A Taste of South India

For the past year, Phil and I have been discussing the possibility of having him come here to visit for his annual vacation. A few weeks ago Phil those plans finally turned into reality and he arrived in Mumbai where I met him at the airport. We spent two days in Pune before heading down south to the state of Kerala to meet my friends from Pune to experience the backwaters.

Our Eco-Friendly Boat

The sun felt much warmer on the skin compared to Pune, possible because the pollution in the air wasn't as bad. The state overall was much cleaner compared to Pune, and although I saw a very small portion of the state, Kochi was very developed and had a very interesting vibe. The atmosphere was noticeably more laid back compared to many cities I have visited so far in India. We ended up spending only one night in Kochi before leaving for our backwater tour which was a really interesting experience. I wouldn't want to do it for several days in a row, but our tour was only one day and one night, which was the perfect amount of time to sit on the boat and watch the world go by. We made the excellent choice of doing an environmentally friendly tour, which meant our boat had no motor and there was complete silence. We ate fantastic meals on the boat and spent a great night outdoors sleeping in mosquito nets with the wind blowing across the lake. I ended up however waking up with huge swollen bug bites on my back as I had been apparently massacred by mosquitoes the day before.

Backwater Canal

Attempting to Steer the boat

Phil and I decided to head out to Tamil Nadu the following day. We decided to check out a hill station called "Ooty", but unfortunately a cyclone hit most of the state and we were trapped up in the mountains in thick cloud, cold weather, and heavy rain for the better part of three days. I was extremely unprepared for this weather, having brought only a few t shirts and shorts with me, and no shoes. However, the drive up the mountain roads to Ooty was one that I wont soon forget, amazing views and the colours were some of the most vivid I have seen so far since arriving last July.

Exploring Ooty

After three days in the cold we took an overnight train to meet Julie, Victoria and Anjali in Pondicherry, a coastal city that was once a former French colony. After spending three days there, it almost felt as if we had travelled to a European country, with french being spoken everywhere, the laid back atmosphere and clean streets in the French quarter of the city. We all joked that it was only once we crossed the canal (more like an open sewer) from the French quarter to the Indian part of town that you could start to feel like you were back in India. In general we spend the three days eating, wondering around and relaxing on the rooftop of our guesthouse that overlooked the bay of bengal. We rented scooters one day and travelled 15km to the town of Auroville, which was extremely beautiful, located in the forest just outside the city. The idea of Auroville is a universal community where nationalities do not matter, and every member lives in harmony and peace, united. While the idea really seemed interesting to me, the actual place itself was really strange in my opinion, and rubbed me the wrong way. The center of the town has a huge dome of sorts with a huge diamond in side which none of us could really understand. I'm glad I went to see, but I won't be moving anytime soon!

This trip had a very distinct feeling that was quite different than the other journey's so far in India. While every area of the country is quite different, I felt the biggest change from what I have come to know in Maharashtra was in Kerala & TN. The cleanliness of the cities, along with the laid back atmosphere of the coastal regions was a nice change. Having Phil here was extremely fun, and it will be great to share the experience with him and I'm sure we will be re-living our trip for the years to come. 

View from the rooftop

Coast of the Bay of Bengal

A Change of Scenery

This past week has been an incredible roller coaster ride of emotions and  experiences. The semester ended quite suddenly and all of the OMG crew suddenly found ourselves saying goodbye as we all disperse in different directions for the next little while. It wasn't until the few minutes after the last two people left the flat that it hit me hard that I would be on my own for the next 2 weeks exploring the country and for the first time traveling without friends.

I left Pune on a 15 hour bus ride to Nagpur. My first few days in Nagpur were really tough mentally. The city is much smaller than Pune, but I don't think many foreigners come here so I was the centre of a large amount of attention at any time I was walking down the street. The city is still quite developed but poverty is still very apparent especially in the old part of the city. It took me a few days to finally get used to being on my own again. Traveling solo can be an extremely rewarding experience, but the low days can be really difficult.

The reason for coming to Nagpur as I mentioned in a previous post was to volunteer with a local NGO here that sponsors roughly 800 children and provides diabetic care to children who otherwise could not afford it. I was working for a professor last year who sponsors one of the kids in the photos below. He is also conducting some important research on diabetes management in a resource poor context. Families of the children are being interviewed here and the hope is to use this research as a basis to understand if their management practices in a resource poor setting are making a positive impact in the health of children. If the results are positive, hopefully initiatives similar to this one can be developed in other areas of India and also in countries around the world. I am here to help with the collection of data and also to help with organizing a database for all the kids and sponsors. The NGO here is doing fantastic work and is very inspiring to see the difference they are making to the lives of many children.

I timed my visit here to ensure I was here for the day where the children that are sponsored come in for their insulin and to be interviewed by the staff here. I got to meet over 30 children and their families as well and to get some insight into the problems they are facing and how the NGO is helping. The first child that came in was having health problems because he wasn't taking his insulin regularly. The reason was not because of access but rather because if he takes it at school the boys tease him and basically don't invite him to eat lunch or play with them. It was really difficult to see because you could tell how the stigma of Diabetes was affecting this little boys life and his confidence.

