Wedding Time.

Whenever I would talk to someone who had been to India about coming, they would tell me to go to an Indian wedding if I had a chance. With the end of the semester nearing, I was worried I wouldn't be able to go to one. Thankfully, everyone in our study abroad got invited to a wedding last weekend, and it definitely lived up to all the hype. I have tried to explain the experience to people, but others have found a much better way to explain it. Melody said it was: 60% Hollywood A-list party, 20% state fair, 20% carnival. It's pretty accurate. The picture below shows the degrees of separation between us and the groom; also drawn by Melody. It is also described in the great video that Brigitte made. Which is accurate to the whole experience.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNChtD_BuVY

I'm obviously getting much more lazy about these blog posts. T-minus 2 1/2 weeks left in India.

Don't be mad!

Things have been crazy since the end of the Commonwealth Games and our return to school.
Updates!
1. The trip to Sikkim was incredible. I had forgotten how much I missed the mountains, and the Himalayas are beyond incredible. The first part of the week we stayed on a farm and hiked around, visited monasteries, and enjoyed nature. For the latter half of the week we stayed at a orchid nursery, and the owner was kind enough to take us around to some different Buddhist monasteries and explain different aspects of them. Here are some pictures :)





The second week of the games a smaller group of us went down to the Southern state of Kerala. We stayed in a town called Varkala right on the cliff right next to the beach, swam, and laid in the sun. We saw some incredibly sunsets, one of which was from a beach that we ate dinner on. And we celebrated Harold's 21st birthday! After three or so days we went up north to Allepy to do a backwaters tour. A really sweet man took Brigitte and I around on a canoe to the backwaters of the city. It's incredibly to see how much people rely and live their lives on the river. He took us to his sisters house for lunch and we had this really great meal off a banana leaf. It was lovely. That evening we were walking around trying to find a place to eat, and we stumbled upon a
a Hindu temple with a ton of people having a festival for Krishna. There were 9 elephants there, and a ton of shrines and people. And loud music. The next day we went up to Cochin, where our flight was from. There we saw Chinese fishing nets in action. We didn't seem them catch many fish, but it was interesting. I guess the other group got to help out!















So we came back and tried to get back into the groove of things. I heard that the games went pretty well, India got the second most medals. The city seems to be returning back to normal. The weekend after we got back, four of us went to Jaipur. We saw the City Palace, the Hawa Mahal, the Jantar Mantar, and the Ameber Fort. And we rode some elephants! That was really interesting. It was a neat city. Hot, and crowded. Desert-y. This is the view from on top of the Hawa Mahal, which was a womans palace. The white thing poking up is part of the Jantar Mantar which has a bunch of old, accurate, astronomical tools.



The weekend after that is Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Andrew's host family invited us over for the festivities, and it was a lot of fun! We ate delicious food, played games, did the ceremonial lighting of candles, walked around the neighborhood to look at all the lights (it's like Christmas!), set off unpredictable fireworks, did puja, and just enjoyed ourselves and each others company. It was really nice to be around a family again. They are a joy.
(the haze in the first picture is from all the firecrackers!)




So that's my update for now. Sorry there weren't a bunch of details. It's been a lot of travelling, and I'm glad to be staying in Delhi for a while. Only one more out of town trip left-Varanasi!

Ps. sorry Cassie, no more monkeys yet.

Commonwealth Games

The Commonwealth Games start here in Delhi tonight. There are pretty mixed feelings about the whole thing. Hopefully it will bring a lot of people to Delhi, and it will be good for the local economy. There has been a lot of bad media internationally, as well as locally. In my, and what seems to be many other peoples, opinion Delhi is not quite ready for the games. There have been a lot of problems with building and getting everything ready. It seems to be making Delhi sad. Things finally seem to be coming together in some way, and I hope things go well.

Due to all the craziness that will be happening, we are getting out of town. All schools in Delhi are cancelled for two weeks, us included. This week we will be in Sikkim (NE India) working on a farm, and later staying at an orchid nursery. Both of which will be nice. It will be so good to be in the mountains and out of the city. Apparently there is a lot of Nepalese/Tibetan culture and influence, which will be interesting.




Next week, a smaller group of us are going to Kerala in the far south of India. We will just be seeing the town, playing in the ocean, and doing as much nature-y stuff as we can before coming back to Delhi. Internet will be minimal, if at all, so I won't update for a while. Have a good couple weeks!

Tughlakabad

Yesterday, Lauren and I went to Tughlakabad Fort. The Cities of Delhi class went on a field trip, but it was during my month long marathon of sickness and I couldn't go with them. So Lauren and I decided to head over on Monday when we had use of an IES taxi, and Lauren was my tour guide. The fort is pretty incredible, and was built in only two years time. Unfortunately, it was abandoned rather quickly. Maybe due to the curse Nizamuddin put on him. Who knows. Oh, Sufi saints. Anyways, here are some pictures from that excursion. Sorry I haven't been writing much, it's midterms. Blah. Enjoy!


