The Pink City

Today we played the tourists, and visited the Old City, or the Pink City as it's called by locals.  We first ventured to the City Palace Museum, once the heart of Jai Singh II's city.  It is a sprawling complex with a superb blend of Rajput and Mughul architecture. Then we walked across the street to Jantar Mantar, an observatory that looks like a modern art sculpture garden, except this was built in 1728 by Sawai Jai Singh II, a Maharaja Renaissaince-style man with a keen interest in astrology.  Some of the instruments are still in use, and some of the buildings are used to measure duration and intensity of the monsoon, possibility of floods, etc.  Couldn't be any less accurate than the local weatherman.  We drove by the iconic Hawa Mahal, which was built for royal women to have a peek outside from the stories of windows, on the way to a scrumptious lunch of mutton kebabs, called lamb in India for some reason.  A great time was had by all.

Jantar Mantar Observatory

Jantar Mantar Observatory

Jantar Mantar Observatory

Mutton Kebabs....yum

The mustachioed sun is a sign of Jaipur

Hawa Majal

City Palace Museum Door Detail

Jantar Mantar Observatory

City Palace Museum

Arch detail at City Palace Museum

Us amid the peacocks

Capped stories at Palace Museu

Wave motif is Hindi in Origin

Wall detail at City Palace Museum

There’s a Lizard in my Kitchen and a Peahen at the Door

A very small, very quick lizard is climbing the walls of my new kitchen.  Also, this morning when I was getting yogurt out of the frig I looked out the screen door and saw a peahen on the other side of it.  I froze, partly in fear but partly because I was about 4 feet away from her majesty and didn’t want to startle it. She moved away from the door and I scrambled to get my camera and the shot you see here before she moved on. I also saw the green bee eater the last 2 mornings.  I figured out it’s a wire sitter and stakes out the nearby blooming bougainvillea for bees. This a.m. I was treated to a display of its famous rolling and dipping flight pattern. So far it’s great fun living up close and personal with these creatures.  Someone said something about panthers running around and being a nuisance, though, and I’m just going to assume they meant somewhere else.

Some creatures, however, are best seen from a distance, or actually not seen at all.  We went to the gym this morning and I was persuaded by the teacher to join the zumba class.  For those of you who followed me in Veracruz last summer, you know I have great respect for this most vigorous of exercise classes.  Nonetheless, I walked in the door to the small room that held about 12 zumbistas, and immediately 2 pigeons flew in the open windows.  I stopped in my tracks and motioned to the birds.  The instructor calmly walked over to the windows and shut them, and shut the birds in the room.  Apparently they are the class pets. The pigeons took up their spot directly above us and settled in to watch the show.  I think I deserve a medal for not freaking out.  They were in the room during the whole 60-minute class, and they only took flight about 3 times, which is the number of times I did the lowest squats in the class, even though the rest of the class wasn’t squatting.  Zumba was too hard on my bum foot anyway, but I’m not sure I could go back knowing I’d be that close to a bird overhead.  There are limits to what I will do for exercise.

On another very happy note my driver was incredibly helpful during our running of errands today.  He gave me his opinion on some purchases, helped me pick out some sari material, told me when I should wait to get it cheaper elsewhere, and said with a small grin that I should call him my personal assistant.  Savior is more like it. He got us a 15% discount at a wonderful restaurant, Spice Court (see picture), because he has some connection there, and told us to tell him if we knew we were going to any hotel restaurant, because when he took his hospitality certificate, which included being a tourist guide, he made many friends he would contact for us. He is the best thing to happen to us in India since we met our landlady.  I’m going to have to do a serious puja for both of them soon.

Cultural Observation: I purchased a small, inexpensive, lightweight Samsung phone that feels like a toy compared to what I’ve been using in the U.S.  It doesn’t have voice mail, and the phone companies here allow advertising via cell phones, so I get messages all the time that are really advertisements, or so I guess because they are in Hindi most of the time and I haven’t a clue.  Tonight I was reading the operating instructions and one section was titled “How to Make Fake Calls”.  It said, “You can simulate an incoming call when you want to get out of meetings or unwanted conversations.” So, no voice mail but special settings for fake calls? What is that about, exactly?  I can’t decide if the Japanese manufacturer who made the phone or the Indian distributor wrote the instructions, but my money is on India; fake calls just don’t sound very Japanese, or at least admitting to it in a manual.

