Meanwhile in India

So less than 2 weeks left on the clock and I know when I get back I’m going to get the question “What did you do in India for 3 months?” Since “just kinda hung out” is probably not the most satisfying answer I decided to compile a list of the accomplishments I’ve achieved while in India. Here ya go :)

-I learned the Telugu alphabet. It took me a while but I finally got it down. For those of you singing the ABCs and scoffing at me, silence. With over 50 letters, plus sub letters, and changing vowel forms this was no small feat.

-I’ve gotten very good at always breathing through my mouth, not my nose. I had a guinea pig as a child so I was already pretty good at this but in a country where the world is both your toilet and your garbage can, I’ve definitely perfected this skill.

-I learned how to fit as many people as possible in a rickshaw. These things are a little bit bigger than your average golf cart and work like taxis. On average, we cram 7 people into one of these bad boys but our record’s 12. I now find clown cars to be considerably less impressive.

-I got in touch with nature in close encounters with cows, rats, chickens, puppies, camels, mongooses (mongeese? mongi? I have no idea), parrots, monkeys, lizards, and bats.

-I learned a lot about Hinduism and participated in quite a few different kinds of ceremonies.

-I have gotten excellent at the art of the bucket shower. I was pretty good in Thailand, but India has put its own little twist on it. The power goes out for an hour at least twice a day, meaning I have now mastered showering with a bucket in the dark. Yeah, I’m that good.

-I learned how to do henna.

-I got my nerd on by reading the Hobbit in one sitting, watching Firefly, and have become very familiar with the back stories of every Avengers superhero (thank you Wikipedia). I think I successfully counteracted any cool points I might have gotten by coming to India.

-I saw one of the wonders of the world. Taj Mahal :)

-I learned 5 shlokas. These are Sanskrit chants that most Indian students learn when they’re really little. They’re kind of like proverbs. It’s actually pretty cool and I’m basically a pro chanter now.

-I’ve picked up a decent amount of Indian sign. One of the girls in our group does her research at a deaf school near our house. We’ve all gotten really close to the kids there. I’m hoping to tell you all about them in the next post but getting to know them has just been awesome. Sign language is so cool. I’m still not very good, but it’s amazing how much you can understand once you learn the alphabet and a few important words.

-I have watched all of the Fast and the Furious movies.

-I learned how to play cricket…ish. Well I’ve got the general idea at least. I’ve gone to an official game, watched kids play a ton, and had a British guy try to explain it to me. From those experiences I’ve concluded cricket consists of 4 things: hit, run, catch, throw. What more do I need to know?

-I’ve conducted 32 interviews (and counting) for my senior thesis, officially the reason I came to India.

Well I’d say that’s a pretty fulfilling semester if I ever had one. Peace!

One of our unofficial cricket tutors

Siddhu's first rice eating ceremony, an important Hindu ritual we were able to participate in.

Signing with one of the kids at the deaf school

Prepping for a Fast and the Furious marathon on the roof

Two of the girls I've gotten to know at the hostel where I do my research.

Saris and Sneakers

Being in India has been a pretty eye opening experience. In a lot of ways, India is still quite traditional in terms of gender roles. Though the society has come a long way with gender equality, the attitude of men as superior is still very prevalent. As a pretty big feminist, this has been challenging. For the first time in my life, I’ve felt really vulnerable and somewhat limited because of my gender. The girls in my study abroad group (5 other very opinionated and rather kick-a girls) have definitely had our share of man-hating moments here, but more than that we’ve gained a huge respect for Indian women. We’ve seen women in saris building houses, washing clothes in rivers with babies on their backs, and carrying huge loads on their heads. I think each of these things just really represents how amazing they are. It’s like saying “I can do anything a man can do, and I can do it in a sari.” I’ve met countless incredible women here, so hard working and caring too.

I’ve especially seen this in my research. I interview at a local college dorm talking to girls about their views on education and their motivations for going to school. Just talking to them, getting to know them, and finding out their stories has been so cool. They’re such strong women. So many of them have had to face a lot of challenges to fulfill their dreams of going to college. The girls have such a strong desire to help their families, do something for society, and just be independent. Seeing that in such a male dominated society has really been incredible. I’m so happy my research gave me the opportunity to really see this, now writing a 30 page paper on it this summer is going to be less fun. ha wish me luck.

