If it's worth a dream, it's not worth a compromise

I've just returned from our weekend away at Bangalore! Which actually turned out to be a weekend at Mysore (where we stayed) with excursions into Bangalore and other cities. For those who are world conscious, we couldn't do much in Bangalore because of the water protests/riots that have been happening for the past month or two. Short briefing on the background to the riots here.

This weekend turned out to be...prepare yourself for my favorite overused word...amazing. I just tried to spell favorite with a "u" and the blogger wouldn't let me. Anyways. We had a great tour guide who was an art historian and as it turns out actually did her MPhil and PhD at Columbia!! One of her thesis reviewers was the husband of one of my profs last year, and I had read his book for class. So we had some great conversations about NYC and Morningside Heights that made me realize how much I miss Columbia and everyone there.

This weekend also turned out to be one in which I did a lot of writing. Partially because I am reading Orhan Pamuk's Snow, which just won the Nobel Prize in Literature where the main character, Ka, is a poet. In my humble, not-so-widely read opinion, his writing (Pamuk's, not Ka's) is brilliant. Let me quote the New York Times Review when I say "[Pamuk is] narrating his country into being." My roommate Brittany and I have a running joke on the NY Times book reviews. They seem to be excellent at producing these vague, grandiose statements which somehow manage to tell you nothing whatsoever about the book itself. My personal favorite, and a classic, is their review on the front of James McBride's The Color of Water "[A] triumph." I love that "A" is in brackets. They also specialize in brackets.

Anyways, so this was one quote which I found to be particularly insightful in Pamuk's novel, which I also copied into my journal:

"You're deceiving yourself! Even if you did believe in God, it would make no sense to believe alone. You'd have to believe in him the same way the poor do; you'd have to become one of them. It's only by eating what they eat, living where they live, laughing at the same jokes, and getting angry whenever they do that you can believe in their God. If you're leading an utterly different life, you can't be worshiping the same God they are. God is fair enough to know it's not a question of logic or reason but how you live your life." (Pamuk 204)

I'm not sure that I agree with it, but I'm turning it around in my mind as "food for thought." On the same note, the title of this entry is something that was painted on the side of a building we passed in our bus on the way to Mysore. Yet another thing I am turning around in my mind.

I think I'll have to post about what I actually saw in Bangalore in a later entry. I still have writing on the mind. And speaking of writing, I have decided to post the first poem I've written in India, about India. Not that I wrote other poems outside of India about India, but this is the first one that I wrote here about here....okay you get the idea. It's still in revision mode, but it's been sent to the CIEE newsletter, the Hyd Times for publishing. The editor has lavish cutting and slashing rights, of course, but only because he's a friend of my friend. ; ) It's centered/inspired both on the concept of circular (as opposed to linear) time that exists in India, as well as many of the visual/sensory experiences I've had here thus far. Here goes:

Familiar

I never travelled here,

I was reborn the moment my feet

touched dusty earth,

stamping the beat of an unknown drum

to unknown steps.

Nothing, everything’s new

under this Indian sun,

deja-vu in the best

and the worst sense:

Time flows with the sweat that rolls

down so many different skins,

speaks through the tongues that curl

around a thousand different scripts,

hangs with the human smells that tang

burning summer air.

Night skies reveal stars I’ve seen before,

but the streets that shimmer

beneath their light are unfamiliar.

Still, somehow I find my way home.

Copyright Anna Hunt 2007

Hoo! Ha! India!! HOO HAA INDIA!!!!

The title to this post is from the cheer that is now in 95% of the commericals on television, because the ICC World Cup has just started. The ICC World Cup is the world cup for cricket. It just started this past week, and the games have dominated our television at home ever since. Although I must say, it's pretty interesting to watch, in fact, I might be turning into a cricket fan/addict For the uninitiated, the ICC is being hosted in the West Indies this year, which means that even though I'm in India, 85% of me is rooting for the WI team. (Jamaica, anyone?) Don't tell my host family, though. ; )

Sooo....I'm going to blame my lack of blog postage on the horrible internet that's been happening for the past two weeks. Actually they had to replace the internet box (that's what I'm going to call it because I don't know the real name) and it just started working again yesterday. Apologies for the many backed up emails I haven't replied to yet, I'll be getting to them soon.

Coming up, in the Times of Anna (knock-off of a newspaper here called the Times of India) is a trip to Bangalore this weekend. Actually, it's Bangalore, Mysore, Shravanabelagola, Melukote, Somnathpure, and Sriangapattana. Don't ask me what all those places are, I don't know, hopefully I will by Tuesday, which is when we return. One of the best parts about this trip, or rather, our tranportation there, is that CIEE has decided to fly us!! Hurrah!! Unfortunately, that also means we're leaving at 4 am Saturday, which is in 4 hours. So much for sleep!

Previously, in the Times of Anna, last weekend was the festival of Holi. Holi is an Indian holiday that involves eating sweets and ambushing your friends by yelling while dumping coloured paint and powder on them. (With the occasional raw egg thrown in for variety). It is great fun!! Included is a photo, thanks to a fellow CIEE-er, of the aftermath of Holi. L-R me, my host sister Sowmya, my host-brother's girlfriend Shriya, and my roommate/fellow CIEE-er/dost(friend in Hindi)/sister Brittany Jordan. I think Brittany is pretty awesome, in case you couldn't tell.

The snap at the top of this entry is a picture of me from my last trip at Hampi (thanks to Britt), or as I like to call it, me falling in love with India.

