Posting Pictures of the South India Trip

It is long overdue but I am finally going to begin posting pictures. But don’t get too excited. Since I have so many pictures and it takes so long to post, I am going to do them slowly. I will be putting up posts which correspond with earlier posts and the title will give the locations. I hope you all enjoy!

Suit Shopping

This weekend I stayed in Dlehi again but this time with a purpose: to find a tailor and purchase several suits! As many of you know, I am going to be doing the UC- Washington DC Program and will be interning with a non-profit organization while there. Seeing that I will 1) be on the East Coast where everything it seems is more formal and 2) will likely need formal business attire, it seemed like a good idea to get nice, well-tailored suits while in India that are significantly cheaper here than in the States.

I called several people I knew who would know who I should go to for tailors. I was sent to Khan Market, a somewhat upscale market were upper class Delhites and white foreigners (who generally live in Delhi) seem to hang out. I have been there several times for dinner (they have some really good restaurants in this market). I went through several tailors and found one that I liked.

I must have looked through dozens of fabrics for my suit. I had no idea that suits were such a hassle. “Would you like the wool and polyester?” “Or maybe the wool and cashmere?” “How about the plain wool or maybe the wool and blah blah blah mixture.” “And the cut? Traditional or Italian?” “Two buttons or three?” “High collar?” “Would you like the pockets at a slant?” I had no idea. I guess that shows just how little we use suits in California!

Hopefully, by the end of this experience (fitting is on Wednesday) I will end up with a couple of good suits. Lets hope!

Cereal

Who knew that my lifelong love for cereal would one day give me somewhat of a 'cultural experience?'

Yesterday, I was in the store buying groceries and I got some cereal. Ususually I get the smaller boxes but this time i decided to get a larger box but little to my knowledge, this larger box came with something attached to it (similiaiar to the plastic toys that come inside cereal boxes in the States). But this one is by far the strangest 'toy' i have ever gotten in a cereal box...

When I got home an examined what it was I couldn't help but think to myself, "I am so in India." Attached to the box was a 2 disk CD Video that traced the story of Krishna's childhood. Krishna, for those who may not know, is a Hindu deity. I chuckled to myself a little thinking about this. Could you imagine a cereal box in the USA having a DVD of "The Life of Jesus" or "The Exodus of Abraham" or "The Teachings of Mohammed" in it as a marketing tool? I think it would if anything cause an outrage, not be an effective marketing tool. Oh how I love this place...

Weekends in Delhi

This past weekend I did nothing in Delhi. That is right, nothing. One might ask, "Why are you writing about the fact that you did nothing in Delhi?" Because it was glorious. After the whirlwind tour of the south of India it was a needed change of pace to do nothing.

Actually, there were few things that went on but it pales in comparison of the pace set by the South India trip. There were two birthdays, Julie and Becca, both roommates of mine. Both times we just went out to dinner but both dinners were fabulous. The first night I had one of the better meals I have ever had (duck stuffed with bacon, garlic, and rosemary and some great vegetables). But other than that the weekend was quite relaxing.

But after this weekend, the relaxing is done. I only have six weekends left in India before i leave for Thailand for another two weeks. I want to travel to Udaipur/Mt. Abu and Amritsar Dharmasala before I leave and I still need to write all my papers and take all my tests. Nonetheless, it is wonderful to have a weekend like this one once in a while.

Back Home

We arrived in Delhi last night and I must say I am glad to be home. Arriving in the airport I felt a little rush knowing that I was back. Delhi really has become somewhat of a home. As much as I enjoyed the trip to the south of India and seeing this huge other portion of India (it is such a diverse country!) I am glad to be back to the life of classes, volunteering, and just generally being in Delhi. I have really come to love this place (it has taken me a while) but, for now at least, I can truly say that I love Delhi!

Update n photos: I need to go through all my photos and then I will post some on the net. It takes a long time to upload photos so please be patient. I need to find like half a day to devote uploading these photos. Ugggh!

Where Am I Again?

I have to continue to be in awe of Mumbai just because it is, well, not Inida. Let me explain...

Last night we went out for dinner near Chowpatty Beach which is a big hang out for Mumbaikars hang out. It is known for its good street food (which alas we did not have). As we were driving there (in a TAXI, not rickshaw, which used a METER...what?!), we saw towering high rises and neon billboards littering the peninsular coast. It was beautiful but also so weird. We went out to this restaurant that was sheik with modern art on the walls and intimate lighting rather than a place with peeling wallpaper and fluorescent lighting. I kept thinking to myself, "This is India?"

