Weekend of being tourists in Delhi

Red Fort!

1)      Sights we saw



Red Fort-Built in the Moghal Period, this fort was occupied by the British during colonization. The fort was made by the same guy who made the Taj Mahal. While the Taj was made for the woman he loved the most (what a gift!), at his fort we were introduced to the halls where all his concubines lived. What a guy.



Jama Masjid at night



Jama Masjid- Although India has a lot of Hindus, the country itself is a mashup of different religions, thanks to the fact that it was invaded every 2.5 seconds in history. Jama Masjid is the biggest mosque in India, and we went to it later in the evening. It was super cool looking, but unfortunately, our super pale-white faces showed underneath our head coverings, and we were not allowed inside. We went back for Eid as well, and alas! We couldn’t go inside again. Because we were in an all Muslim area, Nick and I took advantage of their love of meat, and had grilled buffalo from a street vendor. YUM! 

 

They could still tell that
we were white :(



India Gate and two pretty ladies!

India Gate- Not only a tourist attraction to visiting foreigners, but a tourist attraction to Indians from all over, India Gate (India’s memorial to its’ soldiers lost in combat) was an incredibly sight to see. While there, we saw multiple protests supporting Anna Hazare. We also were photographed like celebrities by the visiting Indian paparazzi. (See bullet number 3 for more information)

Sound and Light Show-For some, this is an awesome way to learn about history. For me, it was not! Sound and lights shows are quite popular in India, as they make “history come alive to the senses of sight and sound!”. Unless the sound and light show is narrarated by the penultimate speaking voice of Morgan Freeman, count me out!


Lotus Temple



Lotus Temple- Home of the Baha'i Fatih, this temple is a pilgrimage for all of those who believe that, "The Earth is but one country and manking its citizens", spoken by Baha'u'llah.



2)      Things we saw

Peeing everywhere- Never mind the plethora of peeing stalls created for men (don’t even get me started on the fact that there aren’t any public restrooms for women), there is nothing more that I enjoy than watching a man whip it out and pee whenever the mood strikes him.

Underwear-less babies- SO CUTE! And efficient. They poop, it hits the ground, and no diaper was harmed in the making of that poop.

Adorable little kids outside the mosque asking for chocolate-Could they just sense that I love chocolate too?

3)      Number of times a stranger asked to take a picture with us…too many to count. What’s better than having pictures of white strangers with you in your family vacation album? Apparently, nothing!

No family picture is complete
without an assortment of
white strangers!



Independence Day

Gettin' our prayer on!

Celebrate good times, come on! Ba na na na na na na na WOHOO!

That song (if it was in Hindi) could pretty much sum up the vibe surrounding Independence Day in India. Everyone is excited. Take the number of people shooting off illegal fireworks in Little Village, Chicago  and multiply it by 1.2 billion, and you’ve got the idea of just how much excessive joy explodes out of India on August 15^th.

I went to school that day (pat me on the back for going in on my day off!) to join in the many festivities. I listened to students recite poetry, ancient speeches, and songs; I watched as they danced in traditional Indian styles, and I happily imbibed and digested all the food and drink offered to me. I am an excellent guest at celebrations ;)

Now all I need to do is learn how to sing the national anthem, wear a bindi, dye my skin brown, and I’ll be a real Indian! (Not my words, a fellow teacher’s words!)

Turning 22 in India-Week Six

Krish putting cake on my face :)

I’ve never celebrated my birthday in a foreign country before; in fact, from my 14^th birthday all the way to my 21^st birthday, I’ve spent August 14^th on blisteringly hot football fields for marching band practice, or at the camp where I work.

Well, the blistering hot aspect of my birthday has not changed at all since switching my residence to a new continent; the big difference was, in the US, we ate cupcakes at rehearsal and we got right back to band. In India, people are much more excited about my day of birth than I am! 

Roommates/Cousin Siblings

On Saturday afternoon, I spirited off to Connaught Place to meet a friend of a friend of Alexander.  He had put me in contact with her so that I could meet a girl my age in Delhi and learn some insider tips on living in Delhi. Nithya was awesome blossom, and I’m really glad I got to meet her.

Fiesta! 

We then held our first rooftop partyand invited the other ETA’s over, as well as Swati, our Indian guide to life. After a delicious meal of pizza and beer (well, we are Americans) we chatted a lot and caught up with each other. My roommates surprised me with a gift, and the other household of ETA's got a cake...so good! They were so kind. The next night my apartment group went out for Mexican food for my birthday dinner, and it was delicious. We all like Indian food, don’t get me wrong. But something about salsa and chips makes my heart start beating faster and faster!

