Friday was a fairly typical example of what it’s like to go
into the town of Pondicherry, which is about 30-40 minutes from the university
by local bus. Liz and I each had a package to mail back to the US (mine was 18
pounds), so we waited for the bus at the bus stop, which is across the street
from the gate of Pondicherry University. When the bus arrived, we tried to push
past people as they were pushing past us to get onto the bus, lugging our boxes
with us. I was terrified the bus would leave w/out us both on it, but we made
it!
Once we were on the bus, we stood in uncomfortable positions
– we were thankfully standing against the wall rather than just in the aisles.
I had my back to the windows/wall, and the boxes were also behind me. Liz was
next to me, and we were fairly squished. I tried to stay a bit back from the
woman in front of me (her arm was about 6-8 inches from my face and she had
some kind of skin rash) so I ended up squatting sideways? Liz befriended this
adorable Tamil boy who was around two or so, he kept waving at us then his mom
made him touch her face, stand near her, etc. so that was cute. Another child,
an older girl, got on the bus and said hi to me - I responded, “Vannakam!”
(hello or welcome in Tamil).
Note: the title is something Liz said after we got off the
bus, and I agree. Sometimes there are women on the bus with big metal buckets
full of fish to sell on the street or at the market…and that’s how we felt on
the bus. Hot, sweaty, crowded, but we did it! (And we made some new cute lil’
friends in the process)
Last Wednesday was Holi, which is mostly celebrated in the
North, not the South – bummer, man, as I am suuuuuper South! – but some
students celebrated it. In the morning, I walked out of my independent study to
find some of my French friends ready to cover me in powder! People were running
around the social sciences/humanities buildings throwing colorful powder at
each other. In the evening I heard there was a Holi celebration going on in the
stadium, so I went with Arun and Shruti to check it out. Once we got there, I
realized that Shruti and I were the only girls participating, though there were
a few girls sitting in the stadium watching boys dance to Tamil music and throw
powder everywhere. I danced for a little bit, but felt…odd/uncomfortable being
the only woman there. It was super weird, but fun for the most part!
This weekend, the Americans, Arun and I went to Ooty, a
nearby hill station. So of course I got to play in tea plants again! Hooray! We
visited two botanical gardens/parks, a lake that was a mixture of a lake and a
small amusement park, several jaw-droppingly beautiful scenic lookouts over
mountains and tea plantations, and wandered through a tea plantation. We were
on a bus that took us all over Ooty and nearby Coonoor (for 150 rps or $3 for
the whole day, so cheap!) and we were also supposed to visit a tea museum, but
ran out of time, oh well.
On Sunday, Arun and I went to the Isha Yoga Centre near
Coimbatore. He has been studying Isha yoga for a few years, and is a volunteer
as well. The yoga centre was…awesome. I’m still at a loss of words about the
experience, honestly. It was so cool learning more about his traditions,
practices etc. and at the same time the place itself was really beautiful. Well
worth the 5.5 hours of bus travel to get there.
Also, since we were in a cooler climate, it was COLD at
night. Women were wearing sweaters over their saris, and many men wore jackets
or sweaters. I didn’t because it was ‘cold’ to them – maybe 60 degrees
Fahrenheit or 15 degrees Celcius – and it was so refreshing to feel cold
instead of constant, sweltering heat. It was so nice.
When I got back to Pondicherry after traveling 5.5 hrs
during the day Sunday on three buses, and then overnight on another one, the
sudden heat and tiredness caused me to get a terrible fever. Oops, my bad! I
went to the health center and explained what happened – basically, the change
in climate plus lack of sleep and lots of travel messed me up – and the doctor
said it was due to the change in climate, overexertion, etc. Okay. So she
prescribed 3 things to me – an antibiotic, a cough/cold medicine even though I
told her my throat wasn’t bothering me, and something I couldn’t find online so
I didn’t take it – and didn’t explain what anything was for. I am bad at taking
medicine to begin with, but if I don’t know why I should take it…hmm. Anyway.
It’s been interesting (to say the least) to try to get medical attention for
minor illnesses – mostly because I’m interested in international public health
haha. It’s very different than in the U.S., that’s for sure.
