11-02T07:51:00Z

Diwali is another part of the Hindu festival season: basically like an enormous Christmas and New Years’ celebration, as it is the traditional beginning of the Hindu calendar. We got one week off from school to travel as well as the weekends on either end, so I and six other girls raced around southern India as quickly as we could possibly go. It was a great group, although a smaller group would have made things logistically easier, and we all melded together really well. We had some great conversations and got to discuss our views on certain aspects of our program here to a length that we really had not gotten the chance to before. However, it was a pretty insane trip; to capture the details as fully as I could, I wrote day-by-day entries...

22 October

The railway absolutely my favourite means of transportation. We spent hours today just sitting in the open doorway of the train car watching the beautiful scenery flash past and the sunset. Also, it is a significantly less smoother ride than cars because there are no potholes on the railway. The seven of us girls took over a set of seats (of which only one was actually ours), so we have needed to explain several times that we wanted to be together for safety. Fortunately, almost everyone has been very nice about it and switched with us without complaining. The two guys are a little further down the car... they came to hang out and play cards a few times. We are more relaxed than we have been in a long time, just able to just enjoy ourselves and ignore the stares and attention. We were really loud at points, but it was alright. We made a friend as well, a little boy who was sitting by the guys. He basically moved to sit by us after a while and stayed until after most of us were worn out. He was really sweet, even though he was very insistent on having all of our attention, and gave us candy in the evening for Diwali because I “gifted” him a pen. We brought enough food to keep a small army going; we didn’t realize just how much we had until we got on, though, and it just kept appearing out of people’s luggage.

27) Don’t take food out in public railway stations. You will get a lot of unwanted attention from people who would love to relieve you of it.

23 October

We had an abrupt awakening this morning when the train pulled into Bangalore at 6:25, at least an hour and a half before we were expecting. We panicked because we didn’t realize it was the last stop, so we stuffed everything into our bags and tumbled out onto the platform before even fully waking up. Then we got into rickshaws and went to the bus station where we didn’t even get through the front gate before we were climbing onto a bus bound for Mysore. That was around three hours, following the eighteen-hour train ride. So by the time we got to Mysore and checked into our hotel, we were very grateful to lie down for a little while and then spend the afternoon walking around. We got invited into a wedding (where we had to insistently refuse photographs up on-stage with the wedding party) and got to visit the Mysore Palace. Mysore Palace is stunning... the one standing now was commissioned in 1897 (completed in 1912) by Henry Irwin after the original wooden structure burnt down. It was amazing to see. The best part of the building was the marriage hall, where there was the most detailed stained glass that I have ever seen. However, I have no photographs of that because cameras were “not allowed” inside. We soon figured out that this was not really true as everyone had their cell phones out when we got in. The downside to Mysore Palace was that everyone there was on vacation, so we soon became more interesting subjects than the Palace itself. We ended up blowing up a couple times and one of my friends smacked someone who would not leave us alone. By the time we left, it was pretty much just to get away from it all as we were so irritated that we weren’t enjoying it anymore. Dinner for half of us was really good pizza in our hotel room while we watched football, so that raised our spirits a bit.

Mysore Palace.

The palace lit up at night... it was beautiful.

Mysore: We could have hung around for another day most likely, but I didn’t really enjoy it as much as other places I have been. The palace was stunning though.

24 October

Today we got a bus from Mysore to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve, where we are staying in a dormitory at the ranger station in the middle of the forest. We took a fantastic van safari this afternoon where we got to see lots of wildlife and just spend time in the forest. Then we got to watch them feed the elephants in the evening; there were even a couple of babies. We found out early on that we needed to keep the windows closed though, because we had a group of monkeys attempt to climb through and grab our snacks. We had to fight them off. Speaking of food, we had a bit of a comic set of circumstances regarding our meals here. For lunch, we went to the only restaurant around here where, after we had read the menu that they had given us for ten minutes, they informed us that they only had one meal (which was not true as we saw other people in the restaurant eating other things). Then we thought that we had communicated to the lady who runs the dormitory that we would eat there, but she did not understand us and went home, so we ended up just eating peanut butter with spoons for dinner. Hopefully she will show up before breakfast tomorrow because we’re pretty hungry at this point. But our rooms are great: spacious with a great floor for dancing, so we did some swing for a while, and we watched a movie after the power came back on (it was off when we arrived, along with the water, which hasn’t come back on, so we have been manually filling the toilet tank from the rain bucket so that it flushes).

Mudumali: While it was certainly beautiful and elements of the stay were great, like the safari, I wouldn’t really recommend it as a place to stay. A good idea would have been to stay in the Ooty Hill Station and take a day trip to Mudumali.

25 October

Well, today was absolutely an adventure. It began with an elephant ride, for which we got one elephant where we had been told we would get two. The reason for this shift of events was that the District Judges decided that they had a right to claim all the elephants excepting one. So, instead of each getting a half-hour ride, we split the time so that everyone got fifteen minutes (which we weren’t really supposed to do, but we did anyway). Then we waited for a while for the bus that we needed to come by and munched on biscuits because breakfast did not happen (the lady didn’t show up and the one restaurant basically told us they weren’t going to make food). The ride that we originally thought would take about a half-hour took three, but it was beautiful. When we arrived in Ooty, we discovered that there were no busses to Kochi, as we had been told, so we had to catch one to Palaghut and had one hour to grab food, which we did along with chocolate and more biscuits. Remember my description of getting on buses in India? Yeah, we needed to do that again. But all of us got on. I took car sickness medicine about an hour or so in and it made me unexpectedly drowsy, so all I remember about the drive is through a drugged haze... I hallucinated a couple of times also, so I can’t distinguish very well. Eventually, after the sun had set, we got to the bus station... but it was only about halfway to where our hotel was that night. So one of the girls moms had contacted her travel agent who had, on the spot, booked us a hotel for tonight and a car for tomorrow morning to take us to our next spot. The hotel is called the Fort Palace Hotel and is definitely more expensive than we would have booked for ourselves, but it’s nice to stay in such an upscale place for a night. We are all exhausted and irritated, not least because the staff member from school who we have been working with on this trip since the beginning of the term (this part of our trip has not changed since the beginning, either) gave us the wrong information about buses and distance and then when we called to ask for advice, shifted the blame to us, saying that we only gave her our itinerary two days before we left (which was when she asked for it). Anyway, we have learned our lesson about having her help us with our trips and taking advice from her.

Ooty: We only had about an hour there since we were just passing through, but we ended up wishing that we had stayed there for a night as we originally hoped to. I have no idea of what is there, but it was very cool temperature-wise and looked very interesting.

