Pune University & Bhandarkar Institute (Mon. May 30, 2011)

A lackluster front entrance for a university.

I explored parts of Pune today mainly the University of Pune and the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. The great thing about the university is that it is a 7-10 minutes bus ride away from where I live and the cost is a mere 7 rupees. I think that a lot of students are still on vacation and so the university has been pretty sparse. I talked to a professor there who was a little condescending and I was rather put-off by her lack of assistance.

After talking to her, I went to the library which was quite small but has a nice collection of Sanskrit literature. There I met Anant, a graduate student, who was reading a philosophical work with Hindi commentaries. I asked him what he was planning to do after he finished his masters in Sanskrit and he replied that he will be a schoolteacher. I was very impressed when he said that because to want to become a schoolteacher in India is to know that you will be living a life of poverty.

truly a very rare person.

No one here in India wants to be a schoolteacher; everyone wants to study either business or engineering. Software engineers and business majors here are a dime a dozen and Anant is a 'rara avis' in the land known for Gandhi, philosophy, and spirituality. Heck no men whether young or old in Pune even wears the traditional dhoti and kurta anymore. Even more so, it seemed to be looked down upon and so you have people wearing jeans, slacks, and dress shoes in temperatures that are insanely hot. Not sure how Americans would think when they see people wearing black jeans and collared shirts in temperatures that range in the upper 90s to 100s--I find it rather odd, but then again many Indians are amused by the fact that I'm a non-Indian wearing a dhoti. Personally, I don’t think India will ever be a great nation if it continues to put the west on a pedestal.

"Happiness can come from work and pride in what you do. India lives in her villages and the terrible poverty there can only be removed if their local skills can be revived. Poverty is the worst form of violence. And a constructive program is the only nonviolent solution to India's agony. It will not necessarily be progress for India if she simply imports the unhappiness of the West." - Gandhi

It used to be a nation known to look inwardly for truth with men seeking truth not from the outside but from within. Now I just feel that India is either losing its identity or at least forgetting the richness of its cultural heritage. 

Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

 I took my leave after wishing Anant the best of luck with his studies and walked towards the entrance of the university to catch an auto-rickshaw to Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute. Here I actually found the place a lot more welcoming. This place is actually quite renowned b/c you have a bunch of foreign scholars who come here to take advantage of the vast collection at the institute. It’s also a very nice place to study even though it’s quite hard to find. The rickshaw dropped me off somewhere on Bhandarkar road even though the institute was not even on Bhandarkar road! I almost gave up trying to find the place but after asking my way around I was able to find it after about 20 minutes of walking. Here I will be spending at least 2-3 hours a day studying Sanskrit for the next two and a half months.

The library where I will be spending most of my time

This Thursday afternoon, I am planning to go to Aurangabad to the Ellora and Ajanta caves. I am very excited about this trip because there will be lots of Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain statues that were carved by monks. I am really, really looking forward to this trip and will keep you guys up to date. - Quang out.

May 27-29, 2011

After my class on Friday, I waited around until Vaibhav who came at around 1:30 pm to pick me up and drop me at the bus stop to Mumbai. Instead of catching a bus, I actually got into a nice SUV van with 5 other people who were also heading to Mumbai. The cost was the same for bus (300 rupees) and actually taking a cab is much faster than the bus as I soon found out when I took it from Mumbai back to Pune.

There was nothing to rave about in Mumbai. It’s just a metropolitan with a number of tall buildings and offices and the city still has a number of years to go before it really looks anything close to a modernized city. Many buildings, including those of Bollywood actors, need a fresh lick of paint and many buildings need to be demolished to make room for skyscrapers. I saw lots of run-down buildings even in the very expensive part of Mumbai. There were also many scaffolds that look like rectangular ladders patched together since there were no planks whatsoever for construction workers to walk on.

All apartment buildings lack a fire-escape; windows are barred...not sure the reason for this but people use this to dry their clothes and to provide cover from the sun.

We had to wait in line for about 30 minutes to go see a 3D movie theatre. The theatre and the seats, in my opinion, were probably 20 years outdated. The Nehru museum was also pretty lame and really can’t be compared to any science museums in the US. There was a 30 minute video on a round screen (very much like the California Science Academy in SF but much smaller). The video again seems like it was made 20 years ago: there were westerners having 80s and 90s hairdo.

 I am not exaggerating when I say that Indian people do not sweat even in temperatures that are in the upper 90s into the 100s. This thermal vision proves my point. While I stepped in, my neck and parts of my body had patches of blue which showed that the sweat was cooling my body. On the other hand, Indian people actually absorbed all the heat...I am not kidding when I say this. Their head and entire body were orange and even though I tried very hard to detect any blue patches, I could not find any. It's quite an incredible feat. Indian men do not wear any hats to protect their heads and faces from the sun. And here I am trying to protect every part of my body from the UV rays. My legs have been so tanned from wearing shorts that now I'm not gonna go outdoors without wearing a dhoti that covers all of my legs and a long sleeve shirt. I still need to buy a big hat that covers all of my face instead of the orange baseball cap.

