it is winter here in india
that means that it is at least 90 degrees everyday and at night it dips into the 60s. people wear earmuffs. all us americans think it is hot, and when we tell this to any indian, they tell us that it will only get hotter and we won't know what to expect. even though i'm used to hot weather, this weather is completely different. it's a more intense sunbeat. you sweat everywhere--especially when you go to class, which is a 10 minute bike ride up and down hills, or a 40 minute walk. and we can't just wear shorts and a t-shirt (or better yet, a tank top). we have to be covered up; no shoulders, no leg above the knee, nothing low cut.
now let me say this: i don't like to shower that often. i usually don't shower for three or four days back at home. this is changing my friends. it doesn't matter if you shower that morning AND remember to wear deodorant. irrelevant. i guarantee that you will smell by the end of the day, if not sooner. and your feet will always be dirty. and perpetual pit stains without shame...yes, even on your butt.
sweatily dirtily yours,
lauren
p.s. but i still love it here!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
pongal!
it's pongal weekend! pongal is the harvest festival here in india. during pongal, the women put a design in rice flour in front of their houses called kolam. the kolam attracts all the bugs that would usually make their way into the houses and keeps them outside. the designs can be really intricate and in lots of different colors. another aspect of pongal is kite flying! ciee provided all of us with kites and string and when we asked our indian friends if they would fly kites with us, they just laughed at us. it seems to be the equivalent of easter egg hunting at age 20. you can either fly your kite peacefully, or put pieces of glass on your string and try to cut other kites' strings.
on friday, a group of us went to the shilparamam craft fair again. we saw lots of pongal festivities:
it was a wonderful friday!
happy pongal friends,
love,
lauren
on friday, a group of us went to the shilparamam craft fair again. we saw lots of pongal festivities:
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| there's a kite up in the air if you look closely |
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| they marched around with these decorated cows |
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| ice cream! |
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| getting mehndi on my hand |
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| ben, nicole, lindsey, me, and matthew |
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| hi! i'm in front of the elephant! |
happy pongal friends,
love,
lauren
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
something for you
my women in india professor shared this poem with us in class:
From woman, man is born;
within woman, man is conceived; to woman he is engaged and married.
Woman becomes his friend; through woman, the future generations come.
When his woman dies, he seeks another woman; to woman he is bound.
So why call her bad? From her, kings are born.
From woman, woman is born; without woman, there would be no one at all.
-Guru Nanak
the other night, matthew and i walked down to this little canteen to get a late night snack, and we met some indian friends at a campfire nearby. it was so fun! when they found out that i was a writing major, one of the guys insisted that we meet up again, because he has a great story that needs to be written. of course i'm flattered and of course i don't know how this is going to happen because of course i don't know who he is. they wanted matt and i to sing for them, which we half-heartedly tried to sing acapella beatles over the campfire, haha. the man who owned the snack shop kept giving me sweets and then told me to come back on sunday because he will make me so many sweets. i think he was flirting with me. did i mention he is about 4'5"?
love,
lpb
From woman, man is born;
within woman, man is conceived; to woman he is engaged and married.
Woman becomes his friend; through woman, the future generations come.
When his woman dies, he seeks another woman; to woman he is bound.
So why call her bad? From her, kings are born.
From woman, woman is born; without woman, there would be no one at all.
-Guru Nanak
the other night, matthew and i walked down to this little canteen to get a late night snack, and we met some indian friends at a campfire nearby. it was so fun! when they found out that i was a writing major, one of the guys insisted that we meet up again, because he has a great story that needs to be written. of course i'm flattered and of course i don't know how this is going to happen because of course i don't know who he is. they wanted matt and i to sing for them, which we half-heartedly tried to sing acapella beatles over the campfire, haha. the man who owned the snack shop kept giving me sweets and then told me to come back on sunday because he will make me so many sweets. i think he was flirting with me. did i mention he is about 4'5"?
love,
lpb
Monday, January 10, 2011
academia
first off, i got a bike!
it makes going to class a lot easier, since it takes 45 minutes to walk to campus. now i need to name it. and possibly get more cushion for my seat :)
the classes i've signed up for: women in india 18th-20th century, conversational hindi, indian philosophy, and gay indian literature.