28) Check directions, distances, destinations, and all other details yourself. I really cannot emphasize that enough. Do not take anyone’s word for anything... it sounds so critical, but it really is true. If the person you are checking facts against turns out to be correct, that is great. If they turn out to be wrong, you save yourself an enormous headache and probably a lot of money. If you can’t figure it out yourself, try and find a travel agent in the U.S. that knows about India. I hate to sound so dreadful, but we have had almost no positive experiences with travel agents and other people booking things for us. The only ones that I would recommend are Kedar, who booked our bike trip, and the one who found our hotel for tonight faster that I knew was possible, but I have no idea what his name was (aren’t I helpful...). However, if you are working with someone in India, be sure to be overly specific about what you are looking for, price range, etc. so that you don’t have any surprises whether because of language or more malicious intentions.

26 October

We got on the road at around 7:30 this morning, after being cheated out of a frustrating amount of money by the hotel. Our driver was exceptional though; very amiable and when he didn’t know where to go, he just asked for the number for the houseboat and called to get directions himself. He was wonderful. We just took the drive to relax and reboot. It was very stress-relieving to just not need to worry about it... and we are relieved that we can laugh about it all. We’re pretty proud of ourselves having gotten this far, particularly considering yesterday... the bus ride was just unreal for everyone. As one of my friends told her mom on the phone today, “I am ashamed to tell you this, but I pushed an old man out of the way to get on and I may have elbowed a child in the face... I’m not sure. You just can’t be human.” But we made it and so we are back on track, relaxing on the houseboat for a night in the backwaters of Kerela. It is wonderful; everything that we were afraid to hope for and just what we needed. We sat in silence for most of the afternoon, watching the houses and rice fields float by and listening to the sound of the waves against the side of the boat. It has been just what we needed after the last couple of days. Our captain is really funny and was chuckling with and at us all day long. In the evening, a couple of the girls went swimming, but I did not as I was strictly instructed by my Passport Health nurse to not swim in the rivers... see? I follow directions.

It was wonderfully quiet and peaceful on the houseboat... we basically sat in silence the entire day.

27 October

If you ever go to India, you should really go to Kerela and spend at least one night on a houseboat. Although there are many different companies, we went with Coco Houseboats and I very highly recommend them... they were phenomenal and extremely helpful. (http://www.cocohouseboatskerala.com/) Some people apparently spend up to fifteen days on these houseboats, which I think would be too much. However, I could have definitely spent two or three. We checked out at nine this morning and made our way to the “beach resort” that we had booked (the manager of Coco Houseboats called and got exact directions for us and then called to have two rickshaws pick us up, gave them directions, and fixed the price so that we would not get cheated... we were stunned.). The rickshaw drive took us past some absolutely beautiful churches, as a large part of Kerela is Christian. The amusing thing is that it is also largely Communist, so crosses are often seen mere metres from the hammer and sickle sign of the Communist party and red pennants (the colour of the party) hang everywhere. It is about ten minutes walk through the small back roads of the fishing village to the beach, which is beautiful in a very mysterious way. The resort is not really anything special and we are being severely cheated on food, but its clientele pretty much only consists of white tourists, so it has been very pleasant to talk to some of them. We met a Danish family who are living in Delhi, so that was interesting to hear about their lives. The owner has a bit of a strange music selection: all American (but not really anything good) and blasted very loudly on the front porch, which is the only place to sit outside, which makes sitting and talking virtually impossible. Apparently, there is a music room where we can plug in our ipods and party until 4:00 am, but we are, for the most part, exhausted at this point and we are hoping to get an early start tomorrow so that we have the day to explore Cochin, so we will probably all get to sleep early.

Alleppy, Kerala: The houseboats were wonderful... I can’t recommend them enough. The beach is beautiful, but I wouldn’t really recommend our resort (It’s called Vallis Gardens). I would venture to guess that some of the other ones are better, but I really have no scope on that. If you are going to Kerala, I would just say spend time on a houseboat and then an afternoon at the beach: skip the resorts. Just as a note, I am speaking from the viewpoint of a college student with a limited budget. If you are willing to spend more, I have heard that you can get top-quality service at extremely fancy resorts here in Kerala and that this is one of the best places for that.

28 October

We hired another car from the resort to our final hotel in Cochin. The hotel is fantastic... the most Western one we have stayed in on the trip apart from the Fort Palace and, somehow, more comfortable than that one. Perhaps it’s because the manager is really nice, they aren’t cheating us out of any money, and this one has computers with internet in the lobby. But we didn’t spend all that much time there, really, instead spending the entire day walking around Jew Town and Fort Cochin (which is not actually a fort, I found out). What did we do all day, you might ask? Well... we shopped. More than I have ever shopped in one day in my entire life (I would like to say that all I bought were gifts). But it was fantastic... the adrenaline rush from bargaining (which I am astronomically better at now, thank you very much) and the overall relaxed pace of the day. Also, the general attitude of the people here is so nice. We ended up meeting this family (of about twenty people) on vacation from Tamil Nadu and it was great... they were friendly and very interested in us but not pushy. They didn’t approach us or ask us for photographs until we asked them. Then we ended up getting a few more photographs than we bargained for, but it was still great. There were a lot of children in this family, so we pretty much made their day. Overall, people were wonderful in Kerala... we got to meet a whole lot of people because we were much more relaxed because we didn’t feel so on display. And the sunset was beautiful... we have seen so many amazing sunsets during this term. The conclusion to the evening was a great: a birthday dinner for one of the girls at a really good restaurant and an evening spent talking and showing off our purchases while the rain poured outside.

Cochin, Kerala: Definitely spend more than one day here, even just for the experience of walking around and looking at all the buildings. Apart from the house boat, this was my favourite day of the trip. I highly recommend staying at Biju’s Tourist Home, at least if you want a nice, fairly western stay. Obviously, it was affordable, and it was wonderfully located. Just a note: Cochin is also called Kochi depending on where you look.

29 October

Back on the train! I have to confess myself not enjoying it as much as I did the first time. We are, for the most part, exhausted and ready to be done travelling as we have done a tonne in the past nine days. Unfortunately, this trip is even longer than the last and we are going to cram us all into six bunks this time instead of attempting to find a seventh one. Oh, also... on an Indian train you need to sleep with all of your luggage locked and under your head. Someone kindly informed us of that on our first train. However, I am sharing a bunk with another girl, so mine is affixed to the metal grate on the back of the seat and strapped to the back edge of the seat... I think I may have done a little too good of a job because I tried taking it off to get something and couldn’t make it move. I gave up because I was tired, but hopefully I will be able to get it off in the morning.