Scattered ruins.


Water buffalo. :)

Khajuraho. And lots and lots of travel time.

On Friday morning, bright and early at 5:30, Lauren, Karissa, Maya and I left Delhi to catch our train for the weekend. The train took us to Jahansi which took a little over four hours. Then another four hours in a taxi to actually get to Kuajuraho. Same on the way back. So 16 hours of travel, and about 12 hours of time spent awake actually in Khajuraho. Our time there was spent mostly visiting the three main temple sites. The temples are Jain, and are known around the world for both their intricate designs, as well as erotic images. I'm just going to post pictures for this one.















The pictures are kind of a mess. Blogs are hard, and technology is confusing. Sorry! Enjoy.

Shahjahanabad

On Friday, our Cities of Delhi class took a field trip to Shahjahanabad. Aka. Old Delhi. Shahjahanabad was it's original name given by the Mughal Shah Jahan. Go figure. This is the third time I have been there this semester, each being a unique experience. The first time we were on our own doing touristy stuff. The second time Andrew's family took us around to different shops, and this time we got see things left from the Mughals, and a more residential area. Every time I go back to Old Delhi, I enjoy it more.



Once we all met up, our teacher led us through this narrow passage, which is apparently not uncommon in Old Delhi. When we walked down it, there was probably less than six inches of space on either side of our shoulders.
That alley took us to a stand that sold delicious fresh Indian breakfast food (aloo puri which a potato dish with puffed bread, and jalebi which is basically fried dough in syrup.) It was all served in bowls made out of banana leaves, and when we were done we just put them in a bin under the stand for cows to eat later.



After breakfast, we went to the haveli of a nice older man our teacher knew. Haveli's are large, multi-level houses with a courtyards. His home was just a section of what is believed to be the original Mughal haveli. They are often even further broken down, with individual families living in each room. He showed us around and we went to the roof to try and fly kites. But alas, no wind. It's pretty incredible how much of peoples lives can be lived on a roof.



Our last stop, my favorite stop, was to a spice market. Blocks of delicious smelling spices. Spices, nuts, dried fruits, all set up in stands along the street. We went up the stairs of main building on the block to one of the most incredible roofs I've seen. We could see the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid off in the distance, and it seemed like the roofs went on forever. People were drying food and their clothes, and stored their pet pigeons. It was pretty incredible.

Yoga Adventure #2

On Monday, Lauren and I decided to go find some cool things in Delhi. We got on the but at the station near our school like we normally do. Because it is a station, and the last stop, everyone gets off so we always get a seat. We decided to sit in the last row because there is a door right in front of it so the breeze is nice.
(pictured to left is what the buses we normally take look like) How Delhi buses work is, you get on, tell the conductor where your stop is, and pay the amount that corresponds with the stop. The conductor came up to us, but before making us pay, he made us move to the front. Because "he's the conductor, and he says we need to sit up front." Aka because we were women. It is challenging to adjust to a culture and society where the womens role is much different than I am used to. I'm still not sure how to be a part of it all.
Anyways, our goal was go to go Shahpur Jat, which we believed to be a park. We found the general neighborhood, but kept getting pointed in a circle when we asked people where it was. There was no park in any of the areas we were pointed. But, we found this really cool handicraft store that had a lot of cool traditional Indian crafts. So success. And we found a small green block with pigs in it. So that's always nice.
We then hopped a bus back towards our house to visit a yoga studio we were interested in. We just picked a bus that was going in the right direction because we didn't know what number we needed. At this point, it was raining quite hard. Luckily, we remembered our umbrellas, which is not always the case. So we saw the studio across the road, but decided to stay on the bus until the next stop so we didn't have to cross the busy intersection in the rain with a bunch of cars/rickshaws/motorcycles/buses. Unfortunately, the bus turned. And went quite a ways down the road. Which wouldn't have been a big deal if it wasn't pouring raining and lightning. So we waded through the rivers that were streets were becoming. By the end, my pants were super wet. We were afraid of being electrocuted, so we found a rickshaw that gave us a decently fair price headed home. By the time we got back the rain had mostly stopped. Oh well! Although we were all soggy, it was a good time. :)

Feet Fish?

So, we decided to continue our swanky weekend on Sunday. A friend from our program is originally from Delhi and told us about this place where you can go have little tiny fish eat the dead skin off of your feet, so of course we were interested. We went to the mall it was at and it was a lot like any fancy mall back in the states. Which was weird. I feel like we didn't stick out there like we normally do, which was nice.

