I am finishing the last leg of my trip in Agra, the home of the Taj Mahal and the Agra Fort. I was worried that leaving the Taj until the end of my trip would be a mistake, that I would be all toured out and bored with India. But that wasn't true at all. The Taj Mahal is just as magnificent as I hoped it would be and I was not disappointed. I was a little surprised at the size, of course. From the front it appears to be a huge structure, but when you get inside you see that it is simply a mausoleum with a really, really high ceiling. I took a bunch of pictures and I will post them to facebook soon and leave you all with a link to view them.
After visiting the Taj I returned to my hotel to take a nap. I couldn't sleep the night before due to a combination of excitement and the noise of a construction crew, still going strong at midnight right above my room. The hotel I am staying at doesn't hold a match to the other hotels and guesthouses I have been to in India. I was in a room for two nights until I noticed a curious section of one wall that seemed to be open to a room next door. It's a little hard to explain, but the wall was wood paneling with one inch gaps and screening between. At one point I saw a light from the other room and realized that my room gave the workmen's storage room full view of whatever was going on in my room. I immediately pointed this out to the guy at the front desk and only after asking if he had a daughter, sister or wife did he seriously think about switching my room. The second room was a slight upgrade. The toilet has a seat and the room has a small window. That'll do.
The day before my birthday I splurged and spent the day at the pool of a nearby three star hotel. For the last ten weeks my bathing suit shoved at the bottom of my back pack looked like a preposterous waste of space. I probably would have thrown it out back at Gram Chetna if it wasn't mildly expensive and fairly cute. But I finally made use of it and the day was great. For the small fortune it took to get into the pool as a nonguest, I resigned myself to spend the entire day there, swimming and lounging about. Muna gave me her sunblock before leaving Udaipur and I apparently put a little too much faith in the label advertising the product as water resistant. So, for my pictures in front of the Taj Mahal I am wearing a long sleeved t-shirt under my tunic shirt to cover my sunburn. For generations my progeny will pass down photos of their mother, aunt, great aunt, or whatever else looking like a wreck in front of one of the most beautiful monuments on the planet. Ha ha. Oh well.
So that's all the news for now. I only have three days left in India, one day left in Agra. Tomorrow morning I will board a train at 7:35 a.m. and arrive at the New Delhi Rail Station in the late morning. I have about two days in Delhi before heading to the airport. Those two days will be spent buying souvenirs for my friends and loved ones. Souvenir shopping is one of the hardest things for me to do. After spending two and a half months in this country, I can hardly bring myself to pay the inflated tourist prices in Delhi. This is one of those things I shouldn't have waited till last minute to do. But I did wait, now I am forced to haggle and haggle hard.
Later gators!
MCC
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
No hurry, no worry, no chicken curry.
I decided to break out the dusty laptop and pre-write an entry about my days in Jaisalmer. Five days is way too long to spend in this desert town if a girl is in a rush to see as much of India as she can. But I am in no rush, so I have happily and lazily spent five (!!!) days here, sleeping in every morning, drinking chai whenever I please, and chatting with the two brothers who own the place. Actually, my first two days here were spent in the fetal position under a wimpy blanket in my room and didn’t really count. I thought I had malaria and that’s why I went to the hospital. If I knew it was just a really strong and persistent bug I would have made myself sweat it out like normal. But I must say the antibiotics did wonders and I was quickly back to my old self.
Jaisalmer is one of the only cities (it might actually be the only city) in India with what is called a living fort. This means that people still live, and businesses and hotels still operate within the fort. The fort itself is suffering major problems with drainage, and has begun to fall apart. Lonely Planet recommends travelers do not stay in hotels or eat in restaurants within the fort’s walls for this reason. Luckily the owner of the guesthouse I stayed at in Udaipur recommended a hotel for me in Jaisalmer, and it happens to be just outside the fort. It’s awesome and the owners (the two brothers mentioned above) are very nice and friendly.
