Farewell, and thanks for all of the stray dogs and cows

Coffee plant on the coffee estate that I lived on for my last month in India.

Hey yall,
         It's my last night in India. Yeah, I don't know where the time went either. The study abroad group just completed our final presentations and we couldn't be happier. Well, it's actually sad because almost half of the group left for the U.S. already.

My last couple of weeks in Coorg went well, but it was back to be reunited with the folks back in Mysore. When we get back it will be Christmas Time! Huzzah.


I would write more but I'm too lazy.



Keep it real America,
I'll see you in a couple of days.

The Final Chapter of the Study Abroad Program: Research Project.

   

Prelude: I’ve heard that Grandma Norma has been printing out these blog posts and reading them with friends. Hi Grandma! Thanks for supporting my adventures. You are missed and I will call you as soon as I can. This blog post is dedicated to you!

For the past few weeks I have been living in Coorg, a beautiful forested area that is well known for it’s coffee plantations and other crops.
Kate (from the study abroad program) is rooming with me in the house. Nisha, our housemother, has been accommodating with the zealous Coorg hospitality, which is found in every home we have visited. They almost treat us too nicely.



Nisha and Muthamma drying rice in the front yard.

Nisha’s children are young teenagers so it’s been interesting hearing them bicker in their own language. I’m not sure if they’re speaking Kannada or Kodava for there are many languages spoken in this region. Our housemother tries to convince us to learn the Kodava, but we just started learning Kannada! Indians seem to know at least three languages, sometimes five or six. People have to if they want to communicate in different regions. The idea that people of India remain united is astounding considering the language barriers people must face to communicate.

           

The remaining family members are a set of teenage twins (it’s interesting to watch them bicker) and the grannie named Muthamma. She’s a charming elder lady who smiles constantly, doesn’t speak much English, but seems to enjoy our company.

Every time I go out of the house the neighbors dog, whose name I can not remember, follows us all the way out to the main road and then starts whining when he wants us turn around. He usually gets bored and makes his way back to the house. This dog is my new friend, as my host mom says J I call him Cow-Dog because of the black and white spotted coat. My goal is to teach him fetch, even though I have a research project to attend to, this matter seems far more imperative.

Research has been going slow, but Coorg has proven to be a comforting home so far. It gets so relaxing that I tend to forget that I’m in a forest area, which holds many a’ dangerous wildlife:

In our homestay house there aren’t fans so I like to leave the windows open for a breeze, but doing that often brings in unwanted guests…

Kate and I with ice-cream facial hair

Internet Hunting

In Coorg there are plenty of trees, coffee bushes, and birds, but if you want to use the internet you’re out of luck. For a while, I believed that I was dependent on the internet to get research done. India forces you change one’s attitude to: “Just go with it”. Things here are constantly up in the air and you never really know how things work.

The following is a long tale of internet hunting (it’s a lot harder than you would think):

There is no internet at the home I am staying at in T. Shettegeri, so on my first day in Coorg I went for a run to find some- someone will have a café somewhere, right? I ran into townmomentarily forgetting that I am white-skinned, but the towns people definitely didn’t let me forget. There were stares all around directed at the crazy foreign girl running around asking people for internet.After asking about five different shops, one man came to my rescue and said there was one in Srimangala, the next town over. Continuing my run/internet hunt I finally came across the internet place that is conveniently right across from the bus stop. It was closed. The people who owned the shop said that it opened at four. I came back at four. It was closed. Unbeknownst to me, this was just the start to the never-ending internet hunt.

Internet cafés in Coorg are usually:

1.                  closed

2.                  open, but the internet isn’t working

3.                  open, but the power has gone out

If you want to use the web here the only way to get to it is with a 50-minute bus ride to the closest city, and even then it might not work.