Another boy came in, and I thought he was 8 or 9, but he was actually 20. Because of malnutrition and since he did not have access to insulin as a child, his growth was stunted and now he faces severe challenges in society with his appearance.
However, there were many kids that came in that were in extremely good health, and succeeding in school in large part because of their ability to get insulin for free at the clinic, and because they come in for check ups 4 times a year. The staff here really is amazing, not only are they providing the insulin, but they use these interview days to try and promote education for their children rather than keeping their daughters at home to clean and cook, because the parents will not always be there to support them. Also, having the parents all come in on the same day allows the staff to show parents that other children are succeeding, getting married, and living normal lives despite having T1D, and that their children can succeed as well.

Today is National Diabetes Day, and the NGO held an event for all families that are part of the program. I ended up being a special guest at the event alongside Andrea, an adventure cyclist from Switzerland who biked from Europe to India and is raising money for Diabetes. It was an incredible evening and getting to meet and play with a bunch of the kids was an unforgettable experience. Many of the children were extremely adorable, and I ended up practicing how to write our names in Marathi and English, which basically meant them laughing at my horrible attempts to write my name in Marathi.

On the weekend I flew to Delhi to write exams for the foreign service. Being in Delhi was almost like a dream. It was completely different than the cities I have visited over the last few months in the South, mostly because I had to stay in one of the nicer areas near the Embassies where my exam was held. Taking the metro and wandering the streets near Connaught place in New Delhi made me feel like I was in Europe rather than India. But every few minutes or so I would be brought back to reality with men asking to be my friend and in general trying to harass me in some way. Overall, even though it was a quick trip to Delhi, it was great to see new things and explore a different city and to get a taste for the North where I will be spending most of December traveling with Erin.

At the clinic

Andrea, Director of the NGO, Me

Teaching me Marathi

Rock stars!

Celebrating Diwali

Last week I was extremely fortunate to be able to take part in and experience Diwali. Diwali, also known as the festival of lights (you should be able to see why from the pictures) is the biggest Hindu festival of the year and something I was looking forward to since last winter when I decided to come here for the fall term. The festival did not disappoint! Here are some of my experiences during Diwali.

Lights & Explosives

- The city literally erupted in firecrackers for more or less 4 straight days, and when the sun went down it was a non stop show up until around 5am the next day! The city smelled like one big pile of gunpowder and was extremely hazy. 

- Almost every house was beautifully decorated with lights and some with bright lanterns and Rangoli art at their doorsteps. We were lucky enough to have Nilo come and design Rangoli on our front door.

Family

- Unlike many of the other festivals that I've seen so far which were centered around loud music and dancing in the street with huge stages and strobe lights, Diwali was really nice because every night we would walk down some of the side streets near our flat and see families hanging out around and coming to greet us in the street and shake our hand to say Happy Diwali. 

- A couple of friends that I have met since being here brought over some sweets (Indian candies) as a gift for Diwali which is tradition when visiting someone's house.

- Walking at night and just watching families designing Rangoli or sitting in front of their front door chatting and spending time together was something I looked forward to every night

Energy & Atmosphere

- Walking down the street you could feel like excitement, especially with the kids who were in absolute heaven. What kind of kid wouldn't love a festival centered around sweets and blowing things up? 

- We went to buy the ridiculous amount of firecrackers with Amman and his cousin. It was really great to see how excited they were and kept asking us excessively "You come tonight to get us right? We must light the cracker together!" It was adorable!

Danger

- Total number of bikes/cars almost destroyed = 2, total number of houses almost blown up = 1. Each time the "rocket bomb" was the culprit. The first time the rocket ignited uncontrollably into the street there were two motorbikes waiting, and it exploded right in front of them, they seemed surprisingly calm despite the fact that it came so close.

- A few days before Diwali, people were already lighting off crackers in the streets, so myself and another Canadian went out join. The first cracker we lit up literally exploded in his hands, it was a huge explosion. Looking back I'm not sure how he wasn't hurt more than a few cuts on his hands. I couldn't hear anything for 10-15 minutes and I had a huge light in my eye for a while as well. I would like to know how many people visit the hospital every Diwali because of firecracker related injuries!

Shopping for lights in Pune

Nilo designing doing Rangoli in front of our door

Rangoli

Gokhale Nagar street behind our flat

Arsenal of fire crackers

The Diwali Crew

Lighting a firecracker on the side of Pashan Road

Group photo (notice massive cloud of smoke behind us!)

Life in Pune

I've been busy with final term assignments for the last 3 weeks or so because school is coming to an end in a few short weeks. Because of this I haven't left Pune for almost a month, since returning from Leh, but I hope to change that next week for the Diwali festival. I've been writing down some observations, good and bad, and some moments that left me smiling, over the last few weeks and I thought I'd share.

