Better late than never

So, I'm finally getting my pictures organized and finally have a picture of some kids on Holi to share. This is taken from my balcony looking down on the road at two boys just covered in dried paint. And this was in the morning so just imagine how covered they got by the end of the day.
Happy Belated Holi:

bizarro hindi and pretty flowers

So I have finally realized why I'm having such problems fitting in blogging time. It is my Hindi classes. In the fall my classes were in the evenings but now they are on Tuesday and Thursday morning so I get into work late and my days are completely crazy. Next week is the end of my classes, which is sad, but the long days were getting tiring.
My Hindi classes have been fun even though I've had a hard time learning the language; languages have always been tough for me but I try. I can communicate now with my maid and I've managed a few times at the market when they don't speak English so I'm happy. Part of the reason I have a hard time with it is that the grammatical structure is so different from what I'm used to, but every once in a while there is a rule that just sticks in my brain for some reason or other. Yesterday we went over the rule of plural nouns followed by a postposition (they put their prepositions after the noun here, hence "post"positions), and when that happens in Hindi you put an o at the end of the noun. So, since the word for market here is Bazaar, if you make it plural with a postposition it turns into bazaaro (pronounced bizarro, just like the Seinfeld ep). How fun is that! Now when I do my homework where we have to come up with sentences I always write something about being "in the markets" so I can say bazaaro.
This is the wacky way I learn a language.
And as a final non-related note. There is this bright orange/red flower that has suddenly bloomed all over the city and it is just spectacular. I have no clue what the name of it is, but it is on these fairly big trees and it almost makes the trees look like they are on fire - but in a good way. Soooo pretty.

pop culture vacuum

Lately I've been thinking about what it will be like when I go home. I've been gone for quite a while and even though I went to London in September I haven't left India in 7 months. I was talking with a few foreign colleagues who were in town about this and they said that I'm going to have crazy reverse culture shock.
Will the "normal" driving weird me out? Will the fact that I'm not a foreigner be strange? Will I miss the cows in the road? (aside: I saw the cutest little baby goat on the street the other day)
One thing I have a sneaking suspicion will stick out is how out of the loop I am with what is going on in the US. I've mentioned before that I live in a pop culture vacuum here. I remember coming back from living in France the week that the first series of Survivor was ending and it was all people were talking about and I was completely lost.
Now thanks to the internet I'm a bit more plugged in, but only slightly, I mean India really doesn't care what is happening in the US outside of the political side of things so I only get bits and pieces (aside #2: yes the internet existed back in 2000, but it wasn't used like it is now). One thing I've heard about on line which seems really big is twitter. I have no clue what it is but it seems to be the next big thing. I googled it to try and figure out what all the fuss is about but I'm convinced that what I read was wrong because it seems really idiotic so I feel like I'm missing something.
So I wonder, what else have I missed out on? Will I be able to slide into casual conversations easily or will I just sit there quietly wondering what on earth everyone is talking about. I guess I'll just have to wait and see, but it is kind of interesting how these huge cultural phenomenons can occur in such a short period of time and affect only a small percentage of the world's population.

losing my mind...or not

So this morning was another yummy breakfast meeting with the Delhi ex-Pat women's group. It is always interesting meeting other ex-Pats that work here; there was one woman working in public health, I imagine that must be a very challenging, and quite interesting, job here. But the woman who intrigued me the most today was a psychologist who works mostly with ex-Pats living here in Delhi.
She said that she has quite a few clients who meet with her shortly after coming here that are having trouble adjusting; she has worked with whole families too. But, what interested me the most was she said that she works with some western executives who are going crazy working with an all Indian staff. That made me feel so much better. I'm not the only one!
Working here seriously drives me insane. From the fact that people say yes when they mean no, or the fact that I can have several in depth trainings on a subject and then have someone ask me a question a month later with no recollection that I even had the training much less that they were there. Or that I will tell someone that something a client asks for is not possible at all ever and they will say "okay, I'll see what they think" and I will have to reiterate "it is not possible, no way no how, don't tell them maybe, tell them no", and then I have to pray that they actually say no (see the comment about saying yes when you mean no).
Being that I'm the only foreigner in my office some times I think that it is just me, but finding out that other people have these frustrations makes me feel so much better. Not only are they frustrated but they are having such a hard time that have to see a psychologist. At least I manage to de-stress with a walk in the park (although today's high is 39/102 so the walks are becoming a bit more tricky)
So the good news is that I'm sane and that there are plenty of other people in the same boat. The bad news is that India seems like it isn't changing for the better in this area. I'm also a bit concerned that when I go home I will be so overwhelmed by people doing what I ask when I ask that I will be a bit of a pushover as a boss. Oh well, that is hardly a big concern, and I have no doubt that I'll get over that really quickly.