Then this morning I woke up a little early and got breakfast by myself. I went to a famous little restaurant where all the foreigners eat called Leopold's and ordered eggs and toast. I brought my iPod and was listening to Miles Davis and looking out the window onto a street full of taxis and traffic. I felt like I could be in a New York dinner or San Francisco having an early morning cup of coffee. It was so surreal. I feel like this whole time I have been in Mumbai I keep asking myself, "Where am I again?" because it doesn't feel like the India i know at Delhi. Nonetheless, I love the vibrant feel of this town. One knows that one is in a world class city here and it is so easy to revel in that feeling.

But today I leave for Delhi and quite honestly, I am glad. I have really come to love that place. Besides, I miss a good north Indian thali plate with masala paneer, dal, and rice! Mmmm...

The City Where the Streets Are Paved In Gold

We have been in Mumbai (Bombay) for the last couple of days and let me tell you, it is not like anything I have seen in India yet. It doesn't even feel like India to me. It is so modern, so Western in many senses, so sheik, and so... not India!

I made a joke about Mumbai to my fellow EAP friends about how this is a city where the streets are paved in gold and while that may be an exaggeration, it really does feel like that in many senses. We went on a boat to go to Elephanta Island (a place with really cool cave carvings) and on the ride back I was able to see Mumbai from the sea. I counted on one side of the coast how many tall buildings were in construction and within maybe a 1/2 square mile I counted 10. It seems like this city is growing and become a true world-class city (if it isn't already). Everything is also just so expensive. While one can find the Indian comforts of thalis and roti, etc., it still is just more expensive. Going to the more upscale places is comparable to the United States which is not fun for our pocketbooks. I know that I am seeing only the nice side of Mumbai, Mumbai also contains Asia's largest slum, but Mumbai has a different air to it then the rest of India. It seems excited and full of life. The city, the people seem like they know they are the shinning example of India and that they are on the verge of becoming a huge world city that has everything to offer. It feels like the people know the potential their city has to offer and are only to eager to show it off. What a place...

Last night, we went to the Taj Mahal hotel, a world class hotel on the bay. It was amazing to see it if only for one reason. Stepping into the hotel I felt like i could be anywhere in the world. There were Germans, Indians, Japanese, French, Englishmen, and others all from the upper classes of their society. It made me realize how interconnected the world is but at the same time how far apart we are. If I was to come to India and just see Mumbai and this hotel (or even the nice hotels in Delhi although I feel Delhi has a lot more of 'India' in it then Mumbai) then I don't feel like I would get a good representation of India at all. It is too posh, too clean, too Western to give an accurate representation of India. But I could see how one could come here and think, 'Ahh, of course India is on the rise as a global power.' And it is, but it is also so much more! India is just to diverse to classify in simple stereotypes. As one person put it and I fully agree with them, you can say anything about India and it will be true. You can say it is poor and it is true. But you can also say that it is a rising economic power and it will also be true. You can say that the IT boom is changing India into a high-tech, rich country. That is true in some parts while other parts still don't have basic education covered. But I guess that is what you get when you try to define a place with a billion people in it!

Nonetheless, I like Mumbai. It is so cool and so irresistibly fashionable and attractive. It is like being in New York. You just feel the energy on the streets and want to be a part of it.

Goa

After Fort Cochin, we all went up to Goa for three days. I am sad to say that overall, I was a little disappointed. Maybe it is because I have seen such amazing beaches in Thailand or maybe because we went when it was absolutely dead and not in high season (I really wanted to go dancing on the beach all night until the sun came up... didn't happen) but I was not impressed. Everything was under construction for the upcoming high season. The beaches were quite and fairly void of people but the views themselves weren't that good in my opinion.

We spent one night in Palolem and one night in Vagator. Palolem was a long crescent beach with fisher boats scattered along its beach. Fish and nets were lain out across the sand and it gave a wonderful atmosphere of being in an old fisherman town. But just looking inland reminded you that you indeed were not. Rather, seeing signs for 'Continental Food' and beer and taxi walas waiting for their next fare, you realized that this place is so commercialized it is ridiculous. Vagator was only better because we had a meal in a restaurant that over-looked a beach reminiscent of the Northern California coast with its rocky coast and clouds in the distance. I really liked the beach and it was here were I was planning to go dancing. Alas, with no tourists here there was no dancing. Nonetheless, it was nice to have a few cocktails and watch the sun go down.