The guys who work in the local shops try to lure tourists in by engaging them in polite conversation, usually beginning by asking what country the tourist is from. Since I arrived in India, I have been mainly ignoring everyone who tries to talk to me. But in the last few weeks I’ve simply gotten sick of acting like a bitch all the time. It’s tiring! I’m an unconscious smile-er and an accidental flirt so the ignoring game doesn’t come naturally and it wears me down. So on this particular day, I gave in. I said I was from America and the young man, whose mane is Kusi, told me that his girlfriend is from America, too! He then brought me into his shop for chai and told me the whole story. She had come to India for a friend’s wedding in January and traveled for a few days in Jaisalmer. He even showed me pictures of their trip to the desert and a letter she wrote him explaining why things “didn’t work out”. After he thoroughly explained how broken his heart was, he asked me to write a letter for him to her and mail it from my home. So I wrote a letter to Catherine in California about how much Kusi misses her, and how often he thinks of her.
Poor girl! She thought she was just having a sweet, innocent two day flirtation with a cute Indian boy. It’s now seven months later and he still doesn’t get the hint. The letter is in my purse pocket after I promised I would mail it. Part of me wants to just lose it and save the girl from more harassment, but the other part knows I will keep my promise. Man oh man. These Indian boys and their romantic love!
In other news, yesterday I went on a half day camel safari in the Thar Desert. Even though Muna, the girl from Jordan I met in Udaipur, told me I had to see the desert, I couldn’t bring myself to go back to Rural India. But I had met another American (the first American I’ve met in India) and he was going, and asked if I wanted to come. He was tagging along with a large group of Spaniards and I think he wanted the American company. I hesitated, but in the end, it was something to do, the price was right and food was involved. Those are apparently my standards these days.
At this point I need to tell you that riding a camel in the desert is not nearly as glamorous as it ever appears on television or in movies. I know you’re all thinking, “Well, of course not. Duh” But honestly, I have never been more uncomfortable in my life. My days horseback riding in Girl Scout camp did not prepare me for any of what I experienced yesterday. All in all, I’d have to say the fleas were the worst part. I was convinced they were getting into my hair and clothes and laying eggs. I spent the first third of the trip strategizing how I would get into my hotel room without them take over the place. The second third I spent obsessing and tugging my rain jacket hood close to my head, and by the final third I had given up.
After the safari bit we did the whole awkward village visit where the Spaniards took pictures of the sari-clad women and scraggily-haired children. It’s funny that it took me to the middle of the Thar Desert with a bunch of tourists to realize how unique of an experience I received at Gram Chetna. The tourists were taking pictures of things I had seen every day for the last two months. Dirty children, click. People riding on the top of a bus, click. Camels pulling carts, click. Despite the problems I had and the reasons I left, through my internship I was able to see and experience a side of India that many people only dream about. That really is awesome.
But of course, anything planned, paid for, and involving food in India comes with problems and long waits. The other American, whose name is Ravi, was also working for an NGO during the summer and he knew the drill. But the Spaniards, unfortunately, did not. The nonsense involved was so little, and not a big deal to me or Ravi. Basically, our dinner consisted of eating another tour group’s leftovers in the dark. I wasn’t picky at that point; I was so hungry I would have eaten stale chapatti and cold daal! But the Spanish tourists were red faced and pissed. They were getting people on the phone, asking to talk to the manager, complaining about customer service. You don’t do that crap in India.
Ravi and I were quite embarrassed, Ravi more so that I. Ravi is of Indian descent and the Indian men running the place were trying to appeal and explain the situation to him. We both felt pretty bad about the whole thing, which was only resolved by Avinash (part owner of the hotel and the arranger of the tour) agreed to feed us when we got back to the hotel at eleven at night. By the next morning the situation seemed to have blown over. But as I am writing this in my room I am listening to them argue with the manager about the price of the safari and the availability of light in the desert. What a bag of assholes.
