Ow, Kolkata!

I'm nursing a bee sting. a BEE STING! Thankfully the only insect that doesn't carry some deadly disease, and after a minor panic and causing quite a scene in the restaurant, I was relieved to discover I had not developed some deathly allergy in the last 15 years since I've had one. Right on the underside of my right wrist. And some of you might know how phobic I am of putting on bracelets, let alone having something pierce me right there next to the.... gasp... vein! Arg. anyway it still hurts. So that's what puts the Ow in Ow, Calcutta.

Secondly, I'm here, in Calcutta, Kolkata, whatever you wanna say. And 2 days ago was the 1 month anniversary of being here! Been a long and short time all at the same time. And this time next month I'll be getting to winding this all down. Kolkata, not the city I imagined it would be. First of all, there's a United Colors of Benneton and an Adidas! And tons of old school cars painted yellow, Taxis! Real ones, not white "tourist cars" but actual taxis. This seems to be India's answer to NYC, and I'm sitting in a net cafe that has AC and little cubicles, looks like a call  center. Everything here is more modern, and the stereotype I had of this city, which was everyone begging, peoole lying on the streets, is only somewhat true. The overarching thing about it is the old colonial british archetecture, old relics still standing and leaving their stylistic imprint all over, its not hard to see how this was a colony, here. The old white buildings with palm trees in front, some majestic well laid out parks with actual trashbins, and a fine for litter! This is only in these main parks however but it just blew my mind yesterday.

I volunteered in an orphanage for these 3 days through the "motherhouse" Mother Theresa's organization here in India. I showed up for the meeting for volunteers friday, a few hours after my train finally arrived (3 hours late, didn't get out of gaya till 2 am, that was... fun...) and they briefed us on the different houses we could work in. Some of them have a minimum of one month, but one that didn't was the orphanage, where I'd wanted to work anyway. I asked to be put in a classroom if possible, and I got what I wanted! Saturday morning we had to show up at 7 am for breakfast, and then we all go in groups to our respective houses. There were probably 40 people there this morning, lots of them have been here for at least a week or 2, there were a lot of Americans! First time I'd really seen them. I guess thats kind of nice, that you see Americans out there trying to help out, just wish they would actually travel through these countries as well instead of flying in, helping out, and flying out, which some of them do.  Lots of Catholics of course, and yesterday morning I received a mini-sermon from a westerner guy that had been here 35 years and was preaching on how McCain was the only one to vote for because this man is emphatically pro-life, and talked to us about not voting for someone who kills babies. Yikes. I murmured to the american guy (from brooklyn!) next to me that I came here to volunteer, not to be religiously indoctrinated. He nodded in agreement. 

In any case,  I worked with the kids that morning. SO CUTE! I mean seriously adorable kids, my classroom was 9 kids and they were like 3 years old. As soon as I walked in the room, one little boy just ran up to my legs and threw his arms around them. He was absolutely the cutest boy ever, and I found out later that some Italians are adopting him and coming to get him in a couple of weeks.

Apparently the turnover is really high there which is nice, that a couple of years ago someone worked here and came back and only a couple of kids are still here, they all got placements. It makes it easier to think about it all. The nuns are pretty rough with the kids, pretty strict, saw them just throwing them into the chairs when they were resistant, and slapping them around a bit. They seem to have their best interest at heart but it is different methods. Yesterday I was wearing the same chinese beaded bracelet I always wear and wore before with the kids, and didn't think about it. While two of them were curiously playing with my watch, and I was explaining to them about time, another little hellion went and ripped off my bracelet, breaking it and sending beads everywhere. I freaked momentarily, knowing they could be choking hazards, and thankfully my little ally Deepak went rushing around collecting them all, I was worried he'd cram them in his mouth but instead he picked them all up and came running over to me to return them. So sweet. Unfortunately the nun saw him with one bead as he was returning it to me, and started freaking out and I told her it was from my bracelet and she shook her head disapprovingly and yelled at me in hindi and pointed to her throat and mimed choking. I apologized profusely and felt like crying/guilty/5 years old, that amazing ability that catholic school atmospheres never seem to fail to do to even adults, no offense to anyone.