fruity fun

Work is seriously getting in the way of my blogging. I was so busy yesterday that I completely forgot to even open my blog much less write anything. I need a less time consuming job. Of course then my visa would be invalid and I would have to leave India and wouldn't have anything left to blog about so I guess that kind of defeats the whole purpose.
Anyway...one of my favorite things about living here are the fruits. Everywhere you go there are people selling fruits. There are the guys with their carts that go through my neighborhood every day. There are markets with bigger stands and the fruit wallahs (the fruit cart guys). The fruit is always so fresh and almost every cart and fruit stand is empty by the end of the day. My favorite fruit here is, of all the boring things, bananas. They are just a little bit sweeter and sooo yummy.
But, my real favorite part about the fruits is how, with the exception of a few basics, like bananas and apples and oranges, a lot of the other fruits rotate in and out depending on if they are in season. This happens in other places, of course, like I remember being in Munich when the asparagus was in season and it was everywhere, but you could still get asparagus out of season, it was just imported or made in greenhouses. Here either have it or they don't. Like when I arrived it was mango season, every fruit stand was overflowing with mangoes; then all of a sudden mid-September they were gone. The mango specials at restaurants were gone, there was not a mango in sight. Then about 3 weeks ago I started seeing a few mangoes here and there and now they are back everywhere. I also noticed this new fruit about a month ago, sort of cantaloupe sized but a dark green with orange stripes. I had never seen it before and suddenly every fruit wallah had them. After some investigation they are apparently a melon kind of like honeydew. I haven't bought one because I'm only one person and can't eat a whole melon, plus I only have one good knife which I don't think could cut through it (I miss my good knives!). And this weekend suddenly I saw HUGE black olives being sold. I've never seen them before here - which I consider a good thing as I'm definitely not an olive person - but suddenly there they were and they were all over the place.
While I do sometimes miss certain fruits and there is something nice about always being able to get what you want, it is extra nice to know that the fruit you are getting is fresh and was very likely grown here in India and picked just a day or two ago.
Now I'm really craving some fruits, I think I'll have to visit my favorite market after work today and stock up.

crazy taxi drivers and old school rickshaws

So, after flying here there and everywhere in India with Anya (okay, only 2 places but we did take quite a few flights) I bid her farewell and 12 hours later hopped on another plane to...Calcutta, or as it is now called, Kolkata; I'll stick with the first version.
I had to go there for a meeting on Monday morning and if I hadn't had a visitor the weekend before I probably would have spent the weekend there to sight see, but instead I flew in on Sunday afternoon and back on Monday. Of all the places in India I had heard of before coming here I can say that Calcutta was definitely one that was not on my list of places to visit. All I knew about it was the Mother Theresa did a lot of her work there so I generally thought of it as very poor and very dirty. While my time there was very limited (my meeting went super long on Monday so I had zero time to see anything other than my hotel and the American Embassy), here are my general observations:

• It is definitely not a tourist destination, I was the only white person on the flight to and from Calcutta, the first time that has happened to me, and people looked at bit confused as to why I was there.
• It is HOT and HUMID!
• Flying in it looked super green and lush, mostly palm trees but they were everywhere, quite a pretty landing...although the rest of the flight was bumpy as could be both ways.
• Worst taxi drivers in India by far. Luckily the ride from my hotel to/from the Embassy was about 2 minutes but to/from the airport it was an hour. I had to ask both taxi drivers repeatedly to watch the road because they kept turning around to stare at me; and my driver back to the airport fully side-swiped another taxi ripping off half of the other taxi's front bumper and just kept on going. If I ever have to go back there for work I will insist that I get a hotel car because I will never step foot in a Calcutta taxi again.
• It was a smelly city, not horrible but not pleasant either, probably because it was so hot and humid; I definitely got a few whiffs of garbage.
• It was not as poor as I expected. Overall the population seemed less well off than people in Delhi; I saw probably 50 people bathing at public water pumps whereas here I'll see maybe 10 a week; but there wasn't total poverty like you see in Mumbai. It seemed that everyone was able to make a few rupees here and there.
• I didn't see even one animal in the street, not one cow or goat or anything, very odd.
• I did see lots of young boys working so I assume that education is quite a problem there.
• And finally, for the first time I saw old school rickshaws; meaning you sit and he pulls you by foot, not on a bike. I thought they were outlawed in India but apparently only in certain areas. And I thought the bicycle rickshaw guys had a tough life...although in that traffic these rickshaw guys were able to weave in and out quite well and were able to make some headway.

And those are my quick thoughts on Calcutta. I don't think I'll go back unless I have to, mostly because the heat and the humidity were extremely difficult (when we landed back in Delhi it was 34C or 93F but not humid and it seemed quite cool to me); apparently December and January are "nice", but, with the exception of the taxi drivers, it was nicer than I expected.

random animal sightings

So I was going to write about something totally different today but I had two random animal sightings which I had to share. First there were two donkeys hanging out just outside my neighborhood (I live in a gated community and they were at the gates). I've seen two donkeys before in Delhi and I wonder if they are the same ones, if they are they have walked pretty far. It is extremely odd to see a donkey that isn't being ridden or carrying something, even then they are still pretty rare. They looked bored and reminded me of Eeyore.
Then this morning I saw a camel! I have seen camels plenty in India before but never in Delhi. He was pulling something, they always are when I see them. He, like all camels, looked happy as could be. I've always found it funny to see camels used so much here for transporting things because they move so slowly. I think they only do small trips in between towns because I usually see them in the same areas.
Seeing camels makes me happy. It reminds me of when I took a camel ride in Egypt by the pyramids. Good times.
Total aside: the high today in Delhi is 38 degrees, that is just over 100. This is going to be the longest summer of my life. At least the humidity hasn't come yet, I have until June for that but seriously, 100 degrees in mid-April!

elephants in the streets

I think I've mentioned this before but sometimes it is like India knows what I'm thinking. I know that is impossible but I'm telling you sometimes I think something and then it happens.
Like what? Well, on Anya's last day of her visit we were going through a list of the animals she has seen here. I love the fact that I have seen monkeys and camels, etc., etc., here and it isn't a big deal, I mean when do you ever just see a monkey back home? So we went through the list and it included an elephant but I felt like she hadn't seen a real Indian elephant. See the elephant we saw was at a hotel and it was there for guests to take rides, I think it is more fun to see an elephant just walking down the street because really, except when the circus is in town, that definitely won't happen back home.
I kept this thought to myself because I didn't want her to feel badly and also because I felt like saying it out loud would be bad luck. Fast forward a few hours and on the way back to my house what do we pass walking down the road? Not one, but two elephants!
I have seen elephants in Delhi only twice before and one each time so to have two was a huge bonus, and they even had their faces painted!
I'm telling you, it is like India heard me. There is nothing I like better than seeing an elephant here, they just look so happy moseying down the street. No clue where they are going or why they are in Delhi, but I'm happy to see them.

hot days in Delhi and Udaipur...

