Delhi: Gandhi & Other Sites

After our visit to the Sikh temple we went to see Gandhi's memorial. It consisted of a nice open and peaceful garden with quotes from him in different languages. In the center was a flame and an alter of flowers.

 

Memorial

Tablets around the garden

We drove past the lotus temple, the mother temple of India. The temple is open to all regardless of religion. No sermons can be delivered and no music can be played inside, it is purely a place of meditation and spiritual reflection. To save time we decided not to go in and snap our pics from afar.

Unfortunately, the next day we were unable to do as much sight seeing due to some protests that were going on inside of the city. So, we spent the morning in the hotel room and then after things died down a bit we were able to make our way into the city.

The gate

Flags & flame under the gate

President's house

Our first stop was to the India Gate, a national monument. This gate is actually a war memorial dedicated to the soldiers of the British Indian Army who lost their lives during World War I and those who lost their lives during the third Anglo-Afghan War. Under the giant arch there are three flags which are the flags of India's three armed forces. There is also a flame that never goes out which is India's equivalent of the tomb of the unknown soldier (or Amar Jawan Jyoti). In the distance from the gate you are able to see many of the political parties buildings along with the president's house. The gate and the space leading up to the president's house looks exactly like Washington D.C. National Mall just without the museums. Like I said before, it did not feel like India!

Gandhi's last steps

The platform Gandhi was walking to

Our last stop for the day was at the Gandhi Museum. The museum showcases his life and principals with lots of art, stories, and quotes. More interestingly, this is the actual place that Gandhi was assassinated. The state opened the museum shortly after Gandhi's death in 1948. There are foot prints that lead to the garden where Gandhi was assassinated and you can walk along the last path that Gandhi himself walked upon. They also showed the last of his earthly possessions along with the bullets that were used to kill him. Gandhi died while walking to a platform within this garden to address a prayer meeting. Upon dying, Gandhi's last words were "Oh God". I have to say it was definitely crazy to think that I have stood in the actual spot where such an influential man has died. Hopeful the visit will help me channel my inner-Gandhi to help promote peace locally, nationally, and globally.

Gandhi on his last walk to the garden

xoxo,
Becca

Delhi: Visit to a Sikh Temple

Entering the temple

 After spending 3 months in India it was finally time to take a trip up to the north. First stop: New Delhi, the Capital of India.

Delhi. What can I say about this place. It certainly did not feel like India. The people were fairer, the streets were cleaner, and the traffic was less congested and there was barely any honking. Were we still in India? It felt more like Washington D.C. to me, but once we moved out of New Delhi to the old city of Delhi that's when I snapped right back to the reality of this being India.

Serving lunch

Rolling out rotis

Our first stop in Delhi was to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, a very famous Sikh temple. The temple was built in 1783 and is associated with the eighth guru of the Sikhs. Within the Sikh religion you are not allowed to cut any of your hair and must cover your head for God. While in the temple we had to cover our heads and take off our shoes as a sign of respect. While visiting this place I learned so much about the Sikh religion. The Sikhs strongly believe in selfless service and equality. This was apparent by the fact that this temple opens its doors to anyone, regardless of race and religion, to eat a meal. This place serves 100,000 people a day and purely works on food donations and volunteers in the kitchen. The kitchen runs 20 hours a day! We had a chance to see the hall where people eat and take a look at the kitchen was being run. Volunteers were rolling out rotis to be eaten for lunch so we joined in on the action. It was quite the experience making these things being surrounded by other volunteers of all different ages, race, gender, and caste. The little boy next to me was a pro! I was definitely getting into the groove of rolling these puppies out, it was rather meditative and I was sad when it was time to go.

Holy water

When exiting the temple we got to see the holy water in which people were splashing on their faces, dipping their feet into, and one man was even bathing! There were soo many fish in it I don't know how people were comfortable with getting in there. Before this point I had only seen Hindu temples and Muslim mosques so I was happy to open my mind to a new religion and a new place of worship. If you are in Delhi I definitely recommend checking this place out!

xoxo,
Becca

Taking Blood, Taking Names

Sangita!