Anyway the kids are like monkeys, lemme say. They climb the barred windows! Don't know how they get up there and you have to go over and just remove them and put them on the floor again, where they just start re-climbing, and then they hold on with all their might and its like trying to get my cat out of her cage when she's at the vet. Somehow they possess this super human strength. And like all little kids, they crave attention, and I think the hardest part about it is that sometimes they would just look up at you and hold out their arms, wanting to be picked up. It was so cute, and we weren't really allowed to pick them up which was just so sad. Usually a kid would spend all his day with other little kids, sharing the attention, but come home to a family that would show attention to them... well the lucky kids I guess. Just makes you want to take them home. And the nuns are so strict! Some rich Indians came breezing in for acouple of minutes to hand out hard candies (and she was worried about my beads being chocking hazards!) and cookies 5 minutes before their lunch time, which of course made all the kids spit their lunch food back out into the bowl when I was trying to feed it to them later, really great planning) ... ps seeing a lot of class divide here that I haven't seen this plainly before. The cutting edge rich people in the coffee houses that look like starbucks, people riding nice cars, people hiring others to carry their suitcases for them on their heads, etc. Interesting.

Anyway the nuns are not abusing them however, and its a lot better than the alternative for these kids. On sudder street where my hotel is there is a well known sceme where poor adults will pay for kids for the day to use to beg for money. sick. We spent the mornings singing nursery rhymes, even though the kids just sort of stared at us which was a little odd, they didn't speak english at all and i was put in this room with an irish girl about my age that is a teacher at home and she was remarking about certain differences. It is old catholic school style strictness here, they prbably think we're big softies. But trying to feed them was quite hard! They have the same curry potatoes and rice with some chicken every day for lunch and dinner, and I don't think they love eating it. My little boy just kept spitting it back in the bowl, or swatting me away, and ripping his bib off! We tried to do color-matching with them, they seemed to respond pretty well to that, and "head and shoulders knees and toes" they seemed to like. They are 3 years old for gods sake so I guess its ok they aren't writing essays. I immediately felt like writing some sorts of lesson plans and having some curricular guidelines. It didn't seem like the two indian nuns who were there had any particular focus for them... anyway I guess its different here. I wanted to take a couple of those kids home with me honestly, I think it goes to remind us that adoption is such a good option, there really are tons of really little kids that need families, and so many adoption agencies abroad. Certainly a possible option for the future that I would consider maybe. Who knows.

I think this is one of the more organized charity centers, and because of this there seem to be a steady stream of foreign volunteers. They make it easy to sign up, but I feel like I might feel more that I'm really needeed in a smaller town or something, I might see what other volunteer opportunities there are as I head down south. It was not a reality check, I know how it is out there for so many kids, but it was certainly a reminder and some hands on experience helped me to think about how important it is to spend some time doing quality things for people who need your help. I don't know how this will be a part of my career but I am determined to make it one.

Anyway it was really easy to meet people these last 3 days through the volunteering, and at an internet cafe I met someone too. An american couple from texas, a spanish woman from barcelona that i spoke only spanish with for 3 days, i did pretty well if i say so myself! And an american guy volunteering as well. This allowed me to go out to a couple of the restaurants that Kolkata has to offer... there's a park street which is kinda like park avenue (im telling you its kinda like nyc) which had some big fancy restaurants with waiting lists on a sunday night! Greg the american guy (lives in brooklyn actually!) and myself waited last night to go to this india place, when we finally were seated we were taken to the back room which had more cafeteria like lights but everyone was dressed up, there were ugly old 70s light fixtures, sorta like applebees, and the oddest part was we were seated on the same side of the table, there was no other side! Just one bench. Looking out into the restaurant, totally exposed! Good mutton kebabs though, a northern dish. And I thought I'd order the "Brandy Honey Bee" cocktail, not realizing it was just straight brandy! And a chocolate "sundae" which was ice cream and fruit, chocolate ice cream, weird combo. And the waiters were in full regalia, turbans and all. It was funny. And the nights before that I hit up a traditional bengali food place and a tex mex place called Jalapenos! Been quite a good mix of cuisine here.

All in all, I think this is a really cool city, clearly a fusion of old and new, colonialism and indian tradition, big old buildings falling apart, fancy hotels (one of which I went inside just to use their bathroom and their nice handsoap and MOISTURIZER!) ... anyway its a cool place to be. Flying out in a couple hours to Chennai, decided to bypass the 45 hour train ride and just spend the extra 60 bucks for a flight. I'll be in chennai by 8 tonight. Starting the south! 2nd half of the journey begins! I'll keep you posted.

Curry and Camels

Finally - some pictures!  As I post new albums, I'll add them to the Pictures list on the left.

You're never really that far from home...

My god this trip gets odder and odder, and pretty much cooler and cooler. One day since I wrote and I"m not really sure how to start. Im in Bodhgaya, its a full moon, and my day was an eclectic mix of meditating, shopping, and eating expensive yet free buffets with 50 americans.