I am now in Mumbai. It is a great place. It is weird, however, to go from Goa, with its laid back beachy feel where we would watch sunsets over the Arabian Sea, to a city that feels like New York or San Francisco. It is so modern. And things are just so expensive! I am looking forward to exploring it. But I must say, I am also looking forward to getting back to Delhi, ordering a thali plate (a plate with three or four dishes on it), and NOT traveling for a bit.

Fort Cochin

I just spent the last three days in Fort Cochin, Kerala. Fort Cochin is this wonderful little peninsular town on the coast of Kerala. Other larger towns surround it but Fort Cochin has retained a wonderful European feel from the Portuguese and Dutch traders that lived there. It was so bizarre to be walking through an Indian town that felt more like what I imagine Lisbon to look like. Buildings have pastel like colors, red or wood tiled roofs, and walls that are slowly peeling. Kids would play cricket in front of my hotel in a field near a falling-down old Portuguese church. There are these Chinese fishing nets on the beach that have so much character and at sunset you see people casting their nets into the ocean in knee-deep water.

The town is fairly touristy for India but slow moving. I mainly just walked around, got coffee at little cafes, thought, and read. It was nice to think and figure some things out. I also found a bookstore with W. Sommerset Maugham’s The Razor’s Edge, one of my favorite books of all time, and have been reading it. It is a perfect book for this lazy trip and encountering the characters again is like running into old friends so it is really comforting.

The trip so far has been wonderfully relaxing but I think I am ready to get back to Delhi. I miss working at the school and Marang. I miss the good north Indian food. I miss all those kinds of things. Delhi, it seems, has really started to become like home.

I am in Goa right now and today we’ll leave for north Goa and then Mumbai (something I am particularly excited about… I hear rumors of real Mexican food) then it is back to Delhi. What a trip!

Kerala

The last few days have been wonderfully relaxing. After leaving Pondicherry, we went to the tip of the Indian subcontinent at Kayakumari. It was a beautiful place but alas, I was sick! Very sick in fact. On the sleeper train from Pondicherry to Kanyakumari I was vomiting, sleeping on the floor near the bathroom(and if you saw the floor near the bathroom you would know what a grave statement that is), and getting about an hour of sleep. Luckily, I was able to get better relatively quickly and was able to go out for the sunset in Kanyakumari where it is said that three seas converge.

Since then, however, I have had an idyllic vacation. We were in the touristy but beautiful beach town of Varkala before we headed to Kollam to do a houseboat cruise for two days and two nights. The houseboat was absolutely luxurious by our standards. The boat itself was amazing relaxing with just the other four people I am traveling with staying on it. There was a lounge deck and a second story sun deck. There was also a crew of three including a cook who made us all our food for the three days on the water. The authentic Keralan food was a real treat. It was wonderful to just sit on the houseboat, sleep, read, talk with propel, and swim in the backwaters. We even climbed and jumped off of a palm tree that was twenty feet up hanging over the backwaters. One of the best memories was dinner. We were eating some amazing food with an oil lamp for light listening to the ocean waves in the distance and the Muslim's call to prayer. We were docked on the banks of the river and fireflies were making the crowded palm trees and tropical fauna sparkle. Then we sat on the roof and looked up at what seemed like an endless amount of stars. It was fantastic...

I am now in Cochin, one of the largest cities of Kerala. It is a weird but delightful little town that seems more European than Indian. It used to be a Portuguese and Dutch fort station so there is a heavy Catholic and mercantile tradition. But the atmosphere is relaxed. I walk outside of my hotel to see scores of young men playing cricket in an open field and then go get some coffee from an outdoor cafe. It is a really nice change of pace from th crowded and noisy atmosphere of Delhi streets.

We will lave for Goa tomorrow evening and we will stay there for four days before heading to Mumbai. So far it has been a great trip.

Tribute to Pheobe

I got word from my dad that Pheobe, my dog back home, was put to sleep on Friday. It was so sad to hear the news. She had fractured her leg and when they took her to the vet, we learned she had bone cancer which would be very hard on Pheobe for the rest of her life. Rather than drawing it out, she was put to sleep.

