One Year

It's been a year now. It's hard for me to believe I've already been living here, in New Delhi, for a whole year. I still feel new to the city, every experience still feels foreign to me. That's when I realized, though India will always be foreign to me, it's a good type a foreign, a welcoming foreign.

Whenever my old friends ask how I'm doing, I always let them know India's been real good towards me. Perhaps it's the fact I'm living in a place that's so full of everything, I'm able to do whatever I want. Perhaps, it's the fact I'm old enough to really appreciate the culture, the art, and the people.


Or, perhaps, it's because it's India.

I've lived in multiple countries - six to be exact - and all of them have one memory that really defines the country. Unlike the rest of those places, India can't be defined by a memory.

Sure, India is hectic, but to there is a indescribable karmic calmness to the way you live. 


Sure, India can be dirty, but that's the way they live. People litter because by littering their creating jobs for people to sweep and clean. It's all done by people with clean hearts.

The list goes on and on. That's when I realized it's difficult to pinpoint a single phrase onto India. I just couldn't do it! Even in geography, India isn't quite the Middle East, but at the same time it's not quite Asia. India is an ancient mixture of religion, history, and people. That mixture, can't be defined. India can't be defined.


So, it took me a year to realize India is ... India. Doesn't sound very enlightening, but trust me it is.

World's Biggest Blackout (and I'm in it!)

This afternoon, I discovered that the world's biggest blackout was occurring, and I was sitting right in the middle of it. Over 700 million people are without power throughout northern India, that's twice the amount of people in the USA! Metro, trains, and traffic lights are all out of power.

In other words, Delhi is in deep trouble.

The roads in India are usually a mess, enough so that New Yorkers admit that NYC is paradise in comparison to Delhi traffic. Right now it is especially horrific out there.

On top of that, trains and the metro are huge means of transportation down here in India. If public transportation is down, the majority northern India can't travel.

This is the second time power has failed in India on a large scale in the past two days. Today, the world's biggest blackout occurred, during humid monsoon 98' weather. It was not a very happy day for most of India.

Fortunately, my house has generators. 

Unfortunately, not everyone else's does.

My pictures!

My pictures are disappearing. At first I though there was something wrong with my internet connection, but I've now come to the conclusion that no matter how many times I re-upload my pictures, they just disappear into the limbo of blogger.

Here's a link to my Flickr: 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/expatinindia/


Enjoy!

Indian Weather

Between all the countries I've lived in, I've certainly had my fair share of weather problems. Trust me when I say India has been no exception. 

When I made my first (slightly terrifying) trip to India, I was astounded by the humidity. 100% humidity everyday with weather in the 90's, just happens to not be my favorite thing in the world.  

But, like everything in India, it grew on me.

Before I knew it, Diwali (and the start of cold weather) arrived and India turned into a bearable oasis. Around this time, walking around in pants feels almost comfortable. 

Then, India was cold. 

People begin burning rubber, or whatever they have, to stay warm. Most lungs are unable to handle the dust and smoke filled streets. Inhalers become the new must-have accessory for expats in Delhi.


After a harsh, but (luckily) brief winter it all fades away. With the arrival of March comes Holi and well-welcomed warmth. Winds from the Himalayas keep it fresh enough to feel comfortable outside.The warmth gently hugs you.


Then one day in early May, when you're looking a little red in the face after a walk around the neighborhood, you decide to check your iPhone. You gasp at the 108' weather. Are you becoming accustomed to the heat?

No. Give it until June. Now comes the sweltering dry heat reaching as high as 122'. Air conditioning becomes imperative. Trips outside are made as sparingly as possible. Suddenly, 96' in DC is looking attractive. 


Finally July comes. Monsoons - what once seemed like your enemy - are now your friend. Weather dips down to the low 90's and it all feel's very, very good. Within a year, you've had the opportunity to experience the best and the worst of South Asian weather. Everything has it's ups, and everything has it's downs. No longer is weather your enemy, but rather your entertaining, albeit unpredictable, friend.

