Deva Sharif

Today I went with Briana and Anand to Deva Sharif on the last day of Urs – it made for a crazy fun day trip. The place was exploding with people and food and knick knacks. What an eclectic assortment of goods…everything from camels to 3 feet wide parathas to ittar to magic tricks to funky hats (all) for sale. We ambled along the curved bazaar and stopped from stall to stall to feast our eyes out. When we got to the dargah (which was decked out in lights btw) we paid our respects and then chilled outside for a bit where we listened to some qawwalis. So my hopes are that by April I’ll be able to understand these qawwalis….my Urdu is slowly getting there  Poetry in any language is hard, eh?

Nepal

For our extra long midterm/Eid/Dusshera chutti, my friend Briana and I went to Nepal for 10 days. The Nepalganj border is only 5 hours from Lucknow. Our journey got off to a strange start…so our bus stops and we catch a cycle rickshaw to the visa office (or so we though) and we are going along in the heat until we realize that it’s been 40 some odd minutes and we are no longer sure what country we were in. There were no clear signs of note that would indicate the country change and people were freely moving in two directions…so we ask a passerby and find out we are in Nepal and have been for the last 30 minutes….great….so we turn around to the visa office, but because we missed the India office and failed to get an exit stamp the visa vaala sent us back to India. Finally, with exit stamps, we returned to Nepalganj – only to be held up for a day because we had no US dollars! And but of course the visa vaala office only accepts US dollars…fine, so long as there are money exchangers…but alas, there were none and we were in for a fun adventure where we had to make quick connections and find US dollars. Not even the banks would give us US dollars…at least we are American…if I had been of another nationality and had to face this mess…I would have been much more irritated by American imperialism. Sure enough, we learned our lesson. Turns out seasoned travelers always carry US dollars…at least the visa vaala let us spend the night visaless in Nepal and didn’t send us to India again. This whole shenanigan got me thinking about the arbitrary nature of borders…I mean seriously, we were unclear which country we were in for 45 minutes. Both sides of the “border” were the same (superficially at least). We kept our eye out for some huge “welcome to Nepal”sign…but we are still looking for that one. Okay so there was this decorative gate at one point but there’s no dearth of those in South Asia and this one had no indication of a special crossing like a COUNTRY BORDER! So there we go….these country borders at a practical/executed level seem to have little significance (I’m overlooking borders that are matters of contention). Yet still territory at the mass/macro level is such a huge deal…how does one really sit down and draw clear lines on a map….the process seems so random/arbitrary/semantic. A process that those who care to can take major advantage of and use a means to exploit/exercise power. When the parties involved are having their maps/borders drawn by an “uninvolved” party.
We decided to fly from Kathmandu on the way back to save time…I was determined to get the Indian fare and not the exorbitant foreigner fare. Honestly, I probably could have even done without a visa …as no one even checked my visa all 10 days (sans the evil visa officer). So the travel agent was quite a character…he claimed that he could not give me the Indian fare…but we all know that is not true. So I insisted…and he consulted with his boss and decided that I would have to change my name because “Raheja” is Pakistani. Would you believe that? I’ve never heard that before…but technically I guess it kind of is a Pakistani name? Anyhow, he wanted me to make a fake id and all…which we both found hilarious. I assured him that I could pass for an Indian…and he finally conceded. Ironically there was absolutely no security at the airport! Not like the tickets look different anyhow.
Anyhow, on to the 15 hour bus ride to Pokhara. After having only budget traveled for the past 4.5 months, I’ve all ready changed my conceptions of what a “long car/bus ride” is. The Austin to Dallas 3 hour drive used to be pushing it. Now, I’m fine with and even expect double digit numbers. It’s not that I value my time less, it’s just that I am not falsely obsessive about my time and know that thinking/chilling/moving from point a to b is justifiably quite productive. Not to mention – overnight bus/train rides are such a perfect utilization of time…I love getting on a train in Lucknow, falling asleep, and waking up in Bodhgaya. From Pokhara we took an awesome 4 day trek/rafting trip. First time to do both and I loved it – trekking is def. more my thing. I don’t care much for cold water and getting beat up by rocks. Get this…instead of bussing all the way to Kathmandu from Pokhara, we arranged our rafting trip so that we could raft halfway to Kathmandu instead! In the mornings when the sky was clear – we got to check out some awesome Himalayan views. Nothing beats the flight back from Kathmandu where I could clearly see huge chunks of the Himalayan range though.
We ended our trip in Kathmandu. Minus the hyper tourist factor, the city was a lot of fun and extremely festive as we happened to be there for Nepal’s largest festival – Dashai. This utsav celebrates the victory of Durga/Kali over Mahisasura and animal sacrifices galore are made to both deities. The idols are even bathed in blood. It’s so fascinating to me to see the cultural appropriation of any one given religion (in this case Hinduism). The other neat thing we saw in Nepal was the confluence of Buddhist and Hindu traditions. It’s experiences like these make me think that using one unified term of Hinduism to refer to a pluralistic set of traditions/belief systems simply based on geographic proximity to be quite problematic. One could perhaps argue that this is an accepted essence of the notion of religion (it’s malleability). Who knows. I just think it’s okay to be different…no need to try to smooth over the differences and try to get all to adhere to one label and learn to conceptualize themselves under this label.