30 October

Well, the trip is finished. We reached our station around 4:00 and got rickshaws home. My host family is in Goa now, so I am unpacking and repacking to go stay at my Tai’s mother’s house for the next few days. It will be nice to not live out of a suitcase for two months at home. I am exhausted.

So, see what I mean? Not just any vacation. Here is a list of the most bizarre elements of our trip:

-The very insistent chaiwalas (tea sellers) on the train... “Chai, chai, chai. CHAIII!”

-Bus full of college boys yelling “Ehhy!” and trying to grab our hands through the open windows every time our buses passed one another. It happened five or six times.

-Mudumalai had no food.

-Monkeys attempting to get into one girl’s bag and nearly attacking us through our window.

-District Judges taking our elephant.

-20 men climbing up the rickety stairway to the tiny attic restaurant while we waited to go down... they just kept coming!

-The journey to Alleppy taking 13.5 hours over two days instead of 6 hours.

-Watching over 30 people jumping into a moving bus.

-Rioting to push onto the bus.

-Parents hoisting children through the window onto the bus to save seats.

-A drunk man playing footsie with one of the girls on the bus while he stared at them and snapped in their faces.

-Another drunk, very friendly old man offering one of the girls ayurvedic medicine yet again on the same bus.

-The 14 “hair-pin turns” also on that bus ride.

-A nine-year-old throwing up on the same bus.

-2 kids asking for one of the girls ipod as a “free gift” for Diwali, one of which being the aforementioned girl after she threw up. (It was an insane bus ride... and this was the one during which I was drugged.)

-One of the girls got a staple stuck in her teeth.

-A rickshaw driver in Jew town pretending to reel us in on a rope as we were walking toward his rickshaw... then when he charged us too much, he followed us yelling until we got another rickshaw. Then we ran into him at least three more times on the other side of town where he was waiting to give us a ride. A little creepy.

And to think that our original plan included twice as many destinations. Still, overall it was fun. We are to the point where we can look back at almost everything and just laugh it off, even if it is only for the reason that it was so ridiculous we cannot really even believe it happened... the refrain is that this will make a fantastic story to tell everyone when we get back. However, the lack of food was apparently a little more than we realized... when I got back to school yesterday, our director took one look at me and said “Lorenza, you have lost weight.” I don’t know exactly how true that is, but there you go.

We were dubbed "The Magnificent Seven" by one of our staff members. :) Gymnastics reference, anyone?

And now it is November and time to dig deep into our ISPs and turn our research into tangible final results while still attempting to enjoy and experience our last few weeks here in India to the fullest extent. I hope everyone is doing well; I miss you all and cannot wait to see you again.

*L*

If you’re going to travel abroad to India and want to study, you should not do it through an...

2011-11-01T11:24:00Z

If you’re going to travel abroad to India and want to study,

you should not do it through an expensive program with a multitude of other Americans.

Inevitably, an American micro-culture is borne out of the fear of living in a new land,

and you will seek solace in your Computer.

This will happen.

But a true experience will be fabricated easily

through Ideal persona devices such as

Facebook™

Study abroad with a colloquial institution.

It will be cheaper, and it will be total immersion.

There will be no possibility of herding yourself into an office

everyday with twenty other Americans, communicating through networking sites,

afraid to open the blinds.

Thank you.

Edit: This is not to slight either the ACM program staff or beautiful fellow peers, but rather to the very notion of an abroad program that consists of a bunch of affluent mid-westerners going abroad together as a group. It is paradoxical to the nature of living abroad! I do not disassociate myself from this demographic, and the aforementioned message is thus meant to be self-referential..

One of the monks with whom I recently spoke for my independent study project put to words to how...

2011-11-01T09:51:00Z

One of the monks with whom I recently spoke for my independent study project put to words to how I’ve been feeling for a while now. He spoke of how his daily interactions with people can either be of the Soul or Mechanistic in nature. Often they take the route of the mechanistic, in which we use each other as a means to an end as opposed to an end within oneself. A class example: the interaction with the rickshaw driver as a vessel from point A to B versus interacting with this Soul sub specie aeternitatis.

So I try for this. I try on a ferry in Dabol- a small fishing town. I try with a grumpy man who has a five rupee coin lodged into the folds of his ears. The five rupee coin will buy that man his thambaku paan, or a chai. The five rupee coin is the medallion of the Indian proletariat. And I can tell by his leathery, defined arms that he’s a manual laborer. He walks off with pride in his makeshift earring, unresponsive to my attempted interaction.

Then a kind soul walks on to the ferry, gives me a handshake and a Good Morning, and walks to the underbelly of the vessel. I follow him, and we begin to talk. His name is Dildar. I ask him about this old mosque that I saw in Dabol. He says its over 400 years old, and that he prayed in it this very morning (khoop sundar- very beautiful, is this mosque). I ask him where home is. He leans over the edge of the ferry, orients his vision, and motions to a very specific point where the Arabian Sea meets the sky. “Dubai”, he says nostalgically. He hasn’t been to Dubai since he was a child and it’s still Home.

There seems to be a common string that binds all us humans on this planet, and I’m not talking about something of the physical realm. I think it has something to do with eye contact.

This is Mala, a Chaiwala in Pune. Mala knows four languages and is raising two children through selling ginger chai to rickshaw drivers. ‘I don’t meet chaiwalas who even speak English’, I think to myself. Her English is perfect. I ask her how this is possible, and she replies that it is because she functions on a principle of Happiness. But this statement isn’t communicated in one of her four tongues- it’s communicated in her gaze.

For a second we are suspended in one another’s stare. To generalize is to err when referencing anything regarding India, but most women in India don’t let this happen to male strangers as per social conditioning. Yet this chaiwala tore through thousands of years of patriarchal oppression with a stare. In an instant the gaze ends as we feverishly try to restore our respective gender and social roles that our forefathers have prescribed to us. I drink my ginger chai, take a photo of her and one of her many friends and walk on. “Eyes show the strength of the soul”, says the Spanish poet.

Deuce!

2011-10-21T06:13:00Z

An important part of our program is that the students get to live in home stays instead of in dorms or apartments. I am really enjoying it... I have two younger brothers: twelve and a half and six years old. They are both a lot of fun, even if my youngest brother is a little too energetic at points and thus gets tired and grumpy easily. We’ve played football and I’ve been “taught” Cricket and a board game called Carrom. However, I am learning that teaching me a new game means giving me the instructions so that we can begin (how to hold the Cricket bat, for instance) but not actually telling me the rules until I break them. I would just like to say that Cricket may be one of the most boring/pointless games in existence... I don’t really understand why people play it. I am sorry if I offend you but, really, you should try and find something a little more exciting to do with your free time. One of my good friends here is British and he agrees; I rest my case.

