Never give out your phone number....

I decided to go visit my friend Bec in Mumbai for several days over christmas and new years before starting my official grant.  I was so proud of myself of arranging what seemed at first very complicated travel plans.  I had to book a taxi from Mussoorie to Dehra dun, a train from DD to Delhi barter my way into a taxi ride to the airport from the train station and book a plane from Delhi to Mumbai.  In Mumbai I didn't have to barter (thank god) but get a ricksaw from the airport to the local train station and a train ride to the neighborhood I was to stay in and then a bus/rickshaw to the apartment complex.  Then of course arrange/barter my way back home.  The only thing that was "easy" was the rickshaw in Mumbai and the Taxi in Mussoorie.

Niki my driver picked me up at 3am to drive me the 1hr to DD for my 5am train (600Rs).  We passed a BUNCH of goats on the road.  Got there in plenty of time and got onto my 6hr train and tried to sleep.  Couldn't because of the lady next to me who kept getting out of her seat.  Got to Delhi and bartered with some taxi drivers to hire one of them for 4 hours considering I had a 7 hour layover.  Got a nice santa looking sekh guy for 500Rs.  The deal was he was to take me to the Red Fort (a world heritage site) where I would chill for 2 hours and then drive me the 1hr through traffic to the airport where I would spend the next 3 hours waiting for my plane. Safe and early.

The red fort was strange…Maybe its because I am not completely wow’d by history

or I noticed when looking at Viking stuff in Norway that it all seemed fake. Couldn’t really tell if it was real or what. So, in this place – that is OLD, everything has been ransacked and damaged through time from wars and thieves. The only “pretty” things left were the marble inlay and the

walls. It basically was this palace if I remember right that was built by some Raj and is an assortment of buildings (i.e. audience chambers, meeting rooms, residency, and bath houses) that had a big fountain in front that doesn’t have any water running through it anymore. Guess it would be interesting to have seen it in its hay day, but I think something is lost on me. It was neat for sure, but – eh?

Prior to entering the fort I did visit this strange exhibit - Blood Martyrs????

It was a collection of paintings by other people about martyrs,

 or Indians who had given their lives in honor of India. I really liked the section on women.

These rebels lead armies and defeated those British bastards in little battles through time. There were mass slaughters as well, and many paintings depicting epic battles.



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
While inside the Red Fort I made a mistake.  I was "friendly" to a young man.  He struck up a conversation with me and seemed very "smart" and with it.  I didn't know I made a mistake until the next day.  But, this young man's name was Sunil Kumar.  Sunil was in 11th standard and all he knew about me was that I was in university....which here in India, you are a student for a short time (i.e. max age about 22)and you are wealthy to be in university.  Most people do not go on for MSc's or PhD's....basically he didn't know how old I was.  He seemed like a smart kid.  He was very nice to me and It was a short conversation at first.  Then I met up with him again (by accident) in the gauntlet of shops preventing you from leaving.  Here - it got a little strange, but not much.  He insisted on buying me something.  I told him "no, please, I have my photos and that's all I need".  He didn't listen and ran away and came back with this gift:

He also kept trying to buy me a bracelet, but I have big gorilla hands compared to Indian women. Eventually he found a bracelet and purchased that as well. I really do not understand why someone would spen 150Rs on a glitter globe of the Taj Mahal while we are at the Red Fort known for its marble inlay. I also do not understand the fascination with gaudy jewelry. The only way I could stop him from buying more gifts it seemed was to leave the red fort. Which was unfortunate, because I wasn’t completely done and I would have liked to shop anyway…Outside the Red Fort, we continued to talk and were pestered by totes wanting to take a photo. Sunil asked if I would take a photo with him and I said sure assuming we would use my camera…OH NO, Sunil decided that he would like to get a print out and therefore paid for our photo to be taken.

He got 2 different poses and I got to keep one of the photos. Up until this part it wasn’t a bad day or things could have been simple. We could have parted and all he had was a photo of me which many other people also have up to this point, so whats 1 more? OH NO….he had to ask for my phone number and I of course had to give it to him. My phone had rang while we were talking so he knew I had a number, I couldn’t give him the wrong number either because he said – here take my number and give me a call so I know your number…He then even checked by calling me as I finally walked away and got into my awaiting taxi.  Over the next 10 days I recieved at least one text message a day AND an attempted phone call.  I never answered or replied.  The creapy thing is that as time went buy the messages got more and more strange.  Declairing I was his sun and moon, that I was his shining star of a friend.  I eventually figured out there is a way to block phone numbers on my phone and it has been blissfully silent since.