Turns out, like everything else in life, I just needed a little bit of perspective on the weather.

Too bad it took a year. 

Dilli Haat (with an unexpected guest)

I've been back in New Delhi for a couple of weeks now, and I'm finally gotten used to the dry 120+ degree weather. This means I'm back to visiting markets and venturing outside the comfort of air conditioning.

Of course, in India venturing out is never as easy as it sounds.

We were on our way to Dilli Haat, when we came across a friend.

Who got just a little to close for comfort.

Eventually we got over the fact there was an elephant next to our car, and headed over to Dilli Haat. Dilli Haat is a fabulous little market, known for it's crafts from around the subcontinent. You'll find anything from Udaipor micro paintings to Gujarati wrap skirts. Vendors change every two weeks, and bargaining is a given! 


Of course I took artsy photos. 

Rishikesh - A Real Valley of Dreams

I had a fabulous Spring Break. For a whole week I traveled up north to Rishikesh for a relaxing seven days of hiking, trekking, and rafting. I saw things that amazed me, and felt things that I thought I, a people person, would never crave - the feeling of being alone. No matter where you go in India, you are always going to go somewhere where there are other people. In a country of over 1 billion, you have to find someplace to put them. So after an 8 hour trek, you finally achieve that feeling. Add that to the view and it's pretty amazing up there.

Finals are approaching soon, and I have been expertly putting them off. So, I'll spare you the detailed explanation of just what Rishikesh was like, just put some pictures, and get back to studying. It was a really great trip though, after six months in Delhi you just need to get out and smell some clean air. I highly recommend it.

The Valley

Flora and Fauna

Donkeys!

The beach

On a clear day you can see the Himalayas. 

A Very Holy Holi

Today, I got to try my hand at one of the better known Indian holidays, Holi. If you're not well versed in the Hindu holidays, Holi is the festival of colors. It's that one day a year when you just throw scented powder and perfumes at people because you can. All inhibitions are let go, and the social structures which rule the Indian social life, are on a timeout just for this one day.

So why the colors? Holi celebrates the beginning of Spring (even though it feels like Summer) and the end of Winter. Hindus enjoy the start of Spring and its abundant colors by throwing them at everyone and saying goodbye the cold, colorless winter.

I enjoyed my Holi by throwing packets of scented color powder and water in a field with friends and family. I haven't ventured out into real Delhi just yet, since I'm a bit afraid of what might unfold. 

The aftermath:

 

Adventure in the Heart of India

Yeah. My visit to Madhya Pradesh might be so long I feel the need to split it into different parts, just to make it a more manageable read.

Part 1: Getting There

Since our train was scheduled to leave at 6:10, I was up at 4:45 am (late by everyone's standards); however, still punctual, since its India and the train was (undoubtedly) late. That's kind of the beauty of India, even though you are late it doesn't matter because everyone else is later. After assembling at the school, we headed to the train station. 

Trains. This was my first experience riding a train, ever. I was expecting something along the lines of "The Polar Express" and "Harry Potter", with the old British style trains. I was grossly disappointed with it all. The trains were not at all how I expected, instead they were modern, slightly dirty (but still rather clean), and did not have singing waiters bring me hot chocolate whilst dancing.

I'm still not exactly sure what was in exactly what state, but we arrived in Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh?) and toured the beautiful fort over there, that was surprisingly well cared for despite not being a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Part 2: Being There

Then we drove about an hour away to Orchha (Madhya Pradesh?) and settled in at our camp. Our camp was absolutely beautiful. Staying in large tents with comfortable cots overlooking the Yamuna and Betwa River (we were technically on an island!) mingle, the campsite felt like something out of a postcard. The campsite even had running water, that was hot and cold! 

