Farewell to Hyderabad

The last week and a half has flown by. Most of it was spent working on school stuff. We had to do a 30 page paper for our sociology class. Luckily Kevin and I did it together, so that was a lot less work combined. We'll see how it gets graded...

its hard to do papers here because we don't have enough computers to go around and the library is pretty useless. the books are very old and in many cases far too outdated for use. for some infuriating reason you aren't allowed to have notebooks in the library. at the begining we took a few pieces of paper, but as they have the overhead fans on all the time we quit that and started charging through with our notebooks pretending not to understand the security guards. obnixious? perhaps. but until someone can explain to me why on earth no notebooks are allowed i dont have a problem with it.

tomorrow morning at 4:30 am we leave Hyderabad. We'll be flying to Delhi, which is sort of a long flight as far as domestics go. in Delhi we are staying at the YMCA.... but im promised its not like i think it will be. in fact it will be nice. famous last indian words.

I'm excited for the trip and to see North India. This is the time that we'll see the Taj Mahal. Gaj's wife (Mrs. Gaj, as it were) is from Delhi so she is going to show us around.

I will have scant internet access for the next two weeks, so I don't know if I can post or not. I'll be home on the 2nd! So you can call then.

lots of pictures when i get home!

Gujarat (Hindu Disneyland, Gandhi, and experiencing Indian healthcare)

We left Hyderabad (8 of us) around midnight on Thursday to catch a plane to Mumbai. That plane didn't wind up leaving until about 2, getting to Mumbai about 3:30. Then we hustled to the train station in Mumbai and caught the 5am express to Ahmenabad, all 10 hours of it.

I think its important to ride a train while your in Indian because they are a major theme in almost every Bollywood movie and important piece of literature in Indian culture. It was decent.

They played "classic" movies which are 70s bollywood flicks with even more longing sidelong glances then their modern equilvant and lots of panoramic shots of mountianious Rajaistan and Kashmir in technicolor. Played incessiantly along with its high pitched soundtrack. thank you ipod.

once we got there Ishani's family picked us up and took us home.

they have a "joint family" house which means they live with their grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles and everyone in one place. to that end, its a big house. lots of beds and bathrooms and a big seating area in the living room. we girls on the trip all slept in the room on the big room on the third floor and had a bathroom to ourselves.

Akshardham

Its a temple! It's an amusment park! Its India's first imax! Its the site of a 2002 terrorist attack! It's... Akshardham!

It's a holy place for the order of BAPS movement, an order of Hinduism (sort of) that follows a spirtual leader Yogi that lived in the early 1800s. They respect divinity in all religions.

I know because I saw several movies about it.

The place is sort of like disney land because you move in order from museum type exhibition to epic movie to simulated experience sort of diaoramas with wax models and effects like rain and moving walk ways and music.

the place exhibits the divinity of india, so it says, and it sort of does but it was distracting to us as well because it also was so intensley bizzare at some points. it tells stories of some hindu epics emphaizing the otherworldly creatures involved. picture Ram's monkey army, complete with side effects and lighting, placed in wax models in a simulated cave.

it was intresting, but also extremely disorienting. we were there for 4 hours after we got off the train but we could have been there 4 days.

Saturday we got up and went to a cool temple in the city. Then we went to Gandhi's Ashram. Its a very well done museum (the first ive seen in India). They also have a library and a reading room.

Outside they have a big open area, which is the best part. Its not in a great part of town, right next to the river, but it opens itself up for kids to play on it and they provide a few things like balls and badmitton nets for them.

Therefore it is packed with kids, aged about 6-12 playing all sort of games. they wanted us to play and so we did. they then discovered that we had cameras and made us take lots of pictures of them because they like seeing them on the digital displays from the back. they were very cute.

later we went to dinner at a traditional gujrarti place. we ate our dinner off banana leafs sitting on the ground. it was great! no utensils and we didn't even notice. thats how you know youve been in india a while.

there was a puppet show later. a puppet show you say? indeed. and it was really funny.

also they had music. tablas and harmoniums and cymbals. awesome. we danced in a circle after the sun went down and ate pistacio ice cream.

Sunday we got a late start. Hung out around the house and watched Ishani's family cook. later went shopping.

went out to dinner at a really weird place with great american achievements decorating the menu. in case you are wondering these are: charlie chaplin, marilyn monore, jazz, martin luther king, the moon landing, and muhammad ali. they served mexican food. seriously.

