See ya Delhi, Helllllo Jaipur!

This past weekend was the last with our homestay family, and Sunday morning as we said our goodbyes it was hard to not tear up a little bit. Adil and Khadeeja (and of course Iman!) have been fantastic hosts and resources in the great expanse of India, and I am sad to say I'll miss them and the comfort of their home in an unfamiliar place. Our last weekend together we went to a few parties (tis the holiday season, seriously) and promised that when Emily and I get back to  Delhi we'll all go out for a reunion dinner. I'm already excited! Unfortunately our goodbyes were a little rushed, because of course  everyone left packing till the last minute. Emily and I spent our last night in Delhi in the program center (Khadeeja and Adil left town for Eid) and I woke up bright and early (3:45!!) to catch the morning train to Jaipur.

Monday morning we reached Jaipur, and immediately after stepping off the train, I took a deep breath, and..  didn't hack up a lung! The air is noticeably cleaner, and at this point in my trip, thats exactly what I need. Its already been a great few days. From our rooftop cafe at the guesthouse, we even saw a few stars. Yes folks, STARS! Who knew the air could get that clean? I'm pretty excited.

So this month I'm working with the NGO BMVSS, aka Jaipur Foot. I sent them an e-mail a few weeks ago explaining my project, and got an excited response, but since then hadn't had much contact. So Tuesday morning I resolved to call them and head into the NGO for the day, to check out the lay-of-the-land. Around 8:15, I called for the first time, no answer. They have 4 different phone numbers online, so I tried them all... no answer. Up until around 10 I called ... no answer. So.. in an effort to embrace being in India, I took a bold move and decided to just show up, without phone confirmation. Easily the most forward I've been in my life. Once I finally found the NGO, I walked in, introduced myself to the head technician (didn't know that at the time..) and he gave me a brief tour and then asked who I was there to see.. kindof backwards, but I went with it. So then, I landed myself in the chief founder/patrons office, on the suggestion of my program director. Mr. Mehta (the founder) welcomed me in, ushered me to a seat, and continued sorting his e-mails and exchanging calls with his personal secretary and kept looking at me saying 'ekk second', claiming he would be ready to talk very soon. No wonder they didn't answer my calls! So then, about 5 minutes later (mind you, I'm still sitting awkwardly across the desk) a woman walks in a starts participating in the e-mail and call exchange. Finally, after 15 minutes, they both look across the table and go, "So what's your name again?" .... Immediate internal response - oh my god, why did I come here?! -- It turned out to be fine, because once I said my name their faces lit up (the actually did know who I was, thank god!) And the 3 of us planned out my time at their NGO. Phew. The woman's name is Dr. Pooja, and now she's actually my ISP advisor.

But really, stressful first day, wouldn't you say? Its going to be a great experience I can already tell, but clearly being alone is putting me out of my comfort zone. Should be an interesting month..

Wedding Details, Finally!

How To Properly Tie an Indian Sari:
1) Put on the petticoat and blouse
2) Unwrap all 6 meters of fabric, and find the end that is less exciting
3) Take that end, and start to tuck it into the petticoat above your hip, and continue around till its wrapped once
4) Now that you have it wrapped once, take the other end, wrap it around your waist without tucking, and toss the proper amount you want sitting on your shoulder,  over your shoulder
5) At this point a lot of material should be floating around the front. Time to make some pleats! Make 5-6) pleats by folding the fabric, pin it, and tuck it into the front of your sari, below the belly button
7) Finally, take the piece draped over your shoulder, nicely fold it, and put in a pin. Now you have properly tied a sari!

Orrrrr....

1) Find a nice Indian woman who actually knows what she's doing, and have her do it.