Tomorrow I am off on the night train to Jaipur. From there I will take a bus to Agra for the last leg of my adventure. I have one more week in India and although I am looking forward to coming home I am leaving India with fine memories. I have enough books to keep me entertained and my trip to the Taj Mahal keeps me looking forward to this final week.
Oh, did I mention that while on the camel I was 30 km from Pakistan? Pretty cool, huh?
Jaisalmer is one of the only cities (it might actually be the only city) in India with what is called a living fort. This means that people still live, and businesses and hotels still operate within the fort. The fort itself is suffering major problems with drainage, and has begun to fall apart. Lonely Planet recommends travelers do not stay in hotels or eat in restaurants within the fort’s walls for this reason. Luckily the owner of the guesthouse I stayed at in Udaipur recommended a hotel for me in Jaisalmer, and it happens to be just outside the fort. It’s awesome and the owners (the two brothers mentioned above) are very nice and friendly.
The guys who work in the local shops try to lure tourists in by engaging them in polite conversation, usually beginning by asking what country the tourist is from. Since I arrived in India, I have been mainly ignoring everyone who tries to talk to me. But in the last few weeks I’ve simply gotten sick of acting like a bitch all the time. It’s tiring! I’m an unconscious smile-er and an accidental flirt so the ignoring game doesn’t come naturally and it wears me down. So on this particular day, I gave in. I said I was from America and the young man, whose mane is Kusi, told me that his girlfriend is from America, too! He then brought me into his shop for chai and told me the whole story. She had come to India for a friend’s wedding in January and traveled for a few days in Jaisalmer. He even showed me pictures of their trip to the desert and a letter she wrote him explaining why things “didn’t work out”. After he thoroughly explained how broken his heart was, he asked me to write a letter for him to her and mail it from my home. So I wrote a letter to Catherine in California about how much Kusi misses her, and how often he thinks of her.
Poor girl! She thought she was just having a sweet, innocent two day flirtation with a cute Indian boy. It’s now seven months later and he still doesn’t get the hint. The letter is in my purse pocket after I promised I would mail it. Part of me wants to just lose it and save the girl from more harassment, but the other part knows I will keep my promise. Man oh man. These Indian boys and their romantic love!
In other news, yesterday I went on a half day camel safari in the Thar Desert. Even though Muna, the girl from Jordan I met in Udaipur, told me I had to see the desert, I couldn’t bring myself to go back to Rural India. But I had met another American (the first American I’ve met in India) and he was going, and asked if I wanted to come. He was tagging along with a large group of Spaniards and I think he wanted the American company. I hesitated, but in the end, it was something to do, the price was right and food was involved. Those are apparently my standards these days.
At this point I need to tell you that riding a camel in the desert is not nearly as glamorous as it ever appears on television or in movies. I know you’re all thinking, “Well, of course not. Duh” But honestly, I have never been more uncomfortable in my life. My days horseback riding in Girl Scout camp did not prepare me for any of what I experienced yesterday. All in all, I’d have to say the fleas were the worst part. I was convinced they were getting into my hair and clothes and laying eggs. I spent the first third of the trip strategizing how I would get into my hotel room without them take over the place. The second third I spent obsessing and tugging my rain jacket hood close to my head, and by the final third I had given up.
After the safari bit we did the whole awkward village visit where the Spaniards took pictures of the sari-clad women and scraggily-haired children. It’s funny that it took me to the middle of the Thar Desert with a bunch of tourists to realize how unique of an experience I received at Gram Chetna. The tourists were taking pictures of things I had seen every day for the last two months. Dirty children, click. People riding on the top of a bus, click. Camels pulling carts, click. Despite the problems I had and the reasons I left, through my internship I was able to see and experience a side of India that many people only dream about. That really is awesome.
But of course, anything planned, paid for, and involving food in India comes with problems and long waits. The other American, whose name is Ravi, was also working for an NGO during the summer and he knew the drill. But the Spaniards, unfortunately, did not. The nonsense involved was so little, and not a big deal to me or Ravi. Basically, our dinner consisted of eating another tour group’s leftovers in the dark. I wasn’t picky at that point; I was so hungry I would have eaten stale chapatti and cold daal! But the Spanish tourists were red faced and pissed. They were getting people on the phone, asking to talk to the manager, complaining about customer service. You don’t do that crap in India.
