Technical Difficulties

Dear readers,
I have not forgotten about this blog but my computer is not working properly (I will explain later in detail). My computer will be fixed within the next week so you can check back in then. I have so much to tell you all! I am going on a Rotary trip for 15 days and when I come back everrything will be good again. Talk to you then! =D Namaste.

PLAN B

For many different reasons switching to Gujarati  Medium is not  going to work because even in Gujarati medium I would not be completely immersed in the language because people can still speak a little English. I decided go somewhere where no one can speak to me in ANY language. From now on I am going to an experimental school for the deaf so that I can learn sign language! I am not a student I am going there to observe and interact with the students. The students are so amazing because even though they cannot speak they are incredibly intelligent and capable. They are probably more intelligent than most “normal” people are because they have had to work so much harder to get to the same place. They are able to do everything that a “normal” person can. I went to a Key Club convention last year and there was a motivational speaker who spoke about what it means to be handicapped. He was born without legs and everyone’s obvious reaction to that was “OMG I feel so sorry for you. That is horrible, I could not imagine growing up that way, your life must be so difficult.” He said that there is no reason to feel bad for anyone with a handicap. A handicap is anything that makes you different.  We are all handicapped in some way. He said there are thousands of “normal” people walking around on legs that are more handicapped than he was. I feel the same way about the students at this school. There are all going to be perfectly fine and live normal lives. I do not want people to think that I am a saint or anything like that for going to a school for the deaf in my free time. I also do not want anyone to think that the deaf students are my charity case because they are my friends. In the end I am sure they will teach me more than I can ever teach them. I will still do my best to learn Hindi but it is going to have to be from the books….unfortunately. There is little hope of me even becoming semi-fluent in Hindi because I have less than one year here and because I am never going to be immersed in it, but I can promise that I will give it my absolute best! It will not be the end of the world if I do not learn Hindi or Gujarati perfectly because learning a language is not the ONLY point of exchange. There are so many things to experience. However, learning languages is one of my passions. I did not expect to come to India to learn sign language while speaking English, but it works!

Navratri

Navrati literally means nine nights in Sanskrit. This festival is in honor of the goddess Ambaji. For nine days the goddess fights against the evil in the world. On the tenth day called Dessera. Ambaji wins against evil and people symbolically burn the Lord Ravana, the ten-headed god who is the representation of evil. However this is primarily this is a dancing festival. Everyone gets into special traditional dresses called Chanya Cholies and gets together with many people in their society and dance gharba (a traditional Indian dance which I have also learned) around an idol of Ambaji. The festival starts after 9:00pm and usually finishes around 2:00 in the morning. It is a beautiful festival. I am not much a fan of organized dance because I have a hard time following what everyone else is doing (the story of my life) but I am in love this festival. People dance with intense passion that I have never seen before. It really looks like some people are dancing for their last breath. I am sad that I will never be able to experience another Navratri because it was a beautiful and inspiring experience. I am not religious in any way, but it really felt like we were destroying evil somehow. Maybe not within the world but within ourselves. When you are dancing with 2,000 in one small area with the same purpose in a small way it feels like your soul is set free from everything bad because there are 1,999 other people with the same problems as you. Your soul is set free and the only thing left to do is dance out all of your life’s passions and problems. Yes it is horribly crowded and horribly sweaty and I wore the bottoms of my feet off but I could not care because I felt so free that it did not matter. This festival will be a memory that I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life.

Me my Cami (exchange student from France) and her brother in our traditional clothes!