In Carrom, each player takes turns flicking a shooting disc at the rest of the pieces, (which are worth different point values dependent on the colour) trying to knock them into the side pockets (a bit like billiards, I suppose). It’s a really fun game, but after a while your fingers hurt from flicking the shooting disc and I kept knocking it into the side pocket the first time that we played, which meant both my brothers shouted “Deuce!” quite loudly and I had to put one of my captured pieces back onto the board (I played against my middle brother and my youngest brother provided highly enthusiastic commentary and advice). Also, the red piece in the middle is worth the most points, so in order to capture that one, you need to knock that one into a pocket and then another one in immediately afterward (every time you knock a piece in, you get an extra turn), otherwise you don’t get the red piece. Consequently, no one gets the red piece so once you get down to the last two pieces, the only one that you can shoot at is the red one because you need to have one left to shoot in after. The last fifteen minutes of the game just consisted of the two of us trying (and failing) to knock the last two pieces in successively (except that I kept hitting deuces, so more pieces were thrown in at points). My youngest brother got bored after about five minutes of this, leading him to pronounce it a “very stupid game.” Eventually, though, I won, much to the chagrin of my middle brother and the delight of my youngest, both because he was rooting for me and because the game was finally over.

Carrom... the white stuff is talcum powder to make the pieces slide better.

My younger brothers are also helping me out with my Marathi and Sanskrit. The first sentence I learned from my youngest brother was “Tu es makdur (mockur)”... most of you can probably figure that out (hint: makdur means monkey). We have only had a few lessons, but those were complete with my youngest brother making me repeat everything about fifty times and giving me an exam at the end (I occasionally had exams on days when I didn’t have lessons as well). He is very thorough... more difficult to satisfy than my teacher at school because he won’t let me stop repeating something until I pronounce it absolutely perfectly... which I’m having difficulty with because what I say the first time sounds correct. We went through animals on the first night (which began when my youngest brother pulled the sentence “The elephant is my friend.” out of thin air).

My first Marathi lesson with my brothers. As you can see, I was graded... several times, actually. Slightly redundant as they told me how to spell everything, but at least I got full marks.

The food here is very good. Most of the cooking is done by the servants and most of it isn’t spicy at all and we have a variety of styles. And they love to feed people here. Every meal, I leave feeling almost over-full. I learned quickly to be clear about when I’m full or else I end up with more on my plate (sometimes I do anyway).

Our house is very clean and my room is very nice. It’s cool, comfortable, and I have plenty of space and storage, including my own bathroom. My door even has a lock on it (in case nothing else will keep my youngest brother out was how it was sold to me). The only thing that’s frustrating is that there is a flock of birds which go crazy each time the sun rises (around 5:30) right outside my window. I don’t ever hear anything from them except for that. I think they’re either crows or magpies, but I haven’t quite figured that out since I’ve been too irritated and groggy to look, but there are a lot of them and they’re really loud. Also, it’s quite common to have people roaring down the street at strange hours on their motorbikes, and since they aren’t necessarily the quietest of vehicles, I’ve been woken up by those many times as well. I am learning to use my ipod with my noise-proof headphones (well, those are broken now, but still) to its fullest advantage... I don’t think it has been used so much ever in its lifetime.

My sheets... selected by my youngest brother. My Tai told me that he was adamant that I have princess sheets since I'm a girl. I've never been particularly fond of Ariel, but I really like these sheets.

My Tai (elder sister... since my host mother is not very much older than me, I call her this instead of Ai (i-e), which means mother.) went to an international school in Bangkok when she was younger, so she has a very interesting point of view on India, as well as other countries, and studying abroad. We have had quite a few long talks and I learn new things about Indian society every time. I really enjoy getting to talk to her and know her. Another result of that is that she makes very sure that I have space and privacy when I need it. Privacy is not something that is understood here to the extent that we are used to back home and a few of the other students have gotten frustrated by this, so I am very grateful. She is really great.

My Dada (elder brother, my host father) works in Mumbai, so he is only home on the weekends. As far as I can tell, this is a fairly common phenomenon here. Obviously this means that I don’t get to see him very much, particularly lately. He is pretty quiet, but he is very nice and gives great travel advice. Other than that, I don’t know too much about him except that he was the state table tennis champion in college (which is pretty neat), and that I learned from my Tai.

My Dadi (grandmother) is very sweet, but I don’t really see all that much of her. She works all day (she’s out the door at 5:30 or sometime around there every morning) and then comes home and watches Marathi soap operas in her room all evening. I’ve watched with her a couple times and have decided that I like soap operas even less when I can’t understand them, which is saying something because I detest the English ones...

My brothers are great (most of the time, at least). The elder one spent a few weeks near the beginning of my time here studying hard for exams (their school is year-round so they have exams every six months) and I got to help him study for English, so I felt quite useful then... he felt like he did pretty well and I enjoyed the experience a lot. We did vocabulary and reading comprehension for the most part. Other than that, however, I was spending most of my time during that stage with my youngest brother when I was at home. We found quite a bit to do... usually we read, but he got bored of that a couple of times. One night he decided he was going to help me untangle my jewellery, so that was fun. We play house and blocks and everything like that or he combs my hair (he has a thing for hair... which means that I keep it bound up most of the time). We have recently picked up the Power Rangers, so we watch and play that (I get to be the evil one)... a cool concept, but the show is pretty dreadful acting-wise, dialogue-wise – well, there’s really not that much that’s fantastic about that show, although perhaps the original was better. During my computer’s ill streak, they both tried helping me fix it, the main method being taking out the battery and shaking it, then replacing it (they wanted to shake the computer itself, but I wasn’t very keen on that idea). Lately, of course, I have been gone every weekend, which limits the amount of time I get to spend with them. However, I get to help them with homework on occasion and play wii with the elder one. I get to read bedtime stories with them and my Tai every night... Dr. Seuss (which I read one night to see how fast I could go) and History of India. It is my favourite part of the day.

One element of family life here that is difficult to adjust to is how different the concept of discipline is. Whining is a common method of complaint... it doesn’t work all of the time in our house, but it still works a little better than I am used to. I am a little less fun than I was initially because as my novelty value has faded, they have realized that, if anything, I am less likely to do what they want if they are whining.

I will be coming back to the United States with a new obsession: football!!! Real football, not American football. My family watches the British Premier League and has gotten me addicted to the point that I will be watching every single game when I get home. Unfortunately, the games are all on weekend evenings, so I haven’t been home for them lately, but once I am finished being gone for the weekends I plan to watch all of the games that I can. I can already tell that the decoration theme of my dorm room will be changed in the spring.

