Gaju does Bombay

Gaju came to visit us in Mumbai for 2 days. After going through culture shock in small town India, and having to adjust... it was really interesting to see Gaju go through culture shock in the city. Shocked at the way people dress. Shocked at riding in taxis and not rickshaws.

On his first day here, we met him at a bagel shop that caters to the western crowd. After sitting down for a bit, he seemed to get comfortable. He ate a bagel with cream cheese. Then, he leans over, and says "Woman smoke?!?" pointing at a lady two tables over who was smoking a cigarette. It was the first time he had seen a woman smoke in public.

He rode on his first boat, and saw the ocean for the first time.

We went to a bar/restaurant for lunch, and a French woman with a design shaved into her nearly bald head walks in. Gaju was shocked by her hair cut. Then, she lit up a pipe.
He just laughed.

We did touristy things, like going to see the Gate of India. Checking out the Taj Mahal Hotel. Driving down Marine Drive. We gave him a choice of going on a tour of the nearby Elephanta caves or going to see a Bollywood film. He chose Bollywood.

We went to see Taare Zameen Par, the latest film by my favorite actor, Aamir Khan. It was filmed in Mumbai, and there was one point where the movie showed a part of Mumbai that we had shown Gaju earlier, and he got really excited and started pointing. I think that now, when he sees a Bollywood movie, he will be looking to see if he knows any of the places it was shot.

For all of the good things that happened, there were also some minor conflicts. When Loren and Gaju got a hotel room, the guys at the hotel were beyond rude. They acted as if it was a problem for Gaju to stay there. He didn't have ID, and had a little trouble writing down all of his contact information. Then when we went back to the hotel, a second person was rude. It's amazing the prejudice that exists between the castes, between religions. Even getting a hotel is a problem. I just felt bad for Gaju, who already felt out of place, being treated like he wasn't worthy of a lame hotel.

We saw Gaju off at the train station, and the people in his car were confused and curious as to how we were friends.

french breakfast : crossaint, cafe au lait, cigarette

Our last few days in Umarkhed were special, and it became apparent that our friends in Umarkhed had become family over the last 5 months, and Umarkhed a home away from home. We left with overstuffed luggage and wet faces, and I wholeheartedly look forward to returning in the years to come.

We traveled for about 50 hours to get to Kerala, including a 37-hour train ride... which as horrible as that sounds, it forced us to rest, and we left the train feeling recharged.

We are on a beach south of Trivandrum, we've been here for about 5 days already, and have 5 more to go. It is so different from where we came from, I don't even feel like I'm in India anymore. There are more foreigners than Indians. Rather than a dusty haze covering everything, there is a sweet salt smell on the air. The air is moist, and the landscape green and lush, replete with palm trees. The internet is fast and the bathrooms have toilet paper. I can get food here that I haven't been able to get in months, like pizza, baked goods, french toast. I feel weird wearing my Punjabi dress here, as most people wear tank tops, bathing suits, and slacks.

Loren has started taking tabla lessons in Trivandrum, and it has been nice to get out of this tourist hell for a bit each day. It's also good to meet people who live here, and get a feel for the local culture.

Every day, we get phone calls from our friends in Umarkhed who are missing us, and its good to hear from them because we miss them too. I wish that they were here, seeing a beautiful part of their country. By the end of this trip, I will have seen more of India than any of my students have. It makes me feel really sad to know that the majority of our friends in Umarkhed have never seen the ocean, or a big city.

I have less than one month left in India, and I am both excited and terrified of returning to the US. Ready, but reluctant. The US is going to seem like a much different place. I think it will seem quiet, lonely, expensive and cold...

traces

We went to Nagpur Dec 20th to pick up the Gawandes at the airport, and did a good deal of meeting people, and a bit of shopping. The cities are so different from the rural parts of India. Nearly everyone speaks English. People definitely still notice us, but they stare less. Crowds of curious onlookers don't follow us around like they did when we first arrived in Umarkhed. Many people have relatives living in the US, and many have visited other countries.

We went to several Rotary International functions. One was held at a beautiful club on top of a hill with a grassy lawn. It had a regal feel to it, and while we sat, sipping cold drinks, being served gourmet food (including ice cream) while talking to doctors and scholars... one could barely notice the women walking to and fro in front of us, carrying 5 to 10 bricks on their heads at a time. In Umarkhed, the majority of people are poor, and it is wealth that stands out. It was interesting to experience the extreme disparity between wealth and poverty from the other side.

