Living in a rural village in Rajasthan, India can be rewarding as well as monotonous. Most days tend to be the same without any change of scenery. That being said, I don’t know where all my time goes. I came here with a list of things that have been on my bucket list to get done, and none of them have happened.
I knew I would have an expansive amount of time once I got settled into my life in Chandelao Village, and because of that, I thought I would have all the time in the world to do things like write a book and write a script to pitch for a TV series, both things I would like to mark off my bucket list. However, I have not started either of these tasks and have not even been as diligent about writing my blogs as I started out doing when I arrived.

At first, the time seemed to consume me and I would spend most of my off time conversing with the tourists who were trickling in from around the world. I enjoyed this very much at the beginning and I was as interested in them and their cultures as they were about me and why I am living in the village. I also had not become good friends with the other interns since I hardly saw them, so I had no reason to go to Jodhpur on the weekends unless I had to go shopping for the crafts center or myself. That soon changed and after a few months; I was close with the other interns and wanted to escape to the city on the weekends for a day away from the village, and I could only talk to tourists for a certain amount of time without getting burnt out.
That time has changed and now while I still act very personable during dinner and at the center when guests come by to visit, I have grown tired of explaining the center to guests and what I am doing here. It is just very monotonous and I have gotten tired of saying the same thing over and over again. Now my daily routine is the same on most working days:
• Wake up and read or do Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation yoga) and emerge from my room around 9 to 9:30.
• Once I have dressed and prepared myself for the daily routine, I make it to the kitchen or dining area and eat breakfast by myself, unless there are late rising guests.
• At 10 o’clock everyday I go to work at the center until 4:00 with a one-hour lunch break at 1:00 for everyone.
• After 4, I used to go for runs, but now that it is getting hot, I end up reading for an hour then exercising in my room for another hour afterward.
• By 6:30 or so I come out of my room and either read or chat with guests if they are English speaking until dinner at 7:30 or 8:00.
• Once dinner has commenced and the talking has come to a standstill, I usually go to my room and finish some pending work or read, unless that night I have a call on Skype or my phone.
This is the normal day for me, and I have no idea where the time has gone. I would have thought for sure that at some point or another I would have time to just sit down and start writing things that seemed important at one point or another. The fact is that I work most of the time and even when I am not working at the center I end up helping with managerial duties at the hotel in which I live.
The end of this week and the upcoming week will be very busy though because the initial donor and funding organization are both due to visit the village to check up on projects and see the return of their contributions. This is actually good news for me since I have been trying to get a hold of them since coming here to Chandelao to help with setting up the website and have yet to receive and help. I will be able to express the need and desire for the center to have an updated website to feature the project and it’s products. It is quite difficult to get anything done when the project is somewhat forgotten about and my supervisors are based in Kenya working for a Norwegian organization. Hopefully by this time next week I will be updating the website- something I have trying to since week one of my time in Chandelao

When travelers come to India, they have different modes of transportation to get themselves around. The most frequently used are the tuk tuks, or rickshaws, and the trains. The tourists more used to traveling in some kind of comfort will choose to fly or hire drivers for their trek around the country.

For me and my fellow interns living here in India, specifically Jodhpur, we generally choose to take the public transportation instead of the more costly options. Due to this, however, our travel time increases, as well as our stress levels. I have talked with the other Americans that work through the same organization as I do, and we have all at some point or another ended up crying on the bus or tempo… Just bad days get heightened when Indians bombard you on the public transportation system.

There are many options to get around the city and surrounding outlying areas: buses, small buses, tempos, or rickshaws. These are just the cheaper options of course and those that are available to people like myself in Jodhpur. The bus routes are numerous and catching the right bus can sometimes be tricky, but most go to specific areas that you can ask for (that is if they understand what you are trying to say). I always take the rural bus from my village to the city and always prefer to sit on top of the bus because the bus is always overflowing with people and there is nothing like the fresh air breezing by you while you have the best view of the surrounding areas. This bus and the larger of their kind are government run buses that pile in as many people in as possible. I don’t mean three people to two seats; I mean in a bus with seats for around 30 people, there are usually around 50 people piled in whether they are sitting or standing. The trick is to get to the spot where they let people on first, that way you can ensure that you have a seat. Next, always get a window seat. When you are on a bus with 50 plus Indians, for a minimum of an hour, all you want is some fresh air, flowing through the ram-shackled windows, washing over you as you pummel down the dirty roads. The best thing though, and it never fails, is when someone, and sometimes two people, turn on Hindi or Rajasthani music on their cell phone so they can break the silence. India is a very loud country, I don’t know if anyone truly enjoys silence here.

