We made it!

Our last night in delhi, six of us relaxed at a lounge called Mocha, gorging ourselves on chocolate fondue and other yummy things. We then said goodbye to Krishan, and headed back to Sailaja's family friends guest house where we were staying the night.

We slept for one REM cycle and then woke up at three am to go to the airort- our last ride in a toyota qualis! We arrived at the airport with a total of six bags for the four of us. We took the free carts and headed to the bag security check. As we loaded our bags onto the conveyer belt we could see the screen which the guards watched to determine what was inside our bag. As we viewed Lindsay's bag go across the screen we were confused by these large black balls in her suitcase which looked very much like the bombs in looney toon cartoons. "What is that?!" the guard asked her. Lindsay, uncertain, looked at the bag for a second and then it dawned on her- "Oh those are just pickle jars." "okay" the guard responded. Only in India!

We then went to the ticket counter, waited for an hour, and finally got through to duty free shopping, where we attempted to use our last ruppees on phone calls to the states. After seeing Hum Tum, we were very excited about the possibility that our lives could become Bollywood movies. As we waited anxiously to go through the final check to the gate, we imagined that Shah Rukh Khan had gone through earlier to sit in the first class. We also had a connection to an Air India Pilot- would we be upgraded and find ourselves sitting next to him? We were severly sleep deprived...

We then waited at the gate and reminisced about our trip while watching the sun rise over the airport. When we finally made it onto the plane we discovered that our pilot friend was not flying that day, so no upgrades. We claimed four seats in the center of the plane and were very happy to see that mein hoo na (a shah rukh film) was playing. We then went to sleep. An hour and a half later we stirred from sleep by the Air India flight attendents who were insistent that we eat our plane meal. This reminded me of our first plane ride to India. Worried that she would not be able to fall asleep, Sailaja had taken tylenol PM and was completely knocked out. When she wouldn't wake up forher meal, the flight attendent vigorously shook her to wake her up. When she said that she wasn't hungry, the flight attendant told her that she should eat, and proceeded to put her tray table down for her and dish out the food. Air India food is the best plane food I have had, so I was not complaining. As the flight went on, we watched one of the worst movies ever- the one with the olsen twins. we then played word association- ever memorable from our time at TATA ISS. We were very tired so our vocabularies were a bit shot- popular words which came to mind included: "peace" "me" "mango" "yum" "water" etc. we also went through most memorable experiences (many which are only funny to those of us on the trip, so apologies to other readers). some of them included:

- the car ride back from Kasoli with Nikhil "What's going on, yaar? We lost them and now we are in this jam."
- trying to get in touch with SK Sharma ("Mera Naam elena gr* hai. Indian Express. English Bolo"
-Tour uncle- "The exterior even is too good.", other tour uncle "my friends, this was the harem of the man who loved wine and opium"
- Katie and Joel's accents, all of our fun accents
- the trains in Mumbai
- Saiba, coffins, and random singing on the 24 hour train.
-mango tasting
-the comedy trio of geja singh, ram, and nundin

We said goodbye to Sailaja in London, and Crissaris, Lindsay, and I boarded our next flight. we took little naps, ate some delicious food, and then it was time to land. We were in such a giddy mood- we made it we made it! The flight attendent must have seen us laughing and she thought that we were all Indian and one family, so she handed us one form for arriving in the US and told us that one of us had to fill it out for our family! We happily filled out our forms (don't declare anything! ), and hit the ground to be greeted by the gray sky and cool weather of New York. we waited for our bags anxioulsy, there were millions coming out of the shute! finally we retrieved them all and headed outside. Our family reunions were joyous, and we parted with hugs and promises of BIP reunions in the fall. What an amazing two months- I still can't believe it is over!

Bhangra!

