Ariel in India

Date/ Entry Title	Entry
6/8/2005 11:42 AM	Yesterday all my former classmen graduated. VERY STRANGE. It is starting to feel real being back. But I hang around the indian grocers a lot more now. American food is just not as well liked coming back... haha.
the countdown has begun... 5/2/2005 5:12 PM	The day to leave is rapidly approaching for me, and that is scaring me beyond anything else I have ever known. I am having a good time here. I left Dharamsala about a week and a half ago. It was really emotional. I think I cried solidly with all my different host-families, schoolmates, and friends around Dhasa. But I have had lots of fun here in Pathankot. Punjabi life, although its a short car ride away, is much faster paced, much more lively by far. I am really enjoying my stay with the Maini family. Tarika, their daughter is coming to stay in Tulsa with me. We are great pals now. I have learned so much about her in the last two weeks give or take. I've also learned how to rap a turban. My host-family is sikh. And I am really glad that I got to live with them...because it is refreshing to see more than one side of the spectrum in the cess-pool of identities india has. They are really great people, the mainis. I went to chandigarh with Tarika for 36 hours or so. We stayed at her bua's house. Her bua (father's sister)'s kids are so cute! Shaira and kabir. Kabir is about 6 years old, and fond of raising hell... so, we got on very well. He is a cutie-pie! And shaira is very smart, 10 or so... preparing to go to one of the best prep schools in the country. I also met Tarika's friends from her school, and her brothers school (she went to Mayo girls in aisjalmer, rajasthan and he went to doon school in dehradun, UP). We went to some clubs WITH HER BUA and HER FRIENDS. I had so much fun. Never danced so much in my life! Then the next day we went to lunch with more people. I am really fond of the people I met in chandigarh. Sahej, dilsher, radhika, rattan, and everyone else... we had too much fun in those few hours we spent together! So, my daily routine here in pathankot has become really simple... Get up a bit late (thank god tarika is a late sleeper like me!), meet mata-ji (tarika's 95 year old great grandmum), teach simran (english, hindi, and math), and then go to the gym with tarika. I actually enjoy the flapping around we do that they call aerobics... I feel like i am a dancer in an 80s pop video!! I need to make a list of things to do before I leave, will do that next! Ariel
4/21/05	I am now in Pathankot, after a very very emotional goodbye. I will be staying here with Tarika who will be an inbound student next year. She is a very awesome girl. We may go to rishikesh to go white water rafting on the ganges (how awesome, hai na?). It is very different staying here with them from my other families, they have a driver, several full time servants (which I am rediculously polite to).
3/6/05 yeh kya hai? dusre update hai.	I started school back up, structuring my life again, before I felt somewhat like a vagabond during the days before. But I am also feeling the strain of being back in the classroom when there is still many places to explore, people to meet, and everything. I am starting to feel how precious the time is that I have left, only two months left. Thinking about it makes me really ambivalent. I am looking forward to seeing everyone at home, but people here are like family now. I don't want to go back to a certain extent. I could be quite content waking up every morning for the rest of my life in the mountains here. Seriously it is probably the most picturesque place ever. So, I've seen the dalai lama several times, at lectures, prayer bead blessings (like rosary beads), etc. And I know most will think it is hokey for me to say, but he patted me on the head. A friend, Christina, said that she could imagine it because I have that "john candy look of innocense" in my eyes. I was suprised, but he was touching the dhammapada of the person next to me (one of the most popular buddhist scripts), and I smiled at him and he gave me a pat on my head. It was unreal. I was at a housewarming ceremony, it was the first time I had seen this particular pooja. It was specifically devoted to Shiva. They made this mound of grains, puri roti (fried bread), and flowers. There were also pandits from Chamba (another province within Himachal Pradesh), so the style was a bit different to the ones I had seen before. The pandits sang all night with no breaks until 6am, and every now and then one of them would get up and get "posessed" by shiva and people would ask him questions. It was so surreal. It reminded me of the people that go to baptist churches, speak in tongues, and have seizures... its hard for me to take this sort of stuff seriously. I will do a bit more of retracking what I have done the last couple of months- Feb-- I had lunch with my friends at ZKL monastery