Dear friends,
Just to drop you a quick and rather belated note - all is well with my
folks and myself in India. We're not anywhere near Mumbia and we were
not affected by the trouble down there - although we did catch some of
the horror on TV. We have friends in the Indian Air Force and many of
my dad's friends are ex-IAF, it's been interesting to hear their
perspectives on recent events .. there has been much talk about the
media holding the politicians accountable - people are hoping for some
change in the positive direction with the govt. India is definitely an
interesting place with much diversity in the issues people care about.
Just today we were visiting a gurudwara and one of the ladies from the
local village started to talk to me as I was wandering around.
lady: Are you from outside (ie from abroad)
me: I'm coming from Delhi most recently but yes settled in the US.
Where are you from?
lady: I'm from here only. My daughter just finished grade 12, she's
very beautiful. Though I only studied till grade 8, I made sure my
daughers finished 12th. We're Ramgarhia (carpenter cast). What cast
are you?
me: sorry, I have no idea. It's great to hear about your daughters though.
lady: huh? You should ask your dad what cast you are .. my daughter
really wants to go abroad, and she keeps rejecting any boys we find
for her (note: this is a little hard to explain in English especially
to those of you who are not familiar with how marriages are arranged
in my culture - also since I didn't grow up in a village, much of it
is unfamiliar for me too. When matchmaking, the questions people ask
and the things people care about are different depending on whether
you're from the village or a cosmopolitan city, depending on your
level of education etc).
me: all the best to your daughter but marriage is not the only way to
go abroad. Is she working, are there decent employment opportunities
for a grade 12 student. (In a lot of punjab that I've been visiting,
the culture is conservative. In this case, she's of course not really
even allowed to work plus I'm not sure what opportunities there are
for her - although things have changed much since the mum only studied
till grade 8. The education is really there to make her more
competitive in finding a better mate. At least that was what I
understood from this story -- of course, competition for a mate
happens in all cultures in equal measure, but I'll have to think a
little more about those similarities and differences another time :-)
.
I've been spending time with mum and dad since I got back from Nepal.
We've spent much time visiting gurudwaras (sikh temples) as mum is
very religious and also visiting friends and family along the way. We
also visited dad's boarding school where he studied from 10yrs of age
to 16yrs. That was fabulous - definitely a highlight for me!
Anyhow, this was meant to be a quick note to say, I'm alive and well
.. :-) .. the last few weeks have been great fun, but the internet is
shotty here and I've been unwilling to spend oodles of time on it. I
hope to move my notes and photos from my laptop to my blog as soon as
I return to my travels in late december!
sat sri akal,
- jasmine
Monday, December 15, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Dad visits his school in Belgaum after 44 years!
12.07.08
Dad visits his school in Belgaum after 44 years!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is a Sunday and we're off to see dad's old school. He came to boarding school here when he was 10 and completed his schooling when he was 16, at which point he was off to the National Defence Academy, continuing on to a career in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Since it was a Sunday, the main gate was closed. The side gate was open, so he told us to wait for him while he went in to find out where we could enter. I sensed his excitement and anticipation at being there though he was trying to contain it. Mum and I waited in the car for some time, then we figured we might as well go take a walk since the campus looked inviting. It is very green with very old Banyan trees - over time the branches of these ancient giants drop down and form new roots - they look amazing. As we wandered around the main campus road, we saw dad returning - he'd met a young student of class XI, whom he'd asked to be his guide. First thing dad suggested we do is go visit the Principle so he knows who we are instead of randomly walking around. The young student, Vijayendra accompanied us to Principle Alagraj's home. His wife and him were in this morning, and invited us in for coffee. I think he was surprised and just as happy to see a former student return. Dad was reminiscing about his good old school days with Col. Alagraj, asking him how things had changed, whether some old traditions were still there and who else might still be around. All the contained anticipation of coming here, not knowing if we'd make it, was slowly pouring out. Col. and Mrs. Alagraj were very hospitable and nice. After spending some time with them, we took our guide, Vijayendra and headed off to campus.
As we walked through the campus, we saw the different houses and the one to which dad belonged. In India, all the students of a school are organised into what we call houses. There are generally 4 houses and the idea is that during competitions you represent your house. In the case of a boarding school, your quarters, which are the same for all students, is located according to your house. The campus and buildings are old - from British times, I think. Though dad didn't remember his exact room, he showed us the general area. As we wandered, the students who were playing cricket or just chilling on a Sunday came by to say hello. They were a confident bunch, standing around with mum and dad asking all kinds of curious questions. A recurring question was how many of dad's graduating class went to the National Defence Academy (NDA). The school used to be called King George's Belgaum, but is now called the Rashtriya Military School. As such, many of the young kids aspire to go to the armed services. During dad's time, only the best of the best went to the services, and if you were really good and worked very hard, you'd try for the Air Force as a fighter pilot - as dad did :-). I imagine it is still the same, but competition might be more fierce and the students have to undergo extra coaching to compete in addition to the normal class load. Almost any young person that saw us, made it a point to come wish us good afternoon - I was impressed by how polite and courteous they all were.
Dad showed us the mess where all students sit and eat together, grouped according to the house to which they belong. The mess folk were preparing the evening dinner, and they showed us the enormous task of organising food for all the students. I believe the school has a total of about 350 students. The boxing ring, which also served as a makeshift temple during major festivals of the many faiths in India was still there though it now had a wall around it. As dad often told us: during a Hindu festival, the boxing ring would become a Hindu temple and a Hindu priest would come and explain the significance of the day to all students; during a Sikh festival, it would be a gurudwara and a Sikh priest would come and explain to all students and so on for Christian and Muslim festivals. Dad showed us the swimming pool, where he learnt to swim and play water polo, which he continued through his NDA days. I've seen black and white photos of the pool. Another memory he had was of playing football. During his time in school, one of the Principle's was ex-NDA from the Fox squadron and had set up an exchange whereby the Fox squadron football team would come play against the King George's football team. Dad had incidentally played against Fox squadron as a student in Belgaum and later when he was in NDA, he'd ended up in Fox squadron and had yet again come back to Belgaum to play football against his old school representing NDA's Fox squadron.
Mum and I also enjoyed wandering around the grounds admiring the beautiful murals, the old trees, lots of greenery and the nice environment. The main road was also lined with little cement structures with motivational sayings like: `Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens', by Jimi Hendrix. It was a very positive experience. The weather was pleasant, perhaps because Belgaum is somewhat close to the west coast and also because it is very green so the cool breeze keeps the temperatures pleasant.
I feel that there are times in life, when we are truly in a state of bliss. There is a contagious, positive energy about us that draws out a general feeling of well-being and contentment in us and those around us - it's almost as if everyone is sharing the same emotions. I think mum and I were sharing these with dad on this day, he was reliving his old memories and we too were infected with abundance of emotion and happiness dad felt - it was a good day!
Dad visits his school in Belgaum after 44 years!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It is a Sunday and we're off to see dad's old school. He came to boarding school here when he was 10 and completed his schooling when he was 16, at which point he was off to the National Defence Academy, continuing on to a career in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Since it was a Sunday, the main gate was closed. The side gate was open, so he told us to wait for him while he went in to find out where we could enter. I sensed his excitement and anticipation at being there though he was trying to contain it. Mum and I waited in the car for some time, then we figured we might as well go take a walk since the campus looked inviting. It is very green with very old Banyan trees - over time the branches of these ancient giants drop down and form new roots - they look amazing. As we wandered around the main campus road, we saw dad returning - he'd met a young student of class XI, whom he'd asked to be his guide. First thing dad suggested we do is go visit the Principle so he knows who we are instead of randomly walking around. The young student, Vijayendra accompanied us to Principle Alagraj's home. His wife and him were in this morning, and invited us in for coffee. I think he was surprised and just as happy to see a former student return. Dad was reminiscing about his good old school days with Col. Alagraj, asking him how things had changed, whether some old traditions were still there and who else might still be around. All the contained anticipation of coming here, not knowing if we'd make it, was slowly pouring out. Col. and Mrs. Alagraj were very hospitable and nice. After spending some time with them, we took our guide, Vijayendra and headed off to campus.
As we walked through the campus, we saw the different houses and the one to which dad belonged. In India, all the students of a school are organised into what we call houses. There are generally 4 houses and the idea is that during competitions you represent your house. In the case of a boarding school, your quarters, which are the same for all students, is located according to your house. The campus and buildings are old - from British times, I think. Though dad didn't remember his exact room, he showed us the general area. As we wandered, the students who were playing cricket or just chilling on a Sunday came by to say hello. They were a confident bunch, standing around with mum and dad asking all kinds of curious questions. A recurring question was how many of dad's graduating class went to the National Defence Academy (NDA). The school used to be called King George's Belgaum, but is now called the Rashtriya Military School. As such, many of the young kids aspire to go to the armed services. During dad's time, only the best of the best went to the services, and if you were really good and worked very hard, you'd try for the Air Force as a fighter pilot - as dad did :-). I imagine it is still the same, but competition might be more fierce and the students have to undergo extra coaching to compete in addition to the normal class load. Almost any young person that saw us, made it a point to come wish us good afternoon - I was impressed by how polite and courteous they all were.
Dad showed us the mess where all students sit and eat together, grouped according to the house to which they belong. The mess folk were preparing the evening dinner, and they showed us the enormous task of organising food for all the students. I believe the school has a total of about 350 students. The boxing ring, which also served as a makeshift temple during major festivals of the many faiths in India was still there though it now had a wall around it. As dad often told us: during a Hindu festival, the boxing ring would become a Hindu temple and a Hindu priest would come and explain the significance of the day to all students; during a Sikh festival, it would be a gurudwara and a Sikh priest would come and explain to all students and so on for Christian and Muslim festivals. Dad showed us the swimming pool, where he learnt to swim and play water polo, which he continued through his NDA days. I've seen black and white photos of the pool. Another memory he had was of playing football. During his time in school, one of the Principle's was ex-NDA from the Fox squadron and had set up an exchange whereby the Fox squadron football team would come play against the King George's football team. Dad had incidentally played against Fox squadron as a student in Belgaum and later when he was in NDA, he'd ended up in Fox squadron and had yet again come back to Belgaum to play football against his old school representing NDA's Fox squadron.
Mum and I also enjoyed wandering around the grounds admiring the beautiful murals, the old trees, lots of greenery and the nice environment. The main road was also lined with little cement structures with motivational sayings like: `Knowledge speaks, wisdom listens', by Jimi Hendrix. It was a very positive experience. The weather was pleasant, perhaps because Belgaum is somewhat close to the west coast and also because it is very green so the cool breeze keeps the temperatures pleasant.
I feel that there are times in life, when we are truly in a state of bliss. There is a contagious, positive energy about us that draws out a general feeling of well-being and contentment in us and those around us - it's almost as if everyone is sharing the same emotions. I think mum and I were sharing these with dad on this day, he was reliving his old memories and we too were infected with abundance of emotion and happiness dad felt - it was a good day!
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Bider and onto Belgaum
12.06.08
7:30am
Nanak Jhira Langar Hall, Bider
-----------------------------------------------------
I'm sitting in the langer hall at the Nanak Jhira gurudwara in Bider. It's yet another historical Gurudwara of Baba Nanak. He travelled extensively during what are known as his 4 Udasi's - one in each direction. He is believed to have come here during his travels to the South. These gurudwaras in the South have a different atmosphere - for one thing, you see a larger number of non Sikh people visiting and in the langar (community kitchen).
We came to Bider yesterday from Nanded; hard to believe it's winter down here given how hot it is. The countryside through Maharashtra and Karnataka is beautiful: there are rolling hills as you go ascend and descend down what are known as Ghats. It is quite green, with a good number of trees and fields of lentils, bananas, papayas, sugarcane etc.