Ravi and I were quite embarrassed, Ravi more so that I. Ravi is of Indian descent and the Indian men running the place were trying to appeal and explain the situation to him. We both felt pretty bad about the whole thing, which was only resolved by Avinash (part owner of the hotel and the arranger of the tour) agreed to feed us when we got back to the hotel at eleven at night. By the next morning the situation seemed to have blown over. But as I am writing this in my room I am listening to them argue with the manager about the price of the safari and the availability of light in the desert. What a bag of assholes.
Tomorrow I am off on the night train to Jaipur. From there I will take a bus to Agra for the last leg of my adventure. I have one more week in India and although I am looking forward to coming home I am leaving India with fine memories. I have enough books to keep me entertained and my trip to the Taj Mahal keeps me looking forward to this final week.
Oh, did I mention that while on the camel I was 30 km from Pakistan? Pretty cool, huh?
Saturday, July 31, 2010
What's happening now!
So I feel I need to backpedal a little when it comes to what I said about Jodhpur. On first glance, the city is a dump. But over the course of my day there I started to like it. It kind of reminded me of Detroit a bit, if Detroit had an amazing fort on a hill. You know, generally dumpy but with remnants of a glorious past. I somehow found myself away from the main clock tower area in search of an alarm clock, and began picking up on the city's really cool vibe. Two days was just enough time there to grow to like it, but not get bored of it.
Now I'm in Jaisalmer, and Lonely Planet is right! This city is like a sand castle in the desert. The only problem is that I have been here for two days and have yet to go exploring. I've been horribly sick and I actually just got back from the hospital about 10 minutes ago. A blood test confirmed that it is not a blood disease, malaria or typhoid. So I was sent home with three days worth of antibiotics and a prayer.
Oddly enough, I'm already starting to feel better. My sinuses are draining, my fever is in check, and I'm feeling a strong appetite. My entire body is still sore so I'm off to lay down in a minute.
I can not wait to go check things out here! I'm glad I took a client's from my old job advice and came all the way over to this side of Rajasthan. It's so cool!
Now I'm in Jaisalmer, and Lonely Planet is right! This city is like a sand castle in the desert. The only problem is that I have been here for two days and have yet to go exploring. I've been horribly sick and I actually just got back from the hospital about 10 minutes ago. A blood test confirmed that it is not a blood disease, malaria or typhoid. So I was sent home with three days worth of antibiotics and a prayer.
Oddly enough, I'm already starting to feel better. My sinuses are draining, my fever is in check, and I'm feeling a strong appetite. My entire body is still sore so I'm off to lay down in a minute.
I can not wait to go check things out here! I'm glad I took a client's from my old job advice and came all the way over to this side of Rajasthan. It's so cool!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Jodhpur? No thanks.
Hello!
I arrived in Jodhpur yesterday afternoon after what seemed like the longest busride of my life. I called the day before and reserved a single room with a shared bathroom. I decided to share a bathroom because I spent way, way, way too much money in Udaipur and I wanted to cut back on my expenses. But the shared bathroom at this guesthouse was worse than the first floor bathroom at my younger brother's frat house, so I opted to upgrade and have my own toilet and shower.
Now, Jodhpur's main attraction is the Mehrangarh Fort. I went this morning, climbing up the back way through the blue neighborhoods because I'm that sort of traveler, or something. I opted for the audio guide because, apparently, I'm that sort of traveler, too. I have to say wearing the stupid headphones was worth it. The entire fort was impressive due to steps taken by the current Maharaja to care for and restore it.