and TIPA everyday during LOSAR. They gave me a chupa, so, I look real tibetan... just kidding I tower over the tibetans and I look nothing like them but I get more respect walking around in McLeod Ganj in a chupa with my tibetan friend Kayong Choetso. Awesome. My friend Cole died. It was particularly hard for me, because he was a pretty nice guy, very intelligent, and only a couple years older than me. The family hasn't disclosed the cause of his death, so I haven't really been able to accept it still. I am still looking for some closure, but it has stopped bothering me so much. I went to my host cousin's shaadi (wedding) in Ballah Gaow near Palampur. It was fun. The village was so full of loving people, it certainly became one of those places that I will endear for the rest of my life. I have never felt more at home in my entire life. I volunteered at Nyingtob Ling (handicraft home for handicapped tibetans) My debit card arrived (no more fear of living in poverty... thank god... I think I might have an ulcer from the trauma that struck me the last 3 weeks of worrying about $l'argent$dinero$the cashola. It's a funny story how I got into this situation, but I am still a bit too embarassed to tell it well. I saw H.H. The Karmapa Lama... and he gave me a red string, touched my head too (haha... I must look like a head patting kind of gal). I have my tibetan name: Choetso Dolma!!! January: I had a jolly good time hangin' out with a group of Brazillians ( came here through Rotary... which Marco pronounces "hhhrooootaireee"). They had so much candor and western habits that it was refreshing to hang out with them. We saw Norbulingka, an institute of tibetan crafts (they make traditional paintings, Thangkas; statues for temples; various things carved BEAUTIFULLY out of wood; and clothing/costumes). It is a really pleasant place. I made a friend, Chogyan, a monk that works there who limps; he is now my tibetan tutor. Cecilia Maria, Julianna, Marco, Danillo, Alex, Luiz Claudio and I ate pizza and drank hot cocoa (which sounds inticing at the moment!).
1/28/05	You know, it never really hit me until this week that things were actually going to change while I was gone. I mean I knew that they were, my friends will all graduate without me, my sister has gotten her driver's license, but those things I was anticipating. Its those things you don't expect, like people dying while you are gone... friends dying. I heard this past week my friend and debate coach died on monday. He was a very very clever guy and an awesome debater. So, the idea of what I had of coming back to US has altered slightly... and ever so much more changes... he is not the first person whom I've known that has died... a friend of my families died of heart failure in late 2004. It doesn't feel real... these things cannot have happened, but they have and I will have to adapt. Anyhow, I am going to the dalai lama's temple to spin a few prayer wheels for his sake.
1/14/2005	Well, I made it back safely about a week ago from my Winter excursion to Dehli and Chandigarh. I made it back without any asthma attacks. Ireally enjoyed it. I stayed in Noida (a suburb of dehli) with Ravendra Bua. She is one of the most generous (and silly ladies ever). We did all sorts of shopping in Dehli. I finally got a new pair of jeans, thank god! Shilpa, her daughter in-law (also the bride in the wedding I came to dehli for last time) drove us around. It was nice to see a girl drive... its rare except in Dehli. I saw the Lotus Temple, a bah'ai prayer hall for people of all faiths. It was AMAZING. I think the Bah'ai faith is an attempt bring faith into the sphere of globalization... because if we are going to integrate our economies it will become necessary to have at least a base of respect for other religions. My Geometry teacher sophomore year followed the Bah'ai faith. He was a really quiet and possibly one of the most interesting teachers I've had (but not really gotten to know too much about). Spent Christmas at Dilli Haat, a shopping center that has every type of indian culture, crafts and cuisine in one area. We ate native dehli food, puri roti and this lentil daal that wasn't quite like daal, but I've long since forgotten the name. New Year's eve was quiet. We were going to go to a host of parties, but many were canceled. So, we merely spent the time solemnly watching the damage incured by the tsunami. We felt devastated, but also really sheltered since we were in the concrete jungle of Dehli. Then Tanu and I left for Chandigarh, after two weeks of being city girls, taking rickshaws, shopping, and just enjoying ourselves. In Chandigarh, we loitered a lot. The Rock Garden was one place we stopped. This Place was amazing, and I felt a remarkable kinship with the creator of it, because this was done in the spirit of kitsch. He took pieces of old porcelain toilets, cups, and glass bracelets to make mosaics, statues, huts, and