The Wandering of an Indian Star

learning from india

2007-08-27T00:19:00.001-07:00

I know I stopped posting half-way through my trip; I'm really sorry. The truth was I got crazy busy. And I figured it's better to live life than to write about what had happened - so here I am retroactively posting - not in any particular order.

Anyway, I wanted to share this in particular, it was a requirement for the program that sent me to India (IRES funded through the NSO). At the end of our internship they asked us to write a little cultural essay, 400-700 words, about our experience. This was what I sent them:

You asked us to write about our cultural experience here in India, something short, something that sums up the time that we’ve had here. But really, I don’t feel that I can summarize all of the things that I have been thinking, all of the problems that I’ve been trying to reconcile. I came here expecting everything and nothing, side-by-side. It was only once I was on the plane did I realize what I was doing. The first two weeks here were horrible and I regretted the trip. This last week, my penultimate in India, I have felt nothing but melancholy at the thought of leaving. To better describe my experience and the obvious transformation that I have undergone, I give you my thoughts condensed:

What I Have Learned From India

• Most of what we worry about never happens.
• Westerners are naked here, often on the fringes of their personality.
• Don’t take yourself too seriously. Some things are just too ridiculous to get angry about. And when you do get angry, you usually feel terrible for it afterwards. Laughing is much easier.
• People will blatantly stare.
• Any timeframe given in India will take, in actuality, twice that amount.
• Chaos is found in the city, peace in the country. Take as many weekend trips as possible.
• Always make sure that the rickshaw driver repeats back to you your destination. Also, calling them “boss” usually helps.
• Google-maps are practically useless here.
• This is the best place to be a vegetarian.
• Monkeys really will come into your apartment if you leave the balcony door open.
• Wearing a sari is not as easy as it looks. In fact, it’s rather difficult, but they can be comfortable. Sleeping in a choli hurts the next day.
• Anything out of the ordinary that you need done, as a westerner, will either be done quickly to the inconvenience of all those around, or it will take years.
• Culture shock is not like jet-lag: you cannot get over it in a week.
• Most people here would rather tell you the wrong answer or direction rather than tell you they don’t know.
• Eating at a restaurant will never take less than two hours.
• Everything costs money for a westerner. And all the peddlers will pounce on you.
• Always bring toilet paper. Always. No exceptions. And know what “western toilet” means.
• It’s okay to still be affected by the poverty. Maybe even a good thing.
• A westerner will never be, could never be, part of India. You will always be an observer – no matter how hard you try.
• Describing the food you are eating by its color is, sometimes, your only option (“This is the best green stuff I’ve had!” – Russell).
• Some conveniences are priceless. Others are not all that they are cracked up to be. The trick is knowing which is which.
• Follow through on recommendations given by other expats. They tend to be tried and true.
• Get use to the bugs and the dust. They get everywhere. Including your computer.
• Consider malaria pills part of your breakfast.
• As funny as the head wobble is, you will find yourself doing it at some point.
• When a peddler says, “It’s okay” and shoves something into your lap, it’s not okay. Refuse. Over and over again.
• Don’t always expect a warm shower because the power will go out – often.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for your food to be “not spicy” – because it will still be spicy, it just won’t burn your tongue off.
• Never refuse an invitation from an Indian family. If nothing else, it will make a good story later.
• Watch your step. Cows poop everywhere.
• Pick out your own fruit.
• “Alone time” and “privacy” are western concepts.
• As daunting as it may appear, go out into the city. It’s well worth it. The markets are the best.
• Even though any NIR (non-resident Indian) will tell you that everyone in India speaks English – do not listen to them. Some people speak some broken English, so learn how to gesture well and speak in simple phrases.
• The bucket in the bathroom is for a standing bath. Or for shaving your legs. Or both.
• You will tower over everyone. Learn to duck your head when going into restaurants. Especially in Goa.
• Watch a Bollywood movie and going to a “Bollywood Night” at a dance club is something that you can only do, and should only do, in India.
• You cannot fend off the mosquitoes, as much as you may try.
• Be thankful that your olfactory nerves are oversaturated after ~10 seconds.
• You tip 10% of the bill.
• Street signs are almost non-existent. Your best bet is to look at the business signs as you are driving by and read the address at the bottom if you want to know what road you are on.
• Saris requires buying a petticoat and having a choli made for you.
• Indians can wear any color in existence – realize that white people cannot.
• Making other foreign friends is priceless. Talking about being a westerner in India is validating and consoling. Commiseration means everything because, in reality, you are not alone – as isolated as you might feel.
• Experience leads to loneliness.
• Opt for the A/C section of restaurants.
• The monsoon is nice after living in the desert. Except when you have to take a rickshaw ride in it.
• You can find love in the places that you least expect it.

Translated from German and slightly altered: I lost my heart in Bangalore.

~ natalie =)

rest of the Hampi pictures

2007-07-05T10:45:00.001-07:00

Here's the second half of the Hampi pictures, commented and everything. Sorry it took so long but I wanted to be thorough.

http://asu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021545&l=38d4d&id=4301793

a bit more culture shock

2007-07-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

5 July - 9:10pm

I have to post this now - a little out of order I know - but I didn't want to forget any of the details because it blew my mind that much.

Background: We live in a rather large apartment complex called Raheja Residency (you can google map it, by the way). Each of the apartments has a balcony that faces the outside, as well as a balcony that faces the inside, like a service alley (very European). The inside balcony usually has the washing machine (remember, no dryer) or an extra sink. There are also windows all over our apartment, facing inside and outside, so most often than not, you can look directly into someone else's apartment. The kitchen is a big place that often opens onto the inside balcony - to ventilate better.

