On my way back!

Only a few more hours until I embark on a 48-hour expedition en route to home. First, a night train to Delhi; then, 16 hours of napping, eating my last authentic Indian meals and wandering around Delhi; and then, a 15 hour plane ride across Africa and the Atlantic.

It will be very bittersweet to leave this place, but in lieu of getting sentimental, I will leave it at this:

I will see you all so, so soon!

Final weekend in India

This past week has been an absolute roller coaster ride. While I'm thrilled to come home (and excited to be making plans for the ten days prior to school starting), it is also really hard to say goodbyes.

I have been doing a lot of interviews and I must say, if I had more time, I could spend many more months going into the field every day to do this work. That said, I am officially done with my field research and with 18 interviews in tow and a notebook filled with random ethnographic observations, I feel pretty good about it. I luckily have until March to put my thoughts together on paper, so we will see what brews between now and then.

On Friday, by matter of sheer coincidence, I also participated in what amounted to a pretty fitting 9-11 tribute. There are 93 girls between the ages of ten and eighteen who attend the Veerni hostel and many of these girls, from some of the poorest and most desolate villages of Jodhpur, had barely even heard of the U.S., but expressed a ton of curiosity about my "village" and my family. Therefore, I prepared a slideshow of photos from home, featuring photos of my family and both New York and Chicago (including University of Chicago). I tried to choose photos that would give them a sense of the seasons (snow featured prominently) and it was a lot of fun to see their faces light up when a new photo popped onto the screen. They really enjoyed it and even the adults from Veerni project were shocked by the images of New York streets, Time Square, etc.

At the end of my presentation at the hostel, it was time to say goodbye to the girls for the last time and they all made me promise to come back. Quite honestly, I hope to, and knowing all of these girls' career girls, I hope that I return, many of these will be achieved.

On Saturday, after doing a few interviews, I was invited to a co-worker's home for dinner. Lajwanti picked me up at 4:00 and what I thought would just be a quiet evening in her home, ended up being a miniature tour of Jodhpur and of her extended family. We went to Mandore Gardens, a local picnic spot, filled with mausoleums from the 1600s, and a place where I had already recently spent a sunny Sunday. With her three year old in tow, however, we also went to the attached "Fun World"--an extremely dilapidated miniature amusement park, where about 30% of the rides functioned. After touring Jodhpur, we returned to her home and had a three course moonlight dinner prepared by Lajwanti's mother (the power went out, so we had no choice but to eat dinner on the roof). It was really enjoyable and ended with my first taste of paan, a so-called palate-cleanser that is essentially cherries, spices, and spearmint wrapped in a leaf. I'm going to admit it--it's kind of gross, but after such an amazing meal, I won't complain.
I also got to watch some Indian children's television during the course of the day and was a bit disturbed by what I saw. The video that Lajwanti's child was addicted to was essentially an Indian version of Mary Poppins, with a young woman who recited and sang English nursery rhymes. It wouldn't have been so bad if the actress in question did not have a remarkable tendency to go sharp every few notes and the children who acted out the rhymes weren't wearing creepy makeup.

Anyways, here are some photos from the past few days. Tomorrow will be my last day of work (for which I will don my sari) and then I will be spending the evening out with various friends. After that, I will begin my 36 hours or so of transit (from Jodhpur to Delhi and Delhi to New York). Can't wait to see you all upon my return!

My coworkers hard at work

A very curious picture on the wall of one of the villager's homes

Lajwanti and her son

One of the Mandore Gardens mausoleums at sunset

Some of the Veerni girls apparently torturing the warden

Wrapping up with more ramblings...

