होली मुबारक!

Of course, the week was filled with so much!

The title translates to Holi Mubarak, which means Happy Holi! Fun fact, mubarak also means Happy in Arabic.

The other day, we did fancy Friday and we all wore our Saris, which was a lot of fun and really great because saris are freaking beautiful. We also made peanut butter later that day and added in ginger and chilli flakes…sounds terrible…actually was delicious.

Sari photos!

Allison, Max and I. Our rickshaw driver loved this!

The Fancy Friday group, Jessie, Allison, Max, myself and Chrissy all lookin great :)

Chrissy and Jessie being their adorable selves

Cue weekend. Saturday morning a small group of us went to the City Palace and Observatory. The Observatory was really awesome even though I couldn’t understand a lot of what the instruments were used for. The City Palace was, as usual, extravagant and beautiful. Part of that family still lives in part of that palace. What? That doesn’t happen in America.

After that it was time for Anokhi. Aka, the restaurant we go to whenever we need a break from the heavy, gui (straight butter) and roti (bread) filled diet we have been living off of. THEY HAVE SALADS. THAT ARE SAFE TO EAT. (This is actually huge, there are very select places where’s it’s safe to have raw veggies. I guess you would call that a direct side effect of so much of the world not having access to clean drinking water.)

Here are photo's from the observatory and City Palace:

This is a sun dial...a hugeeeee sun dial. (This observatory is a world heritage site)

Gemini:

City Palace

After we were satisfyingly full, we headed to MI Road. (It’s now about 2:00pm…it’s hot. Really hot. It’s scary to think it’s still technically winter here.) After gift shopping for myself and others, it was time to head back to get ready to go to temple with my host-mom.

This was actually a really great experience. We went to a temple on the far side of the city, and it was HUGE. There were several smaller shrines to different Gods and Goddesses within the main temple. It is also a place where people hold gatherings, like birthdays, anniversaries, etc. That’s why we were going, it was my host-mom’s friend’s wedding anniversary, so she wanted to bring me to see a temple and what it looks like.

With the entire city/country getting ready for Holi, the colors they were using on peoples foreheads were neon. I had a mix of yellow, pink, red and orange. It was an amazing environment of bells ringing, singing, dancing for Holi and there were a lot of gatherings similar to the one we were going to. The food was delicious, but heavily gui’d (pure butter) that they use on everything.  It was a successful evening and I’m lucky that I had to the chance to experience this.

Once the week started, it was crazy. We went on a mini-excursion to the Barefoot College and a village that is renowned for its water conservation system. The Barefoot College is a cool example of a college where the villagers can attend and get training in solar energy, becoming solar engineers, teachers, working with circuit boards, recycling to create things needed within their village. No paper degree is given, everyone receives equal pay and they receive training that will help them and their village specifically versus pushing them to leave their village and enter the global market. This school is known across the world; we visited a class that was a 6 month workshop and there were women from Cambodia, Nicaragua, Columbia, Panama, Nepal and so many other places from around the world. Their governments recognized the need for these skills in villages, worked with the Indian government, and sent the women to the workshop for training. Although this is the only actual campus for the Barefoot College, there are field offices in various places (including Morocco).

Tuesday afternoon we arrived back at the center for our Holi celebration. Holi was actually on Wednesday, but we wanted to be able to celebrate at the program center since not all host-families were celebrating. Background: Holi is the festival of colors. It symbolized the victory of spring over winter and welcomes in the new season. To celebrate, colors are bought, both liquid and powdered. They come in all colors: pink, blue, green, yellow, purple, orange, silver, etc. Some colors are permanent and stain skin for several weeks (we tried to avoid those) and others are much safer and chemical free. We were advised to be careful during Wednesday because the holiday (like most worldwide it seems) has turned into a reason for drinking. Women can be assaulted with water balloons filled with sewage, motor oil and colors that will stain them. So as a woman, I was advised against venturing out between the hours of 8am and 4pm for safety reasons. However, I was lucky and my friend Allison, her host sister offered to pick us up and drive us to Max’s house to play safely there. So Tuesday night we all played as a group. (By “Played” I mean literally took hand fulls of colors and attacked each other. Then on Wednesday morning I got picked up and played Holi with my extended host family! Max’s host dad attacked us with a hose saying that this is how you officially end Holi, by getting soaked with water. Lunch followed, which was delicious. They were great and made me foods that weren’t really really spicy so that I could eat it.  