Don't Leave Home Without It & Driving Miss Connie

Last Sunday I took my camera out of my purse before we left home, as I was tired of the extra weight.  I couldn’t think of anything on our mundane list of errands that would offer a photo op. I was wrong.

First, at one mall I found a delicious mango juice at a coffee shop.   I was impressed enough with the taste to look at the label so I could remember it in future.  The name of the drink was WTF.  There in big letters on the side of the bottle:  WTF. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday you say?  Nope.  What’s The Fun was in the small print next to the large letters.  It would have been so much more fun to have posted a picture to share.

Second, a little later we were taking our lives in our hands by attempting to cross the street.  Forget about a pedestrian crosswalk, or any semblance of order, or even an opportunity to walk calmly.  Our strategy is to hold hands and coach each other through the gauntlet.  As we were making a run for it, I saw our end destination and warned S. to steer clear of the corner.  I spied an enormous swarm of bees, and as we were dashing across the street, we came close enough to hear “Honey, honey, honey.” And to see the dirty honeycomb in wrapped up in newspaper with a branch of the tree still attached.  Forget for a minute how unappealing it looked, who would be crazy enough to (1) get close enough to buy some and (2) carry off part of the large swarm’s handiwork with them still in it?   It was a sight worthy of a picture, trust me.  S and I watched an interesting Ted Talk this evening about Urban Bees. Check it out:  http://www.ted.com/talks/noah_wilson_rich_every_city_needs_healthy_honey_bees.html

I’ve spent several days trying to close the deal on someone to drive me around the city during the day.  I certainly wouldn’t drive in this chaos, even if I had a car, but I need to get around, and there isn’t any decent public transportation in this spread out city. It’s been the toughest challenge to date, I think.  It has involved begging people to try to think of someone who speaks fair English and has a car with a seat belt that hasn’t been cut out, and who is reliable.  Those 3 requirements narrowed the field considerably. One fellow claimed to know English, but answered the first 4 questions I asked him with what was clear was his only word of English, “Good”.  I guess it’s better than “Bad”, but it’s not sufficient to communicate with someone who is as exacting as I am. Next was a fellow who called after being 30 minutes late to say he’d be coming in 15, and then came in another hour.  He was disqualified before he got to the interview. Then there were negotiations over the salary with a chap who had a boss to please, and the talks fell through for reasons of greed.  Also, I’ve read White Tiger, and have a very vivid memory about how that story turned out, so I wanted someone driving me places who I didn’t think was going to off me at the end of my fellowship. That guy didn’t look too happy, and it worried me.

Today my prayers were answered when into my lap fell a 26-year-old young man who was polite, EARLY for our meeting, shy, agreed that laying on the horn every few seconds was irritating, spoke pretty decent English, and didn’t really enjoy the money negotiations.  After I spent some time in his new car (a Chevrolet Beat, which he says is famous in India!), and in his company, I was sold.  He carried my new printer up to my office, unwrapped it and set it up.  Then he offered that if I wanted any help in decorating the office (it’s pretty sad right now) he would be glad to be of service.  I was intrigued so I asked him what he had in mind.  He said something inspiring, with big words in bold, like HONESTY.  I just stared at him and said, “Yeah, that’s good.  Let’s go shopping together.”  Looks like I’ll be learning some things from him as well.

Oh, and he is highly educated. He has a degree in science and is driving a car for his livelihood.  I don’t know him well enough yet to ask him about his aspirations, but I’ll bet they don’t include driving an American around the city for a few months at her whims.  However, I will sleep much better tonight knowing that he will be here tomorrow morning to drive me to wherever it is I have to go.  I hope.  Another aspiring driver closed the deal then called the next morning to mumble something about not coming that morning….or ever!   It reminded us of one of our favorite New Yorker cartoons.  One man sitting at an office desk is making an appointment with someone on the phone and asks, “How about never?  Does never work for you? Never works for me.”

You Can't Always Get What You Want

…but if you try sometimes, you get what you need.  It sounds like the Rolling Stones lived in Jaipur at some point in their careers.  Maybe not.  However, this tune is an apt summary of our first week in India.  There have been some challenges, not the least of which is our necessity to stretch and widen our scope of perceptions about what we need, what we want, and what those things might look like.

