Getting from here to there

The rule of thumb while traveling here, is the more packed in the better. I have seen small cars with around nine people in them. Other than cars, people take the metro, bus, taxi, motorcycles, and autos. The same rule applies with these transportations. In the bus, people pile on top of each other and squeeze through to get off at the right stop. Since it isn’t air conditioned, it can get really hot and smelly. The metro runs underground and can take you all over the city. These are thankfully cooled! They also have compartments for just women. The women only section is a safety precaution as well as a comfort for the female passengers and their children. On the streets and highways motorcycles will have up to five passengers on with them. No one wears a helmet. Often time’s people will transport things along with them on motorcycles. I have seen people carrying impressive amounts of goods and packages.

Two men carrying a TV on the highway

But, by far my favorite form of transportation has been an elephant! When we went to Jaipur, we visited The Amber Fort. This is a fort created to protect the city of Jaipur from British soldiers that were trying to colonize the town. It is on top of a hill and looks down on Jaipur and it’s mountains. The hike up to the fort can be long and tiring, so you can hire an elephant! We had to wake up at 5 a.m. to be able to but the early morning was worth the experience. We climbed up a stairway that leads to nowhere and from there hopped on top of the elephant. Rocking back and forth on a small metal platform we made it to the top of the fort. It was a beautiful journey up the hill and even more glorious at the top!

Riding to Amber Fort

The campus of Hyderabad is on the outskirts of town; it is also very spread out. If you’re dorm or hostel isn’t close to your classroom you have to ride a bike. It would take hours to explore the campus. It is full of fields, forests, and lakes. There are wild dogs that walk us to class and roaming buffalos in the valleys. Because we are kind of of isolated, we have to take taxis to the city. Once we call for a taxi, they take us wherever we want to go and then they wait for us after were done with our movie, shopping, or dinner, and they take us back. Usually were gone for about three hours and the total cost is about 13 American dollars. This is a great price and a safe way of traveling.

Since the role of a driver is a man’s job here, all our drivers from buses to autos are all male. One thing you have to be aware of is your safety. It doesn’t matter if you’re in your hometown, a big city in America, or in a foreign country. So when four America girls are traveling by their selves, we tend to be a rather large and obvious target. And alt

hough we have a phone on us at all times, there are rarely street signs or a way of telling someone where exactly you are.

For example, last Saturday we four went to a big mall called Inorbit. It is about 15 minutes away from campus by taxi. We went to “Now You See Me” and grabbed an ice cream cone on our way out. When the taxi driver picked us up it was already dark out. As we started out way back home, our driver took a side street that lead to a more wilderness area off the skirt of the highway. Suddenly we had no idea where we were, how far away we where, or if we were in danger. I finally asked the driver where we were and where he was taking us, he assured me that it was only a short cut and we were a few minutes away from our dorm. Although we had nothing to worry about, it’s important to be on guard. It goes to show how fast things can get dangerous and can be out of your control.

Crowded market

India as a whole is a very populated country. Whether it is 6 a.m. or midnight the city is always booming with activity and people out and about. Because of these, people are used to being close to others, in the street, on the bus, and shopping. The sense of personal space isn’t really a concept here. Back in the States we cherish our privacy and “bubble” so when traveling and shopping in India can be extremely overwhelming. People are shoulder-to-shoulder, back-to-back and several people could be bumping or touching you at one time and it not phase them. It has taken some adjusting but it is something that has to be accepted if I want to go anywhere and explore what there is to offer and learn. 

When hunger strikes...

Indian food back in Nebraska is one of my favorite types of meals! We have an very nice resterant called The Oven and it serves delcious varations of northern and southern Indian food. However, once I got to this country, as expected, the food wasn’t quite the same.

In India, when a family goes out for dinner they make an evening of it. Taking up to several hours. First they will go out for drinks and talk for atleast an hour, then they will go to dinner and start with a appatizer, then the main course, then dessert. Afterwards they will sit there for another hour or so to chat. Finally, if they are not too many children they will go out for more drinks and dancing. I think this is an intersting difference bettwen American and India. Many times in restaurants back home, customers are almost pushed out of their seats because they are other families waiting.

India has so many herbs, spices, and produce that we don’t have back in America. Meals are incredibly rich with a fulliness in their texture and satisfaction. Indians also tend to have a more spicy pallet. Every meal I ordered, I was asked how spicy I wanted it to be. I started off just ordering mild and sometimes that was too hot. The zest that comes with the spicy does not settle on your tongue like most dish in the States, it wakes up all your taste buds in the back of your throat and warms up your whole body.

