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annaloveschai
Oct. 29th, 2006
11:30 am - Day 87 Sunday: Purlia, Orissa, Today's Field Trip
A couple of weeks ago, the IPSL group went to Purlia. At long last a holiday! Purulia is a tiny town unknown to many westerners, meaning it is not a tourist-y area. Professor Roy accompanied us. We took an overnight train, four in one bunker and two in the other. After a cockroach scare, we went to sleep. At around 6am we arrived in southwest Bengal. Many lower caste and class people populate the area which is also struck with poverty. The hotel we stayed in was really nice, it was the closest thing to a western hotel with a.c. and t.v. There was even warm H20 for showers, so I was really excited! We attended a private music concert and Rose and I drank four cups of tea. That night, we drove to a little village to see a martial arts/dance performance! The dance is called Chhau; men act out religious folklore stories wearing elaborate costumes and heavy masks while doing backflips! The next day we drove through Ayodoha mountains to visit the village where the masks are created from newspaper, paint, and sparkly things. Even though the drive took a few hours and was super hot, it was intriguing to see a Japanese dam under construction. On the third day, we visited a lacque factory and some artists who make lacque bracelets, plates, etc. Lacque is made from the bark of some tree; after processing the wood chips, it turns into a liquidy, shiny goo.
Last week, we went to Orissa, which is the state below West Bengal. After stopping at the Jagganath Temple in Puri for 20 minutes, we drove another hour to Konark, home of the Sun Temple. After breakfast, our tour guide took us two at a time on his motorcycle to the Temple. It was fun, haha. The Sun Temple was built I think in the 8th century. The next day we went to the beach fully clothed of course, and tried not to drown in the waves, they were really strong! Later that night, Rose and I went shopping at the market and had a lot of fun haggling with the vendors. I must say I have improved my bargaining habits.
Today, Sunday, Arnab-da took us on a field trip. We visited one of the two synagoges (sp) in Kolkata. Arnab-da told us there are about 35 Jews in the whole of Kolkata, which was funny because Kolkata has millions of people. Next, we visited St. John's Church and Job Charnock's Tomb. Job is the Brit who founded British Calcutta in 1490. After that, we went on a boat ride on the Ganga. It is so odd that the water is so dirty and polluted, yet so holy.
I've been busy, busy, busy writing papers and getting ready to say goodbye to Kimberly and Suzanna who are leaving next week!
Oct. 10th, 2006
10:16 am - Day 68 Tuesday: Happy B-day Kimberley & Chikungunya Fever
Durga Puja was really interesting, but I was very ready for it to be over with. I was able to do a dance with Rose and Brady and the other neighborhood girls, which I was really happy about, but I got sick with a bad fever so I didn't really have a lot of energy. At first I thought I was light headed from all the Puja excitement, but I just ended up being really sick. I stayed in bed for a few days recovering. I went to a clinic to get my blood drawn and that was just a disaster, although I definitley don't have malaria. The drumming starting at 5:15 am and chanting really got on my nerves I have to admit. I tried to be as accepting as possible, but after awhile, I just started swearing about it wanting the Festival to end.
Tomorrow is the half way point of my study abroad adventure, it is crazy! I am trying to plan a rough outline of what I am going to do my last two weeks away from Kolkata. I made a list of everything else I want to do in Kolkata before I leave, so first things first. After Kimberley and Suzanna leave in a few weeks, I think I am moving houses, so that will make the time go by a lot faster. (I just really want to take a break from Kolkata.) The new house will have a dog though and I don't like dogs. Boo. Oh well.
Over the weekend, we went out to celebrate Kimberley's 21st birthday. It was a lot of fun, we even were able to stay out until 1 am! Hahaha. The bartenders brought a surprise bday cake for Kimberley and lit it on fire with a martini glassful of alcohol. It was so nice! People at clubs here definitley don't dance the way Americans do in the states.
Sep. 29th, 2006
10:53 am - Day 57 Friday: Durga Puja Part 1
Durga Puja started last night! Oh the constant drumming! No sleep!
No Service until next week, which is definitley a nice break, although I do love my girls at school. Yesterday after class got out around noon, we were supposed to sleep, but Kimberly, Suzanna, and I went out Puja shopping. It is just as crazy as Christmas shopping in the states. It was odd to say "Happy Holidays" to everyone at Rainbow School before I left because it is the end of September and still so hot outside when I am used to saying the phrase when it is snowing at the end of December. I got mehendi done on my hands, it looks so cool! I'll put the pics up on facebook soon. My artist drew a peacock on my left palm and another one on the top of my right hand. We had to wait an hour for it to dry, then rub mustard oil on our hands to get the leftover off. We couldn't get our hands wet for the rest of the day, so we took showers with plastic bags over our hands! Hahaha.
