Disneyland India

Back-blogging as I just recently regained internet access, but I hope to be current in a few days:

A panicked "last shot" of sunshine on
the way to the airport in Delhi

Onward and upward... or eastward, at least - that's right, I officially moved onto my new home base, Kolkata! The fifteen of us dispersed after our initial three days in Delhi - five moved south to Chennai, five (including me) went to Kolkata, and the remaining five stayed on for their assignment in Delhi. Splitting up was a strange situation - between the initial orientation in D.C. earlier this summer and the Delhi orientation, it's safe to say we felt like a unit, and breaking up that unit was not a particularly fun experience. Also, the thought of resettlement (or settlement, rather) was still a stressful one, not in the least because a few of us Kolkatans remembered during the ride over to the airport that the Delhi sunset may have been the last one we'd see in months (or so we feared) due to MONSOON. Monsoon season strikes much of India to varying degrees, but it seems to leave Delhi relatively dry. And as a particularly big fan of Vitamin D, I was a bit concerned about the rain situation in Kolkata before arrival... but more on monsoon in a future post.

What doesn't Wikipedia have these days?
[For reference, New Delhi is in the middle of North
India, northwest of me/the red dot on the map.]

The trip to Kolkata went smoothly. Notable, though, were my expectations, particularly those I voiced to my Fulbright friends in preparation for our trip to our new hometown. Of the five of us Kolkata ETAs (English Teaching Assistants), I was the only one that had been to Kolkata before. And in my infinite(ly limited) wisdom, I felt the need to share these two tidbits of information about Kolkata to my friends: 1] that the airport leaves A LOT to be desired (in that it's old, run-down, and a little sketchy), and 2] that the city is EXTREMELY crowded, and the traffic situation is insane here.

With images of my last trip in mind, I was poised at the window upon landing, ready to point out the teeny airport of my memory as soon as it came into view. So, shocked was I when our puddle-jumper finally turned on the tarmac, revealing a nice, large, glass-encased terminal! Seriously. I'm certain whoever coined the phrase "I couldn't believe my eyes" must have gone through a similar experience. My friends joked that I must have very high standards if I considered this airport run-down. My response? I'm pretty sure I further insisted they just wait until they saw the intensity of Kolkata traffic... which only ended up being another false claim! Our plane got in late so by the time we cabbed it to our hotel, it was just about midnight and Kolkata looked like nothing but a ghost town. There was nearly no one on the streets (but for the people that sleep there, a permanent fixture on a lot of Kolkata streets). I'm pretty sure I even saw some papers blow across the road as if they were tumbleweed. It was so insanely quiet, it was eerie.

View from my hotel window: night...

... and day.

I don't know why I was expecting otherwise, as I know Indian cities quiet down at night like nowhere else. The vivacity of an urban street in the evening versus that of one at midnight is literally as different as night and day. But as I was travelling alone the last time I was in Kolkata, I didn't make it a habit to go out at night so I think I never really realized how radically different a place it is then. Nothing hits you quite as hard as rare moments of silence after hours (or weeks) of the constant humdrum of a city that contains some 5 million people (and what seems like a million cars with functional horns); the silence hit me hard on that initial ride through the city that would soon become home.

Street view of the scene outside my
hotel room window [see above]

But those moments, as all, were fleeting. Just as quickly as I lost my credibility for "lying" to my friends about Kolkata's streets and airport, I regained it back (or most, at least) when the city's people woke up and emerged from its nooks and crannies, repopulating and re-bustling the streets. And also when one of the city's people told us that Kolkata just completed the construction of a shiny new airport terminal. So phew, I wasn't going crazy after all.

Oberoi Grand's grand chandelier 

It's impossible really to describe how crazy/lively/ busy/crowded Kolkata streets are. I've retroactively gathered that I didn't know the meaning of crowded until I got to India (and later, China). But an even stranger feeling than experiencing the crazy streets is experiencing them through a window - particularly through the window of the nicest hotel in Kolkata. That's right, Fulbright put us up at a 5-star business hotel that makes it on the list of places to see in many travel guides about this city. It's called the Oberoi Grand Hotel (one of many Oberois around this part of the world), but I began calling it Disneyland India because of the weird, sheltered impression it began to give us of India as we got comfortable there. (All in all, we spent about 10 days in Oberois in Delhi and Kolkata.) Don't get me wrong, it was a beautiful place; I could easily have stayed there for much longer (on someone else's dime, preferably). But it was so intensely odd to be in my cushy hotel room, looking out at the street below at a guy sleeping on a mat on his bicycle trailer right outside my window [see photo above of the view from my hotel room at night for some idea of that scene]. I must say, though, that people-watching in the hotel's lobby was a fun experience - the clientele was an odd mix of businessmen, pilots, wealthy Indian couples, American teachers (us and another group), and the occasional young woman in a crazy party outfit (an infrequent sight around town).

