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Published: April 8th 2007
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First off, Happy Spring! Second, apologies for not writing sooner. It’s been a crazy month since the last time I wrote. So, as you can imagine, it’s hard to even begin to write about my experiences. I will try to keep it short, if that is even possible. So it begins:
After Kerala, I headed to Maharastra to see Pink Floyd in Mumbai and quickly fled the city after the concert on a midnight train to…. Jalgaon- not quite Georgia. However, I ended up on the wrong overnight train (not sure how that happened) with a second class general passenger ticket… To give you an idea of how it works- this class of ticket has no reservations, they just squeeze as many people as possible like packed sardines, bodies everywhere and it’s not a pleasant place to spend a night as a solo female… Luckily, I befriended an Indian college student (female, of course) before boarding the train and she had a sleeper car reservation…basically, she snuck me into her sleeper train with her because she was convinced that I would not be able to survive the trip in second class general… As far as being on the wrong
Swimming in Hampi
The resevoir where apparently crocodiles live... Makes swimming that much more exciting! train, the train stopped at another town that suited my itinerary of seeing the wondrous Ellora and Ajanta Buddhist caves so everything ended up working out travelwise and I ended up making a new friend in the process How lovely it is to remain flexible!
Although the caves were impressive, the surrounding towns were less favorable so I was itching to move on- so I quickly jumped to Hyderabad, India’s 5th largest city in the state of Andra Pradesh, right smack in the middle of the subcontinent. After coming from the laid back, tropical coast, it was quite a culture shock to enter this predominantly Muslim culture. I walked around in a t-shirt and long short but I swear, the way people were staring at me, you would think that I was prancing around naked. I quickly adjusted and dusted off my headscarf from Pakistan so I could avoid being the center of everyone’s attention but despite my efforts, people still stared… It’s just something that comes with the territory- being a traveler in India, that is.
So after my brief stint in the big city, I was more than happy to move on to Hampi where
The Indian Princess
This is what happens when you have a group of girl dress up the foriegner that 'dresses like a boy'. the vibe was laid back and the landscape was from another world. Upon arriving to Hampi, I had several visitors crash my trip… AMEOBAS (AKA, the girls)! The girls absolutely sucked- Despite my eagerness to see Hampi, the girls kept me in the shade for 5 days! I wasn’t able to eat food because the girls had me wincing in pain. So no food, no sights meant lounging around a lot in different hang out locations, meeting new people and hearing THEIR awesome stories about Hampi- Yeah, fun
Once I finally kicked the girls out of my system, I got to enjoy Hampi with a group of rather special and randomly solo travelers who became my Hampi family. Together, we hired rinky-dink mopeds and scooted around Hampi and the surrounding areas with sometimes death defying roadside maneuvers, but nonetheless carefree and fun. The cream on the cake was the full moon ECLIPSE on March 3rd- Yes, Full moon AND Eclipse- I felt like the luckiest person to experience such an amazing natural phenomenon on the boulder packed landscape of Hampi- And after prancing around Hampi all night long and enjoying the moonlight, feeling like the tiniest person amongst
Teaching the ABCs
Our cute nursery school students the plethora of rocks, I watched the sun rise and then got completely doused with colorful water and powder in celebration of Holi, the fun Hindu holiday which literally paints the town with bright colors. I couldn’t have pictured a more perfect end one of the most magical nights of my life… Insane!
After a good 10 days in Hampi, I sadly said goodbye since I had another visitor coming to join my travels…. Yeah, EVAN! We decided to meet in Goa, a touristy oasis/hell (depending on how you view it) where the real India doesn’t really exist- at least not where we stayed. I consider it the Cancun of India since it’s basically all westerners holidaying and the Indian food is rather bland. Despite this, it suited our purposes since poor Evan had to acclimatize to India- jet lag, diet etc, and I need to get my fill of western style foods and vegetables- 2 months of Indian food is wonderful and all but sometimes a girl just needs some pizza! So, Evan and I relaxed for a week in Arambol in wonderful beachfront huts except for the rats that would scratch around the rafters of the huts
My Girlies
Some of the girls that live in the Children's home. at night… But beachfront huts nonetheless - you can’t beat it!
After Goa, we decided that we would try to find a more “Indian” place to stay and decide on the desert oasis of Pushkar, a very sacred place in Rajathan where the only Bhamin temple is located and a very sacred lake... Apart from visiting temples and trying the special lassis, I got to reunite with some travellers I have meet along the trip which is always fun... It's like I have a community with me wherever I go in India...
However, Evan and I quickly left the normal travel circuit and our travel buddies to volunteer at a school located in the little known Northeastern state of Meghalaya, Shillong. We were placed in a very poor school that has an attached children's home that houses 8 orphans. Upon arrival, we were shown our lovely suite for the month-a converted classroom with school benches as our bed. The orphans, ranging from 5-17 years old, all girls except for the especially naughty little boy, welcomed us with reluctant arms. Luckily, they warmed up to us pretty quickly especially when we bought a soccer ball and played with them. They are adorable but their life as children is pretty non-existant in terms of western standards. The children as young as 9 could run a household better then me... which doesn't say much but you get the point.
In addition to helping with the orphans, we taught Engligh, history and computers at the primary school despite the fact that none of the children have ever had any experience with a computer. It was a challenge to teach them computers without having a computer to show them- It was all with a book (So boring). Thier eagerness to learn was inspiring though and I hope to continue to help the school and children in the future. It's hard not to develop a bond with the school and the students. It made me question many things about life in general and opportunities given to some people and not to others. I guess it feel especially sad when I see children at a disadvantage due to issues of class and money. Many many issues that I'm still mulling over as I write so I will spare you the babble. Overall though, my experience was rewarding and beautiful. It was nice to kid around with children and give them love... especially the orphans who bearly have time to breath between fetching water, cooking, cleaning and studying. Both Evan and I loved the "mom and dad" role we played for them... We really wish we could scooped them back to US with us but its not possible. I guess we should be happy with the experience at hand and savor the time we shared... And YES- I will definately cry my eyes out when I leave!!
Although I'm sad to leave, I'm looking forward to our next stop- Darjeeling and trekking the Himilayas in Sikkim which is suppose to be amazing. Will give you a full update when I get back...
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El Gitano
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Well put
Nice work summing up the experience since my arrival. Being here with you, travelling in India, being at the children's home- these are all more experiences in my life that words and language do little justice in describing. Thank you for all of this- Love Always Ev