palaces. It reminds me of the things in our house that my mother collects, bizarre little things made of old metal objects made by a crazy anonymous man in the middle of Oklahoma. I felt really at home there. I think if my mom or Dana get to come to india with me, I will take them there, to that rock garden because that is just the type of thing that sets them off. The same day as the visit to The Rock Garden we went to Sukhna lake. A bigger tourist area than the rock garden. We drank fresh coconut water, went out in little paddle-boats for a mere rs. 30 (~ 75 cents). There was a large group of Aussies there. They were no doubt "cooler than cool". I think they must be there from some undergraduate class. Shanu (Tanu's cousin that lives in Chandigarh) kept saying that they all looked "smart" which just mean that he thought the looked handsome/ cute. It is really funny when I hear what the indians think of foreigners, because I know they thought some of the same things about me at first, but they've become accustomed to having me around... and now they say that I behave like an indian... which I think I should take as a compliment. I continually shock myself when I find myself with these new environment inspired habits I have acquired (eating with my hands, for instance; who needs cutlery? certainly not me... I dig in without a second thought with my fingers!). I saw the bollywood movie 'Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Sathiyo' (Now you have your own country, friends) at the theatre in Noida. It was a pretty good movie. The actual plot was rediculously unbelievable, but cute in a way. I really like the song and dance routines from it. I really liked watching Amitabh Bacchan, like who doesn't? I mean those who follow bollywood, of course! Those who don't, Amitabh is THE "it" man in Bollywood... and he's 60 or so years old. The movie itself is about families on both sides of the india/pakistan conflict... men who fought against eachother in the 70s (when Bangladesh was breaking out of the Indian Union) now coming across one another in peace-talks in a UN type organization, which has less to do with the plot than it should. I came back to Dharamsala a little refreshed, because I always seem to relax more when there is a more consistant pace of life. Not that I don't love sleepy Dharamsala, it is just that sometimes it seems that life more often than not seems to stagnate
12/1/2004	Last sunday I had the time of my life in Amritsar! I went to see the Golden Temple, the holiest place in the sikh religion. It was amazing for too many reasons to count. I'd definately say it is one of the most amazingly beautiful places I have been to. It is also a lot cooler since you don't have to worry to much about being scammed (so, it already beats the Taj Mahal... agra is full of scumwads that take advantage of tourists). The other thing is that the foreigners you normally see there are outrageously off-beat. I saw this family of american (could tell from their Texan accents), everyone was wearing a turban, which is kind of extreme, sikh women don't wear turbans. They are pretty extreme, I have to say. Another memorable thing is when I was going to dip my hands in the pool of amrit (amrit sarovar), I slipped on the wet marble steps and almost drenched myself, in front of hundreds of pilgrims. Don't worry I suffered from no permanent damage, it just made me realize that I hadn't bathed that day and god was punishing me or something for trying to dip my hands in the holy water when I hadn't bathed in a few days. Next time I am in Amritsar: I will take a bath before going back to the Gurudwara Go see the Durgianna Temple See the Pakistani Border closing ceremony... it is supposed to be wicked fun to watch... Talk to one of the weird foreigners with turbans and get a better grip on what they are about. There has to be something less weird about what they are doing than I can readily percieve. I switched host-families. Not too much of a shock, but I miss my first host-family bad. They were really just like my own family. I doubt this new family will let me joke around as much, dance in the kitchen in my socks, or even teach me the "fun" words to know in hindi. The new house is great though, it is very cozy and not as drafty (which is important since it is starting to get wicked cold), it is "on the downside" of Dharamsala, near Dari. It takes me an hour to get to school now, with a bus-ride. Though, the incline of the hills on the way are less, so I am sure the exercise is about the same. You get a much better view of the mountains, in the valley-ish part of the mountain. I haven't been able to get good pictures of the top peaks because it has been cloudy up there constantly, but once I have the time and it looks favorably... I will get on that... I start my 3 month winter break on the 7th. Definately looking forward to this. I will be a traveling-machine! Accha Ji!