Shortly after freshening up, we visited a tribal vilage and had so much fun. Unlike Delhi, the children weren't begging for money, and instead played games with us and seemed content just to have friends. They even showed off one of their baby goats! Then, we visited a local potter, which was especially fun for me, since I consider myself quite the amateur potter. I even managed to make something on his non electrical wheel!

Just casually walking around with a goat

The kids were just too cute!

Soon to be chapatti pots

On our second day, we rafted and I had too much fun going down the rapids. We even stopped everyone forty minutes or so to get off on an island and just wander around the Rajput architecture, which is basically the perfect combination of Islamic and Hindu styles. It's absolutely gorgeous.

Who wouldn't want to live there?

After our rafting adventure, on the next day we tried to do a 3 1/2 hour bike ride. I considered myself an average biker, until the mountain biking experience. The bikes had no gears, which made the hilly terrain slightly annoying. I still managed to have a lot of fun and the locations we ended up visiting were fabulous. Due to most of my groups not to fabulous bike skills, they swapped our fourth day of full biking and decided on a nature walk instead.

I shouldn't have though that nature walk would have implied it was easy and fun. It started out as a pretty casual walk along the Yamuna and turned into a four hour uphill hike in non hiking clothes (Yeah, long black sweat pants were not the answer). The cave we were supposed to visit wasn't open because it was a holy Hindu site and you aren't allowed to enter, and had to take off your shoes about 30 feet away from it. It was just odd and the weather was hot, so I don't remember a lot of the hike. It was so bad a Jeep had to come and pick us up.

Nature walk along the Yamuna

When I was walking I was pretty much waiting for the hike to be over. Now that I look back, I realize how much fun and what an experience it was, especially since most of it was along the rocky banks of the Yumuna. I hate to get all woe is me, but how many American teenagers get the chance to trek along the rocky banks of the Yamuna. Despite the difficulty in getting there, it was definitely a well worth trip.

After freshening up, we had the opportunity to go into the town of Orchha and just browse around. I got full blown henna from my fingers to my elbow for 150 rps and ate a dhosa for 30 rps, despite the tour guides telling me not not to. It was great just hanging around town. The only slightly annoying thing was how expensive the everything was since there weren't that many foreigners, so we were ripped off on everything. 

My henna!

On the very last day we went rafting for the second time and then visited an NGO that made paper. Both were pretty interesting and the paper was incredibly pretty.

Part 3: Eating There

One thing I have failed to mention about the trip was the food. every day we had Indian food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It sounds like it could get old really quickly, but not really. There's enough variety and enough consistency to let one figure out what's good and what's not and keep on eating what you like. I even got to try my hand at certain foods and made a pretty amazing aloo gobi and chapattis.

Overall, it was a fabulous trip. I am extremely glad I went on it, even if my returning trains was delayed and things didn't always go as planned, I still had a pretty amazing time. So if anyone feels like having an adventure in the heart of India, go to Orchha and book a couple days there. It's absolutely amazing.

Little Trip to the UAE

I just got back from Dubai last week and I have been rather busy getting caught up with school work and preparing for the play (first show on Thursday!, so I haven't been able to post anything about my most recent trip to Dubai. It was an incredible trip though, one I enjoyed tremendously.

The first night our hosts dropped us off at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which is right next to the Burj Al Arab and I had a fabulous evening just playing table tennis and sipping watermelon juice whilst overlooking the beach. In fact, it was one of my favorite evening, having the opportunity to just relax. 

Burj-Al-Arab

Watermelon Juice

Birds along the shore

The rest of the trip, I had no time to enjoy myself and spent it playing or watching basketball (don't worry, I wont bore you with the pictures). It was extremely exhausting, and left me with little energy to enjoy the few hours I did get at the Dubai Mall and at  Mall of the Emirates. 

Ski Dubai in the Mall of the Emirates

Some member of our team outside the Dubai Mall, in front of the Burj Khalifa

Our last morning was actually my favorite because we went back to the Dubai Mall for the second time and headed up the Burj Khalifa, which just so happens to be where they filmed Ghost Protocol. I was pretty excited to have been in the same building as Tom Cruise! After that we went to the airport and indulged for our last time in all the food we can't get in India. I am not at all ashamed to say I had two beef burgers on my last day, at all.

