At long last I shall describe the wonderful wedding event of several weeks ago. At the beginning of the term, Rachael and I learned that our host mother's brother was going to be married at the end of October, while we were still staying with their family. While some of our classmates have had awkward situations with their host families in which they know an event is happening, like someone's birthday or a celebration of some kind, but they aren't explicitly invited (or they're implicitly but specifically not invited), we were told from day one that we could come to the multiple days of festivities and even borrow Khadeeja's clothes! Needless to say, we looked forward to the approaching nuptials (I've literally never heard this word said, only written, so it seems appropriate that I should write in in my blog!) with anticipation for the majority of the semester.

Weeks before the event itself, we picked out what we wanted to wear. I decided to wear a gharara, a traditional Muslim dress-type thing one day and a sari the next day of the main wedding. Rachael chose saris for both days, and Khadeeja let us borrow salwar kameez suits for the less formal days. Unfortunately, the first day of festivities, which was presented to us as "small gathering" in which the bride would have turmeric rubbed on her. Rachael ended up feeling too sick to go (she slept all day that day and continued the entire time we were gone), so Khadeeja gave me a yellow suit to wear, and we piled into cars with her sister and nieces and some other obscure relatives whose names I don't know.

We went to Old Delhi, near Chandni Chowk, and walked through a very, very cockroach-infested alley to get to the house of someone related to someone in the wedding party (still unclear who exactly owned the house, but the hostess seemed to be someone's aunt and she was incredibly sweet, if a bit pushy with food). As soon as we got there, I realized the "eight" predicted people had somehow multiplied to 80 or so, and everyone was wearing yellow. Many young women and children and even some older woman were dancing energetically to some Bollywood music playing form a set of speakers, and I was almost immediately roped into joining the dance floor happenings. I don't consider myself a bad dancer — I'm not winning any awards any time soon and I mostly just writhe the same as everyone else — but these women and children (especially the children) put me to shame. They were confident and moved beautifully, while I awkwardly stood there and tried to imitate their dance moves, which involve a lot of hip shaking and hand gestures. Every time I tried to excuse myself, I was dragged back into the fray, especially by this one nice woman who I think was the domestic help of another woman there. Everyone thought I was just a riot (an awkward, clumsy riot, but a riot nonetheless) and the older women made the younger ones teach me some dance moves.

Eventually the bride came in looking beautiful. We later found out she has this hybrid Scottish and Indian accent when she speaks English, which is awesome. She sat on some pillows on one end of the room and a ceremony was performed, in which all the women smeared turmeric on her arms and hands and face and any other exposed skin they could find. Apparently this ended up giving her a rash (oops). Then it became a free-for-all of people picking up globs of turmeric and spreading it on one another, and I had about an inch-thick layer of yellow paste all over my face. I think I was considered a novel target so everyone there came up to me to cover me even more thoroughly in yellow. We then washed our faces, ate a delicious meal, thanked our hosts, dodged more cockroaches, and headed to our host grandmother's house. I finally got to meet her, and the women discussed more wedding preparations while Khadeeja's nieces continued to dance.



Oy vey, as usual, I left this until the last part of my night, and I think it's time for me to go to bed. I also have to put a band-aid around my headphones because there are some wires sticking out that sort of hurt when they poke me, and I'm afraid the sound is going to go soon. I need to update more about Kolkata, but I'll give some brief highs and lows here.

I spend most of my time alone because Sarah Kate and Tania are working with another NGO and I'm in a completely different part of the city. We're staying in what amounts to the living room of a nice older couple in south Kolkata, and every morning (or almost every morning), I wake up a little before 7 to go to the DOTS (directly observed treatment, short course) treatment center in way, way north Kolkata. I walk to the metro station, take the metro for about 40 minutes, which is a barbaric experience because the trains are always overcrowded and people shove like you wouldn't believe, sweat a lot because it's hot here and the metro isn't air conditioned, sometimes nap if I can get a seat, and then walk to the clinic. I've been interviewing patients, and I've also had some interviews with NGO leaders and health care practitioners, and my study is coming along nicely. Calcutta Rescue, the NGO I'm partnering with, is an awesome organization led by a very nice man named Dr. Bobby, and they do lots of comprehensive and holistic health care work in the poorest areas of the city.

After the clinics, I usually try to find lunch somewhere, which either involves buying something kind of sketchy that isn't very satisfying and then something chocolatey (you know me, carboholic over here), or not eating much at all. There aren't that many restaurants, and sometimes I kind of set myself up for failure because I like to get off at random metro stops every day to explore the city, but then I end up in areas that I don't know at all so I don't know were to find restaurants. So after I eat, I usually go read in a park or do work somewhere like the NGO headquarters, or try to do something cultural. That attempt was foiled the other day the planetarium because all that day's shows were cancelled "due to the untimely demise of our colleague," which made me (morbidly) wonder if some man had actually died IN the planetarium. That's really not a bad place to go though, because I would imagine the stars are lovely (I wouldn't know, though, since I couldn't see a show that day).

I've seen the Victoria Memorial from the outside but I haven't gone in yet. Maybe Sunday? There's a multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) clinic on Saturdays that I go to, but Sundays are kind of my day off. Oh, I just remembered! There's also a carnival thing at St. Paul's cathedral, which is this beautiful cathedral in central Kolkata, built by the British of course, on Saturday! And last weekend was the film festival so we went to a terribly violent Brazilian film about organized crime and corruption, and then a terribly tragic Chinese film about an earthquake (like, nothing positive happened in this film and most of the characters spent a good portion of it wailing, for good reason because their homes and families were destroyed by a massive earthquake). I tried to go to another film that I thought was Dutch, but it was actually this really slow Indian film and I kept falling asleep, so I just left after a little while. Mostly I walk around and read and sit on the Metro and eat chocolate. And talk to random men who always open with, "Where are you from?" I think that's funny because there's rarely even a greeting. Most of the time I just ignore people like this, but sometimes I get sucked into conversations with them when they walk beside, and some of them are actually nice and not creepy. Tania currently has a semi-stalker here (not quite that serious, but he's creepy) in the form of a French man that we've run into a few times a films. He's married and middle-aged and awkward and won't stop emailing and calling her, but she's told him now very explicitly to leave her alone (several times) so I think he's finally getting the message.

Those were largely a lot of unconnected sentences but I figured I would word dump about Kolkata for a little while and finish the wedding post another day. Summary of the rest of the wedding: I did the worm three times, we ate our weight in food (which is even more impressive considering we've all gained weight here, I think), our host uncle's friends became our pseudo-friends (and friends on Facebook), we wore really pretty Indian clothes belonging to our host mom, and then we had to write really long papers after all that was over. I'll go into more detail later, but I have to go to bed now so I can go to the DOTS clinic tomorrow and then interview the head of the epidemiology department at the All India Institute of Hygiene and Public Health. It's really a riveting life I lead here in India, no? Good night, and good luck!

P.S. I've completely stopped wearing deodorant here after I got this incredibly painful infection (so much TMI, sorry!), but I really don't think I can swing this is in the United States. Mom, maybe I can get some all-natural deodorant as a stocking stuffer? You know, just for a fun and whimsical Christmas present. That's all!

I must blog about my host mom's brother's wedding, but that's kind of a whole big thing and I would rather tell you all about a few smaller things right now.

Open Hand Cafe

In Varanasi, some of the girls on my program had gone to a bakery near our hotel that was run by a South African person that Goutam Ji knew. They had delicious crepes and milkshakes, and then we found out that there's also a cafe in Delhi. We had to finish our final Independent Study Project proposals on Friday, so we decided to check out the cafe. Rachael and I thought it was in the American embassy, so we headed over and asked the guard in front of the fortress that apparently is our embassy if we could go inside to get food. Apparently you can only go in if you have an appointment or know someone (which I was little annoyed at because I thought I was always welcome at my own embassy as an American citizen, but whatever), so we called Goutam Ji to see if he knew whether the Open Hand Cafe was actually in the American embassy. We found out later that is was actually in the American Embassy School around the corner, so we ventured over there and traded our passports for guest passes.