You know how I said it was hot yesterday? Well last night we had our first over an hour long power outage of the season. I’m so out of practice with power outages that I didn’t even have my DVD player charged so I just sat there in the darkness sweating. Good times.
Anyway, back to the loveliness of Udaipur. It was pretty hot there too so we were up bright and early to sightsee. The town doesn't have lots of "big" sights, the town itself being the main reason to visit, but the sights we saw were great. First it was up to the City Palace – oh yeah, a hilly little town that Udaipur, no one mentioned that – so we went up and it was beautiful. It is built on the top of the city so has great views and the rooms have lots of beautiful decoration. We wandered through for almost an hour, it was like a maze and did lots of oohing and aahing at the mosaic designs. This is one of my favorites right when we entered the main part, that is the god Ganesh sitting in the middle...he is the only Hindu god I always know because he has the head of an elephant...

After visiting the City Palace we walked to a local temple, I've been to one Hindu temple before, a really big one here in Delhi that is pretty modern, this one was smaller and much older (I think from the 1600's some time) and was a really cool experience. The temple was just a room with a statue of the god set back (I forget which god it was to) and there were about 15 women sitting around singing religious songs. It was a very beautiful moment and they didn't mind us coming in and watching them. This is is a photo of the temple, it was small but high and had carvings all around.

And those are the highlights from Udaipur. I'm relaxed just thinking about being there. Definitely a good place.

Udaipur

Wow, it is hot today. That has nothing to do with anything but I just went outside for lunch and yikes it is a scorcher! Second of all - new flower picture on the right - that is from the hotel in Goa.
Anyway...after Goa it was up to Udaipur. I have heard Udaipur referred to as the "Venice of India" and as "the most romantic place in India". I was a tad bit skeptical and while I wouldn't make the Venice comparison (except that it is kind of easy to get lost because of the windy little streets) I would agree that it is definitely a romantic city.
The city of Udaipur is medium sized but the tourist area is fairly small and centered around a lake. Apparently the 007 movie Octopussy has a part of it filmed there so now I'll have to watch that again so I can say "oh - I've been there". There were more tourists there than any other place I've been to in India...or perhaps I should say more western tourists as lots of places have Indian tourists, but somehow it wasn't too touristy; although everybody tried to rip us off, luckily I was in tough Alison mood and wouldn't give in (I don't mind overpaying by 10 or 20 rupees, but when someone doubles the cost I get very tough and refuse to pay 1 rupee extra).
I had booked us into a hotel based on what I thought was good location, turns out that it was actually amazing location, right on the lake and the restaurant was on the rooftop and was open so we sat in the breeze looking out at the lovely view.
One cool thing is that the lake, like most lakes in India, fills up during the monsoon season, so since we were there in April (the monsoons start in July/August) the water was kind of low, but still very pretty. Apparently some years when the monsoon isn't very strong the lake will completely dry out; I'm sure that from a tourism perspective that isn't good for the town, but at the same time that has to look really cool.
I feel like I could write about Udaipur forever, but for today I'll just give you a picture taken from the hotel restaurant looking at the Lake Palace hotel which is one of the (if not the) most expensive hotels in India, as in $400 for a room without a view in the off season. We sat in little balcony seats on cushions to eat our dinner, I felt like a queen being waited on while lounging on cushions with that view.

Goa!

Wow, yesterday's post was a long one. I guess I had a lot to say. Well today it is on to Goa. I had heard lots of people saying that Goa was great but, like most places here for some odd reason when I dig further for why it is great I don't get many details. From what I could tell it was about the beaches and also people said it was the most un-Indian area in India so it is an easy way to get away without actually having to leave the country.
So, on Tuesday we hopped on a Kingfisher flight down to Goa and when we got off the plane my first thought was - it is HOT! Actually, it wasn't much hotter than Delhi but it was really humid. We were picked up by our hotel and had a nice 45 minute drive over to our hotel. My first impressions were that it just looked more tropical, lots of palm trees; Anya noticed that it was cleaner than Delhi, less dust; and I also noticed quite a few churches in the area.
The Portuguese actually had control of Goa for a long time so there is a (relatively) high Catholic population. The churches were completely white and looked so pretty.
Then we got to our hotel and didn't leave. We had sightseeing plans that were tempered by two factors, #1 it was really really hot and we were kind of tired from all the sightseeing done in/around Delhi and #2, the hotel was gorgeous! It had an open plan and from the lobby you looked down on their pool and the private beach.
We checked in to our lovely room, put on our bathing suits and walked down to catch some rays and relax.
The water in the ocean was amazing, very warm, almost bath water like. It is the Indian Ocean and the hotel is on just a bit of an inlet so the water could get nice and toasty.
And now I know why people go to Goa, to relax and do not much of anything.
I definitely think I'll go back and perhaps will go back some time in November or December and do some sightseeing too. Until that point it will probably be too hot...well, too humid really.
But I can now recommend that if you are coming to India and want some beach time Goa is the place to go.