We found a Mediterranean place to eat and had some falafel, which I had been missing. It was delicious and inexpensive. The little restaurant had a board foreign currency from people who had eaten there, which was really interesting.

So we found this place, and got dead feet skin eaten off by fish. Kinda gross when I type it out. We just stuck our feet in six inch deep tanks of water with lots of little fish, and they swarmed. At first it was kinda ticklish, but I got used to it and it felt good by the end. My feet felt so nice after! They are always dirty here, so it was nice to be clean.

Saturday: Agra

Time to got to the Taj Mahal. Someone a couple weeks ago decided it would be fun if we all dressed up, and we just kinda went with it (typical, but a lot of fun!). So Saturday morning we got up around 4:30 as to be ready to go by 5:15. Us girls had to wrap our sarees, of which only two have much experience doing. Our program coordinator ended up coming in to help us out and wrap us up. They are much easier to wear than I anticipated. A saree is basically a small blouse (like a t-shirt that is cut off right below the chest) with a petticoat, and then 6 meters of fabric wrapped around like a skirt and draped over the shoulder. After we were all fancied up we got in our van that drove us most of the way. There are protective rules that doesn't allow any vehicles within a certain distance of the Taj unless it uses clean fuel in order to protect the structure. So some of us switched to a battery powered vehicle, and others got in rickshaws which run on compressed natural gas. So we got to the Taj Mahal complex and waited 'queued up' for about ten minutes before it opened.
Once inside, the Taj Mahal was just as expected. It looked like every postcard. But so much more. It was so grand, it was almost unreal. It was as if time has has no effect on the the structure itself. We took the typical picture in front of the Taj which was fun, but took a while. All of it is incredibly mind blowing to me. I can't wrap my mind about how they built this incredible complex in 10 years, and had such specific features without modern technology.

After we got the IES group picture done we all wandered off to check out the complex. To the left of the Taj is a mosque that is still in use, and to the left is a matching building that people believe was used a guest house. Everything was so symmetrical and matching. Except the actual tombs. The Taj was built by Shah Jahan as a memorial to his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. Her tomb was in the center of the Taj, and his was off to the side of hers, as though it were a side note. It is rare that a woman would be more important, and the man was just an after thought. The room in which they were buried was incredibly extravagant, with jewels int he walls, and incredible designs all around.

It was nice to just walk around and take it all on. The Yamuna river runs behind the Taj Mahal so that was really nice to see. Apparently it has been really low for years and years. Because of the increase in rain this year, it is said that it is close to what it would have looked like to Shah Jahan, with the river up closer to the Taj. Our teacher said she had never seen it that high.
After we left the Taj we bargained for some postcards and picture and then went back to the hotel for breakfast. We were at the Taj for over two hours, and it was only 8:00 am by the time we got back to the hotel. We had a couple hours to relax, so I took a nice two hour nap. After everyone woke up we checked out of the hotel and went on our way.
Our next stop was Agra Fort. It is pretty similar to the Red Fort in Delhi, but with less gardens, and more extravagance. Contrary to what I initially believed, most of the Mughal emperors were respected. Although there was fear from the dictators, they were mostly benign to their subjects.

(Picture to right taken by Andrew Wortham. My battery had died.) They did city planning, created wells and water tanks, distributed food, and tithed (of which the money went towards public works), there was also direct access to the emperor. Shah Jahan had a golden chain that people could shake to get his attention and try to get a meeting with him. The picture is a picture of part of his bedroom. There were also water canals through the fort to cool it down. Again, it was all pretty complex, developed, and intricate.
Our next stop was Itmad-Ud-Daulah Tomb. It is the tomb of Mumtaz Mahal's grandfather (the woman who the Taj was made for). There is a lot of connectedness among families, it gets confusing. This was one of the more simple places we went, but the designs on the building were still incredible. This one also had a nice open courtyard, and one side was the river. It was kinda windy while we were there, and it started to rain so we ran to the entrance, and once it calmed down a bit we went back to our van to, finally, head to our last destination. A garden across from the Taj Mahal called Mahtab Bagh. It was a nice way to end the day of chaos. I guess it is usually more relaxing, but they were filming an Indian soap opera so there were cameras and people all over the place. But. We got to see the sunrise at the Taj, and then the sunset across the river from it. Overall, quite a nice experience. And we finally got to see clouds! In Delhi it always seems to be smoggy, or rainy, or there are clouds but not like the Colorado clouds I'm used to. So it was very nice to see the sky.

Friday: Agra

This weekend our Cities of Delhi class took a field trip to Agra. We left Delhi on Friday morning for the train station at 5:00, to catch our 6:30 train. The train was only a couple hours, and once we got into Agra, we immediately got onto our bus. While driving around the city and surrounding areas we saw a bunch of different shops, activities, and animals. In Agra we saw camels, dogs, cats, goats, cows, horses, peacocks, black bucks, and water buffalo. I also learned that most of the milk we drink is water buffalo milk, not cow milk. Weird. We first headed out of the city to Fatehpur Sikri which was the capital while the Mughal Emperor Akbar reigned in in the late 1500's. It was mostly made out of red sandstone and marble.