Prince of Wales museum is by far the best museum I've seen so far

Two very redeeming places in Mumbai was the Prince of Wales museum which have some incredible Buddhist statues and many other priceless Indian artifacts. The entry fee was a whopping 350 rupees and to take any pictures I needed to shell out another 200 rupees for a photography permit. I didn’t bother because our tour only spent half an hour for that place. I wish we hadn’t wasted two and a half hours at the Nehru planetarium and lame 3D theatre. However, as my housemates informed me, even though I hardly find it interesting, all of those places were definitely new to many ppl who come to visit Mumbai for the first time...b/c you can't find them anywhere else in India. 

A family going about having lunch despite their surroundings.

 I like how carefree families can be; they just plop down anywhere and have lunch while others were hustling and bustling around them. My group were standing in line to get on the ferry. We took a 40 minute ferry ride around Mumbai’s bay. Even though I understood nothing what the young guide was saying in Hindi, I enjoyed the slow ferry ride very much and the warm breeze blowing and cooling my body.

Gate of India...where we waited in line for the ferry.

 After that we went to a small park and then to Juhu beach where there were lots of people. While waiting for the bus to come and pick our party back to the dropping point, I spotted a group of kids drawing in the sand oblivious to everything around them. Both girls realized that I wanted to take a picture and they were very curious. Every time I clicked, they all swarmed around me to see the picture and got even more excited when I showed it to them. Finally I wanted to take a picture of the entire group and it was nice to see how the boys all got into the picture quite nicely. 

This one is a keeper!

This Mumbai trip made me realize that I didn’t come to India to see tall buildings or science museums...there are plenty of that at home. However, the beauty and simplicity of Indian children and their happy faces made this whole trip worthwhile.

I had a great time staying with the boys in the group. Indian's hospitality is really something to experience firsthand. I've never seen any group ppl that are so kind and welcoming, but then my Mumbai housemates cautioned that I should really have to be careful b/c in some parts of India where poverty is rampant it can be very dangerous for women and men.

Day 10-11 (May 25-26, 2011)

Yesterday, I had a class with Aradhana who is actually very sick for the past several days. Not sure whether she has a really bad cold or something else, but her voice is very hoarse. She might have been feverish two or three days ago as well; however, she's been very dedicated to me and I in turn have been doing a lot of learning on my own. We still have a lot of grounds to cover b/c she is still trying to figure out what level I'm at and how she can help me improve during the two and a half months that I'll be in Pune. The focus will almost be entirely on grammar which is a good thing because I can ask her any grammatical questions I have (and I certainly have quite a lot) and she will explain to me.

I've been stuck in the apartment for the past 4 days, not because I didn't want to go out, but I needed some time to settle down a little and take it easy. All my housemates go to the work so I have the entire apartment to myself. Vaibhav leaves at 9:00 and gets back at around 6:30. Bhavesh leaves at 9:30 and usually gets back at 7 or 8. Abhik and Vikas leave at noon and don't usually get back until 11:00 pm. By that time, I'm already in bed so I hardly get to talk to Vikas or Abhik until morning.

Even though I've been inside, the heat is something that I need to get used to. By 3 pm, Pune can get up to the upper 90s, and I have to soak my shirt with water to cool myself and that's just being inside. But next week, I will explore Pune. Aradhana suggested that I should go to the Bhandarkar Research Center or the Sanskrit Center at the University of Pune instead of staying in the apartment. Because I live quite far from the center of Pune, I'm gonna have my housemates drop me off on their way to work.

On Friday, I will head to Mumbai for two and a half days. I will take a bus in the afternoon and stay with one of Vikas' friend. He really wanted me to save money in Mumbai which can be a notoriously expensive city. Some parts can go up to $300/night; the cheapest budget hotel would cost me at least 1000 rupee/night. Vikas told me that his friend said that Mumbai right now is hot and humid--a double whammy. I definitely want to take a tour bus around the city on Saturday, do some sight-seeing/shopping on Sunday and then head back to Pune Sunday evening. That would be good.

Today May 26, 2011, a sudden thunderstorm struck Pune and our apartment was flooded in about 15 minutes. Vaibhav and I had to use bed sheets to soak up the water and then wring out the water into buckets. I asked Vaibhav whether this was the beginning of the monsoon but he said that it was a little too early. Nonetheless, it really was scary...I saw a pole being struck (not sure whether it was hit by lightning or not, but there were sparks and then it fell followed by people screaming.) This is just way too close for comfort--not sure how the woman who was so close to the pole felt, but I was hella scared even though I was inside and ten story up. The lightnings were very frequent almost one every 10-15 seconds. I tried capturing the purple-lit sky but had little luck.

The storm was crazy...didn't dare to venture out for a pic.

Doesn't look like much water...but it wrought plenty of havoc.

This was the closest that I got to capture a lightning.

You know in India, almost everyone can cook except for me, and I think it’s going to be good for me to at least spend some time watching the servants prepare lunch and dinner. I told my housemates that you can save a lot of money in America if you know how to cook delicious meals otherwise you’re stuck w/ going out to eat all the time and that can be very costly. So honestly, I have much to learn from people who do domestic work in our apartment than from my roommates who are all software engineers.