1) Monsoon season is over, and the heat has been intense over the last 2-3 weeks. This has brought some intense thunderstorms which have been amazing to watch. Pune is sort of in a valley so the thunder has a nice echo. The warm weather also means arriving at school extremely sweaty from the bike ride.
2) The end of the Monsoon has also opening my eyes to how sheltered I am in my residential area in Pune. Our main road is now most days filled with people selling every possible item imaginable, and at night the streets are full of people sleeping. The overpass in front of the campus has a community of about 50 or so people living underneath of it cooking and setting up shelter. Leaving campus and seeing this immediately is such a stark contrast.
3) Riding my bicycle around Pune is STILL one of my favourite things to do. Especially when a bus passes me that is full of people and children hanging out the doors yelling Baba or Hello Hello trying to get my attention.
4) Booking a train ticket in India is quite the process. First you have to book months in advance on popular routes if you want to even have a shot at getting a confirmed seat. If you are like me and book only 3 weeks in advance, you get waitlisted and have to wait until the few days before to see if you get a seat or not.
5) I went to a tailor to get a custom made shirt last week, and it will cost $8 for both the fabric and the labour!
6) I am definitely immersed fully into daily life now, which is great because I feel comfortable and like it is part of home. However, the wonder and excitement that accompanied everything I saw the first month or so isn't as frequent. So when a cow stops traffic near our house, a dog comes into class during lecture to hang out, when I have to fight to stay ahead in line, or when I see a family of 5 on a bike, it doesn't seem so different. I am excited for Phil to be coming in one month, as I'm sure seeing all of these things through his eyes again will be tons of fun, and bring me back to my first few weeks here.
7) Everyday after class myself and a few other classmates head over to the canteen on campus for chai and some snacks. The man that runs the kitchen is straight out of a cartoon, and is quite the character. I often order ek (one) chai and teen (three) wada pao, which is basically deep fried mashed potato balls with spices inside served with bread, it is delicious and the ones on campus are not very greasy. The street food wada pao is dangerous though!

As for my plans for the next few months, I am off to Mumbai for 3-4 days next week to celebrate Diwali, likely stopping in Matheran after Mumbai before returning to Pune to finish off school. After that I travel to Nagpur to volunteer for one week, and then I pick up Phil in Mumbai for 2 weeks of traveling in Maharashtra and Kerala. Erin then comes to visit a week or so after, and our tentative plans are to visit Tamil Nadu, and parts of the North East of the country that is less explored. I am also really looking forward to showing her around Pune and sharing all of the things I have been experiencing these last few months with her. Should be an amazing few months ahead.

India Wins Again

Yesterday was just one of those days. Everything seemed to be going wrong, I was convinced the universe was out to get me! There is a saying I have heard from a few people that have travelled in India, and that saying never applied more than yesterday! "India Wins Again!"

The day started off with class at 9am, where I received my first exam grade. After the exam was over last week, I was very confident that I had scored at least 80%, there was no way that I would do poorly, I nailed every question. Turns out, my mark was 60%. Myself and some of the other exchange students here apparently cannot grasp how to write an India exam compared to Canada. It is somewhat frustrating to score so low after working so hard on studying for the exam.

On my bicycle ride home, the traffic was the most insane I have seen on SB road since arriving here. (the main road between the flat and the university) One rickshaw in particular I was ready to run off the road as he kept weaving in and out cutting me off, almost hitting me a few times. The majority of the time he was slightly in front of me, which meant I was choking down fumes for 30 min on the slow ride home.

Ego slightly bruised, throat and eyes burning from the bike ride home, I arrived home in a state of slight panic, as I realized the conversion of these grades will most likely affect my chances at some government positions I applied to for this year's recruitment stream. It might not seem like such a big deal, but after spending 2 weeks pouring hours into essays and cover letters and resumes for these jobs I had hit somewhat of a breaking point that is would all be for not. But after a few emails back home to Carleton, the whole issue was clarified and as long as I get 55% here (which is actually a decent grade) I will be fine! Crisis avoided!

I spent the day relaxing at home reading an amazing book called Persepolis. India loves it's festivals and celebrations, which means our neighborhood for the better part of each month sounds like the inside of a club playing terrible techno music (the fireworks are nice though!) So for 4 hours last night, like the other nights this week the music blared and there was no refuge from it! I've had a few people in Pune tell me they weren't a big fan of all the festivals, at first I didn't understand how this could be, but I'm quickly realizing why someone would not enjoy it year after year!

All that being said, I finished off the day on a very high note, with Julie and I successfully using Parvin's pressure cooker and making an amazing Chole Masala. (yay for a small victory!!) I knew it was good when I looked over and saw Aisha, Parvin's 3 years old niece, licking the plate clean :-)

To The Roof Of The World

My long awaited return to the Himalayas finally arrived last week when our plane touched down in Leh. This part of the Himalayas however, was extremely different compared to Nepal, where I spent some time hiking a few years back. The landscape was extremely arid and the conditions much more harsh. Anjali, Julie, and myself flew in to Leh last Friday from Delhi, and because of the extreme change in altitude (going from 560m in Pune to 3500m above sea level), we spent the day sleeping and walking around the bazaar and exploring the town trying not to exert ourselves too much. Leh itself is quite touristy, but we ended up arriving at the end of the tourist season as the winter was starting to arrive. This meant that the town wasn't overcrowded with tourists, and it often felt like we had the entire place to ourselves in the mountains.