No real harm, just disappointment at the fact that there is still this need to be hesitant at making friends, particularly with the opposite sex.  I would never think that a person I met in the US would be that desperate or wierd.  How do you make friends other than by staying in touch and meeting over and over.  Why should my friends be limited to girls only unless it is in a very garded situation?  This country is just strange.

150 public acts of urination/defication Plus an Albino elf and Eunuchs

So, I am finally at WII and will be based here for the next 9 months. I am now reachable more consistently and the mailing address will not change.

Hindi school officially ended Dec 11th, but I continued private lessons until Dec 22 when I left for Mumbai. It snowed once before I left and reached about 4C, Mumbai/Bombay was probably about 22C....I have returned to very cold weather. It is even cold here in DehraDun. To wrap up some of my last thoughts and to start fresh with my experiences I thought I would summarize some random points. Over the past 3 months I have counted 150 times I have seen someone in the act of either peeing or pooping. (thought I would use a more adult word like defecate - but lets just call it what it is...) I realize it is a strange thing to keep track of, but honestly it was... easy?? Its just one of those things that you say to yourself, wow, Ive seen a lot of men on the side of the road or in the street taking a leak - oh look, theres another. And then all of a sudden its like Wow, Ive seen 10 people going to the bathroom today. Then it just turned into a competition with whomever I was out with to see how many we could see.

Another strange count is the amount of Albinos - yes Real albinos I have seen since coming to India.  I saw a family of 4, plus 2 others AND a little boy who was dressed as Santa's helper (aka an elf).  He was so cute!

How about my count of eunuchs!  Eunuch's in India are their own cast of people.  I have only seen them in Bombay and OMG are they everywhere.  Here's a little of what Wikipedia has to say:

Hijra, a Hindi term traditionally translated into English as "eunuch", actually refers male-to-female transgender people and effeminate homosexuals (although some of them reportedly identify as belonging to a third sex). Some of them undergo ritual castration, but the majority do not. They usually dress in saris (traditional Indian garb worn by women) and wear heavy make-up. They typically live in the margins of society, face discrimination and earn their living in various ways, e.g., by coming uninvited at weddings, births, new shop openings and other major family events and singing until they are paid or given gifts to go away. The ceremony is supposed to bring good luck and fertility, while the curse of an unappeased hijra is feared by many. Other sources of income for the hijra are begging and prostitution. The begging is accompanied by singing and dancing and the hijras usually get the money easily. Some Indian provincial officials have used the assistance of hijras to collect taxes in the same fashion; they knock on the doors of shopkeepers, while dancing and singing, and embarrass them into paying.  Recently, hijras have started to found organizations to improve their social condition and fight discrimination. There has even been a wave of hijra entering politics and being elected to high political positions.

Basically, from the looks of it - everyone is terrified that the Hijra will curse them so they pay them to go away.  We had one approach our rickshaw and actually talk to us - WOW wish I had a video recorder or something cuz his/her voice was freaky. She was interesting looking.  The little I know about them is facinating and I would like to learn more.  You see, homosexuality in India is very taboo and still, these people have decided to even re-create the indian core home life and try to make a family in may ways.  They are groomed and trained by a guru and take her sir name and pay her from their earnings. 

Anther count has been midigets.  I have seen at least 15 midigets since coming here.  Is it bad that midigets are always fun to spot?

Ive also seen 3 Indians with blue or green eyes.  They are GEORGOUS.  Much like the little girl on the cover of Nat Geo that made news long time ago - it is very striking when you realize what it is about the person that keeps drawing your eyes to them.

Oh and while in Amritsar I came across 15 bearded women.  Considering it is against the rules to cut or pluck your hair if you are a Sikh - this was a symbol of their faith.  As I have mentioned before, Sikh's are the warrior class and they consider women equals.  So, even the ladies are deadly with a sword.  The lady in this photo is the one with the yellow outfit...

I am going to restart all of my counts from this point and see how I get along.