Elizabeth in India

TIDBITS

I have a bunch of small things to write about to get me up to date. I am sure there are plenty of things I am forgetting, but I am getting sick of the feeling that I am behind with the updates. So here are some things that I have done or what is going on in the last few weeks...

Nature Reserve- 9 November

After a day of shopping with my friend Sowmya and her daughter Nishka, I went back to nature. There was a trip to the Bannerghatta Nature Reserve organized by students at IIMB and a bunch of the foreign students were going. So, I thought I would join along.

The park is further south of the school on the same road. Apparently, up until a few years ago, IIMB was pretty much in the country. However, the development of the city has been so rapid that now the city is expanding farther and farther south and hitting right up to the partk.

We took a 2 hour or so walk in the nature. We mostly looked at birds, butterflies and plants. One of the coolest things was this plant called a “touch-me-not” that would curl up when ou touched it to protect itself from predators. Besides that, the walk was sort of on the boring side and the foreign students were complaining quite a bit. They were told they would see wild animals, but this wasn’t really cutting it. As we were sort of ending this part of the day, we got a big surprise though:

Okay you might not be able to tell what this is, but it is a crocodile! There were two of them. They look like rocks, but trust me—they were the mighty reptiles.

Then we finally go to go to the exciting part of the day. We paid to get into the park and then got on a bus, which had bars on the window and drove into a section of the reserve. Well, here is what we got to see. Yes, in India for only 2 ½ weeks and already I got to see a…

TIGER!!!!

And also a white tiger

They were so close I couldn’t believe it. They were literally right next to the bus—closer than I have even seen in people’s safari photos. However, they weren’t really in the wild. Still it was incredible.

Here is another photo during the day. It is me, Fredrik from Sweden, and Surrender who is from India, but lives in Seattle and works for Microsoft.

Out in Bangalore

There have already been some nights out and surprisingly a lot at that place Spin that I mentioned before. One week there was a conference here sponsored by HP Labs called “Contextual Invention.” The topic was similar to the Doors East Conference (mentioned in the last update). There were these two women presenting. One, Priya, was a designer who is Indian and living in London and then another, Indri, who is German (with Chinese/Indonesian parents). Here they are with Emily (from Oregon), me, Zeenat (works with CKS) at Spin.

An aside—Emily is from Eugene, OR. She was staying Bangalore with an Indian family. The father’s name is Eugene. And, as you know, my dad’s name is Eugene. Too weird!

Nights at IIMB

There is this strange tradition at IIMB when it is someone’s birthday. At midnight, they all meet up at the main meeting area and pick up the guy whose birthday it is and kick him in the butt. And I mean really hard! It seems like torture to me, but this is what they do. One day, it was one of the foreigner’s turn. Fredrik’s birthday was on the 18th of Nov and he was not spared.

Getting his ass kicked

But it doesn’t end there. Then you get chocolate cake smashed all over you. And there is more…Next you get a bucket of water poured over you! So glad it is not my birthday (well, girls do it to girls so it is less harsh). Here is Fredrik after steps one and two with the crowd.

In addition to these activities, there has been a lot of celebrating on campus among the foreigners because they are all leaving. This is the last week for exams. Already a few have left and the rest will depart by Friday. Most are meeting up and travelling together, but to go out with a bang, there have been some parties. We had some good dancing and lots and lots of photo taking. I am not sure why I am showing these because I look particularly yucky, but that is okay. We were all supposed to wear Indian clothes. I even put on a bhindi (or bindi or bindhi—not sure of the spelling), but I don’t think you can see it.

This is Gilles from Brussels. He loved that I had lived there.

I am in between Morton, the Dane, and Fredrik, the Swede.

Me, Lars-another Swede, and Sharon—a Canadian

Here is a group-- Zivile- a Lithuanian who lives in Denmark and will be here for the next 6 months, David- a minister from Montreal, Ian-an Aussie who I will travel with from Xmas to New Year’s when I get back, Fredrik, Sharon, Lars

I didn’t get everyone, but you got the drift. Too bad they are all leaving :( I was lucky because it felt like Brussels again for a bit—being with all these Europeans and such. An aside—the other day someone asked me if I was Dutch!?!? Because of my last name-- (lef) is a Dutch word which means ‘guts’. I laughed so hard to myself b/c of my history with the Dutch and because—do I look Dutch to you???

Fulbrighters in Bangalore- 15 November

Swetha, the woman who is helping out the Fulbrighters in Bangalore called to get everyone together. We actually had had a plan for the following Monday, but a new girl had just arrived so instead we went to a Saturday lunch at the Bangalore Club. This is a club that has been around since the colonial days and is supposed (or was supposed) to be posh. I am not really sure what it is like now. I had actually read about it online coincidently and thought it might be good to join temporarily for the gym and other amenities. However, I don’t know how great it is and it is too expensive. Here we are, minus Mitali who was travelling at the time.

In order from left to right: Lizzy-studying about ayurveda and may be my roommate, Carol-an artist, Swetha, Lindsay-a designer who is looking at ephemeral images (basically travelling around, going to festivals and looking how things are decorated—I think I should have done that!), me, and Adrienne-studying women leaders in the IT industry. It is her first time out of the US!!! Get this—she is on a leave of absence from, none other than…Booz Allen Hamilton (same office!). How crazy is that? Adrienne, Lizzy and I are going to Hampi (a town nearish by here) for the weekend this weekend.

Up to my old tricks

Okay, I think you will find this story particularly amusing. I was shopping with my friend Emily, actually trying to find a tailor to get something made (that is a whole other story), when we wound up in a Kashmiri shop. This is where you find rugs, other handicrafts and the ever-popular pashmina shawl. You can go into one of these shops and ask for the most specific detailed thing and no matter what, without fail, they will ask you if you want a pashmina. It is quite humorous actually.

“Hello, do you have a sandalwood statue of the god Saraswati?” “Would you like a pashmina shawl?” “Hi. I am looking for an Indian miniature of Krishna.” “We have pashmina shawls.” “I need a leather belt with mirrors on it.” “Why don’t you try a pashmina shawl? I give you a good price. It is a festival today.”

Anyway, as we were, in fact, looking at pashmina shawls (hate to admit it)—for my mom, we met this American/Canadian guy in India for work. His name was Hussein and he was of Indian origin, his family was from Gujarat I think. We befriended him, as he was shopping for things for his fiance and he wanted to the advice of two women.