Fortunately, I went for option 2, and Adil's sister helped to tie the sari's that I wore to the wedding festivities on Saturday and Sunday. Here were the final products (surprisingly comfortable once they were on):



Wedding festivities actually started Friday night with a 'small' family dinner and a traditional turmeric paste rubbing ceremony for the groom.. with 100 guests. We of course had dinner, met the fam. for the first time, and had our own little Bollywood dance party. Turns out Khadeeja is a very good dancer!
Saturday was the actual ceremony, and we went to the 'medium-sized' wedding around 8 PM... apparently still pretty early. Oh right there were 800 people there. That's medium!! We got there to find the groom on a stage sitting, and a small display of gifts off to the side. I asked where the bride was, and was told "She'll be here soon, don't worry.". Soon after arriving, the groom became surrounded by a dense crowd of men, and I found out that he was actually physically signing the legal wedding agreement, and all of those men were the witnesses. After he was finished signing, the paper was taken to another location (later determined to be the brides chambers) and a voice came over loud speakers, apparently giving play-by-play in Hindi. After a few minutes passed, the room erupted in cheers and congratulations.... they were married! Needless to say I was a little confused and very lost.. when exactly was the 'real' ceremony going to take place? Well, that WAS the real ceremony people, that's how Muslim Weddings work. So we all got some food (There was fortunately a crowd of kids related to the family our age.. some new people to talk to!) and the bride surfaced around 10 PM to finally be seen with her new husband. This was actually a love marriage, but the ceremony was still very traditional, because when she finally came to sit with him, he wasn't actually allowed to look at her until he saw her first through a mirror-- another special  ceremony that was performed later that night. So, all-in-all, pretty interesting and enlightening experience. Sunday was just a reception (smaller, about 500 people..) for the bride and groom, and we had the opportunity to talk to them and the family more about all of the traditions, and we shared a little about what our traditional wedding was like. Something I wasn't very fond of: Being the ONLY white people there. Not surprisingly, we drew some serious attention, even though I put a big effort into dressing in Indian clothes, and way too many times Emily and I were asked to take pictures, meet even more family, and shake multiple peoples hands. The price for being close to the wedding party I guess.

Today was our last day of  'classes'. Bittersweet. I took my Hindi Final, turned in my Hindi Final Project,  finish my field studies seminar, turned in my HHR paper.... and all thats left is my Independent Study Project. You could say I'm nervous/scared/excited all at the sammmme time when I think about leaving Delhi, and travelling out to Jaipur. As I am spending my days planning my life for the next month, its crazy to think that its actually not that far-fetched to think of myself out alone. I mean, i AM 21 years old, OFFICIALLY a real adult, in all cultures and legal settings. I'm not sure I'm totally ready for that responsibility, but for the next month, I'm going to get my first taste. Wish me luck, and look for some updates about my project!

PS- More pictures of the wedding are being added to the photo page! 

Diwali, Wedding, Halloween... oh my!

This morning, I had one of the craziest sensations... I woke up, rolled around, huddled back into my covers, and curled into the fetal position.. I WAS COLD. Ok Ok, I shouldn't be saying much, considering snow- pacalypse 2011 has hit the east coast ALREADY (its barely November Mother Nature, give us a break) but to be honest, I didn't think I'd be feeling anything close to winter over here. In fact I'm equipped with only one sweatshirt.. maybe I'll actually have to buy a few Indian sweaters? The change in weather helped me to realize - Today is November 1st. Where has time gone?! In a little less than a month, I'll be snuggled back in Ohio, and in a little less than a week, I'll be out of Delhi on my own completing my very own field work (details to come). Eeek!

This past week has been SUPER busy! As mentioned earlier, last Wednesday we celebrated the Hindu holiday of Diwali with our program teachers because Emily and I's host parents are Muslims, and were very busy in wedding preparations. We first did a traditional Diwali Puja, followed by some candle lighting, and then of course, fireworks outside! When I say fireworks I mean the sparklers and mini things that my family buys on the Fourth of July, but the rest of Delhi was NOT holding back, and for an entire night it sounded (and sometimes felt) like I was in a bomb shelter. After our little party with the program staff, Emily and I came home and took a walk around the neighborhood to experience a little 'real' Diwali. Turns out, we didn't have to walk far. We crossed our street and entered into the adjoining neighborhood, and just as we rounded the corner about 30 ft ahead, 3 boys were setting off the biggest firework I've seen at such a close range. Needless to say, I pulled Emily down, screamed a little bit, and ducked for my life behind a car. Naturally, that drew some attention and laughs from the neighbors (it was completely fine, literally EVERYONE was setting off big fireworks, apparently our US policies are too strict...) but it also got us invited into a families home where the mother and grandmother happily served us some fresh homemade mithai, and told us all about their Diwali. Indian hospitality is so overwhelming sometimes!

