Another Adventure

Well it seems a little silly, but on Saturday we finally went to the beach! We had stopped and wandered on the sand a little before, but never gone and spent a whole day there. We drove FOREVER so that we could get far enough outside the city to find cleaner water and beaches, and fewer people to stare at us. It was so exciting to run into the water and not have it be bone-numbing cold! I had a blast with my friends, wading out further than I've ever been, and actually going underwater and swimming around a little. We had fun bobbing in and diving under the waves, and I even accidentally did a little body-surfing at one point, although that didn't end too well. Turns out once you start riding the wave, its pretty hard to control when or where you stop. It was a beautiful day though, and I ended it by walking up and down the shore with a very sweet little old Indian man who helped me pick out some beautiful seashells. Unfortunately no one really thought to bring a camera, so I've only got one my picture to share from that glorious day. Below that are a few pictures of me and my favorite of our cooks, Durga, with our little Diwali lamps lit us next to us.

The Festival of Lights

Saturday October 17th was India's favorite holiday, Diwali! And just like with every other festival here in India, people started celebrating it about a week before it actually began, and have yet to stop. To celebrate, we were all invited to the community center of a group of Muslim people that one of our students (John) has been working with and befriended in the course of his research. At the start of the evening all of us girls were cajoled into playing some 'throw-ball' with all of the women and the older girls. Its really as simple as it sounds; you have a team on either side of a volley-ball net, and you just toss the ball over and they catch it then throw it back. You score points and rotate just like volleyball, except you serve by throwing the ball over the net instead of hitting it. It sounds like a pretty mellow game, but boy were we wrong! All of the women started changing into their tennis shoes, and showing how to tie our scarves across our front like a sash so that it doesn't fall off while we play. These women were so intense! And they made it look so easy to throw the ball from the far end of the court to other, but the first time I tried it my ball didn't even make over our side of the net! It turns out there is a definite technique to throwing correctly in throw ball. After I figured out the game though I did pretty well, and they seemed pretty surprised that a little weakling American could keep up with them at their own game. I definitely earned some respect for my throw-ball skills!

After we finished the match- my team won 2 games to 1 :) -the men took over the court and played real volleyball, except with a soccer ball! Ouch! While they played, the women sat around and talked about life and gossiped with each other. It was fun getting to know them and they were eager to include us in their group and help us feel at ease. So many of the women there had advanced degrees, children, and a professional life. It is also amazing to me how many languages people here now. Many of them speak English, Hindi, Telugu, Arabic, Urdu, and other languages as well. It makes my little 2 and 1/2 seem pathetic. Anyways . . . Once the men finished their game we all sat down to dinner, where I was excited to see some chicken! Our cooks are all Hindu and vegetarian so they only cook meat once in a while. The fact that the chicken was so spicy that my lips went kind of numb and tingly didn't detract from the excitement.

Once dinner was finished and cleared away, we got to the real celebration of Diwali; fireworks! Here they call them all firecrackers, but Indian firecrackers should really not be confused with our measly little USA fireworks. They only things they passed out to us Americans were little sparklers -People are always worried that we're too delicate and can't handle the same things they can- but even their sparklers were bigger and more powerful and had further flying sparks. Here in India all types of fireworks are legal everywhere, including the big mortar ones that we normally only see in professional shows. And the people here seem to love this one kind of cracker, not sure what the name is, that does nothing but make a huge booming noise. Its probably the same kind of flash bomb the CIA uses to disperse protesters, thats how loud it is. The scariest part of the whole thing is how young the kids are that they let light off the fireworks! Some of them could not possibly have been older than 5 or 6. Kids that I wouldn't even let play with a sparkler on their own are given free reign with a lighter stick and whatever kind of firework they can get their little hands on.

Regardless of the danger, it was definitely a very very fun night! Their little community center was such a peaceful little retreat, with lush trees and flowers everywhere, and their beautiful mosque. Its in the middle of the city, but its surrounded by a wall thats at least 12 feet tall so you would never know it. Its just a beautiful little oasis in the middle of a rather hectic, loud, raccous city and I really enjoyed our evening there.