It hit me slowly throughout the day. I am glad that I got to leave the group and explore Pondicherry on my own. It is just so sad to know that a member of our family is gone. I knew she was getting old but it seemed to happen so quickly. I guess I was just hoping for one more Christmas with my dog. She always will be the adorable white puppy to me who follows you from room to room just wanting to be near people.

I love that dog and will miss her dearly.

Tamil Nadu: Snakes, Cocs, and Buses

So if you have been reading the blog then you know that I am in South India. We flew in to Chennai a few nights ago and since then it has been a whirlwind tour of Tamil Nadu (the eastern state of southern India).

I am traveling with four other people: Evan, Molly, Rebecca, and Abby. Rebecca had volunteered in Chennai a while ago and so knew a bunch of people there. It was really nice to have a place to stay. They picked us up at the airport (after our plane had been delayed for 2 1/2 hours) and took us tot eh house. The house was really cool because she was an old antiques collector and an artist so there were all these cool Indian paintings and wooden doors. But we were fairly exhausted so we went to sleep right away. We awoke to a hearty breakfast of dosas and then headed to a crocodile bank. The woman we were staying with was an animal activist as well so she knew all the people at the crocodile bank. We got hold all kinds of snakes (they were at the place too) including a huge 15 foot python. We also saw a lot of other snakes including a young king cobra at about 5 feet from us (one of the deadliest snakes which just so happens doesn't have an anti venom if bitten). It was funny, but not all that comforting, to here one of our friends and snake handlers say, "It is risky but I think it will be okay. If you are bitten, you are dead. Just call from your cell phone to your family because in 20 minutes you will be dead." We were behind a wall but this guy was a real snake enthusiast so he got as close as one can without being, well, dead. It was really cool.

We then went to Mamallapuram and saw some 7th century temples that had been carved form a single rock. The temples are actually UNESCO World Heritage Sites but nonetheless we were able to climb all over them. I love India sometimes.

At night, we had to catch the bus with one of the guys we knew to Pondicherry. This story really deserves its own blog entry but whatever. We were waiting on the side of the road for the bus to come. Now I have seen buses in the city packed full and people hanging out of the sides of them. I have even ridden those before. But those are in city streets with stop and go traffic so it seems bearable. But this one was different... The buses never really stopped so people could get on (same as the city so far) but I kid you not, these buses were PACKED full of people, far more than those in the city. People would rush up to the doors and push until they got one foot on. Finally, we had to do the same. Unfortunately, we had big backpacks too, not just our bodies which seemed to complicate this whole process. We ran up to the bus trying to squeeze on between armpits and legs and people. Somehow we made it but it was crazy. Even and Abby were literally hanging out of the bus. Evan was the last one on and looked as though he was hanging on for dear life. The bus was swerving all over the place and going like 50km or so so it was a crazy ride.Somehow, Evan and Abby and I all managed to get on the bus and eventually past the threshold of the doorway. Eventually they all found seats (as people got off the bus at different stops) but I stood the 2 and a half hours. Needless to say it was crazy.

We stayed with Vimahl (the same guy who said the cobra comment) in his house. The next morning we woke up at like 6 in the morning to go to a deserted beach. It was really beautiful. The only people who did walk by were Indian fisherman. We played in the water and with Vimahl's friends. We played a couple of games of something somewhat reminiscent of tackle football ( I will bring it back to the States, it was awesome!) and 'Indian wrestling' which was basically just guys wrestling each other. Later on in the day, we took a boat with a friend of Vimahl's who was a fisherman and went out on the water. It was kind of cool to be swimming in the deeper water of the Bay of Bengal. We came home, exhausted, and napped. In the evening, we went out to a jetty and watched the moon over the sea, a lighthouse, and a thunderstorm further inland. It was beautiful.

Today, I left the group so I could wander Pondicherry myself. It is a cool little town with a French colony heritage. I am writing this blog from an Internet cafe with real coffee (I miss that!), espresso, and baguettes.

We will leave for Kanyakumari tomorrow. It should be interesting because it is a pilgrimage spot. It should also have some cool views because it is the tip of the Indian subcontinent. I look forward to just relaxing in a restaurant by the sea.