It is frustrating, but now I’m appreciative of the easyinternetaccess back home a lot more. Living under these conditions brings me a bit closer to the way of life for most Coorg people, whether I like it or not :p

Nagarahole National Park and Irpu Falls

Nagarahole National Park is one that holds tigers, elephant, and other animals. It’s one of the places where the Karnataka Forest Department works, so I was hoping to get an interview there for my project. The research project involves the attitudes and practices towards the environment, and since it’s the departments job to look after forests, I figured this would be a great place to snag an interview. Luckily one man from the department was able to answer a few questions!

In India usually the only way for one to experience a national park is through a safari ride, Kate and I weren’t interested. It would have been nice to walk around and explore the park, but I was satisfied with the interview I got.

Next were the Irpu falls. The falls are located in a small town near to the national park. There were fun signs propped up everywhere reminding people to not through their garbage on the forest floor and animal facts and such. All of the signs were hand painted here’s one of my favorites with the endangered lion tailed macaque.

The falls were HUGE. Kate and I were feeling adventurous and climbed around the rocks near the bottom of the falls; the spray from the crashing waterfelt refreshing. This area of India is easily the coolest the air had been in the daytime since arriving.

Easily one of the best parts of Coorg so far J

The last part of our Coorg exploring day was a trip to a tea plantation. We learned about the conditions of the tea workers and a bit about the way the company is run.

Tea workers and tea farm

Wedding                                                                                       

Kate and I got ready for our first Indian wedding! It was an excuse to wear our saris again, even though we both agree that wearing these is a bigger hassle than it’s worth.

In the reception the close family members of the husband surrounded him and through rice at him The husband followed that up by touching the elders feet as a sign of respect. Afterwards the family of the bride performed much of the same thing with slight variation.

Dress: The men wear white clothes with a long black shirt over top, a white turban with a gold trim, and a red sash with a ceremonial knife tucked in the front. The women relatives had bright colored saris with matching headscarves.

 

Traditional warrior clothing

Ladies in line for feast



Food: The food was traditional Coorg style: chicken and pork with vegetarian options as well, with two different kinds of rice  at each meal.

Ceremony: The actual wedding ceremony took on the next day from 10am to about 10pm, an all day event. The main events of the day were the meeting and blessing of the bride and groom and the Ganga pooja. All of the people that attend the wedding line up to bless the bride and groom and give presents or money for the couple to have to start their life together. There were hundreds of people in attendance so this event took a few hours. Before giving the gifts the guest through rice at the bride or groom. Kate and I both were told to give Rs. 110 to the bride because the bride was a relative of Nisha,

Ganga pooja

The Gangapooja consisted of the bride and a couple of the women relatives dancing lasted 2½ hours. The bride had to walk very slowly from one side of a room to

another with water on top of her head while people danced around her

Sometimes it can last even longer, for example, Nisha had to perform this for five hours at her wedding! The people dancing represent them trying to “stop” her from reaching her destination. This acts as a test for the bride to show her dedication to the marriage (more or less). It seems to be more of a practice of tradition these days. Kate and I didn’t participate in this; why does she have to work so hard while people are dancing around her? Even though it’s a tradition, our feminism picked up from the Vivekananda Gender and Society course gives us a bias in situations such as this.

Music/Dance: The music at both the reception and the ceremony was ceremonial Coorg music; a couple of wind instruments, a few drums, and a few other percussion instruments. It had a steady rhythm and the melody was repetitive. People had a particular style of dance to go along with it. The dance itself was very lively and consists of simple dance moves easy enough for anyone to do. Here’s an example of the dance and music:

It reminds me of receptions that take place in the U.S., although, I wasn’t expecting “Shout” to be playing anytime soon… 

These are just a few highlights from Coorg so far. Next time will be my trip to Madikeri, along with a new coffee plantation I visited.

15 days till America :D

Traveling Around India: Part Two

Rajasthan to Goa: From Desert to Beaches:

Though Delhi was a great break point in between Rishikesh and Rajasthan I was ready to move on to the desert. The only problem was that my body decided to get a cold. Oh well, it proved to not inhibit on fun times.



The New Delhi Railway Station
(spiffy huh?)