Aside from the fort, Jodhpur is a dump. The roads are in bad shape even for India standards, and there is garbage, piss and crap (human and cow) everywhere. It's the type of place where one has to be very, very careful about the water. I bought two bottles of water, drank them both, got the stomach rumblies, and then realized it was "treated" tap water. Luckily I have a brick ishthouse immune system and so far, I'm doing okay. But just breathing the Jodhpur air makes me fear catching Typhoid fever.
So that's all. I'm doing well. And aside from a young man telling me he "wants to f*ck" me, not just once, but three times while riding past me on his motorbike, I'm in good spirits. My experience with men in India has now moved past the simple disgust at the burping, farting, hawking and spitting, pissing and shitting everywhere. And I still have two weeks in this country...
Gotta run!
MCC
P.S. Click here for pics from Udaipur!
I arrived in Jodhpur yesterday afternoon after what seemed like the longest busride of my life. I called the day before and reserved a single room with a shared bathroom. I decided to share a bathroom because I spent way, way, way too much money in Udaipur and I wanted to cut back on my expenses. But the shared bathroom at this guesthouse was worse than the first floor bathroom at my younger brother's frat house, so I opted to upgrade and have my own toilet and shower.
Now, Jodhpur's main attraction is the Mehrangarh Fort. I went this morning, climbing up the back way through the blue neighborhoods because I'm that sort of traveler, or something. I opted for the audio guide because, apparently, I'm that sort of traveler, too. I have to say wearing the stupid headphones was worth it. The entire fort was impressive due to steps taken by the current Maharaja to care for and restore it.
Aside from the fort, Jodhpur is a dump. The roads are in bad shape even for India standards, and there is garbage, piss and crap (human and cow) everywhere. It's the type of place where one has to be very, very careful about the water. I bought two bottles of water, drank them both, got the stomach rumblies, and then realized it was "treated" tap water. Luckily I have a brick ishthouse immune system and so far, I'm doing okay. But just breathing the Jodhpur air makes me fear catching Typhoid fever.
So that's all. I'm doing well. And aside from a young man telling me he "wants to f*ck" me, not just once, but three times while riding past me on his motorbike, I'm in good spirits. My experience with men in India has now moved past the simple disgust at the burping, farting, hawking and spitting, pissing and shitting everywhere. And I still have two weeks in this country...
Gotta run!
MCC
P.S. Click here for pics from Udaipur!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Udaipur is for Lovers
Hi!
I will try to write a coherent entry despite my excitement. I wrote something on my laptop thinking I would switch it to the guesthouse computer, but there is a rule of no USB drives for transferring documents. There is also a rule of no washing your own laundry in your room, but I did mine any way. You can take the girl out of Khedi Milak, but you can't take the Khedi Milak out of the girl...
Let me try to begin at the beginning. I left Jaipur on Friday on the night train to Udaipur. Before leaving the I met two other solo female travelers who were heading to the same train. We decided to share a rickshaw and we ended up hitting it off completely. One is from Spain, Angela, but living n Ecuador. She came to Mumbai for a friend's wedding and decided to do a bit of traveling afterward. The other girl is Moona and she comes from Jordan. She was teaching for a year in China and just made her way overland through Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. She's one of the coolest people I have ever met. We ended up getting along so well we decided to share a room once we arrived in Udaipur.
So here we are. The first day here I wanted nothing more than to sit and read my book and drink a lot of chai. Nothing else. Period. So I did that, and the next day I hit the town for a bit, then spent a large portion of the day reading and drinking chai. It has rained a lot more in Udaipur than it ever did in Jaipur or the surrounding areas, so that has put a bit of a limitation on how much I've wanted to do.
Moona and I decided to have our palms read after having a brief conversation about men. It was a pretty ridiculous experience, but it was fun. I think she got a bit more out of it because she knew exactly what she wanted to know, and asked all the questions she had. I was told that I will be successful in literature (after he first told me science in math), that I have a good head, heart, and will enjoy good health. But he advised me that I need to start setting goals and making plans. I think this is pretty sound advice; I am constantly doing really cool and awesome things without a set goal or plan, believing it will somehow work out perfectly. It usually does, and that's probably why I continue to do it, but at some point a person does need to develop a master plan. So I'm setting a goal of beginning to set goals for myself. Haha!