At 9pm Thursday night, the six IPSL students, 3 students from the UK, Professor Roy, and some other Indians went Pandal hopping until 2am. There were 1,000s and 1,000s of people roaming about outside visiting the Pandals. Pandals are large bamboo structures set up every few blocks. Elaborately decorated, covered with cloth, and fancy chandeliers, the Pandal houses Durga, the main Hindu Goddess. Her statue and also the statues of her children, Ganesh (the elephant god), Lakshmi, Parvati, and Karnakata are set up in the Pandal. People then wander to each one and pray and take pictures. All the pandals are decorated differently so each one is unique to see. We saw lots of priests waving incense around the statues, a conch blowing contest, lots of lights (similarly set up like Christmas lights on buildings and lamposts set up specially for Durga Puja), and we went to a little fair. I went on one ride and 4 other students went on a second one, but it was waay too shaky and fast for me. The guy operated the little ferris wheel by manually moving the band across some wheels. Eek, waay too dangerous for me. Plus there was a big hole in the bottom of Rose and Kimberly's basket. After 5 hours of walking around, we went back home because we were geting really tired. The Roy house girls missed the Banana festival at 4:30am, but it wasn't really our fault because the schedule said it was at 5:30am. I saw a video of it a few days ago, so I don't feel too bad. Everyone goes down to the Ganges River where some people carry banana trees and bathe the tree in the sacred water and dress it up in a saree and then bring it back and place it by Ganesh (the elephant God) inside the Pandal. The banana tree is supposed to be Ganesh's wife.
Tomorrow night there is supposed to be a fire dance in front of our neighborhood pandal and Sunday, Anjali, a flower offering where people throw flowers at Durga. On Monday, it is Doshomi, when people take all the Durga statues and place them into the Ganges. Hindus (also Muslims in India, although this is not traditionally part of their religion) celebrate Durga Puja because she sucessfully killed the buffalo demon who set out to destroy the world. Puja also celebrates her coming home to her family, taking her children with her and leaving her husband behind at home. Actual Indian women also do this during this time. The end of Durga Puja, dunking her in the Ganges represents her going back home to the Himalayas, to her consort Shiva, where they live with their children.
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giddySep. 24th, 2006
03:47 pm - Day 52 Sunday: What I Miss About the U.S.: Everything and Nothing
Since Brenda asked me what I missed about home, I decided to devote an entire entry to the question. The list is definitley incomplete, seeing as I still have October, November, and most of December left in India, but I will do my best. Towards the end of my adventure, I will certainly write about what I will miss about India. This list by no means is to be interpreted as major frustrations about India, or my discontent abroad, but just about the different experiences I have encountered that I would otherwise not at home.
What I Miss About the US:
1. Air Conditioning (Yes, I know bad for the environment and expensive)
2. Being Able to Drink Tap Water
3. Warm and Hot Water
4. Garbage Removal Systems (Emptying the trash into trash bags that men in garbage trucks take far away instead of emptying the trash by taking your wastebasket to the curb and dumping it out)
5. Big Cars (This too I know is a terrible offense to the environment, but it is a luxury I appreciate)
6. Women and Men being equal in the US for the most part
7. Having no Monsoon Season
8. A Working and Effective Sewer System
9. Not having to do my laundry by hand every few days and waiting days for it to dry
10. No Child Beggars tugging at my sleeve for money
11. Seeing people nearly everyday suffering from leprosy, or some other serious ailment/illness
12. My clothes/running shoes/purses turning moldy just because the air is so hot and humid
13. Not having to constantly worry about lice
14. People taking advantage of me because I am white (i.e. taxi drivers charging waaay too much sometimes)
15. Not having people sleep outside my family's doorstep (including children)
16. Not having to step over stray dogs who are flea bitten so badly they are missing large sections of fur and also seeing dogs who have been hit by cars limping around with grotesquely broken legs
17. Being able to dry my hair
18. Being able to drink cold water in the morning (my host family insists we will get sick if we drink cold water in the morning)
19. Not getting stomachaches from food (all though this doesn't happen too often anymore)
20. Having perfectly sanitized eating utensils (plates, cups, spoons)
21. Not choking or tears welling up in my eyes from a car ride because the air pollution is so bad in Kolkata
22. Not having to feel sorry for Shotto-da who has no permission to go home when students are living in the house. Sometimes he tells us he is very sad or he will cry because he misses his wife and children
23. If something starts at 1pm it will promptly start at 1pm, not a half an hour later
24. Not having to carry around a bandanna to wipe our faces from sweating so much
25. Knowing what it is going to rain
26. Not Having everyone stare at me because I am white
27. People not thinking white women are overly promiscuous
28. At times, Western stores i.e. grocery and shopping
29. Not having the power go out at unexpected moments a few times a week
30. Not having to ring the doorbell everyday to be let inside the house
31. No communication barriers i.e. I can't understand Indians all the time when they speak English because of their accents or because they use words Americans do not regularly use or I use words the English speakers do not generally use so we cannot understand each other and also I don't know enough Bengali
32. Not having to worry about fruits and vegetables (basically just the cleanliness of everything I miss the most about the US)
33. I want to eat a salad
34. Not having my laptop shock me and worrying because of faulty power and/or crazy weather that my computer will go haywire like Rose's and Emily's did
35. Driving Rules. i.e. driving lanes, not honking so much, traffic lights, not having the direction of traffic change in the afternoon, road rage to such an extent, speed limits, etc.