Well, after six weeks in Punjab, we have finally learned our state dance! Bhangra is the traditional male folk dance in Punjab and it is known for its amazing beat and high energy moves. Gidda is the more delicate dance for women, and we had learned a bit from Minti Chachi, but were yet to try real bhangra.  Anupam at the Newsline office told me about a guy she had written an article about who had taught and performed bhangra all over the world.  This Mr Tehal Singh, according to her, was the bhangra master. So I gave him a call from the office on Wednesday, and had Nidhi explain that the Indian Express was calling for bhangra lessons for their NRI reporter. He agreed to come that very day, and when we asked him to bring music he said that he would bring a dhol player instead (big drum which gives the beat). So at six o clock Tehal and the Dhol player arrived at our door ready to teach. We decided to dance in the backyard where there was a lot of space and soft grass.  Lindsay, Crissaris, and I lined up and the beat began. We then began the most aerobic dance I have ever experienced.  It was straightforward but we sometimes had difficulty coordinating left and right, etc, as we tried to match Crissaris with her rhythm. After an hour of jumping up and down with our arms raised to the sky, we were exhausted but so charged! If we did this every day, it would be amazing! We also attracted a crowd from the neighboring building balcony and the people who worked at Kuku Chacha's office- must have been quite the sight! The instructer came again Thursday and we were less tired, and we hope to see him today as well. The plan is to start a bhangra aerobics group at Yale, and perhaps film a music video- let's see how it goes! I think our instructer thought we were okay, and he seemed to be having fun, so perhaps we will manage it. We also will attempt to learn the Dhol, but this might prove difficult.

Newsline Reporting Update

Aditi has scanned the article on the group which appeared in the main Indian Express a couple weeks ago and I think she will post it soon when she is better.  We also were featured in the paper after our talk at the Rotary club:

Yale students at Rotary MidtownExpress News Service
Ludhiana, July 10: AS this month happenes to be ‘Literacy Month’ on Rotary International’s calender, Rotary Club of Ludhiana Midtown arranged a talk by Yale students.
Ashok Sharma, president, tied up with Maninder Singh who had played instrumental role in arranging this visit. Maninder Singh said, ‘‘Yale, an Ivy League University has given maximum number of presidents to USA including the present president George W. Bush.’’
The students discussed in detail about the projects they are doing here in Ludhiana. One group working with CMC on studying the health care practices explained the statistical analysis about finding heart diseases, HIV etc. The other group, lead by Sailaja, is working on public health and is doing a project based on primary information from MC personnel and public in general. The third project is undertaken by Elena in Ludhiana Newsline. She’s studying reporting and editorial aspects of a newspaper.

This article was written based on a press note that the rotary club sent out. I have now learned that every time a press note is sent, it is typed up and no one checks the facts!

Writing for the Newsline has been eventful this past week! I have been trying to  meet as many officials as possible, and so far I have had some fascinating interviews with the Senior Superintendent of Police, the Deputy Commissioner, District Traffic Officer, District Education Officer, and many others. Today I spoke with the head of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust who told me that the LIT is useless because all of the officers are corrupt. Its powers have been appropriated by the Municipal Corporation which is also corrupt, and its funds which were supposed to come from the MC also never appear. This man said that most of the employees at LIT only work on jobs which politicians give them money and favors to do, and they are also appointed by the state government- local bodies- in Chandigarh so this  man cannot fire these people if he sees they are corrupt.  The corruption doesn't end in Ludhiana; every act of the LIT has to be approved by the state government, and according to this man, only policies which are in accordance with the interests of those in Chandigarh are approved. This head was extremely honest with me and clearly intelligent. He has been fighting corruption in the LIT for the past year and the workers have gone on strike and forced his resignation because of this. It was great to speak with someone like him and gave me hope that there are officials who are trying to change the system. He was excited that our group had come to Punjab, and said that it would be wonderful to have students assist in development projects in the LIT (maybe next year :).

I have also been having some hilarious phone conversations with non-english speakers, but have now mastered my phone hindi- mujhe dr. tiwari say badh karni hai? etc. The newsline staff has been wonderful in translating and helping me to get the interviews, but it has been a slow process to get through to many people- forcing me to say on the phone "mene bahut bar phone keeah!" (I have called many times!). However, I usually hand over the phone to a professional at that point.