Happy Holi! With Arun
Shruti, my favorite Canadian, and I were two of the only girls there. India.
With Arun at Doddabetta peak, the highest elevation in Southern India and a scenic lookout!
At Lamb's Rock in Coonoor, cheesin'
It's hard for me to believe places this beautiful actually exist.
This is about the halfway point for my time in Asia – I’ll
be leaving India for Nepal in May, then flying back to India in June, then
flying back to the U.S. a week later.
To commemorate the halfway mark of my
time abroad, here are some things I miss about the U.S., and some things that I
do not miss:
I miss…
-Wandering around campus late at night with friends
-Freedom to go to friends’ rooms whenever, male or female
-Wearing less modest clothing [sometimes]
-Having access to an air-conditioned gym…ooh, also air
conditioning
-Ecohouse silly times/environmental endeavors/gardening and
cooking/friends
-Food: smores, mac and cheese, salmon and asparagus, chocolate
chip cookies, eggs/a protein-heavy diet, kale, greek yogurt, apples
-Halloween, and excuses to wear costumes
-Western feminism
-Finding new American music, my radio show with Allison
-Netflix – mostly to watch documentaries though. Or Sherlock.
Or Mad Men. Or Parks&Recreation
-Hendrix party culture
I don’t miss…
-Reality tv and the stupidity that comes with it
-American bump ‘n’ grind dancing
-Homework, stress, and work in general
-Dependence on cars rather than public transportation
-Everything being expensive
-How un-friendly people can be, in certain parts of the U.S.
(compared to here at least)
View of Hampi from the top of the hill. Hanuman Temple, Hampi
At the top of Hanuman Temple hill, Hampi
Vittala tempel at sunset, Hampi
Lakshmi the temple elephant
Lakshmi, again
Part of the historic Hampi tour, monument made from one huge boulder
15th century ruins, Hampi
Sanskrit on a stone tablet, Hampi
Marie goobering around, Hampi
Marie and I on St. Mary's Island, Malpe (with McChauffe, which she carries when she travels and takes pictures with it)
St. Mary's Island, Malpe
Last week, half of my classes were canceled because the Sociology department was going on a 'cultural tour' aka educational field trip. So Marie-Cecile, a french classmate, and I decided to go on our own cultural tour of the nearby state of Karnataka. It was a whirlwind week of traveling, as we would spend one night on a sleeper bus traveling and the next in a hotel/guest house, staying in one place for a night before going to the next. We went to Hampi, Udupi, Malpe, Mangalore, and Bangalore. While it wasn't the most relaxing trip, I had a blast. Hampi was my favorite place by far - I wish we could have stayed there longer. Hampi is a World Heritage Site, and is surrounded by strange rock/boulder formations. The city itself has old monuments, ruins of 15th century temples and statues, and is one of the most laid-back places I've visited, full of Western backpackers and good food. At one store, I bought an embroidered camel leather purse but I didn't have enough change - so the shop owner told me to keep the purse and pay him later! (which I did soon after). Our first day, we crossed the river by boat and explored old ruins and went to a small temple at the top of a steep hill, from which we could see the quaint city beneath us, including the river and hills around it. After lunch at an Israeli restaurant we wandered around and stopped to get cake at a bakery before crossing the river and walking up a hill overlooking the main Vittala temple just before sunset. As we were eating our cake, I felt something wet on my head. I looked up, and realized that a monkey had just peed on my head!! It then tried to jump after us to get our cake so we ran away. Monkeys are vicious! The next day, Marie and I went down to the river to see the temple elephant, Lakshmi, about to take her daily bath in the river - we were a bit early though, so we just saw her before she took her bath (we had to leave for the bike tour at 8:30am). Then we went on a 4.5 hour bicycle tour of Hampi historic sites, which was fantastic. Afterwards we were pretty beat so we relaxed at a restaurant for most of the day.