The Open Hand Cafe in Delhi didn't have crepes or milkshakes, but it did have a delicious smoked chicken sandwich, a mocha frappe, and a rocky road brownie. Liz, Rachael, and I spent all afternoon at the cafe ordering food that made us think of home and working on our final study proposals. It was a wonderful little slice of America, but it was also thoroughly disconcerting to be on the school's campus. All the students, kindergarten to 12th grade, are foreign passport holders, with the majority being American and Korean. All the students walking around were wearing western clothes, and many were white and Asian. As we were leaving many hours later, we even saw people warming up for an ultimate frisbee game! In many ways it was a relief from the chaos of Delhi, and it made me excited to see my family to see moms picking up their kids after school and buying them treats, but it was also felt weird to be surrounded by Americans and other foreigners. Overall it was a great break and relaxing afternoon of yummy, familiar food.

Shopping

Before leaving Delhi, I decided to do some shopping to make sure I didn't run out of time at the end of my program or in Kolkata. After the the Open Hand Cafe, Rachael and I headed to Dilli Haat for a little beggar-free, upscale market shopping. Liz fell in love with this blue and red sari that had beautiful work on it, but the man selling it started the price at Rs 5,000 (about $100). Liz definitely wasn't paying that much, so we continued looking around. I bought a present for my mata ji (mother) and kept looking, but Rachael and I were running out of time because we were going to another wedding reception with our host parents (we got incredibly lucky during Indian wedding season). Liz made one desperate call to Tania to get her advice on the sari, who recommended she go up to the sari seller and hand her the amount she wanted to pay. While Rachael and Liz did that, I went back to a few more stalls and impulse purchased two elephant pillow cases and a small elephant wall hanging. Rachael and I also went to Lajpat Nagar and I bought a pair of shoes (and later a duplicate pair for our host mom because she liked them so much). In my quest for a picture frame to give to Adil and Khadeeja as well, I bought a copy of In Cold Blood and some stationary at Khan Market. Speaking of which, I just finished Pride and Prejudice and am working on Wuthering Heights (and by that I mean I'm five pages in), though I might switch and read Truman Capote instead.

Kolkata

Rachael and I had a sleepover at the program center on Sunday night because our host parents were going out of town, but it was alright because the guest room at the center is super nice. Then Sarah Kate, Tania K. and I took an overnight train to Kolkata! There is much more to this story, but alas I must go to bed.

Good night!

For Halloween, our program staff decided we would have a little party at our center because Halloween is not widely celebrated in India and they knew we would want to do something. Unlike most 16- to 22-year-old girls, our costumes focused less on how little clothing we could wear and more on what, if anything, we could scrap together from the clothing we have in India. For many people, this involved making dubiously politically correct ethnic costumes, such as Mexican gangster and Russian grandmother. Harkening back to the days of high school, I opted to create a makeshift jellyfish costume. My mom had once made me a jellyfish costume made out of a sunhat covered in shimmery blue fabric, with strips of purple, blue, and turquoise fabric of different textures hanging from the brim. My mother is nothing if not crafty (and really, really good at sewing) so it was a pretty impressive last minute costume.

My jelly-in-Delhi costume, however, was even more scrapped together. I planned to pin my and Rachel's dupattas (the scarves we have to wear with all of our Indian clothes) to the edge of the straw hat that I take everywhere with me. Rachael decided to borrow my flannel (I don't want to talk about why I brought a flannel to India, other than to say that one should never ever pull an all-nighter packing and writing a final paper) and straw hat so she could be a cowgirl, so I determined I would use her hat for my costume instead. The next day, though, I forgot it as I walked out the door, and I was forced to improvise even further when it was costume time later.

I ended up using an old shipping box to pin the multi-colored dupattas to, and I had to take it off while I was carving a pumpkin because I couldn't see anything. We thought they would have candy for us at the party because that's a pretty crucial part of American Halloween, but I'm not sure they really understood that so instead we carved pumpkins and ate Chinese food. It was really fun regardless!

Avid readers and fans, I apologize for my prolonged absence from the hallowed pages of Blogger. I really can attribute it to nothing other than my own laziness and preoccupation with various activities (some of which should take precedence over blogging and some of which are just a waste of time, like Facebook). But after an extended break, during which my dearest mata ji (mother in Hindi) called me out for not blogging for a long time, I'm back in action and ready to write more than any human could possibly want to read about the last week and a half or so in India! I'm even going to use subheads.

Varanasi Boat Ride

On our last day in Varanasi, we were treated to a lovely and fascinating boat ride along the Ganga Ji (Ganges River). Varanasi, often called the oldest living city in the world, is situated on the banks of the Ganga Ji and in Hinduism, the cycle of reincarnation is broken and salvation (or whatever it's called in Hinduism, unfortunately I don't know as much as I should) is achieved if a person is placed in the river after death. We rose early to get to the river before sunrise, but Varanasi was already abuzz with life. It was a hazy morning, and people were generally moving in the direction of the river. Women were performing pujas (prayers) in circles, washing clothing, and bathing in the murky water of the Ganga while street vendors started setting up and beggars began their daily routine. We walked to the river's edge and boarded what was basically a very large row boat, operated by two Indian men.

It was a really cool experience to be slowly moving up the river as the city began to wake up. If you ever see pictures of India with women in saris standing on crowded steps descending into a river and entering the water and washing things, those are pictures most likely taken in Varanasi. I asked Goutam Ji whether people continue to bathe in the Ganga by choice or whether they lack running water at home, and he said it's a choice based on many years of tradition and spirituality. As we moved down the river, we saw scores of other boats filled with tourists, including some with tripods set up in their row boats and hoards of Southeast Asian tourists in masks to filter the dirty air. It was probably the most tourists we'd seen anywhere.

Along the shore of the river were the women I already talked about, as well as men bathing, people meditating, tourists taking pictures, and people selling things. We also passed several crematoriums on the edge of the river, which consisted of high pyres built to burn bodies on. It was an interesting sight but it felt a little too intimate to be looking at that part of someone's funereal process. The sun came up through haze while we putzed along the river, and across the way we could see a few long figures walking along a sandbar. It was all very meditative and beautiful, and it was probably my favorite part of our time in Varanasi. The water itself was gray and dirtier than in Rishikesh, and at one point we saw the body of a dead cow float by. We've heard stories of people bathing in the Ganges and surfacing next to a dead body, which is morbid and sad. I dipped my hand in but we definitely avoided bathing or swimming in the Ganga Ji.

Shopping & Train

After the boat ride, some of us decided to go back to the main, bustling market area of Varanasi. We wanted to further explore the little alleyways that criss-cross the area and make some purchases. I ended up buying a child's langa for Mariyah, my little sister for Big Brother Big Sister. It's pink and blue and has a lot of beads on it, so hopefully she'll think it's fun. I also bought some pillowcases that I may take to Leavenworth (where my family has a cabin, for those of you who are really behind on my life) or put in my room. It's a lot easier for me to make purchases that I claim (in my head at least) are for other people. I buy a lot of things that I plan to give to my parents, knowing full well that having them in my house at home means they're sort of mine too. Anyway, I also bought a pair of pants for someone but I haven't decided who yet.

We had to catch the train that evening around 7:15, and Goutam Ji made us leave the hotel at 5:30 to take autos the six kilometers to the station. That seemed like more time than we could possibly need, but the Varanasi roads were tangled and busy and crowded, so we got there at the perfect time. The train itself was ok (another sleeper train — I'm becoming a pro at sleeping in their questionably clean and comfortable berths) and I watched another movie on my computer. Side note: I have about 100 movies on my computer from Mojo (an application that lets me get movies from other people's computers easily), and it's been a godsend in India. We can't really be out at night, which means we have a lot of time just hanging out at our home stay and things like that. Being able to watch movies is nice, and I've recently given a lot of them to other people here. Anyway, I watched a movie and went to sleep, and when I woke up, I found out we were a little delayed so we could rest longer. Our "little delay" became an approximately six-hour delay, so Rachael and I were not in the best of spirits upon arriving home. We had to rally energy, though, because that day (Sunday) was Rachael's birthday and we, being the other students and I, had planned a surprise party that night!

Party Time Hurray!!!

A while ago, some of us had discussed doing something for Rachael and Poonam's birthday on Oct. 23, and Nina agreed to take the lead on organizing a party. She has a Greek restaurant in mind (which is confusing in India...) but we all agreed to let her do her thing and we would all chip in to pay for it. Nina planned everything but we decided not to tell Poonam and Rachael, so on Sunday after our long train delay, I told Rachael that nothing really had been planned but we could go out to dinner with a few people if we wanted.

