First full week!

Hello to my lovely readers! My first full week in India is now over and it's been quite challenging, eye-opening and wonderful. 

- First things first - I said in an earlier post that I would be attending a wedding on Thursday. However, it was in the morning (as apparently most South Indian weddings are) and my teachers at school said that attendance to Hindi classes was mandatory...so I wasn't able to go, unfortunately. :( Nonetheless, we went to a "sangit" (Hindi for music) on Wednesday evening, which is essentially a bachelorette party where the females eat, talk, dance, and most importantly, get their hands painted with mehndi.

The bride, Shivani, was very sweet, especially considering a stranger like me attended an event so personal to her! She let me take a picture of the mehdni, which she had from her fingertips to elbows and from her toes to mid-calf. She sat for hours to get it done, and then couldn't let it touch anything for another few hours while it dried.

I also had mehndi done, to my right hand, which was really exciting because it was one of my secret wishes in coming to India. (My other is to ride an elephant.:)) Weddings are pretty much three-day events here, so on Friday we attended the wedding reception! 

We arrived around 8:30 and stayed until around 11:30 or so. Everything was so colorful...and loud! Traditional Indian drummers began playing a beat on the dance floor and soon everyone was dancing. I was very reluctantly pulled into the craziness by one of my host-relatives, and then I stayed because I figured a) I would never see most of these people again and b) how often will I be at an Indian wedding? ;) Several younger girls and one boy loved to dance, so I danced with them and ended up having a surprisingly great (and very embarrassing) time.:)

The food at the wedding was also very good, of course - I had Tikka, Paneer Tikka, Chilla, and something else that was filled with chickpeas and water. After the wedding, "bua" and "fufu," their aunt and uncle who I mentioned in a previous post, came over to talk. They again asked me many, many questions (Why did you choose India? Do families in America eat as many sweets as Indians do here?), and I really enjoy chatting with them so it was a pleasure! They ended up leaving around 1:30 in the morning. Something I'm noticing about Indians is that they love to spend time together; they simply enjoy being with and around each other. They will spend hours chatting and laughing and not see it as a waste of time, whereas in America it seems that we're prone to feeling like that is inefficient. It's a really interesting and beautiful thing to see.

Little things:

- Every vegetable I eat leaves a neon green sort of oil at the end. My motto for food in India is "don't ask, just eat" but I'm pretty curious. The color honestly looks like it could glow in the dark.;)

- I've joined Khushi's basketball class for the summer - not in any way because of the sport, but to get to know other Indians, get exercise, and spend time with Khushi. I'm quite terrible so far but we have it several times a week, so I'll have to at least improve a bit. :)

- Hindi is a confusing language. For example, this is the transliteration (from Hindi script to phonetic English) of four distinct, very apparently different characters: da, dha, da, dha. There's also ta, ta, tha, and tha. No, that isn't a typo! And yes, the "da" and "da" are pronounced very differently, as are the "dha" and "dha" which are difficult because unlike English, where this would be a silent "h," you have to breathe out and roll your tongue when saying it. If you're sitting there reading this and trying it (please do - you'll get a good laugh), best of luck to you! ;)

- There are cows. Cows EVERYWHERE. Outside my house, in the street, near the shops. There are also street dogs and hogs. Unfortunately, I've only seen two monkeys from afar and no elephants so far. But I'll keep you posted. ;)

On a more serious note:

The bus ride to school is one of my favorite parts of the day. It's fascinating, and I'm absolutely captured by every scene I see. There are ads and billboards everywhere. Half of them celebrate "rapid industrialization" or "India's first corporate city!" I've begun to pay attention to them, because how advertisers market products and ideals to their customers speaks quite loudly about what the public craves and is interested by. I'm so grateful to live in a nice area, because it's very safe, but at the same time, India is a country with far greater depth than their wealthy class. While so many value the construction, the progress, the modernization and Westernization, there remains a beautifully terrible clash between deep, vast poverty and the high rise buildings. 

I'm beginning to love not the shiny progress of corporal India but the humble pain of those hidden behind the tall buildings, in their ramshackle slum villages and tents and quasi-houses. This poverty is so real. It's dirty, it's frustrating, it's heartbreaking. And here, it's completely normal and accepted, which is probably what is the toughest for me. I haven't seen beyond the surface of it, and I'm helpless before it. There are shacks leaning on rickety wood sticks, draped with sheets and newspapers and tarp. There are strips of slums just beyond mountains of garbage. There are families picking through and living in the garbage, by the occasional pig that roams there. Often when we stop the car in traffic there is someone who taps on the car windows to beg; one lady unveiled her baby from behind her sari so I would see. I know I've read that when they beg, they often bring a baby because they get more money from sympathy; I don't know how accurate that is, and I don't want to make assumptions. Nonetheless, I couldn't believe I was actually seeing it happen. These are not romanticized charity cases. These are people, real people, just like me and just like you. This is a rugged, broken lifestyle that tugs at the roots of reality and hints at a deep mystery - why does such widespread, complex poverty continue, and why is it accepted simply as a way of life for those born into it? Moreover, how can it be redeemed? I have so many questions. I only hope in the next 5 weeks, I'll understand their answers a bit more.

Thank you for reading my ramblings. :) Any and all of your prayers are so appreciated! Love you guys! :)