Story: About an hour ago, one of our neighbors came over. She had seen us cooking from her kitchen (we essentially sit inside balcony, 2m gap, inside balcony) and had even said hi a few times. Today, she wanted to meet us properly. Anyway, so she comes in and - honestly - just starts talking for about 45 minutes straight. Now, that is not the story. The story is about her life:

Her name is Nitu. She use to live in Delhi where she was a travel and customer care consultant for an airline company that has recently merged with Jet. Anyway, she got married about 7 years ago to a man named Sanjay - who insisted that she quit her job. So she did. She didn't know anything about taking care of a household - even how to cook. But she learned how to do everything. Four years ago they moved from Delhi to Bangalore, two years ago they had a son (which she said was rather late for an Indian marriage - five years to have a child - she is 33 years old).

She told us very quickly into the conversation/monologue that she has been suffering through depression for many years now and has been taking drugs to deal with it. The problem, though, was that the drugs were causing a lot of bad side effects - making it such that she could barely perform every day tasks because she was so numb. She told her husband that she didn't want to take the pills anymore, and instead go back to work. His response was that medicine and getting better was the first priority, work was second. Then she mentioned that she started seeing a doctor, apparently a psychiatrist, about a year ago - he told her that she was a schizophrenic. Now, my first response was that this guy had no idea what he was talking about. It seemed obvious that she just needed to go back to work and keep herself occupied, since she wasn't depressed when she was working.

Then she said that she started hearing voices, like 8 or 9 of them, a few years ago. When she talked about the voices, how she was alone when she heard them and would try to find the sources but couldn't, she started laughing so hard. Almost maniacally. It was kind of scary. And, essentially, she hadn't stopped talking. My thoughts were, at this point, that maybe the doctor was right.

Nitu said that she wanted to stop taking the drugs and start working again, if only for part time. But her husband was so adamant about her not, that he said if she left the house to work she couldn't return. So she stayed. And even though she stayed at home with him, he doesn't let her go out very much - not even for the sake of their son. Only to a nearby playground while the maids get groceries and run errands. One of Nitu's hobbies, before she was married, was traveling, and now he won't let her do that anymore.

Two days ago she started packing her bags - because she was tired of the voices and how empty her head had become - and her husband wouldn't let her leave. Sanjay said that if she tried to leave, he would cancel her credit cards, block her bank account, and cancel her cell phone. We asked why she didn't go to her parents' house, and apparently they took her husband's side and told her to stay there.

I mean, she was willing to give up her son and leave - just to have her life back, her brain back, her sanity back - and no one would listen to her. Her husband was so set in tradition that the woman shouldn't work but instead be a housewife, that he was willing to have a zombie as a wife (almost literally, Sonnett saw pictures of her heavily medicated). At all costs, she was not to work - even if it meant that she would feel "mentally retarded" - these were her own words - for the rest of her life.

You read about this stuff. The papers are riddled with brides committing suicide over dowry arguments or widows being shunned in their villages because they no longer have a husband (they can no longer wear the bindi or bangles after they are widowed). You never hear about it first hand.

Thank God I was a born a woman in the states. Seriously.

some quick pics

2007-07-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

I've posted two photo albums on facebook. However, I've only commented one of them so far, which will essentially take you through most of the first day. I've put up about 100 pictures, so I'm trying to get to this in chunks. Once I'm done with the pictures, I'll write more of a blog about everything.

http://asu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021541&l=94867&id=4301793

Here are some pictures from Nick:

http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~nmosko/Home/India.html

And some from Nels:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dixiepistols/sets/72157600603545495/

Enjoy - there will be more soon. =)

a week of work

2007-06-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

29 June - 12:45pm

Our first week of work is just about done. I'm writing this as I'm waiting for a Mathematica process to run (yup, my equations are so crazy that it actually takes MMA time to process them....I've already broken it a few times...mmm....theoretical astrophysics).

The beginning of the week was a bit rough because we had to give a presentation on Tuesday on our current research. Now, while I worked pretty hard on my research before I came here, I didn't get anything to a stopping point, which was too bad. But it also meant that I had absolutely nothing that was presentable on it. I mean, all I've been doing this past semester was trying to figure out what was going on and then program. So, really, my presentation would just have been about debugging issues that I came across. Weee...lots of fun. Instead, I grabbed an older presentation that I did from fall semester on an alternative theory to dark matter, which is called Modified Newtonian Dynamics, or MOND. Essentially what is says is that Newton was right when it comes to physics on the Earth and the planets and stuff. But when it comes to more subtle accelerations, it just doesn't work. So, the people who came up with MOND took F = m*a and made it F = m*a*u, where "u" is a piece-wise function that factors into the equation at some points and goes to 1 at other times. I'm not saying that I necessarily agree with this theory, but I do think it's good to question the basics of physics - and isn't 70% of matter being dark a bit much to swallow? On the other hand, MOND doesn't fit into any other theory - not general relativity, not cosmology, nothing. In fact, it only really does what it was designed to do - which was model the rotational curves of galaxies. This was what I presented on, instead of my "current" research. Now, part of me was sort of hoping that no one at the IIA would know what I was talking about and, hence, couldn't ask me questions. However, this was not so much the case, I realized, when a faculty member found me before the talks and handed me 2 papers that he had written on MOND - which cited another dozen or so of his papers on the subject. To say the least, I was probably answering questions for about 10 minutes after my presentation. But I think I handled them rather well - thank god I prepared ahead of time.

