Two Days ago

Today is Shaheed Diwas also known as Matyr’s Day when Indians pay tribute to those who lost their lies in the struggle for India’s independence and is also the day when Ghandi was assassinated. There was a silence at noon commemorating his life and a gathering at his statue memorial/traffic circle in the morning. Yesterday, I bought his autobiography: “An Autobiography or the story of my experiments with truth” and started it. I would not say it is a light read content wise, but something easy to jump into. I highly recommend it!

Today we headed to Sanganer, a 500 year old village that once was outside of Jaipur but now is within the municipality. It is known for its paper, block print and blue pottery textiles and we visited the major facilities that specialized in each. The paper is made from a cotton pulp, dyed with natural colors, then muslin screens are used to catch the pulp to create the paper, they are squeezed and packed in giant stacks then pressed flat with metal sheets in small sets. That prolly made no sense-the paper makers of the world will know how to describe it better. I think Karen would have loved it. And one who makes paper is called a kagazi. Karen Kagazi. They then use the paper to create all kinds of notebooks, boxes, coasters (not sure if that’s a good idea?), frames and even pop up garbage cans (of which I bought two cuz they are AWESOME). Next, we headed to see a block print/pottery family owned business. Saganeri print basically consists of wooden stamps with natural coloured inks that are placed on top of each other. The skill with block printing is placement we are told and got to have a go on a bed sheet. If one man were working on the sheet, it would take about 9 hours to complete. Screen printing= less than 2 minutes. Then we were taken to the pottery section where we learned that the blue pottery gets its hue from a type of quartz found nearby and obsidian that is found in Rajasthan, our state. It was really awesome to see how similar the pottery looked to the Spanish tiles that I was used to in Sevilla. Those sneaky Persians…

This afternoon was my first night of yoga. Shiveta and Krista’s host mom does it everyday and brought some of the girls along a few days back (I missed the first because I was tired yet showed the kids PhotoBooth on my mac so that was awesome too…). I joined them today with a one month membership for Rs 200 (about $4). There’s about seven of us that go then about 6 Indian women who totally showed us what Indian yoga was about. All of the instruction is in Hindi and I think we’re going to get good at counting up to 20 very soon. Our instructor kept telling us to close our eyes yet it was kind of impossible not too. I’m sure we will catch on soon. Doing the corpse pose is amazing because he just talks to us and it sounds like India. Later we end with a “namaste” pose (not sure what it’s called) but you put hands together like a prayer, and we sing. The complex is incredible and the group spotted a peacock last time. Fingers crossed for next time.

Yesterday was our first super ripped off by a rickshaw day, but we took a video beforehand!! And in Hindi class we learned helpful numbers: 15, 20, 25, 35 and 50, “are!” which apparently is the sound you make to mean are-you-kidding-me and “mai dusre riksha se jauga” (I will take another one). We will win at rickshaw schemes! Haha. I think this is good for me. I’m way too used to taking what people say and not standing up for myself or not questioning things people do or say that offend me out loud. I think India is changing a thing or too about my self-confidence. Oh boy, I did it- the obvious “what I learned when I studied abroad” moment…

Anyways, we found a really great bookstore/café/boutique set up that gave us a jolt of good old American-ness. Books are pretty cheap (my Ghandi book was 60 cents) and the store sold bollywood movies for about $1.50. The café had the most wonderful chocolate/peanut butter/corn flake bar I’ve ever eaten, and reminded me so much of the contents of a Caribou Coffee glass pastry counter. Indians sure hate their chocolate, don’t do peanut butter and but sure do love corn flakes. I don’t know if that thought process made sense but that bar was delicious for whatever reason it was made.

We’ve come to realize we will really enjoy our daytime adventures, time at home and weekend travel here. For example, we just spent our Friday night growing farm animals with those magic growing capsules with the kids. It was kinda awesome though since I hadn’t done that since I was about 5. We don’t really feel comfortable being out past dark and our host mom is always making comments that it’s not safe for us to be out around “those Indian boys.” It’s kind of a hard realization for so many reasons--what’s fair, cultural, gendered etc. There’s also a crazy story that’s in the news about some women in Bangalore who were assaulted while at a bar drinking with male counterparts. There are members of congress defending the men who beat the girls saying the men acted in moral code- these behaviors are intolerable and alcohol should be condemned. Rajasthani politicos are leaning this way as well since the state is culturally more conservative than others in India. They have begun what some have called a moral policing in the state, which started a few months back when they shorten liquor selling hours and closed I think about 900 alcohol selling shops. That’s where we are. Can I be angry? How? Can you fight for these women but then again who would even care? What does my opinion count for?

