Pomegranates and Coconuts

My favorite picture that I have taken. By far.

I think I must have to write only on a weekly basis, I don't have the material to make more than one post a week! This week has been fairly relaxed; we haven't gone farther than 20 minutes from our house for the most part. Although, Wednesday we did go to see a temple because our cook's son was a part of a ceremony. While we were there (all in our saris with bindis and braids) this guy took our picture and we ended up in the local newspaper the next day! Kind of crazy how being white automatically makes you famous here. The article said that there were three girls from America who looked so good in traditional dress. That was pretty much it, but hey who am I to argue with my few seconds of fame?

Every hair place is a hair 'saloon'

I finally found some fast internet and am updating this in the break I have between lunch and yoga. Everything slows down this time of day because it is nap time. Everyone has just eaten and no one does anything till 3 at the earliest, but usually more like 5.

There isn't much news from my neck of the woods, but I guess I can fill you in on what has been happening. I am starting to settle into a schedule. LET ME CLEAR ONE THING UP: This is not a study abroad, per se. It is more like a field study. I am taking one class, Telugu, but other than that everything is up to me to decide. The rest of my time is to be used at my discretion. We are not working with the local university. That is just not how the program is set up.

My favorite depiction of Ganesh

That being said, I'll let you know what I am doing with my time.

My abode.

In the mornings I go to a meditation class in the park, soon I will begin doing a yoga class before I go to meditation. Then I come home and sometimes we have Telugu but if not then I get ready for the day. After which I go out and do interviews, study the language, transcribe interviews, read, write, or just talk with people. After lunch it is the same thing until my other yoga class (which is an hour and a half). Then I come home, get some stuff done and have dinner. I interview people about meditation and the how/why of practicing. I have interviewed one person so far, and he has given me so many insights. I cannot wait to continue talking to people!

My friend, Linsey, took this of me
when we were stopped at the side of
the road. There was this grove of palm
trees and we couldn't resist! Slight
problem was that the ground was covered
in fire ants...

My actual project involves the differences between the religions and their methods of meditation and use of yoga. I am hoping that this will lead to more in depth studies in the future. But, for the present this is something that I absolutely love to study and it gives me insights into my religion as well as this culture.

Other things that have been going on...

Each night we sit on our porch and watch the bats fly in. I don't think I've written about the bats yet, but these bats are around 18" long and swoop into the trees right in front of the house. It is incredible!

Couple from the fishing village we talked with for a while!

I'm leaving for yoga now, but I'll write more soon!

Emily

PS Opening a coconut by yourself is the most empowering feeling!

Lover of the Light

Right about now I am regretting not posting something in the middle of the week because I feel like I have so much to cover to fill you all in on what has been happening. I've written down things that I want to add on here in my little moleskine; problem is that I left the little notebook outside in the monsoon today and so it is a bit damp. But most of the ink is still there, so I can tell you most things!

A lover of the light. This was taken in the fishing
village attached to the city.

First of all, I am certain that James Herriot is turning over in his grave because of the animals here. They are everywhere and all of them in need of something. The majority of them could be fixed by a quick visit to the vet, the others might take a little bit more work. But all they do is fight and eat garbage. I thought of this while I saw this one dog with a limp being confronted by another dog (sans limp). I would have thrown something and separated them, but he could hold his own.

Second of all, I am beginning to learn a reason that I wanted to come here. One guy who is here to study with one of our professors for a few days said that he is here in India for the stories. He LOVES all of the stories, any of the folk stories, deity stories, or stories from the temples. Just the other night he regaled us with an anecdote involving Hanuman dropping the ring in the ocean and how someone helped him get it back. His love of stories caused me to think about why I am here. I realized: I am here for the devotion. I am in love with the level of devotion that people show here. Right now I can hear the ringing of the gongs and playing of the drums at the Krishna temple down the street, they do this three times a day. Talk about devotion. Everywhere I go, people exhibit these incredibly high levels of devotion and it is inspiring. I love seeing how religious these people are.

Also, this week we went to a Carnatic vocal concert. Carnatic vocals are what you hear when you listen to any kind of Eastern music. It sounds a bit like a call to prayer, with the wavering between the notes. I tried to find an example of some, but the internet is a little bit too slow. You should look some up because it is absolutely gorgeous. The guy who was singing did a beautiful job (even though the concert itself was long. We left after two hours and it probably went on for at least another two) and I could just picture these beautiful rice patties and thatched huts. It was incredibly serene.

Those are the things most noteworthy, I suppose. Now on to the temples.

Yesterday was incredible, we hit six temples. At least I think it was only six... We drove out into the country intending to only see one (Mukhalingam) but ended up stopping at the rest of them along the way. Let me try to describe the trip.