So, a few weeks ago I was dying to come home. Mainly, I was craving pesto, friends and family, and tank tops. But as the end quickly approaches (a week from now I will be in transit), I have regained some of my initial fascination and appreciation of all things Indian. And here are a few more curiosities I've encountered in the past few days:

-If you grow up in India, you have some type of magical power that allows you to swallow without closing your mouth. Okay, so I'm not really sure to explain this, but in India, nobody touches their lips to water bottles or communal cups when they drink. Instead, they tilt their head far back, open their mouth wide, and pour the liquid in. I found that a bit strange at first (and it's something that I've not successful adapted to--I prefer being laughed at by confused onlookers rather than spill water all over myself). But what's even more curious is that in the past week I've noticed that as people pour water into their mouth they never close their mouth to swallow. You can see their throat working as the water goes in. Since noticing this, I've tried doing it in private and absolutely cannot without choking.

-The only deodorant sold here seems to be marketed to children. Given that it has consistently been over 100 degrees lately, the two sticks of deodorant I brought with me have both melted. It stank (no pun intended) and while I was willing to use baby powder for my last week or so here ("When in Rome," right?), I did curiously wander into a department-type store in search of some trustable brand. Instead, however, I found the following:
People here use a lot talcum powder
The only deodorant sold was some type of aerosol Disney deodorant (with Ariel, Cinderella, and Mickey on the can)
And American cosmetic companies disgustingly sell skin whitening cream here

While the first two revelations weren't too shocking (though it was entertaining to see a Disney character market what I believe to be an adult product), the third made me pretty nauseous. I've encountered so-called whitening creams throughout the world (I remember them in Thailand and Ghana, and in South Africa, especially, they had a fascinating history). But I had not yet seen an American or European brand of whitening cream. Here, the shelves are lined with whitening creams made by Ponds, Garnier, and other US/European brands. It's actually almost impossible to buy moisturizer that doesn't advertise that it will lighten your skin.

-And finally, the interviewer has become the interviewee. In the past week, I've done a number of interviews for my BA thesis. But what has been more fruitful in some ways have been the post-interview chats where I give the women free reign to ask questions to me. The first time I did this, it all began because they were extremely shocked that a young, unmarried woman would know how to ask questions about sex, men, marriage etc. The result was a fascinating discussion about Indian versus Western conceptions of love, as well as, I'm sure, a shocking lesson for them about the ways in which Americans often choose their husbands and about the relative openness of sexual dialogue in the United States. For these women, many of whom were married as young as thirteen, they knew nothing about sex until they were having it themselves. Their mothers never "warned" them or advised them.
The dialogue that resulted by asking them to interview me was definitely a two-way learning experience and brought up some really interesting things that will be extremely useful in my B.A.

A lesson in primary health and HIV/AIDS prevention

Okay, so I have already said that I've been paying a lot of attention to the way in which HIV/AIDS discourse operates here. One of the things that this involves is analyzing the materials that Veerni and other programs used in their health and HIV/AIDS prevention programs.

So, here are some of the disturbing and just plain bizarre images from one of these materials. Though I censored it a bit, there are some very weird illustrations of diseased genitalia included. Consider yourself warned.

So, they say that AIDS kills. Straightforward.

Don't go to the crazy looking medicine woman; Go to the nerdy looking doctor

Not entirely sure what most of these mean, but there seem to be messages about not eating pottery, keeping your baby safe from monsters, and not peeing on the floor

That can't be a good sign

Yup, I would look disturbed too if my genitals looked like that

The most bizarre image to me. I think the message must be, "Do not reach into someone's vagina if they are sitting next to a pile of poop." Useful advice, I think.

So, I haven't yet gotten the written material that goes with this pamphlet translated yet. But basically, the white guy (your conscience?) is good...

But then evil HIV man strangles him.

Which gives you HIV....

You cannot get HIV by sharing chappati

You cannot get HIV by putting your arm around your friend

Or by shaking hands

Or from mosquitoes

You can get HIV from blood transfusions

Or from being a fetus to an HIV positive mother

Or from sharing needles

Or by having sex with a positive person (though the picture looks like they are just hugging)

Or (again) by sharing needles

Again, I'm not sure what the upper right one means at all. Don't sit next to spilled milk while there are flies surrounding your face?