women in india 18th-20th century is taught by rekha pande. she always wears the most beautiful saris and is most definitely a feminist. the first day of class, she explained why there needed to be a separate class specifically dedicated to women's history, or to use her term, her-story. her goal is for history to someday be rightfully called our-story. right after this beautiful speech, an indian male student raised his hand and said something along the lines of "no, women shouldn't have a separate class." now, in the u.s. i feel like a professor would be quite post-modern in his/her response, with something like "oh, interesting. maybe you are right, or maybe we can combine our ideas, blah blah blah." this is not how it works in india. dr. pande shook her head and said, "no. you cannot take this history away from us!" he didn't respond; and that was that.
conversational hindi is taught by bhavani (that's her first name). she works as a resident director in the dorm i live in, and has the most adorable little girl named thandvi. this is thandvi with noam (another ciee student):
so far, we've learned how to say
ap casay hey? (how are you?)
shupiya (thank you)
danyavad (thank you)
along with learning the vowels and consonants.
indian philosophy is taught by this adorable indian man who talked to us about happiness. indian philosophers are constantly trying to acheive eternal happiness, ecstacy. they also want to attempt to escape the bracket of suferring--which a question that i'm always thinking about.
gay indian literature is taught by hoshang merchant. he is an openly gay indian man, which is very taboo. he is a poet and has a long white beard and calls people "my child."
i love this class. he called me "miss hope" since i go to hope college. then he talked to us about his past lovers and how he thinks life i all one big joke. i am swooning.
love love love,
lauren
it makes going to class a lot easier, since it takes 45 minutes to walk to campus. now i need to name it. and possibly get more cushion for my seat :)
the classes i've signed up for: women in india 18th-20th century, conversational hindi, indian philosophy, and gay indian literature.
women in india 18th-20th century is taught by rekha pande. she always wears the most beautiful saris and is most definitely a feminist. the first day of class, she explained why there needed to be a separate class specifically dedicated to women's history, or to use her term, her-story. her goal is for history to someday be rightfully called our-story. right after this beautiful speech, an indian male student raised his hand and said something along the lines of "no, women shouldn't have a separate class." now, in the u.s. i feel like a professor would be quite post-modern in his/her response, with something like "oh, interesting. maybe you are right, or maybe we can combine our ideas, blah blah blah." this is not how it works in india. dr. pande shook her head and said, "no. you cannot take this history away from us!" he didn't respond; and that was that.
conversational hindi is taught by bhavani (that's her first name). she works as a resident director in the dorm i live in, and has the most adorable little girl named thandvi. this is thandvi with noam (another ciee student):
so far, we've learned how to say
ap casay hey? (how are you?)
shupiya (thank you)
danyavad (thank you)
along with learning the vowels and consonants.
indian philosophy is taught by this adorable indian man who talked to us about happiness. indian philosophers are constantly trying to acheive eternal happiness, ecstacy. they also want to attempt to escape the bracket of suferring--which a question that i'm always thinking about.
gay indian literature is taught by hoshang merchant. he is an openly gay indian man, which is very taboo. he is a poet and has a long white beard and calls people "my child."
i love this class. he called me "miss hope" since i go to hope college. then he talked to us about his past lovers and how he thinks life i all one big joke. i am swooning.
love love love,
lauren
another t-shirt: COLORFUL LOVES TRENDY GIRL
to pick up where i left off...
this past saturday, we went to this orphanage for HIV/AIDS children called desire society. all the children there are immensely beautiful and full of life, despite the fact that others look down on them and refuse to touch them, fearing they might contract AIDS through touch. we got a brief introduction and tour when we got there, and then we got to give the kids their afternoon snacks while we sat with them and watched some children dance for us!
i would definitely recommend donating to desire society. it's such a great cause. click here for a direct link to their website.
on sunday, we participated in a scavenger hunt type activity called khojo hyderabad. khojo means "search" and that's just what we did. we were split into teams and had to find the lowest priced auto rickshaws in order to get to our destinations--which is a hard task to do, especially when you're white. it's easy to pay too much (especially when "too much" is two dollars instead of one). there were prizes to be won, but my team just wanted to have fun, so we settled for seventh place!