We went across the street to this clothing shop with this amazing Gujarati, beaded outfits. There is a name for them, but I am not sure what it is. Emily and I were trying to direct him to buy a red outfit instead of a gold one, but not sure if we were successful. Because she supposedly had my coloring, we held up the outfits to me. I even tried one on. Here is a photo:

We then went to go grab some dinner at this restaurant/lounge place called Cosmo Village. Well, when we get there we bump into this guy Emily and I knew, Srinath. We met him on our second night out in Bangalore. He is one of those omnipresent people. I have literally bumped into him 3 or 4 times out. We joined him and some of his friends and then all went to sit together to have dinner.

In the meantime, Srinath sees this guy he knows across the room. The guy is a red-headed American who then comes over to our table. His name is Eric and he works for National Geographic. He is with his co-workers who were going the next day on a shoot to record an excorcism in the north! They wind up sitting with us and of course our first comment is—Wow that is so cool you work for National Geographic! I think that must be on the top ten list of overall dream jobs—right beside astronaut. Anyway, Eric is from NY. So, I ask-“Where?” He says, “Westchester.” And we leave it at that.

About 10 minutes later, I start looking at him again. Hmm…
I say, “Where in Westchester?”
“Chappaqua”… I knew this was going somewhere.
“You don’t happen to know Melissa Biren “(a friend from Cornell).
“Yeah, I was good friends with her,” he says.
And I say, “Yeah, I think I remember you from her wedding. “(6 years ago!!!!)
So, my friends, Elizabeth had not lost her touch. In Bangalore for a few weeks and already bumping into friends of friends who I recognize from the street corner sometime in the last decade. Hahahahaha. Everyone at the table was in amazement (but they don't know that this is old hat for me, so...)

Well, about ½ hour later I mention to his friend, Rika (I think that is her name—she is Indian, but I think moving to the US to be with her husband who is living there) that I have a good friend who works at Discovery. Oh yeah, she says, “Who?” “Jim Kowats “(hi Jim!). She starts laughing. She knows him!!! Hahaha.

So, here we have it, not one, but two, yes, two people who I am connected to at this restaurant in Bangalore, India, thousands and thousands of miles away from home.

And the legend lives on….

By the way, I am going to pitch a travel show idea with either Jim or Jeff sometime in the near future. I mean, if someone should have a travel show, shouldn’t it be me? … Just have to come up with an angle, a schtick. I have one idea, but I can’t tell you. :)

CKS and other research

Sad news :(

Before I start, I wanted let you know that my precious dog, Willie, died on Saturday after almost 18 years of being with us. He had a long, happy and healthy life, but that doesn’t take away the sadness that we feel now that he is gone. I know many of you knew him and loved him too. It is hard knowing that I did not get to see him in the end because I am so far away, but I know that he was with the rest of my family. We are very grateful that he wound up dying of natural causes in his own bed. We have so many wonderful memories of him and are so lucky for that. But still, we will miss him very much…

Center for Knowledge Societies

So, the last update let you know about the insitution with which I am affiliated (IIMB). Well, originally I was going to be affiliated with an organization called the Center for Knowledge Societies (CKS). I had been put in contact with the founder last year when I was first writing my proposal. It was a friend from grad school’s friend from her doctoral program’s friend who put me in touch with Aditya Dev Sood (Aditya was a Fulbright to the U.S getting two doctorates from the Univ of Chicago. His mom is Irish American, but moved to India after college and he grew up only in India. He did go to college and grad school in the US though). He told me about the work they were doing, sent me information that was useful for writing my proposal, gave me feedback and wrote me a recommendation. I was very grateful for all of it.

I didn’t really talk much to them over the year, but got back in touch once I knew I got the fellowship. It winds up that I needed to be officially affiliated with an institute of higher education, hence IIMB. However, I planned to still work with CKS. There is a link to their website on mine by the way. Basically, they do a variety of things, but work in the area of designing services and products (which includes conducting research, etc) using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs—like wireless phones, internet, info kiosks) to aid in development in India. For example, they are currently working on a project for Nokia that is looking at how auto rickshaw drivers, street vendors, servants, and other laborers work and how they might be able to increase their livelihoods through the use of mobile devices. One recent finding was that auto rickshaw drivers were letting customers use their mobile phones to make calls. An idea was to make a meter and display on the phone indicating how much the call was and to charge the customer. This would make a rickshaw like a mobile telephone booth in addition to a vehicle for transportation and would provide an additional source of income for the driver.

When I arrived in Bangalore I went to the offices at the corner of airport road and ring road (for anyone who knows Bangalore). CKS was just ramping up to plan and coordinate a conference called Doors East 2003 in December. This is sort of an avante garde conference that deals with service design and brings together people of different disciplines to discuss concrete examples as well as abstract concepts related to how people act, work, communicate and how products and services can be designed to address their needs. So, at the conference, there will be artists, designers, architects, usability researchers, ethnographic researchers, technologists, business people (including reps from HP Labs, Nokia, Philips) from Europe and India. Normally, this conference is organized by an organization in Holland (hahaha—can’t get away from that place) called Doors of Perception. This year it is being co-planned and the attendees will be half from Europe and half from India. They needed help with this conference. Although it wasn’t exactly something I knew much about, it sounded interesting and I thought it would give me insight into the work being done in the field as well as some contacts. The website for the conference is doorseast.org (but I have to be honest—I don’t really like the look of it).

Since then, I have been working for them doing some coordinating of speakers and content. It has been a bit hard b/c I am also trying to do research more directly linked to what I want to focus on. Also, the office is far from where I am staying right now (and expensive to go to every day). I have been trying to go every other day. It is getting closer to the conference so I think they want me there more and I will probably go almost every day next week. The conference happens to be the week I leave for the U.S. How is that for bad timing? I am going to plan it, but miss half of it. Oh well. I am hoping that it will be cool and exciting and maybe I can make some contacts for my research here as well as in Europe (you know I would love to go back there!)

Here are some photos of a press conference we had to publicize the event. It was held at a Chinese restaurant owned by Zeenat Hasan who also works at CKS.

Other work

I am still trying to figure out what to focus my research on here, but the more I think about it the more I want to look into Corporate Social Responsibility and also public-private-non profit partnerships. I was interested in this before and it was mentioned in my proposal, but now I want to shift and really look at this and not necessarily how it is related to ICTs or ICT organizations/companies. We shall see what I turn up. I am trying to find the right guru on CSR in India, but haven’t had luck as of yet. I do need some advice on where to target my work. The topic is very broad and I could waste a lot of time looking at areas that don’t yield particularly interesting or useful insights. I would like to work in this “space” after I leave India, so I am trying to gain a certain knowledge/level of expertise. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Right now I am doing reading and talking to people, doing web searches and trying to contact different organizations. I had hoped to be a bit further along before I left for the U.S., but this is always what happens—timelines get stretched back. So maybe in January (or as they say in India—Jan. I did have an interview with at the Azim Premji Foundation here. It is a private foundation started by the founder of Wipro, an IT company, who is the 5th richest man in the world. That was a good start I guess.