I'll explain. I woke up this morning feeling a bit disgruntled for no good reason. Maybe the mosquitos coming through the net and biting my butt in the night could have contributed. And the oppressive heat. And the power outages every 5 minutes in this town! With no backup generators, so the TV goes out and the lights and fan. In any case, I had breakfast at the same place I had dinner last night, and when the super nice waiter suggested chai, I finished off 2 huge cups because he brought me the Hindustan times! And I got to almost finish off my Danielle Steele crap I got for free, yet is suprisingly good and readable, kinda replaces (almost) As the World Turns :)

Anyway the day started with pretty much the nicest, most altruistic Indians I've met so far, and it had me thinking, is it the region? Or is it me? Maybe they can sense I"ve turned a corner here, maybe I started out vulnerable but nice, turned into a raging defensive maniac for a while, and then realized I had to submit to this country and now am fairly amiable again? But not as vulnerable? I think its something like that. I realized how long my conversations are with the men, even the women and the village kids. I got nice and lost in some rice fields today and it didn't even worry me. I walked through tiny dirt paths and even in front of some people's huts and after a cordial morning "namaste" they let me pass with minimal hassle. The little kids ran screaming after me and giggling and i had them pose for a picture, smiled at them and said goodbye, and that was that. Some schoolboys followed me down the street, 3 cars and 3 motorbikes offered to take me into town and i smiled and refused, and they left it at that. 

I look at myself in the mirror and see a really really dirty skinned person, with crazy looking hair that can be styled with just my hand, kinda stays in whatever way i mold it ( i do wash it, but the water is hard and usually freezing and i want to conserve shampoo, and well you get the picture) and cleaning under my fingernails is kind of pointless, considering they get dirty in 5 minutes) and the only makeup i ever wear is the faintest hint of eyeliner, i mean my eyes are virtually non-existent without it!!! And i wear these comical "ali baba" pants that no indian would be caught dead in but there is a major market for manufacturing them for foreigners, and a bunch of tibetan jewelry that i bought today. I look at myself, and I guess I look the part. One might cast me in a play about backpackers now.

Maybe this is why they seem to treat me as less of a target and more part of the scenery.... well I woudln't go that far. But I got lost today trying to find the international meditation center, thought id try to "squeeze it in"... not waht you are supposed to do with meditation i fear but ah well... saw it from across an odd park, it ws odd because the park only had one entrance, and the center was over the fence, the fence was too high to jump,  so i had to go around the park, and then i found myself in a tibetan monastary, with 2 asian tour buses full of asians, and the monks even had a laugh as i wandered around somewhat confused. then i was in the fields, and then with the villagers, and then praying for no snakes, and then, totally randomly, i was in front of my hotel when i thought i was on the other side of town. 

I meandered around and found myself at the main temple here in Bodhgaya, and it was AMAZING! This was the temple to commemorate Buddha's rise to enlightenment, right in this very spot! The very tree! Around it were beautiful gardens, a lake with a giant buddha in it, and monks chanting and meditating around the tree. I sat down, near me were women dressed all in white, and lots of monks, and I closed my eyes and sat down for 1.5 hours! Of course I am new at this and thoughts of family, friends, plans, chris, apartments in manhattan, hairspray, drifted through my head. I tried to push them out, i think i was semi successful and at the very least i felt refreshed and very peaceful. Mabye it was the constant asian influence throughout my life, but the surrounding presence of tibetans, burmese, japanese, chinese, vietnamese and thai people and monastaries actually really put me at ease. And every time I see a Buddha I feel that way also. It seems more a way of thinking than the kind of dogma I associate with other organized religions. At least that's how it feels to me, and I like it.

After meditating I was looking at the lake, and a Burmese monk with glasses and a friendly smile asked me where I was from, and for once I was convinced a man wasn't trying to chat me up! He proceeded to talk to me about meditation, how one must shower for the body-cleaning and meditate for the mind cleaning! He talked about breathing, and practicing banishing other thoughts, he was very kind and funny. I politely excused myself after a while walking with him cuz i really had to pee and sometimes don't know where social situations are going, nice man but didn't really want to spend hours with him, im so anti social sometimes.

I ended up in a tibetan jewelry store... dear lord I think I might even like it better than indian jewelry. I bought 5 pieces for 20 dollars! I had to sit the boy down and talk to him, down to business. I sat in the store for almost 2 hours! We finally settled on the deal and i walked out, triumphant, as they were shaking their heads and doing figures on the calculator when i left. Came home to try to check if the tv was working, it was, for 5 minutes  i watched 13 going on 30 and then out again. Briefly thought my hidden stash of money and debit card was stolen, luckily I overlooked my locked pocket in my bag. 