I should probably go now, because even though I have only four hours to sleep, I should probably take advantage of those four hours. Last bits of updates are that I am now travelling for three weeks in India, then flying to London, visiting a friend there for ten days, and then coming home. Travel plans will be elaborated on in my next blog. But one of the best parts (again, involving transportation) is that in moving my special student ticket with a fee of only $25 for a date change--yes, I realize how amazing that is--I was bumped up to middle class for an additional fee of only $50!!! WHOO-HOO!!! Buisiness class from Delhi to London should be BEAUTIFUL. I might not sleep just so I can order special food and watch special movies and stretch my legs in all of the extra leg room I shall have. Okay. I'm off to get 3 hours and 45 minutes of sleep now.

I can't think of a creative title so this will have to do

This is my fourth or fifth attempt to post since coming back from Hampi. The internet has been pretty spotty this week, it usually cuts out right when I'm about to save a document or send an email or upload some pictures...and then everything gets lost. The internet-man has a cruel sense of humour. Still, I'll try again...

The most exciting news of late is that I now have a volunteer position with an NGO near Hyderabad!! Let me explain how this happened. Last Monday (before Hampi) I had an appointment with the Concern India Foundation, an NGO that funds other NGOs around India. I found CIF before I left America, when I was searching for Hyderabadi NGOs online. I called them a few weeks ago and took an appointment, and it was through them that I was connected with one of their beneficiaries near Hyderabad in Kukatpally, the CHORD project.

Chord is a school for children taken out of child labour, slum children, and destitute children. This Monday I went and met with the director, a very inspiring man who single-handedly started the project (there are now four schools throughout Andhra Pradesh). As we were speaking, he expressed his heart for the children, and he explained that he directs the schools completely on his own, for no payment, while supporting his own family.

Because my Telagu is EXTREMELY limited (note: non-existent: I know how to say, "hello" "come with me" "a little bit" and "enough") I can't really help out in the classrooms so much. However, what they need right now is someone to help them with the letters they send to foreign donors and grant organizations to get funding. I was more than happy to agree. I will get to interact with the kids some, too. Next Thursday I'm going back to basically sit in on some classes, play with the kids, and do a little internet research in their office.

Here's the truly incredible part: after the director expressed their needs, he said if I would help them he would give me a job for the rest of my life there. !!!! Not only that, but while I work with them they're going to pay my transportation!! I tried to turn him down, saying that I wasn't expecting any payment. But he said that he understood I was a student and things were tight, so I should at least let him make a timetable for the time I spent with them, that would cover my transportation.

So after writing all this of course I have to give you the website. Here it is. If you are at all interested in sponsoring a child, please do so. It's only $30 a year for one child's education and support. : )

My weekend at Hampi was perfect, marred only by the occasional person trying to rip us off, accidental fall into the river, and sketchy 8:00 pm walk through a dark banana grove. I'll start with the banana grove: on tour book and local recommendation, our first night in Hampi Brittany, Ilana, Pareen and I decided to eat at this restaurant called The Mango Tree. When Pareen was reading us the description of the food in the Lonely Planet guide to India, she quoted them as saying, "Even the walk is delicious!" However, by the time we returned from our temple excursions and set off for dinner it was already dark. We didn't think this would be a problem because our hostel was right in the center of all the shops and restaurants, but this particular eatery was quite a walk, as we soon discovered. The Lonely Planet "delicious walk" quote was repeated sarcastically several times as we gingerly picked our way through a dark abandoned street, a wood, and then finally a banana grove. Thankfully, we arrived safely and the food was worth the walk.

My slip into the river occurred as our group set off to climb to the Hanuman Temple in Hampi. Hanuman is the monkey god, and this temple was perched atop a high hill/mountain that was separated from main Hampi by a river. So, we asked a boatman to take us across in his boat, aka a large straw circular basin covered in tar. I fell into the river just as I was carefully climbing into this boat, explaining to my friends how, in order to safely climb into a boat without falling, one should keep one's weight low and centered...pride does indeed come before a fall.

Despite this early blow to my pride, I insisted on trying to "row" us down the river, even though we were paying the boatman a very nice price to row us there himself. I say "row" because my paddling attempts merely resulted in spinning our basin in circles, giving the boatman/guide a good laugh and my friends queasy stomachs. Anyways. We eventually made it down the river, alighting at an extensive banana grove (our weekend was full of banana groves) which our guide led us safely through, then some more fields, and finally to the base of the mountain, which was looking less and less climbable the closer we got. However, we made it up the 600-odd steps, (pausing every few feet to admire the AMAZING views) to the temple, where we had a nice chai break chilling with the swamis in the temple, before climbing down again.

There were many other adventures in Hampi but the internet is still working and I don't want to push my luck, so I'll only include this last bit of news: I'm now training to run the NYC Marathon this fall! Some of you may know that last year, with two of my friends, I ran the Queens half-marathon. Anyways, one of these friends sent me an email with information on an organization that raises money for cancer research, which we could run for in the NYC Marathon. We were both very interested in this, because my grandmother passed away about three and a half weeks from cancer, and my friend lost also her grandmother to cancer last year.
So, we've decided to run! I'm looking forward to starting training again, because I really enjoyed my long runs last spring, although running in Indian heat will certainly be a different experience. But there are a few runners in the program that I can run with, so at least I'll have company!

That's it for news, hopefully the internet co-operates when I try to post this!