I had to write down the directions and read them haltingly to the auto driver, but we eventually found the the Greek restaurant, checked our name off the list, and we headed upstairs. Nina had reserved the entire top floor of the restaurant. Dinner was provided, and it was entirely delicious. We also had two bottles of champagne and a DJ, which of course prompted loads of dancing. It was all fantastically fun! We got to relax like we were back in Amreeca (how they pronounce America here) and be ourselves in a place where there was no one else to stare at or judge us. Rachael was turning 21 so people made sure to buy her plenty of drinks, and it was generally a wonderful time with friends! It was definitely a night on the pricier end of those we've spent in Delhi, but it's nothing compared to what it would be like to study abroad in Europe.

Diwali

Last week was Diwali, which is one of the largest festivals in Hinduism. This is saying something, since it seems like every other day is some sort of holiday. Diwali has something to do with the conquering of evil/darkness, and I believe it's related to the story of Rama's return home in the Ramayana (synopsis: Sita is the wife of Rama and is kidnapped while they are exiled in the forest by an evil guy from Lanka — which I later found out is the same as modern day Sri Lanka — and the monkey god Hanuman helps save Sita so she can return to Ayodhya).

While every other person in all of India seems to have had the day, if not the week, off, we had school like normal. Since my host parents are Muslim and don't celebrate Diwali, we were invited to come back to the center later that night to celebrate with our teachers. In India, a lot of people celebrate holidays of other people's religions with friends who are of a religion that celebrates a certain holiday (i.e. Muslims will celebrate Diwali with Hindus and Hindus will celebrate Christmas with their Christian friends), which seems like a lovely and interesting way to do things, but alas, our host parents don't do things quite like that.

We arrived at the center at 6:30 and waited around for a bit, because apparently someone had proclaimed that the ideal puja (prayer service) time was 7 p.m. We began the puja with Goutam Ji, Archna Ji, Bhavna Ji, Abid Ji and his wife and son, Azim Ji and his daughter, Kishore Ji, and our really awesome kitchen staff. Goutam Ji performed the rituals at a little altar they had set up, and Archna Ji and Kishore Ji sang out of a book. We then lit diyas, which are little candles in small clay bowls, and Archna Ji gave us the red string around our wrist the is a symbol of protection (I can't remember the name). We put the diyas outside and then headed out to light off some small fireworks.

We started with sparklers, which are relatively harmless but still so pretty and fun to wave around. I was a little nervous when they were give the sparklers to four-year-old Irene and 14-month-old Raman, but I think they were very supervised/not actually holding them themselves. We then moved onto fountains and a little spinny thing that was really scary because it started spinning the second you lit it, so you were still crouched next to it. It was nothing that I haven't done before, but it was really fun because it was something different and our teachers have kind of become our family here, so being with them was nice. It was also cool because EVERYONE in the neighborhood was setting off fireworks, so we could see and hear them going off all around us in the streets and in the sky.

We ate a yummy dinner (complete with gulab jamun) and Rachael and I got a ride home from Azim Ji's driver. Our host father isn't a big Diwali fan because of all the air pollution from the fireworks, but even he was impressed by the fireworks in our neighborhood when we got home. Rachael and I went for a walk through the DDA flats (Pocket A, though, because our pocket, B, wasn't partying quite as hard) to see the fireworks. As we came around a corner, we heard a huge blast and Rachael shrieked and literally dragged me behind a car a la some kind of scene in a war movie. These were some of the biggest non-commercial fireworks I've seen, and that's a feat considering my mom's cousin Ted usually buys those really expensive packs of fireworks from an Indian reservation every Fourth of July.

After settling down a little and realizing that we weren't actually in imminent danger of being bombed, we enjoyed the impressive display of some young men setting fireworks off in the street, as well as a little girl and her uncle lighting fountains next to us. The girls mother came out after a few minutes and began talking to us and invited us into her house for sweets. I realize this was breaking the number one rule of being a child (don't take candy from strangers and definitely don't follow them into their houses), but Rachael and I felt comfortable going with her. She was very nice and we talked to her and her mother from Punjab who had just had a hysterectomy (which we heard within a minute of meeting her) while we ate some delicious Diwali sweets. After a few minutes, we awkwardly parted and Rachael and I returned to the streets to see more firecrackers than I've seen in my life to this point being blown up consecutively. It honestly sounded like a machine gun assault. After that, the exciting fireworks people left and most of what was around were just really loud things, so we left Pocket A, walked around a bit more, and returned home.

Ok, I'm getting tired now (I ALWAYS, without fail, go to bed after Rachael) but I will write more tomorrow, promise! Next up on the catching-up-on-blogging agenda: the wedding, shopping, TMI health issues (but actually), my independent study project, finals, the American Embassy School cafe, Dartmouth stuff, the other wedding, and probably more that I forget! Thanks for reading all this if you made it to this point!

Listen, my children, and you shall here, of the rest of my time in Varanasi. I desperately need to upload more of my pictures onto my computer, and then onto Facebook, but I shall put that off slightly longer because I'm trying to simultaneously watch Slumdog Millionaire, complete a homework assignment, and update this blog. Apparently Slumdog Millionaire was not very well received in India because of its harsh portrayal of social issues, but I think despite its dramatization, Indians are probably displeased with its scary level of truth. I have not personally experienced anything like that in the movie, obviously, but I know it's there and it's openly talked about. Bollywood movies, for the most part, show a glowing, overly westernized and wealthy version of Indian society, but everything I've learned here has shown me that that isn't what it's actually like for the vast majority of the population. It's also cool to watch, though, because I understand the Hindi phrases used throughout the film.

But let's get back to Varanasi. On Wednesday, we went to the arti at the main ghat on the edge of the Ganga Ji. It was larger than the arti in Rishikesh, but also a very lovely ceremony involving devotional songs, the holding up of lamps, and praying. On Thursday, we were very lucky and were able to go to Goutam Ji ki Mata Ji ki ghar (Goutam Ji's mom's house!). It's also the house where Goutam Ji and Archna Ji (reminder for my non-regular readers: Archna Ji and Goutam Ji are my married Hindi teachers who took the eight of us on the Kiran Centre workshop to Varanasi, formerly called Banaras) live when they're not in Delhi. We sat in their bedroom and ate snacks and looked at baby pictures of Goutam Ji. It was generally very enjoyable, and I was introduced to Mata Ji as "loving child," their favorite nickname for me, other than "Carboholic."

Post-home visit, we went to Hanuman's temple that Goutam Ji always used to go to. Hanuman is the monkey god that features heavily in the Ramayana, that classic Indian epic that I went to see (that Rachael wanted to leave in the middle of). Because it's Hanuman's temple, however, people feed the massive, red-butted monkey families that populate the area. So with the constant reminder not to EVER look them in the eye, we walked to the temple, checked out things, and entered the temple area. There was a pathway covered in a plastic roof, and about halfway down it, EVERY SINGLE MONKEY IN VARANASI (aka approximately 48,537 primates) decided to screech and stampede across the roof. It sounded, however, like a thunder storm/giant monkey war, so needless to say I had another monkey-induced life-flashing-before-my-eyes moment.

Every day after class, we would go to the Kiran Centre bakery in Varanasi city and buy jam biscuits and peanut biscuits and pumpkin jam. They were delicious, so we bought 100 jam biscuits to bring back to hand out during our presentation, and I bought 50 just for myself (and I'll give some to my host parents for Diwali, which is on Wednesday).

Next post: a boat ride, a six-hour delayed train ride, and a legitimate party!

Earlier this semester, we learned that Archna Ji, our beloved Hindi instructor and surrogate mother for the time we're in India and need someone to listen to us whine, can read palms. Apparently it is a family thing that is passed down from person to person. Archna Ji has always been slightly reluctant to actually read our palms, but she agreed on this trip!

She prefaced the palm reading by saying that she generally believes that these future predictions are by no means set in stone, and it is very possible to take them as a challenge to change some aspect of your supposedly predetermined future (and she, in fact, likes to think of them in this way). According to my palm, I:

-Will make and (more importantly) save "so much of money," which she said a lot
-Have strong luck and life lines, meaning I will have a relatively healthy life and good luck
-Am very close to my family and will continue to have a strong family life in the future
-Will be successful in my educational endeavors but will be bad in business (darn, no Wall Street for me!)
-Will get married in my late 20s to an attractive man, and we will have one or two children
-Am fairly flexible but also fairly emotional
-Really need to work on taking initiative
-Have a "strong sun," which represents strength and positive energy
-Have a "stronger Saturn than Jupiter," though I was never 100% sure what that meant
-Will travel a lot

Overall, a pretty happy life outlook I think! I decided that if I want more kids, I will trade some of my money for children with my friends who are apparently going to have a whole gaggle of rugrats running around.

