So Much Fun...

The people that work here and the Indian grad students that are studying here are so welcoming and friendly - but they're also so much fun!

Yesterday between classes, we were totally acting like children - and were loving it!  One of the people working in SVYM's school taught us a common game for young children called, "Fire on the Mountain."  Picture a group of 10 college students, age 19 - 21 running in a circle chanting "Run, Run, Run!" in perfect unison after the teacher would say, "Fire on the Mountain."  He would then yell instructions like "1 house" or "1 house, 2 sheep" and we would have to find a group of people and make the corresponding signs with our bodies - and the last person was eliminated.  So naturally, we became super competitive and were racing each other, screaming and squealing to beat everyone else.  It was just so great! (I'm pretty sure that the video is going to be posted to our team blog on Cornell's ILR website.)

A couple of days ago, my whole group went to the school to play some volleyball with the Indian grad students - it was a prime example of finding common ground without being able to speak the same language.  Some of the students spoke some English, but the majority just picked up on the phrases that we used during the game, like "nice!" or "I like it!" or "dirty!".  Basically, we mixed the teams so there were Indians and Americans on each side and, again, became competitive.  We played best out of 7 - there was so much trash talking between the teams in both Kannada and English.  It was really cool how I had no idea what they were actually saying, but I could totally get the gist by watching their facial expressions, hand gestures and the tone of voice they used.  Pretty sure they were being as sassy towards the other team as we were!

This has been such a wonderful experience so far.  I never realized how much merit there is to taking some time to learn in an unfamiliar environment... it really brings a whole new perspective on things.  From listening to my various lecturers, I've found that people who were originally non-English speakers have such a gift for phrasing what we would consider to be basic or simple ideas in such a way that you are forced to take a step back and think about the ordinary in a different way.  It's really quite powerful.

On a much different note, we rode in our first rickshaws today!  Seeing the city from a rickshaw is such a different experience from seeing it from a bus.  I felt like we were able to actually experience the city more... the people, the sounds and smells - it was absolutely incredible.  I loved it!

"Look! A white person!"

Yesterday my group and I were taken on a day-long tour of the main attractions in Mysore.  It was a very long day - but I have never said the word "incredible" more times in one day in my life!  The people, the colours, the architecture and the history are amazing here.  We visited Chamundi Hills, Somanathpur, Mysore Palace, St. Philomena's Church, as well as an Indian clothing store and a silk store.

Our first stop yesterday morning was Chamundi Hills - one of the eight most sacred hills in India.  There are actually 1000 steps that go from the main portion of Mysore city to the top of Chamundi Hills (we didn't climb the stairs though...).  If an Indian woman wishes to be married early, she must climb all 1000 stairs and perform puja (Hindu prayer) at each step.  Most people, however, just climb the stairs for exercise on the weekends.  At the top of the hill is a temple built for a Hindu goddess.  It is built in the traditional southern Indian style of temples, meaning that it has a "step-like" construction.  Every southern Indian temple has 3, 5, 7 or 9 steps - and the one at Chamundi Hills had 7 steps, each with different representations of Buddha.  We were unable to go inside, as Saturday is a holy day and there was a very long line to wait.  But we did get to climb down 300 of the 1000 steps to see the Bull of Shiva!  It was incredible.  The second largest stone monolith bull in India, it is 4.5m tall and is carved from local rock.  Every 6 months, a ceremony is performed to redecorate the Bull, and we were able to see it after it was freshly redecorated.  It was incredible - one of my favourite parts of the day (but I'm awful at picking favourites, so I probably have 15 favourite things from yesterday!).

Chamundi Hills was our first experience being immersed in Indian culture and being out in public with the Indian people... and did we ever stick out.  People were stopping to stare, point, wave and yell "hi!" just to hear us say "hi!" back.  But the greatest was when entire families would run over to us, excitedly wanting us to pose for pictures with them, or when mothers would force their young children to take a picture with us, or when Indian men would come up to the guys in our group wanting to shake hands.  At first it was a little uncomfortable, but then we got used to it - and just enjoyed it.  It's not tourist season here now (mostly because it's so hot) so we are definitely a bit of an oddity around here!

On our way to the Somanathpur temple, we passed the Banyon Tree where the Buddha reached enlightenment.  It's one of the largest banyon trees in souther India, and is over 500 years old.

