Good Things Come in Threes

Three good things have happened to me in the past couple of days.

The first was dinner on Thursday night. It was a family gathering of Prem, Abha, their son who lives in Dubai, and three other relatives. And me. Abha had told me that the dinner would start at 7:30. This, it turned out, meant only that the guests would arrive sometime not too long after 7:30, not that we would eat the meal anytime near 7:30. What we did was eat spicy Indian snacks, drink cold Indian beer, and chat for the next two hours. Then, around 10pm, it was time for the actual dinner, which definitely ranks as one of the top meals of my life. Dishes and dishes of exotic Indian foods-- paneer, murg, dal, gobi, chapatis, keemadi, and more.

(The only awkward moment occurred when someone asked me what kinds of American food I liked the most. Trying to think of foods that are distinctly American, I announced that my favorites were barbeque and hamburgers. This announcement was followed by a long pause, and then lots of giggling. At this point I remembered that the rest of my dinner companions were Hindus. They do not share my love for barbeque and hamburgers.)

The next good thing to happen was that yesterday, I learned that the Government of India has finally given me research clearance to do my Fulbright project! This means that I need to head to Kathmandu sometime soon to convert from a tourist visa to a research visa. And then when I come back to India from Nepal, I will begin receiving my Fulbright research stipend and all of the benefits that go with it and all will be well. I can't wait to go to Kathmandu! Who's been there? Any suggestions??

The third good thing to happen was yet another meal, last night. Specifically, the fried lotus. This meal took place with a young American couple who I've recently met, and one of their Indian business partners, in a Chinese restaurant. Sunil, the business partner, insisted that we tried the fried lotus... and was that ever a good idea. I have decided that sometime soon I will actually give some cooking a try, if only to learn how to fry lotus.

Thanksgiving in Delhi?

There's no Thanksgiving in India, but there is turkey. This is what I ate last night at Briar's house, and two nights ago I attended a Thanksgiving dessert at someone's bungalow. I have no Thanksgiving-related plans for today, but tonight I am attending a dinner party here that my landlords are hosting. I could go for turkey at the American Embassy Club... or get a home-cooked Indian meal. Clearly, I'd pick the Indian food any day.

Prem and Abha, my landlords, enjoy encouraging, and indulging, my appreciation for all things Indian. Abha always gives me a little plate of every new dish that she cooks, or a cup of masala chai, and waits for me to announce that it's delicious (which it really is!). The other night I decided to wear an Indian suit to the Thanksgiving dessert, and Abha rushed to her closet to find jewelry and a scarf that would complement it. She wants to take me shopping soon for more Indian clothes, and Prem announced the other day, "You must marry an Indian boy."

This past week I explored some of the cloth, craft, and jewelry markets: Sarojini, Dili Haat, and Lajpat Nagar. These markets are unbelievable. There is SO MUCH stuff -- so many fabrics, colors, jewels, trinkets, decorations-- and so many vendors shouting for your attention from all sides, that it's overwhelming. If you're in the mood for it, it can also be exhilarating
(This past weekend was a crafts fair hosted by the American School, where vendors were strictly instructed not to shout at people and not to haggle with them. The atmosphere was consequently much calmer, but I found that I actually missed the chaos of the Indian markets).

This week I also went to Safdarjung's Tomb-- a beautiful monument in a quiet garden in the middle of Delhi. I visited more organizations and homes for people with disabilities, including the National Sports Council for the Deaf. I went with my Brazilian friend Rafaela to an Italian film about student revolutionaries in Pisa. I went to dinner one night at the American Embassy Club and then clubbing at The Ashok, a former palace that has been converted into a hotel. I've been riding auto-rickshaws around and trying to speak Hindi with the drivers... my Hindi is quite terrible...

Yesterday I went for a run around my neighborhood and it was a huge success. Not in the sense that it was a particularly long or difficult run, in fact, I only ran for about 10 minutes, but the good thing is that I felt totally comfortable and safe running around. I'd been worried about wearing running clothes, because women never show their legss. I asked Prem whether it would be ok to run here in Sunder Nagar wearing shorts and a tshirt, and he said that it would be absolutely fine because there are so many ex-pats in this neighborhood that people are used to it and because, being an upscale neighborhood, most Indians here are fairly westernized anyway. I decided to give the run a try and it was great-- I don't think anyone even looked twice, plus, it was perfect running weather. This makes me all the happier about my living situation. It is so nice to come back to this peaceful, quiet, beautiful colony after a long day in Delhi. On the other side of the colony's outer road is all of the noise, traffic, pollution, chaos of the city... but here I can say goodbye to all that.