Overall, I like my host situation a lot; it’s turned out to be really great, although I was a little bit overwhelmed and slightly sceptical at the beginning. Considering a few of the other host situations, I feel very lucky... some of them haven’t turned out the best.

23) Whether you are a student living with a host family or a family hosting a student, give the situation at least two weeks before passing any judgement. Awkward situations and misunderstandings at the beginning may not hold and if you let it negatively bias you, you won’t enjoy the experience as much. Also, for a student, it’s going to take a couple weeks to acclimate to the living environment and lifestyles of the family, so both sides need to be kind and understanding.

24) Make sure to spend enough time with your host family. At the beginning it is a little difficult, both for the reason that there is a lot to do initially and that when you’re homesick it’s better to spend time with friends. But your family gets attached to you, so don’t miss out on the experience of getting to know them. If you are hosting, at least attempt to include your student in different activities. One of my friends ends up staying home while her Ai goes out all the time and doesn’t really enjoy that.

25) Be very grateful for all of the things that you have at home, wherever that may be, because there is no guarantee that those items will be present when you go abroad. For me, the list includes dryers, fitted sheets, shower curtains, windex, and fabric freshener. Not having these things doesn’t exactly make life more difficult (except perhaps the dryer... I have had some of my clothes grow mold because they took too long to dry), but I wasn’t expecting to need to go without them.

26) House slippers or just flip-flops to wear around the house are a great idea, as are everyday shoes that can get wet, actually. It’s a good idea if the latter can stand up to a bit of hiking/climbing flights of mountain stairs to ancient caves. I wore flip-flops the first time... bad idea. I just went barefoot up most of the first mountain, which was fine, but I should have had good shoes. Here are some good ideas: crocs (there are a bunch of different styles, not just the original ones), Keens, Tevas, and Chacos... I think I’m going to get some Chacos when I get back home.

We have servants, which I still haven’t gotten used to and don’t think I will. They are really only here while I am at school and have worked for the family for something like fifty years so they’re completely trustworthy, but it’s still a very odd concept for me to get my head around... people doing my laundry and cleaning. I am pretty sure that I will never have servants. The entire situation is made even more awkward by the fact that they don’t seem to quite understand that I truly don’t speak Marathi, and so they talk to me quite quickly and then look at me expectantly and I just stand there shaking my head awkwardly. Oh well, all part of the experience.

Look at me... I wasn’t even this consistant at the beginning. However, I will be gone for the next week, so I most likely won’t write anything until I am back. By the way, comments are always appreciated... it lets me know that people still read this. *Hint, hint* If you ask me questions, I will even answer them in my next entry, I promise.

*L*

Oh, the Things We Learn

2011-10-20T06:14:00Z

I have less than one month left before I leave India. It’s a very strange feeling… I don’t think I will know how I feel about that even after I get on the plane. However, we still have a lot coming up and I am determined to fully enjoy all of it.

I know that I haven’t done the best at giving this impression, but I am actually here to take classes. That’s what we do to fill the time in between all of our trips, you know. For the most part they are going alright…

The first class that we started when we got here was Marathi (6 credits)... it’s the regional language here. So far, we are... well... far worse than we probably should be. Very rough conversations are possible, but for most of us that’s about it. It is difficult to learn and to teach as a second language to English-speakers because so much is different. For the most part, we can identify most of the script, but the majority of the words that the script spells out mean nothing to us. Still, it is fun to be able to read road signs and shop names. Those of us who have learned foreign languages before are picking up certain things faster and the three international students who are already at least bilingual are the best of all... no surprises there. Our professor is the director of the program and we usually take the last twenty minutes to tell riddles and jokes. It’s pretty fun, but we all wish we were better at Marathi. We had our second written exam today; it was frightening and I don’t think I did well.

We have Contemporary India (4 credits) twice a week, once each with two separate professors. Our professor on Monday lectures most of the class and then lets us ask questions about what we have read or seen in the news. He has been covering the structure of India: government and political parties, history and important figures. That is my favourite class here. The format of our Friday section is quite different: two students lead each class after we all read one or two articles on a particular topic: gender or religion, the Dalit or farmer’s movements. Most of the articles are at least twenty years old and quite opinionated. It is a dreadful format for a class. None of us are learning anything because our professor basically does nothing except sit in the corner while we tell one another what we already know from reading the article and answer discussion questions. At the end of every class, we come to the same two conclusions:

-First, we are a bunch of middle-class white kids who know basically nothing about whatever issue it is that we happen to be discussing because we don’t actually live in India. Even when we pretend, we are forced to admit that the articles are so old that quite a lot has changed. Also, we are a group of students who could have absolutely no impact on anything even if we tried.

-Second, the only possible solution to any of these problems is improvement of the education system. The issues cannot be changed by policies, the mindsets of the people must change instead. So, if we actually could do something, that is what would need to be changed.

The whole thing got very redundant by the third time we had done it... not a single one of us enjoys it at this point. Actually, yesterday I presented with one of my friends on the environmental movement. We decided to make things a little different so no one fell asleep this time and started out by having people write haikus in groups of three. We only talked for about half of the class and then things kind of fell apart. The professor informed us that she was disappointed in our lack of enthusiasm. Several of us badly wanted to answer that we were disappointed in her lack of teaching, but we held our tongues. Anyway, not everyone’s favourite class.

Next, we had the choice between three electives (4 credits): Public Health, Indian Literature, and Indian Cinema and Society. I chose the last one because it was the only one that I had any chance of getting to count for credit. It definitely will not make it on the list of classes that I enjoyed during my educational career, but I also could have a better attitude about it. The teaching style of our professor doesn’t mesh well with my learning style. Also, the style of the movies we watch doesn’t really fit my taste: they are kind of along the line of Nobel prize books, which I have never enjoyed. I guess I’m just picky about my books and movies. We spend a lot of time on the meaningless symbolism behind certain shots and the attitude that the director wanted to convey by a particular camera angle. Personally, I get bored of that rather quickly, but knew it would happen though and didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to get credit for something so I truly am trying to make the best of it. Besides, while it may be slightly frustrating, it’s not as bad as the literature professor who is determined that no one will get an “A” in his class. We did end up having a pretty great experience through my cinema professor though. Two weeks ago, all of us got the chance to go see a movie about Phalke, the “father of Indian cinema” at the Film Archives here. After the film finished (and it was spectacular), we got the chance to talk to the director for a while! It was a great experience.