Last week Edward & I were pulled from our regular routine at the WIN foundation to help the local government school with blood testing. Apparently some girls from WIN organized a lab technician to come and record the kid's blood types for 10 rupees a child.... that is about 18 cents. The government does it for around 50 rupees a head so this was a good initiative to offer this at such an inexpensive rate. When I first heard blood testing I was thinking that I was going to basically be working at a blood drive, the thought of this made me squirm. Once I found out it was blood typing I was still picturing us giving injections and drawing blood from each kid. Nah, this is India, so why would we do things the way we do it in the US? Instead we did old school blood typing just the way I was taught in good ole anatomy lab. You take a child, prick their finger, squeeze the finger, and make 3 small dots of their blood on a tablet. Next you test each dot of blood with different liquids and mix to figure out the blood groups. After learning that I actually have done this before I really wanted to get in on the action and start pricking some fingers... I guess I really am an evil teacher. Lucky for the kids I just recorded the data instead.

Urani, literally squirming

I was amazed at how quick the whole process went and that entire school was able to be tested during the school day. I didn't know my blood group until before coming to India, why doesn't the US just test you when you are born? On top of that why did it take me over a week to get my lab results of what blood type I was? These kids were finding out in a minute flat. Most surprisingly to me there were soooo many kids that had the blood type O+ which I thought was supposed to be really rare. Seriously, almost the entire 5th grade had O+. I thought it was strange. Besides watching the kids squirm my favorite part of the day was trying to guess the blood type myself, based off the results, I was definitely letting my inner Anatomy nerd shine. Also, watching the kids get the results were hilarious. All of the B+ were high-fiving like they were apart of some exclusive club. My favorite reaction was from one of my favorite students Bos who started jumping up in the air with his fists pumping and his hips thrusting chanting "A-B-POS-I-TIVE" over and over again. Now I wish I had that on tape.

It is definitely days like these that make me so glad that I suffered through a year of Anatomy & Physiology. It feels so good to actually apply what I learned. I guess I owe a big thanks to Dr. Cecala & Bartlett for that one. Actually, more importantly I owe it to my lab partner Eileen and dear friend Megan who sat with me through the crazy study sessions when my sanity was out the window.

Recording the blood groups

Well that turned into an acceptance speech.

Anyways, sending my thoughts & love always.



<33

Becca

Indian Trail Blazers

On our way to Javadhu Hills!

This past weekend I decided to take a chance and head off for a trek with a group called Indian Trail Blazers which I found out about via Couch Surfing. Anyways, I honestly think I can say it has been the best experience I have had in India to date. So when in India I would encourage you to go trekking with this amazing group!

We met up on Saturday morning in Guindy train station at 5 am. I left Tambaram around 4:20 am... lets just say I was not a happy camper. Once the bus started rollin' I knew it was going to be a great trip based on the personalities. It seemed like everyone clicked so well before we even got half way to our destination. Also, considering how early it was I consider this quite the accomplishment of our group! By the way, we were heading to Javadhu Hills, an awesome mountain area in the northern part of Tamil Nadu.

The goats body

Upon our arrival we did a short trek to see some of the village life. We were surprised to pop out at a field where there was a mob of villagers cheering and chanting and conducting a ritual. As we got closer we saw one woman with a pot on her head who was supposed to represent a local God. The woman and a crowd of people were circling around a goat and a chicken until one man came up and chopped off the goats head. Talk about culture shock. Your talking to the girl who refuses to kill spiders... it was definitely a disturbing experience. Afterwards, the man started parading around the goats head because it was going to be used as an offering. At this point, at least 10 villagers started to go wild. By wild I mean these people were possessed. Several woman were convulsing on the ground and one man was standing looney-eyed as he was being whipped by another man. After this chaos started, we got out of there as quickly as possible. Still, something you don't see everyday and something that I don't think I will ever forget.
After that slightly scarring experience, we made our way to a different part of the village where we learned how to make chairs and got to interact with the village children.

Our swim spot

After our village experience, we managed to squeeze 15 people (not including the driver) into an auto rickshaw. I think my previous record was 13 and this trip easily took the cake. Not only were we smushed in and hanging off the sides, but we were driving on a very rocky and hilly trail. So, we were definitely off roading. People who have been in a rickshaw before know that being in one on normal road feels like off roading because of the crazy turns the drivers make and all of the bumps. This driver was no exception but since the auto was so crowded we had to get out multiple times to push it up the dirt hills. My god, this was an experience.