Day 9 (May 24, 2011)

Today the weather in Pune got up to 34C which is about 95 F. That is actually much cooler than other parts of India. My roommates told me that Pune is actually one of two cities that is desirable to be in during the hot summer; I forgot what the other city was. I also checked the temperatures in other cities: Varanasi was like 106F, Mumbai was about 100F but humidity is 66%, Agra (Taj Mahal) was like 111-113F and Mathura the other unbearable city that I was in last week was about the same w/ high humidity. The temperature in Pune was bearable but I had to really soak my shirt w/ water at 3 in the afternoon to cool down my body--even though I was inside the whole time. The apartment lacks air condition.

The whole day was spent studying Sanskrit and catching up on the news. I subscribe to the digital edition of the UK Guardian. My roommates depend on me as a source of information. I haven’t read much of Indian politics other than the fact that the country is trying to play catch up with China for oil in Africa. India imports 70% of its oil. I have said this before and I’ll say it again: India has the talent but lack the will-power to get anything done efficiently.

Because I am holed up in the apartment for most of the week, every weekend I am planning to travel around India. This weekend (sometime Friday afternoon, I will take a 3 hour bus ride to Mumbai. My roommates still need to help me make arrangements. In Mumbai, I will probably go to the Ajanta and Ellora caves which have really beautiful Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain statues. The plan is to go there on Saturday and explore Mumbai on Sunday and head home. At first I wanted to spend just one weekend in Ajanta and Ellora, but Vikas recommended that I should spend just one day instead of an entire weekend.

 Today I found out that Ranjeet is in his late 20s...was it 29? He got married when he was 25, and he has a wife and two children back home in Bihar...both are very young-- one is a year and a half and the other is probably about two and a half. For lunch he made some really good dosas, much better than the one I had at the restaurant for brunch on Sunday. The dosas was crunchy and tasty. He’ll be gone for ten days for his brother-in-law’s wedding and in his place is a woman who will come only in the evening to cook us dinner. What am I going to do for lunch?

Yummy! Crusts very well done.

 Here in India, Ranjeet is the domestic servant, and it is this part of India that I find unattractive and very uncomfortable with. Unless it’s my mom, I am not used to anyone serving me or cleaning after my mess. As an American, I feel that there is something fundamentally wrong to have another human being who I considered as an equal be my servant. As a Buddhist, I feel very guilty to have someone serve me when it should be the other way around...I’ve always been taught that we are born to serve others, not to be attended upon as if we’re masters.

I also tried explaining to my roommates that in America, unless you make tons of money, you are expected to clean after yourself...b/c surely no one is going to clean after you. If you want dinner, you either make it yourself or go out. Unless you live with your family or at home with your parents, no one is going to clean after your mess. But here in India, it is entirely opposite. Here a woman comes everyday to wash our clothes, dishes, and sweep the house. She spends an hour everyday in the apartment cleaning after our mess. She also has other houses that she goes to as well, and my roommate said that despite doing all of this, she makes less than $250/month which is hardly enough to live on.

I still need to read much more on Gandhi and his beliefs, but I think that he was also very much against domestic servants. In the movie, he even forced his wife to clean the privy and when his wife refused and said that it was beneath her to do so and that such work was for the Untouchables, he almost threw her out of his house. I think that it is safe to say that discrimination is widespread in India. Servants tend to be darker skin; I have yet to see a light-skinned servant. You have light-skinned airplane attendants who come from upper-class families and my roommates told me that you will rarely see dark-skinned Bollywood actresses and that if you do, they mainly play the villains. India still has a long way to go in terms of social equality.

Day 7-8: Brunch & First Sanskrit lesson

 I live on the 10th floor which is the top floor of the apartment building and there are two rather nice balcony which get really breezy. This morning I spent an hour in meditation listening to Durga’s recording of the Sanskrit sabdas. My goal for this summer is to memorize all 160 plus sabdas (the vowels and the consonants). It will be challenging but if I know all the sabdas, it will take me closer to my goal.

view from the other balcony (ppl washing clothes)

After meditation, we went out for brunch somewhere in Pune. It seems like motorbike will be my means of transportation if I’m going out with my housemates--it’s fast and fun. Cars are really only available for the upper-class Indians. To demonstrate their point, they asked me how much would a used Honda cost in America. I gave them an estimate of around 8-13 thousand. In India, however, the same car would cost 50,000 dollars. India is trying to discourage its citizens from driving--gas costs roughly about 6 dollars/gallon. We did the conversion b/c gas sold in India is by the liter and not by gallon.

always a line at the gas station

had some really good dosas here

The road in Pune is much better than that in Delhi--it’s wider and not a whole lot of traffic. There are a lot of apartment buildings too all over Pune and the city right now is growing very fast because of the IT sector.

We went out for brunch at a local place and I shared dosa with one of my housemate. The dosas were very tasty. It’s made by some kind of flour that has been deep-fried and inside it are very tasty potatoes. All of us had a good time...they helped me with some Hindi words. Turns out that one of my housemate is going back home to pursue a business degree. He wants to become an investor, previously he was a software engineer. He has about 4-5 bags and he’s taking a bus which I think will take about 2 days. After brunch, we went for a juice stand where I had mango juice which is aum in hindi. God it was good. There are different types of mangoes which can be as costly as it is in the US. The alfonso mango is the costliest. It can go a little over than a dollar for one.

