Babies and Temples

I am finally back in Delhi after a week long group excursion and weekend travel with friends. It feels good to be ‘home!’ So last week was our first group excursion to Aligarh, a small city home to Aligarh Muslim University just south east of Delhi. We spent four full days visiting hospitals and rural villages, meeting university students, and evading the largest mosquitoes I’ve ever seen. (Turns out this isn’t my strong suit, but have no fear, I’m being diligent about my Malaria meds!) I never thought we'd be able to experience such a close up look at Indian health care systems, but I am quickly learning that privacy in the medical world is not such an issue here. Some tidbits:

• At the Medical College Hospital we got to visit various OPDs (out patient doors). In every OPD there were at best four doctors/senior residents who met with up to 400 patients everyday. This was probably one of the most shocking aspects of the hospitals -- the number of people these doctors have to manage. 

• These hospitals are all for the extremely poor, and are thus basically free. Students at the medical college contribute to a fund to help families who cannot afford even the small registration fee (5-10 Rupees -- about $0.25) so that they can still receive care. I was really impressed by this!

• The District Hospital was the most intense for two reasons: 1. We walked through the burn unit and saw a woman with burns on her face (her story is that a lamp fell on her when she was making tea but it is possible it was a suicide attempt) and a man whose face was literally completely charred black and pussing. He was the victim of a blast. And 2. I got to watch a birth! A real live human birth. See what I mean about the privacy thing? The woman in charge of the Women's Hospital branch of the District Hospital ushered us into the delivery room saying "Hurry, you'll miss it!" What? Was she serious? Turns out she was. I walked into the room and within seconds the baby was born. So. Cool. 

Surgical table in the emergency room at the District Hospital (not where the baby was born)

Then we got to visit rural villages to see the free medical services provided to the rural people...

Village children curiously watching the group of white girls

Precious baby waiting to get his polio drops and TB shot

Village people crowding around our bus as we were leaving

Doctors distributing free medicine in a mobile health unit

Village scene

We got to visit another 'slum' that was definitely worse than the first one we visited, mostly because of the sewage river running through the middle of the street. We were with social work students from the university and they were asking community members about immunizing their children. When one student asked a woman why she hadn't given her 2 month old his polio drops yet she replied, "When the government gives us roads, I'll immunize my child." The government doesn't recognize slums as real communities and thus doesn't provide them any services. 

Sewage river -- can people really get accustomed to living like this?

We also visited a school where community health workers were performing routine check ups...

Community health students facilitating eye exams

And lastly we went to Tibbiya College of Unani Medicine (traditional Indian medicine) to see an alternative to modern medicine.

Brewing a potion. This one was for 'gynecological needs'

After this exhausting week I decided to hop back on a train to travel to Amritsar for the weekend. (This is the city I was hoping to visit on our first free weekend in Delhi but plans fell through). This is the second sleeper car train I've taken in India and it's, well, interesting. The upside is that I spent a total of $13 for a roundtrip ticket, the downside is that the sleeper cars are dirty, smelly, and lots of Indian men stare at you while you sleep. Oh well! Amritsar is a city on the border of Pakistan (gasp!) and home to the Golden Temple -- the holiest Sikh temple in the world. It was a long weekend of travel but so worth it. The temple is stunning!

The Golden Temple in the early morning

Don't hate on the flannel, it was chilly!

The Golden Temple at night

Now it's Monday evening and we have a week at home to rest up before our second excursion next week. I can't believe I've already been here a month! You all weren't kidding when you said this semester would fly by...

In other news, I saw in the newspaper this morning that Sarah Palin will be coming to Delhi on March 19th to speak at the 'India Today Conclave.' She will be the only American politician in attendance. Oh boy. 

big hugs,

katie

coming soon: pictures of my house, including the Indian style toilet! (by special request)    

The Pink City

Hello! Sorry for not posting sooner about the slum, I don't have much to say about it so here are a few bullets:

• This was not a slum, I would classify it as an ex-slum. There used to be temporary huts but an organization called HOPE Worldwide came in, tore them down, and has since build a little community of real concrete structure houses. It was surprisingly very clean and pleasant. Not at all what we expected.
• HOPE not only rebuilds the physical structures but also provides education, vocational training, and some health care for the residents so they can ideally support themselves by a means other than begging. 
• This village was literally called the 'Leprosy Colony' (printed on a sign) and 95% of the parents in this village have or have had leprosy and were thus outcast from their societies

I was really impressed with this organization and we were all pleasantly surprised at how un-slum like this location was. One downside for you guys, no pictures allowed!