36. Large cups of lattes
37. The American style of teaching (i still enjoy my classes though)
38. Women having the freedom to smoke (although i believe smoking is a dirty, nasty habit)
39. US citizens are mostly literate and more than half of us do not live below the poverty line like in India, which is such a HUGE number because one has to remember India has over a billion people.
40. My family and friends of course!
Sep. 22nd, 2006
09:46 pm - Day 50 Friday: Yeah, I Made It Through the First 50 Days!
So today is the fiftieth day of my adventure abroad!
Last week on the way home from Service, I was in the front seat of the car and there was a little fan above me and to the left. Two minutes from home, my hair got stuck in the fan and I yelled out, "oh my god, my hair!" and so the driver had to pull over in the busy road and lean over me and unscrew the fan. Outside the car window, old men were squatting eating their soupy rice and dahl lunch watching the fiasco. I was a little embarassed, but mostly laughed. The driver got most of my hair unwound.
On Thursday, the Roy household traveled to the other end of Kolkata. It took us about an hour to go to Salt Lake, which is the name of the section in the north. It is a little less crowded with palm trees and grass. It was so weird seeing little grass patches and all the green. We went to City Centre, a huge shopping complex, but had to leave early because we had class at 4:30.
Did I mention Indians eat with their hands? No utensils what so ever. After you pile the food (potatoes, rice, vegetables, dahl) on your plate (one uses spoons for this)you then only use your right hand to mix it all up and scoop it up with your fingers and eat it. At dinnertime, we use roti (sort of like a smaller soft taco shell, but tastes more bread-like) to help us scoop up the food. The dahl, which is most of the time is yellow beans, stains my fingernail polish.
The weather has been so much cooler the past couple days. The other day was the first day I did not constantly sweat. I actually walked down the street without feeling all gross. And now we use a thin blanket at night because we even get cold! Professor Roy tells us it is in the 70s farenheit which does not seem like it would be cold, but we had been so used to the 100+ temperature. The cold weather is probably due to the rain. Today it flooded which I know is not new news, but there was SO much water, more than before and so we did not even go to Service.
p.s. kimberly cut my hair this morning. i asked her to. it is short because i hated having long hair because it would never dry. plus my hair thinned out a bit.
Sep. 17th, 2006
06:36 pm - Day 45 Sunday: Here's to You Fluffy...
Post Office: I cannot explain how thankful I am for "sticker" postage stamps. A couple days ago, I went to the post office for the first time to mail some postcards and it was certainly an adventure. Sending something through the mail is definitley not an easy process. There are a few "windows" at the post office and you have to know which one to go to first, which for some reason is not the first window you see when you walk into the office. So you hand the first guy your postcards. He then shuffles them around, laughs that I had so many to send, weighs one on the scale, reads a couple, laughs some more than walks to the back desk. (This is all right in front of me) Then the back desk crew shuffles through them reads one and he walks back up to the front and tells me each postcard to be sent will cost 8 rupees, which he could have told me immediately because postcards always cost 8 rupees to send. Then I went to the next window where I told the lady each postcard costs 8 rupees and she writes down on a pad of paper 8 X 13 (8 for each postcard and 13 for the number of postcards I have) and tries to do the math. It takes her a minute, but she comes out with the right answer. I then give her the money and she proceeds to count out a bunch of stamps and hands them to me (which took a few looong minutes). The stamps are not self-adhesive, so I then have to leave the office part of the post office and go into the hallway and start sticking on the stamps with a paste of rice and water which is actually an effective glue. It looked really really nasty, Suzanna affectionately calls it "snot glue" and we set to work putting the stamps on the postcards. (4 stamps go on each postcard) I ran out of stamps because the lady gave me 2 few, so I went to go get two more while in the meantime Suzanna brought my finished postcards to the first guy and he had to stamp each stamp so it became "certified". From here on, I will be eternally grateful for sticker stamps.
Here's to you Fluffy: Last weekend on the way to the metro, I discovered a dead cat thrown on top of a garbage pile in the middle of the sidewalk. I was a little startled, but more startled that night when on the way home from the metro, the streets had flooded again and now we were in calf deep water and I prayed I wouldn't run into the dead cat I later named Fluffy.