Aside from these tales, I spend a lot of my time in class, practicing Hindi (spelling out peoples names to teach myself the letters and making flashcards), planning trips/summer and reading. Next weekend is a Desert Festival in Jaisalmer- “a chance for mustache-twirlers to compete in the Mr. Desert concert.” Um, yes please. This is about a 12 hour train ride west into the desert (=camels!! Yet we’ve seen tons of urban ones) but more importantly 12th century fort on the camel route from India to central Asia that is sadly on the World Heritage Sites most endangered list. Anyways, I found out about some cool sleeping spot on a roof, so I’m excited. We’re also plotting out a trip to Agra the next weekend I think. Ooooo and on February 19th there’s a wedding for our host dad’s sister’s grandson…I think. Anyways, we’re invited and I think get to miss school since it’s something cultural. But more importantly I’M GOING TO AN INDIAN WEDDING!!! Tomorrow we’re going wedding shopping with Niveta for clothes and other cotton-y things. It’s not too hot yet but all cotton outfits are going to feel so delicious!

Closing remarks:
There is a sticker that reads “I ‘heart’ F.U.’s” on my cabinet. I’m curious.There are so many pierced noses which I’m told is to prevent pain during childbirth if done on the left nostril. But I’m sure there’s gizilions of reasons.

Shopping Day

So all we did today was shop. And wows. It was awesome.

Early in the day Amber and I started to plan out the upcoming weekend and decided upon Agra. Since it’s really only a day trip, we are spending Friday night just outside of Keoladeo Ghana National Park to visit the bird sanctuary there on Saturday, then heading to one of Akbar’f forts on the way to Agra where we will spend Saturday night. SUNDAY= TAJ MAHAL!!!!.....!! We chose this weekend so a) we could do it soon and b) so we wouldn’t be there for Valentine’s Day, even though being there with a bunch of other girls could be awfully romantic, haha.

We ventured out to the best bookstore where we got some sweet reads and are now friends with someone- the bookkeeper- who will give us more info about really anything. After another go at the mall finding yoga clothes we headed back for lunch to prepare for our shopping trip. Niveta arranged for a driver (we are with a really well off family I’m realizing more and more) so we could stop in shops then move on to the next. I ended up purchasing a few tunics and short sleeve shirts, scarves, 2 tailor fitted “suits” which have long tops that go about to the knees with matching churidar style pants (a sort of hipster skinny leg style), some really shiny jewelry to match my big splurge…a bright pink and blue saree for the wedding. It is probably the brightest think I have ever bought/worn but its absolutely awesome and I’m very much in love with it. There are some sequins and the border has a special tie and dye pattern that is unique to the area. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to wear it at home, but I will somehow find a reason.

Once we were back, Anna, Rachel and Shiveta stopped by and we went to Mr. Beans, Jaipur’s premier coffee shop, and it was kind of incredible. It looked like a nightclub from outside (apparently turns into one at around 9- clubs close here at 11:30pm) and when we opened the door “womanizer” by Britany Spears was on and later we head 50 cent. The baristas were all wearing these militant berets, rather Che Guevara-esque. The menu was pretty good, but seeing that I usually get chai when I go out to coffee- and we have chai here like 5 times a day- I was in a bit of a bind. Meh. They also have hookah and “American style French fries”- a pretty interesting place really. At first thought, I was like this is so American, but it really wasn’t. It’s fascinating to see what western ideas we export and then what interpretations of it exist elsewhere.

Back at home we had the tastiest “raspberries” I’ve ever had in my life. They were like orange grapes that came in a bunch attached to leaves. It tasted like strawberries, watermelon and oranges all at once. Must find more.

I’m really beginning to “get” it here. I’m so much more comfortable walking around, not being as timid of venturing out of the house and asking more questions. I am so excited for our upcoming travel plans, as Jaipur is a good base and I love our family, but seeing more of India is just going to be so amazing!!

मेरा नेम कार्ली है

I think this is my name in Hindi.
कार्ली वेंदेगना
Will write more soon but I wanted to see if I can upload videos. Here is a ridiculously touristy moment in a rickshaw...