With Paresh Mokashi, the director of Harishchandrachi Factory, I think the best film of its genre that I have ever seen. He isn't a trained director... he just decided one day that he wanted to make a film.

The last element of our coursework is the independent study projects (4 credits) that we each are working on. My project is… currently under revision, which is not very good considering that the due date is less than a month away. Originally, I was intending to research India’s policies regarding human trafficking. However, I was advised against that as it wasn’t really a topic that I could research in three months. So I turned to low-income education, as that ties into human trafficking somewhat. Fortunately, I have gotten the chance to work with another of the students who is also studying education. We were hoping to interview schoolchildren of around fifteen years old as a part of our studies. The problem has been that a) our initial approval with our home universities took a considerable time to acquire, and b) our interviews need to be with students from government schools, which means that we need approval from the government here as well. Unfortunately, the bureaucratic system here runs… well, slowly is an understatement. The combination of everything means that we don’t have the approval that we need and thus cannot conduct any interviews. So… my topic has changed yet again to where it will be only source research and no interviews. Additionally, to give myself more material, I will be adding in more of my original idea. Needless to say, I have a lot of work ahead of me, but it will all get done. It’s a relief to know now what I need to do and not be waiting on anyone or anything, just be able to get on with my work. The end result will be a paper of minimum twenty-five pages… the longest that I have ever written in my life.

Just a couple trips specific to the program or anyone who might have an independent study project to complete while abroad…

21) Get your ISP off the ground as much as you can before you leave home because everything here runs slowly. When you get abroad, don’t expect anything to work the same. A good tip that we heard was to plan on getting one third of the work done in thrice the time here that you would expect to complete back in the United States. That is not an understatement.

22) Choose something you will enjoy. Unless you are going to get credit for it back at home, you don’t even need to make it academic. You can study different styles of music, dance, or cooking. Having your interviewees be the other students is a great idea. One of my friends did a project on geographical first impressions and had us all draw mental maps. There’s no need to necessarily pick something super academic, especially because those are guaranteed to take longer and be more difficult anyway. Besides, you don’t want the difficulties to just dishearten you to the point that you don’t want to do anything about it anymore.

Actually, the trip this past weekend to Mahabaleshwar was not really a vacation but more of a conference to discuss our projects. We all know roughly what one another has been working on it, but it was interesting to hear how everyone has progressed. Each of us took about ten minutes to talk about it and then got comments and questions from everyone else, including our two professors who came along. So, nineteen students at around a half hour each… we were sitting and talking about projects for a little over ten hours. Lots of fun… yey! Actually, it was mostly enjoyable. We got to sit outside on the veranda of our hotel where we could watch the monkeys jumping around in the trees if we got bored. Still, we faced a bit of difficulty with the weather. The majority of our presentations took place on Saturday and it began raining heavily part-way through, making it difficult to hear and eventually getting us wet enough that we needed to go inside. Then the power went out, so we sat there for a while presenting in the dark. But we just kept going – we are at the point where almost nothing phases us anymore – and it was still fun apart from a few obnoxious questions and comments.

Project briefings at Mahabaleshwar... don't we look like we're having fun?

So see? I truly have been working. The academics are nowhere near as difficult as at home – definitely not the main point of the program. Still, we are all conscientious enough students that we are doing fairly well despite the highly frustrating differences seen between our academic attitudes and those of our professors.

Check back in tomorrow as I am going to write even more! Having a functional computer is great.

*L*

Escape to Goa - Part 2

2011-10-19T06:23:00Z

And now, my favorite part of our Goa trip.....the food!!

Seafood
I waited until we went to Goa to finally try my hand at the seafood here - monsoon season in Pune doesn't have a good reputation for being the time to eat fish...Seafood is the staple food and specialty of this small seaside state. We tried fish curry (the classic Goan dish) but it was very fishy and not really for me. The Kingfish I ordered at a restaurant called "Kentuckee" - next to the beach at Colva - was light, sweet, and juicy and reminded me somewhat of swordfish in the way it was prepared. The Kingfish steaks I had were much much thinner than any swordfish steak I've ever had, but the general "meatiness" of it is comparable. The squid I had at the hotel was tender and buttery, albeit simple. When we went to a seafood restaurant, I saw a server bring out a live crab the size of a basketball, with claws the size of my fists! Goa doesn't mess around when it comes to their seafood, that's for sure....

Fish Curry - the staple food of Goa!

Xacuti
I ate Chicken Xacuti at the Fernandes Beach Hut at Palolem Beach and it was so delicious - one of the food "revelation" moments I have had here when it takes about 4 or 5 bites just to begin to find the answers to "Wow, that is good, what am I tasting???". Xacuti is a Goan curry, usually made with chicken, that is a good example of Portuguese influence on Goan food. Xacuti always has coconut, onions, white poppies, and red chilies.

Goan Chicken Xacuti (Photo courtesy of FoodLets)

Fenny
Fenny is the local liquor It is only made in Goa. Cashew fenny, coconut fenny, and palm fenny are the only types we have seen (they don't make it from more than those 2 crops I don't think). It is made by pressing and extracting all the juice from cashew apples (for cashew fenny) or sap from the coconut palm tree (for coconut fenny) which is then boiled/distilled into a pot which is buried underground to ferment for several days. I'll just come out and say it: fenny tastes funky. It is supposed to taste fruity and nutty, like burnt sugar, but to me, quite frankly, it tastes like a mix between mezcal and dark rum. Then again, I'm not the alcohol connoisseur that my husband is, so maybe it is not so funky after all...

Fenny Distillery in Goa (Photo courtesy of PublicRelationsIndia@Wordpress).

Bebinca
We all tried the Bebinca at Kentuckee's too and it was great. On the first bite, vivid memories of my mami's bread pudding came to mind and I was so happy to taste it again - I certainly didn't expect it, but this bebinca tastes the closest to it than anything else I have ever tasted. No other bread pudding recipe came as close to being the rich, dense, moist and congealed consistency and taste as the bread pudding she used to make. I was never able to get the recipe from her, but I feel like if I tweak a bebinca recipe just a tad, I might end up with a recipe as close to hers as I'll ever get it. Bebinca is a traditional Goan dessert made for special occasions and holidays. Patience is the biggest ingredient in making it because you have to layer (traditionally it has 16 layers) each layer only after the previous one has set. I had no clue what bebinca was before we ordered it, but now that I have familiarized with some recipes for it, its no wonder it taste like mami's bread pudding: it is made with flour, coconut milk, sugar, egg yolks, and ghee (clarified butter). With the exception of the milk being coconut milk, it sounds like a standard cake recipe. Bebinca is very much so a part of Goan culture, and one that I sure do love!!