We took the auto to a beautiful (and clean!) dam where we could swim. Finally, after 2 months of oppressive heat swimming was just what I was craving. After taking a dip we enjoyed a very traditional and common meal of South India. It consisted of rice, sambar, rassam, and curd on a banana leaf. To make it all the better I did not pack any silverware so I was forced to do it like a real Tamilian girl. I ate like a Kindergartener but that is besides the point...

After swimming for the majority of the day we climbed back into the bus to make it to our camping destination. On the way we decided to stop and take some pictures of the lush scenery. Pictures will not do it justice. The whole time I was thinking of the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side" because here on the other side of the world the grass really is greener. Well certainly not in Chennai but Javadhu Hills... I'm in love.

After our photo opp we got back into the bus and rode for what must of been at least 45 minutes. It was pitch black but we were going up and up and up. Finally we got out and were in the middle of one village. We all broke into different groups where some would grab our camping materials, some would cook, and some would make torches. Of course I choose the torch group because my inner adventurer could not be tamed. We twisted and turned between straw huts in the dark of the night until we reached one house where we gathered our supplies. We were given sticks and cloths where we assembled the torches to be dipped into kerosene later. Afterwards, we brought them back to our meeting spot and lit those bad boys up. I was first in line for leading the way with the torch. Now, this was a dream come true for me. Consider the facts. #1. It was pitch black and we were surrounded in a nice tropical looking place.#2. We were trekking in what felt like the jungle. Lets be real, my mind was screaming Lost Island. This was probably the closest thing that I am ever going to get to it so I needed to jump on this opportunity to get in touch with my inner Kate. Unfortunately trusting me with the torch was bad for the rest of the group considering that I am very clumsy and about half way to our destination my torch went out.

Eating, it was so dark!

Sunrise :)

Anyways, We were making our way through the fields to find our camp site and all the sudden we started climbing up. At first they were little hills and then there were some real steep parts. Of course it was 10:30 at night and I was left torchless. Not to mention I was leading the pack high out of my thrill of the unknown. After climbing for sometime, we reached the top of a rocky mountain or hill or something. I was not quite sure where we were because it was so dark. It was windy, cold, and very rocky. These are all things I have yet to experience in India. We set up our tents and started our fire while some villagers climbed up to make us a wonderful chicken curry. By the time we finished eating it was past midnight. Debora (a girl from the Netherlands) and I decided that we did not want to sleep in the tent and that we were going to truly rough it for a night under the stairs. I had a sleeping bag and that was about it, so it was a little bit of a rough night but so worth it to fall asleep under the stars.

View from our camp site!

The best part of it all was waking up and seeing where our hike led us. It was so refreshing to see how beautiful this place was and not to mention the sunrise.

The rest of the day was spent in the village taking a tractor ride and dancing with woman. Not to mention eating phenomenal  food all prepared by the local villagers!

clearly enjoying my food

taking a tractor ride

dancing with the village woman

We finished the trip off with a visit to see a waterfall and dinner all together at a restaurant on the way back to Chennai. There are so many more details that I am missing from this trip but think I have provided a good synopsis. All in all it was beyond amazing, I can't wait for the next trek in October!

love my fellow trail blazers!

xoxo,
Becca

Burn Baby Burn

Greetings from a red-neck wannabe Tamilian.
This folks is what we call a Kurta burn.
Awkward and completely avoidable.

This is what India does to you.

To clarify, India doesn't turn you into a FREAK, it just may give you a bit of a sunburn.  

Momo's Fo Sho Yo

Food. 
One of my most favorite parts of India.
It is everywhere: every street corner, on the train, even strangers offer it to you. India takes its food extremely seriously. Where ever I go the first thing anyone ever asks me is "saptingla?" or have you eaten?  And to answer that question: SAPTEN baby, too much sappadu (food).

So the question is if there are tons of places to eat, (and I shouldn't use the term "places" because that would limit food vendors on the go), where the heck do I eat?!

To put it simply: EVERYWHERE. Well, not yet... my god I think that would be impossible. But I will be doing a post on food eventually but the greatness of the momos must be shared with the world at this very instance; It cannot wait.