Yesterday's awesome adventure was an authentic Ayeurvedic massage. I can tell you right now that it was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced. I'm not quite comfortable with explaining the details of what happened to the public, over the Internet. If you know me well, prepare yourselves for a story. If not, come to India and get yourself an Ayeurvedic massage. It's definitely something to talk about.
For our evening meal we were invited to Angela's friend's home for dinner. She met some Indian people at a temple a few weeks ago and kept in contact with them. Check out this romantic story! One of the young men goes to the Jagdish temple every evening for the chance to see a girl he fell in love with four years ago. He saw her once during a festival, fell completely in love, and continues to go back every evening at the same time in case she's there. He has seen her four times since, once a year at the same festival. He has never spoken to her and doesn't even know her name. Last night he broke out his harmonica and played Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On for her. In the end, all this romance is quite sweet, but sad at the same time. The young man is the Brahmin Caste, but his love is the Rajput Caste. This simple fact means that there is absolutely no chance for the two to ever marry. But he still loves her with all his sweet little heart.
Dinner was amazing. The company was lighthearted and fun. Today they are taking us to some temple in the mountains on their motorbikes. This should be fun and exciting! I was supposed to take the bus to Jodhpur this morning, but staying another day seemed like a no-brainer. So I will leave tomorrow instead, same time as my new friends.
I have to run! I have been spoiled by free internet at Gram Chetna. All this pay as yo go stuff gets expensive!! xo
MCC
I will try to write a coherent entry despite my excitement. I wrote something on my laptop thinking I would switch it to the guesthouse computer, but there is a rule of no USB drives for transferring documents. There is also a rule of no washing your own laundry in your room, but I did mine any way. You can take the girl out of Khedi Milak, but you can't take the Khedi Milak out of the girl...
Let me try to begin at the beginning. I left Jaipur on Friday on the night train to Udaipur. Before leaving the I met two other solo female travelers who were heading to the same train. We decided to share a rickshaw and we ended up hitting it off completely. One is from Spain, Angela, but living n Ecuador. She came to Mumbai for a friend's wedding and decided to do a bit of traveling afterward. The other girl is Moona and she comes from Jordan. She was teaching for a year in China and just made her way overland through Thailand, Cambodia and Nepal. She's one of the coolest people I have ever met. We ended up getting along so well we decided to share a room once we arrived in Udaipur.
So here we are. The first day here I wanted nothing more than to sit and read my book and drink a lot of chai. Nothing else. Period. So I did that, and the next day I hit the town for a bit, then spent a large portion of the day reading and drinking chai. It has rained a lot more in Udaipur than it ever did in Jaipur or the surrounding areas, so that has put a bit of a limitation on how much I've wanted to do.
Moona and I decided to have our palms read after having a brief conversation about men. It was a pretty ridiculous experience, but it was fun. I think she got a bit more out of it because she knew exactly what she wanted to know, and asked all the questions she had. I was told that I will be successful in literature (after he first told me science in math), that I have a good head, heart, and will enjoy good health. But he advised me that I need to start setting goals and making plans. I think this is pretty sound advice; I am constantly doing really cool and awesome things without a set goal or plan, believing it will somehow work out perfectly. It usually does, and that's probably why I continue to do it, but at some point a person does need to develop a master plan. So I'm setting a goal of beginning to set goals for myself. Haha!
Yesterday's awesome adventure was an authentic Ayeurvedic massage. I can tell you right now that it was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced. I'm not quite comfortable with explaining the details of what happened to the public, over the Internet. If you know me well, prepare yourselves for a story. If not, come to India and get yourself an Ayeurvedic massage. It's definitely something to talk about.