Our Home-Week Five

SO MUCH LUXURY!

We returned to Delhi after arriving by overnight train and spent 4 glorious hours in the Taj before venturing out that morning to find an apartment. Aileen and I took advantage of our time and had luxurious showers. After that, we lounged in robes while drinking tea and watching Harry Potter. It was so opulent. It was glorious. We then put on our adventure pants and got ready for a long day of apartment hunting.

My bed

So finding a 4 bedroom apartment for a decent price in Delhi is next to impossible. What made it more impossible was that our realtor wasn’t exactly the sharpest crayon in the box. The first house we saw on our first day of apartment hunting was one we had found for ourselves. Everything else we were shown was either way too expensive/opulent (one landlord told us “One cannot be happy here if one does not spend 80000 rupees on rent”) or didn’t have enough rooms to house the 4 of us, plus our random visiting boyfriends or girlfriends. After two days of searching, and spending time with our awesome facilitator/friend Swati, we ended up with the first apartment, a place in Sheikh Sarai Phase 1. Our landlord grew up in this apartment, and it has a ton of charm (which is what we tell ourselves every time we find a leaking pipe, a broken water filter, ants/cockroaches/bugs of all sorts, useless washing machine, and broken lights). It has three rooms, a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bathrooms, and a rooftop.

My bedroom wall

We signed the lease Monday afternoon and moved in on Tuesday afternoon. We had Tuesday night and all of Wednesday to get the apartment ready, because Thursday meant we started our first day of school. After we moved in, our landlord then invited us to lunch, which, while delicious, lasted forever, and by the time we finished we knew there would be no time that night to do anything productive towards the apartment. However, we did have time…TO SEE HARRY POTTER SEVEN PART 2 !!

Living Room

Best day of my life. We may not have budgeted our time correctly, as it probably would have made sense if we had, oh, I don’t know, unpacked any of our bags, but HP came first, and it was so worth it. From tears to laughter, victorious moments to heartbreaking ones, I was an emotional wreck. Oh Harry Potter, you slay me.

Cabinet of things we love...
lovers, liquor, and chocolate :)

Wednesday was spent going all over town (Malviya Nagar Market) and purchasing everything we would need the next day, as well as trying to outfit our house with basic supplies like toilet paper and dishes.  We went to school the next two days, and then spent the weekend finishing up our purchasing of household goods and accessories. Located throughout are pictures of our humble abode J

Last Days at Landour Language School-Week Four

Landour Language School graduating class :)

Out to dinner with our friend Bir

The last days at Landour Language School flew by quickly, as we were rapidly cramming for our Hindi test. Thankfully, we became very distracted from studying because Alexander had mercifully sent over all 7 Harry Potter movies so that my friends and I could re-watch them in preparation for the best day of our lives…the day we would finally get to see Harry Potter 7 part 2. We went out to dinner one night at Rokeby with our friend Bir and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Nick and I got chocolate shakes, and we were very happy :) The next few days were not as happy, as the cramming got even more intense. The test on Friday felt like giving the SAT to an infant, but I feel like I did alright, with only 14 days of ever using Hindi under my belt. It was a little sad saying goodbye to all the teachers and staff at Ivy Bank, but I got over it pretty quick, because we were next headed for 3 days in the Taj Mahal Hotel, which means hot showers, delicious breakfasts, beds that feel like soft clouds of love, and working toilets.

Jumping for joy because Hindi school is over! 

Rishikesh and Team Orange-Week Four

Although we loved Mussoorie, the majority of us were tired of being cold and wet all the time (I mean, come on, we chose to go to India…the cold and wet was not what we signed up for!).  After the first two weeks of language school were over, we decided to take a break from the foothills of the Himalayas and come back down to the hotter parts of India. We chose the destination of Rishikesh, a holy city on the Ganga.

The captain of Team Orange,
 Lord Shiva

We had been thoroughly warned to not go to Rishikesh (a holy city on the Ganges), as it was pilgrimage season, but alas, we are American, and obstinate. So off we went into the great dirty yonder. We didn’t realize how good we had it in Mussorie until we arrived in Rishikesh. In Mussoorie, tourists are common and generally ignored-the staring is less obnoxious, and there are trash bins everywhere. People generally try to keep their town clean. In Rishikesh, every single follower of Lord Shiva decided to come out for the weekend, and the presence of 8 Americans was incredibly entertaining for all of them. Also, there were no trash cans. Or bathrooms. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely adore stepping in human excrement ;)

Team Orange bathing and
defecating in the Ganga 

As we arrived in Rishikesh, the first thing we noticed was the abundance of teenage to middle aged men dressed in a fashionable, retina scarring orange. Lord Shiva’s followers (we called them Team Orange) were in Rishikesh and Haridwar to collect water from the Ganga, bath in the Ganga, potentially eliminate waste in the Ganga, brush their teeth in the Ganga, and then take the water they collected away with them.  Team Orange was everywhere. Team Orange also had a fascination for foreigners, especially those of the fairer skinned variety. While walking, people attempted to take our pictures from over their shoulders; when we stopped, we would suddenly develop a crowd gathering around us, as if we were Shiva himself.