Jaisalmer Railway Station



On the train from Delhi to Jaiselmer I met a man who was going to Jaipur. He told me at the time that he is getting married soon (he is actually getting married tomorrow) and we discussed things like culture and education. That night on the train it was hard to sleep because of my cold, but I finally got some rest. After the longest train ride thus far (literally speaking- it was 17 hours) Kate, Nina, Sherry and the rest of the group arrived in Jaiselmer.

 Roof top views of the city were waiting for us as we arrived in Jaisalmer. Rajasthan is like something out of Aladdin. There’s sand everywhere and our hotel had a rooftop view of the city (like Aladdin’s view of Agraba). In the center of the photo you can see the fort. We spent a good few meals up here. In fact, we spent the first night of Dawali up there, which was supposed to be the festival of lights, but just sounded like bombs and gun shots were going off. I would have tried to take pictures but I was too busy dodging firecrackers to document the very noisy holiday. Wondering around the city was magical though, women in brightly colored saris and kameezes stole attention everywhere. To escape the noise and commotion of this loud holiday my friends and I set up a camel trek trip in the dunes.

Camel Trekking!
Camel riding was an adventure on its own. Our thighs were yelling at us during the entirety of the ride and a few days afterward. Those animals are a lot taller than I had remembered- like the dinosaurs of the dessert. My camel's name was Rocket- it's neck dotted with flies and you could tell that these camels did not want to be there. It was easy to respect their laziness; Carrying a sweaty, fat tourist along with a ton of cargo would make me want to pass out in the sand as well. The men who were guiding us through the desert made us delicious meals and we were able to recover from thigh chaffing (at least temporarily) camel trekking in the comforts of the shade of the forgiving trees. The tan dinosaurs were able to roam for an hour or two with out the people and cargo on their backs :)

I was the caboose of the camel train.

(Dedicated to Alyx Barbeau)


SANDVALANCHE!

After a long day of camel trekking, our group decided to play in the sand dunes. To our delight there were scarab beetles everywhere and they suffered a fate of our cruel humor.



We would step in the sand in front of were the beetles were marching on the sand and here is an example of our cruel mischief:

Dorky Joyful Me in the Sand

After playing in the sand until the sun went down we settled onto to our cots and watched the starts come out. Our guides set up a camp fire and tried desperately to keep it going. The air that night was cold, and waking up to the bright sun, hot chai, and toast was very much welcomed. It also gave our camels the rest they needed. Sleeping under the stars wasn't bad either, even if it was chilly that night. 

Jodhpur                                                                                            Next on the stop before the long journey to Goa was Jodhpur, the Blue City! If you have ever seen The Fall, it’s one of the locations of this movie. Jaipur, another location of the movie, was a bit too far away for us to visit, but fort we visited sufficed.

Victoria and Nina and I had a day to explore the city so we searched for an eatery called “the Omelette Shop”. We roamed the streets not expecting to find it, but it was hiding in a corner of the city. On the streets there were firecrackers going off and people were bustling about, the Omelette Shop placed on the side of the bustling streets allowing passerbys to stop for some sort of quick fried egg dish. There were little plastic chairs and small tables, which served as places to eat for the costumers. Think of it as a hole-in-the-wall kind of shop, but outside. I ordered French toast because it’s something that I haven’t eaten since I left. It pretty much was just an egg fried on a piece of toast with some sugar, so not quite the same, but still satisfying. There was a pleasant French family that we ate dinner with. One of the women told me that what I was eating was not French toast. Ha, I guess she would know.

The next day Nina and I squeezed in seeing the Mehrangarh Fort fort before our train to Mumbai. It had a great view of the Blue City, it cost a good amount of money to get in, but it worth it. Something that irks us about seeing national monuments and such is that foreigners have to pay a “foreigners fee” which is often 10 times more than what Indians have to pay. It makes me reluctant to enter some places out of sheer stubbornness.

Take that smokers:This sign has got it going on. I think that I will be making this sign for my new home when I return to the states.