LANGUAGE

One of the most important and rewarding parts of exchange is learning a language. I am not doing very well in this department. Language is the reason I wanted to become an exchange student and after being here for over 2 months I could not conjugate a verb or make a proper sentence.  I am truly embarrassed by my language level. There is so much English in India. Almost everyone is fluent in English. People of the younger generations even think in English. Most Bollywood music is half in English. Television is often in English. Street signs and advertisements are written in English and Indians often watch American movies and listen to American music. I am not immersed in Gujarati or Hindi at all. Yes, everyone speaks Gujarati and Hindi but I am never forced to use their languages. I use Gujarati or Hindi whenever I know the word but most people find it ridiculous that I try to speak their language. When I tell people that I want to learn Gujarati or Hindi they tell me that it is very silly because they are “worthless” languages. My school is also taught in English. Against much opposition I have decided that I must switch to a school that is taught in Gujarati. Everyone except my friend from New York is convinced that I am crazy and it will be a complete waste of my time. Not many people are supportive of my decision, but I feel it is the right thing to do. I will kick myself if by the end of my exchange I cannot communicate fairly well in Gujarati, and it is insulting to go to a foreign country and speak your mother tongue. Many people in America speak Spanish but if a foreigner comes to America and tries to communicate in Spanish people are very offended. I am doing exactly this and I do not think that is okay.  To go to a school in Gujarati is the only chance I am going to have to be completely immersed in the language, and the only hope I have of learning. Unfortunately exchange students in India stop going to school in November because of festivals and trips. I do not have very much time in that school but it is better than what I am doing now. My school is pretty much a waste of time except for the friends I have made. One out of ten exchange students that come to India learn the language and that really scares me.  I know that it is possible to be that one and I will work very hard but I refuse to learn by studying through books. I came here to experience the culture not read about it. I understand that the English language is a huge part of Indian culture because of the British, but the native culture is also important. Even though sometimes I am very frustrated by all of the English here I have to be thankful for it in many ways. Indian culture is drastically different than any western culture and if no one could communicate and explain things to me I would be 100% lost right now. I am fairly lost even though I can communicate semi-fluently. I know I should not beat myself up too much because I am making every effort I can to learn the language. Things may not work out perfectly and I may not ever be fluent but there are so many other things to experience in India. I cannot let my lack of language immersion make me bitter towards my experience because there is a world of opportunities here. Language may not be in the cards for me but my life is not over. I still have a good 80 years left of living. I have plenty of time to go to Japan or the Philippines where there is not a word of English. I will make the best of the opportunities I am given here, even if that doesn’t include language. Other than the language I feel that I am adjusting to the culture well and I am really enjoying my time here. I am giving up on the language, but I am done beating myself up about something that is out of my control. I do not think switching to Gujarati Medium will solve my problem but it is a step in the right direction.

Ganesha Chaturthi

My second Indian festival! Ganesha Chaturthi is celebrated for 10 days. Ganesha the god that removes all of the obstacles from one’s life is brought to everyone’s home for 10 days. Every family and every neighborhood has a Ganesha Idol. Some of the Idols are very extravagant. There was a 9 foot tall Ganesha in my city that had a crown and gloves made from 100% real diamonds and gold! Every Ganesha is also given a shrine that honestly more closely resembles a palace. Every night we do Puja (prayer) to the Ganesha. We chant things in Sanskrit and the whole community gets together. I do not understand most of what happened but it had a very joyful atmosphere. Every day has a different theme and color. Ganesha’s clothes are changed every day from red to blue to green to purple to white to orange.  Many women from my society made beautiful Prasads (offerings) from fruit, vegetables and pearls. This festival was started in Maharashtra (the state below mine) during the British rule. The hope behind Ganesha Chaturthi was that if everyone could gather together and pray for the British to stop their rule over India then Ganesha the remover of Obstacles would grant their wish. All that they had to do was pray and at the end of the ten days the entire city gets into the streets to throw over 6,000 Ganesha into the river! No one could give me a clear explanation as to why we throw him in the river but almost nothing has a clear answer in India so I am basically used to that by now. The government has made a rule that the Ganesha idols can only be made from materials that are biodegradable but it is not very well enforced. Many Ganesha idols are made from plaster of paris. Biodegradable or not that is a lot of material to be dumped into the river within 24 hours. This festival is catastrophic for the environment. People burst firecrackers and there is garbage EVERYWHERE! The morning after the festival you could not see the road, and the air was thick with smog because of the masses of gas guzzling trucks carrying the Ganeshas on the road. But if I forget about the effect on the environment which I have a very hard time doing it was wonderful. Every person was on the street celebrating. It is a really powerful atmosphere. People were crying because they had to say goodbye to Ganesha and then there was dancing and food and music and everything else you could imagine. Again I felt very clueless about things but it was a beautiful festival and I am happy to have been a part of it.

                                         An offering to Ganesha

                                           another offering....

                                      The Ganesha in my cousin's house and my first puja (prayer)!

                                              My society's Pooja and all of the prasads :)

                                                      Ganesha's favorite food

                                                                My society's Ganesha

                                                        A vegetable offering

                                                The ceiling of a shrine

                         Me my society and friend from New York on the way to throw Ganesha in the river

                              The 9 foot tall Ganesha with real diamond and gold hands and crown!!!!!