The way they depict intercourse is genius/completely anatomically impossible, but the advice is good (if the man's penis has giant red spots on it, don't have sex)

And finally, have one wife and one baby (no polygamy)

Fourteen days and counting...

I will be arriving back at home in precisely two weeks. Come armed at the airport with pesto, raw fruits and veggies and potable tap water please :-)

P.S. I forgot to mention that I sneezed while waiting for the train the other day. For those of you who have heard me sneeze, you know how odd and "dainty" it is. As Indians tend to hide no bodily function whatsoever (they spit, sneeze, pee, burp, fart, gulp down tea, etc. in public and without any restraint), my seemingly repressed sneeze came probably as quite a shock to them. Most Indians nearly create earthquakes when they sneeze (I've been woken up on the train once when a guy near me sneezed) and I probably looked, well, ridiculous.

P.P.S. I had a private tea with the Queen (of Jodhpur) today. It was lovely and we talked all about the problems in the region, my work at Veerni and got into an extensive discussion about the role of family in India versus the U.S. It was also thrilling to enter the palace (it is spectacular, despite the number of stuffed tigers adorning the walls).

Saving the best for last...the Taj Mahal (from many different angles)

On Monday and Tuesday, after two and half months in India, I finally ventured to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I left Agra as the very last place to which I would travel, because I thought that seeing the Taj early would make every other site look shabby in comparison, and now having seen it, I think I made right choice. The Taj Mahal is truly stunning. There is really no other way to put it.

I had been warned by many people, however, that Agra sucks and that I should only spend the hours required to see the Fort and the Taj. And I definitely agree, but I was too stubborn to listen and decided to spend the night, mostly because I wanted to be able to see the Taj at both sunset and sunrise, which I actually think was worth the hassle, the bad food, and the pollution of Agra.
I also think I picked the perfect weekend to be in Agra. As it was September 1st, most European and American tourists had to be at their respective homes because holiday was coming to an end AND most study abroad and gap year students haven't yet arrived (though there were some gap years trickling around). But really--I imagine that this week is one of the lowest in terms of tourist traffic and you could sense it. Even the Taj Mahal was not too crowded and I was delighted.

The main thing to do in Agra is basically to gaze lovingly at the Taj from various angles and in various different lights, so that's exactly what I did for two days straight.

The afternoon that arrived I lucked out and found a very sweet and very toothless rickshaw driver named Lalu who was willing to drive me around all afternoon for the equivalent of $1.80. I gladly accepted and, after lunch at an amazing vegetarian restaurant, went to see Agra Fort.

Agra Fort was really wonderful and I was lucky to be there on a really beautiful day.






While I was there, I also had a very Prince Ali moment because as I was looking out over the Taj Mahal, I live marching band started playing somewhere. It was something straight out of Aladdin and it was awesome.

To see the sunset, I opted to simply have a lassi at a nearby rooftop restaurant. Though the sunset was beautiful, the Taj faces north-south and so it's really impossible to get a view of the monument itself with a pretty sky in the background (I actually have a feeling that the photos that show this are airbrushed, but maybe there are times of the year when you can view it this way). That said, it was nice to get yet another view of the Taj.

It looked a lot closer in person--I'm not entirely sure why I failed to capture that on film

On Tuesday morning, I woke up bright and early to get to the Taj Mahal for sunrise. It was well worth it. Not only was the sky really beautiful (again, not directly behind the Taj, though it gave the stone a subtle pink tone), but there were less crowds than midday and for the most part, I beat the heat.

The Taj Mahal, as I said, is pretty breathtaking.

Built in the 1600s, it is geniusly constructed. The designers set it on a rather tall base so that the only backdrop for the Taj is the sky itself and the minarets that bookend the mausoleum are not perfectly perpendicular to the ground, but lean away from the Taj, so that if they fall, they don't smash the main building in.

