Halloween 2012

It's Halloween, and that means another costume.  This year I was worried how I was going to put one together in unknown territory, then I asked my ever-helpful driver if there happened to be anywhere in Jaipur to buy costumes or masks.  Indeed, he knew of a place with 5 or 6 shops.  After S and I got completely lost in the labyrinthian bazaar, our driver found us and led us to a place that had exactly the costume I had in mind:  Hanuman, the Hindu god also knows as the Monkey King. It was a great costume complete with a large tail and a plastic mace to wield at any enemies. Here's a very short rundown of some of his talents.

Hanuman, the mighty monkey that aided Lord Rama in his expedition against evil forces, is one of the most popular idols in the Hindu pantheon. Believed to be an avatar of Lord Shiva, Hanuman is worshiped as a symbol of physical strength, perseverance and devotion. Hanuman's tale in the epic Ramayana - where he is assigned the responsibility to locate Rama's wife Sita abducted by Ravana, the demon king of Lanka — is known for its astounding ability to inspire and equip a reader with all the ingredients needed to face ordeals and conquer obstructions in the way of the world. 

So he rocks, and frankly, I rocked my costume yet another year.  I hosted a Halloween party for my class and they had a blast playing some traditional games and wearing some costumes as well.  I sent to a local baker Betty Crocker's recipe for pumpkin spice cake, and he whipped up a very nice batch of bars for me, although he told me over the phone he wasn't sure they would be very well received by the Indian palate. He was very wrong, and several people want the recipe. They were delicious, and went well with the samosas the college also provided.  Happy Halloween to all!

Hanuman the Monkey King

Class Photo of Halloween Party 2012

Two Books about India

I recently read Pulitzer Price winning Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers and reread Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, winner of the 1997 Booker Prize.  Both books are brilliantly written, yet tell stories of two very different Indias. Roy’s novel is set in Kerala, in the south of India, while Boo’s narrative nonfiction is set in Annawadi, a makeshift settlement in the shadow of luxury hotels near the Mumbai airport.   Roy mixes part magical realism, part Bhagavad Gita, and her own story telling into a heady concoction of some of the most beautiful, riveting narrative I’ve ever read.  To say Boo’s book is a reporting of the facts belies her serious talent; I didn’t look at any reviews prior to reading this book and until the very end of the book I thought this was a piece of fiction, the story was so artfully told.  When I read that this was a work of nonfiction, I was even more impressed with her writing skills, and immediately distressed to know that all of the unbelievable horrors reported were in fact true.

Roy’s book feels in turn magical and other-worldly, yet is also filled with such an oppressive sense of doom from the first page that it is difficult to stop reading. Her use of an invented inter-language between the two antagonist children is especially artful. I’ve always been a sucker for great novels with children as main characters, and she is one of the best at capturing the magical yet anguished views of the world these children witness.  She has spun a tale on the powerful themes of love, betrayal, hatred, and guilt quite remarkably.  It is a masterpiece, and I hope to read it a third time.  Roy has chosen to write only one novel, and we are the poorer for it.  I’m hoping she will change her mind.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers took Boo 3 years to research, and it shows in the rich, intertwined stories of the lives of the people in this community.  She chronicles their hopes, their losses, and their daily trials with both a novelist’s pen and a reporter’s penchant for detail.  It is a book that gives us insight into the lives of people living in very different circumstances from most of us, yet she is able to describe such universal themes as hope, jealousy, and fear with both humor and insight so that each of the people come to life with full dimension. It is a book that fully exposes India’s greatest challenge, its great number of people living in absolute poverty, and makes them impossible to forget. 

Indian Safari

We just returned from  Ranthambhore Naitonal Park where we enjoyed seeing many types of wildlife.  Not, however, the elusive tiger, despite the fact we went on two safaris.  No matter, a good time was had by all. Please enjoy a photo essay of our experience below.
BTW, our hotel was both a camp grounds and hotel, and I fortunately booked the latter.  Close call.  

A Few Random Tidbits

choosing a saree is a group affair

Heh... I don't think KFC does that in the U.S.! 

I read the first sentence as "Free-Range Sugar" and got quite a laugh.