On Wednesday, my advisor - who is a most excellent advisor - gave me a list of tasks to work on. Each one moves progressively through my understanding and my project. It was really rather great of him, since it's nice to know that he's thinking about what I'm to learn and how I'm supposed to achieve my goal. On top of that, I actually have a sense of direction and work to do! Such a change from this past semester, it's rather exhilarating. Makes me want to get through as much as I can to show him that I can do a whole project in 5 weeks.

That said, we are taking a nice weekend trip - starting tonight. We were invited by some people that we met at the bar last Friday to go to a little town called Hampi. Nick, Sonnett, and I (Russell has opted out) will be taking an overnight train there, staying Saturday night in town, then coming back Sunday night to arrive Monday morning early. I've heard that this town is rather beautiful and is known for it's temples and gorgeous sites. It's also famous for it's Monkey Temple. Oh yeah, Monkey Temple. I'm so down. Plus, I'm hoping it will be relaxing. And yes, I will take tons of pictures - but probably only digital. We will be hauling our stuff around with us and I don't want it to be heavy. I will packing soooo light, it will be ridiculous.

Oh, so I've posted a few more pictures onto the existing album - here's the link again (which is now actually a link):

http://asu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021262&l=f0d60&id=4301793

Love to all....

finally relaxing a bit

2007-06-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

24 June - 9:50pm

So, I know that the last entry ended with me going off on the the Indian government, and really, I'd like to say that it ended there - but it didn't. On Friday, we got to go back to the police station and pick up some certificates. Now, the hugely ironic part was that Sonnet and Nick got their papers in the first 10 minutes of us being there. And for some unknown and god-forsaken reason, my paperwork was not filed with theirs and we ended up sitting there for another HOUR before I finally got what I needed. I was so annoyed at that point that I actually yelled and jumped up and down once we were outside of the office.

This whole mess 'o fun was added to by a meeting earlier in the day to decide which field trips we were going on to "local" observatories, what was expected of us for the program, and when we had to give a couple of presentations. It was rather tedious to talk about everything, especially since it came down to us only having 5 weeks to complete any work and then give a 30-min. presentation on it. More like a work in progress than anything else. But we were all hoping to get something done while being here - and with five weeks, it doesn't really look possible. Also, I don't understand why that stuff wasn't decided before we arrived.

To make it up to ourselves, we went to an expat get together (expatriate - person originating from another country) at a rather nice bar in a rather nice hotel (drinks were ~$10 a pop). But there was a 2-for-1 special, which we liberally abused. And felt much better for it.

The weekend was one to finally relax. I didn't even leave the apartment on Saturday - which was fine by me. Part of it was that the power went out until 3pm and hence, the hot water heater could not heat water. But, also, I just wanted to sort of putz around and read, watch tv, and talk online. Which I did in excess and felt much better. I made pasta for Russell and myself last night, we also ordered pizza (Domino's - tastes like home).

Today, Sonnett and I decided to walk to a local and highly westernized mall called The Forum. Part of the trip was also to find her an ATM that would actually give her money - she's been having problems. But then continued on further to see how far the walk was...~35 minutes, so not bad. The mall offers such stores as Levi, Wranglers, Tommy Hilfiger, McDonalds, etc.. Looks just like a stereotypical American mall. We bought some things that we needed: pants, watch - I needed a tea cup for work (and it was less than $1, so I figured why not?). We also pre-ordered the new Harry Potter book. While it was nice to get out and do some shopping, the mall was painfully crowded since it was a weekend and we both became quickly claustrophobic. It was also a bit frustrating at times because of the way things are set up. If you want to buy something expensive, the assistant has to walk you over to the "Checkout Point" and you then jostle your way to the counter - like you would in a bar - to pay. Then you have to go to another part of the counter to pick up what you just bought 'cause DIFFERENT people bagged your stuff. Like I've said before, they really make a lot of jobs here since there are so many people. But even buying cookies was frustrating because you have to go to multiple places in the little store to finally pay and get what you purchased.

There was a grocery store across the street from The Forum, which we stopped at for a few things. I was sort of poking around in the back when I noticed a rather nice alcohol section. But as I made way towards it, a horrible and pungent smell - that was a mixture of sewage and bad fish - became stronger and all encompassing. I tried to tough it out, even put my shirt over my nose, but to no avail. I realized when I felt my lunch coming back up - not exaggerating - that I should get out of the store. Do other people really not notice this? Are their olfactory nerves dead?

During the walk home, Sonnett and I were constantly stared at - you know, two white women in the middle of India - and even yelled at. I yelled back a few times. But we decided to take a more residential route home, which was much more pleasant and relaxing.

For those of you asking, here are more pictures - including more of me - illustrating some of the above entry:

http://asu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2021262&l=f0d60&id=4301793

Also, some pseudo-official pictures from the program:

http://eo.nso.edu/ires/India_07_program_pix.pdf

Then we also have a page containing my project title and recent photo of me (if you click my name) as well as the announcement for the short talks that we will be giving on Tuesday (which are supposed to be about current research - which I can't really present on - so I'm just talking about a topic I know some about from a project I did during fall semester):

http://www.iiap.res.in/ires.html

http://www.iiap.res.in/iressem.html

There - I hope you are totally me-in-India saturated. I better practice my talk now. 'Night.

insert string of curse words here

2007-06-21T03:17:00.001-07:00

21 June - 3:45pm

As a testament as to how ridiculous things can be here - in my last post, marked 10am, I had to go because we were going to the police station to register ourselves. It is now 3:45pm. We have just returned. That's right. It took us almost 6 hours to get IIA ID badges, get to the station, fill out all the right forms, photocopy those forms, have an invitation letter driven to us at the police station (since we didn't show up with the letters - each - and traffic sucks), place really horrible pictures of us on all of the appropriate forms, put those forms in the proper order, go to one part of the building to have them signed, get lunch (2pm), go to another part of the building to have them signed again, and then go back to the first part of the building and receive a stupid piece of paper with our names on it. And we have to go back tomorrow to pick up some certificate or something.