the last part of khojo hyderabad took us to the salar jung museum. it's a museum founded by one of the noble families in hyderabad. since they were prominent from 1720-1948, they had collected a lot of items: clocks, toys, figurines, paintings, porcelain, jade, etc. lots and lots of stuff to see.
after the museum, we took a boat ride on hussain sagar lake to see the largest buddha statue in india. it's made out of granite and sits on top of a rock in the middle of the lake.
i hope this image fills you with peace like it did with me.
have a wonderful day!
mountains of love,
lauren
p.s. i'll tell you about classes soon!
this past saturday, we went to this orphanage for HIV/AIDS children called desire society. all the children there are immensely beautiful and full of life, despite the fact that others look down on them and refuse to touch them, fearing they might contract AIDS through touch. we got a brief introduction and tour when we got there, and then we got to give the kids their afternoon snacks while we sat with them and watched some children dance for us!
 |
| watching the kids dance (where's lauren?) |
i would definitely recommend donating to desire society. it's such a great cause. click here for a direct link to their website.
on sunday, we participated in a scavenger hunt type activity called khojo hyderabad. khojo means "search" and that's just what we did. we were split into teams and had to find the lowest priced auto rickshaws in order to get to our destinations--which is a hard task to do, especially when you're white. it's easy to pay too much (especially when "too much" is two dollars instead of one). there were prizes to be won, but my team just wanted to have fun, so we settled for seventh place!
the last part of khojo hyderabad took us to the salar jung museum. it's a museum founded by one of the noble families in hyderabad. since they were prominent from 1720-1948, they had collected a lot of items: clocks, toys, figurines, paintings, porcelain, jade, etc. lots and lots of stuff to see.
after the museum, we took a boat ride on hussain sagar lake to see the largest buddha statue in india. it's made out of granite and sits on top of a rock in the middle of the lake.
i hope this image fills you with peace like it did with me.
have a wonderful day!
mountains of love,
lauren
p.s. i'll tell you about classes soon!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
lots of things
hello dear readers! i apologize for my lack of updates. there have been many, i assure you.
last sunday, we all split into groups of four and were assigned to an indian university student. my group was lucky and we got two leaders, sumitra and praveen, both linguistic phd students. they helped us figure out the bus system, not a simple task. praveen hung out mainly with max, the only guy in our group, since praveen is a guy and the buses are segregated women and men. sumitra told me that she wants me to come over to her house and cook with her! and when i told her i wanted to get a sari, she told me she would take me to the place she goes and to her tailor too. what great fun.
monday night, after a day of sampling classes, we all met for fusion music. indian fusion music is a mix of western styles and classical indian styles. there was a sitar, tabla, flute (made of bamboo), an electric guitar, and a drum set. it was SO good and i'm pretty sure my mouth hanging open the whole time in awe and pure joy. some of my friends here recorded little videos of it, so once they've uploaded them, i'll post it here in my blog. for now, here are some pictures that my friend denise took:
and a fun fact about denise: all the indians pronounce her name as dennis, haha. all of us started to call her dennis for fun and now it's strange for us to call her denise. also, there's this friend, zackary, he goes by zack. the indian people call him zach--as in za-ch. or za-ch-a-dee. we like to call him za-ch as well :)
on wednesday, we had to register for residential status with the police. they house themselves in the old airport, completely abandoned, and i've heard it's haunted. no ghost encounters though. just two and a half hours of waiting around in order to sign three papers.
thursday night, we got a sampling of the culture classes we can take as extracurricular activities. the classes offered are tabla, sitar, kathak, and hindustani vocal. kathak is a dance that you do to indian classical music where you dance with an anklet of bells. i signed up for the sitar and vocal class--and the best part is...i'll be coming home with my very own sitar! and hopefully the skills to play it!
more to come--i don't to overwhelm you all at once!
