Nick, don't pet the camel!

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So where did I last leave off? There’s so much happening here I need to start making notes throughout the week so that when I write these reports they aren’t a mess. But I will shorten this to three big events: My trip to the villages, our group dinner, and my trip to the temples and fort around Rajasthan.

On Wednesday the JJVS crew took us out to the villages. The reason being because almost all of the Gunis that we work with live in the villages. There is a guni ashram out in the villages, which is a large garden where many medicinal herbs are grown. We hopped 6 people into the jeep and took off out of Udaipur. It was about an hour drive and eventually we left behind the city streets and were tumbling on dirt roads. After a while we came to our first stop which was a JJVS center out in a village called Valli. It was there I found basically an oasis. Behind the cement walls of the building next to a road was a beautiful garden filled with lush green grass, amazing bushes of pink flowers, and amazing trees that winded around. It was pretty incredible.

There we go to sit and relax for a while. I saw a herd of monkeys go by and used every ounce of will in order to keep myself from going after them. If I could just get my hands on one I could train it and have it become my best friend who gets things for me and then we would go on crazy adventures!

But I am getting ahead of myself. From Valli we visited the Guni Ashram. This is basically a central hub for guni medicines. They have about 5-6 acres dedicated to plants and trees that have medicinal value for local gunis. JJVS grows these and any guni can come and take for free. There is also a school there for young children in the village. Although it was about 115 degrees by this point and I couldn’t quite pay attention to everything said due to mild dehydration. But it was a wonderful chance to meet some gunis and see what the medicines look like up close and in action.

From there we were off to one more location, the home of a local guni. I cannot recall his name. But imagine a very old indian man with a large white bear down to his chest, along with a ton of white hair tied up into a bun. He looked like a master of something important. The JJVS crew was just interviewing the guni. It was all in Hindi so I couldn’t keep up with what was going on. But it was a chance to see farmland in the area. Most families in the area grow food for themselves. It was nice to get a first person view of the village life.

After Wednesday the week proceeded like normal. On Friday was the day before a trip and our Chicago group would be separated. Since it was Ahmed’s birthday on the 5^th (my roommate) we decided to go out for dinner! All of the Chicago interns were gathered because we have weekly FSD meetings on Fridays. We all jumped into a private rickshaw and headed to what we heard was a good Italian restaurant. It’s name is Zuccini and it was quite an experience.

We arrive around 6:30 pm and the restaurant is very nice. It kind of looks like a Casa grill. As soon as we walk in we see about 5-6 guys sitting in the back all pop up like rockets. We were then courted to a large table with about 8 workers walking around us. In India there is a common theme of restaurants, stores, and departments hiring way too many workers. In America if you went into an H and M you would see maybe three workers. But in India there are closer to ten, and they like to stand really close to you while you shop! But as we were brought our menus we found that there was a nice mix of indian and Italian food offered.

I started off by ordering a beer (90 rupeees or 1.4 dollars a bottle) and it was brought out in high fashion. First a waiter asked me to feel the bottle to check the temperature. What would I have said if I didn’t like the temperature? Then he poured it into an extremely fancy glass with the bottle tilted and everything. It was a lot of work for a shitty beer. After this we got a chance to experience some tastes of home with garlic bread and cheese sticks. Indians do not skimp on their spices and it was all really good. Then it was time to order and I played it safe with some lasagna. Imagine a normal lasagna like your mom would make, but then put in about 10 cups of tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and onions. I wasn’t quite sure what I was chewing on all the time. But in the end it was very delicious for 250 rupees. I also got a nice video of them giving us our hand wash napkins (since most indian food is eaten with hands it is customary to have a wash cloth at the end of the meal). They proceeded to put a little cylinder of cloth on a plate, then douse it in water. The cloth snaked up like a lizard. It was cool. All in all it was a relaxing experience, but I have learned a good lesson on Indian style of international foods, and also on how late people eat dinner here.

Now we get to Saturday! For the weekend there was a mid-term retreat held for the interns from San Francisco since they had been here since May. The Chicago interns were offered a chance to go for a small fee, and a few of us accepted. We got up bright and early and arrived at the FSD office at 7:30 like we were told. Then we proceeded to wait an hour and a half as is Indian custom when setting a time for anything. We all hopped into a large, air-conditioned bus that had the word “TOURIST” written in big letters on the front. Why do they feel like labeling us so blatantly? We are trying to blend in!