Out the door to the free zen meditation session at 5 in the japanese monastary, and arrived 10 min late, sat in the back of all the meditators, noticed there were tons of foreigners! where had they all been? there were like 60 of us. I had no idea what the procedure was and at times felt like i was at a dance class at broadway dance center clueless as ever. which way to bow? to sit? to file out? to walk around the perimeter of the temple? the chants, the gongs, the silence, while the sun set and the full moon came out over the japanese temple and i felt like i was in a tropical palm tree laden japan, we even had a japanese monk. It was cool. And coming out at the end i took a pic of the full moon and heard some americans talking about dinner and sounding really nyc... lingo and all. One had a shaved head so i assumed she was really hard core buddhist... turns out there are like 40 americans in this monastary program for a study abroad intensive thing, and they are here for 3 months! They have mixed feelings about all of it and the girls i met were ready to go home. It was an american dynamic that made me feel instantly like i was home, and when they said they were getting a free buffet with the program, i hopped on the backpacker freeloading bandwagon and even got approved to eat with them in the tablecloth, full silverware, 3 course dinner buffett! It was delicious and free and we talked about everything, I even have tentative plans for a kingfisher with one of the girls tomorrow night; she said she knows ways around the rules they have for them! Ha.

So i got really fortunate tonight, the whole day was good and I'm up early tomrrow to switch hotels cuz this one is full, and finally go to the meditation center. i think thurs i will go to the caves where buddha spent years becoming enlightened. I'm actually relieved I have 3 full days here, this place is wicked. And I've lots of temples and monastaries to visit tomorrow too. 

Ok back to my hot dark electricity-less room! Goodnight all.

Holy Varanasi!