Herbs and Spices

The typical meal in Indian is a curry based chicken or mutton (lamb) with roti. Curry is a mix of spices that creates a paste that the meat or vegatables is then cooked in. Roti is a flat bread made of wheat and looks something like a tortia. What most people do is with their right hand, and only their right hand, is tear off a piece of roti and use it to pick up or dip into the curry. Locals say a true Indian can finish their entire plate and not have a messy hand. The reason they only use their right had is that it is customary to wash and wipe oneself with their left hand, so it is seen as dirty and unsanitary for eating purposes.

Karim-Famous restaurant in Delhi 

After you are finished, the waiter will bring out a small bowl of hot water with a small lemon inside of it. This is to wash your hand. The hot water mixed with the acidity of the lemon removes any left over food particales and cleanses your hand. It feels so nice and I like to think of it as a mini manicure. If a waiter doesn’t bring out a wash bowl, there are always sinks localed by the front door or just outside of the restaurant.

Although they do have vegatarian curries, they don’t typically have vegatables in them and if they do there is not a lot of them. It is just not a big part of the culture to eat a lot of veggies. Because I am not a big meat eater back home, I have had a difficult time going without them. But what is wonderful about these types of dishes is that they are incredibly fulling, I am always satisfied after I have finsihed.

Before the meal comes out, most places will set out a dish of raw onions and lemons. It is used as an appaltizer as well as something to clean your mouth of taste between different dishes. Because no one knows exactly where these fruits and veggies have came from, I can not eat them unless they are cooked or peeled. But many Indians love to eat this small free dish when they go out for a meal.

What I have found though is that although I wont eat the mutton, the chicken is some of the most savory and tender chicken I have ever had. Often times if we order a starter it will be chicken kebobs. But these are not kebobs like back home, these are slow roasted chicken pieces in fantastic sauce and a dry seasoning. One of the main reasons that this chicken is so wonderfully full of taste is that not only are they locally raised and bought, they are not raised on hormones.

While on the other hand since the chicken and lambs are rasied and sold near by, they can be bought in the markets. There are very loose governement regulations of places that cook and sell food, therefore there is little education about safe food. Walking into any strip of  shops there is atleast one to 10 places with some sort of meat hanging in the front. These shops are more like open huts, forts, and sometimes shacks. If they are actual closed buildings, there are still not air conditionared. All sorts of flies and bugs sit and nest on these raw meats. Since I have seen this, I try to eat as little meat as possible. But there are still many delcioius snacks and meals that are sold on the streets and markets!

Street vendor

Besides Indian food with its curries and rotis, there are several Chinese food places here. Almost every place is multi-cuisine and serves both. Chinese food in India is like Mexican food in America. You can other all kinds of Chinese dishes and desserts. This can be nice to mix it up.

Our travel guide, Abinov, had been taking us around for the previous two weeks and one of his friends, Aniath, owns a high-end hotel/restaurant. We went there for our welcome dinner. We had several different types of cooked chicken, mutton, and rich rice. We had so much food that I was stuffed after the starters. After the first part of the meal, Aniath allowed us to see how our meal was being made and how to make it. We all returned to our dinner table with recipes that can be made back in the U.S.A.

Chef making spinach paneer

But once we were all relaxing and chatting some more, Aniath ordered a couple different types of desserts. I usually prefer salting things, but these desserts were the most delicious combination I have ever had. The first one was dough that is soaked in sugar syrup, fried, and dipped in the sugar syrup again. It was still warm from the fryer. What you do is take a small bit of the dough and scoop up a bit of the vanilla ice cream and eat them together. I have no idea what it is about Indian ice cream but it is hands down the best ice cream I have ever had. It is so delicate and sweet in a home-cooked way. It was the perfect way to end an evening.

What happen to the last two weeks?

Since we landed in Delhi on June 12^th we have traveled to Jaipur, Agra, and finally Hyderabad. This is hundreds and hundreds of miles traveling in a few short days. This week we have spent in our host city, Hyderabad. We have been mainly walking, taking autos, and driving around site seeing. We basically have had the entire week to do what we please, however were in a foreign country. So four America girls have been roughing it through the streets of India to learn and entertain ourselves.