Today we went back to the Kiran Centre and split up into groups of two to rotate through the various units of the rehabilitation department. We took the school bus about half an hour to the centre, but Sarah Kate and I somehow ended up on the bus that didn't actually have any children on it, just administrators and people who are training to be special education teachers at the Kiran Centre.

The rehab department has six sections, but we only went to Mother's Training, Parent's Child Care Unit, Physiotherapy, and Orthotics. All four units were really interesting. Mother's Training involved teaching mothers how to care for their disabled children in the home. There were two mothers there when we were observing, and they both had 8-year-old children with cerebral palsy. They were working with basic toys to teach them sizes, numbers, and colors.

In the Orthotics unit, we watched people work on making artificial limbs and calipers, which are braces used to support the legs of children with polio-induced paralysis. Fun fact: polio is on the process of being eradicated in India. So far this year, there's only been one new case, which is really exciting!

In PCCU, we saw children being evaluated, including an adorable little girl with Down Syndrome who was suffering from hypothyroidism (apparently a common condition in children with Down Syndrome). Physiotherapy involved watching children play with balls, do stretching exercises, and practice walking with walkers. One little boy went in a hammock-type swing for a while, which was adorable because he shrieked and sang Bollywood songs the whole time.

Shower time! Plus I'm exhausted. Sorry these posts have been so sparse lately! I'll try to pick it up.

Somehow it's been five whole days since I've updated, so I will try to catch you up on my thrilling life. I'm currently sitting on my bed with Tania in Varanasi, where we arrived this morning for our week-long workshop with an NGO called the Kiran Centre. More on that later though!

Last time we talked, I had just returned on a grueling bus ride from Rishikesh. After sleeping for approximately three hours on Sunday night because I (obviously) had not done any homework amidst my Himalayan hiking and yoga, Rachael and I kept a low profile on Monday. By low profile, I mean we submitted our Independent Study Project proposals, took an auto home, and basically collapsed on our beds while our host mother took pity on us. We also got our Hindi tests back on Monday, and I was pleased with how I did (not that it matters, since my Hindi credits aren't transferring back to Dartmouth).

On Tuesday, Rachael ended up feeling really ill almost as soon as we got to the program center, and she spent all day in the center's guest room. Julia had gone to the hospital on Monday night because she'd been sick for a week or so, and Molly also felt ill on Tuesday. Rachael really wasn't doing very well, so she went home straight after school, and I went to Lajpat Nagar with Rebecca, Poonam, Sagarika, Liz, and Sarah Kate. Rebecca bought a beautiful turquoise-ish/sea foam green sari with a gold border, and Sarah Kate, Liz, and I got henna done. We all had peacocks done, and Liz's was definitely the best. I was really pleased with mine, because the last henna I'd gotten at New Friend's Colony looked a lot worse. It's already fading (especially where I had a bug bite and I scratched it a lot, whoops), but it looked good!

I don't remember Wednesday or Thursday being particularly memorable, but we had some work due on Thursday so we stayed at the program center for a while to complete that. One of those days, though I'm too lazy to figure out which day it was exactly because realistically it doesn't matter, Khadeeja, Rachael, Imaan and I took a walk to the Jamia Millia Islamia University athletic complex, where Adil was playing tennis with a colleague. This was fun because we were actually getting out of the house, but it was also fairly stressful because we were taking the baby in a stroller at dusk on Delhi streets that don't have proper sidewalks. I think Khadeeja still gets slightly out of sorts when the baby comes out of the house at all (because Lord knows, that child lacks out-of-the-home socialization like nobody's business, which I guess it isn't). So we were puttering down the street slowly and precariously crossing main roads, but eventually we made it to the university and toured the swanky facilities. The funniest part was the table tennis and badminton courts, which were set up with spectator areas (emphasis added by the author) and large margins around them to allow for intense athletic competition. And the people we saw playing were really good! It just wasn't a scene you would find in an American university gym complex.

On Friday, I again went to Lajpat Nagar after class with people, but this time I bought a little more. We stopped at a shop for black dupattas, at which no one actually bought black dupattas the first time around, but I picked up a dress for home and some other people bought long skirts (all with elephants and camels on them!). We walked around the market while people hunted for kurtas and shoes and such, and then I bought 10 postcards and a beautiful yellow notebook for my ISP notes. After contemplating a lot of other things but not buying any of them, we walked to a fabric store (with a stop for ice cream along the way, of course!) and I almost bought tie-dyed fabric that had marijuana leaves printed on it (accidently!). After being informed that it would look like I was a walking weed legalization ad (which I had not considered because I just thought the fabric was pretty!), I settled on some different fabric and bought two and a half meters for Rs 375.

On Saturday, we woke up early to go to an early showing of "Mujhse Fraaandship Karoge," a new Bollywood film based on the idea of love triangles on Facebook (essentially). We went at 9:50 A.M. so that we would only pay Rs 150 per ticket instead of Rs 250, which I wanted to do because I wasn't sure how could it would be and I didn't know if I would understand anything. It turns out the movie was 1) really good! 2) largely interspersed with English phrases, and 3) inclusive of quite a few understandable Hindi phrases. Plus the lead actors were attractive! Generally it was a much more enjoyable experience than I expected. We then went back to Lajpat Nagar to get get chat (snacks) and walk around. Rachael and I headed home to rest, and then I met back up with Sagarika, Liz, and Lauren at Select City Walk Mall. I bought a book (Pride and Prejudice because I just watched the movie) for myself and a little Winnie the Pooh book for Imaan. It was a much-needed break from the chaos of Delhi (and the fact that my host father basically convinced me that I was going to get kidnapped on my way to the mall).

On Sunday, we spent a relaxing day at home before boarding an overnight train to Varanasi. We arrived this morning and checked in at the guest house, where there is another group of SIT students (from a program in Jaipur) staying. We later had dinner with them after going to the Kiran Centre, but I think that will go in tomorrow's blog post because I should sleep. Night!

After spiced chai and naps, the seven of us ventured out to the main part of Rishikesh across the Ganges (Mother Ganga) to see the aarti. After receiving directions from a man at the hotel and promptly taking six wrong turns, we eventually popped out on a path paralleling the Ganges that would take us to one of the two footbridges (this is a misnomer — they're more of foot/cow/motorbike/monkey bridges) that crosses the water to the other parts of the Rishikesh area.

As we turned the corner, however, we realized there were several monkeys lining both sides of the path. While they seem cute in theory, they're actually somewhat terrifying and especially like to attack women (apparently). We briefly stopped, Sagarika said, "Do not look them in the eye!" and we decided to quickly walk past. Remembering the words of the doctor who briefed us when we first arrived in Delhi ("If you get bit by an animal, get bit on the foot or leg because the rabies will travel to your brain more slowly."), I subconsciously held my breath, tucked my chin to my chest to make sure I wouldn't accidently provoke them by (God forbid) looking at them, and tried to follow my friends and pass the monkeys. The second I was passing by a monkey on the wall to my right, though, it leapt from it's perch and, it seemed, toward my face. It actually landed in the branch of the tree inches above my head, but its weight made the branches crash into my head and I was very briefly convinced that I was about to have a rabid monkey latched to my face. As this was happening, a German shepherd was passing us and freaked out at the monkey and began running and barking at it. Liz, who was behind me, tripped over the huge dog and we both started running. The incident seemed funny after a few minutes, but both Liz and I thought we were in the midst of some kind of orchestrated animal attack, when in fact neither the dog nor the monkey cared about us at all.

We continued on to the bridge (I LOVE BRIDGES), took a ton of pictures, and admired the quaint view of Rishikesh. After building up the courage to cross the bridge, which a scary number of monkeys were using as a jungle gym, we walked over the Ganges and poked around in the shops on the other side of the river. We knew Rishikesh is considered a yoga hotspot, and we saw ashrams (yoga centers) all over the place, but we were amazed by the number of soul-searching white people we saw wandering around. Apparently the Beatles came to Rishikesh in 1968 and composed a lot of songs while staying at an ashram there, so I think that perhaps gave the town a little boost in the number of people looking to come and find themselves. It was an almost comical array of prototypical hippies — dreadlocks, loose-fitting and airy clothing in earth tones (likely made out of natural fibers), Chacos/Tevas/etc., backpacks, nose rings, and a general grunginess. It was an interesting crowd because it was more foreigners than we've seen almost anywhere, but they seemed very comfortable in Rishikesh, not like the eager, slightly on-edge tourists that normally see. I was also impressed by the number of free-spirited, middle-aged foreign women I saw walking around, and I was tempted to ask a few of them what brought them to Rishikesh and what exactly their life situation was at the moment.