In the evening, I decided to visit the old town. Mum and dad dropped me off on their way to visit another Gurudwara about 10km from here. The old town is a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. It appeared to be a conservative Muslim neighborhood as most of the women I saw were burka clad with only their eyes showing. I presume the women who were not wearing burka's were not Muslim though I don't know. Bideri work is an art form locally from here, though originally brought here from Persia I presume. I walked into a shop where the people were doing Bideri work, they walked me through the process. They were nice, I told them I'd stop by on my way back from the Madrassa which is where I was headed right now. The Khwaja Muhammad Madrassa was built in the 15th c. and was a great place of learning. Currently, the mosque is intact but, there are some ruins, and some renovation work going on. It is a neat place to go see: big and old. I'm sure it's a lot of fun for kids to play around. As I was wandering, a bunch of young school boys started talking to me and showing me around. One of them who was in class V was especially curious. And he spoke so sweetly and politely:
kid: Aap musalmaan hain (are you a Muslim)?
me: Nahin, main sikh hoon (no, I'm a Sikh).
kid: Aap, sunday to namaaz parti hain (do you read namaaz on sunday).
me: well .. not really. (but that was hard to explain)
me: Agar main namaaz kay time par aajao, tho kya main masjid dekh sakte hoon. (can I see the
mosque if I come during prayer time, even though I'm not a muslim).
kid: Aap tho waisey bhi masjid nahin dekh sakte hoo, kyonki aap aurat ho. (you can't go
inside the mosque anyway because you're a woman).
me (thinking to myself): Ha, my mistake -- I'm glad he told me, I had no idea.
He said it very seriously and innocently .. it was amusing. On the way back, I stopped at the Bideri work place. I bought some things, and the shop guys told me I could catch a local bus from here if I wanted. So I sat there and waited and chatted with one of the local artisans. And yet again, I was offered tea - part of the Indian hospitality and probably also because I'd bought something from them and might return tomorrow to get a few more things. The artisan was telling me about a communal incident that had taken place between some Hindu and Sikh boys many years ago. His language was a little hard to understand and I had to get back else mum + dad would be worried otherwise I would've liked to stay and listen to his version of events.
----------------------------
3:00pm
Off to Belgaum
----------------------------
We decided to leave for Belgaum around noon. It is about 480km from Bider, however, roads in India are not great and we prefer to drive during the day. It was late to start but we have tomorrow plus it is a rare opportunity for dad to get back to his school after 44 years! The two lane highway here is actually quite good, we were zipping at 115km/hr in certain places. The road was good, and though there was occasionally a bullock cart and some scooter and motorcycle traffic, it was not very dense.
Just as we were optimistic about getting to Belgaum on time, we got stuck in a traffic jam. It was caused by a truck that had flipped sideways and was blocking both the lanes. It had happened recently. There was one police man and a gazzilion spectators - all the villagers from the village across the river must have been there. Some of the people started emptying the truck so they could more easily move it out of the road; though most were standing around. After the truck had been emptied - dad suggested the police guy try and get the small cars through the gap one at a time. Since not much was happening, he stepped up and started directing traffic at least until we were across. Even after getting on the other side there were a lot of people and since two wheelers were able to get across, they were taking up the entire road, plus the small cars were bypassing the trucks in our lane to try to get ahead. It was somewhat chaotic but we managed to get out within half an hour .. whew!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunset between Gulburga and Bijapur
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Red orange ball of fire,
a perfect circle in the horizon.
Flat endless road,
plantations of sunflower, cotton, corn,
trees and fields abound.
A bullock cart and herd of sheep,
share the highway.
In the distance,
tree canopies litter the landscape.
Rehras Sahib,
thus begins the raga of evening prayer
as the sun sets.
7:30am
Nanak Jhira Langar Hall, Bider
-----------------------------------------------------
I'm sitting in the langer hall at the Nanak Jhira gurudwara in Bider. It's yet another historical Gurudwara of Baba Nanak. He travelled extensively during what are known as his 4 Udasi's - one in each direction. He is believed to have come here during his travels to the South. These gurudwaras in the South have a different atmosphere - for one thing, you see a larger number of non Sikh people visiting and in the langar (community kitchen).
We came to Bider yesterday from Nanded; hard to believe it's winter down here given how hot it is. The countryside through Maharashtra and Karnataka is beautiful: there are rolling hills as you go ascend and descend down what are known as Ghats. It is quite green, with a good number of trees and fields of lentils, bananas, papayas, sugarcane etc.
In the evening, I decided to visit the old town. Mum and dad dropped me off on their way to visit another Gurudwara about 10km from here. The old town is a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. It appeared to be a conservative Muslim neighborhood as most of the women I saw were burka clad with only their eyes showing. I presume the women who were not wearing burka's were not Muslim though I don't know. Bideri work is an art form locally from here, though originally brought here from Persia I presume. I walked into a shop where the people were doing Bideri work, they walked me through the process. They were nice, I told them I'd stop by on my way back from the Madrassa which is where I was headed right now. The Khwaja Muhammad Madrassa was built in the 15th c. and was a great place of learning. Currently, the mosque is intact but, there are some ruins, and some renovation work going on. It is a neat place to go see: big and old. I'm sure it's a lot of fun for kids to play around. As I was wandering, a bunch of young school boys started talking to me and showing me around. One of them who was in class V was especially curious. And he spoke so sweetly and politely:
kid: Aap musalmaan hain (are you a Muslim)?
me: Nahin, main sikh hoon (no, I'm a Sikh).
kid: Aap, sunday to namaaz parti hain (do you read namaaz on sunday).
me: well .. not really. (but that was hard to explain)
me: Agar main namaaz kay time par aajao, tho kya main masjid dekh sakte hoon. (can I see the
mosque if I come during prayer time, even though I'm not a muslim).
kid: Aap tho waisey bhi masjid nahin dekh sakte hoo, kyonki aap aurat ho. (you can't go
inside the mosque anyway because you're a woman).
me (thinking to myself): Ha, my mistake -- I'm glad he told me, I had no idea.
He said it very seriously and innocently .. it was amusing. On the way back, I stopped at the Bideri work place. I bought some things, and the shop guys told me I could catch a local bus from here if I wanted. So I sat there and waited and chatted with one of the local artisans. And yet again, I was offered tea - part of the Indian hospitality and probably also because I'd bought something from them and might return tomorrow to get a few more things. The artisan was telling me about a communal incident that had taken place between some Hindu and Sikh boys many years ago. His language was a little hard to understand and I had to get back else mum + dad would be worried otherwise I would've liked to stay and listen to his version of events.
----------------------------
3:00pm
Off to Belgaum
----------------------------
We decided to leave for Belgaum around noon. It is about 480km from Bider, however, roads in India are not great and we prefer to drive during the day. It was late to start but we have tomorrow plus it is a rare opportunity for dad to get back to his school after 44 years! The two lane highway here is actually quite good, we were zipping at 115km/hr in certain places. The road was good, and though there was occasionally a bullock cart and some scooter and motorcycle traffic, it was not very dense.
Just as we were optimistic about getting to Belgaum on time, we got stuck in a traffic jam. It was caused by a truck that had flipped sideways and was blocking both the lanes. It had happened recently. There was one police man and a gazzilion spectators - all the villagers from the village across the river must have been there. Some of the people started emptying the truck so they could more easily move it out of the road; though most were standing around. After the truck had been emptied - dad suggested the police guy try and get the small cars through the gap one at a time. Since not much was happening, he stepped up and started directing traffic at least until we were across. Even after getting on the other side there were a lot of people and since two wheelers were able to get across, they were taking up the entire road, plus the small cars were bypassing the trucks in our lane to try to get ahead. It was somewhat chaotic but we managed to get out within half an hour .. whew!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunset between Gulburga and Bijapur
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Red orange ball of fire,
a perfect circle in the horizon.
Flat endless road,
plantations of sunflower, cotton, corn,
trees and fields abound.
A bullock cart and herd of sheep,
share the highway.
In the distance,
tree canopies litter the landscape.
Rehras Sahib,
thus begins the raga of evening prayer
as the sun sets.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Visiting historical gurudwaras
11.28.08
Visiting historical gurudwaras
We spent the day visiting historical gurudwaras in Sultanpur Lodi and Goindwal. Guru Nanak (or Baba Nanak), the founder of the Sikh faith, spent a lot of time in Sultanpur Lodi. Baba Nanak was a philosopher born in 1469 in the part of Punjab which is in present day Pakistan. He travelled extensively as he thought about the meaning of life - his thoughts and ideas are recorded in the Adi Granth (Sikh holy book).
The gurudwaras in Sultanpur Lodi are beautiful. They are simple, mostly white marble with dark blue accents, and the writing and symbols also in dark blue.
Rainik Bazaar:
-------------------------
Back in Jalandhar, we dropped mum off at a function she wants to attend. Then dad and I headed back to the bazaar to pick up a few things. We stopped by a bookstore in Model town so I could get some novels for our host's children. Then as we were heading out, dad and I popped into a bakery to get some sweets for our hosts and also my bhabhi and niece in Amritsar where we were headed next. As we turned the corner, we saw a clean chaat place, and dad gives me this look of `you probably want some chaat and badam (almond) milk, right?' Though I'm not hungry, I find myself saying, `Oh yes, that would be splendid'. Dad and I shared a chaat and delicious badam milk on the street corner.
We concluded the evening by heading back to Rainik Bazaar so I could get a couple more dupattas (scarf worn by women with salwaar kameez). Now here's something that will only happen in bazaars in India, the shop keeper offered us chai or coffee. Since we'd bought a lot of dupattas from this place last time and in the course of shopping we'd asked him about his life, how long he'd been here etc, and he'd asked us about ours, plus we'd spend a fair amount on the dupattas, so when we came back, he was quite hospitable. Most of it is just good marketing and business, but part of it is also that we've now built a personal relationship so next time we go to Jalandhar, we'll first go to his place. The culture of hospitality spills over into business as well. Wandering around in bazaars is a fun experience - it is a very local fun activity in the cities here.
Visiting historical gurudwaras
We spent the day visiting historical gurudwaras in Sultanpur Lodi and Goindwal. Guru Nanak (or Baba Nanak), the founder of the Sikh faith, spent a lot of time in Sultanpur Lodi. Baba Nanak was a philosopher born in 1469 in the part of Punjab which is in present day Pakistan. He travelled extensively as he thought about the meaning of life - his thoughts and ideas are recorded in the Adi Granth (Sikh holy book).
The gurudwaras in Sultanpur Lodi are beautiful. They are simple, mostly white marble with dark blue accents, and the writing and symbols also in dark blue.
Rainik Bazaar:
-------------------------
Back in Jalandhar, we dropped mum off at a function she wants to attend. Then dad and I headed back to the bazaar to pick up a few things. We stopped by a bookstore in Model town so I could get some novels for our host's children. Then as we were heading out, dad and I popped into a bakery to get some sweets for our hosts and also my bhabhi and niece in Amritsar where we were headed next. As we turned the corner, we saw a clean chaat place, and dad gives me this look of `you probably want some chaat and badam (almond) milk, right?' Though I'm not hungry, I find myself saying, `Oh yes, that would be splendid'. Dad and I shared a chaat and delicious badam milk on the street corner.
We concluded the evening by heading back to Rainik Bazaar so I could get a couple more dupattas (scarf worn by women with salwaar kameez). Now here's something that will only happen in bazaars in India, the shop keeper offered us chai or coffee. Since we'd bought a lot of dupattas from this place last time and in the course of shopping we'd asked him about his life, how long he'd been here etc, and he'd asked us about ours, plus we'd spend a fair amount on the dupattas, so when we came back, he was quite hospitable. Most of it is just good marketing and business, but part of it is also that we've now built a personal relationship so next time we go to Jalandhar, we'll first go to his place. The culture of hospitality spills over into business as well. Wandering around in bazaars is a fun experience - it is a very local fun activity in the cities here.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Jalandhar @ Unique Home
11.22.08
7:00am
Jalandhar @ Unique Home Orphanage (new setup)
The sky is a lavender color with a streak of white clouds. I'm looking around for the sunrise but I don't see it yet - only a cool dawn. There are trees and fields all around us, a beautiful garden just behind this home. The birds are chirping mixed in with gurbani from various sources. Gurbani (Guru ki bani) or kirtan is the music played at Sikh gurudwaras - the guru granth sahib (Sikh holy book) is written in verse, since music is deeply rooted in our culture. Amritwela (morning time) is considered an auspicious time, many people tend to wake up early and start their day by listening to bani and remembering God. It is getting cold - Simla has had it's first snowfall and I can feel it's cold wind visiting us from up north.
