White.

Yesterday, my ISA clan and I went to see Mission Impossible at the 2nd largest IMAX in the world, which was really cool, but the train ride home had a much larger impact on me then the movie. I love riding the train- seeing so many people at the same time, it's always such an adventure. The Indian women are always so nice too, and I have spoken to many of them. This train ride was no different from the last, first I was standing, then sitting next to 2 women Indian and a young boy (about 8 I think). He tried asking me something, but I really have a hard time understanding Indian accented English, so a woman behind me helped me understand. I think I knew what he was saying the whole time, I just wanted to be wrong... He kept motioning towards his face and my face; the women with him were touching my face.... He wanted to know how I made me skin so pale. I laughed it off, explained that I was born this way. I wanted to say a lot more, but there was really no hope in that, as the women and boy mostly spoke Telugu. I'm not sure why, but this question really woke me up to what has been happening all along: the picture taking, the staring, the asking where I'm from, etc. All this because of my white skin. Honestly, sometimes it's flattering: people wanting to talk to you, know about you, tell you you're beautiful... but in reality it's my skin, that's all. I was really upset about this idea last night, so I did research of why white skin was such a big deal in India... After watching extremely racist 'Pond's White Beauty' commercials in almost every language possible and reading horrible blogs about the aesthetics of skin color, I came across a video which I would really like everyone to watch. It's about 20 minutes, but it is worth it. It helped me understand things better:

   http://vimeo.com/16210769

   I thought of posting the links to all those horrible Pond's commercials on here, but I'll just let you all investigate that yourself.

  I'm not sure how I feel about what happened yesterday but it's been on my mind, so I just thought I'd share.

Ramoji Film City

So Saturday was a very exciting day with the ISA clan.

Look! Hollywood!

Ramoji Film City is a collection of film sets/stages that is basically the size of a town. It is the largest film set in the world. We went on a tour (I didn't understand anything the tour guide said), saw a lot of cheesy skits, rode a few rides, and ate lunch. I also saw an insane amount of awesome/scary trashcans which I just had to share...

Is this an egg?

This is what comes in my nightmares.

I wish that was a real ice cream cone.

:D

Peter Rabbit?

Papa Bear?

This is one nice trashcan!

Not like the chicken with the egg body makes sense anyways, but what's with the leaf?

Go Green.

Now we're in Disney World. ha.

It was overall a fun day, I just wish I knew more about India's movie industry so I could've known what we were actually looking at. Again, we were the center of everyone's attention, which included being in a family picture (it resembled a family reunion, just with a bunch of random Americans included), autographs, and again... lots of picture taking... of us. I will admit, it's starting to bother me; not when it's a big group/family or women and kids, but when it's a line of men taking pictures and videos of you without asking, you feel violated. As long as a person asks, I'm okay, but when I don't even get the option to say no, it's offensive. It's all good though... I got to see Sylvester Stallone...

Rambo and me :)

Ryan's fans.

A Class Schedule!

I have a for-sure class schedule, which is a HUGE accomplishment!!!

Monday:
    NGO and Development: 2-4 pm
    Basic Hindi: 4-5 pm

Tuesday:
   Yoga Practice and Theory: 9-11 am
   NGO and Development: 2-4 pm
   Basic Hindi: 4-5 pm

Wednesday:
   20th Century Indian Art: 11am-1pm
   Basic Hindi: 4-5 pm
   ISA Meeting (not really a class, but it made the schedule): 5-6 pm

Thursday:
   Yoga Practice and Theory: 9-11am
   20th Century Indian Art: 11am-1 pm
   Basic Hindi: 4-5 pm

Friday:
   NOTHING!!!

So far, I'm really excited for my classes. Yoga is absolutely amazing! Our teacher is this beautiful woman who is a professional dancer. I really look forward to waking up and going, I wish it was more then twice a week. NGO and Development was just added as a course and I am so so so excited for it to get going. I'll be working with an NGO for about a month after the semester, so knowing more about how they work will be fantastic. Our first assignment will be finding a local NGO to volunteer with and writing about our experiences! :) Basic Hindi is taught by Bhavani, about the cutest lady I have ever seen. Her three-year-old daughter and her are always around the Tagore House so she has great relationships with her students. She'll be taking us on field trips to learn how to cook and haggle in Hindi. 20th Century Indian Art is really the only class I'm nervous for. It's a Master's course about something I don't know much about. But hopefully it will all work out. My professor refers to the foreign students as 'you people', but he seems rather helpful and understanding.


  

Hyderabad

I know I said I was done backtracking, but I'm not. There is just so much happening I don't have time to write it all down! January 1st-6th consisted of orientations, shopping, police registration, meetings, tours of places, and a really REALLY confusing class scheduling process. In fact I still don't know for sure what I'm taking. India has a way of dragging out registration forever. But I'm dealing with it okay. Usually I like to have a completely set schedule all the time; this has been good for my patience building.



Saturday, the 7th, was awesome; a lot happened that day. First was Chowmahalla Palace, which is now a museum. It was absolutely beautiful, and had some great photographs of past royal families.