We drove three hours one way to get there in an air conditioned car. Now, air conditioning is lovely and all when used in moderation. People here do not quite adhere to that concept because they like to show off just how cold they can make the car. Needless to say that it took me a while to warm up again. We were stopped in a protest by the dentistry school. "The dentists are protesting". Basically they were shouting and burning tires and then went inside and we could proceed. 

Protests and strikes are a regular and exceedingly annoying occurrence here due to the recent vote to split Andhra Pradesh. It makes things a little bit more interesting than they otherwise would be. 

Once we hit the one lane road, we whipped down it at about 50 miles per hour (80 km), which was a tad bit frightening but our driver knew what he was doing. 

Just off the road was this old Shiva temple and we stopped and took pictures there. It was B.E.A.UTIFUL. There is this girl I am on the trip with who is a photographer and she saw this perfect photographic opportunity. To the left of the temple was this huge grove of palm trees. 

"Emily, can you go down there and do some yoga?"

Of course!! I am always looking for a new profile picture. So we went down and I started doing some of my new yoga moves that I've learned from class. I was just about to go into the bridge pose when I realized that I was standing in a nest of fire ants! Ouch. I just hope that some of the pictures turned out.

Let me fast forward and give you a brief overview of what I saw.. There were cows and sheep all over the road that were being driven by these men that look as though they stepped out of a National Geographic magazine. They wore the traditional sarong looking outfits with woven parasols to keep the sun off their already black skin. We almost hit a couple of the animals... While we were looking at one of the temples, it started to rain. Big drops. There is nothing more calming than the sound of rain drops on palm leaves (all the trees were palm and so the sound was everywhere).

We drove some more and made it to Mukhalingam where we listened to the story of the temple as told by the Handsome Priest. That is what I call him because I swear he looks like Robert Redford, just a little bit darker. We spent a good amount of time at that temple (my favorite thus far), then we hopped back in the car and ended up going to yet another big temple (Srikumam). However, that one is not important. 

Before this post becomes too long for anyone to read, I'll tell you about what I saw while on the road. I was in complete awe. I was there. In the India you see only in Planet Earth. The rice patties were lush and green and spread in every direction as far as the eye could see. There were no buildings except for a small goddess temple placed in the center of a group of palm trees. 

People in the fields wore the pointed hats of rice workers and were singing and laughing while they worked, all in traditional clothing. Spread across the vista were huge, rolling, emerald hills that faded off into the mist. There were dark clouds moving in. In the air you could see the white cranes flying all over, there were some cranes walking in the patties themselves. It was completely idyllic. I still can't believe that I was there.

Now, I just want to let everyone know that this is not all of India. It is not this enigma of a country that is full of gurus, with air that vibrates to the sound of OM. While parts of it might seem like that and at times that is what it feels like, this country is much more 'down to earth'. For example: open defecation is a thing here. You drive down the street and see people pulling up their sarees or their pants down and just letting loose right there on the sidewalk. Apparently, you haven't been in India until you've stepped in human feces. I've stepped in cow...so I'm getting close :/  The trash is overwhelming and even that is superceeded by the stench that it produces. The sewers flow full of a kind of gray mush that ... well, I just won't go into that. (random... I saw some sewer hogs yesterday too. They are these pigs that float along the sewers with their mouths open and consume the excrement..)

Even with all of that, this country is beautiful. The people are friendly and sweet. The food is to die for (even though you might feel like you will in all actuality die from eating it). I believe the juxtaposition of the trash and the transcendent create an atmosphere unique to India. And that is beautiful.

Of Marigolds and Moonbeams

I have, as of this moment, reached my one week mark here in India. Can you believe it? I certainly can't. For one thing, this week has taken forever. I feel as though I've been here for a month already. I can't tell yet if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Sorry it is sideways, I couldn't figure out how to get it straight.
Anyways, this is a part of a temple at Simhachelum and I loved
the pillars and the way that they looked. The whole thing is a kind
of slate/dark marble I think. The pillars, if you hit them with something
metal, sound just like metal right back at you. It is quite interesting.

Life here moves quickly and yet not at all. When you are doing something it goes fast but the things you do have a nice leisurely space in between them. The one scheduled appointment I have each day is yoga. Now, yoga here is not like yoga in the states. The purpose of yoga is to reach a state of bliss. You do yoga because it tones your body in such a way as to enhance your thinking process and make meditation more meaningful. I like that. ; With that in mind, it just so happens to be the best workout of my life: excluding my sophomore year in high school when I took weight training. I have sweat dripping off me and I am breathing hard by the middle of the 1 1/2 hour session. By the end, I am downing water and soaked in sweat. But it is kind of like a really good sauna because it is so hot, I sweat more than I otherwise would so I leave feeling detoxified because I sweat out all the impurities in my body. At least, that is the way I look at it.