The same goes for the buses in the city. On an average day, you will see every bus at the busy hours over flowing with people, and when you think no one else can possibly squeeze in, you will see an old lady get in and miraculously disappear into the mass of people. Tempos are also very common to see in the city. These are rickshaws that are a little bit bigger and generally have two long seats in the back and one in the front. While these would comfortably fit 8 people in any Indian circumstance, these, too, will be piled in where you cannot figure out how many people are actually there until they pile out like a clown car. Even a few people will hang on the back and jump down at their location if they are brave enough.

Paying for the bus is never over 10 rupees to get around Jodhpur, which is the equivalent of $0.20 and I pay 20 rupees to get from the village into Jodhpur. You can’t beat these kinds of prices, especially when tourists pay 1000 rupees ($20) to get to Jodhpur from the hotel in Chandelao. The fact that I do not make money while I am here in India means that I do not like to spend a large sum of money for anything.

Some people use rickshaws but for those who are not on a time crunch and know which bus to get on, it’s just better to get on a bus. The rickshaws are more expensive and wasteful. Foreigners have a hard time getting a good price on the rickshaws. If one does not know how to bargain or how much the ride should be, the driver will ask for at least double what it should be, if not more. Because I live in Jodhpur, well at least close, I know my way around and how much the price should be, but if I decide on the rickshaw, I still have a problem getting the proper price. The curse of being a white foreigner in India…

It is quite funny being here for over 6 months already because the bus drivers know Emily, the other longer-term intern in Jodhpur, and me. In the city, there are certain routes that know Emily very, very well while all the bus drivers and conductors from the rural village area know me very well. I generally hear people talking about me on the bus and there are always plenty of people who know my name and what I am doing in Chandelao and they will tell the curious new comer. I do dread having to ride the bus in most instances though because people never cease trying to talk with me, even if we can’t effectively communicate with each other. When they realize that I can’t understand them, they just start yelling at me and repeating the same foreign sounds to me. They don’t realize that if you yell at me I still won’t understand. I am not deaf; I just don’t speak the same language.

Now then, if you want a realistic representation of how the bus is, and what the village is like that I live in, watch the Darjeeling Limited. This Wes Anderson film was actually filmed in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, nowhere close to Darjeeling, and even has some parts in a rural village very similar to the one I live in. The rural bus featured in the movie is almost identical to the one that has become my weekly ride.

Other than Holi, the past few weeks have been slow and monotoneous. The only other American left in Jodhpur is my friend Emily and we only see each other once a week when I go to the city on Sundays. At this point I have begun to realize my time is coming to an end sooner rather than later.

I have been a bit sick lately, but being that I get sick about once a month, it’s not that big of a surprise or ordeal. I tend to have stomach problems about once a month on a bigger than average scale but that is because I am still not used to the bacteria in India despite being here for almost 6 months. It has become less frequent though and this time it was coupled with the extreme heat that came on abruptly. Last week it was temperate weather with highs in the upper 80’s but now the sun has gotten extremely strong and within two days the heat is already in mid to upper 90’s. The mornings are temperate still and the nights are agreeable, but once the sun is in full blast, walking outside is like walking straight into wild fires. The sun beats down on my fair skin like a magnifying glass on an ant and even in the shade I start to sweat like I have been exercising for hours.

Unfortunately, here in the Thar desert, this is mild temperatures and as the summer slowly creeps up, the heat will only rise and scorch the earth with it’s harmful yet life giving rays. I am a bit sad that I will be leaving right after the worst and hottest month of the year, May, because I will not be able to see the monsoon season. During the rains, the spirits of everyone in this arid and dry desert supposedly get lifted and renewed as the plants are getting life again. The lakes/ponds in the area are already almost dry and being that the hottest months are still to come, this could be a very bad sign for the livestock and wild animals that rely on the watering holes for relief in the hot, dry sun. Not to mention the villagers that use this water as well.