The lobby of the Burj pays homage to Mission Impossible

View of Dubai from highest observation deck

I head off to Southern India on Sunday for some hiking, rafting, and camping and I'm pretty excited! It will be my first time camping and since it will be in India, I think it will be a pretty memorable experience...

One Word

If I had to describe Old Delhi in one word: chaotic.
If I had to describe the photography there in one word: fantastic.

That's my problem with words! They fail to capture so much of what I saw in Old Delhi, that even if I attempted to describe my trip my words would barely even begin to scratch the surface of what I experienced. My pictures are no better.

Lo siento mi publico. 

Here are some of my favorite shots of Old Delhi, though they don't really capture the essence of it. It's more, my interpretation of Old Delhi.

Spice Market: Interesting

Lock at Spice Market: Rustic

View from atop Spice Market: Breathtaking

Alleys: Chaotic

Life: Beautiful

Secret Area Behind Jain Temple: Refreshingly Quiet

Saree on a Motorcycle: Elegant

Goat Wearing a Sweater: India

The Hype Up Post

The beginning of a new year is always great; however, I seem to give myself a ton of new resolutions (such as blogging once a week) that I start, but fail to continue with. It was nice the first couple weeks, rushing from basketball to play practice to homework, always busy. Now, January 28th just a couple weeks in, I am spent.

I suppose that was my way of saying, I'm sorry I seemed to have forgotten to write in my blog.

There is a silver lining to this all though, seeing that I will be headed to Dubai (I know, Dubai!) in about a week and half for my basketball tournament (and yes, since my blog is all about spreading my experiences in the east to the west I will be blogging about my time in the UAE). Then just a week after that I will head out to Orchha (central India) for about a week for some hiking, rafting, and relaxation.

Even though I don't really have much to write about India now, I'm hoping to hype y'all up because you know my next blog posts will be interesting ones. The only thing really special in India right now, is the weather. That beautiful, cool spring breeze from the Himalayas is coming into Delhi right about now, making it the perfect time to visit India. It's around 70' F in the day and 50' F in the night. 

I'd hate to put in a random photo at the end of this blog, but one of my resolutions was to make sure every single one of my posts this year had a picture. Alas, I have no photos concerning Dubai, Orchha, or the weather so here's a picture of Humayun's tomb, the grandfather of the guy who commissioned the Taj Mahal for his wife (I hope that made sense). Slightly less grand, but still a fantastic place.

For a guy who didn't do much besides get high on opium, this is still a pretty nice place to be buried.

Iowa Caucases in India

Our Tata Sky (cable box) was just installed, and that brought us over 800 channels for roughly $30 a year. Great deal, right? We get movies, reality TV, the occasional American football game, and news. So why should I be anything but excited about this recent installation?

Up until our Tata Sky was installed, I had satisfied my cravings for news through magazines. That works out well in the USA, but anyone whose lived overseas knows that mail tends to arrive about two weeks later than in the USA. I was pretty content my arrangement when it came to current events, it's not like most teenagers sit around discussing the news. Although, now that the cable has been installed I get news at the same time as everyone else around the world, and it was a little confusing at first.

I was so content, I had assumed everything was happening just as I received my magazines. So, when I turned on the cable for the first time, I found out the that Romney and Santorum were tied in the Iowa causes, two weeks before I expected them to even take place. I was utterly confused, "weren't they not supposed to start for a couple more weeks? What is this madness?!", I was screaming to my sister.

My sister chimed in pretty quickly, reminding me that I had received all my news solely from magazines, which tend to arrive late. It was one of those times when I remembered I was living in a developing country, where mail isn't exactly fast or safe. Oh well, I guess it's just part of living in Incredible (wait for it) India.