SIP Guest House - My Indian Home

I am living on the campus of the University of Hyderabad in the Study in India Program (SIP) Guest House. The campus is huge – 2,300 acres of land, which figures out to about one acre per student at the university. The campus is so large that it is a project to get anywhere. The Guest House is located in a good place for me to get to my classes (about a 10 minute walk to each one), but if I want to go to the bookstore, stationary store, or the atm it is a 30-45 minute walk. The SIP house is nice – very nice by Indian standards. There is a dining room downstairs where the kitchen staff cooks 3 meals and 1 tea a day for us. We also have laundry facilities, water coolers of purified water, a tv room, a computer lab with 5 computers, air-conditioning, and wireless (which only works off and on and only downstairs). Like all of India, the power is very temperamental in the SIP house. For example, last night we lost power four times.
I have a single room, which also happens to be one of the nicest rooms in the house. I have a double bed, a mirror, a bedside table, a fold-up table and chair that act as a makeshift desk, a closet, and small bookshelf. My only complaint is that my walls are very bare (hint: anyone kind enough to send me something to hang on the walls to make my room look less like a prison cell will be placed at the top of my favorites’ list). I also need to go sheet shopping because my bed only came with a woolen blanket and it is much too hot for me to sleep under that. There is a huge padlock on my door. We are encouraged to lock our rooms whenever we leave them, but it seems sort of paranoid because we also employ three security guards. I share a bathroom with three other girls. The bathroom is sort of interesting. The toilet can not flush toilet paper so we have to throw it in a trashcan that is changed daily. There is no shower stall, the water just falls on the floor and then eventually goes down a drain in the floor. The sink also drops water straight onto the floor (although I don’t think this is supposed to happen). The four of us (Whitney, Kelsey, Alesandra & I) also share a little common sitting room and a rooftop balcony. I can’t wait to start doing my reading and yoga out on the rooftop. All in all, I think the SIP Guest House will serve as a nice home base for the next 5 months.

Police Registration, Medical Forms & More Paperwork

One of the major obstacles to getting anything done in this day and age is paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. Ridiculous amounts of paperwork. In this way, India is no less demanding than the United States. First, the Indian government requires visitors to fill out forms. For all people who have a visa for more than 180 days, they must register with the Indian police within 14 days of their arrival in the country. In order to register, you need passport photos. But they are not standard size passport photos, they are stamp size photos. So upon our arrival in Hyderabad, we had to pay a man to take photos of us and print them in stamp size. Then the police require you to fill out two seperate forms. One is two pages, the other is four pages. What nosey people! They asked incredibly personal questions about religion, finances, lifestyle, etc. And they asked the same questions over and over again. To top it off, they are incredibly picky about the way that you fill out the forms. You must write in all capital letters. You can not cross anything out. You can't write over any lines. You need to write the dates in a particular way. We spent an entire morning filling out these forms. Then the University requires various forms. We needed to fill out information cards to get student ids (which required passport photos of stamp size again), medical forms, and forms to take books out of the library (which required standard size passport photos). It was a mess. By the end of the day I can conclude that 1. paperwork is the most aggravating thing in the world 2. people can't follow directions.

General Musings on Delhi

My first five days in India were spent in Delhi, the capital of the country. Delhi immediately immerses you in the thick of Indian culture and life. There, there is no escape from the good or the unsavory aspects of the country. Here are some of my general musings and reflections on my stay there:

1. Indian men - a very different category from any others that I have previously encountered. They are utterly fascinated by American women. Everywhere I go, the men stare at me openly. Many go beyond that and attempt to interact with us. Mostly it is harmless, but aggravating attempts at conversation - they address us as 'madam', 'boss', 'american lady', 'ma'am' and other semi-entertaining names. Some, however, feel the need to touch our 'lovely white skin'. Other ploys to create a connection include waving hysterically, making kissy faces, and picking up little kids and practically shoving them at us. It doesn't help that we are traveling around in a group of 19 white girls and 4 white boys. It is impossible to blend in.