Republic Day

Happy Republic Day! India has been a democracy for 60 years, and while that’s debatable, the whole country does celebrate!

We watched some of the big show in Delhi on TV, and that was enough for us. There is a huge parade to show off the army’s strength and then the President hands out awards to noble citizens and the wives of fallen military heroes. Each city has its own celebration, but as all Republic Day festivities were under high security alerts, it was better that we did our own thing today.

We headed to the Lakshmi temple, goddess of wealth and prosperity in the morning before lunch, as it’s about a 5 minute walk. It was a huge marble temple and we were lucky enough to see the unveiling of the deity and singing. She was fully dressed in gold and rich deep red clothes. I also discovered I really enjoy not wearing shoes in public places. Later on after lunch, we headed with some friends to the “Old City” which was constructed by Jai Singh II in the 1730s when he decided to move from Amber, a nearby fortress. He laid out the city according to principles set by an ancient Hindu treatise, Shilpa-Shastra. It is in the north part of Jaipur and enclosed by giant pink walls and gates- which were painted by the Maharaja Ram Singh to welcome the Prince of Wales in 1876 (funny enough the current maharaja is a polo friend of Prince Charles). Anyways, the inside was pure chaos, row after row of shops on roads with hard-to-find-when-written-in-Hindi names like “Khajane Walon ka Rasta” and “Baba Harish Chandra Marg.” Once we got back we talked to Niveta about taking us shopping for some tunics and sarees on Saturday so we can begin to fit in a bit more. Shopping on our own seems impossible when we know that would be getting taken advantage of as tourists and she seems pretty excited to take us! After the usual evening chai and biscuits, we took a family trip with the kids, us, host mom and dad and his sister to see the government buildings- which are lit up on special holidays and during festivals. It reminded me of getting in the car to head to Candy Cane Lane, but to see the Indian version of the IRS...

I think the most exciting news of the past two days is that we have taken auto and cycle rickshaws and bargained for fair rates according to our dad. We’ve mastered “kitna” for how much and “mehenga” for that’s too much. You keep walking a bit and then you eventually get what you want. Small steps but I have to give us some credit; I think we’re the most adventurous pair of roommates out of our small group when it comes to getting out the house. Yesterday we made to a grocery store for snacks and some toiletries and I had the most delicious fanta of my entire life, even though I’ve prolly only had about two…ever. I think it’s the lack of high fructose corn syrup. After lunch we made it down to the Central Museum which was set up by some Brit, and had all kinds of weaponry, pottery and even a mummy. You really get slapped in the face when it comes to your foreign identity here, for example it cost us 100 Rs to enter when Indians pay 5Rs, we were also shooed out to the exit while we were trying to take pictures where other Indians were. The blatant picture taking and staring won’t go away but I think getting out a lot our first few days might make it easier to adjust to than waiting for later. It’s funny how silly excited we get when we see tourists. A part of me wants to hug them. I don’t know when I’ll be able to explain why but I hope to before I leave India.
Amber and I kind of talked through some possibilities for travel. My thoughts are to head and stay north after our classes are over. Monsoon and the heat will hit in Rajasthan in May and from what Niveta tells us, we won’t want to be here. I know that people in the group want to hit Udaipur, Agra (Taj Mahal) and Varanasi before the program ends, which are all within about a day radius of Jaipur. For afterwards, there is a girl who may be doing some volunteer work in Ladakh who would be up for some company, Darjeeling and Dharamsala are possibilities for travel and Nepal is also close and you van get visas at the border crossings. If there is a slight possibility those sound interesting to you…come to India!!

Tomorrow we start class and I am so excited. We’re catching on to important words like roko- “stop” very important for rickshaw-ing and tikay and achaa for ok but I think we have quite a bit to go. Afterwards is yoga!!

Fun things:
We have found the one discotheque in Jaipur.

And the number for an elephant taxi…

So we are now in Jaipur!!

