"Tigers," Food Poisoning, and a Wedding Invite (oh my!)

Hello,

The past week or so has been a crash course in what my boss Ganesh calls "the real India." The day before Halloween, Amy Kae, Jen and I hiked these steps up a bluff that lead to a temple. The views were amazing and I'll put them online as soon as I get the chance to. We ran into a woman herding her goats, some placid cows, and a group of adolescent boys. These boys were between the ages of eleven and fourteen and they thought that they were little studs. They showed us this Durga Temple on top of this hill and warned us about tigers. Of course, they couldn't keep straight faces as they warned us about these tigers.

They also offered us cigarettes and paan (red, gross, chewing-tobacco-like stuff.) I refused both, but I think that the one who asked had stolen his dad's paan because he seemed pretty smug. They then led further to a cave devoted to Shiva and then this abandoned fort. They said that the fort had been there since the Maharajahs, and I believe them, because that wasn't too long ago. On the fort, the one who offered me paan asked for our mobile number. Even though my phone was in my pocket, I told him that we don't have one. It's amazing how much we stick out here. Jen and I go running in an old cricket field sometimes in the morning and these boys pointed to us and said, "jogging. field." Sometimes I wish that I could look Indian for a day just to see how different my experience would be.

The next day we were told that we were going to Vali (a small village) in an hour. That changed to 6am the next day, which of course became 9am. That night was Halloween so we decided to make the most of our freedom before leaving and hit the town for candy. We met up with Lindsay and Brady (two of our friends at another Udaipur NGO) and went to a restaurant on the edge of the lake. I swear I love Udaipur just because I love both mountains and water. It doesn't matter that the lake is polluted and that the mountains are tiny. I still am much more at home here than in Jaipur.

When we left at 9am the next morning, we thought we'd be gone until Diwali (aound the 7th.) But then we were told that we'd actually be there until the 4th at the latest. Then we thought we were going in a jeep, which turned out to be a local bus. Communication gaps are funny if you let yourself enjoy the fact that you never know what's going on. So we end up on this rickety bus. And Jen's comment of "How is this thing working?" pretty much sums the experience up. But as Ganesh said, it's best that we see "the real India." I liked the bus expect for the fact that I was really tired. I didn't mind people staring at me because I'd stare at most of the people there if they showed up on the commuter train to NYC.

So we ended up in Vali and I was quickly told that I needed to go with some veterinary doctors because they were going to inspect some camels. At had not had breakfast or lunch at this point and I had just been on a bus for two hours. But I agreed and listened to a lot of camel-talk in Hindi, which at least got me some connections with people who can help me with my research. I also saw some baby camels. And there would have been hell to pay if I missed lunch and didn't see any baby camels.

The rest of the day we walked around the village and talked to a lot of women. Okay, we didn't really talk, so much as we spoke broken Hindi and they yelled Mewari at us. Mewari is a local dialect that I'm told is close to Hindi, but I don't know how true that is. That was the highlight of my Vali trip. The villagers were great, they invited us in for tea, asked us about our husbands, and asked why we didn't cover our heads. There were a ton of toothless old ladies working their butts off and you can tell that a lot of them run the show, or at least their households.

That was my highlight partly because I had food poisoning for the rest of the time. That was awful, but I'm okay now. We ended up going home a day early because I wanted to sleep in a bed and not on a floor if I was going to be sick. Amy Kae and Jen were also ready to leave, so we went back. When we got back, everyone told us that we looked very tired. I was tired, but more emotionally than physically. The perfect pick-me-up was when one of our bosses (Brinda) asked us to go to her little sister's wedding. The wedding is far away in Allahabad and the procession will have 1,300 people in it. That was exactly what I needed to hear. The Ganges and the Yamuna (both holy rivers) run through Allahabad and it is a 2.5 hour train ride away from Varanasi. I also know that we can get time off because our boss invited us. We're going to ask Brinda tomorrow if she'll take us sari and jewelry shopping. I got some salwaar kameez suits made here, but if I'm going to a wedding then I'm getting a sari. And it's going to be blingy.

So today is our day off and Gabe and my anniversary. Jen and her boyfriend had their anniversary a few days ago, so Amy Kae is taking "her women" out to town. It's internet cafe-ing, lunch, and then these swan boats on the lake. Oh yeah, and a stop to a sweet shop. Sorry for the long post. I hope that it was interesting to read, it was definitely an experience just writing it all out again.

Happy November,

Erica