----------------------
Mum and Dad have gone on their Tirith Yatra (pilgrimage). Mum has always wanted to go visit many of the historic sites where we have gurudwaras (Sikh temples) and dad's happy to accompany her - they should be back tomorrow night. Since time is limited, I think I'd rather spend it with the children so I'll be staying here with our hosts. We're staying at Bibi Prakash Kaur's place. She's a woman that runs an orphanage, mostly for abandoned girls since boys are generally desired and kept. She's an incredibly dedicated and strong woman who is doing a tremendous amount of service for these children and the community. She's devoted her life to this cause, a real compassionate soul. Since she landed up in Nari Niketan some 18 plus years ago and saw how neglected the children there were, she has built this unique home and invested her life into ensuring these kids are loved, and their needs are met by the donations people give. Many of the girls who live here were abandoned when they were very young, and Bibiji not only ensures they're fed and clean, but also sends them to very good local schools. Despite the fact that the government in India does not provide many social services as we have in the west and the systems are corrupt - the local people fill this gap. It is likely their faith, their gursikhi that causes them to provide these social services and improve their communities. Bibi Prakash Kaur gets a lot of support from the community, despite her many struggles in the beginning.
They're building a new home for the kids just a couple of miles outside of Jalandhar. We came here yesterday, and I was delighted to see all the space, the trees and the plants. It's still close to the city but just being in open spaces has such a relaxing influence on the mind. The place is still under construction and there's a lovely gursikh family down below who've been generous and kind in taking care of us; Nirmal Bhabhi fed us a wonderful home cooked dinner last night. The GT road from Amritsar is lined with Eucalyptus trees.
Aside from Bibiji's service, people have set up trusts that provide practically free medical services to those who cannot afford it. In Amritsar, we met a young woman who is a physiotherapist. She works at a clinic where a lot of older people come for therapy in the early stages of arthritis. Knee replacement surgery is expensive and still not very common. Evidently, therapy helps seniors manage the problem if caught in the early stages. There was an older woman who could not even afford the Rs. 10 (20 cents) co-payment. The young physiotherapist took care of her regardless since that is the purpose of these clinics. The lady's husband had passed away and she had 5 sons, though not one of them was willing to take her in and support her, so she does some sewing that enabled her to take care of her basic necessities.
7:00am
Jalandhar @ Unique Home Orphanage (new setup)
The sky is a lavender color with a streak of white clouds. I'm looking around for the sunrise but I don't see it yet - only a cool dawn. There are trees and fields all around us, a beautiful garden just behind this home. The birds are chirping mixed in with gurbani from various sources. Gurbani (Guru ki bani) or kirtan is the music played at Sikh gurudwaras - the guru granth sahib (Sikh holy book) is written in verse, since music is deeply rooted in our culture. Amritwela (morning time) is considered an auspicious time, many people tend to wake up early and start their day by listening to bani and remembering God. It is getting cold - Simla has had it's first snowfall and I can feel it's cold wind visiting us from up north.
----------------------
Mum and Dad have gone on their Tirith Yatra (pilgrimage). Mum has always wanted to go visit many of the historic sites where we have gurudwaras (Sikh temples) and dad's happy to accompany her - they should be back tomorrow night. Since time is limited, I think I'd rather spend it with the children so I'll be staying here with our hosts. We're staying at Bibi Prakash Kaur's place. She's a woman that runs an orphanage, mostly for abandoned girls since boys are generally desired and kept. She's an incredibly dedicated and strong woman who is doing a tremendous amount of service for these children and the community. She's devoted her life to this cause, a real compassionate soul. Since she landed up in Nari Niketan some 18 plus years ago and saw how neglected the children there were, she has built this unique home and invested her life into ensuring these kids are loved, and their needs are met by the donations people give. Many of the girls who live here were abandoned when they were very young, and Bibiji not only ensures they're fed and clean, but also sends them to very good local schools. Despite the fact that the government in India does not provide many social services as we have in the west and the systems are corrupt - the local people fill this gap. It is likely their faith, their gursikhi that causes them to provide these social services and improve their communities. Bibi Prakash Kaur gets a lot of support from the community, despite her many struggles in the beginning.
They're building a new home for the kids just a couple of miles outside of Jalandhar. We came here yesterday, and I was delighted to see all the space, the trees and the plants. It's still close to the city but just being in open spaces has such a relaxing influence on the mind. The place is still under construction and there's a lovely gursikh family down below who've been generous and kind in taking care of us; Nirmal Bhabhi fed us a wonderful home cooked dinner last night. The GT road from Amritsar is lined with Eucalyptus trees.
Aside from Bibiji's service, people have set up trusts that provide practically free medical services to those who cannot afford it. In Amritsar, we met a young woman who is a physiotherapist. She works at a clinic where a lot of older people come for therapy in the early stages of arthritis. Knee replacement surgery is expensive and still not very common. Evidently, therapy helps seniors manage the problem if caught in the early stages. There was an older woman who could not even afford the Rs. 10 (20 cents) co-payment. The young physiotherapist took care of her regardless since that is the purpose of these clinics. The lady's husband had passed away and she had 5 sons, though not one of them was willing to take her in and support her, so she does some sewing that enabled her to take care of her basic necessities.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Lassies in Kathmandu
Dear friends,
Sorry about the mass email - especially to some of you that I haven't
corresponded with for sometime. However, I hope you'll agree it's much
more interesting to get a random email from Nepal telling you about
traveling adventures than a scheduled email without much new to say
:-)
The Backstory:
----------------------
I was in Boston till about the end of August, doing the usual work
thing - climbing, working on interesting things - life was good.
However, it was in a holding pattern, not moving in any particular
direction - I was lacking any real long term goals and had few short
term goals that I could get excited about. So I figured instead of
chilling in Boston, I should get back to traveling, experience the
world, have some more adventures, return to India after a long-long
time. Of course, as it so happened some friends were planning on going
to the mountains in Nepal, which meant this was the perfect
opportunity to take off on that traveling adventure.
Sept
-------
So I took off from work in Sept, visited some dear old friends and
family. Then spend some time hiking, climbing, camping in NH - in
preparation for coming to Nepal - but really I no longer had my
apartment, and though there were many a nice couches with the great
company of friends - I was looking forward to some time in the white
mountains of New Hampshire.
Now:
------
Since then I've made it back to India after 17 years, visited some old
friends - reminisced about the old times and been trekking in Nepal
since the beginning of Oct. We just got back from doing the Annapurna
circuit the day before yesterday - tomorrow we're heading out to
Sagarmatha National Park to do some mountaineering and trekking. The
Annapurna trek was spectacular: wandering through small mountain
villages, enjoying magnificeint views of ginormous mountains
(giagantic+enormous - only way to describe them), meeting interesting
people. Tilicho lake at 5000m was probably the highlight of the trek -
it is beautiful, surrounded by tall mountains that you really get to
see up close and personal - you feel like you want to climb right up -
but of course even though they look close, they do not look any
smaller or less formidable.
About the `Lassies in Kathmandu' - well I hadn't been very motivated
to spam you all yet - especially since I wanted to first update my
blog before sending you all a link to it. But then as we were taking a
walk (my friend alex + I), we stopped by at a little place to have
delicious lassies recommended by our friends (Misha + Rita). the
lassies (fresh yogurt drink) with a thick layer of cream topped off
with nuts and raisins were mmm .. mmm .. good. Interestingly enough,
it was a very small operation with two guys selling only lassies -
doing one thing, but doing it well!
They were so good, they inspired me to get this email out before
heading off on our trip in the morning :-) .. my blog:
http://aimlessplanet.blogspot.com/
So lacking creativity and being a rocket scientist I used
aimlessplanet (aimless `wanderer') for the name since everything else
was taken. The title `How far you can see from here' was a suggestion
from a much more creative friend (phelpse for those who know him).
It'll probably be sparse for another few weeks as I'm heading off in
the morning and I have yet to put up pictures. Hope you're all doing
most excellent as well!
Namaste & Tashi Delek (hello + goodbye in Tibetan),
- jasmine
Sorry about the mass email - especially to some of you that I haven't
corresponded with for sometime. However, I hope you'll agree it's much
more interesting to get a random email from Nepal telling you about
traveling adventures than a scheduled email without much new to say
:-)
The Backstory:
----------------------
I was in Boston till about the end of August, doing the usual work
thing - climbing, working on interesting things - life was good.
However, it was in a holding pattern, not moving in any particular
direction - I was lacking any real long term goals and had few short
term goals that I could get excited about. So I figured instead of
chilling in Boston, I should get back to traveling, experience the
world, have some more adventures, return to India after a long-long
time. Of course, as it so happened some friends were planning on going
to the mountains in Nepal, which meant this was the perfect
opportunity to take off on that traveling adventure.
Sept
-------
So I took off from work in Sept, visited some dear old friends and
family. Then spend some time hiking, climbing, camping in NH - in
preparation for coming to Nepal - but really I no longer had my
apartment, and though there were many a nice couches with the great
company of friends - I was looking forward to some time in the white
mountains of New Hampshire.
Now:
------
Since then I've made it back to India after 17 years, visited some old
friends - reminisced about the old times and been trekking in Nepal
since the beginning of Oct. We just got back from doing the Annapurna
circuit the day before yesterday - tomorrow we're heading out to
Sagarmatha National Park to do some mountaineering and trekking. The
Annapurna trek was spectacular: wandering through small mountain
villages, enjoying magnificeint views of ginormous mountains
(giagantic+enormous - only way to describe them), meeting interesting
people. Tilicho lake at 5000m was probably the highlight of the trek -
it is beautiful, surrounded by tall mountains that you really get to
see up close and personal - you feel like you want to climb right up -
but of course even though they look close, they do not look any
smaller or less formidable.
About the `Lassies in Kathmandu' - well I hadn't been very motivated
to spam you all yet - especially since I wanted to first update my
blog before sending you all a link to it. But then as we were taking a
walk (my friend alex + I), we stopped by at a little place to have
delicious lassies recommended by our friends (Misha + Rita). the
lassies (fresh yogurt drink) with a thick layer of cream topped off
with nuts and raisins were mmm .. mmm .. good. Interestingly enough,
it was a very small operation with two guys selling only lassies -
doing one thing, but doing it well!
They were so good, they inspired me to get this email out before
heading off on our trip in the morning :-) .. my blog:
http://aimlessplanet.blogspot.
So lacking creativity and being a rocket scientist I used
aimlessplanet (aimless `wanderer') for the name since everything else
was taken. The title `How far you can see from here' was a suggestion
from a much more creative friend (phelpse for those who know him).
It'll probably be sparse for another few weeks as I'm heading off in
the morning and I have yet to put up pictures. Hope you're all doing
most excellent as well!
Namaste & Tashi Delek (hello + goodbye in Tibetan),
- jasmine
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Day 11: On to Thorung La High Camp
10.14.08
Thorung La High Camp
----------------------------------------
Invading clouds obscure the landscape,
Window of blue sky and white peaks,
Golden clouds reflect the sunset.
- sitting a little ways up from high camp, I was watching the sunset as the clouds were moving in.
------------------------------------------------
This morning we had tsampa for breakfast - our host fed us in the kitchen since it was too cold in the dining room. He let us add our cost - he seemed to trust us and perhaps this business was more for fun. Maybe the missus prefers him to be busy and doing something out of the house - though I only presume.
Alex and I came up to Thorung Phedi in about 2.5 hours, enjoyed a quick snack then headed up to high camp and were up there in less than 4 hours (3hr 50mins). The time was good and we felt good so our acclimatization schedule was working well. We did a little bit of running at altitude with our packs on since there was a fear of landslides at one section. Alex had also had a rough night since the daal bhat didn't sit too well with him - a combination of all this made him a little sick at high camp. Now he's doing better, which is good, since both of us prefer to stay here instead of going down. In the evening we walked to the deurali (viewpoint) - it was lovely. We could see the summit of Annapurna III and Gangapurna and 360deg views of snow covered peaks. We see the Thorung la pass, it looks like a slog. There is a dramatic rock face with some snow one one side (southwest?).