Finally unpacked and settled with our host family, I am excited to begin to get our bearings. Amber and I have the most incredible set up: our own “wing” of the house, each with our own room and bathroom. The whole bucket bath thing isn’t nearly as daunting as I thought it would be and we have a water heater which doesn’t make the whole thing that bad. Apparently there are gizillions of ways to shower, but as long as we get clean, I don’t think it matters. Our coordinator told us that daily showers were very important to Indians, so I’m sure over time I’ll figure it out so it doesn’t take 15 minutes. Haha. The beds are humongous and hard but good for the back. I sleep like a baby either way.
Speaking of babies…there are two children in the house: Anoosha, 5 ½ and Ahman, 4. The puzzle of the US I brought seemed to be a big hit until Ahman got tired then put all the pieces in his pocket and ran off. So, we shall see when we see that again. There is also a grandfather in the house, who we call papaji. I am kind of obsessed with the ji concept. Before coming, I thought ji was only given to saintly types as a term of love and respect like Mahatma Ghandiji, but here I am finding it for lots of people. All of our teachers have that as an ending…Rimaji, Rekahji when others introduced them. This morning Ahman came in and said to us “Good morning didi!!” as adding didi to the end of a name means older sister. Our dad explained that there is a great respect to those who are older than you. (Maybe possible addendum ideas for what Lucas can call me? I should look for the “cousin” version…) Then there is Niveeta and her husband Palkadesh. They both speak very good English and Niveeta really looks forward to helping us with our Hindi. So far we’ve got down water (pani) and thank you (shukriya). I think having young children in the house will be a great advantage. We also have a maid, Shoorbala and younger servant Galmesh, who watch after the children, cook and clean the house. This is a concept that we touched on a bit in class which I think has helped me think through the idea. Most middle class families have servants as a general means to give fewer chores to the woman of the household. As one of our teachers told us today, “there are no rights for woman in India, just duties.” Women when they are born are expected to do certain things throughout their lives without question. Rekahji had made a good point that while we may come with strong feminist leanings and look at the way women are treated with concern, we must understand that women have come a long way from independence. She sees this time as a transitional period, where women are finding new ways of dress, reinventing marriage symbols (the bindi or dying their hair part), time spent doing household chores or making more money than their husbands. While men do little, as we have seen with our “dad” and papji, just take meals and watch tv, “they have not grown” as she said. Women are taking quiet but marked strides in what their duties are for their lifetimes. I think watching how Niveeta interacts with other women, her husband and children will have a huge impact on how I understand this country’s attitudes and expectations of women. Then again, servant relationships are something I have great interest in understanding more. We have yet to delve too deep into castes (and skin tones) but these seem to be greatly at play in this household and on the street. Asking our host mom straight up, how old were you when married, was it arranged, what caste are you from, how did you feel about it, etc. may take some time (if ever) but she spends the most time with us and we learn more about her everyday. Today, we thought she said she had a driver but when we clarified, she was quick to correct us that she drives herself. Our dad isn’t outwardly anti-feminist but he does tend to have a lead in conversations and asked Amber what her father did and not her mother when we were talking about her growing up on a Minnesota farm- which was really strange as her father raises Angus cows. This family is strictly vegetarian!!
Today we ventured out to find some clothes and oh boy do we have some stuff to get used to. It sounds kind of crazy to keep bringing up traffic, but I feel that is one of the most stressful parts of trying to get acclimated here. Its so loud, fast and there are always autorickshaw drivers that are trying to give us rides that we have to shoo off. Looking confident while ignoring “eve teasing” (cat calls) is really taxing. We stay covered but the stares, shouts and sheer AMOUNT of men on streets is really exhausting and just getting to the mall and back seemed a small victory. Rekahji said that eve teasing doesn’t even exist in Gujarat- a neighboring state- as the children receive co-ed schooling which offered an insightful perspective. It is still a lot harder than I could have imagined even though I was warned. I don’t feel unsafe, just bothered and at one point when we were getting our pictures taken, I just felt silly. I’ve never been so aware of being female. I got pretty worked up but I think I realized today that even though we aren’t tourists, we are Americans, and we are American women, which will greatly affect our time here. I just want to promise myself that I won’t think of this as a burden because I have great pride in our country and what being a woman means. Amber added that it is a fine line of how much to respect another culture and how much to respect yourself. Deciding how much to give and take here I guess will be something to learn over time.

Tonight we will take it easy, reading and writing. I’m really looking forward to Gobi Aloo- my favorite Indian food at home and can’t wait to have the Indian version. Gosh, I really hope to learn to cook here. Tomorrow some of us will head over to the literature festival, which is apparently quite famous in Rajasthan and attracted Ian McClellan a few years back. We also want to find the Hindu Ganesh Temple that is pretty close to our house. Also, two of the girls in the program have a host mother who teaches yoga once a week from 5-6 am. I’m hoping to find some routine and calm in those.