That's all for now, folks. Tune in next time for a post about apartment-hunting, our first outings in Kolkata, and settling-in stories.
Bhalo thakben ("be well" in Bangla),
Rach

Déjà Vu in Delhi

Back-blogging as I recently regained internet access, hope to be current soon: 

Well, Delhi was a whirlwind of an experience; the threeish days (give or take some jetlag recovery time) went by super quickly. With no more initial orientation events to go, we were allowed a morning of scheduled sightseeing at some of Delhi's biggest tourist locations, both of which I got to see at the beginning of my study abroad stint last time I was here in early 2012. Regardless, here's a gloss on the two sites we went to see, as they are both a part of India's interesting history (and both UNESCO World Heritage sites - love collecting those!):

Look vaguely like Taj Mahal?
Taj was also built by the Mughals.

The first, Humayun's Tomb, is just that - the tomb of Humayun, the second Mughal emperor. Humayn reigned over what eventually amounted to over 1 million square kilometers under his rule, which spanned about 20 years in the mid-1500s. The Mughals were a group of Central Asian Turks, direct descendants of Genghis Khan, who presided over much of North India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan between the 1520s and mid-1800s. Their influence was immense; I learned that much while I was in Rajasthan (my "home state" during my last stay in India), which was never really unified until under Mughal rule. 

The great lattices that cover the "windows" of the mausoleum.

Anyway, Humayun's tomb is the first garden-tomb to be built in India, which makes it a good example of the Persian influence on the Mughals. It also has several Persian Islamic architectural details, including the Qur'anic script chiseled into several archways in the mausoleum itself and inner chambers arranged symmetrically around the large central double-dome. And apparently, it housed many Muslim refugees during the tumultuous Partition of India in the 1940s (by which Pakistan and Bangladesh was formed), for which much restoration was later required when it became an Indian heritage site.

At least the Minar is taller than me.

The second location of our Delhi sightseeing adventure? Qutb Minar, a 238-foot tall minaret also located in modern Delhi. Minars (minarets) are a typical part of Islamic mosques; they're often used for the call to prayer and to serve as a visual reminder of the mosque's location for the community. This one is cool because it's the tallest in India, and also because it contains in its grounds both Islamic and Hindu elements. The Minar itself, although certainly an impressive structure, is almost too unwieldy to truly be appreciated. This is particularly true if it's even a slightly sunny day and you're not wearing sunglasses - I spent much of my time there crying; unfortunately they weren't tears of exultation. Whatever time I didn't spend crying, however, was spent talking a group of cousins that had come out to the Minar on a family trip. Of varying ages between 13-20, they were a fun bunch, and generally were pretty willing to try out a little English on us bideshi (foreigners). And I was a fan of the fact that I didn't tower over these kids in the photo we got with them as I've found I tend to do in pictures with native Asians.

A quick funny story from the Minar: I asked my fellow Fulbright friend Christine to take a quick photo of me near a set of columns I like, knowing that I had gotten one somewhere in the area during my last visit. I particularly like these columns because each one in unique; they each depict different Hindu gods and figures. When it came time to snap the photo, I was dissatisfied with the original column I had chosen, and also the next two (there were people lurking in the backgrounds of each of the proposed positions!) So finally, we settled on one and Christine took a photo. Lo and behold, 18 months after my original trip (and probably nearly a year since I had seen photos from said trip), and it turns out that I ended up choosing the exact same location for my columnar photo opp as last time! At least I'm consistent (if consistently forgetful)?

I promise it's not a "spot the differences" game.

All in all, it was really odd to walk through these sites again. It was a strange experience revisiting a place I didn't necessarily expect to have the opportunity to see again, never mind doing so a mere 18 months after my original trip. But at the time of that first Delhi visit (a week into my first trip to India), I apparently still wasn't fully aware of the strength this country's allure and its effect on my plans. So I find myself here again, in so far what has felt like an eerily familiar situation, but I know I'm about to be hit with a whole lot of newness - what a frightening and exciting thought!

Bhalo thakben ("be well" in Bangla),

Rachel

GUESS WHO'S BACK??

