Dusty Cities (Jaipur: Day 2 of Delhi trip)

Driving through small and dusty cities in the morning and we were on our way to Jaipur- the city of palaces. Before entering the city though, we stopped at a beautiful fort on the top of a hill, it's walls expanding along the many hillsides around it. This was the Amber Fort- a fort built as the capital of Rajastan until the capital was shifted 11km away to the nearby city of Jaipur. The Amber Fort was absolutely amazing. The architecture blended styles of both Muslim and Hindu architecture and has a certain stereotypical "Indian feel" as it is an olden day palace on the top of a hill overlooking the sparsely vegetated mountains around it. The fort itself is camouflaged into the hills with it's yellow colored walls! The best part though about the Amber Fort was the way we got up the hill in order to tour the inside- we arrived in bus parking and unloaded, only to reload in smaller groups into the backs of about four black jeeps. I almost felt as though I was in the military sitting along the side wall of the car in the truck bed with six other people, looking out the open space at the back at all that we passed by going up the mountain. We saw wild boars in the streets (like dogs everywhere else the boars were in huge numbers wandering around!) and even TWO elephants! They were both simply walking together down the middle of the cobblestone road!
At the entrance to the fort there were lots of people selling souvenirs, but there was something that was WAY cool there also! A snake charmer! There were two men sitting on a blanket at the side of the steep road, one playing a small drum and the other playing a weirdly shaped flute with a basket in front of him where a snake's head stuck out and swayed slowly from side to side.
Inside we got a tour of the main parts of the palace and then rushed out and back into the jeeps to drive quickly back down the mountain to our bus to get going to our next destination on the tour- The city of Jaipur. Our first stop in Jaipur was to take photos of the Water Palace, a beautiful white palace that sits in the middle of a lake! You are unfortunately not allowed to go inside, so we took pictures from afar before continuing on to lunch and then to a handicrafts center where we got to see some material being printed in the famous Jaipur style- with wooden stamps and special dye.
Next was the City Palace of Jaipur. We got a tour of the inside and got to walk through several museums that had garments and jewelry worn by the King and Queen. What was really cool about going here though was that there were two flags flying high above us in a tower, a sygnal our guide told us that meant that the current "King" (he doesn't have any power but he is a descendant and WOULD be king) was actually there at the palace that day!
Our day in Jaipur finished out with an intense three solid hours of shopping. I went with a few women in our group and we walked the entire street back and forth, went to the next street and did that one also, and all left with at least (the least being me) three full shopping bags of new stuff! We then went back to our hotel (an EXTREMELY nice hotel!) and had a great dinner of Rajastani food before going to sleep for a few hours before having to wake up at 4:00 a.m. to report to our bus to go to Agra!
P.S. Above are photos of me in front of the Water Palace in Jaipur, and at the entrance to the Amber Fort.