While photographing our Ultimate Frisbee tournament yesterday, and Povan, one of the players, stopped me to show me his wallet.



Safraj sat next to me on the couch tonight and whispered "I have a suprise present for you!" and gave me a laser pen key chain, with multiple tips, each with a different design. His older brother Mosin, whose teenage status is given away only by the mustache that is starting to grow and the periodic creaks in his speech that show that he is beginning that awkward transformation into manhood, was fascinated by the gift. He carefully tried out each of the designs, refusing to let me hold it until the batteries went dead. It made me feel as if I had been given something of great value.

I played English games with Kelly's class of young children from a nearby village, and I gave Safraj my business card. He pulled out his wallet, a simple piece of plastic, and put my card inside. The only other things that were in it were our photos.

I just received a note a few hours ago, handed to me by Gaju. He told me it was from Dinesh, one of my students who lives in the hostel on campus.

......

My dear Beth Ma'm

I am Dinesh from hostel I want to say one thing about Gaju who always takes your care. Before some time he told me about all you. He was weeping before some time. He said me he will miss all you for long time. He told me he is weeping always in our Hostel. Therefore please give him time for talk. When you leave Umarkhed then he will be so sad.

Your Gajanan
Your Dinesh

.......

a higher

I went on a hike this morning, and all that was once vivid green has turned brown. Some of the landscape has been burned by human hands, the rest shriveled by the lack of water in the winter season.

Our days left in Umarkhed are short numbered, and everything we do is covered with a blanket of sadness. Our friend Gaju, who works at the canteen at the college, has stopped coming with us to the guest house at night to play. One of my students told me that he is trying to forget us, because he cannot bare the thought of us leaving. He doesn't want to be left behind, so he is leaving us first.

I keep getting teary eyed every time someone starts talking about how much they will miss us. I don't think that they realize how much we will also miss them, and how much this experience has meant to us all. I got all choked up the other day at a gathering I was asked to speak at... and I had some of my boy students also in tears... I don't think the tears will really stop until we're gone.

I was at a beauty parlor with my friend and fellow teacher Kalyani the other day... and we were talking about suntans, and sunburns (which she had never heard of). They were talking about how beautiful fair skin is. I mentioned that I was shocked that people in India use products that bleach their skin to make it more fair, and started to tell them that women in the US go to tanning salons to make their skin darker. I even admitted to spending time on the roof of our house, lying in the sun. They were blown away! They had no idea that pale, pasty skin isn't considered to be beautiful everywhere, and think we're crazy for wanting to be darker.

Yesterday, surrounded by (at least) 20 girls and women, one taking bangles off of one hand and moving them to the other, another applying mendi to one hand... one touching my hair, one trying on my sunglasses.... somewhere in the middle of this chaotic scene, i realized i was completely comfortable. At first, events like this made me uneasy, but I have adjusted, and no longer require the personal space I did when I first arrived.

It's amazing how much can be said with broken English, and even more broken Hindi... but sometimes mistakes make me smile. Yesterday, while being mendied... one of the girls said “You are almost welcome!” ... I'm pretty sure she meant always??

In class the other day, I was teaching my students the difference between direct and indirect speech, so I was saying sentences and making them quote me on them. One of my sentences was “It will be very cold in Ohio when I return.” One of my students wrote down as his answer: Beth said that it will be very cold in a higher when she returns.

I understand more Marathi than some people would give me credit for... Kelly and I routinely run on a quiet road next to the college, and we're used to men slowing way down on their motorcycles to stare at us.. we're amazed we haven't caused an accident yet. The other day, two bikes were riding side by side, and one turned to the other one and said “They are crazy!” in Marathi. I started laughing out loud, and told Kelly what he had said. The man turned around, as if he understood that I understood what was said... and the two men rode off silently.

I'm gearing up for a month of traveling, starting on the 4th... 10 days in Kerala, 4 days in Goa, 10 days in Mumbai, 2 days for Agra, and then, an unspecified amount of time in the US. This trip will leave my completely exhausted, I am sure. I am both dreading returning home, and looking forward to it. I imagine that the US will seem very cold and lonely place after spending 6 months in India, never alone, never bored, and (almost) never cold.

Harmonium

Amravati

along for the ride

looking ahead

I spent the day with a group of laborers, who work on a farm about 1km away from their village. Most were women in their 30's and 40's with children who sometimes accompany them, but they aged from about 13-65. Most have been doing this work since they were 10. They earn 25 rupees a day, which is about .62.

boy