After the eventful morning, I came home to wash off the colors, discovered that some spots of color just don’t feel like coming off. I have random spots of pink on my arms and forehead, also my hair is dyed pink. Max has spots on his face that won’t come off and Allison has blonde hair so the color really dyed her hair. It was a fabulous experience and was a great way to welcome spring! (Even though it has already been about ninety degrees for the past few weeks) It’s now officially spring, we ate good food, played with colors AND got time off of school. All great things!

Holi photo's for you!

Pre-throwing of colors

And the end result :)

So Happy Holi from me to you and I hope everyone back home gets to enjoy spring now instead of snow!

Travels to the Ganges and Himalayan Foothills

Another week has passed and I now have less than two months left in India. This week was overwhelming, like every week. How do I describe India to those at home? The India portrayed in the United States consists of an over-crowded, dirty, poor country where everyone smells like curry. There are also great sites like the Taj Mahal, but that’s about it. When I was telling people I wanted to come to India, I had some people ask me why I wanted to go to that “hell-hole” and it’s a “dirty place where your snot will turn black because of the pollution.” My point being, India is not portrayed particularly well in the U.S, especially after the Delhi rape case.  After my first blog post here with pictures, I had several people comment that it was prettier than they expected.

There are also the people that view India as a profoundly spiritual place where one can find themselves. (I see these people everywhere. Fun fact: the American grungy hippy look is not popular in India. They think you look ridiculous and strongly encourage good hygiene.) There is a romanticized version of India.

There seems to be very little in between in how people view India, its one extreme or another. So now I’m here, and I’ve been here for a month and a half at this point.  How do I describe India to the people at home that have these extreme assumptions? India is a country of contradictions. There is extreme wealth and poverty. It is majority rural but has huge urban hubs and is up and coming in the economic scene. It is considered to be “developing” but their education system demands more of their students than in the United States. It is beautiful in so many ways, but there are piles of garbage on the streets. I live in a city, where cows, goats, dogs and camels are in the streets next to the cars. The levels of bacteria and disease are high and people have been sick off and on the majority of the semester. It is a patriarchal society. It is also a very spiritual country where yoga, meditations, and being vegetarian is popular and leads to a better way of life.  The people are welcoming and talkative and welcome you in to their lives very openly.  You cannot describe India in one sentence or even one paragraph because depending on where you are, your experience will be completely different.

I don’t want to romanticize India, because over all it is not a romantic country in a lot of ways. There are a lot of problems here, problems that I may not always see first-hand but are important to remember. However, there are problems in every country. I also don’t want to make it sound terrible because it is a great experience, I’m learning a lot and the country and people are beautiful.

Anyways, going off of all that I’m realizing how much of India I won’t see while I’m here; both tangibly and intangibly. I had this discovery last semester in Morocco as well, that there is the India I see and then the part of India I won’t see.  Accepting this is difficult, but something that has to be done. There is corruption in the government and all around. There is only so much I can understand so I just have to keep going.

More specifically to what this past week entailed: there was lots of traveling. We went on our Northern excursion, which took place in the foothills of the Himalayas. What? Freaking, beautiful. Our journey began with at 14 hour train ride last Sunday night, in the sleeper compartment. An adventure to say the least, but fun none the less. After a fairly sleepless train ride, we arrive in Haridwar, one of the holiest pilgrimage sites in India because of the Ganges River; and proceed to take a three hour bus ride to an organic farm called Navdanya started by Dr. Vandana Shiva.  Even though biodiversity and agriculture don’t tend to fall in my normal range of interests, it was really interesting. It is a sustainable farm that works with local farmers to improve their farming abilities and to help them avoid using the chemicals promoted by the government.  It was beautiful there and they were interesting to see.