Diwali unfortunately helped land me with a seriously strong sinus infection. All those fireworks give off an absurd amount of air pollutants, and that mixed with the headcold from Varanasi turned into 750 Rs worth of meds from the chemist after I finally willed myself to the doctors office. (Sidenote: 750 Rs translates to $15, but by Indian standards, thats A LOT to spend on meds. Typically a visit to the chemist costs about 150 Rs, at most.) And also, the doctor ordered bloodwork and an x-ray as supplement to my checkup? Don't worry, didn't follow through with those, but thought you might find that interesting.

Annnd thats all I have for now.. I have a Hindi FINAL tomorrow, so I need to using this blog as procrastination and get back to studying. I promise to post wedding details and photos soon! Sorry to keep you all in suspense!

In India, Tis the Holiday Season

First and formost: everyone check out  the new page, which is visible as a tab right above this post ... I finally figured out how to post pictures! After getting some stellar advice from a fellow blogger on the program, I'm happy to report there will be many pictures coming your way in the coming month and a half, for now, enjoy what I've posted!!

Annyways, turns out the 'low key' birthday dinner I was expecting was actually a much more well planned joint birthday party for myself and another girl on the program, Poonam. Surprise surprise! Its nice having friends that can recognize a slightly disappointed b-day girl, and turn the day right around.

Aside from my personal holiday, India is actually in the midst of the biggest holiday season of the year: Diwali! Diwali has been compared to Christmas multiple times, and I understand why: everyone has been prepping for weeks,  houses are decorated, lights are strewn everywhere, and everyone has been giving gifts... and now its finally here! Diwali is actually a 5 day festival which started on Monday, and the most important 'Diwali Day' is tomorrow. Yay celebrations! Considering Khadeeja and Adil are Muslims though, we won't be celebrating at home, but either Emily and I will be celebrating with the teachers at the program center, or with another homestay family. Either way I'm excited to experience Hindu Christmas!!

Speaking of Khadeeja and Adil... this weekend is the big day (or rather I should say days).... Khadeeja's brother is getting married! We came home from Varanasi to find Khadeeja pretty heavily stressed with planning, but it sounds like everything is finally coming together, and all of the 'real' pre-wedding family preparations are starting on Thursday. I'm not sure which events we'll be going to during the week, but I definitely am going to 2 important ones, because Khadeeja took 2 of her sarees to the cleaners for me.. eeeee, so excited! Needless to say the next week of my life is going to be overly party filled.. just in time to act as a de-stresser from all of the actual school work that I have to do.

Speaking of... lots to do, lots to plan. ISP is coming up fast, less than 2 weeks... which is just NOT enough time to try get my thoughts and plans together. Gah, being old is taking its toll, when was I given all of this responsibility to figure out my personal transport and living for a month?! And then, I also conduct an Independent Study Project?!... for now I'm going to stop with the stress, and leave you with this message:

HAPPY DIWALI!! If you think about it tomorrow, light a candle, go find yourself some mithai (Indian Sweets), and if you're reallllly feeling like you have some time, watch the Ramayana. And enjoy the pictures!

Kiran Center, 'A Ray of Hope into Lives'

So how many of you have had that "this is what I want to do with my life" epiphany? Recently, and especially right before leaving for India, I was going through a bit of a 'mid-college crisis'. Its kindof crazy to think that in 2 short years (well less that that at this point, eeek) we're supposedly going to go out into the world totally prepared and ready to take on the world. I don’t know about all of you college readers, but at least for me, that’s a pretty scary though. Coming to India was really a way to escape the pressures to figure those things out. I mean, yes, I did come to India to study abroad because I wanted to see this country, and because I am interested in this programs topics, but really in the back of my mind I have been India as an excuse to not really think about any future plans. Its funny how when you least expect things to click, they do.

This past week I’ve been in a small group completing a workshop with the Kiran Center. I knew going in what the main focus of the center was, but knowing and observing are two different things. Monday morning bright and early (after another long overnight train ride) the group took our first trip out to Madhopur, Varanasi, and the location of Kiran Village. Immediately we were greeted by staff and students, most of whom were differently-abled, excited and ready to show off their second home.