We took a taxi and walked the rest of the way to the aarti, which was on the edge of the Ganges, facing a large statue of Shiva in the water about 30 feet from the shore. It was a beautiful and moving puja (basically a prayer service involving the offering of a gift to a deity in hopes of receiving a blessing), and Sagarika explained the significance of different parts to us. There were boys singing songs, and then the main part occurred, during which bowls of fire are passed around and moving in a circular motion in front of people's bodies. We swiped our hands through the flames and over our heads, as others were doing, as a blessing, and it was generally peaceful. We dipped our feet in the Ganges and watched as people placed little boat offerings into the quickly moving river. Each one had candles on it, and we watched them swirl in the rapids and eventually go out. The river was moving quickly, and we thought about all the people we had seen rafting, and we decided it probably was good that our program doesn't let us go rafting anyway.

Julia had been fasting for Yom Kippur, so as soon as we got our shoes back and looked at the giant Hanuman statue nearby, we headed to the nearest restaurant. We sat on the roof and ordered Chinese and Indian food, and the temperature outside was perfect. Rishikesh was generally a wonderful break from our normal lives, and I really enjoyed our meal (in the dark) overlooking the Ganges. We took a cab back to the footbridge, and luckily the monkeys had gone to sleep (or were distracted somewhere else infecting other people with rabies), so we had an uneventful walk back to the hotel. An episode of Modern Family later, Sagarika, Rachael, and I were snug as three bugs in a rug in our super deluxe room (about which I wrote my first TripAdvisor.com review ever!) at the Divine Ganga Cottage. Side note: Seema texted me to thank me for the review after I'd written, smiley faces and everything! We were lucky to find her hotel.

The next morning, I woke up early and Berit and I headed out for a walk around Rishikesh before our 9 a.m. yoga class. The owner of the hotel (Seema's husband) showed us the orphanage and primary school that they own next door, and we found a pretty little stream, were charged by a bull, and had a nice look around the property. Apparently a bunch of American college students were staying there building an organic garden, but we didn't get to meet them (we saw them from afar and judged them for the way they applied bug spray, though). We then walked to the bridge and around Rishikesh a bit before heading back. It was even better in the morning because there were less people and no monkeys!

We then took a yoga class in a studio on the roof of the hotel, with 360-degree views of the hills and river. Our instructor was an approximately four-pound man prone to mumbling, but it was a relaxing and well-organized class that left us feeling refreshed and slightly more sore. The class ended up being an hour and a half, and then we went up to the restaurant for banana pancakes with honey. This isn't something I would normally like, but under the circumstances, it was delicious. The staff packed us some cheese sandwiches (literally just bread, butter, and cheese), and we settled our bill. One of the hotel employees led us to an area where we could get an auto to Haridwar, and we were on our way. Some man briefly jumped on and clung to the outside of our auto, but he jumped off a few blocks later and that was that.

So this brings me to the bus ride home. We hadn't booked train tickets back because Abid Ji told us it would be nearly impossible to get them since the trains were booked, but he and Azim Ji assured us we would have no problem finding a bus that returns to Delhi whenever we wanted to come home. In Rishikesh, we discovered that the only way to get bus tickets were just to go the bus station in Haridwar, so we arrived on Sunday (a little later than anticipated) at around 2 p.m. The station was chaotic, and after being directed five different ways to get bus tickets and paying Rs 5 to use a dirty bathroom (rip-off, as usual), we discovered that you just go to the berth where your bus arrives and then buy tickets from the driver when the bus arrives. A bus to Delhi showed up and a man got out, with people crowded around him with wads of cash in their hands, thrusting them into his face. After standing for a while, we were informed that there were no more seats, and the way to actually get tickets is to physically get on the bus as soon as it arrives and then get off the bus (or holler through the window, as we later discovered) to buy the physical tickets. We were directed to a different berth, where there was a second bus going to Delhi, and we got on and claimed three seats in the back row, two next to each other in the second-to-last row, and two farther up the bus for the carsick-prone people.

We purchased our Rs 140 tickets (less than $3) and were informed that we would arrive approximately seven and a half hours later at 10 p.m. at a Delhi bus station. The bus itself was a pitiful little tin box, dented and peeling and non-air conditioned. The seat cushions, if you can call them that, were in various states of disarray and disrepair. Sagarika's was an uncovered foam square falling through the frame, and Rachael's had some kind of defect as well. Within minutes of being in the bus, I had sweated through all of my clothing (I'm not exaggerating unfortunately) and was feeling ready to pass out for the rest of the ride. I was smooshed between Sagarika and Kendra in the back row, and the man next to Kendra was conspicuously close to her, peering over her shoulder as she reviewed her pictures. Classic Indian mass transit. Rachael was crunched in a seat in front of us next to Berit, and Sarah Kate and Julia were farther up. The ride wasn't that bad in general, especially when we were moving and there was a breeze. On big bumps, though, we went flying several feet (again, no exaggeration) into the air, which woke me up when I was napping. Thank you, Steve Jobs (RIP), for the iPod, because I don't know how I would have survived without it. We ended up hitting terrible, awful, frustration-inducing traffic in Ghaziabad (a suburb), which increased the trip length to eight hours.

When we got to the bus station, we found out it wasn't actually in Delhi and we'd need to take autos a ways to get home. Sagarika helped us split up and get the autos, and Rachael and I headed off with our driver. He ended up pushing with his foot another auto for about 20 minutes to a gas station because he was out of gas. It was actually quite a feat — occasionally they would go different ways around a truck or something and separate, but then immediately come back together when we rejoined on the other side. Rachael and I were exhausted and uncomfortable and still had a ton of homework to do, so we were eventually yelling at the driver that we weren't paying him to do this, but the message didn't get through.

Dinner time!

On Saturday morning, we rose in the wee hours of the morning to commence our trek through the hills of the greater Rishikesh area. We were met by the owner and several other men by the main office at 6 a.m., and we were handed a bag with packed breakfast and told that we would be driven to the drop-off location and our guide would meet us there on a motorbike. We were all a little groggy but mostly excited to be breathing fresh mountain air, preparing to do something wholesome and active and fun. After some brief waiting on the side of the road while we thought our guide had gotten lost (promising start!), we turned around and headed in the correct direction.

The drive to the temple was stunning in and of itself — the road wound through the hills, steadily climbing and providing spectacular views of Rishikesh and the Ganga below. The hills were huge and beautiful and reminded me why I love living in mountainous areas. They were sharp, lush, and green, and I think we all realized how lucky we were to be out of Delhi for the weekend in this environment. The road had a series of funny safety signs lining its length (for good reason) that said things like, "Speed is the knife that cuts life," and, "Driving is risky when drinking whiskey," and, "License to drive, not fly." We saw cows being herded and a Christian school and people going about their daily lives, as well as a newly dead cow in the road that we all found slightly upsetting. We saw a lot of terraced farms, which I was really excited about because I remembered seeing pictures from Eliza's trip to Rishikesh. Honestly, that's all I could remember from her pictures from Rishikesh and largely what I based my desire to go there around, so I'm glad I got to see the terraced farms and I had such a wonderful experience in Rishikesh.

Upon our arrival at the temple atop an "almost perfectly conical hill," as my guide book described it, we tumbled out of the car and admired the mountains and small settlements in all directions. A few people felt carsick by that point (especially those facing backwards), but thankfully I've remained remarkably uncarsickable my whole life. India is really not the place for you if you are easily prone to motion sickness. Anyway, the views were spectacular and I had a cup of chai on the mountaintop while our guide had a pre-hike cigarette. We were a little skeptical of said guide because he was wearing a funny orange scarf and we thought he had already gotten lost once just getting to the start of the hike, but he actually turned out to be quite good.