The next night, one of our sweet cooks Durga shyly asked me if I would help her get the Diwali lamps ready. I was so excited that she wanted me to help her! She had pot thirty or forty shallow little clay dishes/pots, which we filled with sunflower oil. We then twisted strands of cotton into wicks and placed on in each little dish. We then placed the lamps all along the half-wall that closes in the porch/balcony which runs all across the front of the second-floor program house. She found a wax candle for me, and then let me light all of our little lamps. It was such a beautiful sight! All of the little lights flickering in the dark, it was a very fun project and a very happy night. Durga and I were very proud of our work, and called everyone out to see it. One of the students, my friend Dan, took some pictures of the lamps and of Durga and I, which I will post soon.

I'm keeping busy with my research, and I absolutely cannot believe how quickly my time here has gone by! I am definitely excited to come back home and see my family and take a real shower, but I will be very sad to leave here. I certainly hope this is not the last time I will get to be in India, I have a feeling it will pull me back again eventually.

Pictures to follow shortly!

Pictures from Hyderabad

Eating a fresh pomegranate in front of Charminar. That was a happy day!

The main mosque near Charminar, named Makkah Masjic, and me! See, I was really there!

I really like this picture, with the arches all lined up. It was definitely worth jumping into the middle of the street for.




The Best Western Hotel, that's actually a super awesome castle! You can't even see all of the towers and turrets and what not. Very nifty.

Hyderabad

Sorry for the lengthy gap in posts, I've been keeping pretty busy out here in India! I've been back from Hyderabad for

about a week, and its been a super busy week! But here's the story!

We took a 'sleeper train' there on Sunday night, and not gonna lie it was pretty nifty. It was air conditioned which was glorious, and we each had our own little bunk against the wall. It was so much fun!!! It was like the knight bus combined with the hogwarts express, and on the way there I was so excited about the train that I took forever to fall asleep. Our hotel was good; very clean, air conditioned, not a whole lot of decorations or foofiness, but definitely clean and safe. We spent our days going around the city, led by one of our group's two boys (John). He actually spent six months of his mission in Hyderabad, so he knew the city really well and knew a lot of people living there. The whole city is built around this man-made lake that was created in the 1700 hundreds, and in the middle of the lake is a giant rock with a giant statue of . . . you guessed it, Buddha! We went to a park right at the edge of the lake and part of our group went out on boats and got to get off at the rock the statue is on and walk around for a while, but my stomache was feeling a little unsettled and I didn't think a boat ride would help much. Later that day we went to another Hindu temple, but this one was way cooler than any of the other ones we've been to. It was a really big temple with lots of different levels and stair cases, and when you went ot the very top you could see the whole city spread out around you as far as the eye could see. I was really upset that we weren't allowed to bring cameras into the complex, but when the temple guards carry ak-47s you tend to do what they tell you to do. The whole temple complex was built of pure white marble, and it was amazingly clean! Usually the temples are just as dirty as the rest of the town, but this place was sparkling clean. Granted, we did have to take our shoes off before we could go inside. And on our way from the park to the temple we walked past this huge castle and it turned out to be a Best Western Hotel! On the other days we did a whole lot of shopping and eating (the food there was SO GOOD!!!), and went to a few museums. But the coolest thing we did was to go to the Old City District, to visit Charminar (look it up on wikipedia, its pretty cool). It was really cool because we got to go there on the last day of Ramadan, when all of the Muslim people were celebrating and gathering with their friends and family to celebrate. We went back again a few days later. The streets were packed with Muslim men, and most of the women were dressed in head to toe black burkas. Some of them even had black veils on so you couldn't even see their eyes like you normally can. The city was built centuries ago by Muslims who had conquered the Hindu Indians at that time, and it is considered the Islamic center of India.

Anyways! I bought four fabulous pairs of shoes, so I'm fantastically happy! I also bought a whole bunch of perfume, becasue in Hyderabad they make it in a special way so its unique throughout the world. Because Muslims aren't allowed to drink alcohol, some of them take it further and say that no alcohol should even touch their bodies, so some Muslim men started making oil-based perfume instead of alcohol-based perfume, and he set up shop in Hyderabad and people there have been copying him ever since! The don't really sell perfume the way we think of it either. They sell individual scents, like I bought Jasmine, Sandalwood, Amber, and this wildflower stuff, but they are all in their individual bottle. I got a couple others but I can't remember what their English names are. I just liked the way they smelled! ALSO! I bought a pearl necklace. Like a real string of pearls that came with a certificate of authenticity, ivory/cream colored, round pearls. Its just a single strand, very simple, very elegant and classy, they're not too big and they're not colored funny and they're glorious!! I feel like a grown-up lady now, and it makes me very happy. Thats the update for now! I'll post pictures next time, probably later today.