Rajasthan

I spent Friday evening debating on whether or not to go out, finally deciding on take-out and old bollywood films. Hanna ended up having a friend, Anon, come over for drinks and dinner--so we sat around on the balcony and thought about the implications of the recession and the future of journalism. Anon told us he was currently trying to write a book about Afghanistan, but that it was hard for him to personalize his experiences after working as an objective agent for so long. I think Anon is the best name for an author--I couldn't think of anything better.

Saturday morning I left for Niz. Train station around 5 am. I met Andre, who informed me that there were no trains leaving from Niz to Jaipur, and we would have to go to to Old Delhi. We went to Old Delhi in an overpriced rickshaw, and still, no train to Jaipur. We tried New Delhi station, but again, no trains until noon. The worst part being that I had to stand in line to figure all of this out, and I chose the same line as Andre, not realizing that there are designated lines for females and males. Consequently, I was pushed and harassed by a group of men trying to buy tickets who figured I had no right to be in their line. We decided to take the bus and grab some chaat for breakfast. We bought some sort of spicy potato pancake which was really very good.
The bus company ordered a bicycle rickshaw to take us to the bus--always an awkward proposition, but worth it in this case. On the way to the bus, we saw the morning milk being divied into large tin containers, newspapers being wrapped and tied with twine for their morning deliveries, and cows hanging out near open fire pits along the road. It's crazy that people get up around 4am to make sure everyone else gets their daily whatever on time before regular working hours. I remember seeing men bathing in a wash house in Chandni Chowk, and the tour guide telling us that they were bread makers who would go to sleep around noon and wake up at 2 or 3am, and then do it all over again.

We passed out for the first half of the ride (5 hours), but when I woke up, there was the most adorable little girl sitting across the aisle from me. Her name was Priyana, but she was wearing a black and yellow striped sweater suit, so I called her bumble bee. I ended up letting her play with my camera and take pictures, and she sat on my lap for a while so her parents could have a break. She really was one of the cutest kids I had ever seen. Her parents were also interesting--an engineer and a stay-at-home mom--Pradeep and Neetu. Neetu spoke no English and had to ask all of her questions through Pradeep, but would give me hand fulls of snacks along the way sans verbal communication. When I asked Pradeep what Neetu did for work, he said "Oh, she's just a stay at home wife." While indicating toward Priyana, I replied, "Just? Isn't that the hardest job of all?" He laughed and agreed, but he didn't seem to value her work very much. It's the little things like this that have been shaping my perception on Indian gender disparities.

We reached Amber Fort, where the bus let us off, just outside of the city of Jaipur. While debating on how to get into the city, several elephants marched by, so we decided to ride them into town. Basically, this was one of the worst experiences of my life. In order to make them move, the drivers had to poke them with a stick and kick them. I asked them to stop, and the elephant stopped. I soon realized that the elephants only responded to this sort of negative stimulus. The worst part was, that the driver once dropped his beating stick on the ground, and the elephant handed it back to him with its trunk! It was terrible, and I will never support that kind of cruelty again. A learning experience, at least.

Jaipur itself is really beautiful. The capital of Rajasthan is a well known source for Indian handicrafts and textile--some of the most beautiful artifacts I had ever seen. We were able to see the City Palace, Amber Fort, Krishna Temple, the Water Palace, Palace of the Winds, and Mirror Palace all in two days. We also walked around Old Jaipur and found our way through the mazes of bizarres and markets. We even saw half of a bollywood movie--Bilu the Barber, I think. It was completely in Hindi, no subtitles, but the context was easy to decipher--I think the dancing and repetitive singing helps. Again, there were separate lines for men and women. I can't say I wasn't relieved to be out of reach from wandering hands, but at the same time, doesn't this segregation just accept chauvinistic behaviours? The problem isn't that women are a temptation, the problem is that men seem to have a hard time respecting other human beings. Segregating men and women just seems to say, "Boys will be boys," so we shall provide a non-solution and ignore the real problem--that men here feel entitled to ogle, touch or harass women in general.

At the movie theatre, men kept asking to take my picture. Not really sure why, but this seems to happen a lot in large public places or monuments. I'm usually pretty skeptical, I don't really like the attention, especially since people are always trying to rip me off. Most of the time, they really just want the photo.
Our rickshaw driver for the weekend, Rafik, drove us around in an auto with a sound system (not common) and proceeded to blast Ace of Base, Backstreet Boys, JLO and Britney Spears. I was more than a little mortified, and again, did not want the attention. If people didn't realize we were tourists, they certainly did when we pulled up to Amber singing 'Hit me baby one more time.' Rafik was doing it for our benefit though, and I didn't have the heart to stop him. He also looked like Elvis and told us silly sayings:
"No ciappatti, no chai.
No money, no honey.
No college, no knowledge.
No woman...no cry."

We took the train back on Sunday afternoon. We booked sleeper class tickets, but didn't realize that we did not have confirmed seats. Basically it was standing room only on an un-air conditioned train and really narrow aisles. I wanted to go to the top and sit with the free-riders, but the family I was sitting with assured me this was a terrible idea. I had prayed earlier at the Krishna Temple near Amber Fort for God to humble me and to curb my appetite for possession (in a country like India, you are constantly tempted by shiny objects). I believe this was his first answer--it was, indeed, a humbling six hours. I had no water, no real seat, and the train would halt at different rural ports for ridiculously long periods. I would fall asleep for about ten minutes at a time, and wake up with about fifteen men peering down/over at me from their seats--awkward. The scenery was beautiful for the first hour of sunlight, but I wasn't near the window and the sun went down, blacking out all of India until the next day.

When we finally got back to Delhi, I grabbed my stuff at Hanna's and headed to the new flat in Defence. There was a little mix up with the flat arrangements--Swallie is still occupying the room I am renting--but she's moving out Thursday, so there's no real issue. There was a lot of yelling in French the day she got back into town, but things have since settled, and my flat mates, and their friends, have proven to be exceptionally lovely human beings. C'est la vie, no?

Last night I tried attending a lecture on Women Freedom Fighters at the India Islamic Centre. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly, but once the lecture began, it was entirely in Hindi, so I didn't walk away with more than the title and the names of the speakers. I'm currently trying to find a good way to learn Hindi--Swallie told me how to say "Is it because Im white?" and "I am not a tourist," so I can argue with rickshaws about overcharges. Rob and I went for some street food (chili fried rice--really good!) and then I introduced him to the techno-yogurt craze that is Cocoberry (Pinkberry in the States).

I'm currently debating on whether to go to Agra this weekend or a Tiger Reserve in a jungle about six hours from Delhi. Shaka says I have newbie syndrome--everyone always travels out of Delhi every weekend for the first month or so until they're settled. I think I might have this syndrome for a while...

Love and Peace,
Elise