Bebinca with ice cream (Photo courtesy of iFood.tv).

Sizzlers
We went down a long, quiet road a bit away from the beach to a beautiful oasis restaurant called Fishland. The atmosphere and the service couldn't have been better. The dinner I ordered was without a doubt one of the best things I have tasted in India. On many menus in Goa we found "sizzlers" and I could only imagine it would come out like something like the fajitas at Chili's, and quite frankly, I wasn't too far off. When I asked where sizzlers came from I got a variety of answers, everything from Africa, to Spain, to Japan. A hot sizzle plate that cooks meat or fish, vegetables, and comes with french fries is what the Goan sizzlers consisted of. I ordered a King Prawn Sizzler, and man was it tasty. The sauce was so satisfying, smooth, rich, and light at the same time. The prawns were cooked with some mixed vegetables and swam in the sauce (I wish I knew what it was!!) and was topped with french fries which were even yummier dipped in the sauce.

Although this wasn't the dish I ate, this is the basic idea of what a Goan Sizzler is!

Escape to Goa - Part 1

2011-10-18T05:58:00Z

I know I'm not the only one in the ACM student group who feel like it was about time for an escape from Pune, but man, did we need an escape... Homework and frustrations added up to make for a stressed out, immune-system impaired, frazzled group of students who were ready for a break! We planned a trip to the tiny state just south of Maharashtra along the west coast called Goa.Any guide book would tell you Goa is the laid-back, carefree,tropical, party capital of India. And from my experience there this past weekend, I would certainly agree with that.

Goa in a nutshell

Portuguese Influence
Goa is a beautiful place. It feels like an entirely different country to me. The landscape looks different, the people look and act different, the pace of life is different, the food is very different, and the culture is quite different as well. While the rest of India was colonized by the British, the Portuguese inhabited Goa for almost twice as long. Needless to say, the Portuguese influence in Goa is deeply imbedded and very evident in everything from architecture, religion (a huge christian population!), food (chicken cafreal and bebinca, anybody??), and daily lifestyle.

Church of the Holy Spirit in Margao, Goa

Colva Beach

We all stayed at Williams Beach Retreat at Colva Beach, just down the road from the small city of Margao. The hotel was about 5 minutes walk from the beach, and the shops and restaurants you pass on the way to the beach are fun and laid back. The food at the hotel was pretty good for the most part (great breakfast menu) but the service takes laid-back to a whole new level - it took us 2 hours after ordering to get one entree, one appetizer, and two desserts for a group of us. Pretty ridiculous but maybe it is part of the laid-back beach atmosphere because slow service seemed to be common among the restaurants we went to.

One stretch of Colva Beach in Goa

Palolem Beach

The cool and salty water, the powdery soft sand, the cows and dogs peacefully sharing the beach, the huge rocks dispersed along the shore, the surrounding palm-tree-covered hills... I soaked up everything about Palolem Beach and I loved it there. It is astoundingly beautiful. Some drivers took us to the beach about 90 minutes south of Colva Beach, and we instantly took to the small town tropical feel. What was most funny about this trip to Palolem was that we got a real kick out of all the European tourists we saw there - loads of them - we must have been out of America for too long hahaha.

We ate at Fernandes beach shack restaurant, right there on the sand. We sat in reclining chairs, all seats facing the ocean just a few sandy steps away as the sun set, watching and listening to the waves crash onto the beach in front of us. As I sipped my sweet and tangy banana lassi I couldn't help but look around and think just how lucky I was to be there. It really is just breathtaking. We spent several hours lounging in the Arabian sea watching the eagles and hawks dance above us in the sky. Palolem Beach was definitely one of my highlights in India so far, and I recommend ANYONE that goes to India to make sure to see the beauty of this place.

Having fun on the beach!

You can see the beach huts on the left, one of which is Fernandes Beach Hut!

Here and There and Everywhere...

2011-10-18T03:41:00Z

Hello!

Well, I have gotten my computer back, but not repaired as it seems that the motherboard needs to be replaced. As a result, I have decided to wait until I get back to the States to see to repairs. However… my computer has inexplicably decided to work again. I decided that I won’t complain about it and just keep backups of my files. So, after a silence of over a month, my blog is going to come back to life. And this will be quite the entry, so go get your tea before you begin to read...

We have been up to quite a lot; more than I can cover even in the length that this is going to turn out to be. Therefore, I will stick to the main events. Three weekends ago, about half of our group got the opportunity to go on a cycling trip around the southern part of Maharashtra along the coast. The trip wasn’t booked through our program, but through a travel agent that one set of the students booked their term travels with.

A little fishing village that we rode through backed by the Arabian Sea.

It was amazing! We got to see the backcountry, stay in the fishing villages, and bike along the sand. Nothing like this trip is part of the program, so we got a completely unique experience. Our guide, Kedar, personalizes each trip to the group’s interests and physical fitness. He and one of his friends, Nitan, rode along with us and we had two cars following us the entire way in case we got tired or injured, driven by Kedar’s daughter and wife. They were all fluent in English and wonderful company! My endurance is dreadful and there were a lot of long climbs on both days. When Kedar saw at the end of the first day that I was having difficulty with it, he rode almost the entire way the second day with me, giving me tips for how to keep going and talking to distract me from the climb. I made it up the entire mountain without stopping... it took about thirty or fourty minutes. The company’s name is Green Earth Adventures (www.greenearthadventures.com) and if you ever want to experience India in an amazing way, absolutely go on a trip with them. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the experience... it was far beyond fantastic.

The group of us who went on the bike trip.

19) Take the opportunities that come your way... you may very well come out with one of the best experiences of your life. We almost didn’t take this one, but every one of us is so grateful that we did. Even if it might cost a little more or you feel like you don’t have time... seize it.

Then two weekends past, we got the chance to go to Goa... all of the students except for one who got the chance to go on a learning retreat with a group of Buddhist monks. Goa is one of the main tourist traps of India, and for good reason... it is beautiful: all sun, sand, and green-blue waves. We spent a day on the beach which Jason Bourne runs on in The Bourne Supremacy… some people even saw dolphins there. And there were so many white people! It was great... we could even wear swimsuits and shorts. We spent one evening on a boat where we got to watch the sunset and got some breathtaking photographs. We spent a morning walking around Old Goa, where we got the chance to see the largest church in Asia. Goa was settled by the Portuguese and is known as the Christian state in India. As such, they have a large collection of beautiful churches, cathedrals, and basilicas. The Shivas, Krishnas, and Saraswatis that fill the roadside shrines that one sees throughout India were mostly replaced by crosses. The same devotional garlands of flowers that people leave for Hindu idols adorn these crosses... it was really something beautiful to see.