It's official; I'M BACK! After a fourteen hour red eye from JFK (not to mention the eight months of wait time since I submitted the Fulbright application), I landed in Delhi on Tuesday evening. Certainly, the sleeplessness and restlessness associated with a long overnight flight makes for a surreal post-flight day, but my whole time in Delhi has felt very surreal - that is, until a few hours ago when we took OUR FIRST AUTO(RICKSHAW) RIDE this trip. Finally, we left the comforts and confines of our oddly Disneyland-esque, grand, and sheltered hotel and got to experience a little tiny bit of Delhi as we made our way out for our first unsupervised dinner trip. Albeit short, that auto ride was great: A) because I got to experience it through newbies' eyes, as it was the first auto ride for the friends that I rode with, and B) because it got me really and truly excited to be back. I feel it now in a way that I didn't before, for whatever reason.

By and large, the flight went well. Two movies and a long conversation with a Fulbright friend and her new local seat buddy later, we landed in Delhi up one Indian tentative wedding invitation already!! (Fingers crossed that it works out for us!) We're here in Delhi for Fulbright orientation, which is not a particularly noteworthy experience - it's been a lot of preparatory lectures on teaching, culture, and safety. What I perhaps should do, however, is take a step back and say a few words about Fulbright:

US Senator William J. Fulbright founded the Fulbright program in 1946 as part of a diplomacy project to promote mutual understanding between Americans and people of other countries after World War II. To my knowledge, the U.S. has been sending Fulbrighters  of some capacity to India for quite a few decades now, since Fulbright's early years. As a recipient of a Fulbright scholarship, I'll be an English Teaching Assistant (read: English teacher... not assistant) at a school here in Kolkata for the next nine months.

But first of all, when I get to Kolkata I'll spend the first month getting oriented (believe me, it may in fact take that long) and learning Bangla, the regional language of my state of residence, West Bengal. (It's the same language that's spoken in Bangladesh, which was once a part of India, and a few other small Indian states in the area like Tripura [although regional accents/dialects may be cause for some variation here and there].) Hopefully it goes well!

More on Delhi sight-seeing to come!

Bhalo thakben (or "be well" in Bangla),

Rach

Calcutta Capers - One Post Down, Many to Come!

In five days, I leave for Calcutta (also/more recently called Kolkata, a name which I will also use), where I will be teaching English as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant for nine months. I will be updating this blog as regularly as possible (I promise!), so you can stay current on my travels and daily life in Kolkata.

Any blog entry posted under (or prior to) this one refers to my time in India in early 2012, including my brief stint in Kolkata itself; so any post above this one will be a current one.

Happy reading!
Peace,
Rachel

Bristol Press article (thanks, Steve Collins!): http://www.bristolpress.com/articles/2013/06/19/news/doc51c12047e60aa153635631.txt
Villanova press release: http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/media/pressreleases/2013/0506-1.html

Tourist Sights/Sites!

Everyone needs one of these studying-abroad balcony pics

Can you believe it? I’ve now been in India for over a month, with exactly one month to go! I feel like I say this all the time, but it’s insane how fast time flies.

Clearly I’ve not been diligent with my blogging over the past few weeks, so rather than chronologically, I’ll order the next few posts thematically. This week’s theme? Perhaps the most daunting to record: tourist and/or historical sites that I’ve visited over the past few weeks. I’ll try my best to keep it snappy though. 

Sajjangarh

Sajjangarh Fort [Jan. 18]: It’s one of the former ruler’s forts during monsoon season. Situated on a hill (as most things are around here, as Udaipur is situated in a valley between mountains), it is worth the terrifying drive up [read: rushed drivers speeding through hairpin turns at breakneck speeds]. Why? The view alone is worth it – it’s GORGEOUS (I now realize these beautiful mountaintop views are not in short supply around here – I’m so lucky!).

This particular fort palace was cool because it was a few stories tall, which meant it had quite a few rooms with great views. I can’t even imagine how people lived there.

Fateh Sagar [every few days!]: Just one of Udaipur’s lakes, this is located a 15-minute walk away from our school. It’s a pretty place to just walk around or, as we had the privilege of finding out one day, boating through. There’s a small island garden located in the center of the lake, which itself isn’t particularly stunning. (But that’s the point, right? While you’re there, you don’t look at the garden, you look out at everything around the lake!) Anyway, near the lake is a cool little hangout spot that reminds me of something out of Lake George, NY – food vendors and people lounging out around the lake. We like it because it’s one of the few places nearby where you can get good cold coffee and listen to the sweet sounds of Justin Beiber (because the coffee stall owners blast about 5 American tunes when they see us approaching). 