One perk that Nina and I got from the foreigners fee was a free audio tour of the fort. The audio tracks guided us through the fort step by step narrated by a dignified sounding British man. It was a great visit and it felt like we were in ancient times wandering around that fort (sort of).



Nina and I behind green glass



Train Ride to Mumbai
On this ride Nina and Victoria were on one side of the train so I was riding by my self for most of the trip. Fortunately I met a friendly family based in Mumbai and they shared their dinner with me. They told me things that I could while in the city and we discussed cross cultural similarities and differences. One of the best parts about riding on trains is looking out the window; there is much to see through the dirty windows. It is a great opportunity to see the small towns that are skipped by most travelers. Seeing people in the towns we pass through out all of the miles we cover reminds   me of how big and diverse this country is. (As an endnote for the train: I actually got sleep on the train and had a full belly upon bedtime: it was a good night!)

Mumbai

Being the biggest city in India, it was daunting thinking about navigating about, but Nina and I managed somehow and figured out the local train system fairly quickly. I am quite ashamed to say that we got Subway and McDonalds, but it was so tasty! I got to try a McVeg burger which the Iowa group had been meaning to try for a while.

Besides the meals we indulged in, we were able to partake in a bit of sightseeing. First we wandered around aimlessly for about ½ and hour looking for the Bombay Natural History Museum. It was either closed or attached to another museum, so we just decided to enter into the regular historical/art museum that had a natural history section. It was not exactly what I was expecting, just a bunch of stuffed Indian animals, very cool, but not worth all of the hype. Then again, I might have not been in the right natural history exhibit. One of the things one tends to learn about India is that you may never find that place you were looking for, and asking for directions may lead you into the opposite direction. People would rather lie and point in a random direction then say they don’t know.


Gateway of India



A couple dozen rupees and a couple hours later we were at the famous Gateway of India. There was a good blend of people there: sellers, foreigners, and Indians swirling about. The impressive structure was right on the ocean, but the smog and what looked like poor treatment of the water was a reminder that we were still in Mumbai.

That same night we took the local train back to our bus stop to board our bus that would take us to Goa. We walked back on a raised walking path that overlooked the streets and houses of the locals. Looking out the left side one could see the houses that were cramped together and masses of people commuting on foot and by automobile, while the right side was an empty grassy field and fancy high-rise buildings.



Mumbai at Night



Goa

Goa was the most laid back and relaxed place that I have been to in India thus far. The beach scene made it seem like we weren't in India anymore (except when the cows were meandering about). Everyday I was on the beach and the night time consisted of dinner overlooking the ocean and afterwards we would dance or simply sit on the beach enjoying the Arabian Sea. It made me miss home a bit and was the first time being on the beach since leaving California. I almost wish I was there now with a drink in hand...

Climbed up a bluff and found out there was a pleasant trail after I reached the top.

 

Wearing shorts! Trust me, you would be excited too. It's not very well accepted in most parts of the country, so it was a treat.

  

Goan Church



Goa is known for it churches and Christianity that was brought over by the Portugese back in the day. With the green vegetation surrounding these old style buidlings, traveling around Old Goa was a sight to behold. 

Well, these past couple blog posts have been a mini-documentation of my travels around India.

Next time will be an update of Coorg, where I have been conducting research (slowly) for the past couple of weeks. Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving Break!

I'm missing it this time around, but might cook a mini-Thanksgiving meal for my host family :)

India Travels: Part 1

Greetings! Below are excerpts from my India traveling adventure :)
 

Bangalore to Delhi

Traveling has been quite interesting and it was a much-needed break from school. After countless hours of being in the classroom and struggling to finish 30 pages of essays in two week, I was ready to get on the road. The first stop on the three and a half week journey was Haridwar and then on to Rishikesh. They are holy towns located at the birthplace of the Ganges (or Ganga) River. If you take the time look at a map of India you will see that Mysore and Haridwar are at opposite ends of the country, so it takes a few modes of transportation to make it up there. Bangalore to Delhi was the first leg of the trip. A few friends from the program and I flew on Kingfisher Airlines which hires “handpicked” flight attendants, who wear bright red suits and cake bright makeup onto their faces looking like flight attendant Barbie.