As for work, I am still waiting to hear back from Whole Foods on whether or not they will place orders for small products to place in their grocery or Whole Body stores. I sent them a marketing package as well as a detailed explanation of the organization and products hoping to secure some orders for the center. I am in talks with a shop in Jodhpur who may order products wholesale to place in their storefront as well. Marketing is hard for products both here in India and abroad because the prices of the Sunder Rang products tend to be more expensive due to higher wages and costs associated with running the center and the over-saturation of both markets with fair-trade artisan products.

I accomplished one of the past interns projects and brought a tailor from Jodhpur to teach the women new skills and help train them in proper skills needed for sewing. Although this was not the exact training the other intern had placed a grant for, I thought it was better than having to give the money back to FSD for not completing the grant. There is a computer proficiency center being built behind the crafts center that is being funded by the Norwegian donor who supported the building of Sunder Rang, which will provide valuable skills to the village. The greenhouse, however, has been halted and put on hold due to extreme heat that is coming on fast. There will be no way to start growing seedling in the summer heat and without having a way to grow there is no point to build the structure until it is closer to a time that growing will be sustainable. This proves a cautious moment though because if I leave without putting a structure in place and teaching the necessary knowledge for the greenhouse, the plans will very possibly be forgotten about and no one will oversee the project.

That is the problem with development though: if no one cares about a particular project and no one in the area is properly trained to oversee it and continue it’s sustainability, there is no point to pursue the project. If there is anything I have learned in the past projects in development I have worked on, it’s that without sweat equity and ownership of the people, a project is likely to fail once the sponsoring organization is gone. This makes me wonder if it is just better to give the money back to FSD from what was given for building the greenhouse. I expressed my concern with my supervisor, but the response was not the same concern. He wants it to be done, but does not have time to oversee the project at all. Although the compost bin has been completed and I have step-by-step directions on how to building a hoop house style greenhouse, I still don’t believe the project will be completed or implemented in a sustainable fashion without someone to pursue it once I am gone.

My job as manager of Sunder Rang continues on a daily basis and the only reprieve I get from working at the center is on Sundays in Jodhpur, which end up being shopping days for the center. I am excited for a tourism trade show that is coming up in April that I will be attending with my host father/supervisor in order to promote the hotel and crafts center to local and foreign tour operators. It will three days of marketing at a trade show but includes cultural activities in Jaipur, including a polo match and visiting historical monuments.

Wednesday there was a strike. I really don’t know anything more than that and that they shut down the school because of it. We were lucky (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) because we found out the day before so there was time to make a plan. I was excited because I thought I may get to go to the orphanage and luckily I did. I was so happy to be reunited with my kids!

I don’t think I’ve ever spent an entire day at the orphanage. It’s usually only been half a day so being there the entire day was interesting. It started out crazy because the carers (the people who take care of the kids) gave them sweets at NINE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING. Really? So you can imagine how the rest of the day was: manic…and I loved every second of it.

I was placed with the older kids who are around 6 or 7 years old. Angie usually works with them but she was sick that day so I took her kids. They are such smart boys! For real. We were reading story and I was asking them about colours and animals and they all knew them! Compare this to my grade 4’s who didn’t even know what a bird looked like. There was this hilarious book called “No, Daniel!” and they loved it. It was about this naughty boy who kept on doing horrible things. There was even a scene when Daniel was butt naked. They thought it was hilarious (of course). They’re really good at reading as well. I’m not sure if it’s because they can actually read or if they’re just memorized the story but they do at least know how to follow along with their finger.

The lessons went well. Like I said the boys are really smart. I loved seeing how a “normal” day at the orphanage goes. I say “normal” but it is anything but normal but I think that’s the fun of it. No two days are the same.

I thoroughly enjoyed music and physical time. The songs Cheryl has the kids singing are crazy and so much fun. We tried to teach the kids the macarena but they were not having it. They certainly loved watching me doing it though. Their smiles were priceless.

During the break, I got baby Anathi out. He is still my favourite. He is so adorable. Seriously, I cannot say no to that face and he’s such a happy baby. I love being around him.