Monday I took my turn losing the health game.

Almost everyone has been moderately sick at some point. I had got away with minor ailments until that morning. i woke up dizzy, nauseous, and fevered. word of my demise spread quickly and the family made their inspection of me within minutes of getting up.

i maintain that if the determination of my progonsis had waited half an hour id have got away with sleeping all day, but as it were those were the worst 10 mintues of the ordeal and i taken to the doctor straight away.

the doctors office was gray tiled with precious moments calandar pictures on the wall. i sat on a bar stool while ishani's mom translated my symptoms into gujarati. the doctor, who wore a "USA" golf shirt and no shoes looked and me, frowed, and said "pale", one of his few english words. indeed i was.

the whole meeting took about 6 mintues. then i was shown the solution to my problems. there were 12 pills wrapped up in a piece of old newspaper. 5 for now, 5 for after lunch, 2 before bed and the same thing tomorrow.

now what were these pills? their dosages? did he ask about allergies or medical history? other medications? nope.

back at the house i was made to swallow a metal dish of seeds and salt for some unknown reason. then 5 pills with a little cup of chai. then i fell asleep.

when i woke up i realized i hadn't told him about my malaria pills. nor did i have any idea at all what i was putting in my body. i took the rest of the days dosage, but haven't taken todays.

im feeling much better. im going to take it easy this week and this weekend too.

so another week in hyderabad and time to get more serious about classes.

this weekend, Mumbai again? We were only there for a few hours. Or else stay here, do school work and Hyderabad stuff in our last weekend before the trip and save money and possibly health? remains to be seen.

American Idiots?

Happy 4th of July!

Well, I never thought i'd be that kid, but last night we were.

The American SIP students spent several thousand rupees on beer and liquor and fireworks and showed India and the European international students what the 4th of July is all about with a party on the roof.

Some highlights:

1. We had an all-american playlist going for our music. when one of the europeans pointed out that ACDC was australian everyone immediately shouted that they be banned from the playlist until midnight.

2. The fireworks we bought were huge and obviously would have been illegal at home. We lit them off on the roof of the guest house.

3. Kevin smashed a bottle of port when the coal from the hooka fell on his foot. This is indicitive of the state of the roof at the end of the night.

4. The guest house staff made us a "picnic" in honor of the holiday. There were tuna-esque chicken sandwhiches and fries. It was nice of them, but clearly not anything like we're used to. We toasted them.

5. We had a cake bought for us at a European bakery in India by a Canadan. We lit candels on it and screamed the star spangled banner. At the end the boys set off a couple of the really big fire works im sure you could see all over campus.

And Green Day sings:

"Welcome to a new kind of tension
All across the idiot nation
Everything isn't meant to be ok
Television dreams of tomorrow
We Aren't the one's who're meant to follow
Well thats enough to argue"


I'm not sure how I feel about all this. At the time I thought that setting off fireworks and screaming patriotic songs and drinking and causing a general rucus was a great idea. Today I'm not so sure. Are we becoming less ethno-centeric or more? The answer isn't clear.

I'm begining to think some of my ideas about global politics are actually overly ethnocenteric because I tend to blame us for a lot of the world's problems. We are a part of it certinally, but in the midst of the developing world i feel more compelled then ever to celebrate the 4th of july.


Anyway;


Tonight we are flying to Mumbai and then taking a train to Ishani Patel's house in Gujarat. She grew up there and moved to the states with her family a few years ago. Now she goes to Pitt. We're going to stay at their house for most of the weekend, but we might go to the arabian sea one night. We'll be back in Hyderabad on Monday evening in time for class Tuesday afternoon.

T.I.I. (This Is India)

halfway done with the Hyderabad portion of the trip.


this weekend we hung around Andra Pradesh (the state Hyderabad is in). Friday we took a trip south for the day.


We saw two forts that were both situtated on huge rocks. I've decided that perhaps I was a native Indian soilder in a past life because I LOVE the forts. All of them are really high up and so they are peaceful and natural. At the one this weekend there were goats everywhere. They are huge and magestic and wonderful. I can't wait to go back to Golconda.