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This weekend (really it was just Saturday) I went to Jaipur (the Pink City) with some girls from my group. I am exhausted from 6 hour train ride home at 5 am this morning, but we had a fantastic trip! We left Delhi on Friday afternoon and arrived late in Jaipur. Since we only had one day to explore we got an early start and packed lots in. We started at the Amber Fort:

I have no idea how they built this massive structure up in these hills!

Instead of walking to the top of the fort, we decided to…drum roll please…RIDE ELEPHANTS!! That’s right. I rode on an elephant. J

Elephant!!

A tame textile shop

Looking down from the fort

Just a monkey, no big deal

Inside the walls of the Amber Fort

After the fort we went to the Anohki Museum of Hand Painting. This area of Jaipur is known for their hand printed fabrics. The best part of the museum was the live demonstrations of hand carving the wooden blocks:

Printing the fabric….

Amazing to watch how fast this man can print a sheet of fabric!

And then getting to make our own! I was in heaven. You could buy a scarf and the nice old man helped us print our own! Best. Museum. Ever.

Making my scarf!

Then we drove by the Jal Mahal (water palace) to take pictures. You can’t go inside (for obvious reasons!)

Jal Mahal

Then it was off to Old Jaipur to stroll through the bazaars. The streets are lineed with shop after shop of chappals (sandals), textiles, bags, scarves, sarees, bangles, and more. It’s a feast for the eyes but the pushy shopkeepers are exhausting.  

Bags of powdered dye for the upcoming Holi celebration!

And just in case you've forgotten what I look like...

We got home today around noon and spent the afternoon unpacking, doing laundry, Hindi homework, and repacking. Tomorrow we catch a 6 am train for our first group excursion. Destination: Aligarh! There is a large medical college in this town so we're going for four days of lectures, observation, and more! 

Hope everyone is doing well, sending each of you my love!

All Eyes On Me

Just when I was feeling pretty good about navigating Delhi by metro and rickshaw, I was proved wrong. Very wrong. I had originally planned on traveling to Amritsar with friends this past weekend but plans fell through (I'm learning that this is just how it goes in India), so I ended up getting to explore Delhi instead. Saturday I met up with another girl on my program, also named Katie (what's her middle name you ask? Marie, naturally). We decided to head to Old Delhi to explore the Red Fort--completed in 1648 by a Mughal emperor it is the largest monument in Old Delhi. We stepped out of the metro station and were greeted by this sight: 

Old Delhi

Now I'm not sure this picture quite captures how overwhelmed we felt. I had my map and knew that the Red Fort was a straight shot from the Metro, but obviously there aren't street signs so we had a 25% chance of picking the correct street. We asked someone to help our odds and started walking. About ten minutes later we asked someone else just to make sure we were on the right track. Nope! Complete opposite way. Awesome. So we got a rickshaw and hoped he understood that we were trying to go to Red Fort. Maybe here is a good place to mention the staring. Everyone, and I'm not exaggerating on this one, literally everyone stares at us. Not only because we are white but because we are women. You hardly see women out on the streets here. No matter where we go or what we wear, people spot us and keep their eyes glued. It's probably the aspect of India I'm having the most trouble adjusting to (yes, even more so than the toilets!). Here are some sights from the rickshaw ride:

Just your usual sidewalk livestock

A quick nap amidst the chaos

Colorful stacks of blankets


Finally we made it out of the winding, crowded streets and were at Jama Masjid mosque. This is on the way to Red Fort, but we were so tired of being paraded through traffic on a rickshaw that we just got off here instead. I'm so glad we did! This is the biggest mosque in India and it is beautiful. After taking off your shoes at the door...

Don't worry, those aren't my pink crocs

we walked inside the entrance to the large, open square of the mosque:

Under that large arch in the middle is the area facing Mecca with carpets for prayer

Quick side note: another one of the many interesting aspects of India is that people walk up to you and ask to take your picture (well at least some ask). We were standing looking around the mosque and a man walks up to me, holds out his adorable baby girl, and jabbers something in Hindi. Luckily we had met a nice man who spoke English and he was standing next to me. He told me that the man wanted me to hold his daughter so he could get a picture. Yes please!

The cutest. The eyeliner is just to make them look 'pretty.' Also, what I am wearing is NOT traditional Indian wear, rather a covering robe I had to wear inside the mosque.

The nice man we met also recommended we pay 100 Rupees (about $2.50) to climb one of the minarets for a 360 view of Old Delhi. This was amazing, and despite the haze you could see the sprawling city below.