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB)

31 Oct—1 Nov

Settling in to the Indian Institute of Management, and a little more

On Oct 31st I packed up my bags and moved to IIMB. I had been in contact with them before I left the U.S. and they said I could live here. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to, but thought it would be nice to have as an option. When I came to campus to get my letter of affiliation for registering as a foreigner (see last entry), the professor who is sort of my mentor told me they had everything ready for me and I got to see the rooms, etc. I felt like I couldn’t back out and also thought it might be a good idea to go there and then decide where I might want to live afterward so that I wouldn’t be overstaying my welcome at Sowmya’s.

Here is a photo of the sign when you entering the gate onto campus

Here is where you walk in to the main reception.

IIMB is one of the best business schools in India (well, ranked number one by one of the big magazines this year). It is very competitive to get into and I imagine once you are here as well. The first year students do nothing much but study. However, the second year students’, who know really just have to go through the recruiting cycle, grades are only pass/fail. That means they are up all night playing pool, hanging out, palying their music really loud and having a great time.

The campus is really quite lovely. It was designed by a famous Indian architect (but I don’t know who) and makes excellent use of light and greenery. I am not sure if you can tell in this next photo, but there are there very high, open-roof structures through which the perpetual sunshine beams and upon which hang vines and other flora. Flowers are ubiquitous on campus, as well as people working to sweep, clean, help with moving, guarding the pool room (as in pool table) and the like. When you walk on the road from the gate to the reception the sweet scent of jasmine permeates the air and you are accompanied by trees and a stone path. There is a calmness on the grounds, which I imagine is sometimes overlooked by the business school students when they are under immense stress during exams or interviews.

Here is one of the pathways (from the reception area to the mess and the hostels (dorms).

I just moved to a new room, I was in another down a floor that was a bit damp and also didn’t allow for phone reception. Now I am in the old reception room of the Executive Block. These are the better rooms that were supposed to be for guests, but now the female foreigners and some second years live in them. I had internet connection in my room (hooray!), but now that I moved it isn’t working—hopefully that will get fixed tomorrow. That is a great benefit.

Here is my new room. Notice the sheets I bought here—very Indian, no?

The campus is sort of an oasis of tranquility in the midst of Indian urban chaos. I think this is nice, but it is a bit isolating as well. For this reason, I will probably move to an apartment in the center of the city soon. But just to give you a bit of a contrast of what the campus is like versus what is literally right outside of the gates, here is the scene just outside:

Some more about the system here--they have an interesting recruiting system. First of all, the school works extremely (and I mean extremely) hard at placing all the students in summer internships and permanent jobs. The interviews take place only over a couple of intense days in which they continue through the night (I saw students in suits going to interviews at 1am on Saturday night. Huh??). I think they have it easy though b/c the head of the student placement office works personally to get everyone job if need be. The placement percentage is a huge measure of the school’s success. So, they only have to submit resumes and then go to the interviews. No searching for jobs on their own (boy do I wish I had had that set-up at SIPA). But, some of the students said it was very difficult b/c it is all measured on grades and how you do in one interview. A foreign exchange student told me that he heard one of the companies just takes the five people with the highest grades who submit resumes.

Also, I think that the Indian students are not really as picky about jobs as their American counterparts. They just want the highest paying job with the best company (and even better if it is a multinational). I know that in B schools in the US it probably seems that way to a certain extent, but here it is more ingrained to follow the path and get the right job. It might also be a bit b/c I think these students have less work experience in general than the ones in the US. So maybe they haven’t had the experience in the big consulting firm or bank yet so they aren’t yet looking for something different. I think there are a lot of combining forces, but that is enough for now.

My contacts, professors--I have a professor who is serving as my mentor. His name is Rajendra Bandi and his background is in Information Systems. He got his PhD at Georgia and lived in Atlanta and Florida for I think about 8 years). Although his background is somewhat technical he is working in areas that are less technical these days. Right now he is doing a project for the European Commission (how funny!!!!) that is looking at work migration to different areas (for example the outsourcing of IT functions to India). This work is specifically looking at movement from Europe to Asia and India is the main focus, with IIMB being the main coordinator for all of the work. Anyway, he is extremely nice and had been very helpful to me.

I have also met another professor, Vasanthi Srinivasan, who is great. She focuses on human resource management and I heard she is the highest paid consultant in that field in India (or South India, I can’t remember). She is young, energetic and has tons of ideas. She and I got to talk in an auto one day and over the course of about ½ hour we came up with about 7 different research topics. More on this later…

The students--The students at IIMB are very nice, but there are only a few Indians I have gotten to know. These are the ones who seem to know all the foreigners. However, there are about 35 exchange students from all over the world. And guess what? Guess who where the first ones I met? The Swedes! Hahaha. Now, for those of you who don’t know, when I was in Brussels I had quite a few Swedish friends. I was laughing, thinking, “I had to come all the way to India to meet Swedes.” Well, at least they weren’t Dutch (for those who don’t know, somehow I can’t seem to get away from the Dutch even more than the Swedes). I am just kidding though b/c I really like Swedes in general and these guys in particular. (Actually, the very first person I met, when I went into the cafeteria and sat at a table all by myself (reminiscent of the first scene in Welcome to the Dollhouse, except that I wasn’t really sad about it) was a French red head named Celine. The first thing she told me about was how loud the campus was b/c the students stay up all night and blare their music. I couldn’t believe it was that bad until I experienced it for myself. I now wear earplugs almost every night. By the way, it was particularly funny to hear this b/c when I received the welcome booklet it had all of these rules about the dorms—the noise, about no alcohol, about restrictions, etc. I had thought it seemed so strict and thought that American students would never put up with that. Little did I know that neither did the Indian students. They have parties every other weekend and I got to experience one my first Sunday night there. Usually they are on Sat, but the conference (mentioned below) delayed it one day. I have included photos of that too.)

Some of the international students

This is pne of the Swedes doing a childhood dance for the Indians

Party photos

You can’t tell in these pictures, but there are almost NO women on campus. It is like one big mass of guys dancing and it is quite odd. Men act differently here than in the US. They will hold hands or walk with their arms over each others shoulders (whereas women and men will not walk holding hands). They will dance closely and act in a way that most Americans, particularly guys, were think was gay. I think this is so interesting because it is not that it is a liberal society at all. They just have totally different norms.