High camp is an interesting place, you hear many languages: Hebrew, Russian, Swiss German, Nepali, and Hindi because I'm conversing with a guide who's also a management student and watches Bollywood movies. We also met a female guide with the 3 sisters trekking company. Alex met a group of Russians doing the trek. One of them, from St. Petersburg, thought I was a journalist because of my voracious note taking. He's a construction working, an expert crane operator. He and his friends started on the 9th, are at high camp on the 14th - fast - they fly out of Delhi on the 19th so they have to be fast. Incidentally, their pace was too much for their guide who got altitude sick and went down while they continued - I thought that was pretty funny!
Thorung La High Camp
----------------------------------------
Invading clouds obscure the landscape,
Window of blue sky and white peaks,
Golden clouds reflect the sunset.
- sitting a little ways up from high camp, I was watching the sunset as the clouds were moving in.
------------------------------------------------
This morning we had tsampa for breakfast - our host fed us in the kitchen since it was too cold in the dining room. He let us add our cost - he seemed to trust us and perhaps this business was more for fun. Maybe the missus prefers him to be busy and doing something out of the house - though I only presume.
Alex and I came up to Thorung Phedi in about 2.5 hours, enjoyed a quick snack then headed up to high camp and were up there in less than 4 hours (3hr 50mins). The time was good and we felt good so our acclimatization schedule was working well. We did a little bit of running at altitude with our packs on since there was a fear of landslides at one section. Alex had also had a rough night since the daal bhat didn't sit too well with him - a combination of all this made him a little sick at high camp. Now he's doing better, which is good, since both of us prefer to stay here instead of going down. In the evening we walked to the deurali (viewpoint) - it was lovely. We could see the summit of Annapurna III and Gangapurna and 360deg views of snow covered peaks. We see the Thorung la pass, it looks like a slog. There is a dramatic rock face with some snow one one side (southwest?).
High camp is an interesting place, you hear many languages: Hebrew, Russian, Swiss German, Nepali, and Hindi because I'm conversing with a guide who's also a management student and watches Bollywood movies. We also met a female guide with the 3 sisters trekking company. Alex met a group of Russians doing the trek. One of them, from St. Petersburg, thought I was a journalist because of my voracious note taking. He's a construction working, an expert crane operator. He and his friends started on the 9th, are at high camp on the 14th - fast - they fly out of Delhi on the 19th so they have to be fast. Incidentally, their pace was too much for their guide who got altitude sick and went down while they continued - I thought that was pretty funny!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Day 10: Rest day at Yak Kharkaa
10.13.08
Yak Kharkha
-----------
Our friends decided to press on to high camp while Alex and I decide to take an extra rest day. I haven't had a rest day and I can feel myself running low on energy. A day of nothing sounds most excellent. We stayed at a simple, small place. It is not as fancy as the hotel we see a little further, but family owned, clean and it seems to have everything we need. The guy lives in Manang with his wife and comes here to run the place during the season with the help of a young Gurkha boy.
We have probably the best tea of the trek here: real loose leaf jasmine tea. The veg fried rice is also really good. He heats up water on the stove for our showers. I also asked him for a little extra for doing my laundry.
So here we are, sitting outside in the sun washing our clothes, just like our host was about half hour ago. I think that's when he started liking us. Then we really enjoyed flossing, brushing and thoroughly cleaning our teeth. Alex was out exploring while I enjoyed sleeping in the sun all afternoon. For dinner we had enormous portions of daal, bhat which was quite good. The dining room was cold so we joined our host in the kitchen; sat by the fire - a bit like a village in Punjab. There was a dutch guy coming from Bengal - he was a bit strange. We also met a Czech guy - a serious mountaineer. He was soft spoken seemed very nice but spoke limited English. He had just come from a Manaslu expedition - had a beard and a winder burned face.
Yak Kharkha
-----------
Our friends decided to press on to high camp while Alex and I decide to take an extra rest day. I haven't had a rest day and I can feel myself running low on energy. A day of nothing sounds most excellent. We stayed at a simple, small place. It is not as fancy as the hotel we see a little further, but family owned, clean and it seems to have everything we need. The guy lives in Manang with his wife and comes here to run the place during the season with the help of a young Gurkha boy.
We have probably the best tea of the trek here: real loose leaf jasmine tea. The veg fried rice is also really good. He heats up water on the stove for our showers. I also asked him for a little extra for doing my laundry.
So here we are, sitting outside in the sun washing our clothes, just like our host was about half hour ago. I think that's when he started liking us. Then we really enjoyed flossing, brushing and thoroughly cleaning our teeth. Alex was out exploring while I enjoyed sleeping in the sun all afternoon. For dinner we had enormous portions of daal, bhat which was quite good. The dining room was cold so we joined our host in the kitchen; sat by the fire - a bit like a village in Punjab. There was a dutch guy coming from Bengal - he was a bit strange. We also met a Czech guy - a serious mountaineer. He was soft spoken seemed very nice but spoke limited English. He had just come from a Manaslu expedition - had a beard and a winder burned face.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Day 9: Tilicho Lake
10.11.08 (day 8) / 10.12.08 (day 9)
Tilicho Lake Base Camp
----------------------------------------
- hiked to Tilicho base camp via Kangsar. We stopped in Kangsar to have tea and a 2nd breakfast. Our hostess runs the place by herself; her folks are in Kathmandu and brothers and sisters are in Canada, NY, Singapore. We can see people working from the rooftops - I think they're separating grain from the husk. The radio is playing classic Hindi songs.
The hike to base camp was interesting through alien looking landscape: wind weathered rocks, look like rock tee-pees, lots of scree and landslide area. We can see the river below as we carefully make our way across - the landscape is quite Gray, a great location for a sci-fi.
The hotel at the base camp is most expensive one yet with worst service. I guess they have a monopoly and I don't think the people that are here want to be here - it's pretty lonely. They do it for a living so I guess I don't blame them for not catering much to people like us that actually enjoy being up here, since we're only here for a short time but they have to stay for the entire season.
Tilicho Lake
--------------------
- up at 5:30am. Since breakfast is not served at this hour, we had ordered bread the night before which we now ate with jam and the rest of our nak (female of yak) cheese. It was cold but still good. The only casualty was the milk tea, since it's made from powder milk, the powder separated and it didn't look so good.
- I headed up the lake at 6:20. About half way up, I left the pack for Alex since it had the water; though, perhaps not such a good idea since he doesn't drink much anyway. I made it to the snow field in about 2hrs but it was cold so I decided to come back to the less windy area and hide behind a rock and wait for Alex since the pack has more clothes. The lake is about 30-45mins on the snowfield - simply spectacular!
Deep blue water,
Fed from glaciers,
Not a cloud in the sky,
Surrounded by snow covered giants,
A white landscape
with a blue jewel in the centre.
Nestled between beautiful mountains, the 4km by 2km lake stands at 4920m. We cannot see Annapurna I from here. We head down after lunch and stayed at the Tilicho peak hotel above the gompa. I was reading Tagore's essay on woman which gets us started on a discussion about male-female gender differences .. probably one of Alex + my favourite topics :-) .. Rita is also with us though Misha is out photographing things. The Swiss guy sitting next to us is amused by our discussion and jumps in on occasion. He too is on his journey, not sure how long he will be gone. He's heading over to India next for a spiritual and meditative quest.
This is nice hotel. Another family run establishment. A young guy manages it - he's the son I think. He has a big stack of bollywood movies and the food is great!
Tilicho Lake Base Camp
----------------------------------------
- hiked to Tilicho base camp via Kangsar. We stopped in Kangsar to have tea and a 2nd breakfast. Our hostess runs the place by herself; her folks are in Kathmandu and brothers and sisters are in Canada, NY, Singapore. We can see people working from the rooftops - I think they're separating grain from the husk. The radio is playing classic Hindi songs.
The hike to base camp was interesting through alien looking landscape: wind weathered rocks, look like rock tee-pees, lots of scree and landslide area. We can see the river below as we carefully make our way across - the landscape is quite Gray, a great location for a sci-fi.
The hotel at the base camp is most expensive one yet with worst service. I guess they have a monopoly and I don't think the people that are here want to be here - it's pretty lonely. They do it for a living so I guess I don't blame them for not catering much to people like us that actually enjoy being up here, since we're only here for a short time but they have to stay for the entire season.
Tilicho Lake
--------------------
- up at 5:30am. Since breakfast is not served at this hour, we had ordered bread the night before which we now ate with jam and the rest of our nak (female of yak) cheese. It was cold but still good. The only casualty was the milk tea, since it's made from powder milk, the powder separated and it didn't look so good.
- I headed up the lake at 6:20. About half way up, I left the pack for Alex since it had the water; though, perhaps not such a good idea since he doesn't drink much anyway. I made it to the snow field in about 2hrs but it was cold so I decided to come back to the less windy area and hide behind a rock and wait for Alex since the pack has more clothes. The lake is about 30-45mins on the snowfield - simply spectacular!
Deep blue water,
Fed from glaciers,
Not a cloud in the sky,
Surrounded by snow covered giants,
A white landscape
with a blue jewel in the centre.
Nestled between beautiful mountains, the 4km by 2km lake stands at 4920m. We cannot see Annapurna I from here. We head down after lunch and stayed at the Tilicho peak hotel above the gompa. I was reading Tagore's essay on woman which gets us started on a discussion about male-female gender differences .. probably one of Alex + my favourite topics :-) .. Rita is also with us though Misha is out photographing things. The Swiss guy sitting next to us is amused by our discussion and jumps in on occasion. He too is on his journey, not sure how long he will be gone. He's heading over to India next for a spiritual and meditative quest.
This is nice hotel. Another family run establishment. A young guy manages it - he's the son I think. He has a big stack of bollywood movies and the food is great!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Day 7: Ice lakes from Braga
10.10.08
Ice Lakes from Braga
--------------------
It's a rest day, but I really want to go check out the ice lakes. I'll head up there after breakfast (6:30am) and rest in the afternoon.
I started at 7:10 and was up at the 2nd lake by 9:45am (2hr 35mins; 3500m to ~4600m, I think). It felt good. I soaked in the views of Annapurna, plotted routes that people might take when climbing the giant - the mountain looked friendly and climbable on such a beautiful day, though appearance can be deceptive, in reality it is a long ways to the top. After 30mins I started down.
The Swiss couple who started a little behind me were just getting to the first lake, said I must've been going fast as they couldn't catch me :-) .. I guess I was. I met quite a few other tourists on my way down and was glad to have started early to have enjoyed the beauty of this place in solitude. In my hurry to get down, I somehow lost the trail, found a little dog as a companion and followed him down - which then got me off the path a 2nd time and we (dog and I) ended up coming down what looked like a goat path on the mountain side; very dusty and a little sketchy but fun!
In Braga, we also met Misha + Rita's friend Ben from Holland. He's an interesting character. He spends 9 or 10 months of the year travelling in Nepal, India, Myanmar, SE Asia. The other two months he's back home in Holland. When he's travelling, he rents out his apartment and evidently that's enough to continue his journeys.
Ice Lakes from Braga
--------------------
It's a rest day, but I really want to go check out the ice lakes. I'll head up there after breakfast (6:30am) and rest in the afternoon.
I started at 7:10 and was up at the 2nd lake by 9:45am (2hr 35mins; 3500m to ~4600m, I think). It felt good. I soaked in the views of Annapurna, plotted routes that people might take when climbing the giant - the mountain looked friendly and climbable on such a beautiful day, though appearance can be deceptive, in reality it is a long ways to the top. After 30mins I started down.
The Swiss couple who started a little behind me were just getting to the first lake, said I must've been going fast as they couldn't catch me :-) .. I guess I was. I met quite a few other tourists on my way down and was glad to have started early to have enjoyed the beauty of this place in solitude. In my hurry to get down, I somehow lost the trail, found a little dog as a companion and followed him down - which then got me off the path a 2nd time and we (dog and I) ended up coming down what looked like a goat path on the mountain side; very dusty and a little sketchy but fun!
In Braga, we also met Misha + Rita's friend Ben from Holland. He's an interesting character. He spends 9 or 10 months of the year travelling in Nepal, India, Myanmar, SE Asia. The other two months he's back home in Holland. When he's travelling, he rents out his apartment and evidently that's enough to continue his journeys.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Day 6: In Braga
10.9.08
Braga: New Yak Hotel (no joke!)