Play time was crazy. I started this thing on Fridays when we used to visit where I would carry one of the kids on my back and of course once you do one you gotta do them all. “Me, teacher! Me!” I definitely got my workout. Overall it was a wonderful. I will for sure get to go next Wednesday (March 21^st) and that’ll be the last time that I will for sure get to go see the kids. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye. How can I say goodbye to their precious little faces? 🙁

Last Friday something beautiful happened. We all got together and created something wonderful: a Mexican feast. It all started last Monday when I was looking through a book called Possum Magic. It’s this very cute story about this Grandma Possum who turns her granddaughter invisible and then she has trouble turning her back. So they go around Australia trying different uniquely Australian foods to try to turn her back. Most of the stuff I had never heard of so I asked Angie about it. She explained most of them and then we got a map so I could see some of the different cities of Australia (I only really knew about Sydney).  This soon prompted Angie to ask about America and as I was flipping through various books to find a map I found one which included information on both America and Mexico. I was instantly distracted by the local foods from Mexico including burritos, fajitas, etc. I love Mexican food and South Africa just doesn’t do it right. Forget American food (whatever that is) I miss Mexican food and so the idea for a Mexican Fiesta was born.

We went all out. We first made a list of all the things we wanted to make this included 7 layer dip, bean quesadilla (for our vegetarian friends), chicken fajitas, homemade guacamole and salsa and finally for dessert apple enchiladas. Needless to say, our shopping trip for supplies took a while. Charlotte was in charge of decorations but they didn’t have any Mexican piñatas which was heartbreaking and they didn’t have some of the essentials like black beans, or refried beans or even nachos. It was tragic. But we improvised with kidney and butter beans and plain plain potato chips (not the same I know but it’s better than nothing). It was still really good.

We all banded together to get the job done. We even had flowers on the table thanks to Nadia and my finance (he sent flowers for our anniversary J). We also had place mats and name plates. The end was a massive feast. I have included recipes if anyone is interested in having their own Mexican fiesta. I would highly recommend it.

This past weekend, I had to vacate my room in order for the hotel in Chandelao to use it for guests, so I took advantage of this opportunity and left for a long weekend with Emily, my fellow intern. Being that we have traversed the touristy areas of Rajasthan already, we planned an adventure that would take us to two holy cities of India: Varanasi and Sarnath.

Let me begin by explaining the idea of getting there in and back in four days time. Being that we do not like to spend very much money on travel, because we work for free, the trains are the most economical option. After booking our train rides, Emily and myself would be traveling to Varanasi on a 25 hour train from Jodhpur in sleeper class, the cheapest option with pull down berths, then two more overnight trains to get back to Jodhpur with a day stop in Delhi. This sounded like a good idea, being that the total for all the trains was less than $50 each. Well three out of four nights on trains took its toll that would show up at the end, in the form of unwavering tiredness.

The train ride to Varanasi was not too bad. We left in the morning out of Jodhpur and arrived the next morning in Varanasi, thank God the end of the train was mostly the nighttime or we might have gone crazy. With a large bag full of fresh cut veggies, a jar of peanut butter, and some bread, we started our journey to the holiest city of India. Once arriving in Varanasi, we ventured out into the city, accompanied by the rickshaw driver who would take us around the city for the upcoming two days. The first stop was to find a hotel and take a shower… Oh how we needed a shower. The first hotel we stopped at was full and the second was too expensive for our backpacking tastes, so we settled on one that was within our price range but the equivalent of the terrible room we rented in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. If you don’t remember that one, it was the one with a bucket, an Indian squat toilet, and three beds in need of the prometherin that I brought. Well this room was not much better, but I didn’t bring the prometherin this time. There were two twin beds, no window, a fat lizard scaling the wall, and the bathroom: a half squat toilet, a bucket with faucet, and no sink… Oh well, that is how we live.