Chittorgarh [Jan. 21]: This fort was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. Half in ruins, it has such history – somewhat romantic, somewhat gruesome (but hey, what love story isn’t, right?) As I understand it, an invading Muslim force's army commander was crazy about the in-house princess at the time. Long story short, there were some pretty intense battles that resulted in several thousand women jumping into a fire rather than be taken by the invading soldiers in order to protect their innocence. It sprawls across several kilometers of land and contains a number of palaces (one for ladies, one for gents; both for monkeys and dogs of course) and a well-preserved tower. The tower was an awesome climb up – although similar to the one I climbed up with a cousin in Poland last summer, it was much more haphazardly constructed. All the stairs, marble cutouts, were of different heights and widths. Some stairwells were so dark, you basically resorted to crossing your fingers and hoping for the best on the way up/down. The ceilings in other stairwells were so low, you had to sort of crawl your way through. Again, it was worth the adventure up for bragging rights, if for nothing else. Situated on its own little late, the queen’s palace was gorgeous.

 Kumbhalgarh [Feb. 5]: Yes, another fort. But it’s particularly notable because it’s the second-longest length of wall in the world (after the Great Wall of China, of course – going there at some point too!) This place is crawling with them because Rajasthan (the Northwestern Indian state where my host city, Udaipur, is located) was a princely state (in that it was ruled by regional rulers) until fairly recently in the country’s history. The Rajputs, a specific caste that’s still located in the area, were those rulers. Anyway, this was honestly one of my favorite sight-seeing days thus far. A smaller group of us went out, had a great lunch (what a great naan moment that was!), and then stopped by the fort.

As with the other forts, it was built on a hill because that’s the smart thing to do strategically – then you’ve got the upper hand on your enemies (literally).  Upon climbing the road up the fort, we then climbed some more up some of the scariest stairs I’ve ever attempted to scale. Apparently they ran out of money before they thought to install rails on these things. As with the other old forts like this, some areas were more akin to ruins, while some were well-preserved. Either way, you feel like you’ve just stepped out of a time machine when you walk around this place.

City Palace [Feb. 12]: Well, pretty self-explanatory – a palace in the city. It’s the home of the local royal family (once actual rulers, now merely figureheads). It was somehow comforting to visit a museum after all those forts and this museum was a lot less stressful inside than the Victoria Memorial in Kolkata. Because this palace is not that old comparatively (although construction started in the 1500s, it had continuously been renovated into the 1900s), it has some pretty well-preserved architectural and design elements. It was funny too see these eclectic elements – including blue and white floral British tiles and colorful Swiss mirrors – all together in one place. 

 

Lake Palace [Feb. 12]: Located in (yes IN) Lake Pichola, this place apparently continues to remain very well-guarded [aka exclusive] because you can’t get in unless you have the right connections. Bummer. However, we did go on another boatride around this lake, so as far as I’m concerned, we saw Lake Palace. (When I retell this story back home, I’ll tell people we managed to sneak in or something.)

 

Cable car Ride [Feb. 12]: Okay, this is not so much a tourist site as it is a tourist sight! We rode cable cars up to the top of one of the hills near Lake Pichola. As I’ve said before – and I’m sure I’ll say again – WHAT A SIGHT! You look out over the lake and, with the mountains in the background, it was very reminiscent of the sight from the top of one of the hills in St. Thomas, strangely enough. This experience was a good reminder of two things I’ve already learned in the past: (1) That, although I’m no physics expert, I’m convinced cable cars defy every law out there and (2) That you should always take care to charge your camera battery before such excursions. My battery ran out just as I reached the top – I was only able to snap one or two shots! However, I’m sure it was for the best because it required me to just enjoy the view and I need to be reminded to do that every once in a while.  

 

Okay, well, that’s all I’ve got on sightseeing updates so far. You can bet there will be more to come about some more interesting topics – including cultural observations and village life – in the near future! Until then, we’re in Ahmedabad – the capital city of the local state of Gujarat – on a field trip!

So Long, Farewell...

Tom and Jerry also stopped by during my flight - clearly I
was conflicted!