So the other day we went to Simhachelum (sp?) was INCREDIBLE. It was this old stone temple that looked like some of the old ones from Indonesia. As soon as we arrived, it started to rain pretty hard. The smell of the stone and the rain was delightful. We were with the royal astrologer/Ayurvedic doctor, so we took the Maharaja's car and got into everything without a fee because we were in "the king's car". What he is Maharaja of...I have no idea. But he seems to have a nice set up. The royal astrologer's name is Dr Ramalingaswami. Say that 5 times fast. Anyways, he got us through the whole temple and we were even able to go to the very back portion, which I can only describe as being a "Holy of Holies" sort of thing. It was this boxy room that was all stone that housed a huge shrine made of solid gold and silver. The deity was not able to be seen because it is wrapped in a ball of sandalwood something or other...not entirely sure why. The two monks that were there started to chant as we got there, the acoustics in there are fantastic! Most people don't get to go to that part because it costs somewhere around 10,000 rupees. Which is over $150. We got in for free AND we were able to skip all the lines!

Here you can see a bunch of vampire bats. There were hundreds
in the trees surrounding the bathing area that people went to
before going to Simhachelum. These bats are about 18'' in length.
Can you spot them? They are the black things with orange bellies
right in the middle of the photo. They are loud!

While we were there I saw a bunch of people who had their heads newly shaved, sometimes entire families had gotten it done. I asked about it and apparently they do in in gratitude for a fulfilled wish or a miracle. To show their humility, these people shave their heads as if giving God their hair. I want to do that someday, not the religious part of it: I just want to shave my head. But that is another thing. These women who had done it were so beautiful! They become themselves, if that makes sense. They, in that moment, represent their souls so perfectly that one can't help but marvel at their vulnerability and nakedness. There is another word besides nakedness that fits better...maybe confidence. Everyone in the group commented on the beauty of that level of asceticism. We saw one guy getting his head shaved--they used a straight razor and it looked as though they were pushing hair off an already bald surface. I've never seen something like that before. 

This is the bathing area that I mentioned in the bat caption.
The water is typically much higher. The bats were in a tree
directly to the right of this picture. The middle structure is a
shrine of sorts where images of the deities are floated out to
once a year.

To give you an idea of kind of the funny juxtaposition of religious life here, there is an example from a temple that was a little further up the mountain than the main one. The temple brahmans use this small structure for the eating of their strict vegetarian meals. They claim to be so pure that there is no meat around for a ways in each direction. They are eating the best of the best of the best because that is who they are. Yet, the Jawleries (the people from the fishing village attached to Vizag) go up and sacrifice chickens on roof of the structure where the brahmans eat. Kind of funny.

Let me be candid for a bit. Being here is much harder than I thought it would be, I think that my expectations are typically very different from reality and this is an instance where it shows. Here is some of what I wrote in a letter to my family:

This is a guy we met when we were visiting a goddess temple.

He lives in a house made of mud that is painted white and has a

roof of palm leaves. He was very nice and his wife also wanted

to be photographed (her picture took too long to upload). 

When I compare myself to people I realize how little I know about anything in general and how little I have to offer the world, but I'll do what I can to give the little that I can and try to make the world a better place from wherever I am. I have the opportunity of a lifetime here, thanks to you guys, and I shouldn't waste it by holding things to how I think they should be. It isn't fair to them, and it isn't fair to me. I can live my big, messy life how I want and do it the best that I can.




This is an opportunity to get to know myself and who I am. It is easier when everything is different. I can experience some of that spirituality and and openness that the yoga article talked about.

I'll develop a schedule so that I have some sense of control in my life. Maybe on walks I'll make a pledge to take an interesting picture each day. I will meet people. Talk to everyone. Be open to friendships that come. I'll embrace the slow paced and open society that is India. I thought it would be easy for me to accept the doing nothing, but it isn't. Not in the slightest. Every part of me yearns to be pushed to my limits of walking and talking and seeing. But that is not the way things are here. Here you breathe, you observe, you take time to live in the moment; the meaning of life is peace and freedom. You cannot gain either if you are too busy or restrained by unseen barriers.

This is a dead scorpion that we found on the road.
It's pretty big. Apparently it is a wild scorpion...
(as opposed to a domestic one?)