The mango in India is really juicy, sweet, and tasty

God, last night was a total disaster. My roommate and I were eaten alive by mosquitoes. It was so bad that he had to get up half past midnight and started spraying insect repellant. We also closed the doors to the balcony. I am seriously gonna have to take the doxycycline medication religiously now that I’m here in Pune--really don’t want to get malaria in India. The problem is that the temperature in Pune is rather nice and temperate than in Delhi, and the apartment is right next to a lake, with stagnant water that locals use to wash clothes which is a breeding ground for mosquitoes. I had like at least 10 bites on my right arm and it itched like hell during the night. I feel much better now.

 Every Sunday there is a supermarket outside the apartment. Local farmers from surrounding areas come to sell their food.

Monday 5/23/2011

Vikas showed me how to make chai tea yesterday so this morning when I got up before 6, I made some chai for myself. It was good but I still need some practice. Since I have been in India, I haven’t had any coffee...no Peets or anything. I sipped a little bit from Shalmali, the girl who I sat next to on the plane to Pune but other than that, I haven’t found a need for coffee. Dehydration is a major problem for me, but I have read somewhere that coffee in India is nothing to rave about.

Aradhana with her daughter (before lesson)

 Again this morning after my morning sabda meditation I got ready for my first class with Aradhana. I actually asked her to reduce the fees for me because 15000 rupee was a little too much for my budget. We agreed on 12,000 which is a good price for both of us and my rent is 8000, so that means I pay $500/month for both lessons, room and board, which allow me to set aside some money for traveling on the weekends.

She finally decided that Samkya karika was not good for me at my level and so we are reading simple prose books in Sanskrit. It looks manageable enough. She also gave me 4 English sentences that I have to write into Sanskrit. Our next meeting will be on Wednesday in the morning at 9 o’clock. The 4 English to Sanskrit: 1. Always speak the truth. 2. Which is the best boy? 3. Don’t speak harshly. 4. My name is Quang. I’ve been pressing her to find me sanskrit recordings of sabdas and hopefully I can get my hands on them soon.

All of my housemates went off to work today. Some went at 8:30 and others at noon. Vaibhav came back, had lunch, took a nap...and did not go back to work. The concept of time and daily routine can be strange at times. Then again, Indian IT workers a lot of times have to work around American and European hours. But he told me later in the evening that he he didn’t sleep well last night b/c of the mosquitoes and felt like he needed to take a half-day off. He also said that once workers met their monthly quota, they don’t even have to come into the office.

 Renjeet, our wonderful cook who also lives in the apartment will be away for 10 days. He's going to Bihar for a wedding. We have a woman who will be cooking for us while he's away.

You can't beat food made at home

   

I’ve been studying for the past couple of hours, and while studying I noticed that there were power cuts throughout the day. I’m not sure what the reason is. Usually it would be out for a period of thirty minutes but sometimes it felt like it lasted for several hours. Couldn’t use the internet or charge my laptop.

Pune is a very nice change from Delhi. There are tall apartment buildings and new condos. There are, however, still slums on the outskirts of our apartment building. I wish that someday everyone in India can live in apartment buildings and have the same basic comforts that everyone is entitled to have.

Day 6: Meeting my Sanskrit teacher, Dr. Aradhana Tiwari

In India, no one washes their own clothes or clean their own houses, but the houses are  super-clean. There are two domestic maids: one is a man probably in his early or mid 30s who is in charge of cooking meals for the entire house and the other is a Marathi woman who doesn’t speak any English or Hindi but the local state language. She cleans the house on the weekends and washes our clothes, the man cleans the house everyday on the weekdays and cooks really good food for all of us. Before I leave Pune, I have to make sure to give them a good tip for taking care of me. I told my housemates that in the west domestic maids are unheard of. Everyone does their own laundry and cleans their own houses unless you happen to be an upper-middle class family. And about class status, I really gave them a good education in the American class system. I think that they really appreciated the fact that I was able to answer all of their questions and more. In turn they taught me a good many things about modern Indian society.

My housemates actually drink and smoke usually in the morning and then in the evening, sometimes in the afternoon; they rarely chain-smoke. They asked me if I drink, but I said no because even in the States I don’t do any alcohol. They are not rowdy or anything so don’t worry about my safety. They are very nice folks who come from middle-class families. They said that in India the government makes it hard for people to buy liquor because they impose a high tax, but that makes Indian want to drink more, not less.

I'm still learning my housemates names.

There are like 7 ppl in this flat including myself.

I also met my teacher Aradhana today and talked with her for about an hour and a half. She told me a good many things about herself. She has two children: one boy and one girl and her husband is a solar energy salesman. He wasn’t at home when I came since he was traveling to see a state minister about some solar energy plans. She lived in Abu Dhabi for about 6 years while her husband was working there and regretted the fact that she wasn’t able to study Sanskrit during that time because she had to take care of her children. Finally she complained to her husband about the lack of mental food for her in Abu Dhabi so the family has moved back to Pune where she is now working at the Bhandarkar Oriental Research.