fun in airports

So last week I managed to go to 5 different airports in India, pretty impressive, huh, especially considering that I really really don't like flying.
See, after Anya got here we spent two days in Delhi then did a day trip (in the car) to Agra to see the Taj Mahal (a long day but no where near as difficult as everyone in Delhi makes it out to be), then we flew south to Goa for a few days. After Goa we flew on up to Udaipur. After saying farewell to Anya (from Delhi), I flew to Calcutta for a meeting. What is the 5th airport? Mumbai - we had to connect there to get to Udaipur. Technically we also stopped in Jaipur but didn't have to get off of the plane so I don't count that.
My comments on the airports are:
the nicest is Mumbai, they renovated it a few years back and it is sooo nice.
the smallest is Udaipur, I counted 5 departures over an 8 hour period. Strangely they had a really huge waiting area; my guess is that they have more flights during the busy season; but when it was time to board they just called us and we walked right out to the airplane - a prop plane, of course (not the smallest airport I've been to though, Bar Harbor in Maine is still the smallest).
the nastiest airport was Calcutta, seriously not clean, I had to hold my breath in the bathrooms and the building looked like it was falling apart. Luckily I was running late so my wait was really quick, thank goodness.
Delhi is the most improved. All the airports in India are being renovated, Mumbai is done and now they are working on Delhi and every time I land it looks a bit better.
Goa had the most foreigners and the least security - they never asked for our ID when we checked in...very strange.
Anyway, a few interesting (I think) thoughts about flying here. The check in process is slightly different in that even if you check in on line you have to get your boarding pass at the airport. Security is extremely high, each person gets a full pat-down with a metal detector wand. There are separate lines for men and women to go through and since the ratio of men to women flying is about 9:1, I always zoom through security. Also you have to put a luggage tag on your carry-on luggage that gets stamped with the date when screened, and they actually double check it when you get on the flight.
But, in Delhi while we were waiting for our first flight the craziest thing happened. We were through security waiting to board and this man starts yelling at the top of his lungs (no exaggeration) at the man working for the airlines because the flight was delayed. He grabbed the poor airline employee and pulled him over to the screen listing flight times and continued yelling while a bunch of people surrounded them. I was shocked that security didn't interfere but they just let him go on yelling. This lasted a few minutes then it died down. Then about 10 minutes later the man started yelling again and then starting hitting the doors to the tarmac at which point in time security did swoop in and deal with the situation.
The really strange part is that this isn't the first time I've seen someone yelling like this at an airport here, the first time it was because the luggage took too long to come out. Quite often it happens here that I see people interacting in a way that I consider angry and I've seen people yell loudly before in a way that would be considered totally unacceptable for anyone over the age of 3 back home and I just can't figure it out.
I'm just happy that man wasn't on my flight because I would have refused to get on the plane with him which would likely have caused all sorts of problems.
Anyway, this is your little insight into the world of flying in India.
Tomorrow, Goa!

And I'm back

Back from all of my travels. I have literally been from coast to coast in India and am very tired but it was such fun to see new places and to have a visitor :)
That said, it is pretty Hot here in Delhi and it is HOT elsewhere in India so, much as I love visitors, I think it is best that no one come until at least October because I don't think it would be much fun for you.
Anyway, I have tons of work stuff to get caught up on so I'll get back to serious blogging again tomorrow but I just wanted to say hi to everyone - hi!