The Meeting of the Moms

(Jan. 6) After a day of lazing and Dostoevsky, it was time. We gathered in the Sapphire conference room at the "Senator" (the name of our hotel; yeah right) and my host parents were the first to show up by far, actually meeting us in the lobby before it was even close to time to start. After an awkward and informative meeting about cell phones and foreign registration (which, if we don't fill out properly, might result in the same trouble last year's group had: a dramatic airline worker ripping up their tickets and the Indian government preventing them from leaving the country), we drank some tea, said a tearful goodbye to our other CSBSJU compadres--particularly Courtney and Kate!!!!--and moved on out. 

My host parents are a couple in their late sixties/early seventies named Swardesh and Sheela Basu. However, they prefer us calling them the Bengali terms for "uncle" and "aunt"-- our host dad is Kaka (Spanish speakers, no smart comments) and host mom Kakima. They both happen to be American citizens as well, as they lived in NYC for many years. They were economists on Wall Street working for Leeman Brothers (before they became scranjulous, naturally) and it served them well in life. Kaka wears a sweater over a collared shirt, a newsboy hat, and smart shoes. He is a huge sweetheart and tells us we do not even need to go school because HE will educate us about art, history, literature, poli sci and Bengali language. I feel he will emerge as the jokester of the family. Our mom, Kakima, is also sweet but in a rather frightening way. She is very direct and goal oriented, concerned about our needs and what is best for us. I like her, but I am still wary. However, I can tell the nervous-pervous-ness will soon pass, as it did with Sucharita. Indians are considerably more blunt, and I, a sensitive Minnesotan sort, am unaccustomed to such forward mannerisms. 

As it turns out, we live in a PALACE. Our home is in the northern part of Kolkata, practically a city of its own, named Salt Lake City (which I am sure is very confusing to the average globetrotting Mormon). Kaka explained that we live in a high profile neighborhood, not just for the wealthy but also the high in status. It looks veeeery different from the rest of India I have experienced thus far. Becca and I share a room; Tiffany and Brenna share a room; Drew shares a room with a young professional on the roof of the house through the open rooftop garden. Kaka and Kakima have a housekeeper/cook named Anima who is adorable and doesn't speak English. Her daughter and husband live here too and work a bit for K&K but do other things too. K&K also have a driver. (While writing this section, I realized that even though that's technically what they are, the term "servant" weirds me out.)

Our first dinner was a bit more relaxing. For some reason, I have been fearing since I applied for India that my host parents would force me to eat spicy foods even if I explain I can't really. Happy day, they say if it is too spicy, I don't need to eat it! That actually released quite a bit of anxiety I've been harboring. Spicy food makes me so nervous...and it's unavoidable. Anyway, night night, sleep tight, and don't let the small children bite off your fingers.

Home Sweet Home

(Jan. 5) Wooo wooo wooooo CALCUTTA!

After a rather bumpy flight in both the take off and landing (Daddy, I understand what you were saying about seeing Indians running off the plane and vomiting on the tarmac), we are finally HERE! First impressions: Kolkata looks WAY more modern than Delhi. More condensed with bigger buildings, it looks like an American city instead of just continual development and breakdown like we've seen in all the cities before. While I didn't see any speed limits on the big roads, there were many official road signs offering quasi-inspirational safety messages, like "Take Your Time, Not Your Life" "Time is Money, but Life is Precious" "No Hurry, No Worry" and so on.

Our hotel, however, is a little ridiculous, at least compared to the past few we've been in. 

Our "triple"... aka our '70s inspired room with two twin beds pushed together and three pillows. Thought they could pull the wool over our eyes, eh?

Meeting of the moms tomorrow. Gotta rest up.

From Hutch to Taj (Ain't No Mirage)

(Jan. 4) The night before, our leaders made the critical decision that THIS would be the day we saw the Taj Mahal, for if we went at sunrise tomorrow as scheduled, we would be disappointed because the mornings are just so foggy. Well then, to the Taj, ho! We left for Agra bright and early, and after a stop at another Mughal palace (ho hum), we were THERE.

As usual, there were those just up to monkey business...

So, the whole "Taj Mahal" dealio--MAGNIFICENT. Those 17th century Muslims really know how to build a tomb. If you didn't know the story, a Mughal king built it for his wife when she died as a testament to her beauty. Yeah, it's like a pretty mausoleum, but what's the big deal? Can't be THAT good, right? WRONGO! It is seriously one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life. World wonder status is DESERVED 100%. Pictures do not do it justice: white, glowing, perfect-- and up close, everything was so intricate! 

BE HERE NOW.

In all its shining glory, the Taj was a perfect wrap up to our Indian excursion. We laughed, we cried, we took jumping pictures like the foolish Americans we are, and most importantly, we learned that true love is when you make your young emperor husband promise on your death bed that he will build a monument to you then forbid him from ever marrying again. 

We wish to return to gaze upon your splendor once more, but until then...

Hasta la vista, Tajjy.

Last piece of Rajastan

(Jan. 3) This evening, we went to this odd festival on the outskirts of Jaipur demonstrating traditional Rajastani food and culture. After riding some camels (happy and sad, like the elephants) and dancing both with turban-wearing men and traditional but blinged-out girls, we sat down to an authentic Rajastani meal. As with most Indian foods, the dinner was MUY caliente (minus a few sugary items I could eat). Indian food seems to come in three flavors: bland (bread), sweet (yussss), or death. More about food later... Next stop: Agra! 

FINALLY INTERNET ACCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SORRY FOR THE HIATUS! I AM BACK IN FULL FORCE

Aaaand catch-up posting begins...NOW

"Thinking is not good for the head or beauty; just buy"

Uhhhrrrrnggg.

I think I have had my fill of Jaipur. 