Women exercising in saris and sneakers. I just love this.

Building houses in saris. I can barely walk in mine.

We see stuff like this all the time. So amazing.

A couple of the amazing girls we've gotten to know from the hostel and our good friend Mitra Vinda who's helped us a ton with out research.

Me, Carissa, and Kortnee, two of the awesome kick-a girls from my group. We hang out more or less 24/7. Some of the coolest people you’ll ever meet. I a little bit love their guts.

Oh wonderful food

As promised, here’s a post about the awesome food I’ve had, but first I just wanted to say India is the best place in the world to be vegetarian! I was going to title this post “Herbivores of the world unite!” but I didn’t want to alienate the meat-eaters in my life. Because of Hinduism, a lot of the Indian population is vegetarian, making my eating life here amazing. It’s so great. No one here thinks it’s weird! And on every menu there’s a huge vegetarian section and a little meat section, even at McDonalds. That is the way it should be. ;)

As part of our program, there are cooks that make all of our meals. They’re awesome! Lots of curries and fried vegetables. My favorite dish I’ve had is probably gobi aloo but I love anything with potatoes and cauliflower. Southern Indian food is pretty different from northern Indian food which is what most Indian restaurants in the states have, but it’s still really good. I’m crazy about chapatti. It’s a little bit like a tortilla and you use it to eat curry. Also when I told the cooks about roti in Thailand (see my post on Thailand food) they decided to make it for me with chapatti and sweetened condensed milk. So good.

The only thing I’m not super crazy about here is the desserts. They’re really……different. Pretty much all of them are made with this stuff called ghee that basically this clarified liquid butter stuff. For how fattening it is, you’d think it would be more delicious. Ha In order to feed our sweet tooths we have found places with more American desserts. Whenever we go we take it upon ourselves to live up to our fat American reputation and order 3 desserts each. Go big or go home!

I almost forgot to mention the coolest part of eating here. They eat with their hands!!!!! Rice, curry, even soup, all with your hands. So many childhood fantasies fulfilled right there. A word of advice though. Don’t rub your eyes after eating spicy curry with your hands. Had to learn that the hard way, twice.

Sadly I got sick on my trip to the Taj so I haven’t had much an appetite lately. Funny how puking off of a train will do that to you. I’m just hoping my appetite comes back soon because I only have a month left to throw down as much Indian food as I can!

Traditional southern indian meal, served on a banana leaf.

The wonderful juice place where we basically live some nights.

3 desserts. one person. nbd. like I said, go big or go home.

A pretty typical meal at our house.

Ghee desserts!

Sittin' on trains

Hey there! So last week was our spring break, meaning we had a whole week to go anywhere we wanted in India. Kate, Kortnee, Andie, and I decided since this may be the only time we’re in India, we had to hit the Taj Mahal. The four of us hopped on a 32 hour train ride to Agra. Good think I like trains, but 32 hours is very long time on a train even for the biggest ferroequinologist. It wasn’t too bad though. Armed with a deck of cards, books, ipods, and of course snacks we survived. And the scenery was incredible!

Once we got to Agra we were pumped to the Taj and it totally lived up to the hype. Seriously beautiful. The grounds were incredible too. We took tons of pictures, soaked in the atmosphere, and did a fair amount of people watching. Let me just say, no one is more entertaining than tourists.

Another place we went was called Fatephur Sikri. It’s basically an old Mogul ghost town about an hour outside of Agra. There’s an amazing mosque there and behind it all these incredible ruins. We explored them thoroughly and then made friends with some goats.

We were actually in Agra for Holi, also known as the festival of colors. This is a Hindu festival celebrating the arrival a spring where people have big bonfires and throw colored powder and water on each other. It was a little crazy but fun. We explored the streets, got hit with powder by strangers, and then to make sure we got sufficiently rainbowed we had a color fight of our own by the hostel we were staying.

The next day we hit the railroad and headed home. It was awesome to see another side of India (and escape the heat for a while), but we were definitely all happy to come home to Vizag.

Card games on the train!

View from the train

First sight of the Taj!

perdy.

All of us.

On the Taj grounds

Sweet mosque at Fatephur Sikri

Ruins! Me and Andie being awesome in front of them.

Holi in front of the Taj with our new friends.

People celebrating Holi in the street