But not Russell. His stupid visa didn't have the same stupid "register or die" stamp on so his stupid-headedness didn't have to any of this stupid stuff. But he had to sit there. And make fun of us. 'Cause he's stupid.

Oh, and I experienced the worst bathroom to date at the police station. I'd like to burn, not only my shoes and pants, but also exfoliate the top 20 layers of the skin on my legs.

Or perhaps just drown my frustrations in some really REALLY strong liquor. ::sigh:: So not happy.

exhausted fumes and cow poo

2007-06-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

21 June - 10am

Sorry it's taken so long for me to post. I've received a few emails/IMs/facebook notes that I need to update (you love me, you really love me). Truth is, ever since we've gotten to Bangalore, we haven't had too many free moments and when we do, I'm usually exhausted. And I'll try to take some more pics - with me in them - soon. Don't really have any yet.

Our flat is rather nice and very cute. Sonnett and I each have our own rooms and bathrooms. Showers can be a bit fun 'cause you have to turn on a very small water heater ~10 min. before you actually want to shower...and the hot water runs out after about 10 min. And if you know me, you know that that's really not enough time. But we also have a cute balcony that overlooks the Toshiba building's parking lot and some palm trees (where monkeys like to hang out! No really, they warned us not to leave our balcony door open 'cause monkeys might come into the apartment....Sonnett and I want to catch one....okay, not really....but you know what I mean: MONKEYS!). There is a washer, the dryer IS the balcony, microwave, gas stove, tv, and - most importantly - wireless. For any sort of random things we need, we just ask the maintenance guy, who is very nice. Oh, and did I mention that there is a cleaning woman? Yeah - she does the dishes, sweeps, dusts, makes our beds....it's not too bad really. =)

Odd things about the apartment that you wouldn't expect: all of the electrical outlets have to be turned on. Next to all of the faceplates, there is a little switch. If you don't turn on that switch, nothing runs through the outlet. Took me a bit of time to get use to this. The outlet holes don't actually fit the metal prongs on....well...anything. They are too big for our adapters, too big for normal plugs..they are just too big. So, it can be kinda frustrating because you aren't always guaranteed a solid connection - things kind of jostle around. Having too many appliances on at one time will blow a fuse. Ask my roommate - she's done it twice already. In our apartment, you can't have the water heater and the air conditioner on at the same time. If she tried to blow dry her hair, I have to turn off the tv or all of the lights. It's kinda funny.

We are all set up at the Indian Institute for Astrophysics (IIA) now. Russell and I share an office and Sonnett and Nick share another. We have all met with our mentors and have decided on projects. I'm going to be modeling pulsar profiles (which look at the flux - or how much radiation is coming out of the pulsar - versus the longitude with respect to our line of sight, or in other words, how the pulsar is doing its thing per period) to see how they changes based on what frequency they were observed in. My adviser wants me to use the geometry of the pulsar to do a theoretical model that will eventually be tested on actual data. Should be cool. I'm just working on some of the background reading and going over some of his papers now, but since we only have 6 weeks left, been going through that as quickly as time allows. But he seems like a very nice guy - easy to talk to and doesn't mind me asking questions (which is a lovely change) - so I'm pretty happy with the work. One other nice thing - they have a canteen here where we can eat lunch: 5 Rps per meal = $.12 US. Very awesome.

Now, I said "as quickly as time allows", that's 'cause we've been doing so much administration stuff that we really haven't had time to do much work. Also why I haven't been posting much - been so frustrated that I was afraid of just sitting here and bitching. We have literally spent the first half of everyday meeting people, filling out forms, walking around, etc.. For example, today, we have to go and register with the local police....why? When we are only going to be here for another six weeks - well, our visa is for 180 days and in small print it says "Registration required within 14 days of arrival in India for visas valid for more than 180 days" - which the coordinators took to mean we need to register. So, we have to go fill out forms, stand in line, photocopy the hell out of our passports....this is on top of never really knowing what we are doing and having our plans change continually. We have also heard the same conversations about a million times - it's just getting to be frustrating when all we want to do is work. Also, it seems as if we are going to have very little of our own time to explore the city because we have 6 weekends left and they are planning 4 field trips to local observatories - which will take at least half the weekend, maybe the whole thing. Add to this a trip to go and see the wondiferous Tilvi in Goa - who has so graciously invited all four of us to his youngest sister's wedding in July - and we have no extra time. I think this is just going to be a lot.

As far as my view of Bangalore goes - it's not at all a city as we would think of a city in the states. Not at all. I mean, it's a city in that the roads are paved, there are lots of people and lots of traffic, and the buildings are taller....but there is still garbage everywhere. Walking on the sidewalk is like hiking through a forest - have to keep your eyes down to step over things because it's never smooth. Traffic is insane. Worst I've ever seen. And there aren't any emission standards here so walking next to the street is disgusting. There is this thick cloud of fumes coming from all of the cars and it just hangs around the street. I will take pictures so you can see. Many people carry handkerchiefs with them and it's not surprising. Also, there are still dogs and cows walking around the street, just like it was in the rural areas. It's so prevalent, in fact, that Sonnett actually stepped into a nice fat cow patty the other day when we were walking home from work. Probably one of the funniest things that's happened here. "Sonnett Stepped in Cow Poo; A Metaphor". The three of us laughed for such a long time.

