Before I say what I'm about to say, don't worry. I'll be fine. And now that by saying that I've made you worry, here goes nothing...
Last night we went to dinner in Koregaon Park and passed by the bakery where a bombing happened not long ago. I have to admit it was a little eerie passing by such a place.
Today, in class, we were told by our TA/RA (yes he serves both purposes, and he's awesome) that we weren't allowed to leave the hotel after 3 pm. Of course (Mom, don't worry), this is extremely precautionary. It's not thought that anything will happen but the program is being safe to ensure not being sorry.
We had all read in the papers that the Ayodhya verdict was to be decided today. Basically the ruling will decide on property rights (between Muslim and Hindu groups) and a potential building of a temple where a mosque once stood. The TV headlines say, "Judgement Day: Nation Awaits Verdict,"and "D-Day for Ayodhya;" it seems every station is dramatically buzzing with the latest news. The verdict was supposed to be announced at 3:30pm, but it's 4:05 and we still sit here waiting, footage of Lucknow (where the court is located) rolling on the TV.
We just got news that the verdict is being read at this moment. Nothing on the details yet. For now, I have 100 pages of reading so I'm off. I'll keep you abreast if anything happens (which it won't, Mom).
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
My first Monsoon (and other stories)
Picture a flip-flop in your head. Now imagine the area that fits directly between your big toe and your second toe. You could envision a situation where the strap of a flip-flip would become detached at that particular point. Well today, I saw a man on the side of the road attempting to fix such a flip-flop with no other multipurpose tool than the screwdriver. Just thought I'd share that with you.
Backtracking a little to yesterday....we discovered a restaurant that serves seafood yesterday. Being the pescatarian that I am, this fact excited me greatly. Ironically I didn't end up ordering any kind of seafood. I did, however, order the most exciting-sounding dish on the menu: Chilly Milly. I'm not sure if Milly is a person or a spice or if it's trying to distract from the improper spelling of chili. It's also possible it was a failed reference to the 50's penguin cartoon Chilly Willy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilly_Willy), but who knows. The dish turned out to be a tasty veggie mix in (of course) a creamy sauce. The food is incredibly rich here, especially when we eat out it seems the oil and cream are quite overdone.
We went to a restaurant/bar last night where, as the DJ informed me, they only played "rock and retro," somehow that included a country song or two. I must say I never thought I'd hear Green Day in India. As much as we wanted to jam out to the classic tunes, a sign by the DJ read "Dancing Strictly Prohibited." For a place where the coasters read, "Everyone should believe in something and we believe you should have another drink..." I was a tinge bit surprised. Of course, the next goal is finding a place that allows or even encourages dancing.
Today was the third day of class. We're learning Hindi (the alphabet) little by little and starting to get more comfortable in discussion with one another (in our history course). I'm honestly pretty intimidated by the brilliance of our professor, but tonight we had dinner with him so I'm hoping tomorrow I won't be so intimidated. The hotel we're staying at actually treated us to dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was much nicer than I thought it would be to have a break from all the Indian food and to munch on bruschetta, pasta, pizza, focaccia bread (where have you been, my friend yeast?), and lime cheesecake (which tasted more like thick whipped cream than cheesecake). I also found out that (as perplexing as this sounds) our Indian born and raised Hindi teacher doesn't care for spicy food. He couldn't eat the penne with red sauce and asked for white sauce instead. I was honestly flabbergasted. Forgive the stereotype but I thought Indians were the kings and queens of spice. I thought Indian spices separated the men from the boys and natives always came out winning. Looks like I don't know as much as I think I do about this country, its cuisine, and its people.
In the middle of our dinner outside, it started to rain. Sprinkles turned into heavier drops and eventually the huge group of 26 of us headed indoors for cover. When we left the restaurant maybe an hour later, the streets were completely flooded. I believe India has a serious lack of a draining system for the roads so they quickly turn into rivers when it rains. By that I mean that we were lucky we could drive all the way back to the hotel--many drivers around us were standing in a foot or two of running water literally pushing their flooded cars along the river road. It was quite the spectacle.
Again I'm up too late so I must hit the hay.
Backtracking a little to yesterday....we discovered a restaurant that serves seafood yesterday. Being the pescatarian that I am, this fact excited me greatly. Ironically I didn't end up ordering any kind of seafood. I did, however, order the most exciting-sounding dish on the menu: Chilly Milly. I'm not sure if Milly is a person or a spice or if it's trying to distract from the improper spelling of chili. It's also possible it was a failed reference to the 50's penguin cartoon Chilly Willy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilly_Willy), but who knows. The dish turned out to be a tasty veggie mix in (of course) a creamy sauce. The food is incredibly rich here, especially when we eat out it seems the oil and cream are quite overdone.
We went to a restaurant/bar last night where, as the DJ informed me, they only played "rock and retro," somehow that included a country song or two. I must say I never thought I'd hear Green Day in India. As much as we wanted to jam out to the classic tunes, a sign by the DJ read "Dancing Strictly Prohibited." For a place where the coasters read, "Everyone should believe in something and we believe you should have another drink..." I was a tinge bit surprised. Of course, the next goal is finding a place that allows or even encourages dancing.