Wow... so after I wrote the last entry in Satna, I was groped by about 15 men in the span of 2 minutes, when I had to walk to the train station through the festival,the streets jammed with people. Luckily for me the indian woman who ran the internet store with her husband proudly showed me off to her family and children who were in the parade, and then helped me get back, elbowing the ogling Indian men in the ribs, as she cleared a path for me. It didn't help the guys behind me though, I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I clamped the lock shut on the door of the dingy "hotel" i paid for for 6 hours while i waited for that night train to Varanasi. I think that experience woudl have done me in a month ago, but I just sighed and moved forward, hungrily devouring 3 slices of white bread, two bags of chips and a mineral water... the only food they were selling at night there. I did walk into a shady restaurant, and promptly walked right out. Sleeping on the train was, happily, uneventful. I was in a 2ac class compartment (the best you can get, a few dollars more than the 3ac class, and quite a bit more than the general class, but i don't want to skimp out on overnight train rides, don';t want to wake into the night staring into the face of an awestruck local, you know?) And in any case, I was with more families than random men which was nice.  I slept mostly through the night, and then walked into the mess of the train station to be met with 25 rickshaw drivers trying to get my money. so i stood there and said "ok, which one of you wants to take me to my hotel for 25 rupees?" to which they argued it was too little, and i declared, forcefully "i didn't just get to india yesterday. which one of you will it be? or i will take my business to someone who will." and someone did, and then there i was on an old school cycle rickshaw driven by an old man who had to get out and push me up a hill, sweating. i ended up giving him 50 anyway. My hotel in Varanasi overlooked the ghats, for those of you that don't know, Varanasi is the holiest city in india, it is where people take the bodies of their dead and cremate them, and send them down the ganges river. It is also where they themselves bathe in the river, sometimes even drink the water. Lucky told me that a Japanese tourist man was hospitalized for 2 weeks after drinking the water, trying to be "indian." wow. In any case, my hotel had balconies that were attached to each room, and out the back entrance, cages around the hallways to prevent the masses of monkeys from getting in. at night we were told to make sure we shut our balcony doors for that reason. i stepped out last night and heard and saw about 30 monkeys on top of the caged in gates. they are everywhere. I had heard Varanasi would be the most difficult of all of the cities I would visit. This is already untrue, even before I go to Calcutta. Varanasi was beautiful, old looking, but beautiful and pretty serene down in the area of the ghats where i was staying. The people didn't hassle as much, where i was staying was a very holy area, the cremation taking progress 24 hours a day virtually outside my window. apparently they burn the bodies for 3 hours each, costing the family a lot of money, and the boy who described it all to me, who wanted me to see his shop but seemed to genuinely want to educate me, said that 250 bodies are burned there a day, and that the mens chests dont burn because they are hard workers, and the women's pelvis bones dont burn because they are strong to have babies. interesting.The viewing area where i went with the boy was a kind of hospice, people waiting to die there in this room, and i gave some rupees to the woman maintaining it all. Pretty intense place.  people would be chanting late into the night, ringing bells, and doing ritualistic ceremonial lookig things with torches and fire... there were paddle boats going down the ganges by night, candles floating on the water, and an almot full moon (it is full toniht) to complete the picture. I took a sunrise boatride on 2 hours of sleep, it was spectacular. Besides all of these beautiful things the highlight had to be the friends I made while there. 3 french guys and a lovely french couple. The guys I spent the most time with, for 3 days, we were inseperable friends. I met thm as soon as I walked in the door of my hotel that morning, sweating buckets as I had climbed about 6 flights of stairs. Their names were Didier, Romain and Nico. What awesome guys. Gentleman, super funny, so nice, and really made my life a breezy vacation for 3 days. They are just 3 guys that seem to really enjoy life. During the winter they work in the north of france on the ski slopes, and in the summers they work in the south of france in a vineyard. Quite a beautiful life! One was always whistling, The others joking around... Nico's English was the best but I also got to talk to the others a ton as well and after a few days their english was so much better! The 4 of us took autorickshaws for the day to see all the sights, some temples (a couple that didn't let non hindus inside so we couldn't see) and a buddhist neighboring town, and a not so hot lunch that took 2 hours to come out! typical.  That night we joined the couple and went to a music venue literally on a pitch dark tiny side street i never would have been able to go to on my own. We saw a simple sitar/tabla (drum) performance for about 2 hours which was peacful and lovely. On the way home we ran into a festival on the main street with a man breathing fire! And little boys dancing to this bumping bhangra music and dancing like they are literally possessed, almost like a mosh pit for children. kinda terrifying! And all these statues being pushed through the streets, lit with candles and tons of people clustered aroudn tem. i was happy to be able to hold on to the arms of my friends, felt so much safer in a crowd with them. Those tiny little streets are like nothing I'd ever seen before. Just the smallest maze-like alleyways, totally dark! With cows! And cow poop that i stepped in, and then felt it squish between my toes with every step and i couldn't properly clean it up till i got home! ugh! Before we set out we set up a deal with a wheeler dealer type indian guy who ws asking us "hash"? and i said "kingfisher?" (beer) and he looks at me and says, "is possible." so we arranged to meet him at 9 pm in front of this hut where he'd bring the beers for us. beers are not so easy to come by in india, especially in a holy city, but they are not illegal there, just impossible to find a store. but someone will do anything for you for payment. Though he got us small "godfathers" instead, not the deal, but hey whatever. We had some beers in my AC room, the other rooms were full, so i lived it up in style, and all 6 of us had a party! It was so much fun, I hadn't felt that happy in a long time and it just felt so good to be social and to be able to let my guard down with some friends. Yesterday they all left, to go trekking in Nepal, and in a month they might be down my way in the south, we will see, but yu never know. Saying goodbye to them made me absolutely gutted, and when they sped off in a car to take them to the train station, i just cried, i felt so lonely again! Nothing looked the same with them gone.  But I got some dinner at the backpacker friendly restaurant and this morning was led to my rickshaw by a really honestly helpful indian boy who'd helped square away my very difficult to obtain train tickets. because of this 10 day festival it is really impossible to get any seats on trains, so i bought my ticket to calcutta in advance. unfortunately, they had no tix in AC classes till thursday night, so thats when its for. upon arriving today in bohdgaya, however, i think i may try to change it to an earlier day trip instead of overnight, because this place is really small and unless i really get into the meditation thing (this is buddha's town and i htink im gonna do a day meditation tomorrow if i can) im peacing out. it is cool though  because tomorrow i will see the different monastaries of several different countries, there are a lot of asian tourists here and tons of monks everywhere. tonight for dinner i had japanese okonomeyaki! There are tibetan specialties  i will try tomorrow. And i had romy and michelle's high school reunion playin on my tv today! i went back to non-ac accomodation becasue this town is pricey! but i have a tv. and i had the hotel roomboys put up a mosquito screen on my window, threre are bars there for safety but the bugs could still get in. so they got outside my window and actually nailed a net up there for me! so nice. Talked to some old french men tonight at dinner for a few, so many french! But quite alone again here in bodhgaya. hope the meditation works out tomorrow,  and if all else fails ill be out on an overnight train to calcutta thrus. friday afternoon im going to go over to the mother theresa house and see if i can help out at the orphanage for a couple of days. we'll see. and then heading down south! so ready. people say its a lot easier, and not as poor either which might be easier. but boy am i seeing some fantastic and amazing things, and im hoping to meet more amazing people like my french buddies. and Meighan, if you go to school in paris next year, we have invites to go visit them at the wineries! or the slopes, but i don't like to downhill ski! I think i could get into the wineries! Ok well hope everyone is well miss you all! Love Arj