The Somanathpur temple is one of the most famous Hindu temples in India.  Carved entirely from local soapstone about 750 years ago, this temple was constructed for the worship of 3 Hindu Gods.  It was intended for use by the brahmin caste (the upper class), but was never actually used.  Sadly, the temple was never even completed because it was attacked by a group of Muslims three times, and after the third time, the work was never completed.  The outside of the temple is covered with intricate carvings of elephants (for strength), horses (for courage), as well as many representations of different Hindu gods and goddesses.  It was so interesting - on each carving of Shiva, if you just looked at his torso, you could see the face of a bull (which was Shiva's mount).  It was so cool.  Somanathapur was also where I had my first experience with a non-Western toilet.  Let's just say it was an authentic Indian experience.

 
We then travelled to Mysore Palace, an enormous complex that was built for use by the Indian Kings (I'm not sure if it was the King of all of India, or southern India) and designed by the British.  The palace was actually in use for hundreds of years, but after the end of the reign of the last Indian King in 1969, it has been used primarily as a historical site.  The entire building was stunning - beautifully ornate, yet tasteful.  All of the chandeliers were made of glass from Czechoslovakia, all pillars from Scotland, each stained glass window from England, a set of each crystal, bronze and gold chairs each made in different Indian cities.  The most breathtaking rooms though, were those that we were shown as "VIP Guests"... we were taken into a room that housed the entire Royal sword collection!  It housed over 300 swords and special weapons designed solely for use by the Indian Kings.  Connected to this room was the Royal animal collection.  The entire room was filled with taxidermy Indian and African animals - everything from elephants to crocodiles to cheetahs and even a giraffe!  So incredible.  It was such an honour to be shown such special artifacts.  We were even able to see the palace illuminated in the evening!  It looked just like an Indian version of Disneyworld, only more historical.  The entire complex felt so magical.

     

My Living Quarters at SVYM

Do the Dip & Pour

Thanks everyone for the thoughts and prayers for a safe journey.  I arrived safely in Mysore very early this morning (5:00 am local time).

As soon as we exited the Bangalore airport, it was striking how entirely different India is than home - or anything else that I've seen before.  Despite that it was the middle of the night, the sky was not completely dark - probably from all the ambient light - and there were no visible stars.  The air felt amazing though.  I don't recall whether the smell was completely different or not, but the air was so different.  Warm and slightly humid, with plentiful palm-type trees and vibrant flower bushes, it felt very tropical.  While we were waiting for our shuttle to take us from Bangalore to Mysore, we noticed how different the cars are!  They're all so small - and absolutely crammed with people (none of whom ever use seatbelts... apparently they're frowned upon here).  The funniest though was when we saw a delivery truck backing up, and the back-up alarm sounded more like the music that would come out of an ice cream truck in the summertime.  It was so great.

The drive from Bangalore to Mysore was uneventful, but was definitely an experience.  Considering the time of day (we were driving from 1:30 - 5:00 am), there were a remarkable number of vehicles on the road, people riding their bikes and people out walking and visiting in little coffee shops, as well as donkeys freely roaming the shoulders of the road.  The two directions of traffic are separated by a concrete barrier, but within each side of the road there are lines (just like ours at home) - except here they serve more as a decoration than anything.  People drive down the middle of the road, in between lanes, while vespas speed between larger vehicles.  The buildings on either side of the road were so different looking.  Small, boxy white apartment-type buildings, homes and shops - all were covered with colourful posters, paintings and signs.  Really, there is nothing here that is like home.  But that is what makes this so interesting!

The view from my room this morning was stunning - there's a small garden outside my window that is filled with palm-type trees, flowering bushes and lots of exotic birds.  This morning, I saw an elderly man sitting on a mat meditating in the middle of the garden.  The sun rises around 6:00 am, so the birds were all singing beautifully while I was showering.  Now, this is where the name of this post comes from, the "dip & pour."  I am living in a residential complex that belongs to SVYM, and they have running purified water, but not enough to take showers (in the way we would at home).  So early this morning, I filled a bucket with warm water in my bathroom and proceeded to dip a smaller bucket in and pour small amounts over myself... thus the dip & pour.  I have to say, it was one of the most refreshing showers that I've ever taken!  Maybe because it had been so long since I'd been able to shower, or maybe because it made me appreciate the water more, I'm not sure - but it was a definite success.

