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Published: January 23rd 2006
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Decorations for the AICC Meeting
An important meeting for the Indian Congress took place in Hyderabad the last couple of days. The newspapers are writing a lot about Sonia Gandhi, AICC President and the main attraction. Hello Friends,
Well, I think that after a first week of wondering if I could stand it here for six months, I think I may be able too after all. I’ve made an effort to get out and do as much as I can, and thankfully I’m at an institution that has the same philosophy for its students.
Yesterday I joined the group of social workers here at HMI for a conference on their ‘City Day’, or activities from 9 am to 10 pm. First, we went to the Old City to browse the used book stalls, a popular Sunday activity. I was so surprised at what I saw for sale—basically, Harlequin romance novels, old technical handbooks, and past IKEA or JC Penney catalogs! Occasionally there was the political memoir or self help book. Every book I saw for sale was around 50 Rupees, or a little over a dollar.
Next we went to spend time at the downtown mall, Prasads. This mall has an IMAX theatre and currently is showing 2 English movies, ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Santa and His Snowmen’. We didn’t have time for a movie but we browsed the few clothing stores they had. I’m
At Prasads Mall
My friend Angeles trying his best not sure if I’ve mentioned it, but when you shop in a store in this country a sales person will follow you constantly, as if you are suspected of shoplifting. Also, we went through the ‘Scary House’, which for 30 Rupees, or about 75 cents, was actually scary in a kitschy way.
The last thing we did at Prasads was rock climbing—I’ve put some pictures of my friend trying his best in the gallery. While our group was watching people climb, Indian men kept coming up to me asking where I was from. When I replied the US, they would then point to one of their group and say, “He is very smart. A very keen businessman”, and then they would get very close to me. It was sort of embarrassing, so I left the group and went outside.
After lunch we went to an art gallery in the trendy section of Hyderabad, Banjara Hills. I had never been to this area, but its ritzy reputation proved to be true. The houses I saw there were amazing, and there was no sign of the tent cities and shacks I am used to seeing in the city.
Our
last activity was to attend the city’s laser show in an amphitheater near the lake (there is a huge man-made lake in the center of Hyderabad). The amphitheater is part of a large park with go carts and pool areas for kids. As we were walking around, people started coming up to me and asking if they could get a picture with me. I felt a little strange about the first couple of times, but I thought why not. Then, men started coming up to me asking for pictures and if I was married. During one of the photos, a man grabbed me tightly across the waist and I shouted to him: "no touching!"
When we went into the amphitheater they were playing very loud Hindi club music. As we were waiting for the laser show to begin I said to one of the American girls with our group, "hey, let’s start the wave" She agreed and so we started, but it did not catch on with the others. And as if there weren’t enough people staring at us before, now the whole place was looking at our silliness. At first we thought it was fun, but when no
one else joined we stopped trying.
And then all of a sudden a few Indian men started dancing in the aisles and coming towards us. Then their friends thought this was funny, and so they moved towards us too. You should have seen it—think Indian trendy looking men busting a move right in front of you. And the non-American people you are with are mortified. Yeah, so it was pretty awful. Then their friends started taking pictures of us—we had to have our friends tell them to stop. I learned a big lesson yesterday—don’t call any more attention to myself than I already get. Which is a lot.
The laser show was very cool. The funniest part of it was how promotional it was for the city of Hyderabad. Then they showed a laser-film (no screen, it was projected in the sky) showing a historical sequence of the city’s history (when they showed the British flag, the whole crowd erupted in boos). After this, they showed a laser film song and dance number, reminiscent of Bollywood movies, called ‘I Love You Hyderabad’. It was so funny—the song refrain was like, "our biryani (a food dish)! our chai! our
city!” Anyway, it was pretty hilarious and a little silly.
Another thing that happed is while we were waiting for the laser show to start, a young Indian woman came up to me with her two children. She came to me and said, “telugu?” Telegu is the main language spoken in Andhra Pradesh, the county of Hyderabad. I don’t speak any Telugu, and so even when I said "no understand" she did not understand what I meant. She kept trying though, and I can’t convey to you how hard it was to realize that although she and I are of the same human species, we had not one word in common. We couldn’t communicate. That’s never happened to me before, and it makes me want to learn some Telugu while I’m here. I think that is the least I could do.
So that was my exciting day. Now I am back to the grind of classes and homework, which is going very well. After just one week of instruction, I am having conversations with my teacher often just in Farsi.
Hope all is well, and please write soon.
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sarah pagliaro
non-member comment
thank you
j thanks so much for your lovely words about your experience. i look forward to all of your journals. it's sounds like you are adjusting quickly. i'm sorry i didn't get to talk to you before you left but i send all my love and hope you continue to have these amazing experiences!