random city

Wow... so I'm writing again the same day from Satna, a fairly large city though waaaaay off the tourist map. only reason any foreigners are ever here is to go to Varanasi, and the only reason they are here for that is because it is on the train line, it is 4 hous from the city where i am this morning, or the town rather. you know the most interesting thing about this place is it is a regular city; quite bright decked out in xmas lights, there is a hindu festival going on for the last 10 days. so all these women and children are out with everyone else, the shops are closing, but the random little convenience stores are open along with some electronics stores. I seem to have stumbled upon the one hole in the wall internet cafe here, its like some woman's house with 3 nice computers in the back and one really hot indian guy (watch out chris!) who's talking to me right now, first attractive one i've seen, to be totally honest. anyway, i bought some bangles here, and have been looking at the shops, the people here are not really hassling me, which is pretty funny. they are looking at me wide eyed and talking about me, like im the first foreigner they've seen. one boy called out to me and his friends were laughing, thats about it. i bought some toothpaste and electolyte powder (yum) with minimal hassle and gentlemanly service. It was a fairly pleasant (?) bus ride here, bus only stopped running twice, they opened up the insides of it and were doing something with the oil? dunno but it smelled foul. but, it kept running and soon i was walking 20 min down the road with my bags and some korean girls and we found the station. there was no proper waiting room, so i figured out i could put my stuff in a "hotel" room for about 4 bucks, with a shower and all, from a man who spoke no english. a punjabi business man helped me out with translations, and my stuff is locked away in a room for the next 5 hours till this train leaves! what i thought was going to be a boring 6 hours hasn't been half bad. prob kill some more time online and then get some food. craziness! but im enjoying it.

Kujuraho to Varanasi

Just a short note to say I just finished a perfectly refreshing yoga class at 8 this morning in a peaceful garden in Kujaraho! Sat up in the garden with this yogi and he gave me a 1 hour course, all these pressure points for different health issues, and positions I couldnt quite get, but he was very patient and very wise-yogi type and very smiley. Nice refreshing way to start the day, and now he assures me of no ailments, so if that is true it will be a nice change from my nausea and some stomach issues ive had in the last couple of days here.  I got a ride here in an Indian Mercedes from an old (well parents age, not old of course) couple and their driver, they were from Holland. Just so nice to offer that to me so I didn't have to take the bus... today I do, for the first time, at 4:30... they say its the most hardcore experience of travel here so we shall see, glad i did the yoga! My hotel here has been very friendly and hospitable, got to see the fascinating and fairly risque kama sutra carvings in the temples yesterday, and the temples themselves are incredibly ornate, just the carving into this sandstone is really unbelievable. I think I forgot to tell you last time about my cell phone fiasco... in Delhi (which was so much better the second time around with the german girls, and we hired Lucky for a day to drive us around to see all teh major sights!) we were not supposed to bring cell phones in but I forgot mine was in my bra, so i can feel it vibrate if someone calls, and it went off in the metal detector! So I figured I'd better not say anything and she thought it was my keys so let me though. Well I went to the bathroom, and the toilets are the hole-type ones and after I peed my left foot fell right in!!!! So they have these faucets on the walls and so I rinsed it off and was kinda laughing and trying to pull up my pants (which were the indian punjabi suit drawstring kind, you know the ones of course :) ) when my cell phone jumped out of my bra and into the unflushed toilet!! so i did what i had to do, and just stuck my whole hand down in there and fished it out, after a couple days of sometimes working sometimes not, i have enough keys that work that i can actually use it to call pre-existing contacts! Ridiculous. Karma almost, since i wasn't suposed to have the phone in there anyway! Just thought it was a funny story. Yesterday a 20 year old boy who looked 15 and maybe was followed me forever, talked to me nonstop and i finally decided just to talk to him, we took a walk, and i told him after 20 minutes no i wouldn't go have tea but i did enjoy talking to him. Told him not to follow me down the road because it would creep me out if he knew where i was staying, and seemed to be semi effective. I also told him I was married, but he seemed to genuinely want to talk. This town is particularly bad for the man-followers, even for a "married" woman! I have to craft this whole made up life for myself sometmes, scarily but funnily enough I am getting better at lying! ha. I have also taken up talking to myself when I am lonely, and talking into my cell phone while walking down the street, guys start to talk and then i point to the phone and they say "oh, sorry madam"... its funny. I just talk about the day, or whatever's on my mind. I think I may have gone legitimately insane. One guy I just ignored started yelling at me for ignoring me, saying "she doesn't like Indians. She only likes white skinned people. she thinks she's better than us." And i whipped around and told him that was bull and yelled at him not to speak to me like that. And he shut up. Some people here are so rude if you dont talk to them, and you can't talk to all 200 who try to talk to you all day or you'll go nuts. ah well. At any rate, more temples today and then at 4:30 the bus for 4 hours to mahoba, then 4 hours to kill and then 1 am overnight train to Varanasi. I'm doing 2nd class AC, best class they have on this train, 4 to a compartment, kinda excited to see what its all about. So next time I write I will be in the Holiest city in India, on the Ganges river with a hotel that looks over the ghats. Please write me at arjanavizulis@yahoo.com if you get the urge or just comment on this thing. Hope you are all well!