 Momos. Basically a dumpling. Well not just a dumpling. It is a soft, fried, greasy, flavor-bursting, noodle, chicken filled-heaven sent from God himself. Laura found this place one day coming back from placement and our lives haven't been the same since. For those who may plan to go to Chennai in their life time and find themselves in Tambaram East, check out this place. Its called Ever Green Chinese Fast Food and it is just a bit off of Camp Road. I know what you are thinking, Chinese food in India?! Don't hate, the Chinese food is totally different here and worth trying, it is so so much better. The place isn't what I would call luxury dining. It is cheap & fast, (putting Lindy's Diner to shame!) Momos cost between $1.11-$1.29 depending if you want steamed or fried. The foreigners are split 50/50 between which is better, I'm on team fried. Also, they have fantastic noodles/rice that will cost just about $1 for a heaping plate. I am a fan of the Singapore noodles, they never disappoint.

Love on a Plate

NOMS. Singapore Noodles 

Well this post was a little food-criticy. Oh well, now you know.

NOMS TO THE WORLD!


xoxo,
Becca

Balwadi

 Every day at placement for some reason or another we always end up at the Balwadi. A Balwadi is basically the equivalent of preschool or kindergarten. There seems to be quite the range of children there I'm guessing they are between 2-5 years old. The purpose of this post is to give you an idea of what "child care" is like in India, at least within the two Balwadis I have spent time in. The first pictures are from the Balwadi located in Puddupakam village. This Balwadi is very simple and has a few paintings and posters hung about. There is one teacher and a woman they call "grandmother" (the word is a Tamil word) that run the Balwadi. The main teacher is actually never around so the grandmother runs the show. This woman is quite the character. Not only does she not understand any English but she has very poor hearing so barely can understand Tamil. Most of the time she is doing charades with me and whispering Tamil to me like it's witch craft. I just nod my head and smile at her. She brings me tea and biscuits (cookies) almost every time and recently has stepped it up to bring me the above snack (you can see her in the corner). In order for you to get an idea of how kooky this woman, I will give you one example. On Thursday the Balwadi teacher's phone was ringing. Edward told the grandma about it so she grabbed it, looked at it, and put it to her ear. The woman is standing in the middle of the room holding a phone to her ear that is BLASTING an obnoxious Hindi ringtone. I think she thought she was making a call or something, this woman is a looney one.

Despite the nutty grandma, the kids at this Balwadi are to die for. To the right is a picture of one of the kids, Prakosh, chowing down on his lunch. He is a riot and leads the class in many antics. I'm not really sure of the purpose of the Balwadi is besides a place to send the kids. It doesn't seem like the kids learn much besides songs and stretches. Most of the time they sit around and get threatened by a big stick if they are not sitting properly. Edward & I use the Balwadi as a place to meet up with the school teachers and village woman to do research. I conduct some interviews and Edward collects data from the teachers on the number of kids in school, etc. Recently it has been more data collection than interviews. That means while Edward does the grunt work it is basically my job to babysit. These kids are almost seasoned pros at "head, shoulders, knees, & toes" and the hokey pokey thanks to my lack of creativity.

Here is a picture of the second Balwadi that I visit on occasion. This Balwadi is a bit more colorful and the teacher plays a much more active role with the kids. The picture is of a program that was conducted on nutrition. The Balwadi teacher and some assistants taught the mothers the importance of giving their children healthy foods and about what to eat while pregnant. I was the photographer for the event and had to do some drawing as well. Apparently people here think that Americans are supposed to be really good at drawing so as I drew everyone watched me as if I was Picasso. The entire room was silent and all eyes were on me. Hopefully they weren't too disappointed by my less than impressive efforts.

my drawing skills....

I enjoy my time at the Balwadi very much yet some things make me cringe. Teachers will slap the kids if they do not listen and slap the stick against the wall as a threat. This would be considered abusive in the U.S. but hey this is India... anything goes? For OT I did my service learning with children around the same age in a preschool set up. I find it funny because I would play with the children and then watch them eat lunch & now I am doing the same exact thing just in a different cultural context. I can't help comparing and contrasting the two and am still amazed by the similarities of both sets of kids. Developmental stages are definitely universal! However, watching the preschoolers of India eat is much more fascinating because they all do so with their hands. You can tell that some of the kids are more mature then others when it comes to their grasp patterns when handling food. Not going to lie, my skills mirror those of the youngest children. When the preschoolers of the U.S. use their hands to eat, the teachers forcefully push the spoon back into their hands. You can tell how a child is developing based on their grasp patterns with a spoon. I wonder if any OTs have looked into grasp patterns of children eating food in India. Should I start my own study?! Ha, just kidding I have enough on my plate (no pun intended). Well now that you have had your daily fix of my bloggin, I'm going to go out to get a bite to eat. Literally, this blog is making me hungry!

xoxo,
Becca

Rat Attack

This is the story of one woman who is absolutely useless in times of danger.