After splashing ourselves with some water and soap, we left the hotel to conquer the city. This day was to explore Varanasi, the holiest city for Hindus in India where Indians come to bathe in the Ganges River or to die and be burnt in the Ghats. It is very auspicious to die in Varanasi and have your ashes spread in the Ganga. The river, though efforts are being made to clean it up, is a festering river that I would be afraid to touch due to the things floating in it and knowing how the ashes are spread everyday of the recently deceased. The first day though, we spent navigating the city with the tuk tuk and went to the Shiva temple, Hanuman temple, and Dunga temples before getting lunch and getting sucked into silk shopping. The merchants of silk and sarees really know how to sway women into buying their goods. Imagine yourself sitting on a cushioned floor having colors of all shades thrown in your direction from all sides and covering your body like a silky, colorful cocoon; it’s hard to resist once you are wrapped up in it. We didn’t leave the silk factory without a bed spread each in very vibrant colors, and as we left the thought couldn’t help coming making us wonder why we each bought a bed spread without a bed or home to go back to once we leave India. Oh India!

The time had passed by as the silky colors were engulfing our bodies and eyesight, so when we emerged it was time to go see the evening prayer ceremonies in the Ghats. We boarded a small wooden boat that would transport us to the main ghat where we would sit along side a slew of other tourists to watch the ceremonies of the Hindu priests performing puja for large crowds of tourists and Indians alike. A part of me couldn’t help if this has gotten to be more for the tourist attraction rather than true worship due to the influx of Western and Indian tourists in the past few decades. Oh well, drinking chai from a mud cup, slowly rocking in the Ganga waters, and watching the four Indian priests perform puja in flawless unison was a beautiful site to behold. After leaving the river at night, hoping not fall in the river with the bloated dead pig we passed as the boat rocked on waves sent from motorized boats quickly passed the slowly rowing, and preferred, boat we manned, we went to dinner. Like every other meal Emily and myself procured on this trip, we went for touristy non-indian food and had a REAL salad with lettuce (unheard of around Rajasthan) and tuna, then some fried eggplant, and Thai coconut curry. We even went back to the same place for breakfast the next morning.

The next morning came too soon with a 6 am wake up in order to see the sun rise over the Ganga (Indians call the Ganges River the Ganga). And what a sight it was! Beautiful and pastel lighting gave a soft glow to the river and the sandstone buildings along the ghats as we slowly rowed along the river with all the other tourists from countries all around the world. While we are tourists, the preferred trips are those where a white face is few in far between, but in the morning on the Ganga, it felt more like the sinking the Titanic there were so many tourists from Asia, Europe, and American on the surrounding wooden skiffs being propelled by a man with two long bamboo oars. While the spirits of the river and the holy meaning of Varanasi may not have been apparent to us as the river slowly swept us along, the sites where beautiful and awe inspiring.

The rest of the day in Varanasi was spent in the neighboring city of Sarnath. A small town that is one of the four holiest cities for Buddhists due to the history and understanding that the enlightened Buddha gave his first teachings there after becoming enlightened. For me, this city had a strong pull due to my understanding and affinity for Buddhism. I believe, like most, that although Buddhism is considered a religion, it is more a lifestyle that anyone can follow while practicing their own religion. The first stop was of a newly constructed 80 ft. tall statue of a Thai Buddha. Here we walked around the Buddha clockwise, as is done by Buddhists, similar to what Hindus do in temples as well. The next stop was an Indian government museum that, because we did not have high hopes for, blew us away with the preservation of archeological finds from the area.

Once we met up with our guide at the Chinese Buddhist temple, he showed us, rather speedily, around Deer Park that was established to commemorate the teachings of Buddha. In the park, there stands a large temple possessing a large statue of the Buddha in teaching pose and walls covered in frescos painted by Japanese artists. Around to the right of the temple, stood the third generation of the ficus tree that Buddha taught under to spread the knowledge of enlightenment and the eight-fold path. Lastly in Deer Park stands a large Stupa that was built as a memorial for the Buddha’s memory. A stupa is a large stone structure that is to be walked around and used as a remembrance of a time, memory, or relic that may be placed inside. Once we were leaving Sarnath, the last stop was the Tibetan monastery that teaches and houses Tibetan monks and young monks in training. Before entering, we read the words painted outside incriminating China with very biased and strong words, although somewhat true, that explained Tibets current situation.