10/23/04	The pollution in Dehli is bad, and that in conjunction with my asthma ... my poor lungs. THE WEDDING WAS FANTASTIC. It was like a week-long fiesta! Holy moly. They do so much. And it is all so much fun. They have all sorts of events... the first one I went to was the Dupatta Ceremony, where the grooms family gives the bride all of the make up she could possibly want, a new (beautiful) suit, and all of the accessories you could possibly imagine. We danced, we sang, we talked. Then there were so many different dance parties. Improv dance parties are definately the best. We never stopped dancing. And the older folks give the younger folks who dance beaucoup d'argent (lots of money), I think I made 500 rupees ($12... but can buy 30 or 40 dollars worth of stuff). Crazy. Many poojas were done. The ones I remember include, putting turmeric all over the bodies of the couple (done separately in their respective houses, so I only saw the groom), then putting oil in their hair, then the dress up in Yellow undies and are respected like a god. Then there is the Barat, the big party. This is the greatest. We walked from the grooms house with a marching band for 2-3 kilometers to the golf course where the big deal was going on. The groom comes on the hourse, looking magnificent in a red turban. I was wearing a sari (I didn't look half bad in it, I must declare). We stayed for a long time... then most of the guests left... only a small party stayed for the actually marriage ceremony (takes place at an auspicious hour in the morning... this time the time was set by the pundit at 2am). After a while, they walk around the fire 7 times (7 times for hindus...4 for sikhs). We went home, back at 3:30... woke up at five for the arrival of the bride. She comes at six (dawn)... she is supposed to spend the rest of the night at her house with the groom, and then in the morning come to her new house. When she gets there she dips her feet in red liquidy stuff, and steps through the house (to track her first steps. Then later she does some poojas with her husband, and then she does some on her own. Then we all talked. Now to talk about Dehli, itself. I was staying in the suburbs, in Noida. A very posh place. They have nice stores, pizza huts, mcdonalds, high-end prada equivalent indian designer shops, and large book stores. There is, however, a putrid smell from the industrial area just outside of Noida. However, of all of the parts of Dehli I have seen, if one was to take up residence in Dehli, Noida is definately the most habitable (though I think I need to see some of the other parts to completely qualify this). I am totally in love with the rest of the relatives of my host-family. They are the awesomest, most loving people. I feel really priveledged that I got to spend so much time, getting to see and participate in so many of the things that would otherwise be closed to me as a foreigner. I am really greatful to them all. Much Love to my Buwas, Bhois, raju-bhaiya, munna-bhaiya, aditi-bhabi, dipti-didi, shanu-bhaiya, Shelly-didi, Vicky-bhaiya, aryan, Dristi, Mama-ji, etc... you are simply the coolest.
Thursday, September 30, 2004 2:15 AM	I went to Hunuman's temple on the other side of town. I really love hindu temples. Today I will see Sai Baba's temple, and attend the kirta (big drum circle kind of thing). I really love going to the temples. At school we are having games this week, all of the houses are competing against one another. I want to cheer for my house, but I have so many friends in other house I always cheer. I get weird looks. Go Drichu house! I am getting really hyped up for the wedding coming up. The groom's mother came to invite us personally (my host family and I). She is so great. I am really excited that I get to stay with her. I get treated just like a member of the family everywhere I go. it is quite an amazing thing. I think Indian's are probably the most hospitable people on the planet. I have acquired quite a wardrobe here, I must say. Yesterday I bought a pair of punjabi shoes... think genie shoes. I love them so much. I am so cool.