In Braga, we are staying at the new yak hotel. It's a nice establishment, much more like a small business than the homey places we've stayed at thus far. Good food though! The tsampa porridge is smaller in portion. After Ngawal, where I was unable to finish my porridge and had to stuff myself in spite of the fact that I had help finishing it, I decided to share the tsampa with Alex. Of course, this time the portion was more normal size unlike Ngawal and I was to get hungry pretty fast at mid-morning. As such, Alex already calls me the `ever hungry' person - but there is just no way to know how big the meal will be :-) .. besides, as we're doing more acclimatization hikes, my appetite is also expanding.
We visited Milereppa's cave and the Annapurna glacier for our second acclimatization day - it is beautiful. Milereppa was a 12th or 13th c. Buddhist monk and poet who meditated up here. It was about an hour and 15mins to the cave. The lady who owns the New Yak has been to India a few times: to Bodhgaya, Dharamsala, Amritsar. Her daughter is studying to be a nurse in Kathmandu. She was always a good student but can't afford medical school so is studying nursing. People are very friendly, especially to me as I look like them - they always ask if I'm Indian then start chatting. We also visited a 500 year old gompa.
Braga: New Yak Hotel (no joke!)
In Braga, we are staying at the new yak hotel. It's a nice establishment, much more like a small business than the homey places we've stayed at thus far. Good food though! The tsampa porridge is smaller in portion. After Ngawal, where I was unable to finish my porridge and had to stuff myself in spite of the fact that I had help finishing it, I decided to share the tsampa with Alex. Of course, this time the portion was more normal size unlike Ngawal and I was to get hungry pretty fast at mid-morning. As such, Alex already calls me the `ever hungry' person - but there is just no way to know how big the meal will be :-) .. besides, as we're doing more acclimatization hikes, my appetite is also expanding.
We visited Milereppa's cave and the Annapurna glacier for our second acclimatization day - it is beautiful. Milereppa was a 12th or 13th c. Buddhist monk and poet who meditated up here. It was about an hour and 15mins to the cave. The lady who owns the New Yak has been to India a few times: to Bodhgaya, Dharamsala, Amritsar. Her daughter is studying to be a nurse in Kathmandu. She was always a good student but can't afford medical school so is studying nursing. People are very friendly, especially to me as I look like them - they always ask if I'm Indian then start chatting. We also visited a 500 year old gompa.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Day 5: Acclimatization in Ngawal
10.8.08
Random notes about Ngawal village:
----------------------------------
Rooftops dotted with prayer flags,
blowing wind carrying the prayers,
stone houses, solar panels,
children playing,
Annapurna II, III,
Gangapurna, Chulli,
mountains surround us,
bright, beautiful morning,
grandma talks to me,
perhaps because I look like her:
`where are you from?'
I say: India and America.
She proudly names all the beautiful peaks surrounding us.
She makes a gesture either indicating our hard trek or their hard life of carrying everything up here without cars - I presume it's the latter - Tashi Delek.
-----------------------------
We did an acclimatization hike from Ngawal. We visited the stuppas above the village. There is also a sort of a cave up there, marked with a lot of prayer flags, I presume a monk must've meditated here. I had a slight headache at first but was good after drinking water. We had a quick lunch of thenthuk at hotel Kailash, say bye to our host Maya and were off to Braga.
On our way down to Braga, we stopped at the Tibetan monastery school. There were about ~ 50 kids there, some from India (Assam) and some from Mustang. It was great to talk to them in Hindi, they were very polite - called me didi (big sister) and showed us around the school and the gompa. They study Tibetan, English and Nepali. They're playing something like marbles but with stones, I wish I could send them some things though I don't know where I'd send it.
We finally make it to Braga, the hike should've been short though it took us awhile, perhaps Alex and I were goofing off. We stopped by at a small place to have some `CHEESE'. There were two kids there, we taught them to play tic-tac-toe - both were quick learners and quite entertaining to watch them play their games.
Random notes about Ngawal village:
----------------------------------
Rooftops dotted with prayer flags,
blowing wind carrying the prayers,
stone houses, solar panels,
children playing,
Annapurna II, III,
Gangapurna, Chulli,
mountains surround us,
bright, beautiful morning,
grandma talks to me,
perhaps because I look like her:
`where are you from?'
I say: India and America.
She proudly names all the beautiful peaks surrounding us.
She makes a gesture either indicating our hard trek or their hard life of carrying everything up here without cars - I presume it's the latter - Tashi Delek.
-----------------------------
We did an acclimatization hike from Ngawal. We visited the stuppas above the village. There is also a sort of a cave up there, marked with a lot of prayer flags, I presume a monk must've meditated here. I had a slight headache at first but was good after drinking water. We had a quick lunch of thenthuk at hotel Kailash, say bye to our host Maya and were off to Braga.
On our way down to Braga, we stopped at the Tibetan monastery school. There were about ~ 50 kids there, some from India (Assam) and some from Mustang. It was great to talk to them in Hindi, they were very polite - called me didi (big sister) and showed us around the school and the gompa. They study Tibetan, English and Nepali. They're playing something like marbles but with stones, I wish I could send them some things though I don't know where I'd send it.
We finally make it to Braga, the hike should've been short though it took us awhile, perhaps Alex and I were goofing off. We stopped by at a small place to have some `CHEESE'. There were two kids there, we taught them to play tic-tac-toe - both were quick learners and quite entertaining to watch them play their games.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Day 4: Ngawal via Gyaru
10.7.08
7:45 am
Morning in Upper Pisang:
---------------------------------------------
Bright sunny day,
chasing away morning clouds.
Annapurna II towers above,
looks formidable,
"Himalaya" - abode of snow.
A wall of snow and ice,
rising behind green mountains,
prominent and chiseled features,
as if sculpted by hand.
Exposed patches of rock,
too steep or protected,
for snow to accumulate.
Ridge between east and north face,
sharp as a knife,
beautiful chutes and gullies,
descend from the ridge.
A work of art
expressed on the canvas,
a great variation in form and texture.
Does someone actually climb this?
------------------------------
- enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast: cornbread, buckwheat bread, honey, tsampa (so good!), apple porridge.
The hike from Upper Pisang to Gyaru to Ngawal is beautiful. We took a break at a nice little teahouse in Gyaru. An older lady served us tea, she started conversing with me as I obviously looked Nepali/Indian. She didn't speak much hindi but we communicated nonetheless. Her son spoke English; I left him my novel by Chetan Bhagat. He had moved back from Kathmandu 7 years ago. He was a tattoo artist there, but since his father passed away he helps his mother run the teahouse. He likes Gyaru, it is beautiful but very boring for him.
In Ngawal, we are staying in Kailash guesthouse. It is another very nice, simple, family run establishment. Maya, our host speaks good hindi and english. We invited ourselves to her kitchen, instead of sitting in the dining area, and chatted with her as she made our meals. She was born here and loves this area, it is beautiful. We're eating `thenthuk'; it is a type of stew with lots of vegetables and some dough cooked in it which tastes a little like noodles.
A lot of food grows here, like wheat, buckwheat, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, radish.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Try, try, try again till you succeed ...
or something breaks. I saw a guy trying to fix the tape player on the rooftop terrace. I was curious so I started working with him. He was only too happy to share with me his diagnosis of the problem. He meticulously took the pieces apart. After poking and looking at it, I too understood why it was not quite working - mechanical problem. We used cardboard to fix it, we thought we have a clever idea and were excitedly implementing it. But my friend lost a small piece in the process of pulling things apart. Plus it got cold; as we were engaged in our activity, the clouds had lifted. My friend points out Annapurna II (7555m). Magnificent! We decided to go inside since the sun was disappearing and it was getting cold. There was no light inside - I can help with that with my headlamp. He put the tape recorder back together but we are disappointed as it does not work, or rather it is inconclusive because the missing piece has broken something else. Here we had to stop as we couldn't improvise the missing piece. Sonam is a teacher at the Tibetan school below and also an electrician, up here to set up the electrical system on the lowest floor of Maya's guesthouse.
7:45 am
Morning in Upper Pisang:
---------------------------------------------
Bright sunny day,
chasing away morning clouds.
Annapurna II towers above,
looks formidable,
"Himalaya" - abode of snow.
A wall of snow and ice,
rising behind green mountains,
prominent and chiseled features,
as if sculpted by hand.
Exposed patches of rock,
too steep or protected,
for snow to accumulate.
Ridge between east and north face,
sharp as a knife,
beautiful chutes and gullies,
descend from the ridge.
A work of art
expressed on the canvas,
a great variation in form and texture.
Does someone actually climb this?
------------------------------
- enjoyed a scrumptious breakfast: cornbread, buckwheat bread, honey, tsampa (so good!), apple porridge.
The hike from Upper Pisang to Gyaru to Ngawal is beautiful. We took a break at a nice little teahouse in Gyaru. An older lady served us tea, she started conversing with me as I obviously looked Nepali/Indian. She didn't speak much hindi but we communicated nonetheless. Her son spoke English; I left him my novel by Chetan Bhagat. He had moved back from Kathmandu 7 years ago. He was a tattoo artist there, but since his father passed away he helps his mother run the teahouse. He likes Gyaru, it is beautiful but very boring for him.
In Ngawal, we are staying in Kailash guesthouse. It is another very nice, simple, family run establishment. Maya, our host speaks good hindi and english. We invited ourselves to her kitchen, instead of sitting in the dining area, and chatted with her as she made our meals. She was born here and loves this area, it is beautiful. We're eating `thenthuk'; it is a type of stew with lots of vegetables and some dough cooked in it which tastes a little like noodles.
A lot of food grows here, like wheat, buckwheat, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, radish.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Try, try, try again till you succeed ...
or something breaks. I saw a guy trying to fix the tape player on the rooftop terrace. I was curious so I started working with him. He was only too happy to share with me his diagnosis of the problem. He meticulously took the pieces apart. After poking and looking at it, I too understood why it was not quite working - mechanical problem. We used cardboard to fix it, we thought we have a clever idea and were excitedly implementing it. But my friend lost a small piece in the process of pulling things apart. Plus it got cold; as we were engaged in our activity, the clouds had lifted. My friend points out Annapurna II (7555m). Magnificent! We decided to go inside since the sun was disappearing and it was getting cold. There was no light inside - I can help with that with my headlamp. He put the tape recorder back together but we are disappointed as it does not work, or rather it is inconclusive because the missing piece has broken something else. Here we had to stop as we couldn't improvise the missing piece. Sonam is a teacher at the Tibetan school below and also an electrician, up here to set up the electrical system on the lowest floor of Maya's guesthouse.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Day 3: Onward to Upper Pisang
10.6.08
Onward to Upper Pisang:
----------------------------------------------
- started at 7:45 the next morning and had an amazing view of Manaslu after our first uphill.
- got a complement from a Nepali guide that `I was walking fast and strong' :) .. though he perhaps guides a lot of tourists, many of whom may not be routine hikers back home. I told him I always have a little extra energy in the morning, though I need to work on my stamina - I slow down as the day progresses.
- Alex and I saw a little girl playing catch with a hackey - I started playing with her. Pretty soon three other little girls joined. It was a nice experience, I like little people!
- we stopped in Talekhu for lunch: it was some of the best daal, bhat, tarkari yet. Rita, Alex and I were playing with the three kids who I presume lived in this home. Misha was out shooting photographs. The mum of the children was our host - she had a small, clean kitchen with one stove using firewood for fuel. She'd prepared daal (lentils), bhat (rice) and quickly made spinach and potatoes for us. The spinach was fresh from the garden - so good!
- we enjoyed and thanked her for a great meal. In the meantime, a monk had also come and joined. As we left, he decided to walk with us and we soon realised he was drunk as he tried to first test then walk off with my trekking pole. Alex made sure I got it back.
- I also met a guide for a father-daughter team. He's a teacher and they all have holidays for a big festival (Dusarat or Dusherra) so he was out working as a guide. He's a Gurkha and his brother is in the Indian Army, which has Gurkha regiments, actively recruits them. Gurkha's have historically been active members of the Indian Army.
- we walked through a lovely evergreen forest. There was a clear lake along the way, eventually the path led through a big, open valley. Upper Pisang is at ~ 11,000ft (3300m); I felt a bit of a headache in the back of my head.