Looking down on Jaipur

What is so different about driving here is that they drive on the left side of the road. Their driving wheel is also on the left side. I still have a hard time remembering this fact and it can be dangerous crossing the street when you’re looking the wrong way! Hyderabad is one of the largest cities in India, so when you want to get somewhere across town is can take up to an hour and a half. 

All four of us crammed into an auto

A couple of days ago we took a city bus tour. We had no idea what we were in for. It was 12 hours long. The first thing I needed to learn when I arrived to India is that no one is ever on time. When someone says they’ll be somewhere at 10:30 they probably wont show up until 11:00 or later. So when the American ladies with their time is money attitudes, get to the travel agency, they show up 10 minutes early just in case. The sweat what already starting to pool on our backs at 7:20, we didn’t leave for the trip until 8:00, 30 minutes late. At first I found these to be irritating and disrespectful but it is apart of the culture and I am finally adjusting to it.

One of my favorite places thus far is, Charminar. This place has a huge market area with fantastic clothing, blankets, jewelry, and statues. Shops upon shops lay in this one part of Hyderabad. I have taking a liking to bargaining with the shopkeepers. It is a fun concept and an interesting way for two strangers to make a deal  to make both of them happy.

Another thing that is taking some getting used to here is the time difference. I am in the Asia/Kolkata time zone. I am originally from the central time zone so this means I am 10 and half hours ahead of my family. Most times when I am going to sleep, my family is walking up. And when I am waking up my family is going to sleep. This different time zone has transformed my sleeping schedule. Back in Nebraska I am a night owl. I go to bed late and sleep late, sometimes even far into the afternoon. In India, I don’t sleep past 7 a.m., ever.  I don’t know what it is, but I am a wake and alive when the sun comes up. 

The air is full of excitement. The heat in India is a different kind of hot than I have ever experienced. One of the first days in Delhi it was 108 degrees but it was so humid that it was wet outside. Once we arrived in Hyderabad, which is further south in India, it is much cooler. By cooler it is still 90 degrees. Which means I am constantly sweating when I am outside. As time goes on we are moving into Monsoon season. The day after we left Delhi for Hyderabad, it started storming and flooded. That was such a close call that I am not sure what we would have done had we got stuck there. In cities like that, buildings, shops, and housing are all on top of each other. When one goes down, they all go. So many people have lost their homes and lives. It is heartbreaking to watch the news and read the paper over the last few days.

Along with the constant heat, the roads are constantly full. It is always rush hour here. There are typically three to four lanes but no one uses them. The buses, rickshaws, bikes, motorcycles, cars and autos are all inches apart from each other. They all weave in and out from each other, squeezing into any opening they can. This makes crossing the street an incredibly task! There are cross walks, which they call “Zebras”, but just like the lines, no one uses them. Every time you cross the street is it like playing real life frogger, except you only have one life. But practice makes perfect and were all getting good at reaching the other side of the road.

Rickshaw Ride

But these zebra walks and pretend froggers are not the only animals on the streets and sidewalks. Monkeys, ox, goats, dogs, cats, and chickens roam freely through the city and it’s outskirts. Stray dogs are either alone looking for food or travel in packs playing around in empty fields. Oxen pull materials on large wooden wagons. The chickens are clucking around town just waiting to be eaten. And the monkeys, the monkeys are my favorite. They are just as carefree and feisty as you think they would be. They run around, doing flips off buildings and stealing fruit off stands!

Wild Monkey

Later in the program we will travel to Bombay, which is where they create all their movies. Bollywood is so glamorous that I can barely stand it. We went to our first movie called, “yeh jawani hai deewani“. It was entirely in Hindi, but we picked up nicely on the story line. Even if you couldn’t understand it the music, dancing, outfit, and colors were enough to keep anyone entertained. Once we got home we downloaded the entire soundtrack and have listening to it ever since. One thing that is interesting about Bollywood is that the songs from the movies are the only music that is really played in India. All the songs that come on the radio are from a movie.

After the flashiness of our first Indian film, we wanted to learn how to dance. Our trip advisor’s wife used to be a dance teacher. She also grew up in north India where dancing is a much bigger part of growing up. We went through the first half of the song for about two hours and that was enough for all of us. All the moves are very graceful and involve a lot of sexy moves. I have neither grace nor sex appeal. I just kept laughing at my reflection in the window a head of me. It was awesome to learn a piece of traditional and pop cultural in our own private mini lesson. It was truly an experience I will never forget.