Tuesday, September 21, 2004 7:21 AM	it seems like the whole world is sick now. At the upper TCV(tibetan children's village) school and my TCV school, there have been over 50 cases of bad food poisoning. I don't know what the cause is. Also, Mati (my host-grandmother) has been really sick the last few days vomiting, and if what Tanu says is right, then she has a mild case of dyssentary (spelling?). Yick. I am going to be very careful, so I don't contract anything. I really want to be the exception, one of few foreigners that don't get sick in India. So far, I am doing alright. I am convinced that I am going to end up here, teaching english. I really can't imagine leaving right now, unless it was into a soft-bed with hundreds of packages of peanut butter M&Ms and I could wear a pair of shorts and play my loud obnoxious music that the indians I have met don't like (because it is too weird or too slow or too loud). Otherwise, I am convinced that if I had my own cd player (which I really really really regret not bringing my portable cdplayer, what a fool I was) and someone sent my m&ms occasionally I would never have to come back. I know I would miss my family and friends in the states, but I know the cool ones would come visit. I don't know. I have been thinking about what will happen when I get back, and it all seems to weird to me. Almost three months in India, and I have come to cherish the independence I have here. Though, I feel really isolated sometimes. There is a big language barrier. Very big. Especiall y at school, I am picking up hindi a lot faster, but at school I always seem to be the odd one out. I don't contribute much to the conversation, but take over with charlie chaplin slap-stick. I spent last friday with Tsephel afterschool. She is hilarious. We went to an internet cafe in McLeod and ate AlooTiki, which I am convinced is the most heavenly food on the planet. So, so, so good. She reads all sorts of foreign fashion magazines (her parents are in england and an aunt in Seattle, so they send them to her), so she tells me all about what is going on with hollywood's lovely ladies, all the gossip. I can't believe Brit is married once again! I am dying to travel outside of Dharamsala! I am having fun here, but I'd like to see more. I have been reading so much lately. I don't know what I am going to do with myself! I have nearly finished 10 books since getting here. Maybe I need to find another outlet. I do yoga in the mornings, sometimes. I am learning pahari, punjabi, and hindi songs. I will have quite a repetoire going when I get back. I want to learn more traditional dance (kathak), but I am not sure how to go about that. I will inquire. love... ariel
Friday, September 10, 2004 8:52 AM	Here is my first travelogue; I am sorry that I haven't written sooner. I have discovered that one of my innate talents is haggling, or at least I learned it quick. Another thing is that I can find what I am looking for reasonably quicker than the other newbie foreigners here in Dharamsala. I find it somewhat refreshing. None of my schoolmates can leave school, because of the asian harry potter boarding school rules, so I am left without many friends since most of my time is spent in school. So, I find much enjoyment in going out into the market finding bizarre things, talking people down a few rupiah. All and all, that is almost the extent of my socializing besides Rotary functions. Hopefully this Sunday I can get up to the monastery to learn tibetan from Tashi or "Big-Tall-Handsome Monk" as someone renamed him (actually Rtn. George Massie, USA). Since, Sundays and the second saturday of each month are my only holidays or weekends. I really want to get out of the main bazaar and the house. I like it here, but I feel so mewhat trapped, and I now have a stalker of sorts. Really he follows me to any shop I go to and he asks me to buy something for him... and starts to run off with things. I just hope the shopkeepers don't punish me for having a lunatic follow me like that. It isn't my fault. I ditch him after a while, but really it is not fun. I think I might spend more time at home, watching Dekho Magar Pyar Se, if he doesn't cool out. This is the first thing that has happened to make me feel really vulnerable and miserable here. He doensn't follow me that often, just on Fridays it seems. He seems a little "touched" and probably just needs to be medicated, so I feel sorry for him and any other of the neglected mentally ill traipsing around. I am singing "Jana Gana Mana," India's national anthem on Saturday, along with our national anthem. I am not the best singer, but I will do anything for the club here, because they really do a lot for