On The Menu at our favorite South Indian Place 

A jewelry palace: Jewelry is serious business in Jaipur

Sweets or Cash? We discovered that sometimes when cashiers don’t have the correct small change here, they attempt to give you candy instead of change.  The first time I thought she was giving me a sweet just to be nice, but then the next time she tried to give me 3 pieces and I saw my change was short.  If the candy had been a better quality I think they might be on to something, but now I ask for my money.

Trash: Last weekend the Prime Minister of India paid Jaipur a visit, and I hope he comes to town more often, because when we were walking along a familiar path last Saturday we noticed all the garbage (and I mean large, stinky, piles of garbage) that littered both the sidewalk and the street had magically disappeared.  Then we noticed the chalked welcome flowers, etc on the street and figured out it was on the motorcade route.  I remember Abhas telling us that the Cameroonian government flattened a bunch of ratty looking shops that were going to be on the Pope’s motorcade route and put a few people swiftly out of business, but the garbage pick up was a great improvement to the scenery.  Come down our block, Mr. Prime Minister, please!

VPNs: I found out that it’s possible to make your place of origin anonymous on the Internet by purchasing your own VPN (virtual private network).  I now own one so I can check out Glee episodes on Hulu, because they don’t broadcast outside the U.S.  I don’t think I’ll do it very often because I imagine it will take about 2 hours to buffer, but it feels good knowing I could possibly hear Lea Michele croon me a tune.  I did wonder if this anonymous thing is really a good idea, though, with all the creepers that are out there.  Don’t we want to be able to know who’s sending the creepy stuff? .

The Gym:  We joined a gym when we first moved here, and while I’d like to think that all gyms are pretty much the same, there are some quirky aspects to this gym.  First, about every hour a woman with a saree comes through the weight and cardio room spraying a jasmine spray to try to overpower the sweat smell.  It doesn’t work but it’s amusing.  Second, the management has a very interesting philosophy toward the cardio machines.  All the machines have been set to go for a maximum of 10 minutes, because, I was told, that’s more than plenty of cardio.  I WISH.  Second all the treadmills’ mph and calories/hour are totally whacko, so it looks like I just improved my personal best mile by 5 minutes last week!  And I burned about 4 x as many calories as I ever did in the U.S.  Which makes me ask, why I don’t fall out of my clothes when I’m walking around with this obviously svelte body?  Finally, there is a woman at the gym whose name to S. and I is the warm-up Nazi, after we attended her yoga class which was 60 minutes of warm up exercises and not one asana. This gal takes her mission to warm-up the world quite seriously.  The first few times I came in and went to the treadmill she stopped me and insisted that I warm up first.  I told her I walked to the gym and that would suffice.  She wasn’t happy.  Then she had to correct me about my shoes, because they don’t allow you to wear your street shoes, even if they are tennis shoes, into the gym.  I said ok and kept walking.  This week she came over to me while I was running on the treadmill and motioned she wanted to talk with me.  I took off my ear buds and she told me I really shouldn’t run at all on the treadmill, because over time it would damage my ligaments and do something else terrible I can’t even remember.  I tried to assure her I’ve been running on a treadmill for quite a while and wasn’t worried.  However, she was encouraged by those remarks and told me to change my ways before it was too late.  I thanked her and began to move the mph up to about 10 so I could start running again, and she said in an exasperated voice that she was telling me to DECREASE my speed, not INCREASE it.  I told her I understood her, but I didn’t agree with her, and then put my earbuds back in.  We are friendly and chat each time I see her, but she’s determined to save my old bones from further abuse, I guess!

Planet Earth: S. and I purchased the complete set of Planet Earth videos.  This is honestly some of the most remarkable nature footage I have ever seen.  We watched a group of river otters face down a huge crocodile, and it was as entertaining as any movie I’ve seen.  So check them out, literally.  Most public libraries should have them, or don’t forget inter-library loan capabilities.

Tigers in our Future:  Finally, S. and I took a couple of walks in the last 24 hours and I saw some interesting stuff so snapped some pictures for you to enjoy. We’re off tomorrow to Ranthambore National Park to go on a Safari of sorts.  We decided this last minute and I was in a hurry booking the hotel while at work.  I just looked at the website tonight and it appears I may have booked us into a fancy tent to go camping.  Unbelievable.  S. just smiled.  He’s lived with me so long nothing much surprises him anymore.