The Basilica de Bom Jesus in Old Goa.

Most of us chose to rent cars to take us there and drive us around the entire weekend. However, it wasn’t exactly the experience we were expecting. Since Goa is such a large tourist destination, the roads became wonderfully smooth once we arrived. Until we got there and after we left, the potholes and bumps were dreadful. I’ve described driving in India before, right? How lanes are only a suggestion and the horn is in constant use? Yes, well, the highway for ten to fourteen hours under these conditions does not necessarily lend itself to comfortable driving. The drivers were surly all weekend, cheated us into paying for their meals although we were not supposed to, swore rather liberally at having to drive around Goa, and refused to separate, which kind of defeated the point of having two cars. The reason for the last two is that they had no idea where they were going most of the time... and maps are not really a done thing here. So we got lost several times every time we got into the car, making our trips longer than they should have been. The best choice would have been to take the public bus overnight, which some of the other students did, and then rent cars once we reached Goa. So...

20) When you plan something, do not expect things to work as they do at home. Consider every option and be careful to read advice of people who have taken each one. However, you mustn’t let it ruin your time... it’s not worth it. You will miss the good things.

Goa...

And then, this past weekend, we went to the Mahabaleshwar Hill Station. There are hill stations all over India, built high in the mountains during colonization by the British to escape the hottest parts of the year. It was slightly cooler, but not by a considerable amount. It rained quite heavily on Saturday for several hours on end and we got to see some fantastic storms. Also, all the rain meant that the mist would seep in around us while we were standing or sitting around… it felt as if we were in the middle of the clouds. We watched sunset over a lake on Friday evening and a few of us got up early enough to watch sunrise on the top of the mountain. I got to go horseback riding twice and, unlike America, I was allowed to gallop around a large track that they had. I had so much fun. It was quite a relaxing weekend for all of us and the slightly cooler temperatures were great. Additionally, Mahabaleshwar is known for its strawberries. They aren’t in season right now, but I had the best strawberry ice cream that I have ever had made from last season’s frozen fruit. Very delicious.

Sunset in the mountains.

On Saturday morning, we went to a spectacular overlook where you could see for kilometres in every direction. It was great except for the crowds. The paparazzi phenomenon has been bad in other places, but it got particularly bad there… to the point where a few of us yelled at the groups of college boys following us and I actually shoved a group of them away from us when they got particularly close and irritating. It was like being a zoo animal, completely ridiculous that they didn’t consider it rude at all. I have no tips for avoiding irritation as I haven’t figured it out myself and cannot help becoming angry every time it happens. Some people have begun making faces to ruin the photos… I may try that soon. Unfortunately, I think I am slightly more prone to slapping people or confiscating their cameras.

Monkeys! And no, I haven't tried to pet any of them yet.

So that’s my travels thus far… or at least a brief version and I believe that is long enough. Our longest holiday is rapidly approaching so there will be another considerable entry and many photographs after that one. However, I will be writing again before that, so check back tomorrow. I miss you all greatly and hope that you are all doing well!

*L*

Ganesha Chaturthi Festival - Part 3

2011-10-12T06:37:00Z

After 10 days of festival-ing (the 11th day - which just so happens to be September 11th this year), the Ganpati idols are taken in procession to the river and immersed in the water to return to God. By now you might be wondering why I keep using the words Ganesh, Ganesha, and Ganpati, interchangeably. They all refer to the god Ganesh and are used interchangably here, mostly depending on the context. To prepare for the celebrations that take place around the clock for the final part of Ganpati, auspicious rangoli is done on the streets where the processions and partying will take place. It is fascinating to watch them make and is genuinely awesome to see completed:

The rangoli powders, made from colored rice flour (which is considered auspicious).

Putting the finishing touches on rangoli on Laxmi Road.

The most beautiful rangoli I have ever seen!!

The immersion festival is the grand finale of the festival and all the idols (mostly the big public ones) are paraded down the street on floats with blasting bollywood dance music with millions of people crammed in the downtown area on Laxmi Road. One of the fellow ACM student's host family lives on Laxmi Road so every year the students stay overnight at their house to experience the celebration. We stayed up all night hearing the loud drumming, the cheers, the techno desi-dance music, watching the huge floats of flashy idols sail down the street as if crowd-surfing on the millions there to celebrate. It was a wild night for sure.

A quick snapshot of the procession crowd dancing and marching down Laxmi Road

It is a shame that such a happy, exciting, and unifying celebration of their god can be tainted by corruption and perversion, but that was unfortunately the experience of a lot of people in our group. Most of what I have blogged about has been upbeat and fun but I think it is important to shed some light on some of the negative experiences we have had here. As you can see in that crooked barely-caught picture, most of the crowd is men. It is not a safe place for women and girls to celebrate because they will be harrassed. We were able to join in the procession and party down the street to the river until the wee hours of the morning but only because there was a group of men creating a protected circle inside the crowd by holding hands and "red-rovering" the handsy men away from the girls. At first it was nice to realize the girls had their own safe place away from the harrassment, groping, and generally disgusting behavior from the rowdy crowd but then it hit us that it was really sad that this was even necessary. The treatment of women in India has long been talked about and is (hopefully) not an unheard-of topic for most people. The actual experiences we have had here in India are a whole different thing than reading about it in a book or a class lecture. While our Ganpati experience may have been the most extreme case, it is not the only time I or other girls at ACM have experienced this unjust treatment.

As a fair-skinned, female foreigner in India there is absolutely no privacy, attention is always called to us, and we are that much more of a target for dirty, rude, and sexually repressed men who apparently think it is still ok to harrass women. The most disturbing experience of this I have had was when I was walking around town with my friend and we were stopped on a street corner talking. An Indian man saw us and crossed the street with an Indian woman he was with and literally dragged her by her braided hair up to us and then, in Marathi, began to offer her to us. We were not sure if he was her husband, pimp, brother, friend, boss, or what or what exactly he was offering her for. Was he wanting us to give her money? Was he trying to sell her? It was really hard for me to not say anything and I was very uncomfortable with this. There are many injustices here and treatment of women is one several of us have experienced a bit too closely. The starving begging children, as anyone who has seen Slumdog Millionaire could tell you, are a real problem too. Any money given to them is quickly snatched away by their ugly (mob)boss men who make them beg. I like to carry some food on me to give to them so they can eat something immediately rather than give them money which will not help them one bit, but even doing this creates a problem. Like most issues found throughout India, the best I could say is: "It's complicated."

A boy who came up to me in my rickshaw on the way to the Ganpati Immersion Festival