Another thing is that the city as a whole is not as westernized as everyone had us believe. We get stared at all the time - from entire bus loads of people. Granted, there are more women walking around wearing non-traditional clothes, but they do not dominate the population. Last night we went to the Forum, which is a four-story mall and movie theater complex. That was definitely the most western place we've been - very upper-caste people wearing American-esque clothes. A Tommy Hilfiger store, Wranglers, Levi, etc. But the truth was, I still only saw 3 other white people there. And we were still getting looked at a lot. I think Sonnett and I will go back there sometime soon to do some shopping. She and I are also going to pre-order the Harry Potter book...so we can get it when it's released =)

Other than that - been trying to cook for ourselves. Kiran came over the other night and showed me how to make some traditional Indian food. I, for my credit, burnt the hell out of the rice (maid must have looooved me). I've also been making some more "home" food like grilled cheese and pasta. Sonnett lives on oatmeal (gross) and semi-instant Indian dishes. Russell can no longer eat Indian food because his stomach is shot to hell - so peanut-butter-and-jelly for him and pizza (like Domino's and Pizza Hut, which is not bad).

We have to go hang out at the police station now. God knows how long that will be. I will try to get pictures up as soon as I can. All my love. =)

the trip to mount abu

2007-06-16T05:52:00.000-07:00

16 June – 11:30AM

So I’m sitting right now in the Mumbai airport. We are layed over here for another 3 hours before we finally head to Bangalore. Unfortunately, there is no (free) internet, but I will write about the past few days and post it when I have a chance. Hopefully, people have looked at the pictures I’ve uploaded, since that’s what I’ll be talking about and you’ll get a sense of where we are going/seeing.

On Wednesday we took a road trip from Udaipur to Mount Abu observatory. The trip was originally supposed to be 5 hours, but because of crazy road construction, it actually took us 8. Which was a bit painful. Anyway, because we had to drive up through the mountains and country side, we ended up seeing a lot of small villages along the way. These were tiny places, set right up against the road. People were always around and outside talking to each other in front of the shops and stands. They were almost completely untouched by western culture. People either live in abandoned buildings, houses they built out of stones with thatched roofs, or just outside – sometimes sleeping on cots. Running water, obviously, was not common – but there were always public places with water where people would go to wash themselves and their clothes. I was surprised that, even though many houses aren’t completely enclosed (in other words, whole wall faces open or holes in them ), the people were relatively clean. People here, especially the women, wear extraordinarily bright clothes (which is amazing and makes all westerners appear dull in comparison) and even in these very poor places, the clothes always looked amazing. And while most locals are very skinny, it is not from malnourishment – it is just the way that they are - or maybe that they just aren’t fat Americans.

While it was hard to see that so many lived so poorly – as we drive by in a pseudo-minivan, all with laptops close at hand – it wasn’t as if these people were poor and others were rich. It was just the “third-world” part of being in a developing third-world country. The people seemed happy enough. There was very little begging as we drove by, often having to slow down because of traffic or animals in the road (usually cows, goats, or dogs). We did get stared at quite a bit, though. Part of it was because one of my compatriots, Russell, is a white Texas boy with dark brown, shoulder length dreadlocks tipped with blonde – which is crazy enough in the states, although it works on him. But also because many people in these villages have never seen white people. Some of them would smile and wave at us, and we’d smile back, of course. That was rather cute and endearing. Little children were particularly taken with us. Those driving by us or around us opposite from us would also stare.

At first I was a bit apprehensive about the staring, but in the country, it was obvious that it was just a curiosity thing. Staring happened in larger towns that were more touristy, which was much sketchier since we knew that they had seen white people before, so I just kept my head down and ignore whatever was said to me.

Which reminds me – the driving. Holy crap. Thank god (Shiva, Ganash, etc.) we aren’t. It’s nothing like driving in the states. The system is like the British (left-hand side), but with lots (tons) of cars passing other cars/rickshaws/scooters/people walking. Honking the horn is used like a warning that someone is close or that you are being passed, not for aggressive reasons like in the states. Also, the roads can get excruciatingly narrow so you have to allow other people to go first or drive on the side of the road. Many trucks, which are colorfully painted and have shrines on the dashboard, often have painted on the back “Please Use Horn” when passing. In fact, when you are going around a blind corner, especially in the mountains, it’s a law that you have to honk to warn people that you are coming – since the traffic flow directionality is often just a suggestion – sort of liked dashed lines in the states. So while this seems okay, it can also be a ridiculous cluster-fuck when people are all trying to go around each other and merge and the opposite direction traffic is coming. You end up swerving a lot in cities and getting very close to the other cars. At one point, we were almost hit by a renegade bus in the mountain whose driver, I’m sure, was legally insane.

The road work kind of showed an interesting side to life, too. There is a huge number of people here, and because of that, they always need jobs. So, you see random employments, like a man paid to hold an umbrella over a surveyor or vendors on the side of the highway selling fruit. Also, there are some big construction machines, but not many. Much is done by hand. Especially higher up the mountain – you could tell that people had constructed their houses by hand. Those houses weren’t near anything – no other people or a village. Makes you realize how important convenience is to us.

On the way to the observatory we went to the Ranakbur Jain Temple. The pictures I’ve posted can explain better than I, but this temple was ~15th century and had 1044 marble columns, each of them unique. The carvings were exquisite and painstakingly detailed.

