Holy Cow!

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Trip Start Jun 27, 2010 Previous
Entry Trip End Aug 07, 2010

  Delhi, India
Friday, August 6, 2010

Holy cow! I'm homeward bound!  Yep…. I’m on the plane home from this magical time in India and will probably end up posting this from my very own house!  Before I get any deeper into my telling of my last days, I want to take some time to tell all of you who are teachers that you should absolutely get yourself one of these awards.  The application process is tricky….they are looking for people who can follow directions.  Check!  You can all do that, right? Then they are looking for people who are flexible.  Suspend your judgments, get ready to stray outside your comfort zone, know that your creature comforts are going to range from pit toilets with will make you gag to the height of luxury in world famous five star hotels and prepare to go an adventure of a lifetime.  I have to wait a year to apply for one of these again.  You are all poised to apply. Here is the link! http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iegpssap/sapfacts.html

 I think the applications are due in October and the particular division that this program falls under is the Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad. Next year’s programs will include Argentina, India or Turkey/Greece.  That’s for elementary school teachers.  The secondary seminars are China, Mexico and Thailand/Vietnam.  Really…this is a fabulous way to travel the world.   There is actually other program where the teachers actually work (perish the thought!) teaching children in the Delhi schools for five weeks.  They do get put up at the Taj hotel so they are well taken care of, and this might be something I’d consider doing next summer.  After all, I have all these clothes now that I have to put to good use.  And all the bangles to match!

Yes, our last days in Delhi were filled with a whirlwind of activity as we got ourselves ready to depart for the US. A lot of the people on the trip had to go suitcase shopping.  I had already bought an additional suitcase earlier in the trip as my first one had started to bulge in dangerous ways! I did have a typical Delhi experience when out shopping for souvenirs on Thursday afternoon.  Danielle…. this is all dedicated to you (she’s my niece, and this adventure happened in pursuit of a special something for her!). 

I had been told that what I wanted was to be bought at a place called the Delhi Emporium on something something street in something something bazaar.  I knew I was going near it to pick up some clothing I had had made (this is an amazing country---you pick out the fabrics and a day later a gorgeous outfit has been created for you from scratch right to your very own measurements!).  However, in this process I have learned a dangerous lesson---Never ever try to improve or alter the Indian design.  You will get something that doesn’t quite work!  It will be too short, too wide, too funky…in other words, not wearable!  I now have a beautiful tunic that should have been a long salwar as a case in point!  It will go with jeans, not to worry, but it just didn’t look right in India. 

But back to my story…I pick up my clothing at one market and tell my friends that I will meet them at the Delhi Emporium.  The man in the shop points me in the right direction and off I go.  Now I should mention that Delhi is totally torn up as it prepares for the Commonwealth games that are being held in the fall.   I must mention also that in the four weeks since we’ve been gone Delhi has undergone a radical transformation.  Many of the sidewalks that were unpaved when we got here or the medians of the road are now paved or planted with beautiful gardens.  And, I’m thinking that maybe it is just my eyes, but Delhi seemed quieter, the driving less crazy, the place more organized than it appeared when I first arrived in July!  Could it be that after all I've experienced, Delhi is more organized?  It was crazy in July, really zany!

So here I am in downtown Delhi at Connaught Place, a humungous set of beautiful Victorian white buildings arranged in a one to two mile ring with shopping arcades and bazaars on the first floor.  And I start walking.  And I walk, and I keep asking where to go with the little piece of paper with the address in my hand.  I’m stepping over a concrete jungle of paving, mud, water, and rickshaws and motorbikes and bike rickshaws are all around me.  There are no sidewalks to speak of….everyone is walking on the road in between the cars, and at time ducking to get under the electric wires that just hang helter skelter. 

I ask a guy for directions and he starts to walk with me through a bazaar and says that he’s going that way so we walk together. "I’m a student," he tells me, and “my teacher tells me to talk with Americans.”  He can’t tell me the name of his school of course, and within a few minutes this starts feeling reminiscent of yet another guy who had approached a group of us a few week’s back who diverted us to his brother-in-law’s cousin’s cousin’s shop that just happened to have the same thing we needed for a very good price.   But he seems pleasant enough, and we are on crowded streets, and I feel totally safe, and yes, the signs that I can read are pointing me towards the market I’m looking for.  Finally after walking for what seems like days (it’s really hot!) he brings me to an Emporium which lo’ and behold is not the one I’m supposed to go to. (I know you are all so surprised, right?)

 Now, it is well into the 90s and I’m hot as hell and wearing my pretty indigo outfit which I’m sure is bleeding all over me, and he apologizes and asks the manager for directions to the right one (so I think!).  We start walking and again he takes me to another Emporium which is not the right one (mind you they all say “Emporium”), and then it dawns on me that I am having the true Delhi "tout" experience, where someone takes you to his special places where he will get a commission instead of taking you to where you really want to go.  (This happens always in a rickshaw when you tell the driver where you want to go and they tell you, “No cost madam, but I know a better place where you will get a better buy!  We always say, “No…I have an appointment and this usually works.”)

