Newsbites

This is going to be quick because I have to head home in the next twenty minutes. So whatever I can write in that time is what you're going to get. : )

Okay. First things first, there's not a Norwegian staying in our house, he's actually a Dane (from Copenhagen, and my family calls him "the Dane" which I think is hilarious).

Now, adventures: we have a five day weekend coming up and I'm going to Maharashtra with three friends!! I am soooo excited. We're going to be staying in this small fishing village on the coast. Yes. I am going to the beach. HOORAYYY!!! At this village we'll be staying in these huts on the beach and there's apparantly some abandoned fort in the ocean that we can take boats to and explore, and swim in the Indian Ocean (yay for the Indian Ocean!!), and swing on hammocks in between palm trees, and such. Yay. I'm ready for a break : )

We went to see a Bollywood movie! It's called Guru, and it was great, completely in Hindi with no subtitles but I was sitting next to my language tutor who explaned everything I didn't understand. Also, first Hindi quiz today, and when I was writing out words in the script I felt very accomplished that I can write things like "today" and "morning" in Hindi. Haha lets just hope I wrote them out correctly...

Mishaps: There's an auto-rickshaw strike in the city today, I'm not sure why, but there is. Our campus is slightly outside the city area so I've seen a few on the roads, but not many. The buses are PACKED. Getting home is going to be interesting, to say the least. On the buses, the way it works is the women sit in the front and the men sit or stand in the back. If a women gets on and there's no room to sit, if a man has a seat, he'll get up and give his seat to her. I wish it worked that way on the subways in New York.

The weather is heating up quite quickly, it's hottest between the hours of 12 and 2...not humid wise, just temperature wise, and the sun is pretty intense. The hotter it gets the less Western clothing I'll be wearing. Salwars, Kurtas, etc. are much cooler than pants and shirts. And much more colourful, which is always a good thing : ).

I think I'm actually going to head home now, because I want to catch a bus before the end of day rush home begins. Namaste, everyone!

The Taj Mahal and The Ramanans

Yesterday I officially moved in with my host family! (As opposed to unofficially, of course). I am living about a 15 minute auto-rickshaw ride from the University with Brittany, another girl from my program. Our family seems really nice thus far, and as they have said themselves many times, a bit crazy, which of course makes me feel right at home ; ). We are sharing a house with our host families, Mr. and Mrs. Ramanan, their daughter Somnia, their son Baharat (I think that's how you spell his name) and his girlfriend, Mr. Ramanan's father and mother, Mrs. Ramanan's father, and two other guests, on an MPhil student at our school and the other a Norwegian friend. Along with 2 servants, a dog, and various other guests that filter in and out every day (the latest feature is their "Spanish friends" who arrived last night). In other words, the house is constantly bustling with a flurry of activity and people. Also, because of the visitors, Brittany and I are continuously plied with various foods and drinks, none of which I mind, of course, haha.

We moved in at the perfect time for sampling amazing Indian desserts as well, because today marks the first day of the Pongal Festival, essentially a harvest festival that marks the throwing away of old things and the begining of new things. Last night our host parents visited the temple of their family god (I think it's Ganesh, the Indian god with the elephant head) and had him decorated with butter and fruits as an offering, I think. Today we had various symbolic desserts with lunch, and promises of more with dinner, yayy!! Tomorrow is a holiday off from school, and hopefully there will be even more festivities (and sweets!).

But back to the Taj Mahal. As I mentioned in my earlier email, it was amazing to be there but a little strange in the light of our previous accident. When we got off the bus at the Taj (Indians call it the "Taj," which I feel very cool saying as it sounds like a nickname for a close friend--ie, "the Taj and I," haha) I was still a little depressed from the accident, but cheered up when I overheard two ladies waiting in the line ahead of me speaking in Italian. What a great chance to practice! I tapped the nearest one on the shoulder and asked, "Scusi, di dove sei?" which means, as you probably guessed "excuse me, where are you from?." They responded "Milano" or Milan, and then we talked for a short while in line. (All in Italian, hooray, my Italian was better than I thought!!) While we were waiting I noticed they were unaware that some items are prohibited when entering the Taj, such as mobiles, water bottles unless they're the Taj officially issued water bottles, and any food. So I got to act as interpreter for them when they approached the entrance, which made me feel quite important. Once inside, we parted ways, and I walked past the gate to finally see, right in front of me, the TAJ MAHAL. (you can't really see it until you get inside the outer wall area, as some say, it's like a "hidden jewel").