Shopping Spree: I went shopping and spent a lot of money. I bought two kurtas from a trendy store called Fab India. Kurtas are the long shirts women wear in India when they aren't wearing sarees or salwar kameez. And I bought a saree from a special saree exhibition! It is made in the state of Orissa (right below West Bengal where I am now) I am so excited to wear it in 10 days for Durga Puga (the Hindu Christmas). It is turquoise with some dark blue and a little bit of shiny silver thread and little orange specks. I had to buy a choli (the half shirt worn under a saree) and that was mildly embarassing because of course it is odd that a white woman wants to buy a choli and then I had no idea what size I was, so they let me into their back room where a couple of women were putting different size cholis on me. Haha, it was like I was a mannequin, they wouldn't let me help at all. I was thankful they were really nice though and they got a kick out of helping Kimberly and me. I still have to buy a petticoat (the skirt worn under the saree to help keep the saree in place) but I was mainly concerned with buying a pretty saree and choli in time for the holiday. Kimberly bought a saree from a different store, so we got home and put the cholis on and drapped the 5+ meters of cloth around us and traipsed around being silly. We have no idea how to wear them properly, but it was still a lot of fun.
Sep. 15th, 2006
02:34 pm - Day 43: Week 5 Blues
The week five blues certainly dealt us a blow. Apparently it is a fact students who find themselves abroad for an extended amount of time (3-4 months at least) start to feel exhausted physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. The new sights are no longer fascinating and the comforts students are used to at home but cannot find in their new host culture becomes somewhat unbearable. I unfortunately read this AFTER my breakdown, but I am glad to report I am my happy self again. Now when I think back to my breakdown (it happened day 36 of week 5) I laugh out loud even as I sit here in the internet cafe typing this. Right after Bengali class ended on that fateful Friday night, I came trudging up the stairs, yelled out to Kimberly and Suzanna that I needed some vodka and then burst into tears. After my housemates tried to calm me down, I went to dinner thinking I was going to be okay. Oh no, I was NOT okay. Poor Shotto-da (our cook/mother/butler) asked me if I had mosquito bites while I was eating and I burst into tears again, but this time it was a mix of tears and laughter. I thought I was definitley cracking up. Shotto-da thought it was something he had said, but of course it wasn't and so he became really alarmed and kept on saying, "sorry, sorry". I left the dinner table even though we weren't finished and threw myself on my bed. Suzanna and Kimberly came in and talked to me and I cried and told them all the things that were making me sad and then I showed them my pictures from home which actually made me feel A LOT better. I thought it was going to make me more sad showing my friends from "K" and all the fun times we had during the past year and also pics of family, but it really helped so much. Whew. Contributing to my week five blues I am pretty sure was also my malaria medicine. I had had a headache for a week straight and finally stopped taking my daily vitamins and the malaria medicine to see if I felt any better. I stopped having the really bad headaches, so I am switching my Malarone to Doxycyclin which is the meds Brady, Kimberly, and Rose have. I am not too worried I am going to get Malaria in the meantime while I wait to go to the Doctor because the mosquitos really haven't been as bad as the first week. 5 out of the 6 of us have wanted to go home (at varying degrees of seriousness) during week five, but on the whole, we are doing much better. I now find India amazingly curious again and am looking forward to the rest of my time here. I actually panicked when I realized I only have a few months left. Haha.
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chipperSep. 4th, 2006
02:19 pm - Day 32 Monday: Loreto College & Lakshmi Puja
Sorry I haven't posted a decent journal entry in some time, I am currently being consumed by academic life being a teacher by morning and student by afternoon. This has not left a lot of free time and unfortunately makes us all a little on edge. The most interesting thing happening last week after the flood was attending Loreto College. The College is Catholic (although hardly any of the students are themselves Christian)and so the halls are adorned with religious pictures and a Jesus statue and the classroom walls have Crucifixes below the clocks. Every time a teacher enters the room, students must stand up to show respect which us American students are definitley not used to this custom. So we attend class 2-3 times a week at the all girls Loreto College which is great for us because it breaks us out of our six person bubble and away from teaching and caring for screaming and fighting 3-15 year olds at Service. Don't be alarmed or feel jealous though, we go to Loreto a few times a week, but we still have classes in the Tagore-Ghandi Institute. So any chance I get I go to Cafe Coffee Day to enjoy the a.c. or sleep!
