Second Leg

So now I have started the second part of my India travels. Now I'm traveling with Richard, Tatiana, and Albert. It's a good group and we're all extremely cheap. Muahahhaa. Our first stop after Delhi was Varanasi. I love Varanasi. I remember last time when I went with Marla, Andrea, and Cat and we really enjoyed it. The city is just so full of life and all the little alleyways are so interesting and you never know what you're going to find.

We arrived and found a cheap hotel room. Yes, all four of us in one room. (I told you we were super cheap) We just walked around all day and then watched the arthi at night. After a terrible night of sleeping on a wooden board in between the two lankiest guys possible, I woke up at 5:30AM to watch the sunrise on the Ganga from a boat. It was kind of disgusting how many boats were floating on the river filled with tourists. I felt really awkward doing the same thing. I always complain about Indians staring at us, but I was really feeling bad for all the Indians who were trying to do puja and having a huge load of Japanese tourists float by taking pictures of them. It really was like they were animals in the zoo. We also went by a burning ghat and we could distinctly see the body in the pile of wood. We could also see the family standing there with the son with his shaved head. Again I felt like I was intruding upon something sacred.

After Varanasi...well it was an epic adventure. The train ride from Varanasi to Gaya was supposed to take four hours and then a one hour rickshaw ride to Bodh Gaya, so a total of five hours. Well, our train was at 1:00AM and we didn't have a hotel so we went early at 11PM because we had to check out of our hotel. We were exhausted from not really sleeping the night before and from waking up to see the sunrise, so we went outside the train station and slept on the pavement next to a pile of poo. Seriously, every time I come to India, I reach new depths of filth. Last time I stopped bathing and then dipped myself in the Ganga. This time I slept on the train station floor. Indians do it too, but they put something in between themselves and the ground. Even the sadhus, who are holy men and don't bathe often sleep on a cloth. We were disgusting and just laid out on the ground.

Anyways, our train was delayed for an hour...then two...then three...then five. Needless to say, we were found on the floor of the train station again. We played some charades to pass the time, but when we found out our train was delayed by five hours, our spirits were crushed and we just fell asleep in filth. We were able to see the sunrise for the second time in Varanasi. When our train finally arrived at 6AM, we hopped on and passed out. Our train ride was supposed to be four hours, but we didn't see our stop and we kept going...and going....until someone told us to get off and we found ourselves three hours away from our destination. We were tired, hungry, and extremely frustrated, but we persevered, ate some food, and got on yet another train. When we finally reached Gaya, and then our hotel in Bodh Gaya, it was like reaching heaven. Best shower and night of sleep in my life. The whole journey was supposed to take five hours and ended up taking 24.

Today we went to visit the Bodhi tree where Buddha attained enlightenment and other temples. It's very chill here and there aren't many tourists. A very nice rest from hectic India. Tomorrow we leave in the afternoon for Darjeeling. Hopefully the journey will be more direct than the last.

P.S. I shaved my head in Varanasi. It feels fantastic.

Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Oh My!

This past week has been crazy-traveling-week. I went to Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer in just seven days. Many nights were spent on buses and trains and now I am absolutely exhausted. It's so nice to be in Delhi again and just have a day to catch up on my laundry and not move for a whole day. I really think that Delhi has its own smell (no, it's not cow). I always get so nostalgic for my study abroad days when I'm in Delhi and smell the Delhi smell.

Udaipur was my first stop after Diu. It's a small city with a man made lake in the center and a bunch of palaces in and around the lake. The view from the rooftop restaurant of my guest house was just beautiful and there was a nice, soft breeze. I would just sit up there and look out on the lake for hours. You could see the palaces on one side an on the other would be the mountains and the sunset. There would be a crowd of color on the ghats by the lake as the women washed their clothes and you could hear the pounding of wet cloth. So peaceful there.

Vera joined me in Udaipur after one day and I was very glad. I was getting a bit bored of myself. From Udaipur we took a sleeper bus to Jodhpur. Sleeper buses sound like a good idea for an overnight trip because you can lay out and sleep, but really they're terrible. It took me 23 years to master sitting up in a moving vehicle and not getting sick, and all of a sudden lying down in a fast, jerky bus was a new challenge. It took all of my effort not to get sick. Not a very nice night, and I will try to avoid sleeper buses from now on. We only spent one day in Jodhpur, but I feel like we saw a lot of Jodhpur. We kind of got lost for an hour looking for the omlette shop only to find it closed, so we took a nap in the garden for an hour. The omlette man was worth the wait and he showed us EVERY picture of all the foreigners who ate there and sent him a picture. "This is me, a German girl, and some eggs." There were a lot. And then every postcard he ever got and then every newspaper article that was written about him. The fort itself was very impressive and I learned a lot from the audio tour. Apparently a hermit had cursed the fort because he was evicted from his hill, so one citizen offered to be sealed alive in the fort's foundation to counteract the curse. Kind of cool, mostly gruesome. In the afternoon we got lost in Jodhpur again and wandered around the streets. It was really pretty with tons of color.