We were at Mount Abu, the city, for two nights. We stayed at the Hotel Hilltone, which was right in the middle of the city – so we took a walk to the nearby Nakki Lake the first night, which was so busy with stands and vendors (selling things that glowed or spiral-graphs-Spirographs) that it was almost like a festival. The next day we went to the Universal Peace Palace – which was non-denominational but promoted knowledge of your self and achieving peace (yeah, I bought a book) and also the Jain Delwara Temple. We couldn’t take pictures in this temple but the carvings were even more spectacular than the first temple. Our guide said that it should be the 8th wonder of the world, that the carvings were more refined than those in the Taj, but that it would never achieve that status. At every point in this temple, you could always see four gods and the ceiling had amazing sculptures that told a story. Delwara was actually taken over by the Moguls at one point and, because it is a huge insult here, all of the noses from all of the carvings were cut off. Half of the temple was also destroyed – so they have been going back and repairing the damage with newer marble and plaster.

That night, Thursday, we went to the observatory and had a look around. For the astro people, it was a 1.2m Cassegrain telescope with a Coude room, which wasn’t in room, all manufactured in India (which they were very proud of). Mostly operated in the IR, but could also go to visible – 1k CCD. It wasn’t too bad, not the biggest I’ve seen, not the smallest. The facilities were built in 1993 – which was surprising because, I guess, they had never bothered to paint the walls or install permanent flooring (they were veneer panels). I was sort of taken aback by the condition of the building because it seemed like they put in the bare essentials and never got around to the finishing touches. Everyone was very nice, though. We had the laser atmospheric system explained to us (just like Arecibo!) and got to, sort of, observe an observation. I saw “sort of” because we were only in the monitoring room for ~45 minutes. The observer was looking at BLAK AGNS, which I would have liked to learn more about, but all we discussed was the data reduction and photometry – which was just like the instrumentation project (Thanks Paul!). We didn’t stay too long, though, because all of us were really getting tired. I think the traveling was a bit much.

Also, while we were at the observatory, all four of us suffered a wicked low blood sugar. We had lunch at ~12:30pm and didn’t eat dinner until ~9pm. This long delay in food time has happened a lot in this first week, which is a bit frustrating. It occurred during our day at the USO, during the 8 hour road trip (but I tried to learn some Hindi during that time, so I was a bit productive – thanks Ian!) , and our day at Mount Abu. It’s really hard for us to eat here: no raw veggies, no fruits we can’t peel first, only cooked foods – I’ve even been avoiding dairy just because it could be watered down or not pasteurized. So, unless we really plan on a time and place for food (since location is also an issue because of the standard of the food and cooking) disaster easily strikes. Plus, with all of the traveling we’ve done before even getting to Bangalore – it gets a little rough and makes it harder to get over jet lag (which I think I’m good with now).

We drove back to Udaipur yesterday, which was a bit of a shock because Mount Abu was really nice temperature-wise (about 80 during the day down to ~65 when it got dark). We then went to the City Palace and looked at where the princes lived. A lot of the art in the palace was very two dimensional, which I found strange. The styles between the paintings didn’t really change at all either. And the further you went in the palace, the newer it got – which was funny since at the beginning you see these old paintings and historical depictions and at the end you are staring at photos of old British guys. But even throughout the progression of paintings, the style was constant – minus the photographs. Odd. Speaking of pictures, some India guy at the palace – also a tourist – thought it was a great idea to take pictures of us with his cell phone – not asking or trying to hide himself or anything. I took to walking backwards. That was rather annoying. Had some downtime last night, which was much needed, and now traveling again.

I’m really glad to be finally going to Bangalore. While the mosquitoes seem atrocious, the temperature, in general, is much cooler and the area is very westernized. For example, Kiran told us that if we don’t feel like cooking at night, we can order delivery…..from places like Domino’s. Ha! And I’m hoping that we will all settle down there and feel more comfortable. On the other hand, I’m also expecting the juxtaposition of the very rich and the very poor to be disturbing. This, I think, is much worse than just seeing small, undeveloped villages – because they are so close yet so far. We’ll see.

I should have more stable internet there, so feel free to contact me. =) I’m still homesick, but not as bad.

pictures!

2007-06-15T10:06:00.000-07:00

15 June - 10:45PM

I've finally posted some photos on facebook and have started commenting on them. Internet is really bad in Udaipur today so I don't really have a chance to note them all now. For those of your without facebook, go here:

http://asu.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020964&l=21cf7&id=4301793

Also, total mosquito bite count to date: 6.

Jet-Lag and the USO

2007-06-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

12 June 10AM

Feeling much better about things in general now. For one thing, I got my iPod to work. Well, I didn’t, Russell did (he’s from UT Dallas) – he just reset it and it worked again. Trying to get over jet-lag still, but it’s coming along. The food is really good here. And it’s nice that I can eat without having to worry what’s in it – which is a rarity in the states. I’ve also been avoiding eating any dairy or anything that might not be pasteurized – just to make sure that my stomach can handle it.

13 June 7:00 AM

Our first full day in India we spent traveling, again. We hopped a flight from Delhi to Udaipur, which was about an hour and a half, and they gave us food, which was nice. Rather good, too. Kiran (our coordinator and local of Udaipur) gave us some downtime in the afternoon, which I promptly used for internet and a terribly long nap. Jet-lag is killer. We reconvened at around 7/7:30pm and went to a “Light and Sound Show” which was exactly as advertised. It was a monument and old fort where they used gelled lights and a sound system to tell the story of a local hero (I forgot his name, I’m terrible). But, of course, we don’t speak Hindi, so the four of us sat there watching lights blinking trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Dinner we went to a resort called the Shilpi.