Yesterday, my host family celebrated Lakshmi Puga. The closest analogy I can come up with this Hindu Holiday is Easter. We dressed up nicely (the night before I ran out to buy a salwaar-kameez, the more modern yet traditional Indian women's outfit. A priest came over the house and we (the six students, host mom, host sister, and my host sister's two aunts) crowded into Rukmini's old bedroom (my host sister's name is Rukmini) and for about an hour we sat on the floor while the priest honored a statue of the Indian Goddess Lakshmi. Lakshmi Puja is not a widely celebrated holiday, rather each family picks out a few days in the year to complete this ceremony. My host family does it in September, December, and April. During the Puja, we took handfuls of flowers and at three different times, we threw the flowers at the statue's feet. Then, a flame was passed around and we put our hands over the flame and then touched our heads and hearts. Honoring Lakshmi is supposed to bring peace and prosperity to the household. My host dad told us we didn't have to attend the Puja, but we all wanted to anyways and he said we could participate, but not have to really believe, so it was just a "cultural experience". Another fun thing we did before the priest came over was draw designs with rice paste on the floors of the house. We drew footprints in doorsteps symbolizing Lakshmi entering the household, and I drew the cutest owl because Lakshmi has a pet owl, and then we drew flowers. Afterwards, we had a big lunch and I went to Cafe Coffee Day to study.
Aug. 29th, 2006
09:42 pm - Day 24 Sunday: The Great Flood, A Minor Breakdown, and Scandalous Knees
The Great Flood: Today, Kolkata flooded. Rain, rain, and more rain. I am glad the monsoon season will be over soon. Water in the streets up to my knees.
A Minor Breakdown: While looking for an umbrella, a taxi drove by me and splashed me on purpose. The taxi driver then stuck his head out the window and laughed at me. I got home and cried.
Scandalous Knees: While visiting the Jain Temple, we had to roll our pants up to our knees because the water was so high. (Sorry for the facebook reference, but please look on facebook to see the flood pictures) Even after 4 weeks in India, a few of us felt indecent showing our knees. I am not even joking. I wonder how I will react to clothing styles upon returning home. I say good thing it will be wintertime so I ease myself back into more revealing clothing.
09:26 pm - Day 23 Saturday: Ivory and Shisha
For dinner, the six of us went out to a very fancy restuarant, Ivory. The restaurant opened at 7pm and we arrived just in time to be the first in the restaurant and we even sat in a special room. Our waiter devoted himself to us the entire time, waiting on us hand and foot and even insisted on helping us pass the different food dishes around the table, but we did not let him because we felt it was unnecessary and even a tiny bit awkward. I ordered Gratinated Chicken with Mushrooms, very delicious! Unfortunately we were forced to eat quickly because we wanted to stop at the bar next door and still make our 9:30pm curfew. Happily, we made it to Shisha and drank some mixed drinks, I ordered Sultan's Tea, and then we also smoked a mix of rose and mango. Yum.
calmAug. 26th, 2006
02:28 am - Day 21 Thursday: New Market
After eating our usual Thursday, Sunday breakfast of sour curd (unsweetened yogurt)apple, nashpati (tastes like an apple), bananas, pineapple, and toast the three of us decided to venture out to New Market. New Market was crazy! Men constantly yelled at us to come into their shops and one guy trying to sell bangle bracelets followed us for more than a block. It was so tiring having these people insisting we buy their goods. A "certified" New Market "guide" followed us around and we tried to get rid of him, but it didn't work. Finally we asked him to take us to a Nepalese shop, but we later realized he did not take us to the right store. These people are paid by the shopowners to take customers to their stores. We spent at least 1/2 an hour in the store and did end up buying some jewelry, a wall hanging, and a wooden box. The "guide" waited for us the whole time and then wouldn't leave us alone again until Suzanna tipped him. Ahh! Very frustrating and not a very pleasent experience although I did end up with the cool wooden box.
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annoyedAug. 24th, 2006
09:02 pm - Day 20 Wednesday: Farewell Dr. Ray
Today was utterly exhausting! Service plus three looong classes in a row, from 3pm-8pm with no breaks made for a very long day. I asked one of the overseers of Rainbow Room which group she would like me to help and she brought me to a group with maybe 15 girls and told me to teach them English. "Okay," I said because the previous days I had been helping 1-2 girls at a time with their English so I thought I was all set. "So you would like me to teach one or two girls?" I asked her hoping she would point out the one or two girls who needed some extra help with their English. "No, teach all of the girls, otherwise they will feel bad." Slightly panicking, I sat down in the circle while the overseer yelled at the girls in Bengali to take out their English Grammer books. I survived.
Banglaa wasn't too bad, the students asked Arnab-da to translate English words into Bengali that will be helpful for us to use at Service. Professor Sengupta taught us some history starting from the very beginning of the Aryans migrating south into India and finished up talking about the caste system. The history part was boring because it was basically a repeat of Dr. Ray's class the other week, but the caste system discussion made up for the monotony. Her lectures are supposed to be strictly on Jainism, Buddhism, Sikkism, and Islamic Fundamentalism, one day devoted to each topic, but by the end of today, we still hadn't finished Jainism. Indian professors love to talk! Dr. Ray's class was the make up for when he was feeling ill, and also it was our last class with him because he is going back to America to teach at a college as he does each year at the end of summer.