Today was the third day of class. We're learning Hindi (the alphabet) little by little and starting to get more comfortable in discussion with one another (in our history course). I'm honestly pretty intimidated by the brilliance of our professor, but tonight we had dinner with him so I'm hoping tomorrow I won't be so intimidated. The hotel we're staying at actually treated us to dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was much nicer than I thought it would be to have a break from all the Indian food and to munch on bruschetta, pasta, pizza, focaccia bread (where have you been, my friend yeast?), and lime cheesecake (which tasted more like thick whipped cream than cheesecake). I also found out that (as perplexing as this sounds) our Indian born and raised Hindi teacher doesn't care for spicy food. He couldn't eat the penne with red sauce and asked for white sauce instead. I was honestly flabbergasted. Forgive the stereotype but I thought Indians were the kings and queens of spice. I thought Indian spices separated the men from the boys and natives always came out winning. Looks like I don't know as much as I think I do about this country, its cuisine, and its people.
In the middle of our dinner outside, it started to rain. Sprinkles turned into heavier drops and eventually the huge group of 26 of us headed indoors for cover. When we left the restaurant maybe an hour later, the streets were completely flooded. I believe India has a serious lack of a draining system for the roads so they quickly turn into rivers when it rains. By that I mean that we were lucky we could drive all the way back to the hotel--many drivers around us were standing in a foot or two of running water literally pushing their flooded cars along the river road. It was quite the spectacle.
Again I'm up too late so I must hit the hay.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Getting to know you
To start, I'd like to say that, while I've been in India less than five days, I already know I'll be wanting to come back after living here for nearly three months. Call me crazy, but I'm sure of it. What's odd is that I felt the same way about the Amazon when I left...I think that, while the world has been my oyster for so many years, it's finally becoming my home.
Today was our first day of class. I was reminded (by an outside-of-the-classroom discussion on the required text as well as a group of people fervently trying to finish said text) that this also brings the end of what's been an incredible summer. However, I'd like to think that summer isn't over until January. Until then, I'm exploring and getting to know the complexities of this kite-shaped country. So the other good news is that our Hindi professor seems awesome and our first professor for our meaty history and culture classes (first of three courses) seems like he'll be challenging us in a good way. As an example, someone mentioned Indian culture today and he quickly burst in with, "Culture- what do you mean by that?" In the words of the student, it's a word we like to hide behind.
Living off an American standard, it's incredibly cheap to function day-to-day in India. We went to lunch after class and I becoming accustomed to paying very little. You can get a decent meal at a restaurant with bottled water for a grand total of $2. This amazes me every time we eat out.
I also went a Yoga class today. The instructor, a woman in her late 30's, has been learning/teaching for thirteen years. She teaches in her house and it was a very interesting experience to see the inside of a Pune house. Her kitchen was L-shaped and rather large...I can only imagine the fantastic curries and chutneys that come out of it. The yoga lesson was extremely basic today, I'm hoping tomorrow will be more advanced. I did learn the proper way to say, "Om," which (little did I know) is made up of 3 syllables. The first is "Uuuu" the second "ooooo" and the final "mmmm." The resonation of these sounds and the vibrations from making them should travel up one's body starting from the belly button, making its way up to the throat and finally directly between the eyebrows.
I'm still adjusting to the time change (we all are) and I've avoiding napping today so I'm exhausted. Hopefully this means I can manage 8 hours tonight. Until tomorrow, my readers...whoever you are.
Today was our first day of class. I was reminded (by an outside-of-the-classroom discussion on the required text as well as a group of people fervently trying to finish said text) that this also brings the end of what's been an incredible summer. However, I'd like to think that summer isn't over until January. Until then, I'm exploring and getting to know the complexities of this kite-shaped country. So the other good news is that our Hindi professor seems awesome and our first professor for our meaty history and culture classes (first of three courses) seems like he'll be challenging us in a good way. As an example, someone mentioned Indian culture today and he quickly burst in with, "Culture- what do you mean by that?" In the words of the student, it's a word we like to hide behind.
Living off an American standard, it's incredibly cheap to function day-to-day in India. We went to lunch after class and I becoming accustomed to paying very little. You can get a decent meal at a restaurant with bottled water for a grand total of $2. This amazes me every time we eat out.
I also went a Yoga class today. The instructor, a woman in her late 30's, has been learning/teaching for thirteen years. She teaches in her house and it was a very interesting experience to see the inside of a Pune house. Her kitchen was L-shaped and rather large...I can only imagine the fantastic curries and chutneys that come out of it. The yoga lesson was extremely basic today, I'm hoping tomorrow will be more advanced. I did learn the proper way to say, "Om," which (little did I know) is made up of 3 syllables. The first is "Uuuu" the second "ooooo" and the final "mmmm." The resonation of these sounds and the vibrations from making them should travel up one's body starting from the belly button, making its way up to the throat and finally directly between the eyebrows.