Its pretty amazing to see things I am currently studying back home being used in practical ways. For instance: Kiran has an orthotics workshop that focuses on providing calipers and artificial limbs to children/adults in need, and on Tuesday, I spent pretty much the entire day observing the workshop, talking to workers (who were mostly taught by previous staff in the workshop, and who are all mostly recipients of calipers and therapy for polio), and watched a primary fitting and molding session for a prosthetic and a caliper. I gotta say, I was on cloud 9 ALL DAY. I’m going to go ahead and channel my inner nerd here: artificial limbs and organs are SO COOL. AND, watching the process from fitting to final product (Lauren and I went back every day to check on our ‘leg’ and on Friday before we left, it was looking very nice and new and ready to be presented to its new owner) just make me that much more interested in the topic. So many people I talked to explained how outcast they felt before they received and appliance, and how now, most of them do not even consider themselves disabled. Finally, I've been able to see the practical applications of a Bio-Engineering degree, first hand. I was a little worried this wasn't the field for me, but I think I may have re-found a way to combine the many things I love in life. Finally, the best of both worlds!

That was one very exciting experience I had along with the many others throughout the week. Every morning and afternoon we rode the bus from Lanka (center city Varnanasi) with the children out to the Kiran Village, so even though the 6:30 wake up call is a bit tiring, you can never be too tired to learn a few games from many many excited children (oh and also, a Hindi lesson or 2. Even at a young age, these kids are all pretty good English, and eager to be able to teach us some more Hindi. Ah, so jealous). I've also gotten used to being called ‘Didi’ which is older sister in Hindi, because that’s what all of the children at Kiran referred to us as. Once we arrived to school, everyone participated in the non-denominational prayer service (they had a song, and then read a verse from a different religious text everyday), and then we were off to our many different explorations around the Village learning about everything they had to offer to the differently abled and their families.

I could literally write about this place for hours! For starters, they have an integrated primary school (LKG- 6^th standard) which they are expanding soon. They also have a special school sector for children suffering from severe cases of CP, and also a classroom curriculum for hearing impaired children. If you’re too old to go to class, that’s ok, because Kiran also offers vocational training in Art and Design, tailoring, horticulture, woodshop and food preparation. Seriously, THEY HAVE EVERYTHING. Oh and also, they just started a Human Resource Training Program, which is a 2 year certified course to teach people how to become special educators with a focus in CP. On top of all that, they have a backbone structure of physical therapy, orthotics, and outreach services offered throughout the surrounding areas. 

Enough about Kiran! (well not really, I'm sure I'll be expanding about this in later posts) but aside from our busy days, we spent our nights exploring the oldest city in India, and arguably one of the holiest. Luckily, we were blessed with the company of Gautam Ji and Archina Ji, two of out teachers that happen to be married and just happpen to have a home in Varanasi. What are the odds?! Every night we got some sort of 'behind the scenes' tour of Varanasi, because they knew where to go, how to get there, and what exactly was good to see. And, we got to meet Mata Ji (Gautam Ji's mom) and got a little tour of their house and were treated (naturally) with a heaping spoonful of Indian hospitality (soo much chai and sweets... so much). 

Saturday morning we woke up before the sun (bright n'early, 5 AM) to catch a boatride down the Ganges. Turns out, Varanasi is more active at 5 AM than it is at 5 PM! There were so many people down at the banks to take their 'holy dip' to start the day off right. And in case you were wondering, no, I did not join in on the fun, the Ganges might be one of the grossest bodies of water I've ever seen (sorry India, its true). Its completely normal and sought after to have your ashes thrown into the Ganges, or to be cremated at the banks, which we also saw on our morning boat ride at the very famous burning ghat. We ended our boat tour just in time do eat a sunrise breakfast at the hotel and spend one last day exploring the Old City. After a very hectic auto ride to the train station (I witnessed some police bribing first hand) we headed back to Delhi.

Flash forward 18 hours. Yes, 18 hours, on the train, because naturally things here happen in Indian Standard Time, and not following any schedule whatsoever. So thats right folks, I once again spent a good portion of my birthday in transit from Varanasi to Delhi (womp womp). Oh right, today is my birthday! BUT, not all was lost, the group managed to surprise me with a cake, on the train (not an easy task!) and a very embarrassing rendition of Happy Birthday in both English and Hindi. And now that I've finally reached Delhi and am a little rested, I'm off to celebrate being 21 Amuuurica style (hopefully, we'll see) with a small group of friends over dinner. Yay birthdays in India! Good thing I have some sweet sahaleys (female friends in Hindi) here to try their best to make me feel like turning 21 in India is not a total waste. I'm looking to the American friends reading this (you know who you are) to help me properly celebrate upon my return to the states :). 