Apologies for the Delay... Time Has Flown

There is much to report on since my last post. Almost every day I have wanted to write a blog entry, but never found a good moment to spend time on the internet. This is not because internet doesn't exist in Delhi, but because I have been living in other people's houses and never feel comfortable using their computers for a long period of time. I am living with an Indian couple now (more details to come), and yesterday I called an internet guy to come install an ethernet cable in my room in their house. He showed up with his cable, then took a look at my laptop and gasped.
"Macintosh, ma'am! This big problem, ma'am!" He fiddled around with his wires and changed all kinds of settings on my computer but couldn't open a connection. Apparently Macs are tough to work with. He left and I gave up on the idea of having internet in my room.

Then this morning, I turn on my laptop to listen to some music. I look in the upper right hand corner, and see that I am actually getting a wireless signal. I decide it must be an illusion... but figure I'll try to get on the internet anyway. Somehow, it works! I must be stealing a neighbor's wireless. The signal is kind of sketchy, but good enough. I feel extremely smug about having saved myself the fee for installing the ethernet cable and purchasing a monthly internet package.

So, where to start. I arrived back in Delhi on November 6th. While in Mussoorie, I'd heard about several Indian families who rent out rooms to foreign students, so I contacted them as soon as I returned to Delhi. I went to visit their houses, and fell in love with one of these places, which is where I'm living now. It's in a peaceful, quiet neighborhood called Sunder Nagar (which literally means Beautiful Town). The whole colony (ie, neighborhood) has only 148 houses and all of them are large bungalows with plants and flowers in front of them. I have a room and a bathroom in the house of Prem and Abha Singh. They've had lots of Fulbright scholars stay with them before and there's another American girl here at the moment, who is a grad student studying something about real estate. I stayed with Briar and Raj again until the 13th, then moved to my new place in Sunder Nagar.

The Singh's are extremely nice and laidback. Both Abha, and their servant, Ramesh, are excellent cooks. I take care of myself for breakfast and lunch, and on any day when I don't want to worry about getting dinner, I ask them to cook a little extra food for me. Being Delhi-ites, Prem and Abha never eat before 9pm, but they cook earlier in the day so I can eat my dinner whenever I feel like it.

Although things are great at the house, I am hardly ever home. I haven't seriously started my Fulbright research yet, because I am STILL waiting for the research clearance that I need before I can officially start. But, I have been busy exploring Delhi and I have also joined a group called the Outreach Committee of the American Women's Association. The American Women's Association is located in the Embassy compound, and does a million different things. Their Outreach Committe is a group of women who raise money to donate to NGOs and non-profits. Every week they go and visit all different kinds of NGOs, assess the funding needs of these NGOs, and decide how to allocate their money. I have gone so far on site visits to two diffferent NGOs, both of them children's homes. One was a permanent home for orphans and one was a temporary home for children whose parents have contracted HIV/AIDS. The Outreach Committee is donating to both of these homes money for sweaters, blankets, and mattresses, so I'll go back again with them to distribute the money.

In the meantime, Briar's good friend Catherine, who is a head of Outreach, has assigned me my own project. Outreach donates to a school called Forward Vision that serves slum children under the age of five. One of the boys at the school is actually nine years old, and completely deaf. He attends a school with three- five year olds because, due to his deafness, he has never been to school before. Even now it is doubtful that he is really learning anything, as he can't understand either sign or spoken language. I haven't met this boy yet but my project is to investigate this situation further and see if it would be possible or appropriate to place him in a school for the deaf. It's a great project for me because I'm anxious to try and improve this particular situation, and because it will give me a good background for my actual Fulbright research on attitudes toward hearing impairment and other disabilities.

In the meantime, I love getting to know Delhi. Prem and Abha are giving me a rich taste of Indian life there (in addition to a delicious taste of Indian food). A couple of days ago I went with them to a carpet warehouse and helped them pick two out of the dozens of beautiful, handwoven Afghani and Kashmiri carpets that the owner rolled out. Today I met their son and his wife and child, who are visiting from Dubai. Tomorrow I am going with Abha to her Buddhist prayer and meditation meeting. She is, she tells me, both a Hindu and a Buddhist-- a Hindu by faith and a Buddhist by lifestyle.