From Navdanya we left for another NGO based in Dehradun which was also beautiful due to the surrounding Himalayan foothills. I got to watch the sunrise over the foothills, and at that moment I realized how incredibly lucky I am to be here and having these experiences. 

These are the foothills...imagine how big the real mountains are....

Sunrise :)

 Through this organization we visited a bunch of sites including a settlement from the Van Gujjar’s community. They were a traditionally conservative Muslim nomadic tribe that moved through northern India. They are now starting to settle due to wanting to provide a better education for their children. Visiting them in the forest to see their homes was incredible and we got to spend the morning with their children at school. Again, they were very welcoming and excited to share their knowledge with us. They know more about the wildlife and forests in India than most people and the fact that they have been able to survive there for so many decades is astounding.

The forests

 Some of the children I was with...once they saw cameras,they all wanted their pictures taken!

After some more running around to visit NGO’s, we ended up in Rishikesh; a city where the Ganges flows through. In this town the water of the Ganges is much safer and cleaner. For those of you who don’t know, the Ganges in a holy river in India. People will put the ashes of cremated loved ones, or bodies of ones that have passed away. People die yearly from bacterial infections received when dunking in the river. However, if you dunk, your sins are washed away and you are cleansed. You could feel the spirituality in the air there.

So although I did not dunk in the Ganges, I did cross it to get to a rock-bar area in the middle where myself and some friends sat for a while to watch the sun set. Again, in this moment I was overwhelmed with how lucky I am to be experiencing all these things.  The experience was overwhelming and wonderful and so many things I’m still figuring it out.

                So besides the typical stressed of trying to process and understand the country I’m in, and how I’ll deal with the reverse culture shock of going home; everything here is phenomenal!

Next week in Holi, the festival of Colors, so I’m excited for that and will be sure to update again soon!

Random side note, here is what people getting ready to sit on the fourteen hour train home look like. (And yes, we all slept in that little space you are looking at)

Thank you Allison for your fabulous photo. By far, one of the best pictures thus far. :)

Nine-Tenths Crew

               I’ve heard that back home there have been some questions about the appearance of the nine-tenths sign in a few of my pictures on my blog. A friend of mine on the program, Max, is part of a group called the Nine-Tenths Crew. The way he’s described it is as a philosophy. Their motto is “If it was perfect, then it wouldn’t be any fun.” If everything in life was perfect, than nothing exciting would ever happen; perfection is boring. If everything and everyone was the same, where would the excitement in life be? Life is about the fun.  Life isn’t perfect and people aren’t perfect, but things can come pretty close and that’s when you truly appreciate something. It’s all about being optimistic while remaining realistic through life.

                I think this is something important to remember, especially as you’re entering a new point in your life. Whether it’s entering high school, going to college, going abroad, or just the fact that things are different every day; remember this philosophy. It was started by a group of college students, but really portrays something important that we should all keep in mind when the little (or big) things in life start to bother us. What would we learn if everything was perfect and things went so smoothly? As Allison would say, “Live life in a way that makes the best stories.”

                You can see the blog for the Nine-Tenths Crew (Check it out as it’s going international!) at: ninetenthscrew.tumbrl.com

"One Cannot Judge When One is Wearing a Neck-Pillow"

First off, it’s March? I’ve been here over a month? Whatttttttt?

A week since I posted last and so much has happened. The weeks here are filled with a variety of things, all of which cause me to reflect a lot. Early Sunday morning we left for an excursion to Bikaner and then Jodhpur.  We started to enter desert territory and we reached a girls school that prepares them for exams. We talked with them, some of the 18 year old girls were married and some were standing by the fact that they wouldn’t get married for a long time. We then played games with them, they got to draw henna on us and we left. We were there for a couple hours.  I’m still not quite sure why we were there…

The desert-ness we were driving through:

Fun fact: there's an antelope on the right side of this picture.