For our evening meal we were invited to Angela's friend's home for dinner. She met some Indian people at a temple a few weeks ago and kept in contact with them. Check out this romantic story! One of the young men goes to the Jagdish temple every evening for the chance to see a girl he fell in love with four years ago. He saw her once during a festival, fell completely in love, and continues to go back every evening at the same time in case she's there. He has seen her four times since, once a year at the same festival. He has never spoken to her and doesn't even know her name. Last night he broke out his harmonica and played Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On for her. In the end, all this romance is quite sweet, but sad at the same time. The young man is the Brahmin Caste, but his love is the Rajput Caste. This simple fact means that there is absolutely no chance for the two to ever marry. But he still loves her with all his sweet little heart.
Dinner was amazing. The company was lighthearted and fun. Today they are taking us to some temple in the mountains on their motorbikes. This should be fun and exciting! I was supposed to take the bus to Jodhpur this morning, but staying another day seemed like a no-brainer. So I will leave tomorrow instead, same time as my new friends.
I have to run! I have been spoiled by free internet at Gram Chetna. All this pay as yo go stuff gets expensive!! xo
MCC
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Early departure!
I must warn you. This is not my best writing.... One of these days I will properly compose a blog ahead of time. But I suddenly felt moved to write to you all.
Yesterday morning around 11:30 I decided I was leaving Gram Chetna within 24 hours. I know my last entry was all warm and fuzzy, but since John left, GCK turned into quite the hell hole. If I thought I was being treated strangely before I was the only girl there, magnify that by 10 and that might be a reasonable estimate of the discomfort.
Have I told you about the creepyness factor? I know I've mentioned it in a few emails to various people, but I can't remember if I have specifically written about it in my blogs. Men in India tend to look at western women like we're filthy whores, yet undress us with their eyes at the same time, all the while not speaking... just staring.
Anyway, A few days ago a pair of my undies went missing. Normally I wash them in the shower and hang them dry in my room. I find this process to be easier than waiting till I have no more clean pairs and being forced to figure something out. And every day, except for this day, I remember to bring my under ware back to my room from the shower. So it has always worked very well.
However, the other day I forgot my clean underwear in the shower and when I went back for them, they weren't there. This means that one of the creepy Gram Chetna men has a pair of my underwear. Part of me is relieved I washed them before I forgot them, but the other part is annoyed that I have a pair of my underwear floating around the dorms of Gram Chetna.
CREEPS!
But this wasn't the reason I left early. I have been completely ignored and excluded from everything since I became the only intern last week. And I've been going out of my way to be social and engaging since John left. But the straw that broke the camels back was yesterday morning when I was made to wait until all of the men had eaten before I could have breakfast. You might be thinking, "maybe this is all a big misunderstanding." But I know it was intentional because there was a guy who stayed the night at Gram Chetna and told Govind he didn't like me (a woman) eating with everyone (the men. So the next morning, he was still at Gram Chetna, and I was not invited to eat breakfast until the men had eaten and the food was cold.
So at that very moment I decided to get the eff-word out of that mother bleeping hell-hole.
When I told Rajiv that I was leaving, he acted like he understood completely. He said I didn't seem to enjoy myself because the staff was not in a position to accommodate an intern. He mentioned that during the weeks John was there, he went on 15 or 17 micro-finance field visits. I only went on three. THREE! I can't left myself think about this without feeling extremely disappointed and upset. I think in a few days, when I have cooled down, I am going to write a respectful email to Prashant. I want to explain to him that in the future, if he knows Gram Chetna is not able to accommodate interns he should not invite interns. I could have gone somewhere else for my internship and it really upsets me that I had a sub par experience because he accepted me when he shouldn't have.
So that's that. Now I am in Jaipur waiting to leave on my train tomorrow night. I bought all sorts of shaving supplies and finally I feel like a lady again. Don't worry, I took "before" pictures.
xoxo
Mary
Yesterday morning around 11:30 I decided I was leaving Gram Chetna within 24 hours. I know my last entry was all warm and fuzzy, but since John left, GCK turned into quite the hell hole. If I thought I was being treated strangely before I was the only girl there, magnify that by 10 and that might be a reasonable estimate of the discomfort.