me. By the way I am singing at a dinner for students from Tulane university's social work department. In other news, I have several Punjabi friends now, and a few from Jammu/Kashmir... I was invited to several cities in each of the areas. I am definately going to Punjab; though, I would like to see Jammu/Kashmir too, and even though I am not worried, even with all of the toil going on there, I am sure I could never get the approval from all of the necessary officials (i.e. my mother, rotary club of dharamsala, or anyone else in charge of me).The most notable of the friendships I have made was with a woman who was just married to a Sikh. She is the funniest person on the planet, and terribly honest. Her name is Navneet. I am so sorry that she had to leave me to go back to her life in Ludhianna. She was one of the greatest pals I have had here. Also, I met a rotaractor (a branch of youthful rotarians) named Mandeep Pujara, from Amritsar (where the Golden Temple is, or the Mecca of sikhism, though he isn't a Sikh). I think of Mandeep as mera bhai (my brother) or mera dost(my friend). I actually gave him a rahki, a friendship band, so he is now officially mera bhai. I only have given rahkis to him, shibu, and arryn (I gave them on Rahksha Bhanda... a very big festival designed for girls to give their brothers, not necessarily related, rahkis, so they will look after them). Mandeep is working to spread the influence of organic agriculture across the globe, and I hope he is successful. He is a really interesting fellow. Oh since I have been here I have acquired a few favorite things... Here is a list: all of the colors, everywhere you go there is a rainbow. The Mountains outside my window; they really are majestic. I can't believe I am in the Himalayas! Monkeys: they really are everywhere, and they can be mean, but are still very close to my bandar-loving heart. Tibetans! They are possibly the happie st people I know, even in exile. Bagsunag, a little place two or three kilometers away from McLeod, the only place where it is peaceful. Very quiet. I almost forget where I am. Israelis that take up residence here temporarily after their military service. They are always an entertaining folk. Dekho Magar Pyar Se: the television show about a chubby sixteen year old who loves this boy, it pretty cool. Falguni Pathak, looks like an Indian K.D. Lang wearing western looking pant suits, with a high voice. Salmon Khan... His movies are hilarious. amitabh, one of india's greatest movie heros. In his sixties and still manages to bag awesome roles. the clothes I buy here. I will look like such a hippy when I get back. Monks!!!!MONKS!!!MONKS!!! I love them monks. They are the greatest people on the planet. Especially this really really tall monk named tashi, renamed "big tall handsome monk" by a very hard of hearing old American man. crazy American cranks working on their PhD. In Buddhist philosophy, specifically named Michael. It had been sunny for the last week, but now the clouds are swollen with pent up water and are starting to pour down. I am kind of relieved that it is raining, the rain keeps temperature down. I have been given my hindu name: Luchi (beautiful himachali girl). Nathalie, an american rotarians daughter, is now sapnallie (meaning sequence of dreams). I love my family here. They have helped me through so much here. I don't think I will be able to leave them in a few months. I get to help during poojas, which is really an honor. We dance and sing in the temple they have right next to their kitchen. Oh, another remarkable thing is that I was within 3 feet of the dalai lama, a month ago, when he was giving the teachings. I was close enough to touch him. He is really a lot cooler in person, though clearly aging (back always slightly bent) he seems ''spritely" (as I heard someone else say). So, that is all for now. I will try to update more often. *********************** Friday, September 10, 2004 10:14 PM UPDATE to the above travelogue: I want to assure that my last travelogue was written very casually. It came to my attention that people might think that I am not safe, but I want to assure everyone that the incident with the man at the bazaar has been reported to my host-family and will be taken care of if I ever feel threatened. I, however, do not feel that I am in any danger or have never been felt afraid in any situation here. The Rotary club of Dharamsala takes care of me very well. This is just so, no one takes the situation out of proportion. I will try to be more precise as to what I mean, so no one worries about me inappropriately. I apologize if I caused anyone doubts or worries. ~Ariel~

Ariel Tulsa to India

Ariel
Tulsa to India