Ok, back to IIMB--The day I arrived on campus was the first day of a 3-day student run conference called Vista 2003. This conference involved business group contests and games and speakers. The keynote speaker was C.K. Prahalad, a famous management guru who coined the term “core competency” and is a professor at Michigan (he went to Harvard for his PhD). Jason Conway—how funny is this? —remember when you gave me his email address? He never did write back to me. Anyway, he is Indian and his big thing right now is what he calls “The Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP),” which refers to the 4 billion (out of 5 billion) poorest people in the world who are ignored by the markets currently in place. He thinks that they are viewed as an insurmountable problem that is either pitied and thrown money at as charity or completely ignored. He feels that this group serves as a huge business opportunity if new thinkers could figure out ways to serve them by providing products and services they need at a very low price. He had so many great examples of things going on in India now and challenges to the audience to innovate and explore—not just be middle managers. He is the type of speaker who has definitely done the circuit and therefore has it down pat. I mean this in a good way. He is dynamic and inspiring and makes you think all is possible. However, the problem I sometimes have with these people is, okay, now what? How??? I think there is a big gap there. But at least he opened a lot of people’s minds. I had read about this before, but it was last year so I had forgotten some of the details and also had never heard him in person before. His ideas are relevant to my interests, and in particular here so it was a great initiation at the school.

Beyond IIMB
After the speech, I went out with some exchange students to a hip bar/dance club called Spin. To get in you have to pay. It is more expensive for guys alone and so they were really happy to have another girl. You can enter in as a couple and pay less for the both of you than if you were a guy alone. I had been told by a bunch of people in India that I shouldn’t bring anything I would wear out to a club in the US to India b/c it would be too revealing. Apparently, these folks have not been out in Bangalore. There were girls wearing bikini tops (well, not really, but hyperbole works here). I was thinking, “Hey, I have nothing to wear out now!!”

The next day, November 1st, I went out with another group of people. I have told you about Mitali, she is another Fulbrighter. She has a friend Emily who she studied with here—I mentioned her too. Well, they were going out with some of Emily’s friends from her fellowship program and some of their friends. So here comes a few of those small world things—One of Emily’s friends is this girl Monika. It just so happens that I had been given Monika’s number (and had spoken to her) the day before by Meg (in Delhi) b/c a guy she works with at the Gates Foundation works with Monika. Hahaha. So, met Monika in two ways.

We all went to this bar F-bar in Le Meridian Hotel- swanky hotel, swanky bar. Monika’s roommate, Sutchi, her friend Divya and Divya’s husband were all there too. Everyone was really nice and we headed to our next stop after eating some Japanese food. Well, our next stop was…Spin! Hahaha. Two nights out in Bangalore and two nights at Spin. I would put a photo, but none were particularly good.

We met with some other friends of theirs, hung out for a while and then headed to a third place, Zero G. That place was interesting. It is supposed to be like a cruise deck and even has a pool in the back (as well as a small gold fish indoor pond). We were meeting up with Monika’s friends. I was talking to them about what I would be doing in Bangalore and mentioned CKS (this will be in the next update), the Center for Knowledge Societies, the organization I will be working with a bit (but hadn’t even started with yet), and one of the women said—I am working there on a project now. Hahaha (small world happening number 2). There was another man there, a Swiss epidemiologist named Christian. Keep that in mind b/c he will figure into a small world happening.

Okay, I have to go now, so more in the next installation….

Bangalore: Getting Started

27 – 30 October 2003

BANGALORE: Setting Up in Bangalore

So…time to head to Bangalore-- my final destination. I had no problem with the flight and Jet Airways rocks! My friend here says that all the guys who work on Jet Airways are cute. I only saw women that day, but I will be sure to check it out next time. By the way, here is a photo of a decoration in the airport:

Here is a photo on the way to Bangalore from the plane. I felt like we were so high; higher than normal. So I took a picture because I thought it looked pretty interesting from that height and with the clouds formed like that.

Bangalore, the “Silicon Valley of India” is a city with about 8 million people (well, I have heard estimates at 5 million too, so who knows) with a very nice climate (the first thing anyone said to me when I told them I was moving there was, “Nice weather.”). But more on it later…

Swetha, who helps the USEFI people out in Bangalore, picked me up again at the airport. She was really nice and we went together to the place where I was staying. Before I left for India, my friend Jim in DC told me I should talk to his friends Vani and Manu. Manu is from Bangalore and moved to the U.S. a long time ago. He and Vani got married in India in Bangalore and Jim had gone to the wedding and met some of his friends who live here. Manu and Vani put me in touch with his good friend of the family, Sowmya. We emailed and she said I could stay with her for my first days in Bangalore until I figured out where to situate myself. What a godsend!!!!! Like many Indians, Sowmya lives with her whole family. I stayed with her, her parents and her daughter. They were so kind and generous and really made my life so much easier as a newcomer.

Here is her mom outside of their house. She doesn’t speak much English so we didn’t get to chat much. But she did make wonderful food!

…And her dad inside. He is a retired civil servant and speaks more English:

I stayed there from Monday afternoon until Friday afternoon, while I figured out some of the rest of my logistics. I got to meet her incredibly adorable daughter, Nishka. She is just so sweet and precious. She showed me her coin collection, which I was able to add to by giving her some euros I had left over, and all of her schoolwork. Man, they have a lot here. She is 11 and speaks English, Hindi and Kannada, the language of Karnataka, the state in which Bangalore is the capital.

Nishka the cutie

…And with Sowmya

There are 28 states in Indian and 18 major languages, numerous minor ones and thousands of dialects. I happen to love the way Hindi looks. I am sure you have not seen Kannada if you haven’t been to India. It uses a different alphabet and is a Dravidian language (the world’s fourth largest group). The letters are really curly q. Here is a sample:

Kannada script
I have no idea what this says, but I think it is a header or lead for an article.

One of the first things in the order of business was to register as a Foreigner. This must be done within 14 days of arrival and I had already been in India for a week. I made arrangements with Swetha and Mitali (who was now in Bangalore too) to meet at the Police Commissioner’s office, which is where foreigners register. We thought we had all the necessary papers in order because Fulbrighters who came a few weeks back had no problem. But, we were wrong. First we went to the desk where you get the forms. The man there would only give one form to the two of us! Why? We are two different people registering. Hahaha. Foreshadowing of bureaucracy to come. We had to have about 7 different documents and fill out two other forms (one of them in quadruplicate). Ahh! Then we handed them to the man and he told us we were missing letters from our institutes of affiliation. We had had letters from the Fulbright office, but this apparently was not good enough (even though it had been two weeks earlier for the other Fulbrighters).