So we take off on a three hour bus trip. I spent most of it listening to my music. We finally arrive at our stop and walk out to find a beautiful temple. It is called the Rankapur temple and it is very famous. You can find some pictures of it on my facebook and this blog. But it was basically filled with pillars, tapestries, and statues all made of marble and stone. We got little headsets with audio players to learn more about this history of the temple. Around the temple there were smaller rooms filled with cool statues that were locked. At one point a man walked near me, unlocked the door, and opened it up wide. I was thankful of him to open it up for me and walk in. Inside was a very interesting statue of a cross of a man and a horse. But before I got a picture I heard a loud clapping sound. One of the guards was in the doorway and sternly growling at me. I got past him and he continued to give me a pretty nasty glare. I guess I wasn’t supposed to go into that room!

While we were at the temple we got some lunch. During my lunch I went for a walk and found a small puppy sitting in the shade near one of the buildings. It looked exhausted and wasn’t moving a lot. So I proceeded to go back and get a cup, filled it with water, and left it for the pup. There are a lot of bad things to be found in India, and animal disparity is pretty high up there. But I have found the best way for me to deal with it is to do small things when I can. My friends named him “Dahl” (which means lentil in Hindi) and we fawned over him for a bit. But we didn’t want to give him too much attention or the guards may think he was a bother and kick him out.

After the temple we headed out to our hotel. At least we thought we were going to a hotel. We stopped in the middle of a village in the mountains and I wasn’t sure where we were. But we were told to get our stuff and start walking up a hill. What we found was actually a very nice dining hall and along the trail were more huts, similar to what you would find in a camping area. We all split up three to a room and the accomodations were nice. There was pool for all of us to cool off by, and there was a field with a camel in it. I attempted to pet the camel, then thought better of it and thankfully did not touch the giant beast. We all had a good time relaxing, shared experiences of our time in India, and had a good dinner with a show. There was also plenty of cheap beer which is always a plus!

The next morning brought us to our second destination: the fort a Kharthepura. It is one of the largest forts in the world. The forts in Rajasthan are part of the second longest wall in the world (to china) which was built about 600 years ago in order to make sure the Mughals didn’t invade Rajasthan. It lies at the top of a mountain, which meant a pretty tough climb that morning. As we walked up the stone pathway we found a staircase that went along the wall around the fort. We decided to follow the staircase for a bit for fun. But when we went up about 200 feet we found that there was actually a hole in the fort. With no guards around, we crawled through this hole and found ourselves inside a very run down part of the fort. We likely were not supposed to be there. If you go on my facebook you can find the video I posted in which we climbed the tower that hole was inside. It provided a breathtaking view with the mountain range on one side and a deep valley on the other.

From the tower we climbed higher and higher into the fort itself. I remember as I kept going I felt like I was in a level of Dark Souls (for those of you who have played that you will know what I mean). Every room provided something new and was gorgeous. Finally I reached the top floor you could go and it gave me the best view in India. With the hot sun in the 110 degree weather, cold winds rushing past us at the height of the mountain, and a view as far as the globe would allow it was definitely the highlight of my trip so far. As more and more interns made their way to the top I decided to exit the fort and go back to the field around the fort (which was still at the top of the mountain). Down there I actually found a very luscious and beautiful tree filled with bright pink cherries. It was so large that some of the limbs actually went over the wall. I decided to climb the tree, then shimmied along the branches. The end result was that I was hanging on the thick branch of a tree with about a 800 foot drop below me to the next level of the mountain. Sadly I didn’t get a picture because my camera was in my pocket and I was shaking way too much to even reach in to get it. Definitely one of the dumbest and adrenaline rushing things I have ever done in my life.

As I was leaving the tree I actually found a lot of inscripted love notes. Many people had left little trinkets like ceramic hearts, bracelets, and scarves. So I decided to leave my own tribute. From now on a lovely button that Bets made for me is nestled into a knot on a branch on top of a fort on top of a mountain in India J Unless one of the monkeys takes it. Seriously I saw over fifteen monkeys climbing around that mountain.

From the fort we went back down and strolled around that large wall I mentioned. We also found a lot of small temples at the base which were fun to explore. It was cool to imagine what it must have been like being a soldier stationed at such a beautiful location. But eventually it was time to go and we headed to our final destination: a museum dedicated to the emperor that used the fort we had just explored. I can’t give names or dates or anything. But the basic story is that this emperor was widely adored in the 1500s. He ran into trouble when a Mughol lord tried to invade India. So this Rajasthan emperor went into battle on a horse that he put an elephant mask on top of. As he fought the battle his horse protected him from a sword attack. Then the emperor escaped but sadly the horse died. Then something about the emperor living in the jungle, stuff happens in India, yada yada yada and Arnold Schwarzenaeger became governor.