The rest of the day, we passed by just abiding our time till our night train left to take us to Delhi the next day. After getting Pizza Hut, yes that’s right, Pizza Hut, we made our way to the station and boarded our 3 AC sleeper class car. Thank god we sprang for the extra money on this leg of the journey, due to recommendation, because our train was 6 hours late getting into Delhi. But once we arrived in Delhi, and washed up, we were on a mission that had been planned for a week at that point. Hard Rock Café Delhi, was on the horizon and all we had to do was navigate the Metro and find the mall that housed the American franchise that promised of real beef burgers! After taking a tuk tuk to the wrong mall, why there were two malls with the same name we will never know, the decision had to be made of whether to back track to get a burger… Didn’t take long to decide HELL YES! Finally, reaching our true destination, our own spiritual journey came to an end with nachos, burgers, and apple cobbler, which we ate every crumb of before venturing back to find our night train to return us home to Jodhpur. Oh the glorious holy animal of India serves as a temptation walking down the street to American’s living in India and not able to get beef to eat. But alas, we found a burger that was everything we had hoped it would live up to be.

This week is Holi though so once arriving back to work, there is no work to arrive at. Everything will be closed for Holi on Wednesday and Thursday so I am going to Jodhpur later today to get oil, water balloons, and colored powder in order to enjoy the festivities with friends in Jodhpur.

Happy Leap Day everyone! I have learned a lot about this weird day. Apparently this is the one day deemed acceptable for women to ask men to marry them (who knew?) and if you’re pregnant and you’re due for February 29 you have to decide whether your child’s birthday will be February 28^th or March 1^st. Again who knew? Because I sure didn’t. Anyways useless information for you.

This post is really about the start of something new (cue High school musical soundtrack). Too bad it’s starting less than four weeks before I leave. Oh well, at least it’s starting. I think I’ve mention this before but last term we were supposed to start dance club. I honestly can’t remember why it didn’t start but for whatever reason it didn’t. Then this term rolled around and I gotta be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. I was afraid of failing and also not sure if I wanted to put more work into the school. That sounds incredibly selfish but with the load I already have I’m exhausted. I wasn’t sure if I could handle it, let alone be good at it.

Today proved that all my concerns were unwarranted (sorta). I was exhausted especially since I also had Nia today but the class itself rocked! Now let me first say that I had help, A LOT of help. On Sunday when I was trying (yet again) to choreograph the moves to at least one song (how hard could it be?), I asked Nadia one of the teaching volunteers to help me. She agreed and then I found out that Megan another teaching volunteer took dance in high school. Hello, I think we have a dance team. We spent the next hour or so choreographing an awesome dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Beat It. We didn’t end up choreographing the entire thing but we got halfway through it and the routine is amazing

So today was utter chaos which is to be expected with anything connected to the school. Two of the dancers showed up on time at 1:30 which was impressive. We had to go around to all the Grade 7 classrooms to get the learners. We have 10 learners in all (2 from each class). I wasn’t sure if we were going to have any guys but we have 4 so I think we’re going to try to do a fight scene or do something cool for them.

The dance class itself went really well. Megan was amazing. She’s taken classes before while my history with dancing is very informal. I’ve only taken a few YMCA dance classes (zumba) and then of course Nia which I’ve been taking for a while now here. So basically it was all of Megan. She lead us through a warm-up and stretches and when the kids heard Waka Waka, they went crazy. We may have to do a routine to that too. We taught them a few of the moves from the Beat It dance and we got through a good portion of it before it was time to go. It was kind of hard to do because we were in the GVI classroom. We were supposed to be in the staff which is much bigger but they were doing some presentation in there so we couldn’t. Hopefully next week we’ll be in the staff room and be able to spread out and really move! We have three more weeks to get a routine down and we might even have a performance. Stay tuned for pictures and video updates.

Living in a village has its perks; one being that I have been inducted into the society and they have accepted me as a peer and treat me as such. I was invited to a wedding of one of the girls from the craft center that I am currently managing in the village. Chandelao has had it’s fair share of weddings this winter but this is the first that I have been cordially invited to rather than just being prodded or persuaded to join in due to providing entertainment as the dancing white girl.