I'm still adjusting to the time change (we all are) and I've avoiding napping today so I'm exhausted. Hopefully this means I can manage 8 hours tonight. Until tomorrow, my readers...whoever you are.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
More than a pile of dust and rubble
When I checked my luggage in the airport, the woman working at the counter said, "India is a place I'll never go." She surprised me with the comment and I asked for an explanation. "It's too dirty. If the Taj Mahal were somewhere else, I'd go--but not India." This blog is here to prove her wrong, to show that even though parts of India may be thought of as dirty, there's so much more to this incredible country.
After more than 26 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in India late Thursday night. The heat was sweltering and I was quickly reminded that I in no way speak Hindi as I attempted to use the restroom and couldn't converse with the attendant. The next day we took a four hour bus ride south from Mumbai to Pune, formerly known as Poona. The bus ride was a nice way to see me some India, one girl saw monkeys playing on the side of the road. I saw some skinny cows, but of course I wanted monkeys. I'm still in pursuit of them. Friday night we hit the ice breakers hard and began some elementary exploration of Pune. We know now Pune pretty much shuts down by midnight.
I think I'm really lucky to have this great group. There are 21 of us I think and we're 90% third years. With only one second year, it's nice to be surrounded by people with direction who know their major and seem decided on a life path. It's also really exciting to me that everyone seems so experienced internationally--people went to Alexandria or Peru or Israel for the summer. And a couple are studying abroad in winter quarter as well.
Yesterday I was walking down the street to lunch and a tiny adorable girl came up to me. She must have been just over two feet tall and she had a small plastic bowl in her hand. She clearly wanted money but I didn't want to reach into my purse and pull out my money belts, start rummaging, etc. I've also yet to accumulate any rupee coins. Anyways, I guarantee you that this girl was one of the cutest (we're talking top five here) children I've seen in my life. And I've been to a lot of playgrounds. So then she proceeds to follow me and make a motion taking her hand to her lips--indicating the act of eating. I don't know how to emphasize this enough, but it broke my heart. I went into lunch feeling so sad.
On a brighter note, tonight brought Pune's own Flo Rida concert. It was quite the event, I'll be posting pictures and video soon. At one point he gave out his cell phone number and threw a couple items of his clothing into the audience. The concert really felt like a club with a main act, even with only girls being allowed into the VIP section (lame!). I really enjoyed the ambiance
Off to bed for now, classes start tomorrow morning. And by that I mean not only my academic classes but also Yoga and Dance classes. I'm pretty excited for those.
After more than 26 hours of traveling, I finally arrived in India late Thursday night. The heat was sweltering and I was quickly reminded that I in no way speak Hindi as I attempted to use the restroom and couldn't converse with the attendant. The next day we took a four hour bus ride south from Mumbai to Pune, formerly known as Poona. The bus ride was a nice way to see me some India, one girl saw monkeys playing on the side of the road. I saw some skinny cows, but of course I wanted monkeys. I'm still in pursuit of them. Friday night we hit the ice breakers hard and began some elementary exploration of Pune. We know now Pune pretty much shuts down by midnight.
I think I'm really lucky to have this great group. There are 21 of us I think and we're 90% third years. With only one second year, it's nice to be surrounded by people with direction who know their major and seem decided on a life path. It's also really exciting to me that everyone seems so experienced internationally--people went to Alexandria or Peru or Israel for the summer. And a couple are studying abroad in winter quarter as well.
Yesterday I was walking down the street to lunch and a tiny adorable girl came up to me. She must have been just over two feet tall and she had a small plastic bowl in her hand. She clearly wanted money but I didn't want to reach into my purse and pull out my money belts, start rummaging, etc. I've also yet to accumulate any rupee coins. Anyways, I guarantee you that this girl was one of the cutest (we're talking top five here) children I've seen in my life. And I've been to a lot of playgrounds. So then she proceeds to follow me and make a motion taking her hand to her lips--indicating the act of eating. I don't know how to emphasize this enough, but it broke my heart. I went into lunch feeling so sad.
On a brighter note, tonight brought Pune's own Flo Rida concert. It was quite the event, I'll be posting pictures and video soon. At one point he gave out his cell phone number and threw a couple items of his clothing into the audience. The concert really felt like a club with a main act, even with only girls being allowed into the VIP section (lame!). I really enjoyed the ambiance
Off to bed for now, classes start tomorrow morning. And by that I mean not only my academic classes but also Yoga and Dance classes. I'm pretty excited for those.
A statement of Purpose
The Brass Monkey is the name of a character, mind you a rather rare and amazing character, in Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children. The monkey enjoys entertaining herself with fabulous little destructive habits like igniting shoes. I've named this blog after this character because I like her name and I'm a big fan of her antics. I also think it's appropriate because you'll be reading about my escapades in India in the coming months. (I recommend the book by the way)
To quote the Tony-award winning broadway musical Avenue Q, "Purpose...it's that little flame that lights a fire under your ass." So I'm planning on this this fire nearly igniting my arse and keeping me updating you readers. I hope you enjoy reading!
To quote the Tony-award winning broadway musical Avenue Q, "Purpose...it's that little flame that lights a fire under your ass." So I'm planning on this this fire nearly igniting my arse and keeping me updating you readers. I hope you enjoy reading!
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