                Day two consisted of visiting an all girl’s college. We broke off into smaller groups and interacted with them. Or at least we tried to. Between their English and our Hindi, the conversation was fairly limited. The big question I was asked was if I had a boyfriend. When I said No, they all giggled and asked me why? I was so beautiful, why was I single. When I shrugged and asked them if they were dating they all immediately said No and that they wanted to stay that way. This bothered me. American culture is portrayed in such a way, that it seems all women have a boyfriend or are in search for one. So it was weird that I was a “Western” woman and was okay with not having a significant other, but for them as an Indian woman, they felt empowered by being single in a patriarchal society.

After that we tried to learn some dance moves that involved far too much coordination for my abilities, taught them the Hokey Pokey (yes, we really did.) Then they took lots and lots of pictures with us, even girls we weren’t talking with wanted their pictures with us.  And then we left…again.  Another strange situation…

We went to a fort after though which was beautiful:

 Casual gold inlay. No big deal.

Gold and jeweled palace room. Again, casual.

                Day three was a visit to a village to do a community mapping and a group discussion them. They were clearly proud of their village and the layout. I was in the group speaking with them about why they migrate to other states during the off season with their crops. (Shout out to Morocco Migration group! I was thinking of you!) We actually had a great conversation and it was really interesting to hear about their day to days lives. We then explored the village and had the children show us around.  This was the first trip that I felt as though I actually learned something and they got something out of it too. They clearly enjoyed showing us their village and they were proud of it. I still felt as though the visit was too short to really get to know anyone or really anything but it was good.

That night was good though for a completely different reason. After a long three days, we went to dinner at the restaurant next store to our hotel. After a group of us sat down, a man comes up and asks us if we want whiskey on the house? We were all shocked, confused, questioning if we were still in India? Turns out, the gentleman was the owner and was checking in on things for the first time in a few months. Whenever he visits, he has a night with everything on the house. So we had drink s and dinner for free. Not only was the food good, but so was the company. It was the perfect way to de-stress as we were getting ready to start driving the next day to Jodhpur.

                We drove alllllllllll day to Jodhpur. When we got to the hotel, I think all of us were speechless. It was five star, with REAL mattresses and a swimming pool. What was left of the afternoon was spent swimming and preparing for our night at “On the Rocks” (another weird club/dance experience with the staff.) We arrive to eat dinner there…and it’s an expensive restaurant (good thing they gave us stipend) and then the herd us into a small little cave like dance floor were we were given forty-five minutes to dance to our hearts content. After our forty-five minutes we were herded out, back onto our tour bus and brought back to the hotel for our reasonable bedtime. We were actually told to go to bed. Weird.

                The next morning we were all up early for an introduction to the NGO that works with Hindu Pakistani refugees. They were people that had fled Pakistan due to religious persecution. After we talked with them, we went to a settlement with these refugees. It was a hard experience for several reasons. One obviously being that these people have been through so much; they had to flee one country to come to India on a visa, let the visa expire so they’re technically illegal and are not recognized as citizens by the Indian government even after fulfilling the requirements. I had a difficult time listening to the distrust of Muslims (who are mistrusted in India and persecuted even though India is technically a secular country.)All in all, their basic needs of food, work and water were being met, but they aren’t officially acknowledged and their basic humanness is denied. Leaving there to go back to our five star hotel was difficult to say the least. All of us struggled with it for different reasons. Luckily, the group is amazing and we were all able to talk about it and kind of help ourselves feel a bit better.

The evening was a bit more relaxing, which was good given the stress of the day. We ventured into the old city for some shopping and dinner. Dinner was at a luxury rooftop restaurant where we could see the fort and the view of the “blue city.” We were in a small group too, so it was refreshing to have a chance to chat with a few people before heading back to the larger group.