Have I told you about the creepyness factor? I know I've mentioned it in a few emails to various people, but I can't remember if I have specifically written about it in my blogs. Men in India tend to look at western women like we're filthy whores, yet undress us with their eyes at the same time, all the while not speaking... just staring.
Anyway, A few days ago a pair of my undies went missing. Normally I wash them in the shower and hang them dry in my room. I find this process to be easier than waiting till I have no more clean pairs and being forced to figure something out. And every day, except for this day, I remember to bring my under ware back to my room from the shower. So it has always worked very well.
However, the other day I forgot my clean underwear in the shower and when I went back for them, they weren't there. This means that one of the creepy Gram Chetna men has a pair of my underwear. Part of me is relieved I washed them before I forgot them, but the other part is annoyed that I have a pair of my underwear floating around the dorms of Gram Chetna.
CREEPS!
But this wasn't the reason I left early. I have been completely ignored and excluded from everything since I became the only intern last week. And I've been going out of my way to be social and engaging since John left. But the straw that broke the camels back was yesterday morning when I was made to wait until all of the men had eaten before I could have breakfast. You might be thinking, "maybe this is all a big misunderstanding." But I know it was intentional because there was a guy who stayed the night at Gram Chetna and told Govind he didn't like me (a woman) eating with everyone (the men. So the next morning, he was still at Gram Chetna, and I was not invited to eat breakfast until the men had eaten and the food was cold.
So at that very moment I decided to get the eff-word out of that mother bleeping hell-hole.
When I told Rajiv that I was leaving, he acted like he understood completely. He said I didn't seem to enjoy myself because the staff was not in a position to accommodate an intern. He mentioned that during the weeks John was there, he went on 15 or 17 micro-finance field visits. I only went on three. THREE! I can't left myself think about this without feeling extremely disappointed and upset. I think in a few days, when I have cooled down, I am going to write a respectful email to Prashant. I want to explain to him that in the future, if he knows Gram Chetna is not able to accommodate interns he should not invite interns. I could have gone somewhere else for my internship and it really upsets me that I had a sub par experience because he accepted me when he shouldn't have.
So that's that. Now I am in Jaipur waiting to leave on my train tomorrow night. I bought all sorts of shaving supplies and finally I feel like a lady again. Don't worry, I took "before" pictures.
xoxo
Mary
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Live from Gram Chetna!
Hi guys!
Here's another spontaneous (non-prewritten) entry. And I'm working with a computer on a limited battery. Please excuse my typos and gramatical errors.
In the last week when I had Prashant's wireless internet data card, I was able to hop online anytime I wanted. So I did. I spent a lot of time watching music videos, planning future trips to central america, chatting on facebook and gchat. I began to miss home so badly it was unreal. It could have been time for my homesickness to set in, but I can't halp but think my constant facebook and email access had something to do with it.
So I decided to take a break from the internet, specifically facebook, until I'm off on my own. This is, of course, unless something amazing or horrifying happenes. Then I'll send some messages or emails. But until I reach Udaipur, you might not hear from me.
Form here till Saturday, July 24th I am officially off the grid.
I love you all!!!
Here's another spontaneous (non-prewritten) entry. And I'm working with a computer on a limited battery. Please excuse my typos and gramatical errors.
In the last week when I had Prashant's wireless internet data card, I was able to hop online anytime I wanted. So I did. I spent a lot of time watching music videos, planning future trips to central america, chatting on facebook and gchat. I began to miss home so badly it was unreal. It could have been time for my homesickness to set in, but I can't halp but think my constant facebook and email access had something to do with it.
So I decided to take a break from the internet, specifically facebook, until I'm off on my own. This is, of course, unless something amazing or horrifying happenes. Then I'll send some messages or emails. But until I reach Udaipur, you might not hear from me.
Form here till Saturday, July 24th I am officially off the grid.
I love you all!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)