Spoiler: I am that woman.

For the past few weeks we have been dealing with a sneaky rat that has been breaking into our common room and making away with the tums in our cabinet. It's been getting in through a hole in the window screen and setting up camp in said closet. Multiple times we have saw this beast scurry back through its portal causing an unspoken fear of this metal cupboard. We had the screen fixed only to have the rat chew a new hole through it. We put up tape and cardboard... like that would do anything. Tonight, things have escalated to a whole new level... shit got real.

Sheet where rat climbed under

Blockage of the rat's hole

Broken window

Every night before I go to bed, I lock my door so the rat won't find its way into the food stash that we keep in one of the closets located in my room. I was settling down for bed and heard something that sounded as if papers were shuffling around. I saw some papers on the foot of the adjacent bed, and threw my ipod on top of them to keep them still. Five minutes later this noise persists so I turn on the flashlight setting to my phone to assess the situation. Nothing. Again this happens and again I see nothing. Then, I decide that I will keep the flashlight on and cover it with my hand until I hear the noise. As soon as I hear it next I whip my phone towards the food closet and see a huge brown rat's butt climbing over Kristen's peanut butter. Panic sets in. The lights are off and it is around midnight. I am not leaving my bed; yeah I'm a complete wuss. I call Laura by cell phone and she is just as afraid as I am. Kristen, the only sensible one runs down and gets the security guard... she is looking for a kill. Seriously, the past few weeks she has talked nothing of poising this creature and she was not letting this opportunity go to waste. The security guard, Jenny (a girl from the hall), Kristen, and Laura are all standing outside of the room demanding that I open the door. I hold my breath and take three giant hops to the door. I unlock it as quickly as I can and sprint back into the security of my blankets. Of course I was in my underwear and grabbing pants was unthinkable considering the rat was somewhere in that area. I’m telling you this so you can see how it was reasonable for me to sprint back to my covers; I didn't want my favorite security guard to think any less of me (too late now). Jenny & the guard come in armed with giant sticks and close the door behind them. They clearly are not phased by the rat situation and start poking around in both closets with the sticks. After five minutes of poking and prodding a large furry body comes squirming from the refuge of my kurtas. At this point I start losing it and screaming at the top of my lungs. The security guard tries to hit the rat with the stick and chases it frantically around the room. He is able to corner it and I close my eyes afraid of what may happen next. He misses the sly thing and it scampers under a sheet that is located on a desk. You can only see the silhouette of the rat’s body under the sheet as it squirms about. The guard has a crazed killing look in his eyes as he smashes his stick upon the desk. He misses and the thing heads straight under my bed. Without even thinking, I jump up on top of my bed screaming bloody murder. I looked like a girl straight out of a horror movie. Jenny was telling me to breathe and the guard ignored the fact that I was half naked because he was completely engulfed in the rat chase. 

Laura & Jenny putting newspaper over the window

Somewhere between my jumping and screaming the rat jumps into my window and the guard exchanges his stick for a legit spear. The rat is caught between the glass of my window and the bars and we all know what is about to happen. I covered my ears and was screaming at the top of my lungs. I looked up to see the guard sprint out of the room and Jenny's face is in shock. I get up and realize that the glass has been shattered and can hear the guard banging his stick outside. A bit later the guard came back to tell us the rat had managed to survive a few blows and a fall from the second floor.  I am not sure what is more ridiculous, the fact that I was screaming so loud, the fact that I was in my underwear, or the fact that I was legitimately worried that if the guard killed the rat while it was in the window that it would spill blood on my Buddha. Needless to say, this war with the rat is not over. Kristen & Laura's account is hilarious because they could only hear stick whacking, screaming, and glass shattering. Laura summed it up best by the following quote: "Between fight or flight Becca chose fright". I'm not sure if I will be able to sleep tonight, or ever for that matter. Damn you rat, this isn't over.