After our first day, we all felt acclimatized, and we took a local bus to a nearby town called Thikse. After walking around asking locals where to find the bus (none of the buses have signs) we found the right bus and waited until it was as full as possible to finally leave to Thikse. Once we arrived we ended hiking up to the main attraction, the Thikse Gompa. It was an amazing view from the top, with Buddhist monks meditating throughout the monastery. This was one of the first times I could feel the effects of the altitude. Climbing even two steps left me out of breath most of the way up, it was a great feeling to push my body in this way for the first time, and the reward at the top was an amazing view. Afterwards, we decided to walk 5km to a nearby village called Shey, which had an amazing ruined palace. We hiked to the top and had another amazing view of the valley, and could even see the Thikse Gompa in the distance.

Thikse Gompa

More views from Thikse

View on the way up to Thikse Gompa

The highlight of the trip, was our third day when we went up the highest motorable road in the world to Khardung-La. After asking around Leh how to get up this road, I found out it was possible to bike down from the top on the road, I couldn't turn that opportunity! It ended up being one of the coolest things I have ever done. The combination of the extreme altitude, rough roads, incredible views, and that I was bombing down these roads on a bicycle was unreal. Many times when we reached a flat part on the road I was stand up as high as I could on the bike and it literally felt like I was flying through the mountains. It was an unreal feeling that I will never forget.  Before the bike ride down, when we were at the top, I tried to climb a little bit higher, just to say I tried to climb at such a high altitude, but it was extremely difficult. Every step upwards was a challenge, trying to step on moving rocks, in snow up to my knees, and also the fact that I was having trouble breathing and things were getting a little blurry. Probably for the best, a military officer told me and another foreigner that we weren't allowed and we had to stop and head back down. Regardless it felt pretty amazing to be standing at the top of the highest road in the world.

Near The Top of Khardung-La

The final day in Leh we woke up at 4:30am to hike up the the Shanti Stupa, 500 steps to the top, to watch the sunrise. We had the entire stupa to ourselves while watching the mountains light up from the sun. After a nap, I spent the rest of the day hiking up through the narrow winding streets of Leg to the hills surrounding Leh, and ended up finding a quiet area on a rock at the top of the highest point in Leh, away from any other tourist. I spent most of the afternoon there, reading and then watched the sunset.

Leh Palace & Gompa

Hiking Up to the Palace

Mapping It Up

A few people have been asking where exactly the places I have been posting about are located in comparison to Pune. I thought it would be fun to try and map out on Google the places I have been exploring.

View Places Visited in a larger map
As I was writing up this post I can across my first post from the week before leaving Canada. I made a list of a few things I wanted to experience during my semester in Pune. I remember typing the list up in our flat back in Ottawa, it is amazing that only 7 weeks later I have accomplished most things on that list. Hampi, Leh, Matheran and other nearby hill stations have all been visited, FRO registration is behind me finally with no late fees paid, and I have eaten almost every veg Punjabi dish available I am sure of it, along with a bunch of South India dishes as well. Still have to do a 20 hour train ride, although after the 20 hour journey to Hampi it seems much less appealing!

Hope all is well with everyone back home!

Eid Mubarak!

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to celebrate Eid with a family. My first week here I mentioned that we had a maid, Parvin, come in during the week at our flat, and I was a little uneasy about it at first. However, both Julie and I have gotten to know Parvin and her family quite well, and she invited us over to eat for Eid. Parvin has two children, Aman who is 11, and Nilo who is 16. They are the most adorable kids, extremely kind and generous.

Myself, Anjali, and Julie got a little dressed up and walked down the street to Parvin's place to eat. Lilo is quite the artist, and did Henna on both the girls which ended up looking amazing. Communication is sometimes difficult, Parvin speaking very little English, but her kids and nieces speak quite well. We have tried to learn a few Hindi and Marathi words but in all honesty it is so different than English, French or Spanish that is usually results in a fail! But knowing a few words does help and I think we all had a great time.

Parvin cooked us all a great meal, which ended up being one of the spiciest dishes I have had so far in Pune, an egg curry with chapati and rice. It was delicious! We chatted with her family while eating, and Lilo and Parvin's niece performed some traditional Marathi, and Rajasthani dancing which was amazing to watch. Everyone was dressed in beautiful saris, the colourful dress of the women here in India, with their matching bangles and earrings are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen.

It was extremely touching the generosity and love that was given to us. Julie at one point called Parvin our Indian mother, and after that she started calling me Baya (spelling likely wrong!) meaning brother. Overall, being at their place felt extremely warm and comfortable, it felt like being home in a way. 

Afterwards, we brought Lilo out for ice cream down the street which was a great way to hang out and calm out burning mouths from the delicious food! Being invited in to Parvin's home and being treated with such kindness and generosity during such an important celebration was extremely touching and is something that I will always remember.