                Cue end of excursion number one. Some people went to the desert, some people went to Udaipur and some of us came back to Jaipur to relax and explore the city we’ve been living in. We stopped briefly in Pushkar which is a weird combo of being a Hindu pilgrimage site and a foreign hippy center.  One long bus ride later, we were back. A group of us went to the water palace and explored some shops in the old city. We had lunch at a place where we could actually eat the salads (This is huge) and found a bookstore. We have a week of classes and then we will be heading on our next excursion on Sunday.

Pushkar:

The water palace:

The poor awkward fish that were swimming too close to shore to get bread....

Okay, so it’s been a long blog post, but there are still some things to talk about. A week of long bus rides results in a lot of thinking, because that’s basically all you can do. (Also, I’m convinced that there is something in the air in India that causes serious life-contemplations.)

First things first, I would like to thank the group for being so brilliant and easy to talk with. They all make everything easier when facing serious questions like the ones I was thinking about on the bus, One friend, Jocelyn, made an excellent point that nearly brought me to tears. She was talking about the work she had done last summer in Burma and she is currently trying to get a book published with the stories of the refugees she worked with. It is taking her a bit longer than planned (understandable based on being abroad. And let’s be honest, how many 20 year olds do you know that are getting books published? She’s brilliant.) We were talking about how she can’t be hard on herself. And she made a fabulous point that I need to apply to my life. How can we give full credit to those we worked with in the past, and the people we work with currently if we are running ourselves into the ground? If we are mentally wearing ourselves out and not able to fully appreciate what we did and what we are going to do, we are then taking away from the validity of the people we’ve been lucky enough to work with. Our personal health is important and we need to not weigh ourselves down with more than we can handle. Our personal health, both physically and mentally, will affect those people we are trying to actively be involved with. I know that personally, this is something I need to bring back with me to the United States and here. So many people that I know, myself included, keep pushing ourselves and load things onto our plate that maybe we aren’t ready to handle. I’m noticing here what a hard time I’m having with still processing Morocco, trying to process things here and trying to figure out things for when I get home. I need to take a step back, take a deep breath and know that by weighing myself down with all these thing I’m going to take away from the experiences and people I knew last semester and the people I’m lucky enough to get to know now. Thank you Jocelyn for being able to put into words what I couldn’t and making me realize something that I desperately needed to come to terms with.

This links to the importance of approaching the people you are working with, whether it’s the people in your group, villagers, students, children, etc. that you approach them on the basic level of humanness. It can be easy to get sucked into the mindset of researcher and subject, but this s a power play that should be avoided if possible. It makes things uncomfortable. Like being at the girl’s college, personally I felt that they were getting far more out of me being there than I was simply because they were excited to have American students there. There should be as much equal give take as possible, which is why the village was interesting because they were clearly the ones showing us what they had to offer and were sharing our responses with it. It was a learning experience for both of us.

Let’s lead into Ivan Illich’s “To Hell With Good Intentions” again. (Actually though, if you still haven’t read it, DO IT) I feel like this speech is ALWAYS nagging at the back of my mind (and now I’ve passed it on to Allison…sorry Allison!) What sort of good am I doing by popping myself into these schools or camps for a couple hours and leaving. The people at the refugee camp told us that if we wanted to help, we should help them get citizenship or help them buy land. I’m not an Indian citizen, I don’t have that power; but because of where I come from they assume I do. This is literally a constant struggle in my mind while I’m here.

Well, I suppose I should leave it at this for now. There is still much thinking happening since I’ve been back, but I can only get so much out at once. This is where the blog title comes from, how much time was spent thinking about everything on the bus for so long we would wear our neck-pillows to sleep. During these travels these discussions would happen, and Allison would make sure I understand there would be no judgment happening during any of these talks. India will surely keep the challenges and the good times coming.