Onward to Upper Pisang:
----------------------------------------------
- started at 7:45 the next morning and had an amazing view of Manaslu after our first uphill.
- got a complement from a Nepali guide that `I was walking fast and strong' :) .. though he perhaps guides a lot of tourists, many of whom may not be routine hikers back home. I told him I always have a little extra energy in the morning, though I need to work on my stamina - I slow down as the day progresses.
- Alex and I saw a little girl playing catch with a hackey - I started playing with her. Pretty soon three other little girls joined. It was a nice experience, I like little people!
- we stopped in Talekhu for lunch: it was some of the best daal, bhat, tarkari yet. Rita, Alex and I were playing with the three kids who I presume lived in this home. Misha was out shooting photographs. The mum of the children was our host - she had a small, clean kitchen with one stove using firewood for fuel. She'd prepared daal (lentils), bhat (rice) and quickly made spinach and potatoes for us. The spinach was fresh from the garden - so good!
- we enjoyed and thanked her for a great meal. In the meantime, a monk had also come and joined. As we left, he decided to walk with us and we soon realised he was drunk as he tried to first test then walk off with my trekking pole. Alex made sure I got it back.
- I also met a guide for a father-daughter team. He's a teacher and they all have holidays for a big festival (Dusarat or Dusherra) so he was out working as a guide. He's a Gurkha and his brother is in the Indian Army, which has Gurkha regiments, actively recruits them. Gurkha's have historically been active members of the Indian Army.
- we walked through a lovely evergreen forest. There was a clear lake along the way, eventually the path led through a big, open valley. Upper Pisang is at ~ 11,000ft (3300m); I felt a bit of a headache in the back of my head.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Day 2: Chyamje to Danaque
10.5.08
The river flows furiously,
carving and weathering rocks,
standing on the bridge,
I feel its spray,
luring me in,
I want to jump,
but I cannot fly.
--------------------
- It was a good day. I was walking pretty fast (I think) - from Chyamje to Tal in < 2hrs; passed all the other travellers in the morning then stayed behind the local mule train.
We stayed for free (thanks to Misha's negotiating skills) at a spacious lodge in Danaque. The lodges make most of the money from food so you're expected to eat meals at the lodge where you stay. A big group had just come into this lodge, it was late in the evening and Misha was likely trying to get a discount. They must've concluded it's better to have us stay and eat there than to have us go elsewhere to a cheaper lodge, so our room's were free of charge. Go Misha!
The large group was Israeli. We've met a fair number of people from Israel; and as I soon learnt, after the mandatory military service many of them take a year or so to just travel. After all the discipline of the military, they let their hair grow, live a very free life, travel and see the world in countries where it is cheap so they can stretch their funds. It's an interesting series of events but the net result seems positive - it's good to experience some of the diversity in the world before you get tied down with things like jobs, life etc.
Their guide, Turong is originally from Tibet. There were two other porters/guides with them. One of them asked in reference to Alex who he is to me? This is an interesting cultural difference, nobody in the West will ever directly ask how two people (guy and girl) travelling together are related. In the East, it's one of the first questions asked. If you're travelling by yourself, one will ask about your family, whether you're married etc - things that people in the West would not ask about, the first time you meet.
The river flows furiously,
carving and weathering rocks,
standing on the bridge,
I feel its spray,
luring me in,
I want to jump,
but I cannot fly.
--------------------
- It was a good day. I was walking pretty fast (I think) - from Chyamje to Tal in < 2hrs; passed all the other travellers in the morning then stayed behind the local mule train.
We stayed for free (thanks to Misha's negotiating skills) at a spacious lodge in Danaque. The lodges make most of the money from food so you're expected to eat meals at the lodge where you stay. A big group had just come into this lodge, it was late in the evening and Misha was likely trying to get a discount. They must've concluded it's better to have us stay and eat there than to have us go elsewhere to a cheaper lodge, so our room's were free of charge. Go Misha!
The large group was Israeli. We've met a fair number of people from Israel; and as I soon learnt, after the mandatory military service many of them take a year or so to just travel. After all the discipline of the military, they let their hair grow, live a very free life, travel and see the world in countries where it is cheap so they can stretch their funds. It's an interesting series of events but the net result seems positive - it's good to experience some of the diversity in the world before you get tied down with things like jobs, life etc.
Their guide, Turong is originally from Tibet. There were two other porters/guides with them. One of them asked in reference to Alex who he is to me? This is an interesting cultural difference, nobody in the West will ever directly ask how two people (guy and girl) travelling together are related. In the East, it's one of the first questions asked. If you're travelling by yourself, one will ask about your family, whether you're married etc - things that people in the West would not ask about, the first time you meet.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Day 1: Bhulbhule to Chyamje
10.4.08
- walked from Bhulbhule to Chyamje, starting at roughly 8am and finishing about 5:30pm.
- since I got too warm in my nylon pants, I changed into my sarong. That was a surprising change for me too, since all the locals happily noticed and smiled as I looked Nepali to them.
- we met Sunuco in Chamje. She works at the lodge we're staying - a delightful young woman. We were able to talk in Hindi and I think she had as much fun chatting with us as we had with her. She's teaching me some Nepali and I see that much of the vocabulary is similar to Hindi but the sentence structure is different - if someone speaks slowly, I can understand the gist of things.
- walked from Bhulbhule to Chyamje, starting at roughly 8am and finishing about 5:30pm.
- since I got too warm in my nylon pants, I changed into my sarong. That was a surprising change for me too, since all the locals happily noticed and smiled as I looked Nepali to them.
- we met Sunuco in Chamje. She works at the lodge we're staying - a delightful young woman. We were able to talk in Hindi and I think she had as much fun chatting with us as we had with her. She's teaching me some Nepali and I see that much of the vocabulary is similar to Hindi but the sentence structure is different - if someone speaks slowly, I can understand the gist of things.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Day 0: Kathmandu to Besisehar
10.3.08
Lost in thought,
staring out the bus window,
at the dense forest covered hillside.
The winding river in the gorge below,
is a constant companion on this journey.
-------------
Kathmandu to Dumre - We took the tourist bus to Dumre. It was comfortable, we all had seats inside the bus! It stopped for breakfast at a local place on the way, probably the usual stop for all such buses. The restaurant was basically like an outdoor cafeteria where they had prepared a few different breakfast choices and tea. Depending on what you wanted to eat, you'd stand in the appropriate line, pick and choose what you want then sit in the garden and eat. It was a simple place, set in a beautiful place. I think half the fun of breakfast was the garden and the environment.
From Dumre to Besisehar was an adventure - we took the local bus. The bus came, Misha and Alex got on top to secure our backpacks. As I was about to pass my bag up, the ticket collector motioned for me to get on, and I said I was passing my bag up - but he meant I should get on top; so I did, followed by Rita. We were riding on top - evidently there were no seats inside. It was a fun ride with `natural' air-conditioning :-). The road was paved and the drivers are quite skilled at ensuring a gentle ride - nobody fell off.
Once in Besisehar, we had a couple of hours in the day still so we hiked onward to Bhulbhule where we spent our first night.
Lost in thought,
staring out the bus window,
at the dense forest covered hillside.
The winding river in the gorge below,
is a constant companion on this journey.
-------------
Kathmandu to Dumre - We took the tourist bus to Dumre. It was comfortable, we all had seats inside the bus! It stopped for breakfast at a local place on the way, probably the usual stop for all such buses. The restaurant was basically like an outdoor cafeteria where they had prepared a few different breakfast choices and tea. Depending on what you wanted to eat, you'd stand in the appropriate line, pick and choose what you want then sit in the garden and eat. It was a simple place, set in a beautiful place. I think half the fun of breakfast was the garden and the environment.
From Dumre to Besisehar was an adventure - we took the local bus. The bus came, Misha and Alex got on top to secure our backpacks. As I was about to pass my bag up, the ticket collector motioned for me to get on, and I said I was passing my bag up - but he meant I should get on top; so I did, followed by Rita. We were riding on top - evidently there were no seats inside. It was a fun ride with `natural' air-conditioning :-). The road was paved and the drivers are quite skilled at ensuring a gentle ride - nobody fell off.
Once in Besisehar, we had a couple of hours in the day still so we hiked onward to Bhulbhule where we spent our first night.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Freak Street in Kathmandu
10.2.08
5:30am
We're in Kathmandu, we got in yesterday afternoon. Our friends Misha and Rita were already here and had warned us that people will try and send us to Thamel, we should ensure we get to Freak Street.
This area is Durbar square and is called freak street because all the hippies used to stay here in the 60s. Our taxi drivers did try very hard to dissuade us from coming here, they said it was dirty, full of drug addicts, not a place for tourists - blah, blah.
We managed to get here, and it is perfectly fine, safe and secure. Our hotel, Annapurna Lodge, is simple but clean - nothing fancy. A lot of hotels in Thamel probably give a commission to taxi drivers, which is why they are such aggressive advocates of Thamel. We really enjoyed Annapurna Lodge at Durbar square.
There is a small outdoor eating area with some plants down below for eating and relaxing away from the noise of the city. There's a sandwich shop around the corner and Snowman's bakery - it has pretty good cakes. The area itself is a shopping area for locals, for we don't see a lot of tourists, mostly those who stay at this hotel - unlike Thamel which caters to foreigners. We walked around one morning and saw a lot of people selling local produce. People had laid out their blankets selling mostly vegetables on the small streets, which yesterday had been full of evening shoppers. By the afternoon all this will be cleared up and the routine will start again the following day .. and so the rhythm of life continues here in a slightly different way.
5:30am
We're in Kathmandu, we got in yesterday afternoon. Our friends Misha and Rita were already here and had warned us that people will try and send us to Thamel, we should ensure we get to Freak Street.
This area is Durbar square and is called freak street because all the hippies used to stay here in the 60s. Our taxi drivers did try very hard to dissuade us from coming here, they said it was dirty, full of drug addicts, not a place for tourists - blah, blah.
We managed to get here, and it is perfectly fine, safe and secure. Our hotel, Annapurna Lodge, is simple but clean - nothing fancy. A lot of hotels in Thamel probably give a commission to taxi drivers, which is why they are such aggressive advocates of Thamel. We really enjoyed Annapurna Lodge at Durbar square.
There is a small outdoor eating area with some plants down below for eating and relaxing away from the noise of the city. There's a sandwich shop around the corner and Snowman's bakery - it has pretty good cakes. The area itself is a shopping area for locals, for we don't see a lot of tourists, mostly those who stay at this hotel - unlike Thamel which caters to foreigners. We walked around one morning and saw a lot of people selling local produce. People had laid out their blankets selling mostly vegetables on the small streets, which yesterday had been full of evening shoppers. By the afternoon all this will be cleared up and the routine will start again the following day .. and so the rhythm of life continues here in a slightly different way.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Noida Visit
10.1.08
Last Friday (9.26), I finally made it to our old residence in Noida. I had a chance to catch up our old friends after 17 years.
I was 14.5 when I left India. We had a good social circle in Noida, with whom we enjoyed get togethers, bonfires, mehfils (singing parties). We had a little moped we'd ride all over our sector with our friends: gugu and kaka. I looked at our old home from the outside, remembered the cricket games we played in the small area in front of the flats. Back in the day, we played cricket with a tennis ball and I remember breaking one of our neighbors window. Bawa, my brother admonished me saying,`damn it minna (some equivalent phrase we used as kids), I keep telling you to hit slowly over here.' We all ran to the terrace, but then I realised I had to go down and fess up.
The square behind our house used to be our badminton ground. We'd drop down the poles from the 1st floor, set up the net and play. We, meaning my brother, his friends and me. I was the youngest and the only girl so the pecking order was all the good players got to play first, then if I was stubborn (which I was), and helped put the net up and take it down (which I did), then I would get a few games in. Of course, over time Ajay, Gurpreet, Ashish (I think) became friends and I'd occasionally have partners even when Bawa (my brother) started playing soccer in the stadium. I didn't venture as far as the stadium yet, and we moved to the US shortly thereafter, so I never played soccer with my brother till I was in my early twenties when he got me involved with his co-rec soccer team in Seattle.