Main area of the compound 

Parvin and I

Eating delicious Indian food (After 20 minutes of eating rice with my right hand I failed and grabbed a spoon)

Parvin and Nilo

Aman on the left and his cousin

Hampi

The last week has been full of wonderful experiences. Last Wednesday was Eid, a muslim celebration marking the end of Ramadan, and later that evening after the celebrations we boarded an overnight bus to Hampi in the State of Karnataka to spend 4 days exploring. I will leave my Eid experience for a separate post, as the wonderfulness of Hampi will require a long post.

I remember reading about Hampi back in the Winter as I researched places in Southern India that would be worth a visit. After reading about it online, it was definitely on the top of my list of things to do during my time here. 

Before getting to the bearing my love for Hampi, it is worth mentioning the hell we went through getting to there. Our "12 hour" bus ride ended up consisting of 3 bus changes, 26 hours in transit, and one car accident. Our bus ended up rear-ending a car a few hours outside Pune causing some substantial damage to the vehicle, and of course the driver of our bus had no insurance, so we waited at least 2 hours for the police to come. After they never showed we went to some kind of hotel and restaurant, where we drank chai and ate Pohe while we waited about 3 hours for a new bus to come pick us up. When all was said and done, we arrive around 10:30pm on Thursday, instead of our original arrival time of around 9am.

The ruins of Vijayanagra located in and around Hampi date back to the Hindu Vijayanagra Dynasty which lasted from the early 1300's until 1565, when it was overtaken by the Muslim Confederacy. At it's peak, due to its excellent location it was one of the most fortified areas of the entire empire, that covered much of the south. It was easy to see why, because there were literally thousands of gigantic boulders everywhere on each hill and valley throughout the surrounding area of Hampi. I'm still not quite sure if they were naturally there and weather worn, placed there, or a combinations of the two.

The sheer size of the ruins in terms of distance was one of the highlights of the trip for me. We decided to rent motorbikes to cruise around the area as most of the ruins were spread out over 30-40 kilometers. Driving the bikes on some of the dirt paths next to the giant rocks, banana trees and various ruins was one of the most amazing experiences so far. The pictures taken don't even come close to portraying how impressive the vastness of the landscape is. It was mind blowing that I could drive for 20 minutes on a dirt road away from the main temples and ruins, get off the bike an walk up a bunch of boulders and then stumble upon more small temples hundreds of years old in the middle of nowhere. If this site were in Europe, it would be flooded with tourists and would definitely not be such a unique place. Honestly, it amazes me that more people do not come to Hampi, I know when most people think India this area is not what comes to mind. However, it was one of the most unique and fascinating places I have seen. 

One morning we decided to get up early to see the sunrise at the top of Matanga Hill, but unfortunately when we reached the top it was extremely cloudy and did not get to see it. The view from the top in itself was worth the trek up though, especially scaling some of the rocks up the path to the top with nothing but a headlight guiding the way.

Another amazing moment was on our last night in Hampi, on the way back from exploring we ran into a procession for the Ganesh Festival (sidenote: Ganesh is the Hindu God of wisdom and prosperity and the festival is biggest in Maharashtra, especially Pune and Mumbai. The festival is 10 days, so I look forward to catching it in Pune over the next few days) The traditions involves bringing the Ganesh across town and at the end spraying water on Ganesh and then floating it down the river. It was amazing to hear the drums and people dancing all the way through the bazaar until finally sending Ganesh down the river. On the way down the bazaar a little girl came up to me with a big smile and both arms out straight. I thought she wanted to dance with me, but she started to grab my hands and run in a circle, so I started to twirl her around in the air as we marched down the road with the group. She was extremely happy and we did this two or three times before she ran back to her mom at the side. It was incredibly cute!

The bus ride back was only 14 hours, but was not without excitement. In the middle of the night, an argument started between a passenger boarding in Bijapur and a man claiming to have the right to a window seat. After some insults back and forth the one man ran to the back near where we were and started fighting, yelling and punching the man near the window. This woke the entire bus up and delayed the bus by 30 min or so, but it could have been worse if the police had gotten involved. 

Once we arrived in Pune, we heard the bus driver shout Swargate which is an area near our flat. Half asleep we hurried and grabbed our bags and hopped out of the bus. As soon as the bus pulled away we realized we have made a huge mistake, and were in Swargate District, which is over an hour outside Pune, rather than Swargate station in the City Centre. This whole situation was almost identical to another travel failure when Erin and I were travelling in Ghana, and realized there were 4 Tema stations in Accra. After a hard negotiations we finally made it home after a long rickshaw ride.

Overall it was a fantastic weekend, and I highly recommend anyone traveling to India to check out Hampi, it is truly an amazing place and the pictures below barely capture it's incredible landscape. I hope to upload some more pictures that the other OMG'ers have been taking in the next few days as well.