2. Indian women - they are absolutely beautiful. Generally, I think their faces are gorgeous. Additionally, they wear amazingly colorful and fun saris and salwar kameez. They look so much more alive than Western women. In fact, I think that Indians know how to live better than Westerners do. They are less concerned about doing everything as quickly as they can and more concerned with enjoying every moment of their day. I like it.

3. You all know how much I crave cleanliness. It is next to impossible to stay clean in India. First, in Delhi it is unbelievably hot and humid. When I got off the plane at 9:00 pm it was 104 degrees out. Basically, the moment you wake up in the morning and move for the first time, you start to sweat. It is undeniable and unavoidable. Secondly, there is a lot of refuse and just general dirt all over the place. Random piles of bricks are everywhere in Delhi, I have yet to figure out why they are there. Because it is monsoon season, there are many puddles full of dirty water and various other things that may be living in the water. If you ever come to India, remember to NEVER touch the outer walls of buildings or fences. Men pee on walls and fences everywhere, and anytime of day. There are also flies everywhere. They climb all over you. There are also an incredible amount of people in Delhi. It is impossible to avoid bumping into others while walking around.

4. I had my first experience with true monsoon season on my third day in Delhi. A couple of the girls in the group and I went out to lunch together at a restaurant about 15 minutes from our hotel (I had probably the best meal so far there - a delicious fish tikka). When we walked out of the restaurant it was raining lightly. About a minute later it was downpouring. I have never experienced such an intense rain in my life. We ran down the streets of Delhi to our hotel, laughing hysterically. The people taking cover under awnings stared at us - probably thinking what stupid Americans we are. Apparently, the wet look is very hot in India right now. Two sets of men took pictures of us as we ran by. By the time we got to the hostel, we were completely soaked through. Minus the puddles it leaves, I think the monsoon is great.

5. We went to the Gandhi Museum in Delhi one afternoon. It was nothing like I expected. It was incredibly high tech and interactive. While it was interesting, it was hard to reconcile in my mind with who Gandhi was. I did enjoying seeing where Gandhi spent the last 40 or so days of his life, where he was shot, and his grave. My favorite part of the museum was the peace gong out back.

Taj Mahal

The first thing that most people think of when someone says India is the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately, it seems that most people have little true knowledge about the Taj. The Taj was built by Shah Jahan, a Mughal Emperor, as a final resting place for his wife, Mumtaz, in the 1630s. It took 1,000s of people 22 years to complete. There is no paint used in the Taj, only white marble and semi-precious stones. The marble is all translucent, when you shine your flashlight on it, you can see through it. There are verses from the Quran etched around the enterances of the building. When you look at the building the calligraphy all looks the same size, but actually the calligraphy gets larger as it moves up away from the ground. Ingenious! The minarets (tall towers) around the Taj are not built straight. Instead, they were designed to lean away from the main monument so that if they were to fall they would not harm the main structure. The engineers who designed the monument were ingenious. They took many precautions to ensure that the masouleum would last for eternity. The foundation of the Taj is practically floating on the river behind it. This way, if there is an earthquake, the building will be able to move with the earth instead of cracking and falling apart. Honestly, I don't think I've ever been more enamoured of a building in my life. It's kinda like the ultimate love story - what woman doesn't want a guy to build her an enormous monument so that he can always remember her?!?! That's the way to get a girl!

Namaste!

Namaste India! Namaste, which means hello in Hindi, has become something of a personal mantra. Vasuji, our group leader explained to us this morning the multiple, subtle meanings of namaste. Namaste is a greating that acknowledges the inner God in another person. It is a hierarchical gesture of respect. Like a handshake, it shows that you are willing to meet someone halfway. Finally, it is a meeting of fact and value, meaning that it combines expectations with truth and opinion. It is a deep concept and I hope that through my time in India I will come to understand it well.
I've decided to write a blog while in India because I think it may be easier than writing a million e-mails. I will still write group and personal e-mails, but I will also write on the blog almost daily. So, here is to the beginning of the incredible adventure of a semester in Hyderabad India!