Tomorrow I'm going with my group on a city tour of Mysore - it's going to be incredible.  There's so much history (both cultural and religious) in Mysore, there are so many things to see and do... we are going to see Chamundi Hill (a 12th century site, boasting a large monolith of Hindu God Shiva's bull, as well as a temple of the town's patron goddess and a tower 335m tall that overlooks Mysore), Mysore Palace and St. Philomena's Church.  After, we are going to do some clothes shopping for tunics, linen pants and saris.

Sheer Beauty

This past semester, I was introduced to a song entitled "Gathering Storm" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor.  It's a long song, but the opening 6:10 is my favourite and has an incredible epic journey-type quality to it.  Yesterday evening, I put it on shortly after takeoff from the Toronto airport and it was the perfect song for the moment.  Initially, a little unsure, with crescendos and decrescendos throughout the piece - it reminded me so much of my nervousness for this trip: concern about culture shock and being so far from home as well as the familiar - but then it gathers both volume and gusto - which mimicked by resolution that I can handle this, it will be definitely be a challenge but it is doable and will be the opportunity of a lifetime.  It was as if nature knew I was playing that song, as during the first large crescendo, the sun pierced through the clouds, causing little rays of light to dance off of the thick fog-like clouds and glint off the wing of my plane.  During a subsequent crescendo, the thick clouds broke and we entered a valley-like expanse of clouds.  It was absolutely stunning.  It felt as if we were flying through a mountain range instead of snow-white cumulous clouds.  Such a beautiful way to begin my journey to India!

In case you're interested: "Gathering Storm" by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

From Canada to Kannada

Good morning!  My journey to Southern India has officially begun!  I am currently blogging from a McDonald's in the Frankfurt, Germany airport.

I left Toronto yesterday evening and had an 8-hour flight to Frankfurt, and after a 4-hour layover, I'll be on the final stretch to India - I have a 9-hour flight to Bangalore, India this afternoon.  Once I arrive in Bangalore, I will meet with some of my group members (from Cornell) and we will travel to Mysore together.  Here, we will check into our living quarters where we will stay while we attend classes at the Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM) hospital.  For the next two weeks, I will be taking courses in the morning that pertain to Indian culture, gender roles, history and the health care system, with afternoon courses in Kannada (the primarily spoken local language) and yoga.  Weeks 3-8 is the time period that I am most looking forward to, though.  I have been assigned a global service learning project in a rural 10-bed primary care hospital in Kenchanahalli, which is a large tribal village.  Here, my assignment is to help SVYM in delivering traditional Indian medicine, called Ayurvedic medicine, to the tribal peoples.  This is going to be a phenomenal opportunity to learn a lot and to truly witness "real India" by having the ability to interact with many people and, hopefully, to experience the culture of the tribal people.

SVYM is a large healthcare and education organization in India.  They have done remarkable work over the past 20 years to increase access to health care for all who need it - especially tribal people and people in lower castes - as well as encouraging education for empowerment - particularly for women and tribal children.  The core of the organization is based on the teachings of Swami Vivekananda, who was a compassionate Hindu Swami in the 19th century. (A Swami is to Hinduism as a Priest is to Catholicism).  His teachings go beyond religious ideals and focus on how to be a "good person" - one who is considerate and loving towards others, regardless of their current situation in life.

One of my favourite Swami Vivekananda quotations that I have found is this: "We are responsible for what we are, and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves.  If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act."  This spoke to me in terms of what I will be doing during my time in India this summer and what I hope to achieve.  I know that I am not there to fix every problem - it's simply not possible for me to do - but I am going to be there to gain cultural perspective, to learn and to help (and hopefully to teach) wherever I am able.  In order to get the most out of this opportunity of a life time, I must be open-minded.  I must recognize that things are going to be very different - the sights, sounds, smells will be unlike anything I have ever experienced before.  And yet, I welcome the challenge, welcome the opportunity to stretch myself, and even welcome the opportunity to be made a little uncomfortable - this state will bring learning and personal growth... and I am so excited for it!

In Kannada, "hogi baruthini" essentially means "I will go, and I will come back" and "namaskara" means "greetings."  So yesterday, I said "hogi baruthini" to Ontario, and early tomorrow morning I will have the ability to say "namaskara" to Karnataka (the state in India where I will be)!