The primary structure of the Taj Mahal is the mausoleum and this itself is surprisingly small from the inside, though quite stunning regardless. Actually, compared to what expected, the whole Taj Mahal is pretty small (the base itself is easily less than half the width of a football field).

In order to make it the ultimate monument of love, the story goes that all of the construction workers' hands were chopped off to ensure that a replica would never be built. While this last part isn't my idea of romantic, I cannot deny that, once again, something in India has given be unrealistic expectations about love.

Basking in the prettiness

I love a good sunrise

The gate that leads to the gardens and the Taj Mahal itself

A view from the bench in the Taj gardens on which I spent most of the morning

Ahh! So pretty...

After seeing the Taj, I found a little bit of a haven by going to the Taj Mahal Nature Walk. Filled with butterflies and pretty birds, it was really nice to get away from the main city and take a walk around. In India, it's rare to find peace and quiet outside of one's bedroom, and I basked in it for as long as it lasted.

Unfortunately, it didn't last long. I found this little gazebo thing and sat down to read. Within an hour, a young Indian came to canoodle in the gazebo and a group of Indian teenagers sat down nearby to watch me read. Oh well...I had a half hour or so of peace and quiet, and I suppose that, until the U.S., that is all I'm going to get...

Okay, it just needed to be shown. My hotel room was perfectly clean (for 8 bucks a night), except for this horrendously dirty shag couch

And because I had to end a pretty note, another view (this time from the gazebo that I found to read in)

Jaipur

The weekend away was interesting on many levels, so I'll start from the very beginning and ramble a bit randomly (because in all honesty, the sites in Jaipur were not particularly amazing).

As I waited on the train platform, a very nice 30-something woman came up to me, looking a bit embarrassed. She leaned in and, practically whispering, told me that my shirt was up. I think, "What is she talking about?" as I look down to check that my midriff and chest is well covered by the baggy kurta. Well, apparently, my backpack was causing my kurta to ride up, so instead of reaching my mid-thigh, it (scandalously) sat just above my my hip. I had already learned (the hard way of course) that having the crotch of even the baggiest pants exposed is completely inappropriate, unless you're wearing jeans (drawstrings are also supposed to be tucked in, because these too, imply indecency). I was thankful that she alerted me to my indecency, but what was especially funny about the interaction was that she said she was prompted to come over because "people were staring." It's true, people were, but people stare at me here no matter how I'm dressed, not simply because they are alerted to the existence of my crotch by an exposed pant front.
In terms of the fashion faux pas I committed, it's one of my least favorite rules about dressing in India--I absolutely hate this double standard. It's one thing to think that genitalia should be covered by three layers of fabric. It's another to think that that's true for women, but to think it's acceptable for men to pee (and expose themselves) anywhere and everywhere.

When I got on the train (finally dressed, again, like a decent woman), I ordered dinner. Train food is surprisingly one of those weird things that actually works well and efficiently in India and the result is often something extremely delicious. A guy comes through the train around mealtime and asks if you want food. If you say yes, he takes down your seat number. He then calls in the orders to the next station and when you reach that station, he brings you your meal, as fresh as possible and hot. The food on the train was quite honestly fantastic (it was easily better than any food at a mid priced Indian restaurant in the U.S.). For roughly $1.12, I received a tray with a huge thali. It included: rice, chapati, a paneer curry, a potato dish, and daal, along with some type of funky packaged cake. The "cake" was basically made of shredded wheat, sugar, oil, nuts and spices. It basically tasted like saffron and pistachio flavored cotton candy. Sounds amazing, no? Well it was...and I'm on a mission to find packs of it to bring home.

Jaipur was fine, but not amazing. It was far more expensive than other cities (restaurants and guesthouses often charged twice what most other places have been charging). It also was far dirtier than some of the other cities I've visited. In terms of the sites, a few of the major ones were under construction and Meg (with whom I was traveling) and I decided not to shell out the cash for another Rajasthani palace that didn't seem to be particularly unique. We did however do the walking tour that Lonely Planet maps out, did some shopping, and gazed at most of the sites from the outside.