 In fact I did tell this guy that I was meeting my friends at this Delhi Emporium. I never felt in danger, mind you…just frustrated and HOT!  I’d get to each place that he’d take me to, and I’d ask for what I was looking for.  “Oh yes, m’am,” they would say and lead you into the store.  When you’d get in they would reveal that they didn’t have exactly what you came in for, but how INCREDIBLY lucky you are!  Instead, they would ask you if you wanted to look at carpets or jewelry or pashminas or whatever! It was laughable and I knew I had fallen for this and just laughed at myself and my predicament---hey, just enjoy it because there’s nothing else to do.   After an hour had gone by and we’d visited at least four or five stores of “yes m’am, we have it, oh, no we don’t but we have carpets!” and no closer to the right Emporium I took a tuk-tuk back to where I started, bought what I needed from a shop I had seen that had the same things, and then headed for the hotel.  PS: The guy, of course, wanted money for taking me shopping! This is the game in town, and lo’ and behold, my friends also had NEVER reached the shop as they too were treated to the same wonderful Delhi "tout"  tradition and they too had spent the afternoon going from shop to shop!  It definitely is an experience to be had…

The fabulous news was, that in this afternoon experience I learned to cross the roads all by myself, something that would have frightened me into inaction a few week’s ago!  I’m good at it!  You spot an opening and you walk slowly and deliberately…no one wants to kill you, and running makes you too unpredictable to the cars, so therefore you are at greater risk if you are running. I am so proud of myself!  (You all must be scratching your heads at this, but really, there is no way to translate what driving looks like here other than to tell you that stop lights mean nothing, lines on roads are decorations, and the sheer amount of cars, rickshaws, motorbikes, and carts and pilgrims carrying sacred water is staggering, especially when they seem to be going both ways on one road in the same lane.  I’ll miss this….watching the traffic patterns has never failed to amuse me!)

Anyway, on Thursday night we had a big farewell dinner at one of the other swank five star hotels in Delhi, and all of us got bedecked and bedazzled.  I wore my fancy new salwar kameez, others had had saris made, still others were in fancy kurtas (shirts).  There was lots of bling!  Boy, am I going to miss that.  It’s easy to dress up like a princess here!  Yesterday when I went to our debriefing meeting I wore a pink and green salwar kameez along with sparkly earrings and a necklace and bracelets to match.  I picked up all of my jewels on the street at little markets and they were so much fun to wear.  I felt totally dazzling and very Indian, especially with all of my bangles to match! 

I’ll be so curious to see how any of this transfers back home.  I bought things that I can hopefully wear with leggings or jeans, though the way that Indian women match their pants, scarves and tunics is just awesome.  Really, I know I’ve said this so many times, but it is the colors and patterns that just have knocked me out this summer.  And the faces of the children and the dedication of the teachers. 

So you’ve all been so loyal to this blog, and I’m going to try to answer any questions that you’ve asked that I haven’t already answered. 

The guy at the Taj Mahal:  Either you know him or don’t.  I didn’t, but I’m not a TV watcher.  His name is Curtis Stone and he is a master chef and author and host of TLC’s hit series Take Home Chef. tlc.discovery.com/fansites/takehomechef/bio.html  He is from Australia and is adorable. 

The food:  I have eaten very little meat this summer and it is so easy to be a vegetarian here.  Right now, meat doesn’t seem that interesting to me either, but really I think that’s because of the myriad of choices that one has with veg Indian food.  I finally reached the point where I have been eating Indian food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, too.  Masala omelets, masala dosas, stuffed parantha, yummy breakfasts!  Interestingly enough, I have only had samosas once, and that is because they are street and snack food.  They were fabulous when I had them…better than anything I ever had the in the US---hot, crispy, stuffed with yummy filling unlike anything I’ve ever tasted.  I have not really developed a love for all of the Indian desserts or candy as they are usually WAY too sweet (read, hurt your teeth sweet!), but there are a few that I do love.  I’m going to hit the Indian grocery store in Waltham and see if they have the ingredients and try to duplicate them with the help of some recipes that have been given to me. 

My belly:  Many of you have asked, and well, yes, I did get Delhi Belly, but mild cases of it.  The spicy food (spicier than you’ve ever had or can imagine and still taste good!), and the sanitary conditions make it inevitable that every one of us on the trip had a day or two where we hit the dust.  I pretty much fight through it as a rule because I hate anything slowing me down, though it’s not pretty at all when it hits you.  Thank goodness for Imodium!  'Nuff said…but if any of you ever stray this way, bring pepto-bismal, eat yoghurt constantly and take Imodium.  Interestingly enough, several people on the trip had bad reactions to the Maloran, the drug we take every morning for malaria.  That’s been fine for me.  

My group:  We have been a fabulous group of travelers sometimes traveling in the harshest of conditions (yeah, I know, those Taj hotels are really harsh), yet we really did seem to bring out the best in each other.  Some people I like enormously, and some I had very little to do with.  You know, you see people at their best and worst traveling like this, and we were together 24/7 for five weeks.  Sometimes people were sick, sometimes people were tired, people have all sorts of agendas…I think I was a good member of the group and I enjoyed the people that I hung out the most with. I treasure the intimacy you have and get so quickly with people in a situation like this and will miss that intensity I think. 