Krishna Temple

Overlooking the site from Matanga Hill after Sunrise

Post-sunrise on Matanga Hill

Virupraksha Temple in Hampi

Panoramic view from some rocks we climbed

Monkey's hanging out on the side of the rocks

View of the dirt path we biked on for many hours, we would take breaks along the road when there were interesting things to see or climb

Procrastination

School is officially underway, all my classes have been chosen and my schedule finalized after one month of dabbling into several of the social science programs here at the University. Because each department creates their own timetable, it was difficult to find a schedule without conflicts. I tried courses in Sociology, Women's Studies, Politics, and Economics, finally settling on two politics and one economics course. I really wanted to take the women's studies course on Gender & Development, but it wasn't meant to be. Now that I actually have some work to do, I feel like procrastinating by writing about a bunch of random thoughts rather than doing some readings, so here are a few random highlights from the last few weeks:

1) Because of school finally starting, I am choosing to write this post instead of doing reading for my Agricultural economics class, which has the first test in a few short weeks. This course was the one I was most excited about, especially from the perspective here in India as there is so much happening on the food justice and food production front here. The whole biotechnology debate and its effect on farmers is also an issue I am extremely interested in, and some of my favourite academic articles on the topic have come from India. Classes however so far have been disappointing. Interaction is low, and structure is lacking. However, the friends I have met in class, especially in economics, have been extremely friendly and tons of fun chat and hang out with, and has been one of the highlights for me so far at school.

2) Last night was Janmashtami in India, which is a Hindu festival here in India celebrating Krishna's birthday. India is an amazing country, there is always so much happening, the streets are always bustling with activity, festivals happening almost every week. The festival last night was really neat. The main event of the festival is a team of local participants called Govinda's that form a human period to reach a clay pot filled with buttermilk about 30 feet in the air and to break it. I am going to try and post a video of this on facebook, the energy in the crown was amazing and the excitement before the clay pot was broken was electrifying. These pots are placed all over the city in Pune, and also in cities all over the country, however we chose to visit the event in Deccan, an area near our flat.  On the first attempt one of the member reached the top, but as he was going to wind up to hit the target, he lost his balance and came crashing down 20 or 30 feet. Luckily he was okay, and within two minutes was back up and breaking the clay releasing the milk on the Govinda's and the entire pyramid. The pictures don't give the actual event enough justice, so I uploaded a video below.

3) I am loving the food here. I already fear the day of returning back home and being without the flavour explosions that are part of almost every meal here. It is amazing having at minimum 20-30 choices of veg food here at each meal, compared to the often one or two token items on the menu for vegetarians in Canada. I plan at somepoint to write down every one of my favourite dishes and hopefully try to make them before I leave.

4) I really am enjoying living near the University. Not only is there amazing food on the street corner, but there is so much green space around, something I wasn't expecting to be living near here in Pune. Within twenty minutes from the flat you can have a view of the entire city from the nearby hill behind our building. I took my first hike up the surrounding hills which was great. The highlight was finding at the top of the hill some sort of iron scaffolding with stairs to the top of it. After cautiously making our way up and realizing it was not going to fall over and we wouldn't fall to our death, we had an amazing view of the city.

A view of the main area of the festival in Deccan

Attempt #1

View from the hill behind our flat

Child Poverty

This weekend is my first in Pune, I decided to take a few days to relax and explore the city and also to start some reading for school. So far I am really enjoying India, as each day goes by, I start to feel more at home here. I've posted many times about the beauty and charm of India so far, but like many other places in the world, the country faces some major challenges. I've written this post several times now, finding it difficult to find the right words. The truth is it is difficult to find the words to discuss the extreme inequalities that exist here, and many other countries for that matter.  I find myself struggling to find the best way to respond to the daily encounters with children on the street. 

A few weeks back in Aurangabad, we met a group of guys on the street, and after chatting for a few minutes they asked us why we came to India to study, and the international affairs students mentioned we really wanted to see the country but also hear a non-western view on development and international relations, especially from such a diverse and complex developing country like India. One guy quickly snapped back that India is no longer a developing country, poverty is relative, we do not have poverty anymore. I didn't know how to respond at the time. However, not more than 5 minutes later I passed two blind men on the street asking for money, and a mother with a baby that were at stopped traffic asking for money, food, or something to help them get through the day. I'm not sure how these educated young men could be so blind. While India has had an amazing transformation and managed to bring millions out of poverty of the last decade, the striking contract between rich and poor is a daily struggle to come to terms with. 

Here in Pune, which is a fairly wealthy city in terms of India, with the presence of IT companies and many universities, there is still much poverty. A walk across the city is never without a young girl or boy tugging at your leg or hand asking for money or pointing to their mouth asking for food. It literally breaks my heart every time. While we have our problems in Canada, the contrasts are stark. I've been waking up with the image of a young girl that was following me for around 1km with her mother on the side of the road with a baby asking for money in my first week here. 