Durga Days

Mother Durga in all her Glory

Picture Day 2012

Landlady and friend Latika offering me coconut laddoos (sweets) 

Ravanna Effigies Ready to Burn

Vegetarian Lunch, so scrumptous

Yesterday was Picture Day at my office.  I proclaimed it so, because there are certain milestones in an elementary teacher’s academic year that mark the passing of time, and Picture Day is an important fall landmark.  I did NOT miss the woman asking me to smile and say “Good morning, Children” as if we were teaching at a school featured in Little House on the Prairie, but S. has never been an easy photo taker.  Suffice it to say we got the best of about 20 shots and called it a day.  BTW, I did have a new outfit for picture day, like many of my former students, and was feeling very satisfied, until someone told me it was lovely on me, and this material was what they wore during the rainy season. WHAT? Darn!  Thought I had it going on, but I still miss some basic knowledge about how to rock the clothing.  The textile world here is complicated enough with the different types of cotton available, many named by the state from which they hail, which are, btw, states I don’t recognize as state names.  Then there is the cotton-silk blend, the raw silk, the silk chiffon, the chiffon that isn’t silk, and some other kind of silk that I can’t remember the name of but that feels like butter in your hands.  The prices in the saree material I’ve looked at range radically, from the modest 1,200 Rs to some gorgeous silk from Bangalore and other places quickly climbing into the 30,000 Rs range.  In case you’ve wondering about the conversion rate (~48 Rs to the dollar) one is quite reasonable, and the other requires a rich person’s salary.  More shopping must be the answer to my relative ignorance of types of textiles available to the Indian woman.

Today is October 24^th, United Nations Day around the world and at my former elementary school. I’ve been thinking lots about my former colleagues these days after watching a GLEE! episode and wondering what the Glee Club thinks of the drop-dead gorgeous new male with the equally gorgeous voice.  I’ll have to call an online meeting soon.  Here in India today is a holiday known as Dussehra.  The nine-day Durga fest ended yesterday and this day commemorates a couple of great Hindu stories.  Allow me to give a brief summary of some of the fiercest stories ever told.  I used to get freaked out when a nun would read us the gory Lives of the Saints book, but they do not hold a votive candle to the evil doing and blood-letting in Hindu myths. 

The most common tale is of the mighty demon, Mahishasura, who worshipped Lord Shiva so as to be blessed with the boon of eternal life.  However, he misused this gift and went about killing and harassing innocent souls.  Intimidated with all his power, all the gods from swargaloka (Heaven) appealed to Lord Shiva to tame the demon.  It was only a matter of time before a woman appeared to save everything from going to hell.

Then Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheshwar (Shiva) united their supreme powers and created a divine being ‘SHAKTI’ or ‘DURGA’ the Warrior Goddess.  [Something about that name is so kick-butt.] When Mahishasura happened to see this divine beauty, Durga, he was mesmerized, and approached her with the intention of marriage.  Durga agreed, putting forth the one condition that he must win her over in a duel.

As most evil forces are known to be, Mahishasura too, was proud of his power, and agreed to the combat.  The duel went on for nine nights, and at the end of the 9^th night Goddess Durga beheaded Mahishasura.  So, the nine nights for which the war was fought are the “Navratri’ and the 10^th day is celebrated as ‘Vijayadashmi’. 

The other popular legend is that of Lord Rama, who wanted to rescue Sita from the clutches of evil King Ravana, and prayed to Goddess Durga in nine aspects for nine days to gather the strength and power to Kill Ravana.  For 9 days he prayed, and on the tenth day, Rama killed Ravana, as seen in the Ram Leela [effigy burning of Ram] that is enacted at various locations.  Please see the picture below of Mother Durga to understand why she is the ‘patron saint’ of most females.  She is just fierce, riding on a tiger with those 8 arms full of all the gods' weapons, and sometimes she appears as Kali with her bloody tongue sticking out.  A worthy metaphor for all it takes to be a woman these days.  I think of her as a Hindu Hillary Clinton.  If you look closely at my picture from Picture Day, you'll see I have a new necklace of Durga that I'm sporting these Durga Days.

We’re off tonight to see the burning of the effigies and I will give a full report.  For now, take a look at some of the effigies I was able to snap in the car while we drove by.  They look rather spooky, and also a bit like rockets with faces.  It promises to be a fun afternoon and evening