Since we could wake up late the next morning because no Service, Kimberley, Suzanna, and I walked to the local movie store just a block and a half away to indulge ourselves with a couple of American movies. Perhaps movie "store" isn't the correct word because it is better described as a tiny little hole-in the wall room lit by not electricity, but candle light! We picked out Charlie's Angels 2 and Addicted to Love. Back at the house, we watched Charlie's Angels 2 which we realized the DVDs were VERY illegal. The movie was recorded not even by burning a copy off the internet or off another Charlie's Angels 2 DVD, but was VIDEO taped at the MOVIE THEATRE. We could actually see audience members' heads when they sat down in their seats. Part of the left side and bottom of the movie screen was cut off from the taping so we had to make do. The DVD kept on freezing, but good thing the plot was easy to follow. All the problems made up for the hilarious way the movie was recorded.
08:55 pm - Day 19 Tuesday: Religious Tension
"Auntie, Auntie! Christian or Muslim?" (a 8-10 year old asks me)
"Christian- Catholic" (I respond)
"Ahh" (She nods approvingly)
"She is Hindu" (pointing to girl sitting across from her)
"Ah, are you Hindu?" (Me)
"No! I am Muslim. I hate Hindu. I love Muslim!" (she says with passion)
"Those are my friends, Muslim!" (she motions to a group of girls across the room)
"Ah, she is your friend too?" (I ask her motioning to the Hindu girl sitting across from her)
"No Auntie!" (she says)
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sadAug. 23rd, 2006
01:25 pm - Day 18 Monday: Rainbow School and Peter Cat
Today was my first day volunteering at Rainbow School. I left Service today with a smile on my face and really feeling like I was helpful and constructive to the students. I worked with Class 5 for a little while with two girls named Paloobi and Sadhuna. I helped Sadhuna and Paloobi with their English pronunciation first reading them short little three paragraph stories, then the girls would take turns reading the stories to me. Rainbow School is on the top floor of a maybe 6 story school building. Similar to a one room school house, the different class levels sit on the floor in two big rooms. Even though Banglaa class is a pain, I really understand how important it is when it comes to communicating with the students. All know a little bit of English, and most know a lot more, so it is not necessary for me to know Bengali, but when I use a few Bengali words, the students respond so much better and are much more willing to listen to me. The girls are also eager to teach me more Bengali and insisted on attempting to teach me how to say the numbers 1-10. I will have to study a bit more, but all in all, I am happy I switched to Rainbow School.
After Banglaa class, all six of us took the metro to Park Street. Park Street is sort of the "trendier" section of Kolkata with many nice restaurants and a very large bookshoppe called, The Oxford Bookstore. For dinner, we ended up eating at Peter Cat, a very fancy restaurant with waiters that pushed in our chairs and refilled our water glasses every time we took a sip. I ate Chicken Shahi Korma since we do not eat meat at home besides fish, and two huge pieces of fruit and nut naan. Oh, I ate way too much! Since we had a 9pm curfew and the metro's last run is at 9:20pm, we took a quick peek in the Oxford Bookstore before going home. I am sure we will find ourselves back on Park Street soon enough. Kimberly, Suzanna, and I finished watching Diner, a movie we borrowed from Emily.
fullAug. 20th, 2006
07:21 pm - Day 17 Sunday: Ramakrishna Shrine and the Largest Tree in the World
This morning, Arnab-da took us to the Ramakrishna shrine in Belur, across the river from Kolkata. The following I took from the information sheet given to us.
Ramakrishna was a 19th century Sadhu (holy man) and saint who came to Kolkata from the villages and overwhelmed The Rationalists and the Bengali middle and elite classes with his "God-intoxicated" spirituality, simplicity, and mysticism. Vivekananda was the greatest of his 12 disciples, a Rationalist skeptic who was tranformed by contact with Ramakrishna. He spread the message of a reformed, vibrant Hinduism across the world and especially in America at the World Congress of Religions in the 1890s. (there are Ramakrishna missions in seattle, chicago, texas) The entrance at the main door is framed by a structure that remsembles Buddhist style pillars. The inside walls have fine lattice work after the Islamic style. The outside walls have lotus motifs, a symbol of Hindu architecture. The inner hall is constructed like the shape of the Christian Cross.