Here are links to some of the articles I have worked on. Some of the sentences are changed from what I wrote, as I am still learning "Indian English."  Aside from writing and finding stories, I have been editing and also am the fastest typist in the place (go mavis beacon!) so every night I am handed a packet of press notes to type up. 

Also check out Sailaja's article (yay it finally appeared!) on coffee culture in Ludhiana. We were all jealous of this topic :) but luckily were able to help sailaja by ordering and testing out the coffee. http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=92138&creation_date=2004-07-20

Drunk Driving:
http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=92065&creation_date=2004-07-20

No Cardiologist at the Civil Hospital:
http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=91795&creation_date=2004-07-17

Punjab Electricity Act:
http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=91406&creation_date=2004-07-14

World Population Day events:
http://cities.expressindia.com/archivefullstory.php?newsid=91276&creation_date=2004-07-13

July 4th weekend in Dharamsala

On a Thursday, two week ago, six of us decided to visit Dharamsala for the weekend. We broke out the guidebooks and were amazed by what we found- only five hours away in Mcleod Ganj (upper Dharamsala) was the home of the Tibetan government in exile and the Dalai Lama! Mcleod Ganj is in the Himalayas, and would be cool, as in temperature, and views potentially breathtaking. We decided to head up Saturday morning, stay overnight and then return on Sunday or on Monday depending on how things went.

Thankfully leaving behind the truck-like Summo, we drove up in a Toyota Qualis - a large SUV-like vehicle supposed to be be equipped with shock absorbers for a comfortable ride. The Quallis seats nine comfortably; including the driver, we were just seven. The two people in the back could stretch out and sleep, or so we thought. Things were going well, as we listened to Minty Chachi's tapes of the radio from her time in SFO. The tapes happened to be from July 4th weekend in 1996. Listening to the dj talk about the fourth made us all feel as though we had entered a parallel universe- especially when "I believe i can fly" started playing. However, about an hour into the trip, our journey took a fateful turn. There are two roads to Dharamsala, both past Hoshiapur. One is a smooth road. The other is dirt and rock. We had taken the dirt and rock road. Aditi and I were awakened by the shaking Toyota. The reputed shock absorbers couldn't do much when faced with the DirtRock Road to Dharamsala. It was pain, until we arrived at a rest stop. The rest stop had a strange large concrete-model jumbo jet in the front with the restaurant inside it. We decided to skip the restaurant and tank up on Limca's (our favourite lemon fizz) while our driver took a suspiciously long food break. After the stop the road became a little better (I think). Althought the drive was still bumpy, now the rolling hills of the Kangra Valley were peaceful and beautiful.
When we arrived in Dharamsala, we found it to be a typical city and so we continued on for another 10 km up to Mcleod Ganj - tourist heaven. We had a debate along the way as to whether we should stay at the $1 hotel, but gave in and splurged on the american-style toilets at the $10 hotel. Hotel Tibet was in the heart of the town and with the best restaurant in Mcleod Ganj (according to the Lonely Planet). We immediately sat down for kanna of momos and noodle dishes- traditional tibetan cuisine. In the restaurant we found many foreign tourists and Buddhist monks!! The people in Mcleod Ganj looked quite different from what we had seen so far in the rest of India - it felt like a long way from Ludhiana.
After eating we decided to walk to the Dalai Lama's home. Unfortunately, we had left our maps at the hotel and we just wandered, hoping for the best and trying to ask directions along the way. The shops which lined the road were loaded for the tourists- wonderful trinkets, different from those we had seen before. We walked beyond the shops and were greeted by the beautiful views- definitely the scenic route. We tried to reach the Namgyal Monastery, and finally arrived at a Monastery-like place that looked promising. We wandered in; although we did not know at the time, we had stumbled upon the monastery and the Dalai Lama's residence. We went into the main temple and sat for a while and meditated. Monks and others were praying and chanting around us; and the peacefulness of the place made me want to continue sitting there for ever. We walked around to try and find the residence of the Dalai Lama, not realizing we were right there. After we got some more directions we went back and found the gate of his home. Unfortunately, altough it is possible to set up an appointment and meet him, one needs to write a letter way in advance. His birthday is July 6th so we thought he might be around; but no luck, we did not bump into him.
We started to make our way back to the hotel. Not really sure where we were going, we wandered through people's backyards, through a door under barbed wire and found ourselves on the grounds of a temple, filled with streamers of prayer flags and the beads you turn to make a prayer. We had a pleasant walk through forest, talking to each other in our American accents, and finally made it back to our hotel.
Early next morning, Elizabeth, Aditi, Crissaris, and I went on a hike to a nearby town where there was a waterfall. When we arrived at the path to the waterfall we were greeted by a sign which forbid travelers from walking up to the waterfall because the path was not safe. Our guidebook had not mentioned this! The path was paved and looked completely harmless, and we decided that this sign might be similar to the traffic lights in ludhiana (not really the law, just a suggestion), so we started to climb. When we reached the main area of the waterfall, we saw another set of stairs which looked as though they led to the top of the waterfall; we kept on going. Along the path, mountain goats perched precariously around us and a steep drop to the water below was on one side. We tried to be friendly to the mountain goats and paused to let a few go by. When we reached the top of the waterfall, we found it deserted and spectacular. We sat on a rock for a while and gazed at the view and the water gushing below. We waded into the water which was little more than ankle deep and not moving too fast. It was so refreshing and we wanted to bathe in it. But by that time more tourists had made their way up. We headed back to the hotel and shopped along the way. Meanwhile we were trying to contact our driver, whose cell phone appeared to be turned off.