This airline is the only one I know to serve meals on domestic flights for free, so it was a happy day! They even gave us little fancy cups of coffee/tea to have with our morning meal. India seems so much more hospitable, even when it comes to airlines. I welcomed the food and caffeine with an empty stomach and tired eyes.

Delhi to Rishikesh

Delhi proved to be a grand bustling city, which was evident as soon as we existed the plane.   

Here is picture of Kat, Joseph, and Brie posing with this large nosed restaurant mascot. 

Old ambassador cars left over from the British days lined the busy streets parallel to the airport. We paid four times as much to ride in one of these fancy taxis, who we were pretty sure was consuming some sort of drug substance (that’s probably where all of the money goes :p). We had a few hours to pass as we waited for our bus to Haridwar so we decided to explore the city. 

Our stop was located near to the Red Fort so it was easy to find. Something different about Delhi that couldn’t identify- until I realized that there were virtually no cows on the road. There were so many people and cars that the cows just couldn’t fit. Also the language of the north is Hindi so it felt like a whole new world (queue the Aladdin music). 

There was a wide variety of street food to choose from, but we opted for a hole in the wall meal of veggie burgers for only 30 rupees, which is about 67 U.S. cents. And with a bit of tamarind sauce it was the best and cheapest meal I had in while.

The Bumpy and Nauseating Road to the Mountains

The bus system in India is a bit different, there are usually no areas indicating that there is a bus stop. And with my experience with city buses we had to run to catch the bus, because it would never really stop. I was hopping that because it was a night bus going further a distance that there would be a more organized system.

Well… the bus was an hour late and we had to ask the bus drivers and travel desks and finally found the right bus in a sea of other large buses. What a relief to finally make it on a sleeper bus and rest for a few hours after an extremely long travel day that started at 4 am with no sleep the night before.

Well… the ride was a bit bumpy. Three other students and I occupied the back seat of the bus. It was a mistake because our but our butts left our seats numerous times during the ride. Our belongings had lives of their own bouncing around. Many streets that I have driven on have had potholes and bumps, but this easily was the worst. It was hard to see the other passengers’ reactions, but they seemed unfazed by the shaking bus. There was little to no sleep had on that bus.

            As sleepless zombies we emerged from the bus ready to settle into Haridwar for the day. We shuffled over to the river and a man approached and uttered with a smile, “Welcome to Rishikesh!”. Rishikesh? We tried to correct him- silly man- we are in Haridwar. Then he proceeded to assure us that we were in fact in Haridwar. We had completely missed our bus stop! We were planning on making our way up to Rishikesh anyways so we gladly accepted this mistake. Laughing about our crazy bus ride and missed stop, we settled with our stuff on the banks of the Ganges River to watch the sun rise.

 A few hours ago we were in one of the biggest cities in the world. Imagine the bustling streets of Old Delhi… now imagine waking up to this:

It was the much-needed peace that was needed after countless sleepless hours and traveling.  

                                    Joseph and Kat smiling on the banks of the Ganges.

Rishikesh- Mountainous and Rivery Glory

Rishikesh is a well-known yoga capital of the world that is used to seeing tourists constantly. We found a room and was able to stay there for 150 rupees a night each- that’s about 3 dollars. Traveling around India has its perks, for one you can be on a student budget and all you have to do is talk to a family and they will more often than not they will invite you to their home at some point in the conservation. Oh yeah, another perk…dfjgndfjngnfg

Something else special about Rishikesh was that the town is so small that you start seeing people who know and have met all through out town. It’s a home away from home as this wall says. The town is used to foreigners and were very friendly and accommodating. Something else memorable were the super cows. I wish that I had gotten a picture, but there were 5-6ft walls nearby our hotel and somehow the cows had the ability to get up there. They would tower over you as you were going into town. Even if they were cheating and using an incline to get on top of the wall, the sheer balancing ability was impressive/terrifying. How are they doing that?