We climbed approximately seven million (or maybe 300) steps up to the temple area itself, which afforded us 360-degree views of the Himalayan foothills. Apparently you can see the Himalayas themselves (DREAM COME TRUE) on a clear day, but there was a bit of haze so we were unable to see the snow-capped peaks. We entered the small temple and received some kind of blessing (the kind involving the red paint on the forehead with rice stuck in it) from the priest and headed outside. It was some of the best time I've spent in India so far because the air was fresh, the scenery was beautiful, and I felt really at peace where I was. We took pictures and our guide cracked a coconut as part of the religious offering, and we all ate a little bit. After descending from the temple (side note: shout out to Julia for doing this hike on Yom Kippur when she was fasting), my legs were shaking a little bit already, but it was early and we all knew we just needed to get warmed up after being so physically inactive for such a long time.

We learned that our hike would be 12 km down, which is approximately 7.5 miles, a fact we hadn't realized when we decided to trek down the mountains. Luckily (or maybe unluckily, depending if you prefer tired knees or being out of breath) it was entirely downhill. We passed through little villages, if you can even call them that, farms, and schools, and eventually we were paralleling a stream. At this point we stopped to eat our parathas that had been packed for breakfast, and then we continued on our way to a waterfall that Kendra, Sarah Kate, and Berit immediately jumped right under. Being the worry wart that I am, I knew I would be uncomfortable in wet pants on the way down, so I just flipped my head over under the water and got my hair wet. It was still lovely and refreshing, and after a few more minutes of frolicking, we were on our way back down. The hike was wonderful overall, and a fantastic change from the chaos and pollution of Delhi. We ended right at our hotel, where we immediately showered and took naps in the sun.

I will finish blogging about Rishikesh tomorrow, but everyone hope that Rachael feels better because she's not feeling well!

Please excuse this break in regularly scheduled blogging about Rishikesh, but my host father bought this Rs 150 ($3) bug zapper that he just brought out, and he's running around the apartment annihilating bugs with this terrifying tennis racket-type thing. You swat the bug ("The best ones are the ones that are in the air! They just fry to bits.") and there's a zapping sound and a zapping light thing that comes from the metal grating and then the bug is no more. It's hilarious and slightly terrifying because I highly doubt bug zappers sold on the streets of Delhi are regulated at all. For all I know that thing is strong enough to kill things bigger than bugs (but hopefully not). Conveniently but confusingly, the zapper also comes with a built-in flashlight, which is useful whenever the power goes out (which is fairly frequently). Keep on zapping, Adil!

While I'm here, actually, let me tell you about a few Hindi miscommunications in the last week or so:

1. Last week, Adil and Khadeeja were giving the baby a bath before we went to the went, so I tried to make a Hindi joke (always, always a risky call with my level of language knowledge) by saying, "Bacchi gundi hai," which means, "The baby is dirty." I realize this isn't really a joke, but bear with me. Apparently "gunda" with a short "u" sound means dirty, but I said "gunda," with a long "u" sound, which means villain or goon, so Adil and Khadeeja thought I was calling the baby a rascal. Sorry Imaan!

2. Later, in the car, we were talking about how most Indian people are fairly short. Again, trying to break out my Hindi (I do this a lot with varying results), I said "chote log," which means small or short people. Apparently, though, it's a somewhat offensive term referring to low class people or people with small hearts, so I unintentionally insulted the whole of the Indian population (all 1.2 billion of them, oops). Sorry Indian people!

3. In Sarah Kate's Hindi oral exam, Goutam Ji asked her the word for dog, which is "kutta." She responded with the feminine form, "kutti," which is used the same way that the word bitch is used in the United States (aka not in a positive way). Sorry Goutam Ji!

On Friday, seven of us adventurous souls decided to brave the Indian railway system and travel without our surrogate parents/babysitters (aka our teachers) to Rishikesh, a touristy town nestled in the Himalayan foothills on the banks of the Ganges. Like I said in a previous post, I was all over the hotel reservations, train tickets, and emailed packing lists (terrifyingly mother-like, let's not talk about it), so after our oral Hindi exams on Friday, we ate a quick lunch and smooshed into three autos to the Nizamuddin train station. Unfortunately our train was delayed by about an hour, so we drank generic-brand Limca (deliciously refreshing Indian lemon-lime soda) and sweated liters sitting in the shade, getting stared at all the while. I repeatedly tried to ask people where our car would stop (a non-air conditioned sleeper car, though we didn't sleep at all since we were traveling during the day), but I mostly received confused looks and useless information about which platform to go to, even though we were already on the correct one.

Finally our train arrived and we hustled on. After Tania made an 11th hour decision to get off the train and not come because she felt sick, we were on our way! The train ride was approximately five hours, and while it was a tad hot because of the whole lack of AC thing, it was generally not too bad because we chatted and listened to our iPods for most of the trip. As usually happens whenever we're confused, we found someone who was also getting off at Haridwar (a town 24 km from Rishikesh, into which trains arrive) who we could follow at the appropriate time. Generally, when in doubt, we make the best Hindi speaker ask the person closest to us about how to get on or off a train or bus or metro, and then either follow them or another person who says that they're getting off at the same stop. We were lucky Sagarika was with us, because she speaks fluent Hindi and therefore is our perpetual translator and clarifier.

After admiring the setting sun in all its red glory (thanks air pollution!) and eating a weird hodgepodge of snacks, we finally reached Haridwar around 8:45 and disembarked. The train station was more bustling then we expected, and we headed outside to find a taxi or auto that would take us to the Divine Ganga Cottage in Rishikesh. Now, this is where I must backtrack a little bit. When I was booking the hotel earlier in the week, I had spoken on the phone several times with the owner, a very nice, helpful woman named Seema who spoke impeccable English (we later found out she was raised in Orange County and then moved back to India, so that explains that). I told Seema I would call on Friday to confirm our reservation and let her know whether we would need dinner upon our arrival. At the train station in Delhi, I had called to ask if we could change our room situation a little because we had an extra person. Seema was very understanding and willing to make the change, and we chatted for a few minutes about what the seven of us were doing in Delhi and such. After Tania decided to get off the train, however, I had to call her back and sheepishly ask if we could change our reservation back to the previous arrangement and also ask if the hotel's restaurant could have dinner ready for us when we got there. Once again, Seema was responsive and courteous, and that was that.

Upon reaching Haridwar, Seema had asked that we call her to let her know how long it would be until we reached Rishikesh, so I called her for the third time that day. After Sagarika found us two autos that promised to take us to the Divine Ganga Cottage, they pulled over on the side of some dark road in Haridwar and asked me to call Seema again to ask directions. At this point we were all a little frustrated and ready to be settled in our rooms, but we were told to all get into one larger auto for the same price (rip-off city, what else is new) and a new man drove us onwards. I was in the front next to him because we all couldn't fit in the back, and let me tell you, it was terrifying (I'm really making the most of my basic Myspace-era knowledge of HTML)! Lanes technically exist, but for all intensive purposes, they don't. Despite the darkness, windiness, and narrowness of the road, cars, trucks, buses, autos, and motorbikes continually passed one another in the oncoming lanes. I was honestly afraid we were hurtling toward untimely doom when we repeatedly played chicken with oncoming buses. The auto driver just laughed at me whenever I instinctively put my hand on the dashboard to brace for impact/obliteration, but somehow we miraculously managed to avoid head-on collisions for the duration of the hour-long ride. These things shouldn't surprise me anymore, but I still can't get used to a bus passing a car in the dark while going around a corner on a bridge without shoulders. Like, do you WANT to die?

Anyway, after one final (the fifth of the day, so embarrassing) call to Seema to get directions for the last little bit of the ride, we arrived at the Divine Ganga. Seema greeted us and I apologized for the flurry of calls, and she showed us to our three rooms. Sagarika, Rachael and I (inconsistent use of Oxford commas, I don't know what do with myself) shared a super deluxe room, though we reserved a deluxe room so we got an extra good deal. The other two rooms weren't as nice, but they were very livable and we each were only paying Rs 500-600 a night ($10-12), so it was ok. They made us a very basic dinner, and we spoke with Seema about hiking options the next day. Seema's husband set up a trek for us, and we had to meet at 6 a.m. the next day to be driven 28 km to the top of the hills, where there is a temple and lovely views of the surrounding hills and Rishikesh. We would then hike down, all the way to the hotel itself, with a guide. My next post will go into that to break things up a bit! Preview: It was amazing!

You are tired,
(I think)
Of the always puzzle of living and doing;
And so am I.