The King's Thrown at Chowmahalla Palace.

Next was Charminar, which produced some pretty awesome views of the city below. We climbed up really steep, narrow stairs to the top. (*don't do this if you are claustrophobic!) Once on top, it was awesome though. Charminar is the center of four streets meeting, almost like a round-a-bout. There were vendors selling everything from fruit to clothing to jewelery. (Hyderabad is known as the City of Pearls). After climbing down, Rahul took us around the shops. I learned very quickly that there is no such thing as window shopping in India; if you go into a store you have to know what you want. I did buy my first bangles though, helping me feel like I fit in a little more.

Charminar was built for the gods, in hopes it would end the famine.

I crossed the street and didn't die! :)

We then drove to this wonderful lakeside eating place, called Eat Street. It was fabulous! They had all these lunch places, including Subway, Pizza Hut, Vegetarian restaurants, etc. In the middle of the lake stands the Buddha Statue. We would have gone to see it up close, but the ferries don't run until night. The city surrounds the lake. It reminded me a lot of New York City in a way. Rahul told us that it's a great place for a date, which became very obvious, but I learned myself that it's also a place for men to come check out the ladies. haha. When the girls and I went to get some ice cream, a man came up to us, introduced himself, asked us what we were doing in Hyderabad, and then paid of ALL of our ice cream as a 'Welcome to Hyderabad'-gift. It was actually really sweet :) I was sad to leave Eat Street. I will definately be going there again.

Golconda Fort was our final stop. Oh boy was this interesting. The fort in itself was absolutely astonishing. Beautiful. It's built on top of and into rocks of the mountain. It was a tough trek up to the top, our guide was practically running and the stairs were about 3 feet high, but the exercise felt good. But the photographs...I have never had my picture taken so many times in my life. Oh wow. It  was amazing. Sometimes people tried to hide it, other times they just walked up to us and snapped a couple shots. It was super different. We all didn't really know what to think of it. Ryan did point out that maybe my skin-colored pants made it look like I was walking around pant-less...(I had seen Indian women wearing them, so I bought some, not thinking of the skin tone difference haha) and perhaps that was why people were taking so many pictures. hahaha. It was a very exciting day, but it didn't end there.

This photograph doesn't do Golconda justice. The size just couldn't be captured by my camera.

Something I adore about India: ancient ruins towering over new cities.

That night we went to a club in the old-town Hyderabad. It was really classy, a bit pricy actually, but nothing compared to the US. It was a fun night, lots of music, dancing, and people. The dancing was actually quite humorous to me, as Indians kinda just bounce around and look like mini-Bollywood movies. Going out made me miss Billy a lot though.

On Sunday the 8th, a couple girls and I went to Shalparamam, a craft village nearby. It was absolutely fabulous. I haggled with people, (which was actually quite enjoyable), ate chocolate, got some new henna, and saw a lot of cute Indian families. It was great.

The last of the backtrack blogging...

December 31st aka NEW YEARS EVE

So, as I stated before, I very much dislike Agra. It showed me the worst of India: prostitution out of my own hotel, so much more poverty lining the streets, pick-pocketing galore, sexism to it's max, and disformed people forced to beg on the streets. One little girl still haunts my thoughts.

 But, I did see the Taj Mahal. And how many people can say they were at the Taj and New Years Eve?! Honestly, it wasn't as big of deal as it's made out to be. My favorite part of going was the picture taking and the scrubs we had to wear over our feet. Yes, it is absolutely stunning: 3 types of marble inlayed with gems of all kinds, but I would've much rather spent my time in Jaipur.

High Value Ticket Holders Ladies, Indian Ladies, and High Value Ticket Holders Gents. Super lame, but some European ladies gave us a show by fighting with the guards about it, and eventually WINNING! :)

Go HUSKERS! :)

Henna-tattooed-hand touching the Taj

Scrubs! (to wear inside)

After a quick shopping spree, we drove all the way back to Delhi, and flew to Hyderabad. I was welcomed to my new home exactly at midnight by New Year's Eve Fireworks!

I haven't eaten McDonalds in over 5 years, but at the New Delhi Airport, it just seemed right. ha.

More Backtracking...

December 30

photo taken by Megan :) Excited me and Kelly

This was a day I had been looking forward to my whole life. Elephants are my favorite animal. I guess I've seen one before, when I was really young, but don't remember it. So, basically, I got to see my favorite animal for the first time. The ISA clan rode up to the Amber Fort of Jaipur by elephant. It was tourist-city, but I didn't care. I rode an elephant! It was absolutely amazing, but I am ashamed to say that these brilliant animals looked extremely sad. They all had their tusks sawed off, had scars all over, and blood from new wounds. Rahul said that in the past, elephants were made to go up and down the mountain all day with as many people that could fit on their back. Luckily, the government has stepped in and they are only allowed to take two people up, twice a day. This is a great law, but it's really up to their driver how they are treated. I don't know anything about elephant training/driving, but I don't think that beating them in the head with an wooden or iron rod to make them go is very humane. I really don't understand it, as a famous Hindu god, Ganesh, is portrayed as an elephant. Some drivers treated their elephants very well, I don't want to give them all a bad rep, but it is very sad. Our driver just had to click his mouth and the elephant would go. He also gave him a snack on the way up. Touching that elephant was so incredible.... I don't know how to explain it. Their eyes are so big and dark. They look so wise and gentle. I saw so excited, I was able to block out the empathy I felt for them, as you can see in the pictures.