We began apartment hunting immediately upon entering the pink city, and began readjusting our expectations for cozy housing concurrently. However, we lucked out upon the place where we now are settled, but there is an outside kitchen only with no hot water.  We will have a gas connection, though, and that is apparently quite a big deal here.  The government has limited the number of people who can have gas connections, and limited the number of gas cylinders one can purchase a year to 5, which, according to our landlady, is woefully inadequate.  We hypothesize the government’s reasoning was to try to ration the use of gas, but in fact what it has done is to create a healthy black market for the materials.  I think there is an economic lesson in there, but I’m not the one to deliver it.

Equipping our rooms with the accruements for living was the next step, and that provided another lesson for the Iowa Guru. You might find a department store, but you might not find washcloths in that store, nor laundry hampers, nor drinking glasses. However, you might find a single Winnie-the-Pooh plastic cup and foldable laundry hamper with jungle animals painted in primary colors, both of which you snatch like they were auction block pieces.  A mini-projector purchased for work quickly becomes a home entertainment center.  You might not find any Luna Bars or granola mix like at Trader Joe’s (really, I’m not that naïve!) but you might find one box of Apple Crunch flavored Nature Valley granola bars, even though the expiration date goes back a ways.  What is that saying about when you are hungry everything tastes delicious? A stainless steel bowl quickly is expropriated to serve as a teapot, and curtains become a closet door. All this seems pretty trivial, I know, and not much about it is surprising, but it’s still an adjustment.

The bigger adjustments have included getting used to some very extended couple time.  After living in a 4-bedroom home and moving to a single room with a bathroom, S. and I are seeing more of each other on a daily basis than we ever have.  So far, so good, as we have realized we constitute our own Mutual Aid Society. Adjustments to the elastic time concept in India have caused some growing pains, as well as a bureaucracy that has a penchant for paper unrivaled to our experience.

We weren’t prepared to have to give a passport-sized photo and 2 copies of your passport and visa to buy items like a mobile phone, broadband connection for the computer, an reverse osmosis machine for clean water production, and gym membership.  Who knew?

All in all, it’s been a good first week, with many major tasks accomplished.  Next week the top of the list is securing a driver who knows English.  I’ve been trying, it’s been difficult, but I still hope to get what I need.

Wal-Mart: To Be or Not to Be...in India?

Yesterday the opposition party of India, called for a general strike (called a BANDH) of all tradespeople to protest the recent decision by the ruling coalition to allow such big box stores as Wal-Mart and Carrefour into India.  This development would herald a huge change in how India shops, as currently there is a very specialized system of trade shops.  If you want electronics, you must go to the electronics bazaar.  Likewise for such goods as plastic, jewelers, textiles, etc.  India does have a big box store model in its Big Bazaars, and the occasional department store or mall, but they do not dominate the commerce scene as does the small, family owned shops that carry only a certain category of goods. 

My immediate reaction is to be in agreement with the Opposition Party and lament the loss of the small family-owned stores.  Indeed, I watched the demise of commerce in the town where I grew up in southwest Iowa, then due to the advent of the opening of a mall in nearby Omaha and all the chain stores contained within the mall, chain stores that operated on the economy of scale, thus offering the same goods as our small town, but at lower prices.  People voted with their feet, or their cars in this instant, and the Mall won.  After the downtown merchants were down, Wal-Mart appeared in our little town to swoop in for the final death blow to any remaining economy.  What remains for the people of that community is a commerce of cheap, low quality, expendable goods and not much else.  It was sad to witness. Of course the farm crisis of the 1980s carries a large part of the blame for the demise of prospering small town economies in Iowa as well but the advent of big box stores and discount stores carries part of the blame too. 

In Iowa City I chose to patronize the locally owned, service-oriented beautiful book store of Prairie Lights and avoided the Barnes and Noble or even the behemoth Amazon, which certainly carried the same goods for much cheaper, but didn’t have all those pleasant, knowledgeable staff that P Lights does.  That was important to me, as I liked the human connection part of the transaction, as well as the service, and seeing in the flesh that which I was contemplating purchasing.

