Blogs from Udaipur, Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 43

GANESH & THE ANAL RAT The most popular god (as far as statues and art-work is concerned) in the Hindu religion is Ganesh. Ganesh has a human body (similar to Buddha) and an elephant head. He rides around town on a mouse (which is ironic when you think about how elephants are supposed to be afraid of mice). He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. He is the destroyer of vanity, selfishness and pride. All Hindus worship Ganesh regardless of their sectarian belief. He is the meeting ground for all Hindus which is why people like him so much. I can see why, becuause it’s hard to relate to a woman with 9 hands carrying swords who destroys ... read more

YOU DIAPER I love Udaipur. Very clean city (comparatively) and our last stop on our whirlwind vacation. Udaipur is supposedly the most romantic city in all of India. And luckily, (or unluckily for the Indians who had to deal with it) it was the rainiest season in ten years and the lake is at a nice and high level. Jaipur was known for it’s rugs and Udaipur is known for it’s miniature paintings. Danielle and I bought a rug in Jaipur and unfortunately, we spent more and bought it at one of the tourist trap places because you want to be safe with something like a rug. I would hate to come back home, place the rug down, and then see it evaporate into nothingness. For the miniature, we decided to risk it and buy from ... read more

ACCESS INDIA In Asia, they followed American celebrities. Here there are Indian celebrities that they follow. Hollywood is Hollywood. Bollywood is king here. CHILD SERVANTS I was walking in Udaipur and this kid, Gingaran was sitting outside one of the local shops. I gave him a whistle and he was so grateful, he would blow it every time I came by. He didn’t speak much English, but with an 11 year old, you wouldn’t have much of a conversation anyway. On the third day, some women were outside with the kid. They were the shop owners and I asked them who’s child he was. They told me that he wasn’t their child and that he was their servant. Picture having an 11 year old servant. Made me feel sorry for Ging, but then I thought about ... read more

BAM! Danielle and I took a cooking class on our last day in Udaipur. It may make me effeminate but dammit, I don’t care. Hopefully no one will find out about my love of musicals, that I have been to Rave in West Hollywood, and always cry when that Flinstones vitamin commercial comes on (something about those kids singing that "We Are Flinstone's Kids" song, and especially the last solo kid who sings “and growing” gets to me). But I digress, it’s ironic because even though I’m taking this class, when I get home I’m probably not going to want Indian food for a year or so because to be honest, I’m kind of sick of it. It was different in Asia because when I needed to get a fix of American food, I could find ... read more

Hey Folks, It's Blythe bringing you the much anticipated update from the rest of our journey through Rajasthan. Udaipur was fantastic - staying with the Mehta's, one of the SERVAS families, really gave us a taste of what living in India is like. Mr. Mehta is from a long line of SERVAS members and his grandfather is one of India's esteemed Freedom Fighters who worked hard alongside the likes of Mahatma Gandhi to bring Independence to India. He is also one of the first SERVAS members in India. Mrs. Mehta has studied and lectured on subjects of Indian art and architecture and taught us so much about both! Their sons, Rajah 20 and Rahul 8 also did their part to educate us about India. Rajah took us to a very old Jain temple on a hill ... read more