Back at the hotel we found Sailaja who had spent the morning in the monastery. She had an amazing story to tell! While she was sitting in the monastery, she saw a familiar face- it was Ben and another Yalie who was in Delhi! It is a small world for Yalies - earlier, we also ran into Ben in Bombay. We had lunch with them and then went to find the driver. We would have loved to stay longer, and advise those who go next year to spend at least two days in Mcleodganj and also to go on to Palampur to see the tea gardens.

We came home in time for dinner of tandoori chicken and chocolate cake, and finished off the 4th with the sparklers Colleen had sent.

Ludhiana extra curriculars week of july 4th

In trying to think of articles to write for the newsline, someone in the group suggsted that I write an article on what young people do for fun in Ludhiana. This has now been taken up as a group project, with help from Taran, another newsline traine,who has written articles on the lack of things to do and the lack of any clubs (thanks taran!). Anyways, this week we ahve explored may of the exciting things Ludhiana has to offer. On Monday, Sailaja lead the group to Cafe Coffee day and we sat in the heat (power was out) while she interviewed the customers and workers for her article on coffee culture. we also went to webworld, which is on mall road and is an excellent internet cafe with fun decor and excellent service. at webworld, 'would you like fries with that?' has been replaced with 'would you like to recharge your accoung?'- ten times in one hour we are asked by the two women who usually sit at the counter. Lindsay and I went to ghumar mandi and bought nailpolish and an indian hair scrunchie. yes! I am not sure what happened monday night...something did, i'll get back on that. On Tuesday we had a visit from masterji, my harmonium and voice teacher from last summer. Masterji is an amazing musician, and we were all feeling very happy to hear his composition. after the lesson we took a nap, then got up to go shopping for shawls at sharman shawls factory. becasue we were at the factory we got great quality for a low price, and there was a fabulous selection. most of us picked up at least one shawl and i think are planning to go back. at night we went with the bals to coronel's cabin, famous for kabobs and chicken briyani. the food was wonderful as was the music (eminem, madonna, etc). after dinner we went to bakes and beans for chocolate cake, ice cream, and dr. bal had mango cheesecake. it was too too good! wednesday we went to see hum tum in the movie theater with aditi translating. the theater was nicer than many in the US and we had fruit and nut chocolate so that added to the experience. quality times. i am sure i am forgetting things, but thats a bit of a recap of extracurriculars the last three days.