I thought the shrine looked as though its proper place should be in the middle of the desert. It was very beautiful, smooth in the architecture, but also very intricately detailed. Ramakrishna practiced all three major world religions at various points in his life and emphasized his belief the three religions ultimately led to the same, one divine God. He worshipped his wife and believed her to be the Mother Goddess. In many stores around Kolkata, pictures of her and Ramakrishna decorate the walls. After the shrine and walking the grounds, we went to the largest tree in the world! A banyan tree, it is a couple hundred years old. Very curiously, the tree branches drop roots to the ground forming more "trees", so the one tree looks like a forest. After lunch, Kimberly, Suzanna, and I went to Cafe Coffee Day for a couple of hours to relax and enjoy the a.c. We wanted to go to the Indian Silk House right next to Cafe Coffee Day, but it was closed because it is Sunday.
07:04 pm - Day 16 Saturday: Kabhi Alvita Na Kehna
After Service, free afternoon! The six of us squeezed into a taxi to go to movie theater at The Forum to watch the newly released, "Kabhi Alvita Na Kehna". The taxi driver charged us around twice as much than the time Suzanna and I went to The Forum. Oh well. I have no idea what the movie title translates to, and the movie was in Hindi. Starring the popular Sharat Kahn (sp) it was a love story, which of course seems to be the plot of most Bollywood movies. Lasting 3 and 1/2 hours, it wasn't so bad because the theatre was air conditioned and we still understood the plot of the story, and it took place in NYC! The actors even used some English when throwing in exclamatory remarks, like "okay", "baby", "dude", "of course", and "shit". hahaha. Oh I was sort of sad because the American girls in the movie were portrayed as slutty and/or wanting to party all the time. The one American guy in the movie was gay. hahaha. The movie spanned three generations and captured the Indian ideals of love and respect for elders, tradition, and of course no kissing! I was perplexed by one of the portrayals of a female character because she worked a high paying top job, which is great, but her marriage fell apart partially because she spent a lot of time at her prestigious job. I tried to figure out what message this was sending out to the audience. Discouraging.
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distressed06:46 pm - Day 15 Friday: The Day 1/2 of Us Went to the Doctors (Including Me)
After Service, Bangla Class. I was so frustrated! I did not like class at all today, I am finding it very difficult to imitate the Bengali sounds. Arnab-da is going away for a week to New York and taking a week off for teacher training sometime in the next couple months, so I am looking forward to these breaks. Dr. Ray is still sick, so no 4:30 class! We were able to walk around and peer into some jewelry shops in search of gold, silver, any sort of pretty jewelry. Gold costs the same as in the US, so after we realized this, we set our sights on the latter two. I bought a watch for $5 because it will come in handy and also because the watch I brought to India died. I like it, it is funky looking with a wavy wrist part. I also bought 6 rolls of toilet paper because we have to buy our own, so Suzanna, Kimberly and I are taking turns buying toilet paper. TP is much different from the US and also the size of the rolls are smaller so we are going to have to buy a lot! Later we watched some Indian music videos I bought at "The Melody", a music store near the house. I loved them, we all laughed so hard. I can't wait for Marie and Martha to see them and compare them to MTV's videos.
Suzanna had been suffering from a cold for the past few days, so she visited the homeopathic doctor. That night Brady and I went to the regular doctor because she has a rash abover her eye that is getting bigger and I have little bumps on my right hand. An interpreter came with us and it was hilarious! The doctor asked me if it was painful to which I replied "no". He then asked if it was itching to which I replied "no". He then asked the interpreter, "then what is wrong???". The interpretor then replied, "that they are there!!!". Hahaha, I about peed my pants. Anyways, he wrote us prescriptions and then the interpretor brought us to a chemist/druggist store where I bought some pills and ointment. I hope it goes away!
amused06:34 pm - Day 14 Thursday: Victoria Memorial
Finished in the early 1900s, Victoria Memorial commemorates Queen Victoria of England. Though against Britain's colonial reign over India, the Indian people appreciated Queen Victoria because she was sympathetic towards the Indian people's problems with the British and also because people have always been fascinated with the rich and famous. Much like our movie star addiciton in the US today. Built to imitate the Taj Mahal, it is a large white marble building housing paintings, weaponry, documents, and an exhibit on the history of Kolkata. We spent a long time in the exhibit, but Kolkata does have a very fascinating past. About half way through the exhibit, a small model of Kolkata showed what the city was like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I was amazed because throw in some taxis and motor bikes and the city looks exactly the same! hah. Shreela Roy accompanied us on the field trip, she is my host mom and also one of the professors. At 4pm, Dr. Ray was supposed to teach, but he was feeling ill, so Professor Roy taught us the next day's lesson. Class lasted 3 1/2 hours, so long! The subject material was interesting and Professor Roy has a very dramatic voice when he gets into teacher mode so we all stayed awake.
06:04 pm - Day 13 Wednesday: A "Western" Shopping Mall!
