Punjabi Dancing and an Indian contradiction

First, a dancing lesson. No make that two. Yes, we've had TWO dancing lesson so far (all six of us who don't mind making complete fools of ourselves in front of each other and a very talented dancer). We're learning at least three types of dance in the next five weeks and we've started with Punjabi. A very high-energy dance, it reminds me (in terms of the energy level) of the type dance commonly associated with musical theater. I remember a director once told a group of us musical theater nerds that you should be shooting energy out to the audience so that they'll have no choice but to forcefully receive it. This, the theory goes, will leave them begging for more and leaving the theater feeling energized and happy. This is definitely the goal for the audiences of Punjabi dance as well. According to Wikipedia, it's a dance commonly performed at Punjabi weddings and festivals. A festival begins this Saturday in which men and women (the dance is designed for both genders) will hopefully be dancing in the streets. Punjabi, a fast-paced dance style, requires a good deal of coordination. It also requires some jerking motions that us Americans don't seem to be quite so skilled at. Our teacher keeps saying, "it's very natural, it's just like jumping while sitting," describing this one movement that looks something like a body roll fast-forwarded with more of a kick to it (not a literal kick). The dance is very entertaining and fun to watch--and as us dancers have learned it's also quite the workout. Especially out in the Pune heat. Whew. 


We have a week off after the end of our first course in which we're free to travel the country. I'm going with five other girls up to see North/Northeast India. We went today to the local train station to book some of our train tickets. Little did we know how much we'd learn about India in this little trip. 


The group of us have come to the conclusion that India is a country without rules. For one, the "personal bubble" we take for granted in other parts of the world clearly does not exist and seems to have never occurred to Indians as an even distant possibility. I stood in line for a couple minutes before I realized that people were assuming I was not part of this line because I wasn't physically breathing on the person in front of me. Yes, this means that the foot of space I left between me and them (as a courtesy, for the sake of germs if nothing else!) clearly means I'm not in line. There were times when we were physically standing in front of the window being helped by the attendant that women would nearly shove us over and attempt to hand the attendant their papers. One man asked, when we were four inches away from the person in front of us, if we were in the cue. Seriously?! As for the other lack of rules, don't get me started on the lack of road rules. I'm still wondering why anyone bothered painting lines separating out lanes of traffic going in opposite directions. Everything is relative. 


Another thing that made an impression on me was this man we saw lying on the ground. He was clad only in a white lion cloth sort of thing and he was skinny. We're talking Holocaustal here. I took a picture (below)...which was debatably a terrible thing to do. I gave him money and I think if he knew my reasons for taking the photo he would have allowed it. He didn't seem to mind at the time but I'm not sure he noticed. Anyways, it was absolutely heart-breaking to see this poor guy in such a state. He was holding a few coins in his hand and kept rolling around groaning. When I approached him to put money in his hand, I noticed his eyes were watering and caked with something. He mumbled something in Hindi and I said "Namaste," which is the Hindi word for hello/goodbye/peace. I like to think of it as their Aloha. It's said most often with your palms together held close to your chest (prayer position) and with a slight bow. He mirrored my "Namaste." I walked away (obviously) wishing I could have done more to help him.

The ultimate contradiction...

The area we live in in Pune seems very much sheltered from the tremendous poverty we see in other areas. Granted, we also see wealthy people but they're much less striking. What's most striking is the huge gap that separates these two parties...not that this is India-exclusive. One could take a similar (but less extreme) photo in New York City. 

We leave for Mumbai tomorrow morning! We'll be spending the weekend there... activities are TBA. 

One Seriously Adventurous Weekend

This weekend, I successfully experienced the life of a celebrity, narrowly escaped death about 19,384,390 times—oh, and I saw some pretty incredible “caves.”

I’ll start at the beginning. Four of us took a bus ride to Aurangabad. When we arrived there, our plan was to first find a hotel. This took us to the other side of the street…where we were nearly accosted by a slew of Indian men telling us that they knew a “nice, clean, new” hotel we could stay at only “one minute away.” Did I mention this was after midnight? From what I’ve gathered that’s pretty late for most parts of India—so I was already on guard (and a bit nervous). I’m a planner and the fact that we had no plans wasn’t exactly helping the uneasiness these eager men invoked. The feeling was universal for three of us so we soon decided to grab a rickshaw and head to another part of town where we knew there was another group of hotels.