Adapting

My god its been a long time since I've written. Been meaning to and meaning to and then something always comes up. Thanks for reading these and leaving comments! I love to discover someone has written me!

I'm writing you now from Orcha, a small town outside of not the biggest town of Jhansi, south of Delhi by about 8 hours on a train (so probably 5 miles, har har) and I've really started the "me" part of the trip now! I'm off on my own, said goodbye to Lucky in Delhi yesterday as he kindly drove me to the train station after helping me get my first train ticket, for which I'm really grateful. The last days in Rajastan were good, and I found myself really sad to say goodbye to him, he was a great guide and driver and I will recommend him to anyone who visits India. Though the whole experience was not without its hassles! 

Last time I wrote I believe I was going to Jaisalmer for my camel safari. Well.... I got into the desert town of Jaisalmer, there were literally tumbleweeds. And I go to my hotel, which I got for free as part of my super expensive safari that I got swindled into buying my first panicked day in Delhi. I spend 125 usd, at least. So we get to the hotel after a long and sweaty drive all day (its literally over 100 every day I am not kidding, I sweat buckets) and I discover that the hotel is more or less deserted, didn't see any other tourists, and I get into my room and hear hammering over my head. They are doing construction right above me. So... already disenchanted with the package of the safari I asked the guy to tell me how many people were going... well I was joking before when I said hopefully I don't find myself on this camel alone, and well... he said "right now, there is actually just you. but do not worry, i will take very good care of you at night in the desert when we are sleeping together under the stars" or some other melodramatic statement. 

so i politely told him that this was not going to work out for me, and a few minutes later i was worriedly trying to figure out what i was going to do while ordering food at a restaurant... when 3 blonde german girls walked in, and i literally made a b-line over to the table and asked if they were going on a safari... they were in fact, the next day, and so in a matter of 2 hours i had booked it into their hotel, made a deal with the hotel owner for his safari, managed to argue my way into getting my money back (?! how i did it i don't know) from the delhi company, so now i can't really complain about them anymore, and joined up with a tour of 6 others, a great group, for one of the highlights of my trip. Unfortunately got wicked sick the night before, after all the hassle and everything, first time i was really ill while here, though for the last 2 days i haven't been able to shake nausea and feeling kinda weak and shaky. oh well.

At any rate, the safari was awesome. absolutely. my camel's name was Johnny Walker, the others were Michael Jackson, and something else, i can't remember. we each had our own, and for all i'd heard about camels being difficult and stubborn, these ones were fantastic! I'll tell you though my legs hurt for literally days after, by the second day i almost had to get off, until they conveniently told me that there were stirrups the whole time! made it easier.  We would stop in the middle of the day for a couple hours both days, while they made us stewed vegetables and chapati (a flat bread) for every meal! The dunes were picturesque, at moments you felt like you were in the safari desert. The sunset was spectacular, and at night it got dark so early and they made a small fire to cook our dinner but we didn't have any light and there were dung beetles everywhere! The stars were unreal, you could see all of the milky way, i don't know if i've ever really seen stars quite like that. We didn't even use tents to sleep, they put out blankets and we just slept on those, right in the middle of the sand! There was sand in every single possible place on my body, seemingly for days after. But waking up in the sand, though really disorienting, was pretty darn cool. 

And the people were a lot of fun. The three germans, who i ended up meeting up with in delhi for the past couple of days, a british couple, and a swiss guy who'd gotten his girlfriend pregnant in south america earlier in their travels and so she'd gone home, she's 6 months pregnant now, and he's still travelling! yeah we'll see if my husband gets away with travelling the world while i'm sitting at home some day craving ice cream and pickles. dream on. anyway he wants to get it all in before he's a dad, and he's my age! happily for him already engaged to her before, so its what he wants. just unexpected!