This is an opportunity for me to lengthen my stride. From the talk by Spencer W Kimball: 

"As a member of our world, I pledge to you and with the Lord to lengthen my stride, to quicken my pace, to stretch my soul in the work of the Lord...I shall never forget the Lord nor his rich promises, his protecting care, and his rich blessings...I pledge sincerely that I will quicken my pace in my love of my fellowmen and work together with them in achieving righteousness..I will stretch my soul to understand..."

I gain hope and faith from the knowledge that the cosmic forces that are want me to be here. For what purpose, I don't know. Maybe so I can gain a better understanding of who I am and what this life is all about. You are welcome to follow my journey down that road. Hopefully something in my adventure will be of help to someone. 

That is the news from Lake Wobegon, thanks for tuning in.

Welcome to India

Namaskaram ನಮಸ್ಕಾರಂ, everyone!

I just went out and bought my internet stick yesterday so today is the first day I can truly write something. The journey was safe, I traveled most of it with another girl in my program. We met this nice missionary couple for the Baptist church during our stint in Dubai, they were headed to the same place as us. They gave us some contact information for people they knew here who would love to talk to us.

We arrived in our airport at 8 in the morning to see our Professor and Indian garu waiting to greet us. They brought us these flower garlands made of what I can only imagine are chrysanthemums. Those garlands are much heavier than they look! The whole thing is about three and a half feet long.

My first impression of India was that it bears a striking resemblance to Jakarta. The hustle and bustle that seems to permeate everything seems familiar. Yet, in the midst of all that noise and commotion, life is slow-paced; a brilliant juxtaposition. One can never become bored here and yet you are hardly very busy.

We had lunch the first day Telugu style: sitting on the floor and using our hands to eat off banana leaves. The food is AMAZING. Our cook, Durga, is a master chef and she can make anything. THe first day we had variations on potatoes and rice and then we had these fried dough balls that we paired with coconut chutney. There was another vegetable side of something Krishnayya said was Nightshade but not the kind you are thinking of, and it closely resembled okra. After lunch we tried something that Dr. Nuckolls likes: kili. This is a sort of after meal treat that is wrapped in beetleleaves with beetle nuts (or something like that) in the middle. The best way to describe it is that it is an awful lot like how I would imagine drinking perfume would be. The taste resembles how perfume smells. Yet, if you chew it slowly it isn't half bad.

That first night Durga bought some strands of jasmine buds and we all put some in our hair. That is a thing to do at night and it smells delicious. When I was done with mine I hung it up in the bathroom and now I get a soft, sweet waft of jasmine scented air every once in a while.

Every morning at five I'm woken up by the people in the Krishna temple about 50 yards from my house. Each day at 5am, 12pm, and 6pm they bang bots and pans and symbols while singing. I know in the morning they do it to wake Krishna up, but after that I am not sure. I was curious about it so I went over to the temple with another girl. We got there just as the chanting was over, so we talked to people and waited for the resident monk to give us a blessing. It is tradition that whenever you go into a temple, regardless of whether that is your religion or not, you receive a blessing. First you drink some of the jasmine water that he puts into your hands, then you make a motion of dumping it from the top of your head by the forehead down to the back of your head, then he places a metal bowl/cone thing on your head and blesses you. However, this monk was having none of that on that night. He blessed about half the people then retreated to his alcove to get some reading done. Oh well.

Sunday we went to church via auto (auto-rickshaw but auto for short), and that was pretty fun. Church is small here, but I enjoy it. They teach everything in both English and Telugu because people here speak both. The meeting area itself is at the back of a grungy looking building that looks like something from the bad side of DC, but it is all safe.

Yesterday we went shopping for salwar kameez and leggings. I'll put up pictures next time of the ones that I bought. I bought three for about $6 each. I need to go out and pick up a sari or two next time we go out. We also went to pick up the internet sticks yesterday...that was an ordeal. I brought my laptop to make sure that it worked before we left the store because the girl before me hadn't done that and it had taken her 4 days to get it to work. It took us at least an hour and a half to get it to work. These guys had no idea what to do with a laptop other than turning it on or off. That is a trend here, people do things that they don't know how to do just to get the money and credit for knowing how to do them. But it is fine because it works now!

It rained quite a bit yesterday and my friend and I were out in it for a while. We walked to a yoga class where no one showed up because of the rain (typical) and then we walked back. We were soaked, but both rejoiced in being in the rain in India (two of our favorite things). She made the observation that there is a certain kind of girl who goes to India. There are the people who go to Europe on study abroads who are great people and really love that experience and then there are the people who think, "Yeah, let's go to India!" We go here and are expected to be independent as opposed to traveling in a group to sites. I wouldn't change it for the world! I'll attach some pictures of what my balcony looks like in the rain. Hopefully next time I can show you pictures of my living conditions. TTFN!