I would say the best words to describe the experience are colorful, elongated, solemn, and confusing. The wedding, like most Indian weddings, lasted three days last weekend. The first and second nights are for the respective sides of the family to have their own traditions and ceremonies with the bride or groom, and the third night of the wedding is the main and actual ceremony of the wedding. The first night, Radhika, a friend who came for the wedding, and myself escaped having to go because it was just a night of dancing and the next night would be very similar.

The second day of the wedding, we were invited to one of the bride’s family member’s home to have lunch as part of the weekly celebrations. The family members in the village all commit to helping and to take some of the financial burdens of the family, they have some of the meals for the guests and families at the their house rather than the bride’s home. The bride’s family incurs most of the cost for the wedding and has to cover the wedding ceremony, guest accommodation and board, dowry (still popular in villages though outlawed in India), and gifts to the bride that will actually be taken as gifts to her new family. The groom’s side of the family really just has to provide the son to marry and receives all the gifts and money for taking on a new daughter-in-law.

The second night of the wedding, Radhika and myself ate dinner at home and then went to the wedding around 9 p.m. and were happily invited into the room with the bride. We were being treated specially because Radhika and I were special guests for them. They treated us very nicely as well by allowing us in the family affairs while the bride and her family were given mehindi (henna) and dinner. Since we had already eaten, we agreed to have the sweet that is given at most weddings: lapsi. After eating most of our portion, the ladies all started feeding us bites from their hands, which is a customary way of showing affection. With at least three large bites of lapsi in my mouth, one of the younger girls put in a bite of roti with savji (chapatti and vegetable) in my mouth and made me nearly throw up. Not a good mixture, but I was able to swallow it. Shortly after dinner, the dreaded dancing time came. We both knew that we would have to dance, especially me who had been getting teased all week by the other girls at the center about dancing. Well, not long after walking outside, I was forced to dance to the second song and had to do a traditional Rajasthani dance, which ended up looking more like a hula, or so I think.
The night was full of dancing from family members to show well wishes to the bride. There was also an improv play from an aunt and her nephew and they dressed up like opposite sexes and cracked jokes about marriage, or so I was told. We left earlier than most and went back before it was very late. The next day we knew was the late night.

The saddest night I have had in India was the third night of the wedding. When we arrived at the wedding house, we were once again allowed in the room where the women of the bride’s family were getting her ready. Manju, the bride, was nearly dressed and was huddled in a corner looking like a frightened animal getting ready to meet her end. I have been to other weddings but they were all in the city and I think the couples had at least known each other a short while before getting married. In the village, however, the bride and groom most likely have never met and get introduced as they are being married be a priest. It’s no wonder why Manju seemed so scared. Can you imagine getting married to someone you have only heard a bit about and being ripped away the only things you have ever known: your family, your friends, and your village?

After a while in the room, sitting confused and solemn over the impending pairing of two unknown people, the groom was soon to arrive so most people went outside to see him be delivered on his horse. I watched as a bystander as the groom disembarked from his horse, not so gracefully, and while the priest blessed the groom and performed puja for him and the other male guests of the village, all sitting outside of the marriage home. Once the priest had blessed the male caravan and elders of the bride’s village, the groom once again dawned the courage to get on the horse to enter the bride’s home after the women completed certain rituals of blessing. I retreated to inside of the inner walls to watch the groom enter on his horse and be ushered to an area where all the female and young family members could crowd around and one by one give blessings to the groom.

The commotion died down rather quickly once all the blessings had been given and the groom then retreated to outside of the home again; my guess is to be entertained by the male family members of the bride’s side, most likely by drinking. Once again, the waiting started and being an auspicious community, they had to wait until after 11:03 to perform the wedding ceremony. Once the time reached, the bride was ushered out to meet the solemn and unresponsive groom. The priest then placed their right hands together, the first touch of the soon to be married couple. Next came the promises that each of the fearful quarries had to make to one another and proceeded to walk around the fire built as the main part of the ceremony in Indian weddings. Each took turns walking around the fire first, and sometimes together, depending on the promises they made to one another that they most likely repeated from the priest.

I was told about the aftermath of the wedding on the way home, and the next morning the groom, his new bride, and the males from the groom’s family would make the journey back to the new village for the bride. The bride would spend a few days, five in this case, with her new family and then be picked up by a brother or other male family member to come back home for a short time so as to not get completely shut off from everything she has ever known. The groom’s family would play games and slowly get them used to one another by doing things like putting cotton on random places of the body and having each other remove the cotton. These are ways to introduce each other to one another but also to get them used to touching the opposite sex since neither one has ever had sexual contact with the opposite sex, assumingly.