Well, thats all for now. I should really learn to post multiple times a week... off to some B-day celebrations!

Off on Another Excursion

A quick update on the recent happenings of New Delhi:

In about 2 hours I'm going to be off (once again) on the overnight train, this time headed for Varanasi! A small group of only 8 of us are going for our workshop, spending everyday doing activities with the NGO Kiran Village. I'm particularly excited because this NGO and workshop are very closely related to my ISP, which, in the end, should be very helpful academically. And of course, I get to spend the week with kids! If any of you know me at all, you should know by now that I LOVE little kids, and will no doubt love spending the week with these ones.

Kiran Village focuses on rehabilitation of children suffering from a variety of physical and mental disabilities. Unfortunately in India, it is a reality that most children with disabilities are hidden in the home away from society, therefore without treatment. The mission of Kiran Village is not only rehabilitation, but family education about disabilities and disability rights (ah, so similar to my ISP, disability rights!).

Along with just the observation part of the week, we are responsible for conducting 3 interviews as part of our field studies seminar class. The goal of the 3 interviews is to practice for our ISP, and also hopefully learn a little more about a topic related to the NGO and possibly your ISP. Oh and also, one of these interviews has to be conducted in Hindi... eeeeek. Needless to say, I'm excited for the week to begin, and to get the ball rolling in learning more about the topic I've chosen to study for the last 4 weeks that I'll be in India. Finally, the real work here is starting!

On a lighter note, yesterday I saw my first bollywood movie in theatres, without subtitles!! For the most part I understood what was going on (sometimes they spoke a little Hin-glish .. hindi/english) which I was pretty excited about. The name of the movie was Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge, and if you click on the name, I've attached one of the songs (everyone can use a little Bollywood in their life in my opinion). Its crazy how much Hindi we've all learned in such a short period of time. I never really believed in the power of cultural immersion till now, but I must say, it really does work. Emily and I have also been doing a lot of playing with baby Iman. She is getting so talkative! By talkative I mean babbling, but that's a start, right? After our trip to the Indian theatre, a group of us also went out to Haldirams, a fastfood-esque restaurant, selling street food made with clean water. Yummm!

Alright, off to the train station! Coming soon: some more 'photos of the day'!

"Don't Worry, No Hurry"

And finally, a post about Rishikesh!

This past Friday afternoon, 7 of us started our journey to the Himalayan town via non-ac sleeper train (this sounds bad, but in fact was pretty spacious and comfortable by comparison, you just wait and see) and about 6 hours later arrived in the small town of Haridwar, about a 45 minute auto-rickshaw away from the ultimate destination, Rishikesh. Naturally, like all of India we caught an auto for double the price (even after haggling, being white is a real disadvantage sometimes) and after only 10 minutes, we found out our auto driver really had no idea where he was going. Why do all of these drivers claim to know where they are?! Luckily, Emily was in ridiculously good contact with Seema Ji (we’d talked to her so many times we were now on a first name basis), the woman who owned the hotel where we stayed, and she helped guide the auto to our weekend home (side note: staying at this place cost me $12 a night.. you should all be jealous). This is one reason we had such a good weekend: We arrived to the hotel to find our rooms fully furnished, dinner waiting, and the owners of the hotel ready to help with any trip planning we wanted. Oh, and also the most refreshing breeze you could ever imagine -- (I love mountain air!!). It was so nice after worrying about every second of trip planning to have people ready to take over that responsibly. With the help of Seema Ji and her husband, our group decided to go big or go home: we scheduled a guided trek for the next morning, starting bright and early at 6 AM.