Namaskar from Varanasi

“Ayodhya mathura maya kashi kashi avantika…” As a child I memorized a wide abundance of Sanskrit shlokas – this one appreciating the holy Indian cities being one of them. I didn’t actually bathe in the Ganga but I still hope my mere visit to Kashi canceled out some of the paap I have accrued J Okay sarcasm aside, this place is holy. Take an hour morning walk on the ghats and feast your eyes on pooja after pooja after pooja. I arrived early Friday morning and went straight to the south most Assi ghat to begin a Ganga boat ride. It was super relaxing and served as a nice introduction to Varanasi. I got off at one of the burning ghats and walked most of the way back to Assi where I met my friend Jolie. She’s lived there for a year+ so she knows all the ins and outs of the Benaras. She first took me to the Nagari prachari sabha (where she looks at archives) – this organization was part of the big push for the nagari movement so critical to Hindu nationalists. I walked around for a bit after that and had to take a lot of detours as many roads were closed for Jummat al vida. I got to see namaaz overflowing out of the masjids and into the streets which was a rather neat sight. There’s something quite powerful about unison. I visited several of the mandirs including the famous Vishwanath mandir which was quite fun as all the access/exit points are through convoluted gullies. The lassis are also damn good in Varanasi.

In the evening I went to check out aarti at Dashashvamedh ghat. It was extremely touristy and the whole thing seemed like a rehearsed performance really. Between the mechanical spectacle and camera flashes, the emotion was completely missing. I played my role and let a diya out into the river. For dinner Jolie and I went to this obviously exclusive joint for foreigners. Btw there are so many foreigners in Benaras that there are classes and different joints are frequented by different classes. There are the hippie backpackers who stop by for a week, the studious researchers/artists/etc who stay for longer, the permanent ex-pats, etc. etc. Assi is like a modern mini village of foreigners. I’m so glad I got to hang out with Govinda baba – a Canadian gentleman who threw his passport in the Ganges thirty years ago and never looked back. There are several of these character types who claim a spiritual “Hindu” authenticity with the following elements (give or take a few) a)Hindufy their name b) keep extreme hair (ladies – short and gentlemen – unruly) and c) and wear orange. Power to them I suppose.

We spent the next day in the inner folds of Benaras – the tiny, intricate gullies – each so unique. On our way to the manikarnika ghat we passed a gung ho Bhagat Singh inspired communist rally. Speaking of, I’m really trying to work on getting rid of my American democratic notions of communism. Onwards to the cremation grounds. I really cannot go into detail here. The experience was extremely moving. We watched from start to about 30 minutes in. I slowly watched fire melt away at a corpse and this sight/the environment was immensely thought provoking for me. Life is queer.

Indian sign of the week

I have also decided to post an “Indian sign of the week” entry in my blog. This is mostly because my collection is growing and I have nothing to do with the pictures so why not entertain you? India is chock full of hilarious signs that bring together the strangest conglomerate of Indian English words/idioms/awkward typos/offenses/brand rip offs/etc. The greatest part is that these signs are not intended to be humorous. For instance this sign in Raja Park, Jaipur:

the city of nawabs

Adaab from Lucknow. Wow, I have to admit that all I knew about this city 3 years ago was that it was famous for Lucknawi chikan…so unique that my mom would hoard my sister and I across Ahmadabad all the way to the Income Tax area every hot summer just to buy specialty Lucknawi salwar suits. And now I am here – surrounded by chikan. For eight months. So far it’s been just great – a very nice break from hyper-touristy Jaipur where every day was a battle against throngs of “hellos, from which country, and that will be 100X the cost for you – miss foreigner.” Granted it’s not as “modern” but just two weeks here and I feel like I am actually living in the city rather than temporarily visiting it.

I’m living directly above a sabzi and gosht mandi with an elderly Hindu/Muslim couple. The two are purana Lucknow vaalas and have (the Lucknow that was) stories to share for hours upon end. They give me all the love that my grandparents give me and all the privacy that my grandparents are incapable of J My place is not even 2 km from the AIIS institute and I’m looking into purchasing a bicycle of my own. Some of my classmates are even buying scooters…def not brave enough for that feat. So because there isn’t any tourism here, even though I carry myself differently than the typical “Indian” woman and speak with (let’s face it) an obvious American accent – I manage to blend into the masses quite easily!

This place is teeming with such a rich history – take any walk in any direction of no less than 3km and one is guaranteed to stumble upon several beautiful old buildings even a couple that are abandoned and not even marketed to local residents.

Now my main purpose here is to study Urdu. Why Lucknow? The city (along with Hyderabad) is one of the last cities where Moghul culture is still in swing. But you wouldn’t know it at first glance. I mean sure there are kebab signs all over the place but Urdu is still significantly sidelined relative to Hindi. I bought a Nokia mobile phone the other day with all these fun features…and 6+ several language options ranging from Marathi to Tamil but alas…no Urdu. So not only is right-wing Indian politics part of the conspiracy to marginalize Urdu…so are major corporations. It’s quite unfortunate but apparently kant langot (for necktie) and other such nonsensical words are going out of style, according to my grateful auntie ji.