While in Jaipur, we encountered a few things that we haven't before:

Firsly, while walking down the street on Saturday morning, a seemingly middle class woman who was walking with a nice purse and her husband noticed us and turned around to hold out her hand for money. Basically, it seemed like the assumption was that white people will willingly give money to anyone who asks. This moment was really irritating, but it also brought to the surface Indians seem to perceive Westerners and this moment has caused me to think a lot more about this question. I have no answers really, but on a side note:
Begging is really common all over India and when travelling here you just have to get used to it and devise a survival strategy (most of the people I've met, including myself, make it a rule never to give money, but we will give bottles of water or food to beggars and will donate money to NGOs that help these populations). It can be absolutely heartbreaking, and I feel like I have witnessed a lot of suffering (and even a few "professional" beggars who were mutilated by their parents or so-called beggarmasters so that they could make a living this way).

Another thing that Meg and I encountered for the first time in Jaipur was a whole new species of touts. In most of India, people will say constantly say "hello" to any random white person walking down the street. I often say "hello" back, but unless it's a special situation, I usually end the conversation there by ignoring the rest of the comments (if I didn't, I fear I would never, ever be able to move two feet without a long interaction taking place and I would probably be engaged to be married to about 20 different random men). But in Jaipur, they've figured out that foreigners won't talk to them and they don't accept the "pretend you didn't hear" strategy one bit. Instead, they try to engage you in conversation and, more often than not, a business deal by saying, "Why do you hate Indians?" This accusation works, I'm sure, because it is tempting, when someone says this, to turn around and clarify why you are no longer talking to them. But as you can imagine it gets really, really frustrating. Meg and I actually stopped even saying "hello" in Jaipur and found that this helped, but every once in a while someone still whipped out the clever and scripted phrase to see if we would respond (and then ultimately, end up in their store or in their autorickshaw).

Also in Jaipur, Meg and I took a public bus up to Amber Fort. For my project, I've been trying to get an understand of how childhood is conceived of in India and for this reason, I've been observing parent-child interactions carefully (Without this, how could I really define child marriage in culturally appropriate terms?) On the bus, it was interesting that the minute Meg and I got on, it was not adults who stood up to offer their seats, but many parents pushed their children to stand up. Of course, we refused. But it got me thinking: What does it mean that Indian mothers force their children to stand, when in an NYC subway, people will give up their seats for children and mothers and fathers would always give an empty seat to their child .

In terms of sightseeing, we spent Saturday wandering around the city and the only site that we really visited was Jantar Mantar, an amazing Alice in Wonderland-esque observatory.
The photo above doesn't even begin to capture how cool this place was. Essentially, it was filled with gigantic, old astrological instruments, including what is supposedly the largest sundial in the world and various horoscope-related devices. We got a great guide who showed us how to use each of the instruments and ran around (as if it were a playground) to climb up the various structures and check them out.

On Sunday, we went to Amber Fort, which was absolutely gorgeous, but was otherwise a pretty poor experience. Many of the audiotours at Indian sites are not too bad--some of them are quite good, actually. But the audiotour at Amber Fort was horrible, to the point where we had to stop partway through. Given that there were no signs around, the audioguide was really the only hope of understanding what we were saying, and it was really was so bad that we preferred to just check out the scenery instead. The tour essentially overused personification every chance it could get. So instead of learning something, you had to listen to some horrible actor ramble on about how they are the majestic gate through which the king walked when he wanted to find his wife, or some rubbish like that. What was funny/tragic is that you could kind of tell that whoever made it was probably really excited about their brilliance. Oh well, it was really pretty:

And Jaipur central was oh so ugly (here are some of the pigs eating trash outside of the guesthouse)