The next day we arrived in Udupi by bus, where we wandered around the large Krishna temple in the morning with all of our backpacking gear before taking yet another bus to the nearby fishervillage of Malpe. After getting lost at the harbor, hauling our luggage for a while, we made it to the tourist boat leaving for St. Mary's Island. We hopped on and joined the 3 dozen Indian tourists for a boat ride to the island. Afterwards, we took a bus back to Udupi, then on to Mangalore. Once we got to Mangalore we tried to find a hotel - when I realized I had lost my passport copy (which I later found) and Marie didn't bring one...so we had to visit several hotels before we found one that would take us. Yikes. Good thing I had written down my passport and visa numbers just in case! We ended up having to pay more than we wanted to, but it was okay...in the evening we went to the mall to see a movie - the new Oz movie, my first movie in a theater in India. Also it was 3D...and it cost $3 US which was wonderful.
The next day, we decided to go to nearby Ullal Beach. As we were waiting for the bus to take us to the beach, Marie bought some sugarcane juice which was delicious. Then, we saw the bus coming - but it didn't stop! Marie gulped down her juice and chased after the bus, but it was to no avail - we had to wait 20 minutes for the next one. I cannot believe she ran down the street, chasing after the bus! After visiting the beach, we went back to the mall to kill time until our bus left for Bangalore that night.
We arrived in Bangalore at 5:30am, and met our friend Leon (poor guy, he stayed up all night and then had to wake up early to greet us, and it was his birthday!) at his house. Our time in Bangalore was really fun - one of the best weekends I'd had in a while. About 10 or so friends stayed at Leon's for the weekend, where his mom kept plying us with more home-cooked food than we could eat (it was all so good, though). We celebrated his birthday throughout the weekend, spending Saturday at his house with friends and family dancing and eating great food, and repeating the party the next day at his uncle's house, where we enjoyed Indian barbecue and a had another dance party (let me tell you, it's hard to dance in a sari). Indian birthdays involve the birthday boy/girl feeding everyone else cake, then they eat some. There's a lot of food, dancing, laughter, and love. It's great. I'm going to be traveling during my birthday, but I hope to celebrate with friends before I leave Pondicherry.
It was a wonderful week - I had a great time with Marie, and our friends in Bangalore. Marie also taught me some French - mostly incredibly useful phrases like "Bonne douche!" which means essentially "have a good shower!" (See, Amy, now I am fluent in French! Just kidding) This week is a bit like another spring break because classes have been cancelled for the rest of the week due to protests by Tamils in Tamil Nadu against the mass killing of Tamils in Sri Lanka. Hmm...my blog sounds like all I do is travel and hang out, which is moderately accurate. I did take a midterm yesterday though, so that's something, right? An official came into class as I was taking my test to say that classes were canceled, but I chose to finish my test before leaving for the day...
-Went to the Mahai Maham parade in Pondicherry, during which
gods from Hindu temples all over Pondi were paraded down the street
-Had some unfortunate digestive issues and spent the
majority of the week near the toilet
-Practically had a three day weekend as my classes ended at
10:30am Friday – found the atm on campus, got a coconut near the beach, and got
a pedicure (for $7 US, great no?)
-Walked around Rockfort Beach in Pondi with Arun and checked
out a nearby park as well as listened to some live Tamil music at the beach –
there’s always something going on there in the evening. Had ice cream for
dinner, yolo!
-Discovered (okay, the French girls told us about it) the
most wonderful restaurant for European/American food near Auroville. Farm Fresh
serves burgers, eggs, salad, sandwiches…all things that are no longer a common
part of my diet! It’s also a small store, so after sharing a salad and a
burger, Liz and I stocked up on the essentials: pasta, peanut butter, dates,
and kombucha. We also went there for breakfast! Yum.
-Went into Pondi with two classmates, Swarna and Subhadra,
and a couple of their friends for lunch. They are from Kolkatta in West Bengal
so we went to get Bengali food – rice, dal (lentil sauce), a sweet sauce,
vegetables, and spicy fish curry, it was delicious!
-Watched a crazy documentary about Indian feminism. Not the
same issues as Western feminism, let me tell you...I was the only foreign
student there but I wish there had been someone else, b/c I couldn’t tell if it
was shocking to me or everyone
-Fell off a bicycle (note: it wasn’t moving) b/c my harem
pants got caught on the back, so I fell off, ripping them beyond repair. Oops.