(.. picking up this note from Kathmandu on 10.22)
I stayed with Kapoor uncle and auntie - it was delightful! Auntie made scrumptious rajma, chawal (rice + beans), alu parantha (potato bread), paneer sabji .. all so good. It especially sounds good right now after trekking for the last two and half weeks. It was great to catch up with Anu Didi and her two beautiful children, Nishant and Nitika. Pragat uncle and auntie looked well and I enjoyed some delicious Indian snacks (chaat + raj kachori) with them and enjoyed seeing Mandeep, and her two lovely boys, Angad and Jaiteg. I also enjoyed a nice dinner of saag roti (yum) with Hari Singh uncle's family, caught up with Gurpreet, his wife Dimple, daughter Pari and Minnie. I even managed to meet Naqvi auntie and Nihal - he's a grown up young man now and hard to recognise.
I even had a chance to visit Kulwant uncle and Deepak auntie in Barhi Kothi at Mohan Nagar. The traffic was unbelievable; however, the place was just as I remember it. Their room where we played dark room on many evenings, and the kotha (terrace) where we played with Sonu, Sonia and I once got stung by a bee .. good times :-) !
Archana Kapoor Yadav:
----------------------------------------
I didn't get to catch up with Archu didi in person yet, she was amongst the first batch of female pilots in the Indian Air Force (IAF). I admired her a great deal as a young woman. Of all the positive female influences in my life, Archu didi has featured prominently. She was in college when we were still in Noida. At the time, she was working on her flying training at NCC (National Cadet Corps). I remember her as a very determined and hardworking person. She has incredible drive and I was not the least bit surprised to see her amongst the batch of pioneer women pilots in the IAF. My perception of her is her single mindedness in forging ahead towards her goals, even when there was not necessarily a path to her objectives. I'm not sure she knew whether the IAF would open up to women pilots during her flying training, yet she and her friends persevered so as to be ready if the opportunity presented itself.
Last Friday (9.26), I finally made it to our old residence in Noida. I had a chance to catch up our old friends after 17 years.
I was 14.5 when I left India. We had a good social circle in Noida, with whom we enjoyed get togethers, bonfires, mehfils (singing parties). We had a little moped we'd ride all over our sector with our friends: gugu and kaka. I looked at our old home from the outside, remembered the cricket games we played in the small area in front of the flats. Back in the day, we played cricket with a tennis ball and I remember breaking one of our neighbors window. Bawa, my brother admonished me saying,`damn it minna (some equivalent phrase we used as kids), I keep telling you to hit slowly over here.' We all ran to the terrace, but then I realised I had to go down and fess up.
The square behind our house used to be our badminton ground. We'd drop down the poles from the 1st floor, set up the net and play. We, meaning my brother, his friends and me. I was the youngest and the only girl so the pecking order was all the good players got to play first, then if I was stubborn (which I was), and helped put the net up and take it down (which I did), then I would get a few games in. Of course, over time Ajay, Gurpreet, Ashish (I think) became friends and I'd occasionally have partners even when Bawa (my brother) started playing soccer in the stadium. I didn't venture as far as the stadium yet, and we moved to the US shortly thereafter, so I never played soccer with my brother till I was in my early twenties when he got me involved with his co-rec soccer team in Seattle.
(.. picking up this note from Kathmandu on 10.22)
I stayed with Kapoor uncle and auntie - it was delightful! Auntie made scrumptious rajma, chawal (rice + beans), alu parantha (potato bread), paneer sabji .. all so good. It especially sounds good right now after trekking for the last two and half weeks. It was great to catch up with Anu Didi and her two beautiful children, Nishant and Nitika. Pragat uncle and auntie looked well and I enjoyed some delicious Indian snacks (chaat + raj kachori) with them and enjoyed seeing Mandeep, and her two lovely boys, Angad and Jaiteg. I also enjoyed a nice dinner of saag roti (yum) with Hari Singh uncle's family, caught up with Gurpreet, his wife Dimple, daughter Pari and Minnie. I even managed to meet Naqvi auntie and Nihal - he's a grown up young man now and hard to recognise.
I even had a chance to visit Kulwant uncle and Deepak auntie in Barhi Kothi at Mohan Nagar. The traffic was unbelievable; however, the place was just as I remember it. Their room where we played dark room on many evenings, and the kotha (terrace) where we played with Sonu, Sonia and I once got stung by a bee .. good times :-) !
Archana Kapoor Yadav:
----------------------------------------
I didn't get to catch up with Archu didi in person yet, she was amongst the first batch of female pilots in the Indian Air Force (IAF). I admired her a great deal as a young woman. Of all the positive female influences in my life, Archu didi has featured prominently. She was in college when we were still in Noida. At the time, she was working on her flying training at NCC (National Cadet Corps). I remember her as a very determined and hardworking person. She has incredible drive and I was not the least bit surprised to see her amongst the batch of pioneer women pilots in the IAF. My perception of her is her single mindedness in forging ahead towards her goals, even when there was not necessarily a path to her objectives. I'm not sure she knew whether the IAF would open up to women pilots during her flying training, yet she and her friends persevered so as to be ready if the opportunity presented itself.
Chaat in Chandani Chowk
10.1.08
7:30am
Alex, one of my trekking mates for Nepal, arrived in Delhi yesterday. We stayed at the Eurastar hotel overnight and are heading to Nepal in another few hours.
Delhi has 7 gurudwaras (sikh temples) and most of them are historic gurudwaras. Last evening, I took Alex to Bangla Sahib, one of 7 historical sikh gurudwaras (temple) in Delhi - we caught an auto rickshaw (auto) straight to Cannaught Place (CP).
One of the things I've enjoyed is conversing the the people that live here about their life, where they are from, the state of India, and listening to their perspective on culture and politics.
However, as a single woman, I was careful not to talk so freely to the men I met, mostly auto and taxi drivers. Since I was with Alex, I was much more open to talking to strangers.
This is primarily because having grown up in India, somewhere in the back of your mind you know that as a single woman if you talk freely with men you don't know, they might misconstrue your openness for something else. If I meet someone with a similar background (ie armed forces background or educated) then of course I feel immediately safer and the dynamics is different and much more open as it is in the west. This fear is mostly conditioning and maybe a little excessive. But a little caution and awareness isn't a bad thing given the numerous stories my friends who live in the Delhi area and UP have told me.
I was chatting with the auto driver and discovered he is a third year student, working on his BA. At present he owns three autos, thanks to his mum + dad's investment and along with his two brothers, they do this business. I discussed a little politics with him, and as with most people in India, he has little faith in politicians, thinks they are all goondas (crooks). As with many young people, he said he'd like to go to the US. Since most people get their exposure to the states from hollywood or news, just as most people in the west get their exposure to India from the news or bollywood, their perspective is formed by a rather limited view. I wish there was some way to have intercultural exchanges, especially for young people, so they could go live and work in other countries and expand their skewed vision formed mostly from TV. Travellers do this by coming to India, but even that experience, though more expansive than TV is limited since the country is very diverse and depending on how you chose to travel (ie budget travel, backpack, vacation etc), it exposes you to only a segment of society. Of the available travel options, short of living in a place, I feel backpacking is the best way to learn about a society.
Next we headed off to Chandni Chowk for the evening. Chandni Chowk is one of the oldest Bazaars in Delhi dating back to the Mughal period - it is full of shops and shoppers, crammed into every nook and cranny. Space is at a premium, and the smaller, more hidden shops in the small pathways have probably been in a family for generations. The real connoisseurs of fine clothing generally come here to places they know. As we were wandering aimlessly, yapping away, a young kid came and started asking for money.
kid: Didi (sister), give me one rupee please.
me: sorry bache (kid), I'm not going to give you any money.
kid: Didi please, just one rupee - bhai marayga (brother will hit me).
me: sorry but no. But do you want to eat something, we'll get you some food.
The kid kept walking alongside us, holding on to my arm persistently asking for money, and I politely almost with good humour kept saying no. Then I heard this older gentlemen yell at this kid for harassing us and I automatically said, `bacha hai, koi baat nahin bhaisab' (it's a kid, don't worry about it brother). Then I heard the older gentleman behind, `Madam, aapne hindi to bahot achee bole' (you spoke very good hindi). So I had to go back and thank him and tell him I did infact grow up in India, hence the good Hindi. As I came back, I think he thought I was offended or something, because he said, `Please don't be offended madam, I said what I felt'. Course, I wasn't - on the contrary I said I was flattered. He was an older gentleman and I chatted with him for awhile before Alex and I left.
The kid was still with us, but his patience ran out before mine did (hahaha), and as we walked by a chat stand, he pulled my arm and said, `ok, I'll have some of that'. As he was eating, two other boys came by so they ate as well. I was looking at all the good stuff but not daring to eat - didn't want to get sick at the start of the big trek plus I'd only been in town a week. I was also asking the guy what everything was, and there was one thing I wasn't familiar with so he said, `Madam, aap khakey to dekhiye' (Try a little and see). I said, `nooo, I'm going to get sick'. At this point he poured me some and said,`nothing will happen, you shouldn't be so superstitious' (vaham in Hindi, I'm not sure superstitious is the correct word but it's the best I can come up with). His mannerism was very casual and hospitable, as if I was a guest in his shop - I tried it, it was good.
So I figured what the heck, now that I've tried some I might as well enjoy a plate of chaat. I love the street food and the snacks. As I was eating, I said out aloud, I hope I don't get sick. Another elderly gentleman standing nearby said,`aapko to waisay bhi kuch nahin hoga' (nothing will happen, especially to you madam). It felt good, he was kindly appreciating our actions in feeding the kids.
It was a good day :-).
7:30am
Alex, one of my trekking mates for Nepal, arrived in Delhi yesterday. We stayed at the Eurastar hotel overnight and are heading to Nepal in another few hours.
Delhi has 7 gurudwaras (sikh temples) and most of them are historic gurudwaras. Last evening, I took Alex to Bangla Sahib, one of 7 historical sikh gurudwaras (temple) in Delhi - we caught an auto rickshaw (auto) straight to Cannaught Place (CP).
One of the things I've enjoyed is conversing the the people that live here about their life, where they are from, the state of India, and listening to their perspective on culture and politics.
However, as a single woman, I was careful not to talk so freely to the men I met, mostly auto and taxi drivers. Since I was with Alex, I was much more open to talking to strangers.
This is primarily because having grown up in India, somewhere in the back of your mind you know that as a single woman if you talk freely with men you don't know, they might misconstrue your openness for something else. If I meet someone with a similar background (ie armed forces background or educated) then of course I feel immediately safer and the dynamics is different and much more open as it is in the west. This fear is mostly conditioning and maybe a little excessive. But a little caution and awareness isn't a bad thing given the numerous stories my friends who live in the Delhi area and UP have told me.
I was chatting with the auto driver and discovered he is a third year student, working on his BA. At present he owns three autos, thanks to his mum + dad's investment and along with his two brothers, they do this business. I discussed a little politics with him, and as with most people in India, he has little faith in politicians, thinks they are all goondas (crooks). As with many young people, he said he'd like to go to the US. Since most people get their exposure to the states from hollywood or news, just as most people in the west get their exposure to India from the news or bollywood, their perspective is formed by a rather limited view. I wish there was some way to have intercultural exchanges, especially for young people, so they could go live and work in other countries and expand their skewed vision formed mostly from TV. Travellers do this by coming to India, but even that experience, though more expansive than TV is limited since the country is very diverse and depending on how you chose to travel (ie budget travel, backpack, vacation etc), it exposes you to only a segment of society. Of the available travel options, short of living in a place, I feel backpacking is the best way to learn about a society.
Next we headed off to Chandni Chowk for the evening. Chandni Chowk is one of the oldest Bazaars in Delhi dating back to the Mughal period - it is full of shops and shoppers, crammed into every nook and cranny. Space is at a premium, and the smaller, more hidden shops in the small pathways have probably been in a family for generations. The real connoisseurs of fine clothing generally come here to places they know. As we were wandering aimlessly, yapping away, a young kid came and started asking for money.
kid: Didi (sister), give me one rupee please.
me: sorry bache (kid), I'm not going to give you any money.
kid: Didi please, just one rupee - bhai marayga (brother will hit me).
me: sorry but no. But do you want to eat something, we'll get you some food.