                                                 REAL DIAMONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Family

In India everyone is a brother, a sister, an uncle, auntie, mommy or daddy. Everyone is a family member even people you have met only once. This idea explains so much of the culture. You treat every person as if they were your own brother, your own sister or your own mom or dad. At first I was very put off by this idea. I thought that it was strange to call random people your sister and people who were not my parents mom and dad. In my culture those bonds are so sacred that it should only be used for people who you sincerely love like your family. I tried to abstain from using these titles as much as I could because I felt extremely uncomfortable. For the first week I avoided calling anyone by their names at all and just tapped them on the shoulder when I wanted their attention (and Indian names are almost impossible to remember).  In my American thinking I believed that it was wrong of people to call others by such affectionate names when they did not mean it. I thought that all of their invites and small talk were superficial and they were only interested in me because I am foreign (Which is partially true), but Indians sincerely love everyone like their family. They have grown up with the concept. This concept is even in their pledge every morning.  Complete strangers will go out of their way to help you.  People you just met will tell you to “Come home” as if their home is your home ^^. If you tell someone you like their earrings they will take them out on the spot and insist that you take them. I am sure if India did not have such extreme restrictions on clothing they would literally take their shirt off of their back and give it to you.  What is theirs is yours and they love to share with you. This is an extremely hard concept for Western people to embrace. I had a hard time at first with this because in America I am used to much more personal space. I could do what I wanted basically when I wanted. I was in complete control of my decisions, but here people take care of you. That is not bad, but I was extremely uncomfortable with the idea. Even for America I am overly independent.  In India mothers still hold your hand when you cross the street and brush your hair for you. Like I said it is not wrong it is just different, VERY DIFFERENT! Now I think that it is a nice gesture, but this caused a lot of frustration at first. There is also a huge difference in personal space.  People will take things without asking, try food off of your plate and rearrange your things the way that THEY want it. They do not do these things because they are rude but because they expect you to do the same to them. It is also rude to say please and thank you. Saying please and thank you in the West is basically a reflex, but when you say it to someone in India they give you a very strange look and I think they feel slightly offended. My friend explained to me that people find it rude because you are supposed to expect people to do things for you without question because you are “family”. Saying thank you makes them feel that you are uncomfortable and Indians want to be family with everyone. I feel rude not saying it but that is completely ethnocentric. By American standards India is a very overbearing and invasive culture. Every rebound complained about that, I completely understand why they feel that way, but I think that they did not fully embrace the culture. In America I would have been upset by many of the things that happen here too, but I am not in America…..I am in India! I have not completely embraced this concept yet, and sometimes it gets to me a little, but I am so warmed by how pure their intentions are.

My First Indian Festival!!!!!!!!

Today was Janmashtami MY FIRST INDIAN FESTIVAL which is an Indian festival celebrating Lord Krishna’s birthday and it was amazing! I cannot tell you exactly what happened or why, but it was very fun! I will take it from the top. Monday Morning I went to a parade with George a fellow exchange student from Deutschland and we were both utterly confused and it probably did not help that we had just woken up. From what I could tell there was a crowd of people in the street chanting and banging the drums which created an indescribable energy. From the second or third story someone ties a thick rope across the street and on that rope they hang a (flower) pot filled with colored water and covered in fruit which they call a mutki. Someone starts banging their drums (which I learned to do too ^^) and then the crowd simultaneously comes alive and start marching in a circle. The men form a pyramid in the center just as cheerleaders would and they hoist people into the air to do things like flips and blowing fire. Why they do this I am clueless, I have a hunch that it is just for show, but when I asked people they just tell me that “It is god”. That probably doesn’t make any sense to you either because I think that “It is god” is the Indian answer when they actually have no idea what things are. I have been told that so many times. Everything is god! Anyways the huddle of men throws those people down and raises one single man into the air and he has a very special task. He has to take “Baby Krishna” into the air in order to have the baby break open a pot called a mushka which sprays pink water on the baby. After I heard the story of the religious significance behind the festival it made a little more sense. The story of Krishna is that when he was a baby he liked to drink cream from a mushka so they reenact this idea in a festival. When I was watching this I did not understand why any of these things were happening. So I was like OMG why are they throwing that crying baby dressed in a ridiculous costume into the air to break open a pot onto its head! It just looked insane but it was really fun! Also I brought my professional camera with me so everyone thought that I was the newspaper and they ushered me to a special place where I could take the best pictures and then people posed for some really good pictures. This is not the first time this has happened to me either. Every time I take that camera everyone on the street asks me to take a picture of them and then they pose. I love it though. I have gotten some really artistic and beautiful pictures. I have only been here a month and I have over 2,000 pictures!  Showing you the pictures will make much more sense to you than just telling you about it because like I said I do not know exactly what happened. This “parade” is repeated throughout the entire day until midnight. Every neighborhood has one of these parades so I went to three of them. At midnight is the exact time when Krishna was born so that it when the true celebration is. It is not as grand as what takes place during the day but it is still nice. At midnight the family gets together and offers a food offering to Krishna and then of course we eat it. It would not be an Indian festival without eating ;) It was a beautiful festival and I cannot wait to see more. This by far was not the most extravagant of the Indian festivals. This festival marks the beginning of festival season. From now on there is a festival almost every week! I cannot wait! I will update you on everything! Talk to you then. Jai che Krishna ^^.   