So, we had to make arrangements with our insititutions and then come back the next day. (I will get back to my institution in the next update). The next day I went back with the necessary letter. Right when I got there it was time for their lunch and they told me to come back in an hour. I pretty much had to laugh b/c you really could not make this crap up. After the hour I went back. There was this British woman screaming about having been told to wait on one line, only to be told to wait on another line, only to be told to go to the desk and get in line after all the others to get the forms to fill out. I felt torn—I completely understood her plight, but she was being extremely rude and making everyone uncomfortable. Anyway, so I had to bring the papers, after being reviewed and signed, to window number 1, where they did something with them and told me to come back at 3 the next day. Ahh!

Next day—met Mitali and her friend, Emily, who is here on an America-India Foundation (AIF) fellowship (they met during study abroad based in Bangalore) for lunch across the street from the commissioner’s office. I should mention that this office, although in the center of town, was quite a hike from where I was staying and this was now day #3 of coming to it. We then went over to get our final documents. Well, Mitali’s was ready and guess what? Mine wasn’t. After waiting about 40 minutes I went to ask what was going on. They said that the head had to sign it first and he hadn’t yet. [Oh, I totally forgot about this part. The first day when we were arguing over having to bring the letters from the institution we went into the big boss’s office. There were about 35 people waiting and somehow we just walked right into his office.] I decided I didn’t feel like waiting for the final documents. I thought maybe I could push the process along so I was going to go directly to the horse’s mouth.

When I walked around the corner to the other room, there were the usual 30-40 people sort of sitting, milling, waiting to be seen by this one man who was the only one with authority to do anything. Mind you-there was another man directly across from him at a table with literally nothing to do but read the newspaper. I learned that he was directly below the boss man. Why couldn’t he do anything? Well, after the man who stands outside of the boss man’s office, basically telling people to sit down and wait for the boss man and then pointing to who is next (the low tech version of taking a number and reading an LCD board, except that curiously some people get in to the office before others who are waiting longer. For example, I don’t think those who were obviously African were getting in before some of the Indians, who probably had to wait till after the westerners. That is something I have noticed here—you get treated differently if you are a westerner. Sometimes it is in a bad way, cheated taking rickshaws or buying goods, getting stared at, etc. I think more often it is a good way (for the westerner)—getting in front of lines, not being expected to follow the norms of the society here, and just getting a little extra done for you in many ways).

Anyway, the man outside the door told me to sit. I knew there was nothing good to come out of sitting so I sort of stood and kept making myself known. Well, he directed me to someone who then went looking for someone else. He left the big room, then came back, traversed, and went to another room. He then spoke to someone else and left for a while. When he came back he pointed me to this man sitting at a long table with a stack of papers in front of him. There were many of these men and it wasn’t until now that I realized they were government workers. The room is a big hall and there are rows of tables. The first table is where people were waiting for the boss man. Then there were seats all around for the waiters. If you moved into the room a bit farther you hit the workers. Well, I went to one of these paper pushers (I wouldn’t normally use that word, but this was literally what they were). He apparently was the one who dealt with the U.S. foreigners. I only knew this b/c it was the only word I could make out from all of this conversations between various men trying to figure out who I should be directed toward. Wound up it didn’t help very much to get to him b/c he said the paper wasn’t signed yet.

I don’t remember who, but someone directed me to someone else and I wound up in chair next to Mr. (or I should say Sri) 2nd in-command-but–with-absolutely-nothing-to-do (who I mentioned already). I felt bad for the poor guy. I think he actually wanted something to do, as he sort of called me over and got busy calling the workers over to find out what was going on for me. I thought I had hit gold! But, I was too quick to judge. Like I said, he was 2nd in command and I guess that meant close to nothing. I am not exactly sure though. He did sign my paper and kept calling all these people over to check on it, but they all kept saying it wasn’t done. AHHH! He was very friendly trying to chat and find out where I was from and what I was doing here in a chit chat sort of way. After all, I was sitting there for a while waiting to get my papers. Well, finally I started to get annoyed and let him know it. He once again called someone over. This guy said that it had already been sent over to the first room I was in. What? When? Why didn’t they tell me?? The funny thing was that I am sure walking over to this office was of no use. I was there for an hour anyway and I would have probably had the same result either way. At least it gave me this story to relay, right? When they talk about Indian bureaucracy –they were not kidding. I had expected it, so I was relatively calm, but it is truly ridiculous. Actually, I wasn’t planning on telling this story, but it just sort of came out. One question I would have liked to have the answer to is whether these people were really trying to help me or whether they just wanted to appease me so they kept passing the buck and sending me to someone else, just to keep me busy and away from them.

I was so desperate to take a photo of this room, but when I took one of the room where I got the actual papers (I was trying to capture this counter with glass separating you from the workers and divided into about 5 different windows. There were about 3 men behind each window. Hahaha. What were they all doing?) they told me I was not allowed and I had this feeling I would get in trouble. So here is the photo, but it is pretty pointless b/c you can’t tell. Plus, this room was recently redone so it looks pretty modern and organized. The other room is not really the same.

At the end, I finally had my residency permit. Hooray!

The other business I had to take care of was getting a phone (I got Hutch, which is India’s “Orange”, and it doesn’t work in my room b/c I am sort of in the basement right now or at CKS, my work. Great!) and a blow dryer (paid way too much for it, but what can you do) and figure out about housing. When I went to IIMB, my institution, I found out that they had a room for me so I figured I would go there first for a bit at least just so I could get settled and didn’t overstay my welcome at Sowmya’s. Again, more about IIMB later…

The second day in Bangalore it was Nishka’s birthday so we had a party at the house at night and relatives came over. Sowmya’s mom cooked special food, including meat (they are not vegetarians) and I got dressed up in one of her outfits. She put a bindi on me too. One thing I noticed that was different is that they cut the cake first (well at least they did this time) and the birthday person feeds a piece to family members and they to her/him. A photo:

Here is a group of us, but it didn't come out too well.