Us halfway to the waterfall!

Even though Team Orange was omnipresent and entirely inescapable, Rishikesh was awesome. It was neat to be in a place not during tourist season (usually Rishikesh is a hotbed of hippies, looking to yoga themselves into enlightenment, smoke a little bit o’hash, and find the ashram where the Beatles had a good time while writing the White Album) because we got to see what the city meant to Indian citizens, not just people with dreadlocks looking to get their “Om” on.

Besides constantly running interference with Team Orange, we managed to navigate, discover, climb, and conquer the Neer Waterfall using only handrawn maps and a compass. We’ve slowly discovered that when asked a question about direction or distance, a typical Indian man will either:

a)      tell you that “It’s nearby and an easy walk, no problem ma’am”.

b)      make up how far it is because he does not know and really wants to give you an answer

c)       giggle like a school girl with his friends and gesture randomly to multiple different paths

d)      draw you a map and label completely inaccurate distances and times

Map 1-From hotel to "waterfall location"

Map 2-From "waterfall location" to
actual waterfall

But we made it! It took from breakfast until dinner to do a supposed “1.5 hour walk”, but it was nice to be away from Team Orange. We then proceeded to climb the waterfall, and took many pictures. When we got back to Rishikesh, we attended a pooja at a temple on the Ganga. It was interesting to see how devoted people were to Lord Shiva, and the ceremony itself was beautiful. I made sure to purchase a miniature Lord Shiva, and after a bit more shopping, we left to go back to Mussoorie for our last week of language school.

Mussoorie-Weeks Two and Three

Well, the overnight train was quite interesting, as I slept surrounded by men who just unabashedly stared at me. No biggie. It also was interesting, as “Delhi Belly” struck whilst on the moving train, causing me to become quite familiar with a squatting pit toilet. NOT the most joyful occasion on a rickety train.

Welcome to the switchbacks in
Mussoorie and Landour

We arrived in Dehradun, and we ferried up in the foothills of the Himalayas by trusty cab drivers, who artfully navigated the steep hills, switchbacks, and one lane roads. It was an incredible sight to see, how people have managed to adapt to the mountains and build throughout them. The only scary part was when our car started rolling backwards.

 I know I was nervous when Alexander and I were driving on switchbacks in the Rockies, but I would willingly do that now that drive up the Himalayas again. He could be blindfolded and driving with his toes, and I would still feel safer than I felt driving up to Landour.

The lovely Mussoorie

We spent the weekend in Mussoorie just getting used to the time change, attempting to sleep, and adventuring through the markets. The view from our guesthouse, Ivy Bank, is lovely. On a clear day (which seldom occurs, since it is monsoon season and we are 7000 feet above sea level) you can see towns in valleys for miles. Other days, you can’t see more than 20 feet in front of you because of the fog.

Ivy Bank is a small guesthouse with a wonderful host, Manoj, and the best Auntieji around. Everyone is so friendly, and that in itself makes up for the lack of consistent water, internet, and power.

Our first week was spent attending Hindi school in the mornings, studying Hindi in the afternoons (and by studying, I mean, attempting to study and then watching movies), and in the evenings, studying Hindi again…hahahaHAHAHAHAHA. Who am I kidding? Most evenings were spent attempting to connect to the internet :) 

My cousin sister Aileen and I in our backyard,
which overlooks the mountains :)

We spent the next weekend trolling the Mall Road Market for fabric in order to get clothes tailored. Much shopping ensued. We ate lunch at the most American place we could find, and I astonished the group by finishing a large pizza on my own. I’m disgusting, but at least I’ve accepted that fact J

Mussoorie at sunset from my door
at the guest house

I then spent the rest of the weekend recovering from feeling sick, as I had spent part of the first week caring for the two guys in our group who had fallen ill.

The next week looks to be similar to this one…lots of Hindi school, avoiding studying Hindi, and wandering down to the internet café in town, run by an awesome guy named Bir (yes, BEER is the correct pronunciation). Our group plans to go to Rishikesh next weekend, so much planning will occur over the next few days.