Embarrassing, yes. Hilarious? Absolutely.
-Took my first midterm (internal here) in my Indian
Sociological Perspectives class. Wrote 6 pages (bigger than US paper size) in
an hour, then when I turned it in a classmate asked me, “is that all you
wrote?” Uhhh…yes…?
- Visited an ayurvedic doctor and now have medicine that
tastes like icing; after my trip this week I’ll be going back for an ayurvedic
massage
-Went to the Rockfort Beach and then had dinner w/ my
professor, Dr. Mili, her husband, his brother, wife, and daughter. It was
really nice! I had a lot of fun – how often do you get to hang out with your
professor and her family?
-Starred in a movie! Ok, not really - I was an extra in a
Tamil film, so I sat in the sun all day and pretended I was a guest at a
wedding. I got free food, a necklace, and 2000 rps ($40 US) as well as a
Kingfisher beer – a good day, I would say, though I did get my first sunburn of
the semester.
-Killed 3 cockroaches in a 20-minute period (Allison you
should be so proud of me, the other girls were afraid but I was just like,
yeah, that’s a huge one, lemme just smash it with my shoe!) and found one under
my desk and didn’t freak out, just swept it outta my room
…and that’s what two weeks in Pondi are like. Basically.
This week I don’t have half of my classes because the sociology department is
going on a field trip (44 college students on a trip, oy vey). I’m going to
travel around the state of Karnataka for a week with Marie-Cecile, who is from
France. We’re going to Hampi and Mangalore, arriving in Bangalore on Saturday
to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Then later this month I’m going to Ooty, a
famous hill station in Tamil Nadu! Sorry for the lack of pictures - the water decided to cut out this morning in the middle of my shower and the wifi isn't working in my hostel so I'm currently in an internet cafe with shampoo still in my hair hahaha
Last Thursday, the four American SIP girls and I traveled to Mysore and Bangalore, arriving back at Pondicherry University Monday morning at 6:45, after which I went to my classes and then slept (until I decided to go into town to see a parade, that is).
Traveling there meant taking:
-A bus from Pondicherry University to the bus stand in Pondicherry (45 min)
-A private bus overnight to Bangalore (8 hours)
-A bus from Bangalore to Mysore (3 hours)
Traveling here is both hard and easy - easy in the sense that it's much cheaper than it would be at home, and I have more time/flexibility to travel during my semester in India than I would back at Hendrix...but it's also incredibly difficult. I'd never booked long distance buses/trains/etc or hotels before, and doing so in another country where the people you're talking to don't always speak English is challenging. Also our internet doesn't work very well in the hostel, so it's hard to even look things up online. It's worth all the stress, though - as soon as I get back from traveling somewhere, I start thinking about the next trip!
Once we got to our hotel in Mysore, we rested for a bit (two of the girls were sick! poor things) and then headed into the city for some sight seeing. Mysore is a tourist destination - for Indian tourists, not Westerners - and so the city is very green/full of nature, the roads are wider, the sidewalks are cleaner, there is less traffic, and people even wear helmets when they ride motorcycles! It's a beautiful city. We visited the Maharaja's Palace and explored the gardens, then took an auto-rickshaw to the top of Chamundhi hill, where we could see all of Mysore in the distance. Then, exhausted, we returned to the hotel for dinner (most hotels have restaurants attached) and I tried my first Indian wine. Result: something like sweet brandy mixed with rubbing alcohol. Bummer.
On Saturday, we hired a driver for a few hours (something I could NOT afford to do at home, but divided among everyone it came to $4 per person for 4 hours) and went to nearby Sri Rangapatnam, a historic fort. Once inside, we toured the Gumbaz tombs, Summer Palace, and the Ranganatha Swamy temple. Afterwards we split up, and Liz and I went to Cafe Coffee Day (think Indian Starbucks) before wandering around, exploring Mysore and shopping. We hung out in a park for a bit, where we got several stares - being the only white people around - and then went shopping! Mysore is famous for silk, sandalwood, and incense...and I might have bought too many scarves (6) but some are for gifts! So it's fine, right? We then walked to a nearby art gallery which was unfortunately closed.