That night we took an overnight train to Jaisalmer (yes, I told you it was a hectic week). We went straight into our camel safari. A boy we met in Udaipur, Ziggy, had arranged our camel safari and hotel and everything. I've been on a four hour camel ride before and I've slept in the desert for seven nights, so the safari wasn't that new to me. I really just wanted to see sand dunes. And although me butt was killing me, it was worth it. There was this family of white puppies that kept following us around. They were very sweet and it was kind of surreal to find them in the middle of the sand dunes away from everything. There was also a bunch of big dung beetles everywhere. They left cool little tracks behind them when they walked. The next day, I did NOT want to get on my camel. At one point, my camel turned his head around and rubbed his nose on my knee. I laughed because it tickled and because I was glad that our relationship had become so intimate that he felt he could wipe his camel boogers on my knee. Camels are very goofy animals and i do like them, but I am done with camel safaris. I don't think my butt will ever let me get on a camel again. I got attacked by my first cow in Jaisalmer! I was just walking along, sharing the road, when this cow passed by and kind of head butted me with its horn. Not cool man. It wasn't even like I was in it's way. It kind of had to go out of it's way to hit me. Jerk.

Whew! So that was my whirlwind trip through Rajasthan. I really enjoyed it. The only thing was that I was so tired by the end, I couldn't enjoy Jaisalmer properly, but oh well. After this brief stop in Delhi, I'll be traveling with friends to Varanasi, Bodh Gaya, Darjeeling, Sikkim and then off the Nepal! I think I will need another week in Nepal just to recuperate from all my traveling in India. I'm not as young as I used to be. ;0)

Indian Men

I hate Indian men. They are the worst. Just when I think I've found a place for myself and that I'm a full human being, an Indian man shows up to remind me of the opposite. Thanks, I really needed that reminder.

Seriously, when I'm in public and I just want to be, an Indian man has to come a ruin it for me. They make me want to puke. Everytime I see one, I throw up in my mouth a little. They're just so...nasty, sleazy, disrespectful. Becka and I were sitting in the park one day minding our own business. Usually, you would leave people alone, and had Becka and I been Indian women, the men would not have bothered us. But because we look different they kept trying to talk to us. I told him very nicely, "Please, we just want to be by ourselves. We don't want to talk to strangers right now. Please leave us alone." and then he keeps trying to talk to us while his friend pulls out a phone and tries to take a picture of Becka. "Don't take a picture of me." and he bends down and gets closer to get a picture right in her face.

Really, how much more obnoxious, rude and disrespectful can you get? Who do they think they are? What makes it ok in their tiny brains to completely disregard the wishes of another human being and intrude upon their time? It's not even like they weren't getting a hint. There was no hint. There was a very direct and clear message that they decided was irrelevant because it was coming from a foreign woman. And they can get so, so much worse than that.

And just when I want to hate them all forever, the father of the family that I'm staying with comes with me at 6:30AM to the bus station to buy me chai and wait for the bus with me. How can some of them be the most horrible creatures on earth and some of them be the sweetest human beings ever?

Diu

Diu is an island and a former Portuguese colony, so people speak Portuguese and cook Portuguese food. Do I really need to mention that I stuffed myself silly while I was there? It's a very small island and it's not that touristy. The first night I got there, I stayed in a church. It was cool because I could climb up to the roof and just look out onto the town. It was really nice. The next day I had breakfast at a little restaurant run by a family. They asked if I wanted to rent their one room that they had, and as soon as I saw the room, I took it. It was the best room on the island and the best room I have ever stayed in India, ever. It was spotless clean with a bathroom and a hotwater heater. It was more a home than a hotel room. I was so happy that I got it.

There's actually not much to do in Diu. There's one fort and then some beaches. I really only went for the food and the beach, so I headed to the beach after breakfast. I was really craving the beach and the ocean and I actually went swimming! It wasn't that nice because the water's kind of gross and there were rocks on the bottom, but just the fact that I got to go swimming was enough for me. After the beach I just went wandering through the streets of Diu. It's such a small town I can walk everywhere and it's all very safe. Diu is not India and it was nice to escape for a couple days. Dinner was really fun that night. I ate with a Korean girl, an English guy, and a French couple. The French couple were hilarious and I think at one point I was crying because I was laughing so hard. They were really cool.

Dinner was really good the first night, but it was nothing compared to the second night. The family that I was staying with holds a dinner every other night and you have to book in advance. They only let 16 people come at a time and the mother cooks for you and boy does she know how to cook. It's so amazing to have homecooked food after restaurants for six months. There were mashed potatoes, prawns in coconut sauce, fish in sweet and sour sauce...oh man the list goes on and on. There wasn't enough room on the table for all the dishes. I was SO happy. I love food.