Needless to say, this was a great cultural experience for me even though I was saddened for Manju and the fear that she couldn’t hide. I cannot imagine having to marry someone I had never met before, but on the other side, I imagine they can’t imagine having the choice to marry someone they had to choose either.

Tuesday 21 February

Today was interesting. I worked with my English teacher on writing a friendly letter and comprehension. It never ceases to amaze me how hard the English language is. I take for granted a lot of things in English, especially “hearing” that something isn’t right. For example I would never write something like: The girl feel frustrating. Because I know that doesn’t sound right. How in the world do you teach a child hear if something doesn’t sound right? It’s very difficult, but it wasn’t too bad. I made sure to use an example with my group before having them write their own personal letter and they were actually pretty good. It’s amazing to me what some of the learners write. The group I had was great but once I got into the classroom, it was a struggle. Sometimes I would read a sentence and have no idea what they were trying to say. Then when I asked, I was met with blank stares or just a repetition of the sentence I didn’t understand.

After break, I worked with another group on a story. We first read through the story and then I had them identify unfamiliar words and as homework they were supposed to look up the meanings of the words (the teacher’s idea not mine). I thought it might be better to do that first but it didn’t seem to matter with the group I had. We read through the story several times and finally underlined the parts of the story that answered the questions they had to answer. It took about an hour but they seemed to get it which is the main thing and they managed to write beautiful full sentences!

That took me up until the end of my day because after the last group I had lunch and then by the time I was finished with that it was the end of the day. Today workshop was doing volcanoes. It was really cool. They actually had the kids make their own volcanoes and then combined vinegar and baking soda to make them explode. The kids loved it! It was great to see their faces as the lava erupted out of the volcanoes.

After school, a group of us decided to go on a sunset cruise. There is a guy in the local area that does sunset cruises for cheap. It was beautiful. The boat was a decent size with a top deck with a small bench for seating. We even saw seals, apparently there is a large population in our area which I didn’t really know. Words really can’t describe so I’ll let the pictures explain the rest. (Notice my awesome shorts? Those are the new shorts I bought in Cape Town!)

 

 

 

Tuesday 21 February

Today was interesting. I worked with my English teacher on writing a friendly letter and comprehension. It never ceases to amaze me how hard the English language is. I take for granted a lot of things in English, especially “hearing” that something isn’t right. For example I would never write something like: The girl feel frustrating. Because I know that doesn’t sound right. How in the world do you teach a child hear if something doesn’t sound right? It’s very difficult, but it wasn’t too bad. I made sure to use an example with my group before having them write their own personal letter and they were actually pretty good. It’s amazing to me what some of the learners write. The group I had was great but once I got into the classroom, it was a struggle. Sometimes I would read a sentence and have no idea what they were trying to say. Then when I asked, I was met with blank stares or just a repetition of the sentence I didn’t understand.

After break, I worked with another group on a story. We first read through the story and then I had them identify unfamiliar words and as homework they were supposed to look up the meanings of the words (the teacher’s idea not mine). I thought it might be better to do that first but it didn’t seem to matter with the group I had. We read through the story several times and finally underlined the parts of the story that answered the questions they had to answer. It took about an hour but they seemed to get it which is the main thing and they managed to write beautiful full sentences!

That took me up until the end of my day because after the last group I had lunch and then by the time I was finished with that it was the end of the day. Today workshop was doing volcanoes. It was really cool. They actually had the kids make their own volcanoes and then combined vinegar and baking soda to make them explode. The kids loved it! It was great to see their faces as the lava erupted out of the volcanoes.

After school, a group of us decided to go on a sunset cruise. There is a guy in the local area that does sunset cruises for cheap. It was beautiful. The boat was a decent size with a top deck with a small bench for seating. We even saw seals, apparently there is a large population in our area which I didn’t really know. Words really can’t describe so I’ll let the pictures explain the rest. (Notice my awesome shorts? Those are the new shorts I bought in Cape Town!)