PS I’m slowly developing an addiction to the excellent chaat here. I can’t resist. I mean these places even use filtered water. How can I say no?

Delhi

Though I’ve visited Delhi countless times much of it remains to be discovered. It’s the same case as with Abad….I spent the majority of my Delhi visits in the Pitampura area completely oblivious to the vibrant vastness that is Delhi. Reading William Dalrymple’s City of the Djinns and becoming more independent/not travelling with family has changed that. Today my friends and I went to the old city and hung out by the Jumma masjid at iftaar – what a happening place. We took in all of the bazaar hubbub over chai and kajur. Afterwards we went to JNU – it was neat to get an insight into the university culture of India. The canteens were full of young, intellectual minds. The campus was full of creative energy. That and woah extreme political signs…yikes for American Imperialists :)

Sri Lanka!!!

Sri Lanka was just fabulous. It was my first real time traveling alone – def a huge learning experience. I took a hella long train to Chennai, spent the day/night in Chennai hanging out with some lively couchsurfers and flew to Colombo on the 26th. Colombo is your average cosmopolitan city with the added bonus of a scenic coastline and due to current political unrest a plethora of armed soldiers – I’m talking every 100 feet. So I was quick to get out and left for Kandy the very next day. I also had enough of the hyper Anglophilic Sri Lankan woman who ran the guest house I stayed in for the night…seriously she‘s one of the few people I have met who lament their colony’s independence from the British. I rode in the “observation saloon” on the train and boy was that a treat…it’s a rail car made of a whole lot of glass and its route is straight through the gorgeous hill country of SL. Luckily I was assigned a window seat.


Upon arriving in Kandy I checked into a small guest house…it’s off season so I made my decision by the fact that is was the only one with patrons for the night. Sri Lankan food is pretty uneventful if you are a vegetarian but I made the most of it…. The next morning I rose bright and early and took a bus to Dambulla, the site of ancient Buddhist cave carvings. So I finally empathize with my fair skinned friend’s frustration with raised foreigner entry fees for Indian tourist sites….I usually get away with being Indian in India at places like the Taj and City Palace so I hadn’t thought of how irking it is before that non-residents have to pay seriously 10X the local visitors fee. Sure, we don’t pay taxes to maintain these sites…but let’s get real…who in South Asia pays their taxes anyway. And if they don’t, why the heck should we pay the brunt of it? So in Sri Lanka I tried to pretend I was Sri Lankan…and this worked until I demonstrated my incapacity to speak a lick of Sinhalese or Tamil. By the way, contrary to the guidebook I purchased – English does not get you by easily on this island. The most intriguing aspect of all of these Buddhist heritage sites was the strong presence of Hindu imagery. No Buddha idol was without a Vishnu idol nearby. After that I hitched a ride to Sigriya and climbed that rock with a group of monks on a field trip who spoke broken bits of English and Hindi.




The Sri Lankans, like the Indians, are on this kick to promote a timeless Buddhist past (in comparison to India’s Vedic past). Hence the never-ending marketing of 3-4000 year old Buddhist palaces, temples, schools, etc.
Onwards to Nuwara Elliya – an eerie colonial town which I quickly got out of it…on my way out I stopped to check out the presumed gufa in which Ravana held Sita captive. Complete with Hanuman’s footprints and all. Considering the Lonely Planet alone lists three such sites - who knows if it is “real” or not, but either way being there def. inclined me to empathize with Sita’s plight. My varnam included the scene from the Ramayana in which Ravana deceives Sita and kidnaps her...and the abhinaya felt much more real to me in SL than it did at 17 years of age.
The ethnic politics in SL was apparent to me in just the 10 days of my trip…Tamilians identified with me on the basis of my Indian ethnicity. They were eager to establish their connection with India much more so than the Sinhalese people that I came across. Yea, I’m probably reading too much into this and I don’t know even too much about India’s involvement in the Tamil Elam separatist movement.
My next significant trip was to the Sinhraja Forest Reserve. What a fantastic testament to the grandeur that is God’s creation. This place was teeming with life.



I actually happen to really like plants and trees so this was my kind of joint. Between incessant leech checks and admiring the minute variations and number of patterns in leaves alone… my awesome guide and I spent 6 hours hiking around the forest. I stayed with my guide’s family for the night which was my most “authentic” cultural experience....the Kandyan tribal dancers performing for an audience in a recital hall just felt a little staged. The accommodations were minimal and included dinner by candlelight and a natural, relaxing bath outside of the house in a peaceful stream.
And finally on the beach baby…on the south coast I met up with a British friend I had made in Kandy which was very nice because I was starting to feel a little lonely and it was off season so I couldn’t meet other tourists easily. We basically kicked it on the beach for three days. I snagged an awesome “neighbor country” discount at this guest house right on the beach! And I visited the Galle Fort in there somewhere – one heck of a magnificent structure. A very relaxing end to my summer of Hindi and a relaxing beginning to my year of Urdu!