Final thoughts:
Slumdog Millionaire just came out here on the 23rd and our host family is going to see it tomorrow. We may join them if it isn’t dubbed in Hindi, but I’m more interested to hear their reaction. They seemed very surprised that it was popular in the US. Our dad sounded very proud to announce that it had 10 oscar nominations. The soundtrack is huge here and its video for “Jai Ho” plays all the time…it’s kinda funny to have just gotten the soundtrack from Amber and to see it on TV.

By law foods must be labeled red if non-veg and green if veg in restaurants.

Exciting book I’m about to read: Hinduism and Ecology

Thing I have found I cannot live without: Dr. Bronner’s Soap, of which I have used for just about everything. A miracle really.

First Days in India...

Here are some pictures of our first few days here, and my favorite thing we’ve done so far- our self-organized outing to the Sikh temple (Gurdwara) in Delhi. The other is of our inauguration viewing party we watched at 11:30 at night! I’m beginning to appreciate the taste of a plain yogurt/cilantro hybrid. It’s really the only cold and non-spicy food we are given that cleanses the palate. The bottled water as someone pointed out tastes like someone’s Grandma’s house smells of which we equated to moth balls- so a bit chemical-ly but filtered none the less!
I guess I didn’t touch too much on the people in my program, but they are all so awesome and I just LOVE everyone. There’s a horticulture major Ben, Caitlin- runs her college’s radio station, Ajay and Shiveta- two American raised Indians who are on this trip to see what living in India is like as South Asian Americans, there’s a dancer who likes to knit Caroline, Katrina from Canada studying International Development, Religion and Women’s Studies who has very similar music tastes, Alex who is studying Disaster Mitigation, there’s Krista who studies Hindi, South Asian Religion and the Environment of Asia, a neuroscience major who Caroline who loves taking pictures and we’re going to start a collection of logos that we’re looking at like a semester long art project, Maggie a Brazilian who was born in Finland and goes to Penn State, my homestay roommate Amber who is a grad student and works as a counselor at U of Minnesota and Rachel who’s done orphanage work in Nepal devoted to stopping human trafficking and is actually from Buffalo Grove and was on the speech team in high school. After introductions, we were like, WOW everyone sounds so cool and has done some amazing stuff. I’m glad we have about 5 months to get to know everyone! We have had so much fun getting to know one another through vicious matches of ping pong, countless tea times and with our roommates in our various hotel rooms. We are all from pretty diverse backgrounds but come together really well.

Right now, we are about 20km from Jaipur in a really nice hotel for more orientation sessions where we went over everything from what to do in a variety of emergency scenarios to phone. We also met our homestay coordinator (who will put me in touch with a three time grammy winner who teaches dance and music!!) and found out a little about our homestays. Apparently our house is on the basement level of where our school is (woo!!) and there is a grandfather, his sister, his son and daughter-in-law and their two children. Amber and I will have separate rooms and there is a maid. Our host mom is also a good cook and will teach us if we are interested. (YES!!!). Tomorrow around noon we will leave to meet them and I’m so excited to get our feet on the ground there. It’s hard to get orientation to a place we aren’t quite in yet, but I think this time together in isolated places makes it easier for us to get to know each other and keep us focused on knowing the ins and outs of medical information, social nuisances and the like...

Delhi was nice, we didn’t see too much as we were a bit timid, couldn’t really get our bearings and maybe on sensory overload. A bunch of us are really looking forward to coming back though maybe on a weekend trip or something. A lot of the streets have been blocked off too due to preparations for India’s Republic Day on the 26th. Military tanks, road blocks and officers with rifles are stationed all over the city, making things a bit confusing too. I kind of wish we saw the parade but I guess we will be celebrating in Jaipur somehow as we have the day off from school. I really can’t believe the amount of security in India though for everything. Gates surround every building, each having a guard to monitor who and which cars come in and out. Our homestays will also have gates as well.

Favorite quotes:
“My dad would beat up your dad, but he’s a Jain.”

The one who is the biggest has the right of way.
The second rule is that the one who has least to lose has the right of way.
The cow always has the right of way.
-Rules on Traffic

“We’re a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus- and non-believers…President Obama Promises A More Responsible America.”
-The Times of India

I'm leaving tomorrow!

This is a test. Woo! It's 2am and I should prolly go to sleep but this is fun too...