Oh here is their cutie dog, Cherry:

I also went to Commercial Street and MG Road, two main streets with shopping. I bought a white shirt with Kashmiri embroidery. Here is a photo of Commercial Street, one of the store that sold all goods from Kashmir--look at those rugs! (the man at the store was really nice to me. I went upstairs when they were breaking fast--it is Ramadan) and offered me food), and another of MG (Mohatma Ghandi) Road, but the street photos don't look that lively:

So, that was most of my first week. I was so happy to get to know Sowmya and her family. Not only did they look after me and answer my questions and feed me, but being with them gave me a chance to live with an Indian family for a bit. I think I learned more there in a few days then many who are here for a while, with limited exposure to day-to-day Indian life, do in months. Sowmya and I stayed up late every night talking about things and she told me about Indian culture, etc. The only thing that was bad about it is that the area that they live is called Padmanabhanagar. I would say try saying that 5 times fast, but really just trying saying it one time slow.

More about Bangalore and IIMB, etc. next time.

Jaipur

24 October 2003

We had to wake up at an ungodly hour to make it to our train to Jaipur. So, you would think at 5am the train station would be pretty dead, right? Well, you would be wrong. It was incredibly how much acticity there was. People moving this way and that, rushing to get to the right platform, calling over the guys with the red shirt (don’t know their name yet) who are the porters and so on and so forth. Normally, we would have called over the porter, they were red shirts as I said, many have rolled up cloth on their head (get back to that in a moment) and are ubiquitous. Not only do they carry bags of untold weight on their poor heads (hence the cloth), but they also know which platforms all the trains come in and out on. We only had small backpacks so we figured we would try to find the platform ourselves. It took a bit, but we managed. Meg had said you can usually tell which train is ours and what car to get on by following the white people. She told me a funny story about when she and about 5 friends went to Agra (Taj Mahal). Four were together, but one was coming separately to the station. She happens to be a very tall, blond, Swede. They couldn’t find her in the crown, but then someone came up to Meg and said—“white girl? She went that way,” while pointing in one direction. Hahahaha. And indeed she had.

The train was pretty fine with air conditioning (too cold, of course). They serve you tea, snacks, give you a big bottled water, and a meal. I didn’t have it on the way there b/c I was sleeping, but I ate the dinner on the way back and it was pretty good. So all in all, a pretty nice journey.

As I mentioned we were going to Jaiput to celebrate Diwali, festival of lights - fireworks and candle and "christmas" lights - so beautiful! And Jaipur is the pink city, named that because the old city’s buildings are all painted a light salmon color with white trim. It makes it look quite charming. The painting of the buildings like that started in the 19th century when the Maharaja wanted to welcome Prince Albert from England when he was visiting there.

Meg’s friend recommended that we stay with a friend of his family - a wife of a maharaja! Well, her house, Loharu House, was beautiful (and a bit creepy!) Tiger heads on the wall. A stuffed tiger! Pictures of Jackie O and the Dalai Lama! There was a beautiful scent of jasmin wafting through the air on the grounds and in the house and you got a sense from the many group portraits of the tens of maharajas what it might have been like in the past. The house was across from the governor's house (called Chief Minister) and was in a peaceful part of the city. Guys - its all relative-trains went by, whistling, each hour.

Jaipur is a small city - just a few million people. And Rajashtan is the India of pictures. Colorful. Brilliant, actually! Women wear red and yellow, green and pink, purple and orange, blue and gold. It is traditional India - land of the Prince (Raj(Prince)-astan) - with palaces and ruins. Its dry - a desert that suffered a drought for the past 5 years. This monsoon ended the drought so the city is filled with red and pink flowers - they are pouring over the tops of walls.

Meg and I went around all day on Friday. We hired a bicycle rickshaw. I have to say the guy won out for being persistant. He followed us for a few blocks and finally we said okay (we wound up using him for three days, but the 2nd two were in an auto). We ate in the walled section of the city, and then went to this one store, Anokhi, where I bought my first dupata. That is the thin scarf that Indian woman wear around their necks (haven’t worn it yet). I didn’t buy anything else during my time there, but of course I regret it. Now that I have been shopping a bit more I find that so many fabrics, wall hangings, etc are from there. Argh!!! This is because Rajastan is home to Indian tie-dying as well as the block printing on fabrics. Also embroidery and all American Hippy Teenager accessories! Remember those wall fabrics - with elephants in the middle and all self-respecting, Led Zepplin listening, freshmen had to have! OH Yeah! They all come from Rajastan! They also have fabrics with mirrors and lots of other stuff. I think I will have to go back!

On the road we saw such great activity as usual. Here is a political poster for the Congress party. It is Sonia Ghandi (the widow of Rajiv Ghandi, the son of Indira Ghandi, the daughter of Nehru), who is sort of the leader of the party (not currently in power) and a political leader in Rajasthan. Notice the colors of the poster—I forgot to mention that the reason for the colors of my website, the orange, white and green, with blue writing, is to mimick the flag of India.

Here is a cow eating a garland. Cows serve many important functions, one being that they eat the garbage on the streets. This helps to get rid of refuse as well as converting it into dung, which is then used for fuel and to insulate houses. The garlands of flowers (here marigolds) are used for decorating, especially during festivals. Meg and I bought some garlands to bring to her friends for Diwali. Here she is buying some.

Friday night we met Meg’s friends (and colleagues) for a pre-Diwali drink. Ram and Rashmi were married a year ago, and she is 8 months pregnant. They are in Jaipur for PSI (Meg’s organization), but they don't have any family there. They invited us to spend the holiday with them!

25 October 2003

Saturday, Meg and I went to the Amber Complex in the morning. So beautiful! I had not read enough history, so I don’t really know what were all of the structures that we saw there. It was a palace and fort and there were different parts that served as the quarters for the wives to live, etc. We took an elephant up the hill to the complex. I am always unsure about this, but supposedly it is good to do because then the people have a need for the elephants and take care of them. They are such beautiful creatures. I love them.

Our elephant

Palace Entrance

And the mirror work - it adorns the walls and by using only a few candles, they were able to illuminate the whole room!

On the way back to Jaipur we stopped to take photos in front of the summer palace. In the middle of a lake - which was dry until this year’s rains! The water flows through to keep it cool - just like the moors did in Spain! You saw some of these photos on Meg's site (I will put a link to her site).

At 2pm, we met up with Elizabeth who came in the night before (she’s Meg’s friend from Delhi-an American working for an Indian NGO). We went over to have lunch with Ram and Rashmi. We thought they were being nice to invite us for Diwali, which is true. But it turns out that this was their first Diwali away from family and they were as happy to spend it with us as we were to be with them! In fact, at the end of the night we all kept thanking each other profusely. It reminded me of when you see Westerners bowing back and forth with Japanese because no one wants to stop. Hahaha.