                                                                Baby Krishna

                                                                       Mutki

                                                          Your guess is as good as mine.....

                                                The shrine where they do offerings at midnight

                                                                     Lord Krishna

                                   Me and the other exchange students attempring to play the drum!

This is another Indian Instrument used in the festival. It is very similar to a tambourine

India Against Corruption Continued!

                                                                         This is me!

The coolest thing happened! I went to a protest  in support of Anna and everyone thought that I was the newspaper so everyone went crazy posing for pictures. I was so honored to be able to capture this moment. I felt like I worked for National Geographic! I participated too! They gave me a flag and I chanted the national anthem too! It was one of the most powerful things I have been a part of :)

Corruption in India!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14538889

http://www.iretireearly.com/1-4-trillion-indias-black-money-stashed-in-swiss-banks.html

There was a protest in my city in support of Anna Hazare. Sorry that the video is in slow motion I do not know what happened, but at least you get the idea. This is a landmark in Indian history, and I got to be part of it!

Corruption in India!

Meditation

Today I attended a meditation workshop called “The Art of Living”. I know what you are thinking “Wow! This girl is such a hippie she is spending a year in India to learn the “art” of living through meditation. I bet she is wearing baggy pants and has stopped showering too!” But I promise that I am still showering! I have definitely become accustomed to the big baggy harem pants. Native Indians would never wear baggy harem pants, they dress exactly how we do back in the US, but for me it is TOO HOT to wear tight heavy jeans. Besides there is no hiding the fact that I am foreign. I am six feet tall, pale, and have a very thick accent. No matter how I dress people are going to stare at me. So I might as well be comfortable! Most of the time I do not have a problem with how they dress, but sometimes I am unaware of when my outfit is “inappropriate”. For example it is practically a crime to show your legs especially if you are foreign and shirts should go up to your collar bone. I understand the cultural sensitivity to covering your body more and I want to follow them, but it is uncomfortable!  No matter what I do I am always sweating because there is so much moisture in the air, and my skin cannot breathe because it is always covered with clothing! But back to meditation J when I pictured meditation I imagined a room full of shoeless people sitting on ornate pillows intensely rocking back and forth chanting Sanskrit hymns, but that is not what meditation is. Meditation is not a spiritual hippie thing (although it can be if you want it be).  Meditation is actually very practical. Meditation is simply letting your body completely rest and letting your mind process everything. Over 300,000 thoughts run through our minds every day, how can we expect our minds to thoroughly process all of this information? I don’t think that it can! Personally I always felt overwhelmed by everyday life in America. I had homework, AP classes, a job, officer positions, preparing for this exchange, preparing for college, and I at least tried to have a social life :/ Now I realize that that year was practically wasted because I was so overwhelmed by everything that was happening that I can literally not remember most of it. My mind was incapable of processing all of the things around me. Meditation would have really helped me last year, but unfortunately I wasn’t aware of it L But at least I know now. Meditating for 10 minutes can drastically improve your energy level, productivity, and creativity. Think what you do in ten minutes….that’s nothing! I am going to start meditating for ten minutes every morning. I feel like it will really help me cope with all the insanity around me better. Also Indians never have enough sleep! They eat dinner at 8:00-10:00 at night and then they talk for a while or usually go out for more food ;) Then they finally settle down in their rooms at 11:00 or 11:30 and around 12:00-12:30 they actually sleep. Then they wake up at 5:00!!! They do this every day, and this is not enough for me!  Most people are able to take a nap during the day which helps a lot, but I absolutely hate naps. Meditation is like going into super-sleep so that is another bonus! I think you should all consider meditation, because it is not a strange religious ritual it will improve your daily routine. I could go into detail on how exactly to do it, but it would be just as easy and easier to understand if you googled it. Good luck! I promise you will not regret it!

FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At first I had conflicting feelings about Indian food. Before coming here I had tried Indian food once and I really liked it! However…… real Indian food tastes nothing like the Indian food I got on State Street. It is hard to describe what a real Indian meal is because every dish is vastly different from state to state, from city to city and home to home.  Food is a HUGE part of Indian culture, especially in my city. My dad told me that people travel from all parts of India to dine in Surat.  Every meal in India is an adventure.  Indian food envelopes all of the senses (not just taste). When the food is brought onto the table you are immediately stuck by the colors in the variety of the dishes and your eyes start to water because of the pungence of chili and coriander radiating from the giant mass of food on the table. They eat with their hands, and not gingerly with the fingertips but with the whole hand!  Contrary to popular American beliefs, Indian people do not eat with their hands because they can’t afford forks it is because they believe that they enjoy it more if they feel their food and I AGREE! I like feeling my food before I eat it. Another stereotype I had about Indian dining was that they sat on the floor on little pillows, and it is true….. Sometimes they do sit on a rug and put the food in the middle, but only when they have run out of space on the table or if the whole family isn’t there and they want to casually eat. I am so fascinated by Indian cooking. I want to learn how to make EVERYTHING.  I asked my host mom if I could copy down some of her recipes to take back to America to teach people, but she told me that none of her recipes are written down! Every recipe has been orally passed down from generation to generation, and this is ridiculous because there are practically an infinite number dishes!  It’s like every dish is a piece of heritage!  Every meal reflects the diverse and rich history of the country. Cooking Indian food is an art. The tradition and depth of Indian food is awe inspiring, but the thing that surprises me most about Indian food is the sheer mass of food that they eat! I have already mentioned that Indian people are very small and generally slender, but I swear to you that Indian people eat 5 times more than I would ever eat in The States. Nobody ever eats much for breakfast because breakfast time is when the women start making lunch, and the lunch is huge! There is always rice, roti (Indian flatbread), Chapatti (spicy cabbage and potato dish), and dal (chili vegetable puree). Those are the staples of Indian food, but after that there is a main dish which is different every time. I have literally never had the same Indian dish twice! I can’t remember the names of anything I have eaten, but every dish is distinctly different. After lunch people go out for ANOTHER lunch, or at least a dessert. Then when you come back home your mom has usually prepared a snack for you.  India is infamous for its overwhelming hospitality and over-feeding you is how they show that they care. People bend over backwards to try to please you, they would feed you until there is no longer enough food for their children! This is a very nice gesture, but there is a certain point where you can eat no longer, and Indian women make it very hard to reject food.  They will insist almost to the point of begging that you have something more, and when you still say no they refill it anyway. In India you have to eat everything you’re given otherwise you are considered to be very rude, but like I said this is hard sometimes because they give you SO MUCH. The only way I have found to avoid this scenario is to eat extremely slow, and NEVER finish my food before anyone else. If you have an empty plate and others are still eating they will involuntarily fill your plate. There is so much to say about Indian food that I could probably dedicate a whole blog to it. But I hope this satisfies at least some of your curiosity about Indian food. That always seems to be the first question that people ask me about India “How is the food? Is it spicy?” Actually I don’t think I answered that question, but I will now. YES!!!!!!!!!! Indian food is incredibly spicy, even Indians find their food spicy. For the first week the spicy food made me horribly sick, but now I am used to it (at least a little). My taste buds completely desensitized, which is probably why Indian people find all other foods bland. Also because my body is not used to the spice it sits strangely in my stomach. I have no appetite at all, which is a shame because food is so interesting here. I will try to write more about food later, maybe by then I will have remembered some of the names of the things I have eaten and even share some recipes. Until next time. Jai chhe Krishna (The Gujarati equivalent to Namaste. It literally means remember god).  Bye!