Even if I did have money, I'm not convinced giving it every time is the best way to act. There is pretty strong evidence that giving money to every child on the street is not only impossible, but it perpetuates a cycle of families sending children out on the street to earn money rather than being in school. Long-term this has devastating effects and perpetuates the cycle.  At the same time, there are children that are in need of immediate help. I've noticed some Indians bringing children over to food stands and buying them a meal, which I think is a great idea rather than giving out money. While this does nothing to solve the long term poverty problem, it is something. 

India does not have much of a social safety net for the disabled, and so most are left out of society with no ways of earning enough to survive. I am not sure if it is more worthwhile to give to someone who is unable to work, it feels like a terrible thing to have to choose.

 I think this has been on my mind often because of the immense disparities in India, the mercedes cars driving by slums on the side of the road with children sleeping on the road. In many other countries I remember there being much poverty, but the contrasts were not as large as they are here.

Sometime in November I am planning on spending a week in Nagpur, volunteering with an organizing helping children with diabetes, focussing on girls, live better lives and have better access to insulin. I feel like helping out in this way is more effective than handing out a few rupees on the street. 

The reason for writing this post is that I welcome any comments, tips, or what others think on the subject. There is no right answer, but I always find discussion with others is the best way to sort of thoughts and explore different ideas. 

Hanging on for Dear Life

Before leaving Canada, one activity on my list of things I absolutely had to do was to take a 20 hour train ride, either from Mumbai to Delhi, or perhaps Delhi to Jaisalmer. This is still something I would like to do, however after my first train experience this weekend, I am definitely adding an asterix next to it. I will be making sure to get a sleeper for traveling long distances.

To get out of the craziness of the city and the sound of the honking horns we all decided to take a trip out to Matheran, a tiny hill station in between Mumbai and Pune which has banned vehicles from entering, creating a very unique and rare setting. To reach Matheran, the quickest way is to take the train to Neral which is a small town just below Matheran.

Everything started out quite nicely, we boarded the train after buying our tickets at 7am, and although we bought general boarding tickets and there was nowhere to sit, I was quite happy being able to stand at the door and watch the world go by. It was so quiet I even gave Erin a quick call just as we were leaving Shivajinagar station in Pune. I was pretty naive to think the whole ride would be this peaceful. Not even 20 minutes later we reached the next stop and the pandemonium commenced.

I was standing at the door with my backpack when the mob of people started fighting in front of the door to try and get on the train, Babies were getting hit and elderly people were mauled by the group of aggressive people fighting to get on the train. I held on to me small corner near the door with my bag raised above my head and held on for dear life while everyone fought to get on the train. I had seen this happen before on various videos of people riding the train in Mumbai, but witnessing it first hand was something else. For the next 3 hours I stood hugging the wall with my bag, with two small children sitting on my feet and sleeping on my leg not being able to move. If I was claustrophobic I might have jumped out through the open doors!

Once we arrived in Neral however, the train ride was quickly forgotten as we hiked up to Matheran following the toy train tracks. We were hoping to take the toy train up however it is closed during the monsoon. We spent the weekend relaxing, reading, and we spent one day hiking on many of the trails. The rain was relentless all weekend, a real first taste of the force of the monsoons, as Pune is quite sheltered from them because of the location of the city being in a valley. Despite the heavy rain, the scenery was amazing, with some of the nicest views I have every seen, it was a shame the clouds blocked many of the views, but when they were visible it was amazing. I will definitely be returning in November or December once the monsoons have left.

One nice surprise was that the town was overflowing with monkeys, they were everywhere. One even came into our room out of nowhere one morning and stole a bag of candy, I may have screamed a little and ran for the bathroom. It was huge!

One of the highlights of the weekend was coming home on the train, it was much quieter and I was able to hang out the door for most of the trip taking in the amazing views in the distance as the train chugged down the side of the mountain. Because of the monsoon, there were waterfalls everywhere, it was a wonderful few hours, something I will never forget!

Hiking down a part of the cliff at Alexander's Point

The calm before the storm

Cycling In India

I've been sitting here in my room with a huge smile for the past half an hour after one of the best experiences so far since arriving in India almost a month ago. Earlier this evening, myself and two other friends ventured out into the city to buy a used bicycle. While rickshaws are extremely cheap and fairly quick, much of the action on the street is missed because it is hard to see out of them, and half the time exhaust from other vehicles is blowing right in your face which is extremely unpleasant.

After finally finding a shop that sells used bikes, we bargained with the owner's son and purchased three bikes. After some much needed tune-up to the breaks, we decided to make out way back towards SB Road. It started to rain and get dark almost immediately after we started biking back towards our flat. The shop was quite far from our end of the city, we had to bike for roughly one hour to get back home. I will be one bike ride I will never forget!

Within seconds on the road a bunch of cattle took to the streets and I had to weave in and out of the herd while dodging other traffic as well. The craziness of India's streets is extremely intimidating, however it almost felt better being on the bike rather than in a vehicle, to experience the pace of life on the bike was amazing.

After about ten minutes there was a huge elephant on the road that we had to pass. This was incredible, however as I was passing the elephant on the extremely busy street it can within inches of my tire. My arm was basically touching the moving elephant it was pretty wild!