Beautiful Animals <3

My view on the way up

Our elephant is raising his trunk, which is a sign of welcoming.

We explored the fort from there on. This is a photograph of the mountains surrounding us with a huge wall protecting the city on top.

At the time this fort was built, women were not allowed to be seen by the public, so they stood behind these wonderfully crafted marble window-things, which allowed them to see out, but no one to see in.

ISA Family: we are standing in front of walls painted with paints made from vegetables and flowers. It's similar to a fresco.

We went SHOPPING afterwards!!! Jaipur is known for their gems (the tops place in the world for polishing gems, actually), and block printed textiles. We went to this shopping complex that was owned by the government, so all the prices were fixed and were guaranteed the best. I have never felt so rich in my life, the way the salesman treated us all was incredible! haha. They were shockingly amazing salesman, but very respectful and nice.

All of us after our first shopping extravaganza :)

Sadly, we had to leave Jaipur right afterwards. I really miss that place. It is absolutely beautiful.

We drove and drove to my least favorite place in India: Agra. It took an hour or so to find our hotel, which was very uncomfortable and super sketchy. It was loud, due to an early New Years Party downstairs, and apparently there was a big fight around midnight.

Kelly and I made an alarm system for our hotel room, since there were no bolts on the door :)

Pictures for December 29th

Plain Doosa

Jaipur Streets

Snake Charmer Outside City Palace

Our welcome dinner (from front to back: Ryan, Megan, Jamie, Rahul, Amber, me, and Kelly)

Henna (mine is the back left)

Backtracking...

December 29th

At 5 AM in the morning, I took a hot shower. It was the most fantastic shower I have ever experienced. On our drive to Jaipur, we stopped at this wonderful little hotel/restaurant/shopping/park area. I had plain doosa (a pancake type thing) with a hot sauce to dip it in. I also had my first Chai Tea aka Indian Tea. I was splendid.

I realized that my stomach has shrunk immensely since arriving to this country. Eating is hard in India. First, Indians do not eat lunch until 2 pm and dinner is at 9 or 10 pm! Second, one always has to think about the food: Is it safe? Is there meat? What about the water? Etc. lastly, when you see such skinny, malnourished children and people in general, you don’t really see the sense of over-eating. I know that not eating all of my dinner doesn’t guarantee it will feed someone else, but when I look down and see extra fat on my body and absolutely non on the child begging me to buy something from him, I feel like a pig and not too hungry.
After being served by the best waiter in my life the bill came to 120 rupees aka >$2. I had my first experience with a squat toilet, which was surprisingly hard, but much less wasteful then Western toilets. In the shop I bought my first Indian clothing: a kurta (I think?) which is basically a light tunic. It’s beautiful. You will see pictures.

During the car ride I wrote a list of things I saw:
1. Stuck-up looking camels
2. Goats and sheep and shepherds
3. Extreme poverty next to beautiful fields
4. Hard working men and women
5. Happy looking cows and calves
6. Children flying kites on top of buildings and in fields
7. MONKEYS!!!
8. Men bathing outside
9. Men urinating outside
10. India minus the smog
11. Genius ways of building homes out of garbage
12. Pigs and piglets
13. Huge forts
14. ELEPHANTS. Yes, I saw elephants. A lot of them. Eating, working, everything. I seriously almost cried.

The city of Jaipur is absolutely gorgeous; it is nicknamed the ‘Pink City.’ All the buildings are lovely pinks and peach colors and the architecture is fantastic. It is surrounded by huge, green mountains with towering old forts on top. There are two parts of Jaipur: the old city and the new city. The old city is surrounded by a big wall with only 8 entrances. Animals are all over the place: cows, monkeys, horses, camels, elephants, dogs, pigs, goats, cats, etc.

When we first got there, we checked into our fabulous hotel with a shower curtain and everything! Soon we were met by a tour guide who greatly resembled Robin Williams and went to the ‘City Palace’. The ‘king’ lives there (he doesn’t really do anything, he’s just the king) but half of it is a museum and very important astrological sight. I saw the biggest sun dial in the world there! Oh, and since it was tourist overkill, I saw a snake charmer!

Later that night we went to this cultural village thing that is kind of an equivalent to our Renaissance Festivals, but Indian. I saw a puppet show, traditional dance and music, a magic show, tight roping, and I got a henna tattoo. Henna is this paste like thing that stains your skin for a couple days. After about an hour of waiting in line for dinner, we entertained a large Indian family with our reactions to the spicy food haha. They were really nice though. This was considered our ‘welcome dinner’ from ISA.

More backtracking is coming!