During the trip through the museum we actually learned about an old practice in India. It used to be that case that when a soldier was killed in battle, his wife threw herself into a pit of fire. And if the woman didn’t do it willingly she was thrown in forcefully. It’s messed up. I’m still trying to figure out if that is the worst or best way to inspire your soldiers to fight harder. Anyways after the festivities of the weekend it was finally time to go. We had run out of water on the bus by this point and were looking forward to some sweet H-2-O!

That’s pretty much it. Once again this isn’t everything. But just so everyone knows I have taken to keeping a very brief daily journal. From this I take the highlights of each day and figure out what to write on. For these blogs I will keep everything PG, but anytime feel free to ask about some of the other stories I am gathering that I can’t really post for all of my family 😉

I kind of like the rhythm I am in of talking about what I actually did in India followed by an emotion or sentimental feeling I have. For this blog I want to talk about patience. Patience is a virtue I thought I was pretty good at. When things are going well I think I do well at keeping cool. If something is not absolutely necessary to be reached on time, turned in on time, or arrive on time I don’t really stress myself. But I think a person truly skilled in patience doesn’t let much of anything get to them. A patient person understands that most deadlines are not life threatening, and you shouldn’t agitate yourself more than necessary.

Here in India I feel like my patience is tested a lot. In Indian culture the idea of a timed event is a little strange. In America if you have a meeting at 8:30 you better be there by 8:30 or send a message to let everyone know you are late. In India it is more common that everyone rolls in for the 8:30 meeting around 10 and wonders why you are so early. It’s not a case of laziness or not being punctual. I think it’s more that the people here take a casual approach to business and events. They figure that things will get done and you shouldn’t stress yourself too much. Enjoy some tea and you’ll get there eventually. You can call that habit good or bad, but in the end that’s the way it is here and I am learning to deal with it finally. As the deadline for my project comes closer I’m sure I will be less understanding of this practice.

More of my patience has been tested in the streets. Here in India many of my American friends and I are stared at. It used to be kind of funny. But as time goes on I feel I am less and less patient with it. It’s rude to stare in America, but the idea of staring is less common here in India. People will sit in front of you on a rickshaw and stare for over ten minutes right at your face. I can’t keep track anymore of how many staring contests I have had here. Sometimes after a long day it gets to me how many people stare at me or my female companions. But in the end I have to remember I can’t call this good or bad, just different.

Finally when it comes to the people back in the states I also have learned more patience. Here in india the days can be long, stressful, and lonely. And sometimes all I want to do is hear the voice of my girlfriend, my friends, or my family. But I cannot always get that. The internet does not always work, the coffee shop with the wifi isn’t always open, and the internet stick I bought doesn’t always connect. When I’m in the states I can continue to text, or facebook, or message anyone until someone responds and I can feel a bit of a connection. But here in India your isolation can be much more engrossing. So what I am learning is that patience is my best weapon. Eventually people will get back to my messages, and eventually I will be able to see their response. Eventually we will set up a skype call and have a great conversation. But it takes time. At times when I know I need more patience I think of my patience in regards to coming home. While I love India, I also love home. Sometimes you cannot help but count the number of days that remain until you return to where you felt most loved. If you let your longing outmaneuver your patience then you will find yourself tumbling deeper and deeper until you are just making yourself sad for nothing.

Allow me to cliché for a moment and state that “And this too shall pass”. Everything is temporary (take that at any level you please). I know that eventually my messages will get returned. I know I will eventually have wonderful voice calls and skype chats. I know that I will eventually get on that big plane and head home. So for now I think I have a budding relationship with patience, and hopefully it will be a good friend to me as I continue my journey.

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Comments

[Keep Smiling]

My favourite part of Rajasthan
I just love the Jain temples at Ranakpur - I've been there many times (most recently last year - see my 'Home, sweet home' blog (http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Ranakpur/blog-773339.html). I have good friends in the area. I recognise the fort you went to, although I don't recognise the name 'Kharthepura'. I only know it as Kumbalgargh (see 'A garh is a fort' - http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Rajasthan/Kumbalgarh/blog-773332.html). A memorable sight indeed. There are so many great places to see - you'll see more of them during your stay I'm sure and I shall look forward to reading your blogs about them.