 Her approach to teaching me Sanskrit, which is yet to be seen, is probably going to be quite different than my sanskrit teacher, Durga Pisharam who is back in the States. I will be meeting her 3 times a week in which 2 days are devoted to grammar, I don’t remember what the third day will be. She seems to be very insistent on teaching me Samkya Karika, a philosophical work that she specializes in. I asked her if it’s possible for us to finish the book that I was reading with Durga because I am so close to finishing it but she simply said that I should finish it with Durga. She said that she will be my guide but I will have to do the walking which I am well aware of. I told her that my goal for the summer is to have memorized all the sabdas (declension of all noun paradigms, there are about 160 of them in Sanskrit) this summer. She told me that it was not necessary. The important thing is to read and keep on reading, and practice, practice, practice. I will try and find out what she meant by that. The pay for her is quite expensive--15,000 rupees for a month worth’s of class which is equivalent to $375/month a bargain for one on one class but still very steep since I only see her for an hour three times a week. However, she told me that if I have any questions whatsoever, I can always call her. I need to find out whether there are any Sanskrit recording for the sabdas because that’s how I memorize many of the paradigms, by listening to the recitations by Durga. I really have faith in the rigorous methods that Durga forced me to do when I was studying with her. The methods was brute memorization which is extremely helpful and I need to continue to do that while I am here for 2 months. But I will try to be open-minded to Aradhana’s methods because she will be teaching me grammar which I have learned half-assed at Berkeley. The grammar in Sanskrit is very complex, and even Durga herself never started grammar with me because I was not ready until I have learned some of the basics--hence my skepticism. Durga also told me that if nothing else, I should remember to enjoy India...because that’s why I’m here. I haven’t forgotten those words.

Women sit sideways when riding a motorbike, not men.

Today, I actually went on a really fun motorbike with my housemate, Vikas, a really nice dude. Man, at first it looks scary as hell but it’s quite safe. He’s a good driver, but without any helmets and protective gear...an accident could be deadly. I wonder how many motorbike related accidents in India?

Vikas from Bihar...very nice and funny roomate

 We drove around town, went to a mid-price restaurant and shared a mutton masala with very good rice. The mutton was delicious. The atmosphere was nice, not too many people which kinda sux...I was kinda on the lookout for cute Indian girls. I wanted to buy more shirts and dhotis. We went to Fab India which I think is equivalent to the Gap or Banana Republic, bought a kurta (an Indian shirt) there. Then we went to a kind of pop-trendy store that surprisingly sells dhotis. I bought one set which has two dhotis in it. Then the workers there helped me put it on. None of my housemates know how to wear a dhoti. Unlike the lungi that I was wearing earlier which is a like a dress for men, a dhoti is like wearing very loose pajamas like slacks. It wraps around the waist and legs---very comfortable than the other type of pajamas styles which hugs tight to the legs and thighs. The only problem is I need to learn how to put them on.

They cut the set into two dhotis all for the price of 650 rupees.

Two men help me put it on...they did it fast.

 

The finished product! I luv it.

Someday I'm gonna master wearing a dhoti

Oh, one more thing...because I will be stuck in Pune for most of the summer, I will definitely want to travel outside of Pune on my weekends--maybe even take a three day weekend every week to go somewhere new. Otherwise it really won’t be much of a vacation or very fun if I were stuck in this apartment for the entire summer. So definitely every week, I will plan out a trip around India.

Day 5: Flight to Pune

So I flew to Pune this morning. The same driver who picked me up from the airport when I arrived in Delhi was the one who dropped me off. The night before he said he was going to come at 5 in the morning and then all of a sudden I saw him waiting for me at 4:30 asking whether I was ready to leave. From my experience, it is highly unusual that Indians will say one thing and not stick to it. Even my companion to the airport, a 19 year old girl from England who was flying to Kerala, thought it a little strange that he came and asked if we were ready at 4:30 when the appointed time was 5. Well, I rushed and put everything in my pack and made sure I had my wallet, money belt, and passport--then we were on our way.

The drive to the airport was pleasant. Jessica, the 19 year old Brit, has been spending 6 months in India teaching English at a hospital in Hyderabad. She told me that in Britain, the country let students take one year off after high school to travel before they go to college. She had some interesting perspectives on India. She said that the things that make her like India also turns her off as well. I asked her about the whole poverty issue and how it affects women. She said that in India, women could find work but some choose not to. I’m not sure if I actually believe that--I find it hard to believe that anyone can make enough by begging alone.

The check in at the domestic terminal was definitely a sight. The airport looked really nice compared to the lame international one. I remember how the international one didn’t even have air-condition. About India, there is really no such thing as getting in line...it is almost a free-for-all mad rush. There is no such thing as “excuse me,” if you want to pass around someone. So Indians will often cut ahead of me if I lag even for a split second. It is really frustrating because in the West we consider anyone who does that as completely rude and lacking in all manners and propriety. I think that this is one virtue in the west that I am proud of having.

Oh and the fly to Pune, I decided to wear my dhoti because I had no clean clothing. It looks really nice except for the fact that I was the only westerner who was wearing it. While walking in a dhoti, I kind of have to walk slow and almost deliberately. I also had to lift the dhoti somewhat otherwise my strides would have been too small and unnatural. Some people were amused, I’m not sure why. I actually ended up talking to this unpleasant woman who I was sitting next to me and she asked me why I was wearing such clothing and I told her that I like the look of it. She said that I must be kidding. I told her no, it’s actually quite pleasant than wearing jeans in temperatures that were searingly hot. It is in fact the most comfortable piece of dress for men in hot temperatures. Luckily for me, the other person who was sitting next to me was a 16 year old girl from Pune who was not critical but actually curious about me as a westerner and the culture in general. We had a long and pleasant conversation about everything--from her trip with her grandmother to some interesting aspects of Indian culture that I did not know.