The large, red wall you see in the distance is the Red Fort

Looking down on the crazy streets from the mosque

After the mosque we made our way to the Red Fort. At this point we were so exhausted and hungry that we weren't really into exploring the Red Fort, but I'm glad we at least went in. It also would've been worth it to hire a guide to explain what were were looking at, but most guides are pushy and we didn't want to deal with it.

Inside the walls of the Red Fort

That exhaustion and hunger I mentioned earlier led us to cave in and eat at a less than authentic restaurant: Ruby Tuesday! Perhaps a low point, but the mojito and quesadilla were so worth it :) Sunday morning we visited the Baha'i Temple (also called the Lotus temple because of its shape)

Yes, you finally get to see me in traditional Indian garb! I'm wearing a kurta (shirt), churidar (leggings) and a dupatta (scarf). It beats me how I don't blend into the crowds...

Colorful old woman at the Temple

My guidebook says the Baha'i Temple is India's response to the Sydney Opera House.  

It took over six years to build on funds that were all donations. It's concrete structure is covered in small segments of marble. The inside is unimpressive, just vast and open, but can seat an insane amount of worshipers. You also have to be silent inside--relief from the hectic crowds outside its doors.

Okay, so I'm really struggling with keeping these posts short, sorry! Things at my host family have been good, although I wish they would show interest in taking us places and showing us their city. So far, no luck. It's also a fairly remote location in comparison to other homestays and I wish I had a neighborhood to explore or a park to sit in. All in all though, they are very sweet and I think tonight I'll make my first attempt at helping Ami in the kitchen. Tomorrow we are visiting a slum in East Delhi, so I'll write a smaller post about that experience in the next few days.

In case anyone wants to (no pressure, seriously!) send anything my way, the address of the program center is:

Ground Floor, 168 - Pocket 2,
Jasola, New Delhi 110025 INDIA

(just letters or postcards, no packages please! Better yet, just send an email!)

I hope you are all enjoying Valentine's Day and eating lots of chocolate :) I think I'll stop at the store on my walk home from school and grab a cadbury chocolate bar!

hugs&kisses

Woah, Delhi!

Well, I’m here! I still can’t quite believe I’m actually in India, but everywhere I look, everything I eat, and every sound I hear makes the reality pretty clear! I have been here for a week now, and holy cow (literally) it’s been a wonderful whirlwind. There is no way I can write about everything I’ve done and seen, so I’ll give some highlights:

-- This first week we stayed in Sri Aurobindo Ashram (think Eat Pray Love) as a group and traveled around by bus, which brings me to...

2    -- Motorcycles, rickshaws, and pedestrians, oh my! I don’t know how to adequately describe the driving and traffic situation here. It’s fascinating, terrifying, and rather impressive. There are lanes, but they are more like guidelines that no one follows. Turn signals might as well not even exist, same with traffic lights and crosswalks actually, and instead of checking blind spots people just lay on the horn and floor it. 

      -- It smells. Not always a repulsive smell, but a smell nonetheless. The pollution is also terrible. You can taste the dirt in your mouth and there is a constant haze hanging over the city.

     

      Don’t let these seemingly negative aspects of Delhi fool you, India is fantastic! The food is incredible (can you go wrong with curry, chapatti [bread], and chai?), the colors are vibrant, and I am being bombarded with new experiences.

      -- We went to Raj Ghat—the place where Ghandi was cremated and were surrounded by school children who were grinning from ear to ear, screaming ‘hello!’ and shaking our hands. I felt famous!

      -- We visited Humayun's tomb—early Mughal architecture built in the 1500s

Lastly, my homestay! Tonight is my second night in my ‘flat’ (a generous term if you ask me) with my family. We are in pairs so I’m sharing a room with another girl on my program—a huge relief. I would be even more overwhelmed if I was here alone. My family is Muslim and we live in a Muslim community so prayer calls sound five times each day. We call my host parents Ami & Abu (mother and father, don’t ask me their real names) and I have three host siblings: Sadia is my 21-year-old sister and Sharik and Zaid, 19 & 17, are my brothers. They all speak English well (although the accents are still impossible to understand at times) except Ami, so my Hindi will have to get significantly better before I can communicate much with her. It’s inevitably a little awkward because of miscommunications and cultural differences, but they have been so nice and welcoming thus far. Abu put it best our first night here when he said: “Today you are a guest, tomorrow you become family.” That warmed my heart.

I am doing great so far: happy, healthy, and learning so much. I miss everyone, but not enough to want to come home yet :) All is well. (A quote from the Bollywood film ‘3 Idiots,’ if you have three hours to spare, I recommend it!)

Eager school children at Raj Ghat

Humayun's tomb

Humayun's tomb at sunset

View from my room!

Close up of view from my room--small children playing in the garbage

all my love,

katie