Delhi: Day 1

O.K.! Yes I am still alive for all of you who have been worried about me! I simply haven't had access to the internet for the past ten days or so because I've been busy and gone on the trip of a lifetime! Since there is so much to write about, I'm just going to skip over getting to Delhi and start out the morning of my first day (there is still WAY A LOT to write about though!). If you didn't know, I went to Delhi with a group of women from Coimbatore. They are all business women and wanted to go to the
Indian International Trade Fair, which was happening in Delhi all week. So, while there they figured they'd do a tour of the main attractions in North India and I got to go with them!!!
Our first day we woke up early and the three of us staying in the room I was in all went out to find a tea stall on the street. It was cold outside in the morning, and we didn't know our way around so we walked aimlessly for a while before coming accross a small side of the road tea shop where we got tea for 5 rs. After tea we met up with the others and went for breakfast at a South Indian restaurant that we had seen on our walk. We ordered and ate quickly, then walked across the street to our tour bus that was parked out in front of the tour company (Panicker's) office.
Our first day of touring was focused all on sightseeing around Delhi. Our first visit was to Qutab Minar, which is a very tall tower (72.5 meters) surrounded by ruins of old temples. We had about forty minutes alotted to us by the tour guide to spend walking through the monument, and we spent that time taking photos and exploring in and around the beautiful red carved stones.
Our next stop was a shopping complex called "Best of India" where we looked around at all of the (expensive) hand made items for sale before heading off again to the Lotus Temple. The Lotus temple was absolutely beautiful! It is a temple that was built for all faiths, and was HUGE and made of white marble, cement and sand. It was surrounded by pools of water (like a lotus!) and the inside was a big hall that was completely silent. It is a rule to maintain silence while inside, so even though there were hundreds of people sitting on the many benches, it was completely quiet. We sat for a minute or so with our eyes closed, enjoying the peace before getting up to leave in order to head off to our next destination, Gateway of India.
Gateway of India is a giant arch, built as a memorial for all Indian soldiers in the armies that have been killed. It was a beautiful structure and was surrounded by colored flags, armed gaurds, and lots of people selling things like postcards, books, jewelry, even mehindi!
After having lunch at a "canteen" in Delhi, we went to a few memorials; one for Indira Gandhi, and one for Nehru (Indira's father). Both were pretty neat monuments. Indira Gandhi was assasinated (just like her son Rajiv Gandhi whose memorial I went to in Chennai) while going for a walk outside her home one day so her memorial is a museum in her home with a crystal raised pathway outside where she took her last steps before being shot down by one of her own security guards (there was a clear plate of glass where she fell).
After being rushed through the two memorials by our guide, who was very concerned of the time, we all got back onto the bus and headed off to the Red Fort. We got about an hour to walk around inside the Red Fort, admiring the beautiful Moghul architecture and the intricate carvings that were in the red and white stone. We also did a bit of shopping at the exit where there were many stalls set up selling everything from purses to jewelry to books.
Our last and final stop for the day before going back to the hotel for dinner and more shopping nearby was the Rajghat- Mahatma Gandhi's memorial. It was dark and cold when we arrived, but the presence of Gandhi's peaceful spirit was felt as we walked around the large square of black marble that was completely covered in flowers, and smelled the ever burning incense sticks. It was a jam packed day of sightseeing, with a perfect ending spot for the day where we could reflect and be thankful for how far India has come because of a wonderful man that stood for purity and freedom for everyone.
P.S. The photos above are of me at the Red Fort and then at the Lotus Temple in Delhi.

Cinderella in the Rain

Yesterday was Children's day! A holiday celebrating the birthday of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his great love for children throughout his lifetime. It is said that he would do anything in his power for a child, and we therefore celebrated it as a holiday at both school and in the evening at the apartments. At school the day began with an assembly in the outdoor ampitheater. The entire school, all dressed in traditional clothing (not the uniforms!!!), made our way to the cement seats which overflowed with the crowd and spilled over onto the ground in front where the teachers had put down a few blankets. The sun was shining hot and bright as we sat, but we all had smiles on our faces the entire time as we watched the teachers all dance together for us!
The rest of the school day was regular; kids went to class and things proceeded like any other day. The last and final treat for all of us came near the end of the day when our class teachers brought in GIANT bags full of packets of pineapple flavored cookies that each of us got!
When I got home from school, my host mother wasn't yet there and so I made myself a lunch of an apple and heated some egg noodles that were in the refrigerator from the day before. When my host mother arrived home, the two of us set out to do a few errands to get ready for my Delhi trip (I'm leaving TOMORROW!!!!!)- we had to get a few photo copies that my host mother wanted of my medical insurance, pick up some dry cleaning, pick up the itinerary for my trip (yea...I still don't know any of that...), and also stop at the Police Commisioner's office so that we could register the fact that I am leaving the city for a week.
Our first stop was the Comissioner's office, and we arrived there in the middle of a HUGE downpour of rain. When we knocked on the door it was unlocked, but there was no one inside so we figured that we'd just wait there. We waited. And Waited. And waited. A few police from a different department told us that they were all probably caught up in the rain after having lunch, so we just waited there patiently under the eaves of the building, watching as the landscape boxes below us filled completely with the rainwater and the parking lot came to look a lot more like a lake. We ended up waiting for two hours- no one showed up. We left around 5:00 p.m. which was the time that the celebrations were supposed to start at the apartment, so we didn't have time to get anything else done. On the way out of the building we ran to my host mother's car accross the lot to avoid getting TOO wet. On the way my foot slipped out of my shoe and I realized that I had just had a Cinderella moment in the rain (except I was able to go back and retrieve my shoe!).
The program for Children's day at the apartment was really great! When my host mother and I arrived in the clubhouse it was jam packed and screaming with excited little kids that were all playing a quiz game. The way that the program was set up was actually kind of cool. At first, it was a few ladies from the apartment trying to organize some games, but then Airtell, a phone company, came in and said that they would organize all of the games and prizes if they would allow the company to set up posters and hand out flyers. So, my friends from the apartment and I all sat and watched as the little kids played game after game together and all had the time of their lives screaming and laughing with their friends. And then came the dancing...Oh my gosh! I just can't get over how good of a dancer EVERYONE here seems to be! I was flat out amazed when the music came on and even the smallest of the smallest of the kids was out on the floor doing dance moves that I couldn't do!
After dinner was served (we had ordered in dinner) to everyone we all had ice cream, cleaned up a bit and then walked back to our apartments grouped by which block we all live in- my group included Sanju Vadivu and Bapu (our neighbors), and Rhadika who is a woman who lives below us whom I do yoga with several times a week. Children's day was over, but the essence of fun still hung in the air as we all went into our separate apartments and retired into a nice sleep after a long day.
P.S. the photos above are of me at school with a few friends and then Sanju at the Children's day celebration playing a game where there was a time limit and you had to stick as many bindis as possible on your partner's face!