The temples we went to were intresting. We went to a Jain temple that was mind blowingly beautiful. it was filled with designs all in cut colored marble. i wish we'd been able to take pictures inside.


other than that we spent our time in the city of Hyderabad.


we saw "Jhoom Baraba Jhoom" which is the current Indian blockbuster. It's mostly in Hindi, but that doesn't matter because its easy to see whats going on. It's not focused on the dialouge to say the least.


the best thing i can say about Indian movies is that they are robot chicken without knowing that they are robot chicken. one moment two lovers are talking in a train station... then suddenly all the people around (suspiciously white people) begin dancing. the train conductor is for some reason wearing a huge afro wig. then in the next shot the man is riding in a side car of a motor cycle dressed as a prussian soilder. he is going to her parents house. then, suddnely, cut to an old man selling cars in India. he says a few words and everyone laughs hysterically and screams. (im told later its because of a poster in the background)

the theaters are bigger here then any ive ever seen. its pretty epic when whole city blocks start dancing.

this weekend we are are going north, to one of the girls houses. this girl goes to pitt, but was orn and raised in India. her parents are back at the house she grew up in for the summer. I'm looking forward to the trip and to staying with her family. I'm not looking forward to the 6 hour train ride we need to take after we fly to Mumbai. O well I'm sure it will be fine. could be longer.

I got an Indian battery charger so we're back in business with my camera. I'll be taking my own pictures again!

Chennai! (Or, adventures in sandstone, french traffic law, and the "Hindu Yes")

This weekend we (kevin, kelly and I) went to the city of Chennai (formerly Madras) the hometown of our Prof. Gajanan.

We flew. The Indian domestic flight experience is...well it makes you thankfull forhome.

The first two nights we stayed in a pretty cool hotel. The best part about it was that it was next to the super-expensive Sheraton. We went over there for dinner. It's all marble, and was the first time since ive been in India that I felt schleppy. We asked the receptionist about the restaurants.

"Well, we have two restaurants. The one on the first floor is Chinese and its very good, but the one on the second floor is the best restaurant in the world, so I guess you should go there."

Um Alright..

The "best restaurant in the world" was indeed something, but because it had prices to reflect its status we went with the Chinese place, which was very good. except i ate a green chili which was so hot it made my ears burn. who ever heard of that? the waiter brought me something made with yogurt and beans and that was much better.

That first day we went around with Gaj. Saw his old stomping grounds and what have you. The best part was the coffee.

What can I say about the coffee? It was the best coffee I ever had in my life. I didn't even know coffee could be that good. But there it was, coffee from the heavens. I must learn to make it!

We did a lot of shopping that day. Gaj took us to a place that his friend owned and they gave us a discount. Got some sweet stuff.

Then we went over to the big mall. We've been to places before that think they are malls but this place actually was. Had lunch with Gaj's family, his wife, 14-year-old daughter, and 10-year-old son. Then Mrs. Gaj took me shopping for Indian clothes and I did quite well.

Later we went back to Gaj's father's house. He is a lawyer so it was pretty nice. We did the tour and had some tea. We took Manu, the 10-year-old, on the roof which he was really excited about.

Then Gaj took Kevin shopping and he got a killer suit. Meanwhile Mrs. Gaj, Kelly and I went around in the market and Mrs. Gaj told us about the produce and what things are and what they are called etc. We saw them making great big flower chains.

The next day we (kevin, kelly and i, the Gajs stayed in Chennai) woke up early and got a driver to take us to Ponicherry, which is a former french colony down the coast.

On the way we stopped at Auroville, which is a "utopia" filled with western ex-pats trying to live in harmony with the divine. its super weird. They have a giant golden epcot ball for meditation. no one marries and no one with aids is allowed in... draw your own conclusions.

best quote, kelly; "We need to look for Amelia Earhart here"

Pondicherry is weird because it looks like France if India invaded.

We had a frustrating afternoon which involved our driver being detained for nearly killing two police officers by speeding and swerving and generally not listening to direction.

Here is where I will explain the "Hindu Yes" which is something we are constantly dealing with but specifically effected us this weekend..