That was my immediate reaction, but then I began setting up a household here in Jaipur, and bore witness to the inefficiency of the lack of one-stop shopping.  After many attempts at finding simple items like a broom (still haven’t snagged one) or a clothes drying rack (I’ve given up and am going online) I wanted to click my heels 3 times and be transported to my local Target store.  For years I watched college students flock to our local Target and fill their shopping carts with everything one would need, or want, to run a household.  Brooms, cleaners, food, medicine, make-up, hardware, electronic appliances, toys, clothing, linens, kitchen supplies.  You want it, Target has it.  This method of shopping does tend to lead to shopper fatigue from all the choices, but imagine if you will needing to know which bazaar or shop would carry any of the above items.  That necessitates some serious insider knowledge, and even then the local people who aided me were not sure at times where to send me.  My aching feet soon illustrated the gross inefficiency of such a system, and made me seriously rethink my negative views on one-stop shopping.

It’s a complex issue with no clear winner.  On the one hand Wal-Mart and Carrefour provides low cost goods to people who could benefit from a lower cost, but those same people would also be in competition with Wal-Mart for customers in their small shops, so they would inevitably have less income to dispense at their competitor’s stores.  I don’t pretend to be savvy about economics and I realize there are probably several omissions and flaws in my thinking, but at the end of the day, I think a country has to decide if it wants cheaper goods at the expense of some of its own people’s livelihood. The U.S. decided very quickly, and one sees the result of our communal decision in the empty store fronts of small-town main streets, but also in the ability of Americans to buy more goods for less.  I’m just more confused now, but my tired feet and dusty floor tell me that at the least I need to revisit my position.

Our Feathered Friends in India

My sister R. was a birder at an early age, so early that we were sharing a chest of drawers.  In my drawers were the usually sundries of a Midwestern kid in the ‘50s, and in her drawers: feathers, nests and the occasional egg.  I always yelled FOWL/FOUL to our mom and got them removed. 

Since then she has evolved into a birder of great repute, and vastly improved her hygiene where lice are concerned by nixing the bird parts in the house. Today she and I were Skyping and I was trying to describe the birds I was seeing out my 4 picture windows which overlook the lush tree tops and garden of my landlady.  It’s rather hard to describe birds “on the fly” (couldn’t resist it) for obvious reasons, so I thought I should step up my game in this incredibly diverse bird biome and bought a photographic guide to the birds of India. 

This afternoon I was casually staring out my window when the birds in the neighborhood got very active.  I got quite a show as they flitted about, and tried to remember flight patterns, speed, markings, crests, etc.  With my old peepers squinting for all they were worth, I decided to grab my camera to use the zoom lens.  Much better!  I was snapping a couple of birds to get a look at them on the camera, and then checking out my book when I looked up on the roof about 10 feet away, parallel to my line of vision.  What to my wondering eyes should appear but a female pea hen, who, along with the male counterpart the peacock is the national bird of India.  That floppy feather follicle (alliteration is fun!) on the top of the head was even visible, and I got off some good shots. [See photo above.] I was feeling very cocky (sorry, another bird pun) when I was telling my landlady about it, until she told me they saw 8 peacocks taking a procession on the same roof last winter.  I did see some incredible variety today, and because I have a great imagination, when I checked the book I was able to make a positive ID on several types.  Ornithologists, don’t call foul/fowl or get your feathers all ruffled, I know you’re supposed to be positive on the ID, but I’m just a fair weather feather friend.  (couldn’t resist the alliteration, either).  Among my finds were the Common Mynah (I think they should get rid of the “common” adjective -- who wants to be thought of as common?), the Eurasian Collared Dove, the Rock Pigeon, the Red-Wattled lapwing, also known as the “Did-ye-do-it?” bird because of its call, a fat stork that nests in the trees in the back yard, and lots of other flying wonders I don’t have fast enough eyes to identify…yet! My favorite bird find after the pea hen is the green bee-eater who robs beehives, and it a dusty lime green about the size of a finch with very interesting tail feathers.  Of course, it could have also been a Common Tailorbird, which is very uncommon in its ability to stitch leaves into the famous pouched nest, but I’m going with the Bee-Eater theory for now.

I’m definitely going to be purchasing some binoculars as soon as I can figure out which store sells them, but that’s another story for another blog.  The state we’re living in in India, Rajasthan, has a very famous bird preserve called the Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary.  We are going to be visiting it sometime in the winter months, so check it out online.  Birders, come visit and keep me honest on the identification, if you can.  I leave you with a bird challenge.  I snapped this photo today, (brown body, black head, crest) but I can’t find anything about this bird, except the crest looks like a kingfisher.  Birders, I await your verdict.  Just don't try to tell me it's a Snowy Owl.