love to you from india,
lauren
last sunday, we all split into groups of four and were assigned to an indian university student. my group was lucky and we got two leaders, sumitra and praveen, both linguistic phd students. they helped us figure out the bus system, not a simple task. praveen hung out mainly with max, the only guy in our group, since praveen is a guy and the buses are segregated women and men. sumitra told me that she wants me to come over to her house and cook with her! and when i told her i wanted to get a sari, she told me she would take me to the place she goes and to her tailor too. what great fun.
monday night, after a day of sampling classes, we all met for fusion music. indian fusion music is a mix of western styles and classical indian styles. there was a sitar, tabla, flute (made of bamboo), an electric guitar, and a drum set. it was SO good and i'm pretty sure my mouth hanging open the whole time in awe and pure joy. some of my friends here recorded little videos of it, so once they've uploaded them, i'll post it here in my blog. for now, here are some pictures that my friend denise took:
 |
| sitar |
 |
| tabla |
and a fun fact about denise: all the indians pronounce her name as dennis, haha. all of us started to call her dennis for fun and now it's strange for us to call her denise. also, there's this friend, zackary, he goes by zack. the indian people call him zach--as in za-ch. or za-ch-a-dee. we like to call him za-ch as well :)
on wednesday, we had to register for residential status with the police. they house themselves in the old airport, completely abandoned, and i've heard it's haunted. no ghost encounters though. just two and a half hours of waiting around in order to sign three papers.
thursday night, we got a sampling of the culture classes we can take as extracurricular activities. the classes offered are tabla, sitar, kathak, and hindustani vocal. kathak is a dance that you do to indian classical music where you dance with an anklet of bells. i signed up for the sitar and vocal class--and the best part is...i'll be coming home with my very own sitar! and hopefully the skills to play it!
more to come--i don't to overwhelm you all at once!
love to you from india,
lauren
Saturday, January 1, 2011
indian new years
hihihi
another funny shirt, worn by 2 year old thandvi, the daughter of the hindi teacher: MINI MUFFINS (then a muffin and a cookie both smiling underneath) then...NOM
for new years, we all went to this restaurant/bar called our place. it was this sooooper nice restaurant that really looked like a jungle with pretty white lights strung everywhere. there was a sitar and tabla (drums) playing on this mini stage and they played the whole night. we all ordered drinks and probably looked and lived up to all american stereotypes. after the bar, we came back home and went up on the balcony patio thing on the second floor and played music and danced and talked and were silly. the sky morphed into this magenta color and you could hear the shouts and cheers for 2011 all over campus along with some fireworks.
yesterday, in the spirit of orientation, we listened to two lectures: women movements in india, and human rights in india. both of the professors were so smart and interesting and we learned a whole lot. it got us excited to sign up for classes soon. the deal is, on monday, we get to "shop" for classes, like sit in and see if we like certain professors, course content, etc. and then after a couple days of "shopping" we'll sign up for classes for realz.
last night our program directors took us out to eat at this fancy hotel for a celebratory new years dinner. it was delicious and there was even some western-ish food there for those who were craving some of that. not this girl. she loves indian food.
happy 2011!
loving you all
lauren
another funny shirt, worn by 2 year old thandvi, the daughter of the hindi teacher: MINI MUFFINS (then a muffin and a cookie both smiling underneath) then...NOM
for new years, we all went to this restaurant/bar called our place. it was this sooooper nice restaurant that really looked like a jungle with pretty white lights strung everywhere. there was a sitar and tabla (drums) playing on this mini stage and they played the whole night. we all ordered drinks and probably looked and lived up to all american stereotypes. after the bar, we came back home and went up on the balcony patio thing on the second floor and played music and danced and talked and were silly. the sky morphed into this magenta color and you could hear the shouts and cheers for 2011 all over campus along with some fireworks.
yesterday, in the spirit of orientation, we listened to two lectures: women movements in india, and human rights in india. both of the professors were so smart and interesting and we learned a whole lot. it got us excited to sign up for classes soon. the deal is, on monday, we get to "shop" for classes, like sit in and see if we like certain professors, course content, etc. and then after a couple days of "shopping" we'll sign up for classes for realz.
last night our program directors took us out to eat at this fancy hotel for a celebratory new years dinner. it was delicious and there was even some western-ish food there for those who were craving some of that. not this girl. she loves indian food.
happy 2011!
loving you all
lauren
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