Maybe I said this before, but it doesn't hurt to say it again: there is absolutely no way to convey the grandeur of these structures through pictures. It was overwhelming. There are grounds like parks surrounding it, two symmetrical mosques on either sides, minarets, well, I'm sure you've seen pictures. But if you haven't (and even if you have, I guess) here are some of my own to enjoy!

My orientation roommate, Allyson, and I on the way to the Taj!!! We had to park the bus some distance from it because they wouldn't allow large vehicles up close. Our whole group took these, auto-rickshaws, from the bus to the Taj. Incidentally, Allyson is from Croton-Harmon, a town about 15-20 minutes from where I live. Her mom taught my older sister Ruth, in middle school! How crazy is that??! Haha it's a small world...





The grounds inside the Taj Mahal.


Above right: the gateway outside the Taj.

Above right: and here is the stereotypical Taj Mahal picture, taken at a slant and slightly out of focus because I was trying to avoid all of the people in front of me.

to the left: me + the Taj Mahal!!! What I am wearing is called a "salwar kameez," it's basically a long tunic top worn over VERY COMFORTABLE pants-of-sorts. We call them "Jasmine pants" because they sort of look like the pants Jasmine wears in Aladdin, haha. As far as I can tell from observation, more younger girls wear the salwar kameez whereas older women seem to wear saris. I have not yet attempted to wear (or buy) a sari, as the wrapping technique seems rather complicated. However, my host mom said something today about Brittany and I getting some, so we shall see : ).


And even more Taj. It's illegal tow wear shoes outside the Taj, so here's a pile of shoes, and my feet, shoeless!!! I've actually got to go now, so I'll post more pictures in a "pictures-only post," sometime later!!! (Stay tuned...)

Persian Pistachios and FabIndia

These pictures are all from the Qutub Minar, the tallest minarete in the world, I believe. On the left is the whole Qutub, to the right of that photo is some detail from the Minaret. Behind the Qutub is the Quwwat Al-Islam Mosque, which is what the the other pictures are from. It was the first Mosque built in Delhi after the Islams conquered India. Did you know that Delhi has the second most monuments of any city in the world?






But to back it up a little bit: On my way to India, I had an eleven hour layover in Heathrow, the international airport in London. Originally, I had wanted to try to venture out into London, however my family *cough* my parents persuaded me to stay in the airport. Admittedly, I wasn't feeling too adventurous when I did finally reach London, I just wanted to find a nice bench to sleep on. Thankfully my luggage had been checked all the way to Delhi, so I only had my backpack and laptop to worry about. Heathrow is a very nice airport if you are not going to be there for eleven hours and you are not trying to find a place to sleep. I ended up moving from lounge to lounge (there was no secluded benched area like in Singapore last summer) and sleeping for maybe 30 minutes at a time in each one...it wasn't fun.

At one of the last lounges, about three hours before my plane came in, I sat down to sleep and shortly afterwards was joined by an older man who looked to be around sixty or seventy, and appeared to be Middle Eastern. After he sat down, he started shuffling through some papers in his briefcase, and as he was looking through them accidentally dropped a whole sheaf of them. I bent down to pick them up for him because his hands were full, and he thanked me profusely. Five minutes later, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a Ziploc bag of pistachios, which to my surprise, he offered to share with me! He said that they were excellent Persian pistachios from Tehran. I tried some, and they were as good as he said. They were spicier than the kind that's normally sold in the states, and they were also lighter in colour. Anyways, so we shared the pistachios for awhile, and then when his plane came he offered me to take more because he said he was going to Tehran and would be able to get much more there. Those pistachios were the best thing I ate in Heathrow the whole day. If I were to judge English cuisine from their airport food, my report would not be favourable, haha.

Now on to the rest of my sights in India: This is Humayun's Tomb, the precurser to the Taj Mahal. Can you see the similarities? Our guide for this day was an amazing professor who knew more than I could ever hope to learn in four lifetimes. She told us everything from the significance of the trees on the grounds around this tomb to the bricks that are on the walkways leading up to it. This picture is us climbing up the staircase into the tomb. These stairs were not half as steep as the ones I had to climb to get up Angkor Wat, haha.

There is no way to convey the grandeur of of these tombs, even with pictures. It's just one of those things you have to see for yourself. The following pictures are more details from the tomb, although what looks like a marble coffin is not in fact where Humayun was buried: his remains are in the ground. You can look down this open grate in the floor to see where he was actually buried. I forget why the Mughal's buried their dead in the ground now; google it if you want to know, haha. Anyways. So I think I'm done with pictures for the day, uploading them takes FOREVER. The Taj Mahal and FabIndia will have to come sometime later....stay tuned!! ; )

Anna