The bathrooms?  Well.they ranged from holes in the ground to opulent bathrooms with people holding doors and towels and skin creams.  Carrying toilet paper is absolutely necessary…never leave home without it!

The water:  I always drank from bottled water from bottles that I opened the tops of.  Nevertheless, there were plenty of times that we were served on plates that were washed in who knows what water, and I just prayed!

Blogging? Blogging, using the computer and downloading photos are part of my new learnings this summer.  Speaking of which, several of you have asked me how I’ve found time to blog?  I write down my thoughts during the day, on the bus or when I have a few moments free, and then put it on a word document.  I tried to use the internet at the hotel; every few days (although sometimes the power failed or internet access was too sketchy) and then I would cut and paste what I’d written.  Uploading photos took a very long time, and that forced me to be careful about which photos I’d include for the individual entries. It’s a great way to crystallize the essence of what I’ve experienced this summer.  We do so much each day and we cover so much ground, and this has been a fabulous way to reflect on it all and give me some perspective. 

The program:  Well, I am so lucky to have been gifted this amazing opportunity to live and travel in India this past summer.  I have had to write one paper already that I submitted to be part of a group report, and then I have a curriculum project that I am going to have to get busy working on sometime soon.  I’m doing it on geometry, patterns and symmetry and yesterday I even bought wood blocks in paisley patterns for my class to design their own Indian block print patterns (Did you know that paisley patterns were invented by a man named Mr. Paisley?).  The people who ran the program were fantastic…and very interesting people in their own right.  Everyone has a story, you know?  One thing that I wished the program had done was to have given us more of an opportunity to give back.  I would have liked to have been in the same school for several days where I could have worked with teachers to develop curriculum in a more meaningful way than our one day visits allowed me to. 

Hints for future travelers to India: 

1. Come with an empty suitcase!  Be prepared to ditch your bland colored American clothes within five seconds of arriving and looking at the gorgeous colors that surround you.  Well…if you must, bring capris ‘cause they look great with Indian print kurtas!
2. Imodium is your best friend.
3. Prepare to see incredible poverty and an infrastructure that matches the newspaper reports of beaurocratic muck
   

   Kids at school
   .  Yes, Delhi is in the midst of a massive clean up and the airport we left from is not the same one we arrived in as they have just opened a brand new terminal which is light year’s ahead of the old one which was surrounded by beggars and slums and traffic.  And the roads are now totally different from what met us in July because they are being spiffed up so those who go to their five stars will see something that hardly hints at what life is like a few blocks away. 
4. Know that you will love this country and hate it.  You will be floored with so many emotions.  It is a vast country that is ancient and brand new at the very same time. It is a developing.  If only they could figure out what to do with the street children as it is child abuse at its bitter core.  Prepare, then, to have your heart broken by the beautiful street kids, and then to have it break even more with the beggars and the dirt and the trash. 
5. Know that you will be taken or swindled.  It’s the name of the game.  You win a few and lose a few---at worst, you’ve given someone a bonus and more than the small wage that they probably earn each day.  Bargaining is part of the culture…but bargain fairly.  \
6. Wear sandals and shoes that are easy to slip on and off.  Your feet will be very dirty.  You will leave your shoes there!  I gave several pairs of shoes to the people at the hotels who were so grateful (you have to write a note certifying that you are giving this to them)
   

   More children
   . 
7. Bring any Indian print shirt you ever had with you.  But remember that you want to cover your arms and wear things below your knees.  You will look so out of place in sleeveless tops.  In the summer jeans are just ridiculously hot!  Make FabIndia (a great store) your first stop! 
8. Prepare to be amazed and to come back with stories upon stories!

So speaking of stories all you great people at the receiving end of this blog---you’ve all shared in my wonderful story this summer. I have loved writing to you and each time you've answered me I felt like you were along with me for the ride.  I so appreciate all of your attempts to stay in touch and I loved reading your notes to me.  Thank you for keeping me in your hearts this summer.  I’m emotional now and a bit weepy thinking back at all that I’ve experienced, whether it is the noisy beep beep of the cities, the history I’ve learned, the monuments I’ve visited or the people I’ve met.  What will stick with me forever I think, are those brown eyes and the colors.  I’ve included some of my favorite photos for you to enjoy as my parting gift to all of you.   I thank you all for following this and being a part of my summer.  See you soon 10,000 miles from here!

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Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures & Videos

Love this face!	Beautiful brown eyed girls	Beautiful brown eyed boys	Girl in a rural village
Children in the village	Village kids	Man doing prayers at aarti on Ganges	Dancer at a performance
At a Nepalese Temle	Children...more brown eyes!	Joy!	Street seller
Cute	Colors	More colors	At the temple
The squat	Sari color	Scaffolding on buildings	On the street
Man on the street	Elephant riders! Andi & Gagan, our traveguide	He said "WOW" after seeing this!	Lady, lady, buy from me!
Couldn't resist!

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