Now, the hotel that we are staying at is called the Hilltop Palace, and it quite literally is. Everything is marble – since that’s one of the specialties of Udaipur. The rooms are huge and nicely furnished – better than the night before. And I have this amazing balcony that faces the lake. It’s breathtaking to wake up to – and not a little bit reassuring that this trip was worth it. In the middle of a lake are a few natural islands. One is for tourists (the big one) and another is where they built the Udaipur Solar Observaotry – the lake helps reduce heat affecting the telescope.

We went to the USO yesterday – and that island is painfully cute. No really, it’s adorable. They have put a lot of landscaping on it: grass, palm trees, lots of flowers. And while it’s maybe 1000 ft^2, you wouldn’t mind sorta sitting there for a while. I’ve decided I want an island like that, maybe a bit bigger. They also showed us the telescopes located there – which were cool since I’ve never been to a solar observatory, just a normal stellar one.

Then we went to the adaptive optics lab (which was kinda neat since I really knew what they were talking about because of my instrumentation class first semester – it was just as Scowen had described). We went to another solar telescope that has 5 other counterparts all over the world such that they all track and monitor the sun, and are able to compare (this is the GONG program). We had to kinda hike to get to the this and it was painfully hot – but thank God for air conditioning inside of the little trailer that houses the instrument.

Lunch was so incredibly huge. Kiran invited everyone from the USO that she could find, which meant that there were probably 20 of us. It felt like freshman year again, trying to get that many people to do the same thing. But the food was great and we all shared and again, I didn’t have to worry about what I was eating. I felt bad for Sonnett, though (she is the other female intern, from University of Hawaii) – she is mostly, but not fully, lactose intolerant so can’t eat anything with yogurt or cream in it, which is the majority of Indian dishes.

The day before we left for India, we were told that we’ve been asked to give presentations on our research. Now, out of the four interns, I think I was the only one who even had a clue what my project was going to be on this summer, since my mentor gave me a paper of his to read and a supplementary book. So, the other three talked about the research that they did at their home universities, I decided to actually speak on this paper that I had read for the summer (partially to force me to really understand it, also because I didn’t really want to talk about the short project I was working on this semester at ASU). Our talks were supposed to start at 2:30pm but we didn't actually start until 4:30pm, since lunch took a little longer than we had anticipated. Mine went okay, although I have to say I was nervous. It was a theoretical paper on pulsars – with a lot of math and geometry. Trying to explain this to a lot of solar people meant that I got a lot blank looks since this wasn’t their specialty. Which was fine – it meant no questions.

Since I was up until 2am the night before finishing my presentation, I was having a very long day. And not only did the four of us give presentations, but 5 students from the USO did as well. Afterwards, we went to this see weird little puppet show/folk dance at the Bhartiya Lok Kala Mandal, which is kinda popular around here. To be honest, the puppets were a little creepy – especially when they (not kidding) had a story about a man and woman, where the woman would change into a man to follow her husband around…but there were times when it looked like the puppets were…uhh….getting into it. I’m not kidding. It wasn’t just my fifteen-year-old humor. The folk dancing was by far the best part (it was interesting enough to keep me awake since I was dying with the heat and general not sleeping). First was a Kalbeliya, where a woman had bells all over her arms, legs, and feet and would play them moving in different ways. The other dance was called a Bhavai – a man balanced different sized pots on his head, which extended about one and a half times his own height into the air. After a few pots were added, he would do different balancing tricks, like walk on cups or a bowl, dance, or walk on glass. He was, actually, rather cute because every time he would stand up after more pots were added – and they didn’t fall – he had a big smile on his face, as if he was impressed with himself.

That was essentially our day.

Today we go to Mt. Abu Observatory, which is a 5 hour drive and up to about 5500 ft elevation. Should be a little cooler up there. It’s rather humid here, and gets to be about 100 degrees F during the day, which can be rather uncomfortable. We, thankfully, have air conditioning in our hotel – but that’s by far a luxury. The locals just tend to sit in the shade. A lot of them were bathing in the lake when we were motorboating to the observatory – they were also washing their clothes.

One thing about here that is crazy: there are people everywhere. In rundown buildings that we would just ignore, you look, and there are people living there. In any extended amount of shade, there are people. Walking, riding bikes, riding donkeys – just sitting. There are so many people. I’ve heard that Bangalore is worse.

hit the ground running

2007-06-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

Written 11:30 pm - June 10th

So, we made it in one piece – luggage and all. Right now, I don’t have internet access, but wanted to write down some things to post later, just first impressions really. It didn’t really hit me that I was going to India until I got on the place today (yesterday?). And when I realized what I was doing, I just started crying a lot. It’s rather embarrassing to be openly crying in public, but I couldn’t stop it. Part of it, I know, is just what I do when I travel – which is wonder why I leave home and isn’t it so nice and comforting there? I second guess myself and get really homesick. And check, I’m at that point now. Really missing home and the Boy and my parents and Tatertot and normal toilets and being able to use the water, etc.. Not for another two months. God, that feels like such a long time. On top of that, I haven’t been hugely excited for this trip. I’m really looking forward to seeing the beautiful temples and markets – but that is muted by the horrible things I know I will see – that I’ve already started seeing. Meaning that the latter just compounds the former, so I’m a bit sad right now. Also, I’m painfully tired.

Oh yeah, and my iPod died. I don’t know why. I fell asleep on the plane with it on, woke up and it was off, now it won’t turn back on again. Dammit.