Started today with a rickshaw ride around the old part of the city. Rickshaws can either be motorized or cycle, and they function as leetle teeny taxis. Our group hopped on a bunch of cycle rickshaws which would have been cool, but Kate's and my driver/cyclist was practically falling apart. He was old, skin and bones, and had some sort of weird ailment of the skin. You could tell how hard he had to work to get us around. When going uphill, the rickshaw men have to get off and push the bike; it looked like he was struggling, and Kate and I wondered why we really just couldn't walk this? I know letting him take us got him paid plus the tip we gave him, but still. The ride was definitely tainted. That's how a lot of things were in Delhi, but far more so here: the elephant ride, the rickshaw ride, the shopping, just being here. So many instances that I don't even want to write down. We essentially are taking a vacation when people are literally starving on the street. In order to enjoy ourselves we have to shut out the people in pain, and that's definitely not how I want to become. I am looking forward to living in a home and going to school where I'll be getting to know people rather than ignoring them or they trying to sell me things. Also, in Calcutta I will have the opportunity to volunteer and actually DO something to help people instead of feeling guilty and powerless. 

In the time being, it will be, as Kingshuk says, just another scene in the reality tv series of life.

Whatever that means.

Paying for internet delays posts

I seriously promise to stop giving you comprehensive descriptions of everything I do...

Eventually.

Sunday: Arrived safe and sound in Jaipur. It is known as the Pink City because throughout the old part of the city, it is, you guessed it, super embarrassed. 

PSYCH! It's "pink" (truly more on the apricot side, let's be honest). (APRICOT CITY DOES NOT HAVE THE SAME RING TO IT) Jaipur is located in the province of Rajastan, which means Land of Kings-- raja=king, -stan=land (e.g., Land of Paki, Land of Afghan, etc LOL). It's famous for textiles, jewels and gold and everything seems to be pretty elaborate here; our hotel is smaller and less cushy than the Hilton but everything is fancier (which I guess I loosely define as being made of marble). We explored last night and were rewarded with 1) a single firework on the roof of our building, accompanied by an Indian woodwind instrument covering Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" and 2) Kingshuk taking us to a local park that was totally worth it.

Monday: Woke up bright and early, as we planned to leave at 7:45. We were running a few minutes late, which turned out not to matter because Sucharita and Kingshuk waltzed into breakfast just as we were finishing. They are on India time. Oh, you're not familiar? India Time, similar to a lot of European Time, warps to fit YOU. Or whoever is later than you are. Americans are a little more picky about time being timely, but at least we're not Japanese (who, as Courtney tells me, announce an apology at the train station if they are ONE MINUTE BEHIND SCHEDULE). So we leave at 8:15, whatevs, riding through the Pink City until we come to the base of the mountain atop which sits the Amber Palace.

And guess how one ascends such a majestic mountain? By elephant, no less! I LIKE ELEPHANTS SO MUCH. In this portion, words are useless for describing how it looked, please view pictures for a better representation. However, it was (as Courtney put it) a "PETA nightmare". I felt really sad for the elephants; Kelsey and I were riding on a baby and a guy walking on the road behind us hit it and yelled at it. So even though it was really cool to hang out with elephants on a beautiful mountain, it was unfortunately tainted by the unethical structure.

Then we toured the heck out of the Amber Palace, explored various nooks and crannies, learned about the drama of the king and his twelve (official) wives--scranjulous, let me tell you--and took a jeep back down the mountain. 

After that, it was kind of a whirlwind of sly sales. We went to a textile and rug making place which was pretty cool (even the part that felt like a car sales lot, complete with slick salesguy) and gave us chai, a jewelry place (something cool about it is that there's no security! Apparently jewels are such a pride of the Indian people that no one even attempts to rob it. This is not permission or encouragement to try), and then some sort of "artisan market"... Whatever. Then to a bunch of the king's sundials to have the process of horoscopes explained (oddly mathy). It was after six at this point which meant that we had been touring for TEN HOURS. I was DONE for the day at 11AM. Zomb zomb zomb.

Additional notes:

-In one day, we saw three things in the Guinness Book of World Records! A very fancy rug (most knots per square inch--four thousand something), world's largest sundial, and a large water vessel (I sort of wasn't paying attention to the story here). It was indeed as exciting as it all sounds.

-People today were per-sis-tent when it came to selling to us. Jaipur is pretty dang touristy which means that while we didn't have to contend with staring and paparazzi, people were ALL up in our faces about selling. It happened everywhere: the line leading up to the elephants, while we were ON the elephants, before we went into the palace, immediately when we exited the palace, in stores, out of stores, on a boat, with a goat, in a box, with a fox, etc. The rug guy was definitely the smoothest, but HOLY COW. NONSTOP PEOPLE. I feel bad being rude and just not acknowledging anyone as we walk past, but if you even make eye contact, they will follow you around, and I don't want that. I don't like that it's becoming normal to ignore...

-There are SO MANY ANIMALS HERE. <3 <3 <3 In Delhi, we saw dogs and one cow (Kate thought she saw a second one but it turned out to be two guys in raincoats on a bike). In one day alone we saw elephants (doy), dogs (who are all so nice, I have not even heard barking since being in India), camels, cows (including bulls and one lone dairy cow), a horse, sheep, donkeys, a cat, monkeys, goats, a "hand llama" (Ro...), and flockloads of pigeons. "It's like we're in a petting zoo but I can't touch anything." -Courtney. Decision: I am going to found RETA- Rita Encourages Touching Animals. If I had my way, I'd be snuggling with every dog on the street.

-My dad sent me an email entitled "digestive health". It was awesome. Daddy, you're hilarious. I love you, parents. (And don't worry, I did switch back to bottled water for brushing my teeth here.)

And gentle readers, I love you too.