From the Pink House to the Pink City

The last time I employed my Iowa Guru blog was 3 years ago when I was on a Fulbright exchange in India.  For a while now partner S. and I have been planning an exit from our home of 25 years, Iowa City, Iowa, in order to have an excellent adventure.  Toward that end I took a job as a “Senior English Language Fellow in Jaipur, India on a grant from the Department of State administered through Georgetown University”.  That's the official job description, not my mouthful of clauses. While we’re in the official arena, here is the official “She’s-got-nothing-to-do-with-us disclosure” I’ve been asked to post."This blog is not an official U.S. Department of State website. The views and information presented are the English Language Fellows' own and do not represent the English Language Fellow Program or the U.S. Department of State."Consider yourself warned!  Although because you all know me, I doubt you find it surprising that what I say or put to print is solely my opinion and no one else’s.  I wouldn’t have it any other way. So, a week ago we left the pink house, the garden, my comfy grey robe, and our friends, colleagues, and family. Many of you were so generous in your good wishes and sincere desire to keep in touch, it was a Sally Fields moment. (“You like me.  You really like me!”) It was a bittersweet time to leave behind so many friends and family for a short while, although we were excited to begin and relieved to be leaving behind many weeks of “TO DO” lists.You asked to keep in touch, so I offer this blog for your amusement and consideration. Our first few days in India were a bit blurry from jet lag, and yet we mushed through the process of apartment hunting at the rate of speed-dating and tried to buy what we needed to set up a household here. More on those efforts in a later blog; suffice it to say I will never again in my lifetime complain about having to go to Target.  Ever.The House Hunt:. Those of you who asked if this experience would be like House Hunters International on HGTV, not so much.  I don’t how those people don’t have speech issues from extreme jet lag, first of all, and second, they don’t seem to spend a butt-numbing amount of time sitting in the back seats going from place to place. But we got lucky, really.  One place stood out over the others, and we grabbed it.  It’s a heritage home built in typical Rajastani style and some of the rooms have been converted into a B and B type operation which you can check out on the website, www.jaipurheritagehome.com .  BTW, some of those pics are from our room!  It includes a green space in the lush back yard that we overlook in our second story room, a security gate and guard, and a lovely landlady who has befriended us like family and introduced us to many essential and fun places in Jaipur.  I am once again relying on the kindness of strangers, and we have a gem in our landlady. And, oh yes, the place is SWEEEET.  It’s a large room with granite floors, 5 large windows, furnished with antique furniture from Rajasthan (state Jaipur is in), 2 beautiful carpets, and original artwork on the walls by a local artist of typical Rajastani scenes.  There is a large bathroom as well.  No kitchen, which many of you will be aghast at knowing my cooking ways, but I was fine with it, because our kind landlady is in the process of repurposing a small screened-in porch type room into a kitchen for only me.  (Again with the Sally Fields, “She likes me, she really likes me!”) Eating out has been delicious, cheap, and a great time saver in a busy time, so I told her not to hurry on my account.  Oh, and there’s no TV, which is fine, too.   I have my Macbook Air I can turn to if I need a GLEE fix or perhaps SMASH, but for now, different is good.  I didn’t come half way around the world to recreate my environment from 345 Magowan.We have made many adjustments one makes when coming to another culture, such as learning how to work the hot-water heater in the bathroom, remembering to retain your receipt in shops so you can show the guard at the door so he can count your items, then let you out the door, brushing up our British English for the occasional lexical difference, readjusting our American proxemics for the much closer Indian space, remembering that the traffic is backwards, chaotic and that you have no right of way as a pedestrian, nor rights or a way sometimes, and the list goes on.  I highly recommend if you do this to take along a life long companion who makes you laugh when you’re frustrated or tired or confused or all 3.Jaipur and the state of Rajasthan is going to be a great place to explore, with its rich history and cultural traditions.  There are forts and royalty and mosaics and festivals galore. The colors and fashion from Rajasthan are like no other state in India, as I saw on a recap of New York Fashion Week, which was HIGHLY influenced by Rajastani fashion savvy, thank you very much. Tomorrow I’m rocking a pair of elephant pants in honor of Ganesha’s birthday and my first official day of work.  Picture to follow. I invite you to come along with us and enjoy the loud, the chaotic, the friendly and the confusing we will undoubtedly encounter along the way.  Namaste.