She told me how the flight attendants were mainly young good-looking girls who wear lots of make-up which is contrary to Indian culture. She also says that the flight attendants usually come from an upper-class background b/c they are the ones who can actually afford the expensive training. As you can see I was surprised b/c it shows to me some aspects of inequality in India. I asked her why Indians look up to western culture so much and she said it was the luxurious life style that we lived in the west. I then asked her if Indians look up to western culture, then why don’t they also adopt all of our lifestyles, i.e. cosmetics and such. She said something that I noticed many times before but now understood. She pointed out how she herself does not wear any make-up because Indians don’t believe that beauty is only from the outside. She told me that’s why foreign investment in cosmetics is not doing so well in India.She said that the glamor of Las Vegas interest Indians (but maybe not the real Vegas). She asked me why people put on make-up of which I told her that it is to make them beautiful. A lot of times people work in professions that require them to put on a little of make-up. But also adolescent girls put on make up to look attractive if they want to flirt and go on dates. The concept of flirting was entirely new to her. She said that her mother would give her hell if she found out that she was flirting with another boy and that the entire family has one closet where all the clothing and shoes of everyone would be stored in (I believe she falls into the middle class). She said that she has about 3 pairs of pants and that women would have 1-2 saris in which they wear. I told her that, in the west, however, each person has a closet with tons of clothes, and a lot of times they don’t have just 1 or 2 pairs of shoes but 4-5. It all surprised her very much. So even though Indians look up to western culture with men wearing pants and long-sleeve shirts, most still keep to tradition (which is nice IMO).

 Delhi is just a very smoggy and polluted city. I don’t know really what the cause of this is  but it probably comes from the fact that they burn everything--plastic bottles, trash, every imaginable thing you can think of. Flying domestic in India is really only for the middle-class and upper-class and not for the “common man” as the saying goes.

the visibility is terrible!

And the interesting thing about flying domestic in India is that there are in between stops. So before I landed in Pune, the plane landed in Aurangabad, a place which I will probably go visit because of the Ajanta caves which is full of Buddhist statues and cave paintings. When we landed in Aurangabad, almost half of the passenger on the plane left, and then another half would board. The crazy thing about it was that people were actually walking on the runway which is unheard of--granted it was a mid-size plane that carried about 180-200 ppl.

The trip to Pune was easy, met my rickshaw driver who came and picked me up to where I will be staying for most of the summer. Turns out that I’ll be living close to my Sanskrit teacher, but the area is very far from central Pune so I have to either take the bus or rickshaw to the center. I was kinda bum out that I’ll be sharing a house with like 5 other guys and actually share a room--all for $200. Everything is provided including good home-cooked meals prepared by a servant who also lives in the flat. My house-mates are cool--all are software engineers which are a dime a dozen here in India.

Day 4: A reflection of India

Today was my rest day since I am getting ready to fly to Pune to meet my Sanskrit teacher Dr. Aradhana Tiwari. I did not travel but spent the morning with my new friend Prasanna who took the train to Kampur to visit his dad who works there as a project manager while his mom lives and works in Chennai. From him I learned that lots of Indians travelled to where work is even if it means that they are separated from their families for long periods of time. Prasanna’s dad has been living in Kampur for a couple of years. With his help, I was able to get a mobile phone. We then spent a good hour or so talking about India, it’s social problems and political corruption.
 

around Connaught Place

Ever since, I got back from my trip to Agra and Mathura, one question has been bothering me lately. How can India ever be great, when many of its people suffer from the unspeakable misery of poverty? Why doesn’t it invest in infrastructure? It really needs to modernize its country. A great country would have decent and sanitary places for its people to live in, unfortunately Delhi has very few of that. I would like to see the work that was put in to build the Taj Mahal on every block and intersection of India. As a matter of fact, India doesn’t even have cross-walk or traffic lights so crossing from one sidewalk to another is like putting your life in someone else’s hands. I’ve seen a handful of people who limp while they walk and I wonder if it has anything to do with getting hit by a rickshaw or car. How is it that a country that build such a beautiful work of art like the Taj cannot use its manpower to build houses and condos for its people to live in? Most of the buildings in Delhi are in totally dilapidated condition. You have people peeing, shitting, and dumping all sorts of things on the streets because there is no concept whatsoever of throwing things in a trash can. There are no trash cans in India. At first I thought Indians were immune to their own unfiltered water, but it turned out that they suffer just like me if the water is unfiltered. Everyday I see plastic waste and people burning plastics and all other sorts of garbage. Why can’t they invest in a water filtration system that makes water safe to drink for everyone so that Indians themselves don’t have to worry about drinking tap. It is because they know they’ll get sick that’s why they purchase bottled water. India has the manpower but I doubt that they have the will to put anything into action. There are many brilliant people in India, but I have yet to witness the country harnessing the potential of its talented people. Maybe India  could be more like China with its authoritarian regime--at least things will get done.