...Auf wiedersehen, namaskār. (Okay, I could probably get away with saying goodbye - everyone here would understand that.) Anyway, long story short, this next blog post is about my transition into my time with my Duke University Global Semester Abroad program and thus, saying goodbye to Calcutta - featuring an oh-so-appropriate title because "The Sound of Music" was one of the in-flight movie options on my flight from Kolkata to Delhi.
Anywho, I was sad to have to pack up and leave Calcutta just when I had gotten accustomed to the work I was doing there. I met lots of great people from all over the U.S. and world that were visiting the city to work with the Missionaries of Charity or various NGOs around the city, including lots of college kids (particularly from New Zealand, interestingly enough). There was never a dull meal at my guesthouse!
Nevertheless, the 16th of January rolled around and I had to pack up and leave. Thankfully, my cab ride and wait at the airport were non-eventful, particularly because I left SO early just in case of delay. However, during my flight, I was seated next to two very young sisters, the younger of which wouldn't stop talking to me in Hindi! The poor thing didn't realize I didn't understand a word she was saying and continued to poke me and say, "Didi! Didi!" (Even worse: I later found out "didi" is basically the equivalent of calling someone your older sister in Hindi...)
After some time spent searching for the people from my program that were hired to meet us at the airport in Delhi, I ended up calling them to ask where they were waiting. They hurriedly told me that they were by Door 3, waiting in Duke colors and hung up. Just then, I came to a horrible realization - I had NO CLUE what Duke colors were, having been a Villanovan myself. While racking my brain for any memory of the website, thankfully I spotted a few Indians covered in gear that screamed "Duke!"
By the time dinner rolled around, I had met most of the people in my program - most are Dukeians (Dukies? Dukish?), all are great. We spent the next day-and-a-half touring some of the more notable sites in Delhi. First up on our list: Humayun's Tomb. It's this great big old memorial built around a tomb, the Taj Mahal's predecessor. Too bad it was so misty and chilly that morning - although not nearly the coldest morning this Indian winter, that certainly was the closest it came to raining here (it pretty much rains only during the monsoon season in July-September in the Northern half of the country).
In general around here, it's cool to see the various symbols that appear everywhere. We were told that the lotus symbolizes Hinduism, and apparently what I normally call the Star of David is also a Hindu symbol. Its two intersecting triangles, one for males and the other for females, represents creation.
Interesting fact of the week: If you didn't already know, the swastika predates Nazi Germany and was first used in ancient Indian civilizations. It is said to invoke the Hindu god Ganesha, so you literally see it painted everywhere here - on signs, stores, and houses. It's shocking at first, but you just have to disassociate it with Nazism [in addition to being quite a number of other things, those Nazis were also apparently symbol-stealers].
Also cool: You see a lot of Arabic - more than I expected, at least - around here because of this area's rocky history with Muslim invaders. For example, we made it out to an old Muslim mosque, complete with its own absurdly tall minaret while touring Delhi. The mosque area had absolutely amazing - and amazingly well-preserved - pillars, each with its own detailed carvings. What a great opportunity for a cheesy photo opp!
So after all that touring, we ended up on an overnight train to Udaipur. What an experience that was!...
To Be Continued...

Window seat in our hotel room on the first night in Udaipur

Jagdish Temple in Old City - the landmark we use to describe
where everything is!

Udaipur street

13 American girls shopping for kurti in Old City on our first
night - craziness!

The final word... for now...

So although it feels like it has been ages since I left Kolkata (when, in fact, it has been about 11 days), I have a few more things to say about it now that I've had some time to process:
Poverty is, for lack of a better term, rampant in Kolkata. It is an indisputable and undeniable fact that hits you in the face every time you step onto the street in that city. This is not something I note lightly - it weighs heavily on my heart, especially because foreigners are generally not advised to give to beggars for a few reasons. I heard from a few sources that some beggars in and around touristy areas of the city are part of "begging rings": organized begging schemes in which beggars report to - and pay - higher-ups as they earn money. Reportedly, children are recruited from surrounding slums and villages to help assist beggars and add an element of pity to the begging process. (It is commonplace for village children to migrate to cities to work long hours in nearby cities, whether voluntarily or otherwise, in India.) So, foreigners are urged even by locals not to give to beggars for a few reasons: to avoid supporting organized begging rings, to avoid encouraging begging in general, and for their personal safety.

That being said, a hungry child is still a hungry child. Turning those children away does not make you feel good that at least you're not supporting organized begging. The fact remains that a vast majority of those people on Calcutta streets would not, and do not, willingly choose to sleep there even on the coldest nights of the Indian winter. For the masses, begging is not a lucrative career option - it is the only choice left in a system that fails to provide effective ways to give people a boost when they most need it. Despite the assistance provided by India's Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which guarantees any rural worker 100 days of government wage labor, there are still 265 days left in a year. There are still urban families that live on the streets - and women that work them - that continue to remain in the vicious cycle of poverty for lack of solid options to work their way out of it.

So I am confronted again and again with the question of forsaking the individual person in need in favor of not supporting a system of organized begging. And again and again, I am left with only one thought - we need to redirect our attention on addressing systemic problems that force people into circumstances that make begging a viable option for survival. Hopefully my studies this semester will help me sort out some of these issues.

So those are my final thoughts on Calcutta... for now.