Saturday morning rolled around and the strikingly early 5:30 alarm went off, and our group assembled downstairs ready to take on the day of hiking. I don’t really think we knew exactly what we were getting into, but we all packed into an SUV to drive to the top of the nearest foothills, where we were planning to first visit a temple and then trek all the way back down from there. Like any mountain drive, the curves were sharp, roads were windy, but the views were spectacular. Being up at 6:30 to watch the sun come up over mountains is exactly why I came to Rishikesh, and the drive was totally worth it. We also passed by a series of pretty hysterical road signs, such as “License to drive, not fly”, “Speed Kills, not Thrills”, and “Driving is Risky, when drinking Whisky”. My favorite, and also the title of this post was “Don’t Worry, no Hurry”. Maybe the roads were a little safer because of the signs? I’d like to think so.

Before leaving, we spotted a man in cargo shorts, a red button up shirt, and a very bright yellow scarf. Interesting, could it be a new guest at 6 AM? No no, that just happened to be our guide for the day. The group was a bit skeptical when he had a morning cig before we started our trek up to the temple (around 300 steep steps up), but he turned out to be a very good guide. Although for some reason he thought it was funny to continuously make lion noises… other than that, yellow scarf man was a complete success. Our hike (which I originally thought was 7 km) turned out to be a 12 km trek alllll the way back down to our hotel. For those unfamiliar with the miles to km conversion, that’s about 7.5 miles. Whatttup exercise! Our hike was complete with stunning mountain views, tours of people farming land, and most importantly a stop off to a small waterfall to cool off and go for a swim. All-in-all, great day! We got back to the hotel in time for some afternoon tea and a much needed nap, and later that night we trekked over to the actual town of Rishikesh to go to the Ganga Aarti. The trek involved crossing one of the famous suspension bridges of Rishikesh, which was overrun with monkeys. I wish I was exaggerating, but the monkeys in this town may have outnumbered the dogs. And they were not friendly monkeys… we were warned at the beginning of the semester to not play around with them, and now I understand why. As I crossed the bridge I passed by a little girl crying because they were literally EVERYWHERE, no escape from monkeys. Luckily we all made it out alive and right on time to the aarti.

The aarti is a Hindu religious ceremony honoring the river every night, where songs are sung, offerings are given, and special flames are burned and the smoke is taken. Once again I am terrible at explaining these things, so please, click my link. It was a beautiful ceremony though! The children studying the Vedas at the Ashram performed the actual ceremony, and torches were lit as the sun set over the river and the deity was lit up for everyone to see. We ended our evening with a much needed dinner out over the river, and an early night to bed.

Sunday morning we slept in (much needed) and started our day with a session of yoga. Because, who goes to Rishikesh without doing a little yoga? For some reason I fanaticized that my time in India might make me more flexible… nope. I don’t think the yogi was impressed with my lack of flexibility, telling our group multiple times to keep practicing the poses at home in our free time. It was so relaxing to get some good stretches in though, even if I couldn’t bend my body in half (yes, this man bent literally in half, and then lifted himself on his arms). We left Rishikesh feeling relaxed and rejuvenated, ready to take on the many challenges of Delhi.. I was unaware the challenges would start with the trip home.

Now from the beginning we had planned to take the bus home, on suggestion from our program advisors because there was very limited (if any) space on the trains back to Delhi. It’s about 350 km to Rishikesh, so I would guess the drive to be about 5 hours, wouldn’t you? Turns out the local bus for 1) has absolutely no form of planning or pre-ordering of tickets; 2) No AC (not surprising); and 3) Is completely packed. Luckily we were travelling with the handy Sagarika, whose Hindi skills are far superior and helped us get onto a bus, where we were definitely the ONLY non-locals travelling. It started out as an alright trip, but after about 2 hours of not being able to adequately fit into the seat (being over 5’6’’ here is tough) I could tell it was going to be a loooong ride. About 8 HOURS later, after stop-and-go traffic, waves of dust, cramped quarters and a serious lack of personal space, we finally arrived back in Delhi, and managed to catch an auto home only to have him first push another auto with his foot to the nearest gas station before driving us back to Sukdhev Vihar. So it was a long journey. Our host parents late night dinnertime is finally proving to be an advantage though, as when we got home they had waited to eat and were ready to hear all about the epic journey to and from Rishikesh. It’s so nice to have a home away from home!

Wow, epic post, sorry about that. Aside from my fun filled weekend (or maybe because of my fun filled weekend?) I've spend the majority of this week battling some not-so-fun Indian illnesses. I'll spare the details. All I have to say: Thank God for antibiotics, and my very caring Hindi teachers.