Come with me, then,
And we'll leave it far and far away—
(Only you and I, understand!)

You have played,
(I think)
And broke the toys you were fondest of,
And are a little tired now;
Tired of things that break, and—
Just tired.
So am I.

But I come with a dream in my eyes tonight,
And knock with a rose at the hopeless gate of your heart—
Open to me!
For I will show you the places Nobody knows,
And, if you like,
The perfect places of Sleep.

Ah, come with me!
I'll blow you that wonderful bubble, the moon,
That floats forever and a day;
I'll sing you the jacinth song
Of the probable stars;
I will attempt the unstartled steppes of dream,
Until I find the Only Flower,
Which shall keep (I think) your little heart
While the moon comes out of the sea.

e.e. cummings

Rachael and I went to our first wedding today! It was a brief stay, and it took us forever to find the location because Khadeeja and Adil were relying on directions from her brother and people on the street, none of whom really knew where the place was. Apparently this was a medium-sized wedding with 500 guests. A 200-guest wedding would be considered small by Indian standards. The women and the men had different sides to eat on because it was a traditional Muslim wedding, but we ate on the men's side with Adil because they didn't really know anyone else there (the bride was Adil's former student). We came, we saw, we ate (a lot), we took pictures, and we conquered I guess. The food was delicious but I ate three different desserts and two different rice dishes and about four different kinds of chicken and some snacks, so I was really uncomfortably full. After that we went to GK-1 to get baby stuff, and Rachael and I bought leggings. We had Hindi exams today. I'm exhausted. Me cal Rishikesh ja rahungi (transliteration of "I will go to Rishikesh tomorrow").

It's official: I'm turning into my mother (hi Mom!). I've taken the lead on organizing a trip to Rishikesh this weekend, and I'm getting a weird amount of satisfaction out of making plans and scheduling and emailing people itineraries and making to do lists. So since I'm so proud of all this Trip Advisor consulting and cross-referencing work I've been doing, I figured I'd tell you about our plans!

We're leaving after our oral Hindi exams on Friday and taking a 2:35 train to Haridwar, which is about 24 km outside of Rishikesh. We should arrive around 8:30, and we'll take a taxi or bus to get to our hotel, the Divine Ganga Cottage. It will only cost Rs 500-600 per night per person, which is the equivalent of about $11! It overlooks the Ganges and is in a quiet area walking distance from all of the Rishikesh ashrams (apparently). Here are pictures (and of course I'll post some of my own when I get back):



We have Hindi midterms tomorrow and Friday that I must go study for, so wish me luck! And soon I will find out the new AZD '14s and I'm getting so excited all the way over here (probably because I don't actually have to deal with rush itself)!

In my usual frenetic, inconsistent way of updating this blog, here is another post about the going ons in my life. Gosh darn it, This Indian Life would have been a good URL for this blog. Anyway, here are some random musings and updates, under subheadings to make them seem developed and organized.

Ayurveda

On the Friday of our trip to Udaipur, we went to an ayurvedic hospital/medical college, and I was honestly pretty troubled/unsettled by what they told us. Granted, we didn't get a solid overview of the ayurvedic medical system as a whole, so it's possible there are parts that would appeal to me more, and we were at an in-patient hospital, which means the treatments were a little more drastic and last-resort than they would be at an out-patient facility, but it was kind of disturbing. They described all sorts of different enemas they use to treat a whole host of different problems, including a vaginal enema to treat a urinary tract infection. I'm sorry, but how on EARTH does that sound like a solution to a UTI? I'm pretty sure that's how you get a UTI. Sorry to be graphic, but really, it seemed absurd. Even more ridiculous was their emesis treatment, which involves eating medicated butter (ghee) for a week to "lubricate your insides" and then coming into the hospital, where you drink three liters of milk to make yourself vomit to cure infections. Again, WHAT?! The Gallon Challenge is not a treatment for anything that I'm aware of, and GET THIS: they use this emesis nonsense to treat bronchitis. As I said in our discussion later, it seemed so mind-bogglingly not right that I could hardly stand listening to it. I would, however, like to know more about the other aspects of ayurvedic medicine, because I think a lot of traditional medicinal systems can offer a lot to supplement allopathic medicine.



Independent Study Project

I think I've finally decided what I want to do my ISP on in November (if you don't know what I'm talking about, the deal is that I spend a month not in Delhi working on a research project of my choosing). I'm going to examine the social determinants of health in TB-affected families living in slums in either Pune, Mumbai, or Calcutta (most likely) using case studies. We had a really interesting lecturer this week who discussed the various levels of social factors that influence the disease burden of individuals and a community, and I want to create a kind of specific to general hierarchy of causes that affect the health children and families. Then I want to talk to NGOs and government officials about what they believe the biggest social factors affecting health and health inequity in slums is, and where they think programs should be targeted to improve the situation (i.e. at a very specific, local level, like building clinics in slums as soon as possible, or at a larger, more policy-based level, like removing the barriers to education and employment that force families to live in slums and consequently contract preventable communicable diseases).

That all sounds kind of confusing, even when I just read it back to myself, but hopefully when I do it, it will make more sense!

Ramayana

On Saturday night, Rachael and I ventured out of the house to see a play called the Ramayana (the link is to an article about the specific performance we saw), which is a classic Indian epic about (what else?) love and war. Unfortunately it wasn't really our cup of tea, but I was determined to stay for the long haul (aka the whole play), while Rachael wanted to leave after intermission. We ended up staying, and the play continued to drag on, but apparently it's a famous performance and it did make me feel a little more cultured. Plus they gave us tomato soup at intermission!

Rishikesh

This weekend Rachael, Kendra, Berit, and perhaps some others are venturing north to Rishikesh, to the land of yoga ashrams and the Ganges and the foothills of the Himalayas. I'm really excited to go!

Let me pick up just where I left off, on Thursday afternoon in the Rajasthani city of Udaipur. We had received our itineraries on Monday morning before leaving, and there was a mysterious chunk of time blocked out for "Party Time Hurray!!!" There was much speculation about what this would entail, especially since Azim Ji and the other teachers repeatedly mentioned surprises in store for us. Poonam speculated that elephants would be at the party, and we found out when we arrived in the city that our staff had rented out the roof of our lakeside hotel for the shindig (I'm giving the thesaurus some work to do for this post). After a two and a half hour ride out of the villages, a debriefing at the Seva Mandir headquarters, and a brief bout of shopping, we returned to our hotel and prepared for our fiesta.

We got to the roof and the tables were set with table clothes and flower petals scattered across the tabletops. In the corner sat some musicians and dancers in elaborately decorated dresses. Azim Ji announced that the hotel proprietor, a very nice man whose teenage son was with him because he is blind, would give us a brief history of the city and then we would see some traditional Rajasthani dances. Abid Ji and Goutam Ji had also gotten beer for all of us (with a two beer limit per person) and dinner included macaroni and cheese.

The dancers were elegant and talented, and one dance involved a woman stacking nine pots on her head and then stomping on glass and balancing on the edges of a bowl. It was awesome. The three main dancers also did a number with fire on their heads, and another woman did a back bend blindfolded to pick up money that someone had placed on the ground with her mouth. We then all got up and they showed us various dance moves, some of which were hard and some of which seemed to just involve spinning around as fast as you could and running into everyone else. Then we had a bit of an impromptu dance party with our program staff, and we sat down for dinner and drinks. The beer (Kingfisher, the number one selling Indian beer worldwide apparently), it turns out, was in 650-mL bottles, which is about 22 oz, so no one was too upset about the two beer limit because it was actually more like a four beer limit, if you were drinking regularly sized bottles.

The macaroni and cheese had a lot more sauce than macaroni, and it was weirdly sweet, so that was a little bit of a bust. There was some delicious chicken, though, and this peanut dish that tasted so good! We were all really happy and enjoying ourselves. We danced some more, and (typical American college students of course) managed to take pictures that make the party look much wilder than it actually was. Maybe it's our subconscious way of telling future employers via Facebook pictures that we're not ready for the real world yet? Our teachers were there the whole time, so things didn't get out of hand, and we generally had a wonderful time hanging out on the roof and acting like ourselves (not that the alcohol did that, more that we just didn't have to deal with stresses of being out in the city and interacting with people who don't always understand us).