Crossing the road at intersections was rather unpleasant however, and I can already foresee problems crossing the road right in front of the University daily, as this road is relentless in terms of crazy traffic. Overall though, getting a bike has been best purchase yet, and the ride home from the shop this evening was an experience of a lifetime. It almost felt surreal at times, that I was riding a bike in India, especially since only 3 weeks ago I thought I was going to die when trying to cross the street! I'm really looking forward to exploring Pune more by bike, there is so much to see on the bike that can't be scene by other modes of transport.

Bureaucracy Madness

After two bribes paid, 5 trips to the FRO, 3 trips to the police office, 3 trips to copy my documents, I have finally received my residence permit. The only problem is that they only issue the permit until September, because they require a Bonafide certificate from my department at the University, which of course I can't get until classes begin. All of this means I get to start the entire process over again, submitting paperwork to a ridiculous amount of officers. I cannot for the life of me figure out where all of this paper goes and if it will ever be looked at ever again.

Now for some further explanation on the bribes. With a student visa, you are given 14 days form the date of arrival to submit your final "A" form for approval. The 14 days is absolutely ridiculous considering that in order to submit this form, you must have found a place to live, have received a copy of the C form on arrival from your hostel, have a copy of the notarized lease agreement, along with a bunch of other forms and pictures and the most important part being a letter from the police office certifying that I am actually living at the address I have on my application.

Now the police are quite aware of this little 14 day rule, and almost everyone will only be ready to go to the police station with the lease agreement until close to the 14 day limit. The fine for being late is $30, which is ridiculous. The police more or less told us that it would be at least two days until they could "verify" that I lived in my flat (by stamping my application basically) even though I only had one day left to submit my final application to the foreigner's registration office. This is where the bribe came in. We slipped 200 rupees under the first page of my application to the first officer who stamped my front page of the documents, which allowed me to move to the back where they would take all the documents to issue my permit. These guys wanted 500 rupees, which I angrily paid. In the end I paid the bribe which only ended up being $12 rather than the fine of $30, but the whole thing was frustrating and incredibly inefficient. It is amazing that the remnants of Nehru's vision of the government's reach still looms large today here at the ground level.

In the end I handed in everything in on the 14th day, and the late fee was avoided, but I am already dreading the return to these offices in a few weeks time to repeat the entire process to extend my permit and visa so I can continue to travel in December once classes end. 

That is my rant for the day! Everyone reading this is probably extremely confused, my apologies for that, I honestly don't think it could be explained in any simple way.

Weekend in Aurangabad

This weekend, myself and the OMG crew took a 5 hour bus ride to the city of Aurangabad, which is the nearest city close to the Ellora Caves. These caves are estimated to be from 300-750 AD, and range from Hindu temples and art to buddhist monasteries and art. They were breathtaking. The neatest part of walking around inside these caves was just imagining what it would have been like thousands of years ago, just after they were completed, it must have been a remarkable. The caves and art in general were in pretty good condition, especially Cave 16, which took over 100 years to complete, and was carved out of one entire rock. It wasn't even really a cave, but more like a giant temple. Cave 16 alone was worth the trek out to Ellora.

While the caves were fascinating, the best parts of the weekend, were the little moments that were unexpected. The first was that we decided to hire a rickshaw driver rather than take the public bus. I was able to bargain to have the driver bring us to the caves and back and drive us around in Ellora, for 500 rupees for the entire day, which is about $10 (he originally wanted 1300). It ended up costing us only $1 more than taking the bus. The one slight catch was that we were a group of 5, and rickshaws are made for 3 people in the back at most. So 4 of us had to squish into the back, white I was nominated to sit with the driver at the front and hang my right arm over him and grab onto one of the bars to ensure I didn't fall out the side. Needless to say it made the trip even more adventurous and was extremely fun!

Climbing up some rocks above all of the caves and just relaxing and taking in the views was a highlight of our day at Ellora as well. I regret not taking any pictures from the short hike and climb, but sometimes its nice to just live in the moment rather than stopping to take pictures. It made for a great afternoon.

Another great moment was on the way back from the caves we stopped on the side of the road, and I ended up taking part in a roadside cricket game with 4-5 guys. I went to bat and I hit the ball over the fence into some sort of crops. I think I impressed the guys I was playing with, although i'm pretty sure he was pitching at half speed. I would love to try and find some people to play with here in Pune, it could be lots of fun.

There were plenty of other great moments, including wandering the streets of Aurangabad, and being mobbed by kids all over the place. Apparently it happened to be friendship day in India on Sunday (there are a ridiculous amount of holidays here), so we were given a ribbon around our wrists marked "best friends" by a group of children. It was a great way to spend the morning before boarding our bus back to Pune.

The OMG Crew, on the side of the road on our way to the Ellora caves

Meditating with Buddha

Looking out from one of the buddhist caves

Inside Cave #16

Outisde view of Cave #16

Buddhist Caves: #1-5

Some art in one of the caves

The usual scene anytime we would stop walking, a bunch of people trying to take our picture...celebrity status with no credentials makes for some uncomfortable moments!