We ate and dressed up in sarees. Okay, you saw those photos on Meg’s website, but here is another one.

I wasn’t that good at wearing it, but in my defense is the fact that mine was significantly longer than everyone elses. It was from the south where they can often be longer. Even southern Indian women told me they don’t wear ones that long.

After getting dressed, we went to the PSI office in Jaipur for puja – prayers and ceremonies – to celebrate Diwali. As mentioned in the last posting Diwali celebrates the end of the year, the end of the fiscal year, and people light up their homes to invite Lakshmi (goddess of wealth and good fortune) in to bring prosperity for the year. During the puja we all sat in a circle facing the new accounting ledger and the computer where we keep our accounts, hahaha. The ceremony was in Hindi so I don’t know what the prayers were, but they did put the kumkum powder on our foreheads and also we got a string wrapped around our wrist to signify that we took part in a puja. Very cool.

We then went back at Ram and Rashmi’s house, where we did another small puja (without a priest this time) to bless their house. They read the prayers and stories in Hindi and then translated for us. (Great stories about the generosity of the gods to those who are generous.) Finally, we put candles (diyas) in every corner of the terrace, along the balcony, everywhere. So did everyone else in the neighborhood. It was truly beautiful. And then we lit fireworks. BIG ones. HUGE. SCARY. As did everyone else!!

Diyas lit on the roof

We drove up to the hills surrounding Jaipur when we finished our crackers, and watched the lights of the city below. It looked like the entire city was dancing – jumping lights. Then we went to have a late dinner at this elegant hotel, Jai Mahal (because everything else was closed by then), and it was quite nice.

26 October 2003

Sunday we went to the city palace – still home to the Maharaja of Jaipur’s family. Before we entered we met these fabiously dressed Indian women who were going to the temple to pray. They were so excited to meet us and talk to us. Well, we didn’t speak Hindi (Elizabeth does a bit) and they didn’t speak English, but we all spoke the language of digital camera. They were so excited for me to take pictures of them and to show them the result on the screen in the back of the camera. I realized this is a fun activity for all. Even the most jaded people seem to get excited about seeing how the photo came out. Maybe that is what I should do my research on. Here is one of the women.

Then we went into the palac, where the guards and guides wear traditional Rajistani turbans of bright orange-red. We looked at all of this magnificent outfits and textiles from the region and other regions worn, by the royals. Did you know that the paisely design came from India? I didn’t. It is supposed to be the shape of a mango. Amazing! We also saw these huge urns made of silver (the largest silver pieces in the world). They were carried to England when one of the princes went to visit. He was a strict Hindu and would only drink water from the Ganges. I thought it was so funny to think about the contrary thoughts of westerners who would never drink plain water in India (let alone even touch the Ganges). As we were leaving the complex, we saw a snake charmer there for the tourists. He had a cobra that was de-poisoned. You know I like snakes so I was pretty excited, even though it was pretty fake.

Then we went to the Hawal Mahal (Palace of the Winds), this amazing structure with hundreds of little windows from which the “women of the court” were able to gaze out and watch the street life below while remaining in purdah, the Muslim (and even Hindu) practice of seclusion of women.

Didn't have good light, so it would have been even more spectacular in the morning

We went shopping, where I saw beautiful embroidered pashminas, but I didn’t buy anything. Well, this pretty ugly shirt that I probably won’t wear. Look at these fabrics—the colors!

And then to the train, to go back to Delhi.

Here are our drivers. They were really sweet, actually.

By the way, I think I am going to just have to accept that I am going to look like crap the whole time I am in this country. Ahh!

Delhi

Okay, before I start on the first few days of India let me just say that I know I am already so behind. I haven't been online. I apologize and will try to get on it. Also, thanks for all of the emails and sorry for not being able to respond at all or with very detailed messages. My connection is not very good and it is maddening!

Also, please forgive any typos or grammatical errors. I haven't had much time and thought you would prefer to see something, even if it wasn't perfect.

DELHI

When I got out of the plane I went through immigration (long line and my backpack was heavy) to go and get my bags. When I finally existed (after changing money and going through some more lines), I went through the receiving circle. Both to my right and left were rows of people behind metal barriers (like the kind at a parade) with signs that read people’s names. Ahh! How would I find mine? I had to try to walk really slowly and look on both sides or I would miss it. Well, despite my best efforts to scan and move like a snail at the same time, I didn’t see my name. Hmm, what to do? I walked around the perimeter of the circle to see if I could read the back of the signs. Somehow, after several rounds, I found it.! What a relief! It was so nice to be picked up at the airport.

On the way to my hostel I saw the Indian traffic for my first time-- and there was lots of it. One time we were stopped in traffic we were next to a truck that had metal sides, but nothing on the back. To make up for this there was a piece of cloth that enclosed the back and kept its cargo inside the confines of the truck. I looked over and saw a wet brown nose and then a big brown eyes staring out of the crack in between the cloth and the truck edge. Then I noticed the tail dangling down from the crack. A cow! My first sacred cow of India.

A few minutes later we stopped again and were sitting alongside a police car. Next to the police car on the other side was a truck with many men in it as well as two sitting on its roof crouching down. The driver (who was on the right side—the side they drive on in India) was talking with the police officer on the passenger side of the police car. He then handed him a wad of bills. Fayez said, “This is India.”

The next day I had an orientation with the USEFI (United States Educational Foundation of India) office and met one other Fulbrighter, Sangeena. We met with the Executive Director, Jane, who is an American and Anishya, who is my primary contact and is Indian.

The USEFI office building


The Fulbright House where the Exec Director lives

At the end of the day I took my first “auto.” This is an auto rickshaw and they are everywhere. They are cheaper then taxis, but not as cheap as a cycle rickshaw. I have a picture from this ride, but it doesn’t illustrate how crowded the streets really are.

There are plenty of cars you just don’t see in this picture

Maybe this gives you a better idea of the roads of Delhi (not even a good example)

I went back to the YMCA and got my bags ready because Meg was having a cab come and pick me up to drive me to her house. Meg’s apartment has 3 big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, den with TV and cable that overlooks a park (although the grass is a bit brown), a washing machine and all marble floors. I think it is about $350/month. Pretty amazing, huh? It was so nice for me to have a place to stay with basically everything taken care of for me when I arrived. The bad thing is that I will not be able to afford the same conditions on my own. It was great to see Meg and she took me out for my first dinner in India. We had…Italian. Hahaha.