Oh also, it's currently the nine-night Hindu Navratri festival, which celebrates Shakti (which Wikipedia tells me is a "primordial cosmic energy") and dancing and festivities. It started while we were in Udaipur and there were tinsel decorations and lights up, under which people dance and celebrate at night. We were told to be wary of going because students have had bad experiences in the past of not feeling safe. Apparently it's the equivalent of one big orgy? I think this is an exaggeration but I didn't spend enough time at the festivities to find out.

I'm back to update y'all about the last week or so since I gave up halfway through last time. Here goes:

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we continued our exploration of ARTH's services in rural Rajasthan by going to a different village and meeting with a health worker there. In addition to a traditional birth attendant, each village had a women's health worker who provides contraception counseling and information about family planning and acts as a liaison between rural women and health services. We had a short walk from the road to the village temple, where we sat in a circle outside to hear about women's health. Children and adults alike surrounded us, curious about what we were doing. Three girls seated on the low wall around the temple especially caught my eye, and I later took their pictures and tried to have a conversation. Unfortunately they spoke a different dialect than standard Hindi, but Abid Ji helped translate and I found out my favorite little friend is almost five years old and is named Kami.

We then departed, walked back by fields of plants that are used to make opium (they weren't the same type of poppies as in the Wizard of Oz though), and drove to a different village to visit an asha, which is a government community health activist. Abid Ji gave her a hard time for not wearing her required uniform all the time, but it wasn't a particularly novel visit because we had spoken with ashas before and we were fairly rushed.

On our way to the first village, Sarah Kate had to use the bathroom so she asked one of our staff members where she could go. They pointed her through a rickety wood door of a building, so I followed because I had to use the restroom as well. Stepping through the door, however, I realized that we had been directed into the three-walled stable of a cow and her calf. Not having any other options, three of us popped a squat while the nervous-looking bovines watched us. Then the mother started peeing too! It was a legitimate peeing party.

After lunch (with fresh cucumber given to us by villagers in the first village!) at ARTH's main training facility, we headed back to Udaipur and I had another delicious dinner at a rooftop restaurant with a group of my classmates. Both Tuesday night and Wednesday night's dinners included copious amounts of garlic naan, of course!







Thursday

On Thursday, we started the day together and headed to the headquarters of an organization called Seva Mandir. Since our guide wasn't ready, we went to a park with seven fountains that had some kind of historical/royal family significance. We then headed out for about two hours of bumpy driving once again, and then split up upon reaching what appeared to just be another stretch of road. My group delved through corn fields to reach a small village on a hillside, and we passed chickens and goats roaming the paths as we headed to a small, one-room preschool run by Seva Mandir. The children weren't as shy as others we have encountered, and I was generally impressed by the preschool teacher and the aims of the program. They sang us a song about fat elephants in Hindi (that I largely understood!) and we learned about the status of the people in the area. Most are from Scheduled Tribes, which is a designation given by the government that basically indicates low caste status in very, very rural areas. We then moved on, via foot through the beautiful landscape, to another village, where we met with rural women's health workers from the NGO similar to ashas and a traditional birth attendant. Once again we were sitting outside a temple with people crowded around, and we saw what the women use to examine newborn babies. They cooked us the corn we'd stolen from nearby fields, and we drank mini cups of chai and learned traditional dances while we waited for the bus to pick us up.





Once again I left blogging for the last minute so it's super late here, but stay tuned for posts about our party (with beer provided by our teachers!), lots of different kinds of Ayurvedic enemas, and an epic (literally) Indian play! I know you're waiting with baited breath.

P.S. The name of this blog post comes from a store in Udaipur. Kind of like Ruby Tuesday but a few days off.

Hello again everyone! I have returned from Udaipur, a lovely lakeside city surrounded by lush green hills in the state of Rajasthan. It was a wonderful break from the bustle, chaos, and pollution of Delhi, and I'm honestly a little bummed to be back here not doing much this weekend. I know I can't be on the move all the time, but I don't want to feel like I've wasted any time here. I should be spending less time on my computer, but at the same time there isn't much to do at our home stay when we aren't out and about, and it's how I stay in touch with people. I'm hopefully going to Rishikesh next weekend. It's a town known for its ashrams (yoga centers) and Eliza recommended I go there, so I'm excited to spend Friday night to Sunday evening there!

Since I have been away for a while, I'll break this post down into the days since I've been gone. We left for Udaipur Monday evening on an overnight sleeper train and returned to Delhi by sleeper train on Friday night.

Monday

On Monday, I realized I would need more cash money for our excursion to Udaipur, but I assumed there would be a hold on my account because I never informed Bank of America that I'm in India (Bank of America and I have troubled relationship at best, and it's not unusual for me to spend an hour at a time on the phone with their customer service people). After running out of prepaid minutes on my phone while trying to talk to customer service (funny, this exact same thing happened in South Africa! Good times!), I walked to a nearby mall to get more minutes and get money. I tried my debit card and by some miracle there was no hold on my account, so I had money! Back at the program center, I picked out a book from the library to read on the trip, and we headed off to get to the train station. Some people were confused about what time we were leaving, however, so we ended up getting there a lot closer to departure time than we expected, and all of our teachers were visibly stressed. We settled into our sleeper berths, which had three bunks facing each other in each little alcove, so six of us sat together. The middle bunk was folded against the wall and we sat on the bottom bunks as a bench. When it was time to go to bed, I ended up on one of the middle bunks and I took my Tylenol P.M. and nestled in. I didn't end up sleeping very well, however, and I kept having weird dreams. I was incredibly groggy as we rolled into Udaipur on Tuesday morning, and I tried to dodge the tourist welcoming committee when they put a flower necklace on me because I thought they were going to make me pay for it. It was a grim scene at the Udaipur station.





Tuesday

The buses from the train station dropped us across a bridge from our hotel, and our first walk gave us a nice view of Udaipur in the morning. The city is situated on four manmade lakes, with Lake Pichola, where we were, being the oldest and largest. Our program staff ensured we all got rooms with lake-facing views, and the hotel itself was directly on the edge of the lake. We rolled into the hotel around 7:30 or 8 a.m., and I was assigned a room with my Hotel Karina roommates, Lauren and Sagarika. After showering, eating breakfast, and drinking some coffee, we headed out for our first day in the field. I was not feeling very well, due to my dinner the night before and the train ride, so I slept for much of the bus ride.

Archna Ji was sitting next to me, so she answered my sporadic questions about Rajasthan whenever I was awake. Apparently the state isn't normally as lush as it was while we were there (there have been years of drought in the past), but there has been heavier rain this year and as a result the landscape is much greener. We drove over bumpy roads through beautiful hills and passed over clean rivers and streams. It reminded me of the hills of Northern California, and made me remember how much I love the drive between Seattle and San Francisco. I've done that same road trip twice and could probably do it a hundred more times without getting bored.

We had split into two groups to go to different areas where the NGO ARTH works on maternal and child health issues. The drive ended up being quite a bit longer than expected, and we were stopped at one point by some village youth who put rocks under our tires until we paid them about Rs 50 for their festival decorations. We finally arrived at the health clinic and watched a baby receive a vaccination and took a tour of the health facilities. ARTH has a very specific focus on mothers and children, and their clinics are operated mostly by nurse/midwives with OB/GYNs coming through twice a week to evaluate more serious cases. They deliver children, do testing, and perform medical abortions, which they consider a very important part of the services they offer to impoverished women.

We ventured out to a village and watched one of the nurses examine a baby, though I kept getting distracted by a little girl sitting next to me who had six toes on each foot. She was shy but eventually she was smiling at me. After that, we had lunch at the clinic and headed ARTH's main training center to get a debriefing on what the organization does. After a long, long day, we headed back to Udaipur and we got to go on a relaxing boat ride around Lake Pichola at sunset. I then went for dinner at a rooftop restaurant with five other girls and watched people set off fireworks for a festival (which almost hit people standing on a pedestrian bridge over the lake, so they quickly scattered).





Ok, I'm getting tired of typing for now, so I will update about Wednesday-Saturday later.

Blegh, ant discovery in our bedroom, streaming from this mysterious boarded up hole to my Seattle tote bag. Ants are everywhere here. If our dining room table is against the wall, the ants will travel up the wall and onto the table. There is a constant stream of them in the sink and around its edges, and we often get them in the areas where we eat at the program center. They're small and seem harmless, but they're annoying and gross and ruin food when they get in it.

P.S. I'm reading Kim by Rudyard Kipling and that's where the title of this post is from!