It happened to be my birthday while in Rishikesh and I did it up nature style! Kat, Joseph, and I hiked to a couple of water falls a few kilometers away from our hotel. An old man decided to  undress to go for a dip in this water fall. We tried to be brave and prove to him that we weren’t moving just because of his nakedness, but he apathetic about our presence. 

*Retreat to the next water fall!!!*

Even with the daunting waterfalls I got distracted by the beautiful birds lurking in the trees.  I couldn’t get my camera to focus on the bird, but it’s there. Unaware that I dropped the lens cap to my camera (found later, but almost washed away by the stream), the bird spotting was a win!

We ended the night like we did every other night in Rishikesh: a moonlit dinner overlooking the Ganges. 

All in all a great 20^th birthday!

Daily pooja on the Ganges.

Back to Delhi

The second trip to Delhi easily beat the first one. This time I was able to see New Delhi and took a trip (with all of my belonging on my back) to the India Gate:

It was a tourist hotspot with people selling little nick-knacks and souvenirs left and right. A few people from our group had to use the restroom, but the only one available was an underground facility without lights so I had to bring my lantern down into the depths of the Indian style toilets. The room reminded me of the restroom in the Chamber of Secrets, equally as eerie. Something to know about India, public toilets will almost always have a fee for using the toilets, even though it smells and looks like they are never cleaned. Crouching camping style over the hole in the floor that operated as our toilet, we prayed that we didn’t slip on someone else’s excrement. Our experience with this dark and dank toilet facility was so bad that we ran away from the money collectors. They weren’t too pleased, but to their benefit I paid the next time I used it, but I believe that I accidently paid a random guy standing outside of the facility. This is something that happens regularly happens; I never am sure where my money goes when I pay something, or if I am completely getting ripped off. Although, haggling is a nuisance and uncomfortable at first, but it become fun at times and a habit. In fact, this habit might stick with me with my return to the US:

                 Me:                 “How much is the bus?”

                 Busdriver:       “$1.25”

                 Me:                 “75 cents”

                 Busdriver:       “What? It’s not negotiable”

                 Me:                 “Fine, one dollar”                   

Considering how much less things cost here even with out haggling, paying a set price for things again is going to be a hard adjustment to make.

Sweet Dehli Digs

On the same day as the India Gate, I met up with other friends at a hotel nearby the train station that would take us to Rajasthan the next day. 

The street that our hotel was on was a bit sketchy especially during the night when I had to go out on it to get to a restaurant . On the way back from my meal I was invited by kids to play badminton. I was hesitant because it was on such an intimidating street, but it turns out the whole street is inhabited by numerous families. I ended up staying and talking with the group for a while. My presence (a white foreigner) attracted many passersbys. Soon there were 20+ kids and a few adults who were asking me to sing and dance. I was put on the spot and asked to sing
  a song in English, but I couldn’t think of one, so we played tagged instead, which resulted in me just chasing everyone, even if I tagged everyone. Even if I tagged them they would just keep running. It was refreshing to talk to such lively, friendly kids. They were so curious about me and tried to teach me a bit of Hindi, but I failed.

The next day they invited me to play soccer in the street. There was no game going on and there weren’t any kids on the streets. As I was walking by looking for the game, I spotted a couple of the kids from the night before. Suddenly some of the kids that I played with on the street before invited me into their home where I was greeted by family and friends of that home. They were far too kind, offering me tea and breakfast and we talked for a bit. It was great to be invited into a common Indian home. It made the overwhelming city of Delhi seem more laid back and homey.

Before leaving for Rajasthan I asked some of the kids to put down their email address so I can keep in contact with them. The people I met living on this street were easily the best part of Delhi.

                                         He took this picture of himself when I wasn’t looking.

*               *               *               *               *               *               *               *               *                                        

The next post will be of the rest of my travel period: Rajasthan and Goa

-Till next time!