Ask a question to someone, a driver, a hotel worker, a receptionist, someone on the street a yes or no question such as "do you know where this restaurant is?", "if we drop off laundry now, can we have it by tomorrow?", "can i use this atm?", "do you know where the post office is?"

they will wiggle their heads (think ear to shoulder) and say "yes" or "ok" and then walk away quickly if they can.

what that actually means is "i have no idea what you just said" or "probably not"

this causes problems.

especially with drivers. the public transportation here is difficult to navigate and frightening, so we take a lot of rickshaws and cars. when you ask someone to take you somewhere and they say they know where it is, then drive for about 10 minutes and start asking people it gets pretty frustrating.

that night in pondicherry after a series of frustrations we had dinner at a nice french restaurant filled with ex-pats. after some good food and french wine we were happy campers.

sunday we went to Mahalibalipuram, which is a set of sandstone sculptures from 500ad. they are pretty cool and show the port- cosmopolitan status of the town.

however, it draws a lot of indian tourists. some of whom, young men, had apparently never seen american women before and they followed us around like horny puppies. we hired a guide who was very informative but not helpful in shooing off our trail. the fact that it was 105 wasn't helping our patience with the situation.

after that we went to the beach for a while, then decided to skip everything else and go back to Chennai and catch up with the Gajs.

On the way back we put Sargent Pepper's in the car's CD player. On hearing "I get by with a little help" the driver said:

"This music is prayer?"
we laughed and said no.
"Church? This music is for Christ?"
"No," I said, "This is for John Lennon"

he was subsequently shocked by the rooster in "Good Morning".

Now we're back in Hyderabad. I don't think we're going to go anywhere this weekend, we'll hang around here and try to take in some more local sites.

Email me!

Taste the Thunder!

Coke isn't omnipresent here, but "Thums(sic) Up!" is. Its a cola drink and i know its spelled wrong. its advertising slogan is "taste the thunder!" and we say that all the time.

BAR ADVENTURES: (rated PG)

Friday night:

we went to a bar called "liquid". it was super weird. its in the ritzy neighborhood. its on the top floor of a tall building and the walls are all glass so it has a cool view. its a dance club, well its sort of an imitation of a dance club. they play really loud hip hop. there were a bunch of old white dudes there on business and its like look, if we wouldnt dance with you in pittsburgh we aren't going to dance with you just because we're in india. expensive drinks.

Saturday Morning:

we went to Charminar, which is the "Arc de Triumph of the East". Well its beautiful. It's four big turrets in the Muslim part of town, in old city. its surrounded by Mosques and by the Lad Bazaar which sells everything, but mostly bangels. i bought what is clearly a plastic necklack from a persistant little boy for 50 rps. its pretty. the languages change depending on where you are in the city. out by campus in the more rural areas its telegu. it town its hindi and english. in old city its arabic.

later we went to the state museum. it was alright... they had some very pretty stuff but frankly so do the streets. nothing was labeled. the most intresting part was that it was dedicated to the Mughal Kings, who subjugated the Nizham Kings of Golgonda Ft, who subjugated the Telegu people. All before they were subjugated by the British, of course.

next was Golconda Ft. Its a huge place, several miles surrounded by big stone walls. its been a for since before 900, but was home to the Kings of various varieties from about 1100 to 1600. Its a huge place, with palaces and mosques and guard stations. the stories about the place include great romances, coups, battles, and reigns of glory. it was home to poets and dancers and courts and hyderabad only came into being after the fort got too crowded. its an incredible place with layers upon layers of history.

we were there at sunset when the call to prayer came out from the mosques. it was amazing.

today, we went to a book store and then to a tea and hooka place. it was fun, but feels a little imperial..

now we've emerged from the begining when we jumped in without knowing what we were doing and found outselves on the dangerous, chaotic, poverty filled streets that were terrifying and and found the the air conditioned behind gate places that are easy. now it has to be our goal to find a medium, a vein where we can experience india as indians experience it, but also in a way that we can process it and feel at least mostly safe.

another week of school to follow! then we're leaving town! write me!

first weekend

http://pitt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060751&l=d75cb&id=7410651

there, you can see all my pictures.

some facts about india you

may not be aware of:

1. here in hyderabad everyone speaks telegu and little english, yet all the signs and advertisments are in english

2. the power goes out all the time. american groan, but the indians dont seem to mind.

3. the way you navigate traffic is to honk your horn. our bikes have sweet bells on them that we use to torture each other.

4. cant get any chocolate. the only kind the sell is melted and weird and tastes funny.

5. they have giant snakes here. they will straight up eat you.

6. paris hilton is on the goddamn tv here. swear to god.

7. mustaches are in among indian men. all kinds of mustaches.

8. everyone is wild about this kind of board/billards game. we have dubbed it "flick the wood checkers in the nets with the plastic thing".

9. 8 PM Indian whiskey costs $2 for a reason.