Getting a rickshaw was another fiasco. At first, we grabbed a bigger one because it’s difficult enough to fit four people into the back of one—add in four full backpacks and the thing would burst at the seams. A couple of the eager men with “nice clean hotels one minute away” followed us to the street and we trying to explain to the driver where we wanted to go. I’m not sure where the other men came from but somehow we ended up surrounded by at least 10 men all arguing about where we were going and which rickshaw could take us there. At this point, I was pretty scared. Our ratios were not looking good. I think, in the end, I’m just a paranoid traveler and these men were all just trying to be helpful. Eventually we squeezed onto the right rickshaw and made our way to another hotel.

To make a long story short, we stayed at this next hotel. Two more of our group joined us (they had taken a later bus) and we woke early to get in a very full day of sightseeing. And believe me, it was full. We visited the Ellora caves which are about a half hour away (we hired a driver for the day) and then we ventured over to the Ajanta caves which are about two hours further.

This “caves” are really temples built by Hindus or Buddhists honoring their gods. I must say if I were one of these gods, I’d be quite pleased with their workmanship in making these magnificent sanctuaries. To give you an example:

Ode to Buddha!

At the second cave, I was in the process of framing what was to be an excellent photo when an Indian man walked right into the frame and smiled. I didn't really understand what was going on...he then proceeded to grab his wife and they smiled together. By some universal human code of language (he knew no English, I know very little Hindi) I realized he wanted me to take their photo and then see it. So it began. Another group of guys wanted the same done and somehow they love seeing their image on my camera. Then a girl gestured to me that she wanted to take a photo of me. I thought she meant that she wanted to take my photo for me, so I motioned a polite "no thank you." She seemed insistent and I realized that she wanted to take a photo of me so I just smiled and her friend snapped a shot of both of us. Then it began. EVERYONE wanted my photo. I managed to escape and move onwards after ten or so pictures but it started again with the group of us very quickly. Below is a pic I took of celebrity life. I'm not sure why they wanted pictures of us so badly but one of the guys thinks its auspicious for them. Another theory goes that they only see us white people in movies...perhaps that's also true but they were also loving on the Asians in our group. Maybe they're also a rare species in the cities around the caves where I'm guessing these people came from. 

Oh, life on the red carpet.

We also saw MONKEYS! First we saw them on the side of the road and then playing in trees near the caves. It was awesome! I'm not sure what species of monkeys they were but check them out for yourself. 

The cave area was EXTREMELY hot so we were all drenched and exhausted after walking around all day. Another thing that was exhausting was the constant near-encounter with death. Let's just say Indian driving is risky like no other. Our driver never seemed satisfied with the speed of the person in front of us so he was constantly passing (on a two-way road with nearly constant oncoming traffic). Blinkers are unknown on the roads but the horn is a driver's best friend. Even sitting in my room in Pune (which is on a street), you can constantly here beep beep beep beep beep. It's the only language drivers know to communicate with one another. There were also lots of cows meandering the roads, usually being herded in groups of at least four. The cows all have painted horns (usually blue or red), by the way. I can't convey the stress of watching our driver navigate around the other cars, oncoming traffic, cows, and endless potholes but hopefully you understand at least a little. 

Our driver thankfully offered a good price to drive us all the way back to Pune so we made our way. On Indian highways, there's a secret code of contact involving the actual use (shocking I know) of blinkers. I think there's some sort of Morse code with the frequency of blinks signaling that you, as a driver, will hit the car behind you unless they allow space for merging. Of course it sounds incredibly chaotic to us, but I made it home in one piece so seems the system works or we had a huge stroke of luck. 

When we finally got home, I took the most glorious shower and SLEPT in my beautifully comfortable bed. Mmm delicious. 

Out of the office

I'm headed to the very mysterious "caves" this weekend...which I hear aren't really caves but that's how people refer to them. The trip should be four hours each way by bus. I won't have internet access so I'm signing off until Sunday or Monday. Have a great weekend! Hope adventure finds you as well :)

Sitting and waiting for history to happen

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).

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.

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.

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.