We ran into an auto-rickshaw driver who called himself Master Blaster (I only speak the truth) who offered to show us the "real" Mysore. We went through neighborhoods and alleyways, stopping to see wood carvings being made by hand, Indian cigarrettes called beedi's made of leaves being rolled, an incense/essential oil shop, and finally a silk emporium. It was awesome.
Sunday, Liz and I took the bus back to Bangalore, where we hung out at a mall (A/C! Fancy, clean bathrooms with a bidet! A bookstore/coffeeshop where I bought a book about feminism in Tibet and a french press! Did I mention the A/C?) and then went to India's first microbrewery, the Biere Club, where we met up with Kara, Jackie, and Lauren. I'd never been to a microbrewery before...after that, we took a bus from Bangalore overnight to Pondicherry, where we arrived at the university at 6:45am. I had breakfast, went to my classes, and then slept...until I went into town to see a parade that occurs once a year, that is.
The five of us at Chamundhi Hill
Cheesin' outside of Maharaja's palace - beautiful place
The Gumbaz tombs
Mysore city square: it's a pretty well planned city, I was impressed!
A man doing wood carvings
Driving the Master Blaster auto-rickshaw! (Just kidding, I didn't really)
Wandering through the small alleyways containing woodworking shops, incense makers, etc.
The temple on top of Chamundhi Hill and the bustling market outside of it
First, let me say that I have gotten pretty awful about
journaling. My bad. I’m going to blame it on being busy, which is a good thing!
Classes have been finalized and by now I’m used to life at Pondicherry
University. I take classes with masters-level Indian students, and in most of
my classes I am the only SIP (Study in India Program) student, or there are one
or two others. As I am the only American in my sociology class, I am really
getting to know my Indian classmates. People here are incredibly friendly and
(most) are easy to talk to. Classes are taught in English, but some people have
a harder time conversing in English, or their accents are too strong for me to
understand what they are saying – but I repeat myself and ask them to repeat
themselves as well. The language barrier is just another challenge about being
in a foreign country – I am constantly impressed by how many languages students
here can speak (English, Tamil, Hindi, etc.). I know (some) French, so when the
French exchange students speak in French I can follow at least half of what
they are saying, though I can’t respond most of the time because they talk so
fast!
On Thursday, Liz and I went on an epic adventure (note: by
now you should know everything in India is an adventure, but this is the first
time we planned a trip by ourselves) to Hyderabad to visit two friends from
Hendrix, Gilly and Paige (population: 6 million, makes Pondi look like a cute
little town). We rode on a semi-sleeper bus, which took 14 hours, and then took
an auto-rickshaw to Hyderabad Central University (HCU) where Gilly and a friend
met us at the gate. We were SO HAPPY to see them after our long journey! On
Friday, Gilly, Liz and I went to a craft fair/market where we experienced the
most laidback shopping of our lives (ok, in India at least). It was
surprisingly relaxing – you have to brace yourself most of the time before
going shopping because you have to haggle well and learn to ignore incessant
shopkeepers’ calls. We also explored a sculpture garden nearby, which was
really nice. That night, a big group of foreign students went to a nightclub
called Liquids, which is in a swanky part of the city, Benjari Hills. They only
played bad American pop music, and I found myself missing the Tamil beats and
Hindi bollywood songs that I hear when I go to Ocean Spray in Pondi!
Being in the city was fun – it’s fairly more Westernized
than Pondi, because it is much bigger and it’s farther north – the farther
south, the more conservative/traditional it gets. So I brought what I would
wear clubbing (an American shirt and harem pants, with sandals of course) and
people – both SIP students in Hyderabad and the Indians at the club – were
dressed more Western than me. Oh well! We also went to two malls so I got to
fully experience the effects of globalization. We had Quizno’s one night and
Papa John’s the next. The malls were huge. HUGE. Familiar stores, both Indian
and American/Western, a movie theater…it was pretty overwhelming, even for mall
standards! Liz and I (with the help of Gilly and GoogleMaps) decided to conquer
the bus system, as it is much larger than the Pondi bus system and bus travel
is way cheaper than taking an auto-rickshaw. Since it is hard to get around,
and the city is so big that we didn’t always know where we were, we did about
half bus travel and half travel by rickshaw – not bad for being in an
unfamiliar city!