I love India, its wisdom, religion, philosophy, and the famous people that have come from that tradition (i.e. Buddha, Gandhi). But when I saw a beautiful mother who had to beg for a few rupees to feed herself and her daughter, it literally drove me off the wall. I spotted her outside of my hotel, at first I didn’t realize that she was a beggar until I saw her open her hands and gesturing her hands into her mouth. I looked at her, and then walked into the hotel, but for a split second realized that there was something absolutely wrong about my action...I walked back out gave her 20 rupees and asked if I could take a few pictures of her and her toddler. I then showed them the photo and I think she liked it really much. If my Yolanda was here, I daresay that she would give all the money she has to the poor people of India on the first day. If only I could have a tenth of the generosity that my Yolanda possesses--but I am torn between not going broke but also practicing generosity--an absolute virtue in Buddhism and the reason why I have so much admiration and love for Yolanda, who is probably the most generous person I have ever known despite not making a lot of money herself. I hope that 20 rupees was enough...I’ve seen other people who give much less.

She looks happy despite her poverty. How?

Staying outside in Delhi all day is asking for trouble because of the unbearable heat. So I’ve learned to take a number of breaks by going inside an air-conditioned room, take a break, cool down the body, and then head out again. Before I left Delhi, I wanted to go to their central area which is called Connaught Place, the central part of Delhi. Connaught has a number of shops but I don’t think it’s that many--maybe less than 50. I had a late lunch at a pretty bad food court...maybe I ordered something totally un-appetizing and here I got to see middle-class Indians. It was nice to sit in an air-conditioned place for an hour because once I left, the temperature must have been 47 C--it was hot as hell and I was sweating all over again in less than a minute. I went to one of the Palikar Bazaar, an underground market place and was really surprised that I couldn’t find any shop that could sell me a dhoti (a garment that is almost exactly like a bed sheet but use to wrap around the legs for men). The shops were either selling saris or shawls and they wanted me to buy one for myself or my girlfriend. I thought it must be mad for me to be wearing shawls in temperatures that is hot beyond belief.

Indian men for some reason do not wear dhotis or any of traditional dress these days, however, women still wear saris on a daily basis. But men either wear  blue or black jeans and a collared button long sleeve shirts. I’m not sure if I understand why they have such a dislike for their own clothes. Does it come from some low-self esteem of their traditional clothing? This reminds me of a scene from Attenborough’s epic “Gandhi” in which he explains why he renounced western clothing:

“I tried to live like an Indian as you see (he was wearing a traditional dhoti-kurta) it’s stupid of course b/c in our country it is the British who decides how an Indian lives--what he may buy, what he may sell and from their luxury in the midst of our terrible poverty they instruct us on what is justice and what is sedition, so it’s only natural that our best young minds assume an air of eastern dignity.”

Furthermore, Durga my sanskrit teacher said dhoti is a lot more comfortable than wearing pants in temperature that is in the 100s. I also read in the guide that Indians do not understand why westerners like to wear shorts because that’s considered to be the dress for lower-caste people. Well there is no way in hell am I going to be wearing jeans in India, and I only brought one pair of shorts and a pair of cotton plaid pants from home. I got a few responses from merchants who think I must be mad to want to wear a dhoti because no one else really wears them. Here I am trying to escape western culture to embrace an eastern one and being thought of as strange. So I headed home and fortunately the Main Bazaar where I was staying got some pretty good dhotis for 200 rupees...a bargain, but not too many selections. I’ll definitely check out where to buy them once I get settled in Pune.

This man give me some much needed practice in haggling

I booked a flight to Pune through my hotel and that cost me a fortune. Man the first week in Delhi is already costing me way too damn much. But I have learned a few lessons that I will probably not repeat once I come back to India next summer. The flight to Pune is at 7:15 am and I’m getting picked up at 5 am.

I gave to this boy's mom some 40 rupees...she was in a really bad condition and she had some kind of nasty scar on her knee. The boy began to follow me with heads down and hands in the air mumbling something of which I didn't understand. I think he was also asking me for some rupees. He walked with me for like 5 minutes while I patted his head wanting him to leave me. Finally I thought maybe I should take a picture of him as well. I didn't realize he has such beautiful eyes because he always had his head down. He was still kind of looking downwards and confused when I wanted to take a picture of him. Finally he looked up when I asked him to smile in Hindi, and behold a truly beautiful smile. Again I showed him a picture of himself and he soon left after that. Hmm...I wonder what happened between us?

Day 3: A terrible bus ride to Agra

I had to wake up at 5 in the morning for the trip to Agra. Having slept for 3 hours last night, I thought about canceling the trip altogether but decided that I should go since I might not have another chance this summer. Let me just summed up the entire day in brief: it was too long, too hot, and by the time I got back to my hotel at 2 am, I almost hated the entire trip. The manager warned that it’s possible that I won’t get back until 2 but I thought he meant we will leave Agra at about 8 or 9 pm and get back at 2. Instead we left Agra at 5 pm to go to Mathura (the holy birth place of Krsna). There, my God we had to stop at 3 important places in Mathura and stayed in each place for about an hour. We did not head back until way after 10 and did not arrive in Delhi until 1:40 in the morning.