I did some sightseeing in Delhi the following day. I borrowed Meg’s Lonely Planet Delhi and hired a taxi for 4 hours for 300 rupees--$6-7 dollars. I first went to Humayan’s tomb. This was a predecessor to the Taj Mahal. It was built by the first wife of Humayan for him and I believe there are 150 people buried there. It was quite spectacular. I had a guide, well, what happens is someone starts talking to you and telling you about the site. It is sort of difficult to get away because they follow you and keep telling you facts. I didn’t mind because I really didn’t know anything about the tomb, but it is something a visitor should be aware of because you have to pay them at the end. I gave him 50 rupees, but he told me it was supposed to be 100. I said sorry. I was actually proud that I didn't let myself get ripped off, but maybe I was really supposed to pay that much.

Besides the main tomb there were also other structures built afterwards, but on the same grounds. Many of the structures in north India have a mix of Moghul (Muslim) and Hindu design. The Muslim’s gave the archways, 8 sided rooms and the star with 8 points, I think the rounded dome rooves, just to name a few. The Hindu characteristics were rectangular rooms, the lotus design and many others (still learning about all this).

Latticework


Carvings at the mosque just outside of the tomb gates

After Humayan’s Tomb I went to the Lhodi Gardens. This is sort of a safe haven park in the chaos that is Delhi-- also with some tombs.

Unfortunately, I did not get to enjoy the park as much as I would have liked because of the shoes I was wearing (Mom-the beige mules that I bought). They were new and managed to rub off the skin in the front of my right foot. I really thought I was not going to be able to walk back to the taxi. I wondered if I could go to the next 2 sights I had planned to see because it was so bad. Could you believe this? How ridiculous! Moral is—wear bandaids with new shoes!

After a little while the nerves became numb so I could walk again. I went to another tomb, Sarfdarjang’s Tomb. This one wasn’t as nice at Humayan’s, but everything is relative. In the guidebook, they talked about how this was a popular locale for young couples to go to escape the pressing eyes of their parents. How true! I think the only people there besides me were young Indian couples sitting in the shade under a tree talking. It was funny too b/c they were just talking, no kissing or hand holding or anything.

Next I went to the Qutb Minar Complex. Here I could have used a guide. There are many structures and ruins and I most certainly did not really know what I was looking at. However, it was quite impressive either way. The Qutb Minar is a fluted red sandstone tower that stands among the ruins of the fist monuments of Muslim India. These ruins include India’s first mosque, Quwwat-ul-Islam, which was made from Hindu and Jain temples. All of the faces of the gods carved into the stones were removed in accordance with Islamic law forbidding iconic worship.

As I said, I don’t really know what all the structures are, but there were gateways with lattice work, halls with carved pillars and even green parrots flying through the air and landing safely on one of the edges of a stone carving.

See the green parrot?

All day, I had felt a bit uncomfortable about walking around. I am not sure how much of it was actual stares I got as a Western woman or how much was from the warnings about how I would get those stares. I know that I was on guard waiting for someone to rip me off, take advantage of a foreigner, or just hassle me and this made me on edge. But at the complex I got a different feeling when this Indian family started to talk to me. The first one who approached me was a woman, which is why it probably felt safe. They spoke a little English, but just kept smiling and wanted to take pictures with me. Some people might have been irritated, but for me, it was the perfect opportunity to get some shots of them. I had been thinking how it was so hard to get shots of Indians and that I was going to have to figure out how to do that. Here, I didn’t have to do anything. They were extremely friendly and kind and it made me feel so much more relaxed. After seeing them approach me another family approached me and I was laughing inside. But how could I mock them really? I was doing the same to them!

The Indian Family

Later that night, Meg and I went to her friend’s apt to watch Sex and the City. On our way there (in about an hour of traffic, especially dense due to the Diwali celebration) I realized that on my first night in Brussels I went to my friend Neha’s (who I was staying with) friend’s apartment to watch Sex and the City. Hahahaha. I guess somethings are the same all over—the U.S, Europe, and even India.

I went to the USEFI office the next day because we had a meeting at the US Embassy with the doctor in charge of the region. The point was to find about major medical risks and ask any questions we had. Most of what he said I knew about—Dengue fever, a pretty bad strain, was showing up in Delhi, take your malaria pills, don’t drink the water and eat hot foods, etc, etc. He also told us about some other illness which you get from worms that are in pork (or anything that was fertilized with pig feces), which implant into your muscles, including your brain and form leisions there. Yuck!!! How lovely.

I got to meet two more Fulbrighters, Mitali and Sandhya. They were both really nice and Mitali went to Cornell too. She was going to be going to Bangalore as well, but then on to Dharved about 6 hours away. She had lived in Bangalore as an exchange student so she knew somethings about the city. Sandhya, Mitali and I walked to Connaught Circle from the USEFI office and checked out some of the shops. Well, it was difficult to navigate crossing the street and I don’t suggest it for anyone who is not from an urban area. I just cannot imagine how someone from a rural place in a developed country would deal with the mass confusion, frenetic traffic, hustle and bustle of an Indian city. I felt pretty fine though. I was just examining the people, the life and the craziness on the streets. Everywhere you look and at every moment there is so much activity going on. There is absolutely no peace. I was joking with someone about how people think about the Indian mentality of meditation and yoga and how different that is from daily life. She said, yeah, they had to develop that to have a reprieve from daily freneticism.

After we got back to the USEFI office, we had a celebration for Diwali. Diwali (pronounced Divahlie) is the festival of lights where Indians light 'diyas' (little oil candles), light fireworks, give gifts (especially sweets) to each other and worship to the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. It is the beginning of the new fiscal year and people close their accounts and pray for a prosperous year. They light the candles to try and attract Lakshmi into their homes. It is celebrated in much of India, but more in the north then in the south. For the celebration we played musical chairs (surprisingly internationally recognized) and then lit firecrackers and ate sweets.

The orange square in the front is marigold petals.

I then went back to Meg’s. She and I went for a walk through the streets in her neighborhood and then to a store lined street with restaurants and street vendors. I got to see boys doing henna on women’s hands for the first time and took photos of all the vibrantly colored idols of the Hindu gods. They were mostly selling Lakshmi and also Ganesha who is the elephant-headed god of auspiscious beginnings and remover of obstacles. He is the god you pray to first when you begin your prayers to any of the gods.

We then went to eat at this place with southern Indian food and had 'dosas'. This is sort of like a crepe. You can get them plain or stuffed with vegetables and potatoes, etc. Pretty delicious. Then we went home to pack for our trip to Rajasthan to Jaipur!