An Attempt at a Tamil Song...

On Sunday evening, after getting back from the wedding in Kerala, my host mother got a call from a Rotarian in the club hosting me named Suresh (Suresh is the wonderful man who has taken Rianna and I on two weekend trips and is just great!). He was calling to invite us to a celebration of a one year anniversary of a gym that opened here in Coimbatore called "Maverick" (yes, I chuckled when I saw the name also...) that was being held at The Residency Hotel- the nicest hotel in Coimbatore where movie stars will stay when they come!
We arrived in the drive and were stopped by a man with a long metal pole with a square wheeling piece on the end who stuck it under the front of our car and then waved us on. I was confused until my host mom explained to me that this man was actually checking for bombs! The contraption was a metal detector! (At least it made me feel REALLY safe the whole night!)
Suresh met me at the door and we waved good bye to my host mother. He then walked me up the stairs to a big hall where the speeches had already started. Rianna was there and we both sat in the front row and listened to several people give speeches about how great the gym is, including a film star named "Annu Hassan" who I've seen in a movie even!
When the speeches ended, there was live entertainment in the form of a man with a keyboard- a VERY talented man with a keyboard! Not only could he play the piano great, but he could also sing! A few people got up and started dancing, and it wasn't long before I joined in and showed off a few Bollywood moves of my own...! We also played a few games where we danced until the music stopped and then would rush to get into a group of the number that the DJ called out. I had a lot of fun with the women playing for this game! We all got in a small circle and danced, and when the music stopped we would all just rush forward and grab onto each other- no matter what number was being called! When this game ended the DJ continued with some more songs and Suresh took advantage of this opportunity to try and convince Rianna and I to go up to the microphone and sing a song. At first we were both a little resistant to get up in front of the two hundred or so people there, but then Suresh told me that the DJ could play "Sutrum Vizhi" and if you've been reading my blogs you know that I LOVE that song and happen to know a few verses of it! I agreed to go up and introduced myself, apologizing first for my lack of singing ability and also for my bad pronunciation of all the Tamil...It ended up going really well though! I think that my voice sounded awful, but everyone loved the fact that I was singing in Tamil and gave me a standing ovation at the end- and a medal(?)! Then Rianna and I got up and sang Titanic- the one and only English movie that everyone here knows! It was a great night with lots of fun and new friends!

