Peculiar

India has little peculiarities. India has giant pecularites, but there are little ones as well. Today I ate rose ice-cream, watched the security guard chase cows out of the dorm lawn area, and hung out with the buddhist monk while he played computer solitaire.

When I returned from shopping my roommate and I got to drink earl grey out of our new mugs and dip pinapple cookies in them for our afternoon tea :)

Peculiar :)

On a the bigger side of things, (less peculiar, more fun)  I have only two and a half days of school this week. Then nine of us jump a bus for Chennai, a  coastal town thirteen hours away. This weekend is Republic Day and school has been canceled. We have a four day weekend to sit on the beach and explore Chennai and drice to Pondecherry, an old French colony town also on the coast. We will get to go swimming in the Bay of Bengal in a matter of days :) The last time I was in the Indian Ocean I was in Kenya, so I'm excited to see this part of it.

Tommorrow I start my Urdu lessons, which means that I will be spending more time in the muslim area of town to practice speaking. These are three adorable boys we met last weekend when we were visiting there :)

School

School in India has a lot of similarities to America. We go to class for example. The teacher teaches and uses old maps. There is that annoying kid who likes to ask long winded questions right before the end of the class to show off and ends up delaying class.

Things start to change when the teacher hands out the syllabus. The first thing I notice is that there are no dates on it. The syllabus does not lay out day by day what we will be studying. Or what to have read by what day. Instead, it is a list of things we will be learning, and a longer list of books to read. A long list. Of books that can be found by wandering around the sociology department and finally stumbling into a room that contains The Binder. Inside The Binder is a list of all books and their matching number, which you can show to the Telegu speaking librarian to find for you. Once he finds said book, you can write your name on a scrap of paper and try to convey in Telegu when you will bring it back. And then you can start your homework.

The post office on campus also has a quaint charm to it. Behind bars sits a man straight out of a cabana movie who will sell you tear-off stamps that you can glue on with the drying bottle of rubber cement before putting the letter in the box and hoping it finds its way home.

The construction being done on campus will make the main road (about two miles long) into a two lane instead of a one lane. This will allow for students on bikes, motorcycles and tractors to share the road more easily. Almost all of the road construction is done by hand. Men and women haul rocks and dirt in buckets on their heads to make this road.

My fear of being chased by a wild boar on campus is lessening since I got my bike and I am learning to successfully drive on the left or in someone else's lane to fit in.

Oh, India :)

Gaudy India

On our first day of orientation here, a professor asked us why we had wanted to study in India. One of the girls replied that it was because she wanted to get away from the consumer culture. Our professor just laughed at her.

India is as much about consuming as America. There are markets and malls and shopping centers everywhere and everywhere there are people buying at them. From clothes to jewelry to flowers to rugs to shoes to more, India is selling.

And everything India is selling is beautiful. As soon as you believe that you've just seen the most beautiful sari ever, another Indian women walks past with more colors and more sequins. Even the black burkhas that the Muslim women have to wear come in pattened fabrics with gold and flowers.

Yes, India is definetly gaudy. Pun quite intended.

The gods worshipped in India, are everywhere as well. The god "Lakshmi" who is the goddess of wealth, is praised everywhere. Many businesses are named after her, if they don't then there is a picture of her to be found nearby. Krishna is also to be found on many street corners, as well as Sheva, the destroyer.

The mosque we visited yesterday was indeed impressive. I waited outside as women were not allowed in the prayer room. My male friend went inside and took my camera so that I could see later. I was not the only woman on the outside. An older woman in a burkha stood sadly at the metal grill and stared inside, not allowed to worship because of her sex.