UPDATE: The rat is dead! Our favorite security guard had found the sucker huddled in the corner with some injuries. He disposed of it. I’m a bit sad to hear of the rat’s death but glad to hear that will be the end of our problem.

UPDATE: I went to grab a tank top today and found that the effing rat pooped in my clothes and left traces of food. God dammit rat, your dead but still find a way to piss me off!

Hyderabad

Woman in a burka

 This past week we did our first excursion outside of Tamil Nadu to Hyderabad. Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh, a neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, and it is the fourth most populous city in India (Chennai is the sixth). Hyderabad has an interesting mash of culture mostly because back in the day it was ruled by a Muslim leader. Currently, the Muslim community makes up 40% of the population in Hyderabad while in Chennai Christians & Muslims only make up about 11% of the population. I knew beforehand that Hyderabad had a huge Muslim population but I still experienced a huge culture shock upon arrival into the city. Seeing so many woman in burkas really upset me, I mean it irked me to my core. To me the burka is the definition of oppression and seeing so many woman wearing it was beyond disturbing. I am not hating on Muslims, I try my best to be tolerant of all religions and view points. However, I do not agree with the concept of the burka and will quickly shut down any supporters.

Anyways, I am getting ahead of myself. Now that you have some background, lets take it from the top.

Kristen on the sleeper train

The journey to Hyderabad from Chennai took around 13 hours by train. We took a sleeper train and my god was it an experience. "Beds" were bunked three high with barely any room to move. I think I slept only 1 hour consecutively and the rest was miserable. There was a ton of noise, lights, and rowdy kids. Who the heck brings small kids on a sleeper train?!

The Palace

We arrived in Hyderabad around 6 am and I felt like the living dead. We got to rest at the hotel for an hour and I was out like a light. After getting freshened up and eating breakfast, we headed out to go see some sights. Our first stop was the Salar Jung Museum, one of the most famous museums in the world.  Salar Jung is a noble family whose  members have served as prime minister for five generations. Salar Jung III lived like a King, the entire museum is made up of items that he collected himself from all over the world. It was actually amazing how huge this museum was and to think that this is actually a part of one man's collection of stuff.... so crazy.

Next we went to Chowmahalla Palace, which is a a palace that belonged to the Nizhams (Salar Jung family). This place was crazy beautiful and lavish, it is insane to think that this palace has lasted since 1750.

Inside of the palace

Now

Then

We ate Biryani for lunch... my least favorite dish in India. However, Hyderabad is known for its Biryani and by some miracle I actually liked the stuff. I still do not think I will eat briyani ever again, its better to end with the best.

View of the fort from the bottom

The next day we headed to Golconda Fort, a city of ruins that was once the capital during ancient times. This fort was absolutely breath taking, I felt like I was transported to medieval times as we climbed the steps to the top. Myself, Kristen, and our lovely tour guide spent some time exploring trying to find secret passageways and bats. One of my favorite parts of the fort (besides hiking up) were some of the architectural features. At the bottom of the fort there is a place where you clap your hands and can hear that clap nine times over again. The clap can also be heard at a certain spot at the top of the fort, we were able to hear it! The fort was built this way so the King could be notified if his enemies were coming to invade so he could make his getaway. I think it is pretty amazing that this fort has managed to survive so many years when it seems like buildings all over India are crumbling to the ground. Are we going backwards?

View of the fort from the top

Later we headed to Hyderabad University to meet up with one of Anu's friends who gave us a tour of the art department. Later we had a session on folk art and popular "art" within India. I say "art" because art is not taken very seriously or respected in India. To most Indians "art" consists of different posters that are sold that mostly depict a religious figure, political figures, white babies, or suggestive Indian woman. I kid you not.

Our final day was less than eventful for me. I woke up feeling super nauseous and spent the entire morning throwing up. I experienced a variety of other "stomach issues" and was bed ridden. I spent the day watching tv and nibbling on naan. I guess I couldn't avoid getting sick in India forever, but on an excursion? Come on universe! I missed out on a huge crafts bazaar where I could get my hands on some of the famous Indian folk art. I guess it is better for my wallet this way.

Until next time,
Becca