A Wedding in Kerala

5:30 a.m. this morning my host mother knocked on my bedroom door to wake me up. We had a three hour drive ahead of us to Thrissur, Kerala for the wedding of one of my host father’s colleagues! I got up and groggily put on my green Diwali salwaar, made tea for my host mother and I, brushed my teeth, grabbed my rain coat and then the two of us went down and met two other colleagues of my host father who had come with a driver to pick us up.
It has been raining non-stop since yesterday afternoon, soaking the ground and causing the streets to be flooded with brown muddy water. The group of us drove through the city at 6:15 a.m. – the streets were already crowded with the early risers, and along with the other traffic on the roads our car waded through the waters. We even passed a parking lot that was completely flooded with at least six inches of water!
We arrived at the marriage hall around 9:30 a.m., just as the traditions were beginning. The first thing we saw was the groom leaving the hall (don’t worry, he came back!) to go out in front and have his feet washed. He was then carried in a small wooden chair over the heads of all of his relatives to a swinging white bench that had been set up in the middle of the crowd. It was there where his bride met him, and the two of them placed three or four strings of colorful flowers over one another’s heads before sitting down on the bench and swinging back and forth together. After about a minute of this (and about a hundred flashes from cameras…) the two stood up and the elder relatives came forward and each places a small spoonful of milk onto the feet of the bride and groom. The elders then each took a small candle and circled around the couple three times. (Three seems to be the most auspicious number, because not only did the elders walk around three times, but three is also the number of times that an Ayer, or Priest, will circle the flame around the head of the God or Goddess in a temple.)
The whole procession was then taken inside the hall where the bride and groom were taken to a beautifully decorated stage and seated on a grass mat beside the Ayer who commenced several more traditions. My favorite one though had to be where the bride sat on her father’s lap- it is a tradition to symbolize the father’s “giving” of his daughter to her new husband, who stands in front of them and takes her hand to pull her up. The bride had the biggest smile on her face during this!
The traditions ended with photos of the bride and groom with anyone and everyone invited. My host mother and I took a photo, congratulated the couple and then left the hall to go out back where breakfast/lunch was being served on banana leaves! We waited until a space at one of the long white tables was free and then sat down to eat. The food was AMAZING! We had rice with all sorts of dishes along with it, my favorite being one specific to Kerala that had pineapple in it!

Pouring Down Fun!

This morning after waking up at 6:40 a.m., I got up and made myself tea and cornflakes for breakfast. The morning was cool and overcast, and my host mom slept off in her bedroom. At 8:15 a.m. my friend Appurna and I met up at the out gate of the apartments and walked two blocks to Avinshi Road (the main road). Once there we waited a few minutes until a big, rusted red and silver bus rolled up to a short stop in front of us. We got on, me expecting to find a huge crowd of people but the bus was actually pretty empty! We rode for a few blocks and then got off and met another girl from our class named Sangheeta. We all walked to her house for a few minutes and had a few snacks and played on the terrace above the house. Around 9:00 we left the house and walked back to the main road where we caught another bus to Gandhipuram- this time I wasn't disappointed at all! Not only was every seat in this bus filled, but the aisles contained at least fifty people all squished in together, reaching one arm up to overhead poles for support. We squeezed our way into the middle of the crowd for the fifteen or so minutes that we rode and sang along with the radio to the songs that we all recognized.
In Gandhipuram we stopped at a small juice shop where Appurna and Sangheeta got banana and mozambie juice before going back to the bus stand, catching one bus and realizing it was the wrong one (we had to jump down as it was slowly pulling out...), and then finally finding the right bus that took us to one of the many movie theaters here in Coimbatore where we met up with eight other girls from our class. We all saw the movie "Kanden Kadhalai" (sp? The title means "I Think It's love") which was a remake from a film that was originally in Hindi. The movie was really good! I loved all of the songs and the story was also great. I was the only one who really liked it though...all of the other girls have seen the Hindi version and will only praise that! I guess I'll just have to see it and compare!
When the movie ended at 1:00 p.m. we all walked a short way up a side street until we reached a retaurant called "Rayappas" where we had naan and paneer butter masala for lunch (EVERYONE loves naan and paneer- so it was perfect!). It was all of my friends' first time out alone without their parents, so they were all super excited to be independent!
After finishing our lunch, Appurna, Sangheeta and I left the other girls and headed towards the bus stop at Gandhipuram to go home. We walked down the long street, through the lightly drizzling rain and trying to avoid stepping in the giant puddles! We reached the bus stand after about fifteen minutes and boarded a bus headed for Peelamedu (the district in the city where we live). It was a longer ride, but very comfortable since once again, we ended up on a bus that was less than half full.
Appurna and I got down at our stop and waved good bye to Sangheeta as the bus drove off. We walked the two blocks back through the drizzle, looking up at the dark and swollen clouds. I guess we reached the apartment just in time, because as we said good bye at the front of my building the sky opened up and the downpour began!