Oddly, it was only occupied for about 15 years and then abandoned, rumored because of lack of water. The structures were grand, to day the least. It seems like everything the Mughal's built was huge and intricate. It seems incredibly wasteful that they would make such a place and then leave it. Throughout the complex there were many room and courtyards. The rooms were all decorated, there was one that had animal fight scenes on the bottom panels, but for some reason all of the heads of the animals were missing. It looked as though they had been chiseled off. We couldn't figure out why. In one of the main court yards, there was a giant Parcheesi board. In the middle was a raised platform for the players to stand on. And then other people would be the pieces. In my mind, it's like Wizard's chess in Harry Potter.

The whole complex used to have rugs, curtains, and tapestries hung on the walls and door ways. There was also running water though a lot of the rooms. This created a sort of air conditioning. There were also large bath houses that were filled and used by royal families. It was preserved to the point that we could, in some small way, imagine what it was like there, over 500 years ago.


After we left Fatehpur Sikri we walked over the the mosque it is connected to. Jama Masjid. We were there the day before Eid (A Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan) so we were told that we had a different experience than most days of the year. Apparently it can be quite peaceful and quiet. It was chaos while we were there. Most of the chaos came from vendors following people around vigorously trying to get us to buy their goods. After getting through the mini mob be got to the center part of the court yard which had the tomb of a Sufi saint. It was in a large white fancy building. We took off our shoes and covered our heads to go in. The walls were all carved marble so you could see out into the courtyard through the carvings. On the designs people were tying red strings, from which I understood, was a wish being made.

We went back to the chaos that was the Jama Masjid courtyard. We walked around for a little bit, looking at the incredible architecture that was used by the Mughals as an expression of religious devotion. We eventually wandered over to the entrance used by the majority of people in the 1500's (we came in the entrance that was used by the emperor and royal family). The general entrance, opposed to the royal one, had was a long, incredibly steep staircase. There were goats hanging out all over it, and what appeared to be a marked on the street below. We had to go back through the courtyard one more time. The vendors were seemingly increasing in intensity. No matter how much we emphasized that we were not interested, they were determined to sell us things. Some people bargained with them and found things they liked.
This is Andrew. He is trying to escape the bombardment. With grace of course.


After we left, we were in the van on our way to the next place which was a good 40 minutes away. So of course I fell asleep. I was woken up by come commotion from people in the group. I woke up and looked out the window where everyone's attention seemed to be. I saw a little bit of a mass of people, but we were passing it as I was waking up. Turns out, it was people protesting Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center who had plans to burn Qurans on September 11th in protest of "Muslim extremists" (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/09/07/florida.quran.burning/index.html?iref=NS1#fbid=RTwPrGrYaPF&wom=true) Apparently the church's idea of reaching out to the world includes creating violence and rifts between peoples.

Next, we went to Emperor Akbar's tomb, also known as Sikandra Fort. Akbar built it for himself, and it was finished by his son, Emperor Jehangir. The structure itself is all red and white, with very detailed designs, giving it a really interesting feel. It seemed a lot different than any of the other monuments we saw.

Not only did it appear different, but it had crazy acoustics. There were domes that if stood under, someone could clap or make a noise in the area and it would be magnified and projected to right under the center of the dome. There were also places where people could stand in opposite corners, about 15 feet apart, and whisper towards the wall. The sounds would travel up around the dome and down the opposite corner and everything that we said could be clearly heard by the other party. There was a nice woman employed to show us these things.

Next we stopped at the hotel to drop our stuff off (we stayed in this swanky place), and then 7 of us decided to go on the Taj Mahal nature walk. Our teacher hadn't ever been on it, because it is a relatively new addition. We got in our van and got as close as we could. Unfortunately it was raining. We waited in the van for a while, and then decided to just go for it. A couple of us shared umbrellas because not everyone brought them. It took us a while to find the entrance, and by the time we found it, it had stopped raining, which was nice. Our teacher convinced the ticket people that we should only have to buy three tickets because there was less than an hour until it closed. We were walking along, just chatting and enjoying being in green areas and not in urban craziness. There were also peacocks in the trees, of which Lauren and Andrew decided to call to. They had a nice chat. And then we stumbled upon this.

It was incredible to have the canopy of trees, and the low laying fog, and then this massive, beautiful structure that seemed to be a part of the environment. Although being at the Taj was incredible, this was my favorite way to view it. It seemed so natural and magnificent. We pretended we were explorers stumbling upon this mountainous white building. It was pretty great.