We left Santineketan early afternoon after a morning of last minute shopping. The six of us tipped our two waiters and one helper at our faithful restaurant for their 4 days of serving us. The helper, a young boy maybe 10 years old had THE biggest smile on his face after we gave him his tips. We definitley tipped him way more than the waiters, but he was just so cute and he deserved the money. Sometimes we tried to arrange the chairs so the six of us could squeeze in at the table, but he grabbed the chairs away from us so he could do everything himself.
That evening, Suzanna and I went to "The Forum", an extremely trendy and expensive shopping mall. Oh it was so nice!!! I have to admit some level of relief swept over me. We took a taxi because the mall is not in walking distance, and much to our delight, we were not ripped off. Taxis are not particulary safe and taxi drivers are not particulary truthful about charges in Kolkata. We were told it is best not to take one by oneself. Taxi drivers also do not know every store/place of destination like taxi drivers in the US, so you better have some idea of where you are supposed to end up! Suzanna and I found a fancy chocolate shop in the mall, comparable to a Godiva shop. I bought a piece of candy, milk chocolate with some coffee beans. Delicious! I also bought a kit-kat bar at another candy shop because I had to break a big bill for the taxi ride home. One must also give the taxi driver exact charges because they will not give you change, it is a way the taxi drivers make more money.
Back at home, I did a ton of laundry in a bucket in the bathroom with Tide!! I found some Lemon-Scented Tide in Santineketan and eagerly purchased it because although I feel bad for Molina and want to give her work, the clothes smell funky. This happens to the other house's clothes too, so it just isn't Molina. While I laundered my clothes, Kimberly and Suzanna ventured over to Mum-Mum's house (Brady, Rose, and Emily's host mom) to pick up the girls and walk to the movie rental store. We watched a horrible Bollywood movie, one of the scenes was very trippy. Forest spirits and oompa loompa like creatures dancing around with flashing lights. Needless to say, we got through only 45 minutes of it before we called it a night.
Aug. 18th, 2006
09:39 pm - Day 12 Tuesday: Swarup's Village and Baul Singers
We visited a temple thought to be the site of Cholitas's home, a legendary 8 foot tall man involved in a tragic love story. Actually, Kolkota University supposedly unearthed an 8 ft skeleton who lived hundreds of years ago, so the story may be partially true. A gated piece of petrified wood by a river which we got to touch, symbolizes part of the storyline which I forgot.
Swarup, a friend of our professors, took us to his village. He showed us his family's rice paddies and sugar cane plantation. Engaged to be married in November, he has never met his future bride. His village was very rural, although his family seemed to own the largest house. He walked us to the village storage area where a huge, maybe 14 ft tall and very wide woven straw contraption held all the rice. At his house, we met a young lady and her sister=in-law. The married woman seemed very young, even younger than us. We sat on Swarup's bed and the unmarried girl sang us a song in Bengali. They knew a little bit of English and were excited to meet us. We were served tea, coffee and sweets (bengali "mishti") and samosas (which is the hindi word, i forget the bengali word, but is like a triangle fried potato thing with spices, very good). We went out on the roof top to sit with the two Indian women. It was hilarious because the village children who had followed us to the rice storage center had been waiting outside the house after all this time and waved to us down on the street while we were peeking out from the windows and also while on the roof tops. They were extremely excited to see white people. They thought we were funny taking pictures of cows and houses when those things are so normal for them.
The ride out to the village took maybe half an hour to an hour, I don't really know for sure, but the ride was long and we were screaming and scared to death half the time because we were so close to hitting men on bicycles, baby goats, cows, ducks, chicks, roosters, chickens, buses jam packed with people who also rode on the bus roofs, other cars, and small children. I said we should invent a video game, in it, the person would be the driver and you had to get to Service on time while avoding hitting all the obstacles in the road. Points would be taken off for hitting animals. If you killed a person or didn't get to service in time, Mother Teresa would haunt you. I hope that isn't too sacrilegious. I thought it would be a great idea. hahaha.
That evening, our program organized a private Baul performance in one of the hotel rooms! The following I stole from wikipedia... Baul singers live simple lives on an absolute minimum, earned mainly from performing their music. Baul songs always incorporate simple words expressing songs with deeper meanings involving Creation, society, lifestyle and human emotions. There were maybe 10 performers and the show lasted two hours and 45 minutes, and guess how much they were paid for their talent? Fourteen dollars for the whole group!!! Can you believe it? And they had to come out to Santiniketan, they were not from around the town. I felt so terrible, I wish I would have known because I would have given them some money. They were so nice to us girls, the women in the group even danced with us. Sad. After the long performance, we went to the local bookshop and I found a hardcover from the 50s in pretty decent shape. I bought it to read for pleasure. The heroine's name is Anne and Part One takes place in India. The rest takes place in Nepal, but has the same God and Goddess names as in India. The book is long, maybe 550 pages. I hope I will have time to read more of it!
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