Oh ... and one other thing about the camel safari.  Turns out we were pretty close to the Pakistani border - about 20 miles!  Not real comforting.  On the roads we saw quite a few military vehicles, tanks etc.  But the desert was quiet.

It was lovely to actually spend time talking to people, and since i've really been on my own its gotten much easier. Where I am now in Orcha, not only is it picturesque, with a palace and spiraly temples, amazing architecture, but it is serene and the people are only somewhat out of control. They haggle and hassle but they don't follow you down the street as much and there are fewer beggars. Getting here yesterday was the first train trip I took, i had invested in the padlock and chain i'd seen other backpackers with, hooked my bag to a rack above my seat, much to the indian local onlooker's amusement, and sat there for 8 hours in sweltering heat. in the future for longer trips i think i will opt for the AC for a bit more money.

Upon getting to the train station i was accosted as always but realized i can't even trust people when I'm asking where the bathroom is, because there are schemes with that too.  Everything. it is very very hard to trust locals, because although of course there are great and trustworthy people out there, there seem to be a lot more that aren't that claw their way to your side, and i am beginning to get angry now, no more mr nice... girl, i suppose.  yesterday 5 men jumped into my autorickshaw hoping for a free ride, obvously friends of the driver, my ride was like 20 minutes, and i screamed at them to get out!! like, really screamed, dripping with sweat w/ my bags next to me, anyway they got out. sometimes you gotta do it.

Since getting to orcha i have met literally at least 6 travellers. i haven't had a meal alone! everyone is out and about with different stories, just met an american girl thats signed up for the meditation course i was thinking about taking (yes it was a thought) and she also saw me in hairspray!! crazy! somewhere in california. can't believe someone i met here saw me on stage. anyway i am not sure i will be able to fit in the meditation course, as it starts later than i am getting to that town, and i had been thinking i may return at the end of november, right before thanksgiving which is a couple of weeks early, just because i penciled in what i think i want to do and that gives me enough time. However, today it is becoming increasingly apparent that i should hold off and see what happens, things kind of change by the day here. The girl i met is also volunteering in an orphanage, and currently she is with a travel group called Intrepid which has some really well priced group tours, where you still stay where you want, etc... possibly an idea for me for south india. although by then i think ill probably be really used to being alone. who knows. i will keep my mind open to all things, although I would love to be home for my mom's birthday, my family's early xmas celebrations, and thanksgiving, and it would give me a chance to see chris on the way home. but, we'll see.

today i met a british guy who i actually more or less spent the day with, we met at lunch and i ended up going to his very nice hotel and swimming in the pool! had to pay them of course, but it was a nice relaxed day, and he was also an actor, waiting to move in with his girlfriend, here for 2 months, so much like me! it was funny.

I think that  I am learning in fact to adapt better, finding that it is easier at least here to meet people, and learning to ignore the kids wanting money, the old beggars, etc, though that is a very sad reality. i have to operate on the kind of "every man for himself" survival method, that dominates here. if you can't beat'em, join'em. though the roughest culture shock i've ever experienced, i am hopeful that my time will continue to improve and that i can start to see more of the good things, "incredible india" say all the brochures, and that i can feel good and healthy and keep at it.  I was going to cut calcutta out of my itinerary, but i think it is being added back in on the recommendation of the british friend i met today. there are also some volunteer work programs through mother theresa foundation in calcutta i may see if i can help out with. 

Last week before arriving in jaisalmer for the safari, i went to see some ruins on the outskirts of town. a little boy followed me all around as i looked around it for myself, and for some reason, it got to me, his asking for money, and when i got back to the car i started to cry, only to Lucky's frustration. "You have a weak, weak heart", he denounced, "you'll never make it through 3 months here. you must not cry. no crying in my car or i will kick you out".... so that's how they feel here. or at least some, the numbness, the understanding that t his is the way it is, its not a shock for them like it is/was for me.

I am happy and relieved that I made it through Delhi with no problems, and that even though i was there on a saturday, a week after more of the bombings, that  I was ok. And only 2 days after I was in Jodpur, from where I last wrote, there was a stampede at the temple where I was during prayer, that killed 190! Crazy tragedy, and again, not something that fazed Lucky. Guess that's it again, something I am getting used to. 

Soo... pardon all the typos and the patchy nature of this blog, just trying to get it all down in a few minutes time. Next up is Kujaraho, where apparently the kama sutra is carved into ancient rocks. should be interesting, and then varanasi which i hear is the "toughest" city in India. Will try to write again soon. Thanks for reading and miss you all.