Palitana

For the past three days I've been traveling in Gujarat by myself. It's actually been really nice to be on my own. I can do exactly what I want, whenever I want. If an idea pops into my head, I don't need to ask anyone if they feel the same way or if I get bored, I can just up and leave whenever. And since I don't have to wait for someone else to get ready or to take a shower, I'm way more efficient and get so much more done.

The first place I stopped was Palitana. I had to wake up at 6:00AM to climb the hill before the sun rose and it got too hot. The Lonely Planet said the climb would take an hour and a half. I did it in an hour and fifteen minutes. I am such a rock star. At the top of the hill is like this city of jain temples and the view is beautiful. Really, they're all gorgeous and absolutely amazing. There are tons of them, so you can just spend all your time exploring in and out of all the different temples and peaceful spaces. I went through the entrance where there weren't so many people, and it was so nice to be away from the crowds and just be on my own.

One of the priests stopped me and started speaking to me in Hindi. All I understood was "theen sau pachas" which means 350, and by the tone of his voice I was supposed to be impressed, so I was like, "theen sau pachas!!??" without knowing what I was being impressed by. He motioned me to the corner of one of the courtyards and unlocked a small door. Inside was this small circular room and there were (I'm guessing at the number) 350 little idols. It was really cool and he gave me an incense stick and I was able to do puja to all 350 of them. At the main temples there were more people, but because there were so many different little temples to go exploring in, it was really easy to find a space for myself. It was a really fun morning.

HOLI!!!

Well, my last weekend in Baroda was super exciting. First, we threw The Biggest Greatest Party Eva in the History of the World. That was the official title. We rented out a farmhouse that had a pool! Needless to say, I was thrown into the pool. Many crazy things went on that night: fireworks, Bosses strangling restaurant owners, broken teeth, and a possible leg amputation. No, I'm not joking. Cameras and lives were ruined that night. Very dramatic.

This past weekend was also the festival of Holi! It's only the best festival in India! I have been looking forward to it ever since I last left India. It's a day when everyone has these brilliantly colored powders and you just stuff them in each others' hair and faces. In the end, you look like a clown gone wrong. It's so much fun! We were all a bit subdued from the party the night before, but we took a nice walk through the park and amassed a huge crowd of Indians watching the crazy foreigners trying to celebrate Holi. We literally had about 40 Indians following us through the park. We all looked terrible, but we had fun, so it was cool.

It was sad to leave Baroda. I was very sad the night before I left. We all had dinner together and then went to Piyush's for chai and general hanging out. I will miss our random nights of just hanging out... But yes, that last weekend was a great way to end my time in Baroda. Bye Baroda! Thanks for all the great times!

Kids

Last Sunday was a very sad day for me. I had to say goodbye to the children at the Tejgadh school and it was very difficult. For the past month, the children have been the only thing at work that has been keeping me going. I would always find an excuse to visit the village not only because it absolutely wonderful there, but also because I just love hanging out and playing with the children.

They really are lovely. I've taught them to call me "Jeni Behen," Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, cat's cradle, double-double-this-this, and how to make a dragon with their hands. They've taught me two songs, random Hindi/Gujarati words, and have infinite patience with my poor language skills. In the begining it was really hard to learn all 46 of their names, but I finally did it. I was kind of hurt when they forgot my name, however. I was like dude, I learned 46 names and you can't even tell me and Becka apart? But in the end, they could remember my name and when I'd wake up to the sounds of their voices at 7 in the morning and blindly shuffle my way to the bathroom I could hear multiple voices of "Jeni Behen!"

Of course, I had favorites. Reika was a beautiful girl from the village of Veguma. She knew Hindi the best and would always try to expand my vocabulary by teaching me from her little text books. She was a good, patient teacher. Unfortunately, I was a rubbish student. One night, she saved me a seat at dinner! Do you know what it means when a child saves you a seat at dinner? It means you're AWESOME! Reika thought I was awesome. Alpis was the little musician of the group. He's a fantastic singer and when he's not singing, he's playing some kind of instrument. He reminded me of one of the Dwarves from Snow White because he had a little pug nose. He always called me "madame," which I hated and whenever he found me in the library he would make me read random lines from magazines. "Why are Dalits still such a marginalized group sixty years after independance?" and "The new HP Laser jet printer provides quality prints at a reasonable price." Pintu is my boy and he always will be. He's very smart and very cheeky. He'd steal my water bottle and speak to imaginary people on my cell phone. We'd go and take walks together and he'd be my little koala bear, climbing up trees and hugging the tree trunks. He's the one who picked up cat's cradle the fastest and always corrected my Hindi. When I was about to leave and he grabbed my hand and told me not to go, he just broke my heart.

I have so many wonderful memories with these kids. They're so sweet and happy. Yes, they had their childish squabbles and occaissionally there'd be tears, but for the most part they would giggle, share, and hug one another. I will miss their drumming, dancing and singing. I will miss their simplicity and their sweetness. There was never a dull moment with them. They were just beautiful.

Dhungari mandir taru. Hanuman Ji
Dhungari mandir taru. Hanuman Ji...