The bus ride was awfully painful because it was very bumpy. I hit my head twice on the top of the bus (one was so hard that I thought I was going to get a concussion). We didn’t have any AC because one passenger had to have the window open. She suffered from some kind of tuberculosis or something--she was coughing non-stop and she sat in front of me. The temperature in Agra hovered to 47 C midday. But riding on the bus gave me a view of India that was almost unbearable to watch since it was much much worse than Delhi. The trip to Mathura which is located before Agra was too painful and indescribable. I did not take any pictures because it was really that hard for me to be reminded at how much suffering there was along the highways to Mathura. The place was like a dump, piles of trash and waste littered in every part. I saw smoke and pollution, kids sleeping underneath highway ramps early morning whose clothes were made of rags, and a lot of people living in shacks. I saw small lakes and small channels of water that were polluted beyond belief and people working in the hot sun and sometimes it was just unbearable to watch. There were so many people clustered together.

The bus ride to Agra took forever. We suffered in the hot bus and I tried cooling myself by sprinkling some water to wet my shirt. We did not get there until 1 pm, and I couldn’t find anyone to talk to, definitely felt like an outsider. Actually on the way back, I actually struck up a good conversation with a beautiful newly married woman from Karnataka. Her name was Sarita and she and her husband have been married for one week, and they’ve been traveling ever since. Both husband and wife are software engineers. We talked about American life and why I wanted to go to India. She asked me about America and gave me an understanding why Indians look up to western cultures. But I reassured that while we have big buildings and such, we could use more spirituality in our culture. She then asked me what is it about India that I like so far and the first thing that came up was the dresses that women wear in India I told her how much I appreciate the culture but that this trip showed me a part of India that was too hard to stomach. She sighed softly as if she understood what I was saying. With the exception for Sarita and one other man, no one else knew enough English and so it was hard to communicate. I only wished that I had talked to Sarita earlier on the trip.

luckily I applied quite a bit of sunscreen...but my face was a little burned nonetheless.

 Agra was by far the expensive tour to date. It costs 750 rupees for foreigners but quite honestly it is worth all the rupees if I had more time to enjoy the Taj. As a foreigner, I was given a private tour guide who took me to a restaurant that was a bargain for westerners but actually quite expensive for Indians. The food was super good and it was just great to relax in an AC restaurant when it was roasting outside. It was well worth it, I even told my guide that I would probably pay a fortune to eat food this good in the West--so no regrets. Next he took me a clothing shop where I had to shell out more rupees to buy a kurta and dhoti. Man, it seems like no one knows what I’m talking about when I tell them I am looking for a mundu which is the Kerala version of a dhoti. Next, he brought me to a place where they made marble crafts using the same technique that was done for the Taj. There I saw an artist painstakingly at work to produce something that must take at least 40 hours or more. He gave me a private instruction to how decorations on the marble were done...again a priceless experience but I was encouraged to buy something from the shop, I completely declined.
 

Awesome paneer w/ cheese. very tasty

Not sure if this shop was meant to scam me or not--looks real tho.

It was already 3 when we had done all of this and everyone had to be back on the bus by 5. That leaves me less than a couple of hours to enjoy the Taj. I demanded that my guide take me to the Taj immediately and he was very willing to do that. His advised was to avoid the Taj at noon when the sun is high up when the conditions become unbearable which is true. So it was either before 6 in the morning or 5 or later in the evening. We were at the Taj at 3 and the heat was just unbearable but it was well worth it. God, that structure is so divine. I only wish that all of India was like the Taj, but it is wishful thinking. I told my guide that I want to appreciate this very moment because I know that it is the only chance that I will get this summer. We stayed there for about an hour before we head back to the bus.


 The Taj was well worth it and I didn’t mind the ride to get there. But nothing prepared me for the trip to Mathura. I thought we were heading home after Agra but unfortunately there was like a 4-5 hour detour to Mathura. While on the way, I was thinking when the monsoon was going to hit India, and then only five minutes later, my wish came true.

 All of a sudden I saw trees swirling in the breeze. There were clouds of dust. I was surprised how powerful the wind was. By this time, the woman who was suffering from TB closed her window and so it was quite nice and cool on the bus. I thought it was probably like that as well but was I wrong. Our bus passed a truck where a bunch of young men jumping and singing for joy with the strong gust. And then all of sudden, really powerful storms swept the area of Agra. Some streets were flooded instantly, but the rain did not last long. I guess this was a sign of things to come.

Men shouted for joy. I wonder what the temperature was like?

 We stopped in Mathura where I noticed how hot and humid it really was. The rain did not bring coolness, but really bad humidity. It was completely unbearable. At first I wanted to go with my tour to Krsna birthplace but instead walked straight back to the bus because they did not allow cameras and you have to check your bag. I felt uncomfortable leaving my stuff on the bus or check it in--and besides I was way too exhausted for anything else. The heat of Agra and having slept for a few hours sapped all of my energy. Every stop that my tour made completely drained my spirit, they stayed for an hour at each site. And the terrible thing about it was that there were like 4-5 stops...it was really really bad.

This trip felt like it was completely walking off the beaten path and into something totally knew and scary territory. Because I was the only westerner in this place, I thought that at the end of the trip my tour was going to sacrifice me to Lord Krsna, which was a terrible thought but that’s how bad my mental state was. I was too tired to want to do anything. But really even though this was a terribly bad day, I’ve still learned so much already. And the bus ride while uncomfortable showed me an unattractive side of India that probably could not have been seen on a train or plane.