I've also made friends with a good number of fellow expats, through Briar and Raj and through my Australian friend Dan who works here as an engineer. Last night was a birthday party for Raj and another of their friends. An extremely wealthy Indian couple gave the party in their fabulous house-- all kinds of food, drinks, and dancing. (The only unnerving thing was the two security guards outside the gates with their AK-47s. I made sure not to make any sudden noises when happened to walk near them).

Today I went shopping with Dan then went with him to Hash- ie Hash House Harriers. It is this extremely eccentric running/drinking group that exists all over the world. Today we ran/walked through some trails and past lots of cows and goats in this wild area in the middle of Delhi. Afterward was a gathering at someone's bungalow where I was inducted as a new hasher (induction rituals highly resembling a Mory's night... complete with songs, pouring a mug on your head...).

Tonight the plan is to go out for a little bit then come back and get lots of sleep. I am hoping that my magical internet connection will not vanish, and will report again soon.

A Last Week of Hindi in the Mountains

It's been a long time since I've written! Fortunately, we do not have amoebic dysentery to blame for this lapse. Over my last week in Mussoorie, the weather highly constrained the amount of time I could spend at the internet cafe near my hotel. Every day, for a period of approximately three hours, there was warm, beautiful, sunshine. During this period I would sit out in the hotel yard with my Hindi book and refuse to leave. Around 2:30pm, the sun would disappear behind the clouds and the weather would turn cold and dark. At this point, I would spend as little time outside as possible, meaning I would run to and from my classes as quickly as I could, with no stops anywhere, except for my daily garm nimbu (hot lemon) at a little cafe on the way.

During my last week in Mussoorie, I also discovered Rani. Rani is a woman who lives in the small bazaar near the language school, and meets with many of the students outside of school so that they can practice their conversation skills with her (for a very low price). I started meeting with her every other day and am now feeling much more confident about my conversational abilities.

One day, Rani took a group of her students for a hike in the hills behind the bazaar. It was an exhausting but beautiful hike-- through woods and rocky fields and over hills, with dramatic views of thickly forested mountains all around us. We passed a small village at the end (about 8 buildings, 25 people, 30 animals), and sat down on a nearby grassy mound for a quick picnic.

The rest of the week was relaxing and rather uneventful. The highlight was probably my discovery of The Bengali Sweetshop in the main bazaar. I am still thinking about those gulab jamuns and barfis and rasmollais. I experienced further culinary delights during a meal one night at The Mussoorie Tavern with other students from my hotel. After weeks of the vegetarian hotel food, we stuffed ourselves with chicken and rotis that night. After out meal, the manager of the restaurant ordered us to dance to the Bollywood songs that were playing, which was an effective, if highly embarassing, method of working off some of that food.

This past Monday I took a train back to Delhi. The peace and quiet of Mussoorie was hard to leave, but I'd decided that I'd learned enough Hindi for the time being and that I should start sorting out my life in Delhi. This includes finding a place to live and figuring out how exactly I will carry out my Fulbright research project. I am staying with Briar and Raj again for now, but tomorrow am visiting three apartments/rooms to rent, so hopefully one of these will be suitable.

In the two days that I've been back in Delhi, however, I've already done two new things: 1) riding a moped and 2) driving into the vicinity of a major riot. The moped ride occurred because my friend Chris, who I met at my hotel in Mussoorie and who lives now with his mother at the American Embassy School, was too lazy to walk the half mile to a nearby ice cream store and insisted that we ride the moped. I still can't believe I did it.

The riots are occurring because of something called the Bandh, ie the Closing. Basically, the government has been closing down hundreds of Delhi stores that are illegally located-- in public buildings, in buildings that have failed safety inspections, in buildings that have been declared commercial free zones. In protest, shop-owners and traders are rioting. Apparently, the only dangerous sites right now are malls and large shopping centers. Yesterday, I had plans to meet my friend Mahima, whom I met in India last summer, at one of these malls, and foolishly did not think to change the location of our rendezvous. About a kilometer away from the mall, I saw that the police had closed off the road ahead and that huge crowds were milling on the sides. I had ridden there in an auto-rickshaw with Chris and his friend Justin. We decided that this mall meeting with Mahima was certainly not happening and told the rickshaw driver to take us back to the American Embassy area, where Chris lives.

According to the papers, the riots continue today but are expected to subside by the end of the week. Until then, I will be staying in safe areas and clearly not doing any shopping!