Singing (and dancing) in the Rain!

Even though this is only one short event that happened, I wanted to blog about it because of the sheer joy that I felt while dancing and singing in the rain!
I had just come up from the basement after my yoga class with the teacher and the other two women that do the class with me when I looked outside. To my great excitement it was DUMPING rain! I placed my shoes, water bottle and mat on the ground and sprinted out into the downpour- holding my hand up over my head and smiling up toward the dark night sky. I put my headphones from my I-pod into my ears and turned on one of all time favorite songs- Human, by The Killers. As soon as the music started I started to jump around and spin, already completely soaked! My hair was dripping and my white T-shirt and shorts were completely drenched, but I couldn't care less. I laughed and smiled and simply had fun in the water that was being dumped in buckets over my head! The weather was not cold, but it wasn't warm either and so I was shivering when I stepped back under the cover of the clubhouse where the ladies still stood watching me and laughing at me the entire time! But, even though I was cold, the smile stayed on my face even as I ran up the three flights of stairs back up to the apartment!

A Week of Events

This week has been hectic here- my life in India has always been a little overwhelming, but this week there was quite a few events that kept me pretty busy!
On tuesday evening, Rianna (the other exchange student from NY) and I went together to the Coimbatore rail station to meet up with a group of exchange students from Pune (near Mumbai) who were coming through Coimbatore from Ooty. We arrived there a bit early and just hung out for a while until, suddenly, there was a group of foreigners standing in front of us! It was so weird, and honestly VERY cool to see so many foreigners all in one place- all of them are around my age too! We all introduced ourselves to them and they introduced themselves. There were several girls from the US too! One from Montana and the other from Ohio! There were also students from Germany, Belgium, Finland, Brazil, and Colombia! Rianna and I had a lot of fun getting to talk to all of the kids, even though we only could talk for about an hour before their next train, it was worth the trip to go and meet them! I had been corresponding with a Rotarian in their district, and he was a chaperone on this trip. This Rotary district goes on quite a few trips, and so it's been great to have contacts because now Rianna and I have been invited to join in on them! We are both planning to go to Goa with this same group in December- which will be absolutely AWESOME!
On Wednesday I came home to an empty apartment. My host mother's company was having a bg meeting all day and my host father left for Germany over the weekend, so for the first time I was on my own in the kitchen! At first it didn't go so well...my first attempt at making a dosa completely failed, but learning from the mistakes that I made I was able to make the next few perfectly! Then came the microwave to heat up the dahl...I guess I wasn't thinking because I stupidly reached in and grabbed the metal dish- completely burning the skin off of my right thumb...yea not so fun! But, I think it was pretty good for my first time alone!
At school lately everything has been centered around the swine flu. Yes, it's a problem here too. A few kids from my school were diagnosed last week, and therefore the school wanted to take precautions and hired a doctor to come and check all of the students in each of the classes where a student had been sick. It's crazy! Every student is being checked, and every kid who shows any symptoms at all is sent home for a week. The entire 12th grade has three days off because over half of the class had symptoms and was under observation!
Today is Thursday and I woke up to a cool morning and dew on all of the flowers outside. It had rained hard overnight, and on the way to school in the van we drove through several puddles (that looked like small lakes!), arriving at school and then tracking in all of the mud from our shoes. The day was overcast, and for the first time (while in Coimbatore) I felt chilly in the afternoon breeze. The school seemed quiet without the 12th grade, and since the kids are taking exams this week I have been free for the first three periods every morning. Therefore today, with the cool weather and dark skies it was hard to stay awake! The halls were silent and I took advantage of the silence and studied some vocabulary from my SAT book (yea...the SAT. Might as well study when I have time right?)
I just got home about an hour ago, and after helping my host mom type and email and eating lunch, here I am blogging. We are going to be leaving in just a few minutes to go to Padma's house (where I made a teddy bear near the beginning of my stay) and we'll be discussing the details for my Delhi trip with her and a few of her friends! We'll be leaving on the 16th and we'll be gone for a week! I'm so excited!!! I can't wait to see the Taj Mahal!