The kid kept walking alongside us, holding on to my arm persistently asking for money, and I politely almost with good humour kept saying no. Then I heard this older gentlemen yell at this kid for harassing us and I automatically said, `bacha hai, koi baat nahin bhaisab' (it's a kid, don't worry about it brother). Then I heard the older gentleman behind, `Madam, aapne hindi to bahot achee bole' (you spoke very good hindi). So I had to go back and thank him and tell him I did infact grow up in India, hence the good Hindi. As I came back, I think he thought I was offended or something, because he said, `Please don't be offended madam, I said what I felt'. Course, I wasn't - on the contrary I said I was flattered. He was an older gentleman and I chatted with him for awhile before Alex and I left.
The kid was still with us, but his patience ran out before mine did (hahaha), and as we walked by a chat stand, he pulled my arm and said, `ok, I'll have some of that'. As he was eating, two other boys came by so they ate as well. I was looking at all the good stuff but not daring to eat - didn't want to get sick at the start of the big trek plus I'd only been in town a week. I was also asking the guy what everything was, and there was one thing I wasn't familiar with so he said, `Madam, aap khakey to dekhiye' (Try a little and see). I said, `nooo, I'm going to get sick'. At this point he poured me some and said,`nothing will happen, you shouldn't be so superstitious' (vaham in Hindi, I'm not sure superstitious is the correct word but it's the best I can come up with). His mannerism was very casual and hospitable, as if I was a guest in his shop - I tried it, it was good.
So I figured what the heck, now that I've tried some I might as well enjoy a plate of chaat. I love the street food and the snacks. As I was eating, I said out aloud, I hope I don't get sick. Another elderly gentleman standing nearby said,`aapko to waisay bhi kuch nahin hoga' (nothing will happen, especially to you madam). It felt good, he was kindly appreciating our actions in feeding the kids.
It was a good day :-).
Thursday, September 25, 2008
AFGJI (back to school ..)
9.25.08 - 4AM
Day 2: Visiting Air force Golden Jubilee Institute
Has it only been two days since I got here - I feel adjusted to this city already. I enjoyed the Metro ride to Cannaught Place yesterday, had lunch with a friend, and wandered around for a bit. I'm not sure if one likes or dislikes Delhi, but you definitely experience Delhi.
Growing up, we lived in NOIDA about 17 years back. Judging from the scale on Google maps, it is roughly ~20 miles from Delhi. As a 14 year old, I'd only traveled by myself to Delhi (Subroto Park area) on our school bus with a ton of other students - never by myself and certainly not on an autorickshaw.
Yesterday, I decided to visit my old school: Air Force Golden Jubilee Institute (AFGJI). My friends guided me and said an autorickshaw would be most convenient - certainly a first for me! I must stress there is nothing complicated or difficult about flagging down an auto, negotiating a fair and getting around; however, not being in Delhi from the age of 15 to 32, it felt like a tremendous experience for I was going to travel by auto, in Delhi, on my own. Exciting!
Off to Subroto Park - both the Air Force schools are located on this Air Force base. Since it is an Air Force base, not everyone can freely enter and exit the area. The people, however, are courteous and friendly and the Jawan (soldier) at the gate informed me I could go in and visit my school, however, I should pop in and pick up a visitor pass first.
"Hello, I was a student at AFGJI about 17 years ago and I'd like to go visit my school if that's possible. My father was in the Air Force, and I'm staying with friends that are also in the Air Force. I'm simply in the area and would like to visit here."
"Madam, what's your business here?". At this point he is mildly amused by me and does have a smile on his face. He's certainly polite and helpful, but he's interested in filling in his paperwork which only has a small region in which he must succintly write down my long winded reason for visiting.
"Well, as I explained I am a ..." and off I went again. "I also have a friend's daughter in school, Mallaika Bhatia, whom I'm meeting."
"Name, address, .."; "Purpose of Visit: to meet Malaika" - uh, clearly there was only a short space for him to write my long winded story - at least he was amused.
Being in AFGJI after so long was an interesting experience - as I walked down the steps and into the courtyard. I saw the students playing badminton, I was tempted to jump in and ask if I could have a turn. The 12 year old jasmine had surfaced, at least for a brief moment. I remember the canteen, the hulla-gulla (noise) of the hallways. A worker at the school who saw I was out of place promptly asked if I needed help and asked which teachers I'd like to meet etc. As I rattled off a few names, she said Kusum Madam was still here and showed me her office.
There were three teachers chatting around a table, as I knocked on the door and entered. I see a familiar face as Kusum Madam leans over and looks at me - my face broke out in a big smile as I said "Hello Kusum Madam, recognize me?" Within an instant and a somewhat surprised expression, she says "Jasmine?". Wow, I can't believe Kusum Madam remembered me! She was our Biology teacher, and also taught us Chemistry for sometime. She taught us a trick for remembering how elements combine to form compounds so we got the formulas just right - infact, it's a mnemonic I taught students in my chemistry class in my US high school. And I also remember she was a little nervous about teaching Chemistry as Biology was her subject - a dedicated teacher - aren't they all.
"I can't believe it, Jasmine" -- neither could I, it was such a delightful experience. I told her all about my life, threw in a few of my accomplishments, sharing with her didn't seem like showing-off and of course, she was so genuinely delighted to hear about it all. I told her I'm headed to the mountains next week for some trekking and mountaineering. More surprises! "Really" - followed by, "you were such a sweet girl, I can't believe you're doing all these tough things." Evidently I
wasn't a quiet kid, I used to talk even back then, but somehow it was different. Of course, 17
years is long time :-)
I had snapped a photograph of her on my last day in school, when she was expecting her first daughter. I'd mailed it to her from the US along with a long letter. She reminded me of the letter and found my old address from washington in her diary, which I promptly updated. She took me into class 12 to talk to students about my work and things I've been doing. The students clapped and cheered when I talked about NASA, the Mars Exploration Rovers project, my work at Lincoln Labs. I could see myself in their faces - some of them talked about their own aspirations. I remember how excited we were when a visitor dropped by to break up the monotonocity of a school day in India - there was a sense of awe - and that visitor was ME, I can't believe it. In that brief moment, I could see myself sitting on the other side along with the students, listening with interest at this alumni's stories about working at these well known institutions and climbing mountains. It was surreal.
I also visited with Singla Madam, who also remembered my brother fondly, Mittal Madam, Pratul Sir. Mittal Madam and Singla Madam had kids in our classes who are also settled abroad, so they certainly remembered us from yet another perspective.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
@ 32, feeling secure and comfortable with who I am today
Day 1: 9.24.08: 32nd B'day
Last year, I happened to be climbing Mt. Shuksan, my first mountain, on my birthday. I wasn't sure how I'd match that, but being in India on my birthday certainly did it. Kuhu and Pihu ensured I got a full birthday, with cake cutting and all. It was great fun to spend it with my friends, the cake was yum. It was chocolate with a nice cream filling and icing - though light and not too sweet.
I concluded the evening talking to mum and dad, a birthday ritual in the family.
I spend the day in Cannaught Place in Delhi, wandering at first, as usual I managed to wander into a bookstore and purchase two more books. I purchased essays by Tagore to dispel some of my literary ignorance and a very good novel by Chetan Bhagat called `The three mistakes of my life'. The main premise is a cricket store opened by three young boys. It talks about the experiences and aspirations of the current generation against the backdrop of cricket - a very good read.
Last year, I happened to be climbing Mt. Shuksan, my first mountain, on my birthday. I wasn't sure how I'd match that, but being in India on my birthday certainly did it. Kuhu and Pihu ensured I got a full birthday, with cake cutting and all. It was great fun to spend it with my friends, the cake was yum. It was chocolate with a nice cream filling and icing - though light and not too sweet.
I concluded the evening talking to mum and dad, a birthday ritual in the family.
I spend the day in Cannaught Place in Delhi, wandering at first, as usual I managed to wander into a bookstore and purchase two more books. I purchased essays by Tagore to dispel some of my literary ignorance and a very good novel by Chetan Bhagat called `The three mistakes of my life'. The main premise is a cricket store opened by three young boys. It talks about the experiences and aspirations of the current generation against the backdrop of cricket - a very good read.
After this it was time for dosas with my good friend Neeraj Doshi. I know Neeraj from Boston, he's an environmentalist who has decided to return to India and settle back here. We've had many interesting discussions about India, why things are as they are, our culture and society, women's issues .. and many such provocative and interesting topics.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
India at last - after 17 years!
Day 0: 23rd Sept 2008:
Delhi at last - made it! We flew Etihaad Air from New York to Delhi via Abu Dhabi. As it turned out, my friends Misha and Rita were also on the same flight. I enjoyed traveling with them, discussing our future adventures and travel plans. We will be trekking in Nepal together, after which they plan to continue on their travels through south india, onto other parts of south east asia - they are not sure how long they will be gone yet - sounds exciting!
Getting into Delhi was interesting, internally a little tense - unsure how I'd react to India after so long. In some sense I come as a tourist who will be making new memories but another part of me is here on a nostalgic mission to capture a little piece of my old life. We/(I) tend to romanticize parts of our lives when sufficient time has passed, this might serve as a reality check.
Onto matters of practical interest, Misha has traveled here on his own pretty extensively and even though I speak the language fluently, it was good to arrive in Delhi with Rita and Misha. It was a simple matter to get a pre-paid taxi at the airport, to Dwarka - a stranger was kind enough to let me use his cell phone to call my friends and let them know I'm safely in Delhi. The small acts of genorsity shown by strangers is one of my favorite parts of traveling.
The smells, the sounds; one too many cars on the roadways aggressively trying to get ahead. Delhi is intense. The taxi was an old ambassador, as the driver cranked the starter twice, I wondered if it would start. There were photos of Shiva and other gods on the dash - I guess driving around in Delhi is an act of faith. He had a very fancy car stereo, with blinking indigo lights that played CDs and maybe even MP3s; he turned the radio on and I presume the fancy stereo was perhaps more for looks than functionality - but I can appreciate the sense
of pride one feels in accomplishment. To him, perhaps the stereo represented just that - though again I assume and presume things. The traffic in Delhi is something else, everybody is trying to get to their destination ahead of the next guy - but really I guess when you have these many vehicles and this variety of vehicles on the road all at once, the only way to get anywhere is to be aggressive. Even so, I winced many times as I saw scooters and autos come rather close to the taxi. Somehow, there is a rhythm to this chaotic Delhi traffic and life moves
mostly without incident.
Upon reaching home, I enjoyed a lovely dinner with my hosts: my friends Shubha, Jitendra, Kuhu and Pihu. Listening to the girls talk about school, teachers, and their friends around the dinner table, I was remembering similar dinner conversations in our home in NOIDA. The dinner table was always a place for catching mummypapa up with all the activities of the day. Mother and father become this one entity called mummypapa and the conversation is dominated by kids activities, mostly school related. A sense of family closeness is evident.
The daily cycle of life:
The girls are up at 6 and 6:20, and ready to go by 6:40 and 7:15. Mamma and papa are coordinating together as the single entity mummypapa. Papa gets the girls up, mamma is busy packing tiffins, as papa ensures the kids are getting ready and moving along so as to
not miss their buses. Then he's off to drop them off at which point mamma starts to make breakfast/lunch for papa who will start getting ready to head off to the office soon. Mummy then drops off papa to the bus stop. After ensuring everybody is off on time, mummy, the coordinator, then starts her work for the day which continues at a more normal pace. This activity is then repeated at a slower pace once the kids are back home from school, and the evening cycle starts: lunch, homework, tennis lessons, dinner etc. Much of the days work is compressed within these morning hours and evening hours.
I'm impressed by how efficient Shubha is in using the morning hours for getting most of the cooking done. I'll have to implement some of her good habbits in my daily routine.
Simple things in life:
I enjoyed a refreshing, cold bath with a bucket as we used to do way back when - it's the familiarity of these little things that connect me to not just India, but most places I travel. It is different yet familiar; sleeping with the girls under a ceiling fan. The service (Air Force) life, where papa is often out since that's what the work demands. When papa is not around, mama sleeps with the kids - everybody in the big room under the ceiling fan.
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