June 23: Working at the Newsline in Ludhiana

It has been more than a week since we have been on a train!!! Ludhiana transportation consists of rickshaw rides, autorickshaw rides, scooters, and cars. In my opinion, while the scooter has been the most exciting, the rickshaws are the strangest. The whole concept of the rickshaw is a bit irksome- it is the indian version of a horse drawn carriage but a very skinny person with a family is pulling the carriage! Everytime we have to go up a hill the rickshaw cyclist gets off and has to pull the rickshaw while I want to get out and walk to lessen his load. The autorickshaw's in ludhiana are quite high tech. Aditi, Sailaja, and I were going to the Newsline office and had a nice conversation with our autorickshaw driver. Apparently his sister is in Vancouver and his brother is in Glasgow! They say everyone in punjab has family abroad and they are not kidding! We are thinking of doing an article about him at the Newsline.

I have spent the last week at the Indian Express office in Ludhiana. This office publishes the Ludhiana Newsline, a daily supplement to the national newspaper, The Indian Express. There are seven staff reporters and two trainees. So far I have written an article about a doctor who is also a cricket player and a girl who had an 11kg (22lb!!) tumor removed from her abdomen. Quite amazing! I have also accompanied the reporters to press conferences and sports games, so it's been fun and learning.

Being at home is wonderful! We are all enjoying the food, mangos, ice cream, and bollywood films. Our projects are moving along as well. Lindsay and Crissaris are doing a study on prenatal care at CMC. Krishan and Elizabeth are collecting blood samples from families with a history of early onset heart disease, Sailaja is doing a study of water quality effects on health, and Aditi on women's education.

Yesterday, Krishan and Elizabeth found their first family which was very exciting. Sailaja planned to go to a meeting of the city councillors about water quality but it was cancelled. At lunch we were 'interviewed' by my boss at the Newsline who plans to write an article on our group for the main Indian Express. At four Aditi and I went to see a women who had started an NGO, "Punjab Istri Sabha" to provide counseling and a support network for women who have been harrassed or abused. She has a daughter and a son so we were able to ask her the prenatal survey questions as well! After that I went back to work and to Punjab Agricultural University to report on a field hockey match and to drive a scooter! It was fun, a bit like riding a bike. While I was at the game, Crissaris, Aditi, Lindsay, and Sailaja had an interesting experience at the free yoga class at Rakh Bagh near our house. Prose, apparently, cannot describe the exprience - someone will try I think.

We then started a wonderful movie, "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai". We stopped at intermission for dinner (Palak - a type of sag - paneer, dahl, then mangos and ice cream). The movie was just amazing. It was dramatic, heart wrenching, we could barely pause for a bathroom break. At then end, we knew we had watched a real movie. Inspired, we decided to go to summer camp in Shimla (in the foothills of the Himalayas a few hours away) this weekend for singing and dancing. I am wrting this in an internet cafe which has played 'you are my soniya' at least three times. We leave for chandigarh in a few hours hours.

Shah Jahan (our day in Agra)

This fact you knew, Emperor of Ind, Shah Jahan,
That time's stream carries off life, youth, riches, renown.
Only your heart's grief
Could be eternal, that was your majesty's true belief.

Your royal might, adamantine,
Would fade into oblivion like the crimson of the setting sun;
Simply one great sigh
Would stay, forever-impassioned, rending the sky --
That was your prayer.

Diamonds, pearls, rubies glisten
Like the trickery of a rainbow on the empty horizon,
Soon to vanish like mist
Shedding just
One tear droplet
On the cheek of Time, shining and undefiled--
This Taj Mahal.

--Rabindranath Tagore


Today the group started out at 6am for Agra. We went to the Taj, then to Agra Fort and then to a marble shop. We then went to the mini taj and akbar's tomb. Now we are at an internet cafe- the shatabdi express is late as usual :) Our schedule has been packed the last couple days but expect more posts soon!