The hotel that we are staying at (by “we” I mean the two other interns that met up with me in Chicago and one of the program directors) is rather nice, by US standards. Own rooms and bathrooms, TV, minibar, desk. This was in extreme juxtaposition with the part of south New Delhi that we drove through from the airport to get here. There were lots of people – everywhere. And it’s disgustingly hot here, a heat wave actually. It’s about 115 F WITH humidity. You start sweating in the first minute of being outside. There are lots of street vendors, bicyclists, stray dogs. The thing that got to me the most were the shops. Tiny holes in the wall that you could barely walk into straight on – most likely scoot in sideways. Of course, there is barely any room to show products, of which there are only a handful so it doesn’t matter anyway. Buildings are dilapidated and there is open water on the street (no rain yet)l People are just standing around eating and talking, but dirty and in general they just look gray to me. When we were landing in New Delhi, there was a hugely thick brownish gray cloud: smog. There were people just sitting on the divider on the highway.

This is not too bad, I know, but that really made it sink in that I was, in fact, in India. I need to sleep before I over analyze the world in a very me-fashion. Plus, we go to Udaipur tomorrow. It should be a bit cooler there.

backtracking a bit

2007-05-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

i realized i was a bit remiss in my last post - mainly 'cause i assumed that the people who read this crap already knew what was going on. however! it turns out...i have lotsa friends (<3)...that i forgot to update. so, lemme back-up a bit.

in february, i saw a listing in a newsletter from the american astronomical society (AAS) for an internship in india through the national solar observatory (NSO) at the university of arizona in tucson. the deadline was in two weeks. i asked some professors in my department, including my pseudo-adviser (aka the devil) who is from india, on their opinions and if they thought it was a good idea. a week before the deadline, i ran around getting transcripts, recommendation letters - wrote up the essays, and mailed it all on such that it got there on the day it was due. ::pant pant::

a few weeks later, oddly enough - the day of my grandmother's funeral, who was a ridiculous traveler herself, while i was in new jersey - i was told that i was accepted into the internship. lo and behold, they are paying me to travel.

now, i'm not too sure on my project. thus far, i know that it's theoretical (so for non-astro buffs, that means that i won't be looking at data or going to observatories - instead, concentrating on the math, geometry, programming, and simulations) and it's about pulsars - again. i studied pulsars when i was in oberlin, in fact, we were published for the work that we did. =) but this will totally different. my india advisor has given me a paper of his to read which discusses the geometry of the pulsar radiation that we are able to see based our line of sight to the pulsar. i don't know, though, what part i'm going to play. we'll see.

other than that - the internship is for 2 months, which i think most people gleaned from my previous post, and then the other three interns and i will be traveling around northern india for a week after the program is finished to see the sites. i've had to get a lot of shots before going (hep a/b twice, polio, tetanus) and also typhoid pills. while i'm there i have to take malaria pills like they are birth control (everyday, at the same time) and bring along a first aid kit for myself. essentially they said that there won't be anything cvs-esque while we are there, so we have to bring it ALL with us. oh, and we can't drink the water either. i know that we have two apartments for the four of us - there are two boys and two girls. we each get our own rooms and there will be a kitchen (with appliances and dishes), living room (with a tv and some english channels), internet (w00t!), and our own bathroom (thank god). the apartment isn't too close to where we will be working (at the indian institute for astrophysics, IIA) , so the program has hired a driver for us. who will take us everywhere. of course, women have to dress conservatively - but bangalore is a lot more westernized than most of india, so they said we should be okay. all and all, doesn't sound too bad. might get a bit rough when we are traveling around, though.

i think that's about all the general stuff i can think of. feel free to ask me about anything else i haven't mentioned, which for right now is kinda speculation. but, of course, i'll say what's going on as it happens.

First Post

2007-05-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

so, here i go. the very first post. i'm officially entering the world of bloggers; joining that which i swore i would not do. making the ultimate assumption: assuming people give a shit. i hate myself already but am comforted by the fact that i'm sharing, not just my normal life, but my crazy-ass life in india (sitārā in hindi means "star"). hopefully, it will be slightly more entertaining. plus, i'll be able to post pictures and, hopefully, actually keep up with a record/journal of my travels if i think that at least one other person is reading it.

the details are as follows:
leave: phoenix-chicago june 9th (3 hour flight)
chicago-delhi june 9th-10th (15 hour flight, 20 hours total of pure traveling)
june 11th - fly from delhi to udaipur
june 11th-15th - drive around the region going to observatories
june 16th - fly from udaipur to bangalore
june 18th - officially start working at the IIA (indian institute for astrophysics)
august 4th - fly from bangalore to delhi
august 5th-9th - travel around delhi, agra, jaipur
august 10th - fly back to chicago, then to phoenix then SLEEP!

but....i still have a few weeks before i leave, 2.5 in fact. but that means that i'm really starting to think about everything i need to prepare for, buy, setup, etc. for example, i'm going to be setting up a skype account with an in-call number so people can reach me. i have this blog, gchat, AIM, facebook. i'll probably be able to send snail-mail too. so maybe i won't be as out-of-touch as i'm planning. unless i don't internet access...then i'm screwed. but we were told (by we, i mean the other three students and i) that we will have internet in our apartments and, of course, at work. things might be a little spotty, though, during the high-travel times.

i was reading over the lonely planet book on india that i got from scott as a birthday present - and i had two reactions: "this is going to be so cool" and "holy shit, what am i getting myself into?" i think the culture will be amazing: really beautiful and really so much to make my head spin. on the other hand, i'm worried about the culture shock - especially the different reactions to women. the book said, with out a doubt, there will be some form of sexual harassment - leering, groping, etc.. i'm really not so thrilled about that. especially because the four of us will stand out a lot. my short hair doesn't help either. and i want to be able to stand up for myself....but i also don't want to react in the wrong way, if there is one. at least someone from the program is going to be with us for the first three weeks. i think that's going to be very helfpul.

no doubt - this will be interesting.