Saturday, Gilly, Liz and I went to Golcunda Fort, a 16th
century fort built to ward off Mughal invaders in the state of Tellangana, now
Andhra Pradesh. We hiked around the bottom of the fort, which seemed to go on
forever, before climbing up, where we could see the beautiful city of Hyderabad
around us, stretching out into the distance. We wandered around the fort for a
while, before heading back to HCU to rest for a bit. That evening, Liz and I
went out with Paige and some of her friends. We tried to go to a live music
performance but we couldn’t find it, which is how I ended up at my second Indian
mall in two days! Sometimes in India you set out to find something, can’t find
it, and end up getting pizza. It happens. Liz and I were really tired, so after
dinner we took two buses back, arriving at the main gate of HCU right at Paige
and her friends arrived by auto-rickshaw, which was pretty funny.
Sunday, Paige, Liz, and I, along with two other Americans
from HCU, went to see the Charminar – a four column structure with minorets and
a mosque. Surrounding the Charminar are pearl stores, as Hyderabad is the ‘City
of Pearls’ as well as your typical Indian bazaar scene – stores and people on
the sidewalk selling glittery bangles, colorful saris, perfumes, and antiques,
among other things. I also ducked into a small Hindu temple, where a man put a
red bindi on my forehead. In the afternoon, Liz and I rested for a bit and had
tea with Gilly before we left.
That morning, I had called the bus company to change where
Liz and I were boarding the bus from Miyapur to Gachibowli, which is 30 minutes
closer to HCU. The man I talked to said he had changed it, but I called back in
the afternoon to double-check. Not only did the man I talk to tell me the
departure point had not been changed, he told me he couldn’t change it, and
gave me another phone number. After calling that number twice with no answer,
Liz and I began to freak out. Also, Liz called another number and they began
speaking only Hindi. With enough time to get to Gachibowli but maybe not
Miyapur, we went to the South Gate of campus to flag down a rickshaw, at this
point fairly nervous about getting back to Pondi. We got a rickshaw, but then
the guards at the South Gate of HCU wouldn’t let us go through the campus in
the rickshaw to the main gate, so we take the long way around, which cost us
double but still got us to the Gachibowli bus stop, eventually. We got out of
the rickshaw at an intersection near the private bus companies, and asked
several people until we finally made it to the right place. After talking to
the person at the front desk, who assured us it was “no problem” to board the
bus to Gachibowli, we calmed down, and waited for the bus to get there.
As we were waiting, we saw two familiar faces – two German
women from our bus ride over to Hyderabad. They have been traveling around
India teaching acroyoga, and we talked to them for a while before our bus
arrived. Every time something terrible happens here, something equally
wonderful shows up to balance it out. I love India and I hate it, sometimes at
the same time. There’s no in-between with anything here. Most of the time,
though, I love India. The bus ride back to Pondi was pretty uneventful – bus
travel is far cleaner than train travel, it’s a bit like being on an airplane
(your seat reclines, there is a/c, a terrible movie is playing) mixed with a
rollercoaster (remember this is India, driving is different than in the U.S.).
We arrived in Pondi around 8:15am, caught a bus to Pondicherry University,
hopped onto the boys’ bus on campus around 9:15 (yes, some buses here are
segregated by gender) so we could make it to our hostel in time to get
breakfast, took an awesome shower, and made it to all of my classes except the
first one, which began at 9:30. All in all, a great trip, only one major
mishap, which worked out as things eventually do here, and I made it to four
classes today. Next weekend we (the five American girls, including myself) are
going to Bangalore and Mysore, which will be fun. After that, though, I’m going
to take a bit of a break from traveling – it’s exhausting!
Gilly and I beasting at Golconda Fort!
Some sweet sculptures at the sculpture garden!
A view of Hyderabad from Golconda Fort!
Two tired souls, after climbing Golconda!
Golconda Fort. Amazing.
Paige and Charles in da auto-rickshaw.
Cool antiques and other junk at the bazaar near Charminar!
