something all together different

Beat The Blizzard!!

2007-12-14T15:56:00.001+05:30

Alright team, this is it.

(how can this be IT?)

well it is. the next time i access a computer, it will be my lovely little dell that has been sitting on my bed patiently for over 4 months waiting for me. (i think i might start weeping when i see it. dont judge me)

i've done the math, and including the time i spent in israel and greece, i have spent almost exactly half of 2007 out of the country. thats a lot. and it has been...extraordinary. (as if a single word could do it justice). but now i am ready to come home.

and now to you, my home viewers: thank you for sharing this enormous adventure with me. thank you for your comments, your emails, your phone calls, your letters. i cant wait until i can share these stories with you in person!

So at this point it is just a question of beating the blizzard. so keep your fingers crossed team! i'll see you in new york ;)

“Valmiki the poet looked down into the water held cupped in his hand and saw into the past. Before he looked, he thought the world was sweet poison. Men seeming to be living in lies, not knowing where their ways went. The days seemed made of ignorance and doubt, and cast from deception and illusion . But in the water he saw—a dream, a chance, and a great adventure. Valmiki trusted the True and forgot the rest; he found the whole universe like a bright jewel set firm in forgiving and held fast by love.
Widen your heart. Abandon anger. Believe me, your few days are numbered; make one fast choice now and no second!”*

love,
a

Ninja Turtle Namesakes and Other European Highlights

2007-12-13T21:02:00.000+05:30

Day 2 in Roma: Vatican Museums
So, fittingly, the Pope has the richest collection of art in the world, and let me tell you, it is pretty spectacular. Just imagine being important enough in the world to give Raphael and call and say "hey dude, i need to decorate my dining room. can you come over and paint some frescos on the splendor of our lord for me? thanks" i spent 4 hours wandering around the endless halls, listening to my little audio guide and staring wide eyed at everything around me. And let me tell ya, i could've been in there a whole lot longer if the museum hadn't closed. sigh. oh well, if the Trevi Fountain does its job, i'll be back.

Day 3 in Roma: Howard Spodek and St. Peter
So daniel had his last final yesterday, and his professor, Howard Spodek, ya know, just happens to do his research in--you guessed it--Ahmedabad!! So HoSpo and I chatted for 20 minutes about the Gujarati elections that just happened, about Darpana, Mallika and Amma, about living in the A-Bad. It was wonderful. Then we headed over to the smallest nation in the world to give our regards to the Pope. St. Peter's is not to be believed. It is the worlds largest church, ie every other church in the world could fit inside it, and then some. All over rome you can see on the ruins that there are these holes cut out of the structures, because in the 106 years it took to build St. Peters (yes, 106!) materials were scavanged from anywhere and everywhere. You know what? worth it. Whats a couple of holes on the outside of the Colosseum? its incomplete anyway. The we climbed the 512(i think) stairs to the top of the dome, the highest point in rome, to take in the sights.

Day 4: The Colosseum and Palantine Hill (and the best Bruschette I have ever had)
World Wonder #2: awesome
The hill where Romulus and Remus founded the city: awesome
(i love ruins!)
Bruschettte with grilled zucchini and fresh buffalo mozzarella: awesome

A photographic update of my travels:

Me and Zoe in front of Notre Dame, Paris

Nutella and Bananna Crepes with Elizabeth and Zoe

Mediterranean Sea, Marseille

Me, Conner and Marc in Marseille

This is our relationship

With Charlotte across the Rhone from Avignon

Marc dressed us up in his fireman gear

ROMA

Crossing my fingers at the Trevi Fountain and hoping to someday make it back to Roma

Daniel and I climbed the dome at St. Peter's

Oh My God its the Colosseum! Whats gonna come out of that gate....?

How to Have a Boat Adventure: OR Land of Italian Truck Drivers

2007-12-10T23:52:00.000+05:30

Step One: When making reservations to take a ferry from France to Italy (because isnt it romantic to add a boat to the epic adventure?), inadvertantly choose a company that ferries truck drivers from italy to france to spain, instead of the ferry full of back-packing college students like yourself.
Step Two: Dont speak either of the languages that are being spoken in these countries. (Note: you can kinda speak one of the languages: ie me and french)
Step Three: Be carrying a 50lb backpack, an Indian shopping bag that once contained a Sari and now contains an odd assortment of crap including an idol of a Hindu deity, incense, a water bottle, and a puppet that you made once upon a long time ago

At this point you are ready to board the ship. Advance to the welcome desk and receive your cardkey to your stateroom. Drop off assortment of luggage and return to the main deck for dinner. To continue your boat adventure at this point, it is advisable to:
1- befriend the nice Italian porter Christian who is going to let you use his cell phone tomorrow to call your friend in Rome to tell him that the boat is going to be at least 2 hours late, and you 2 hours late with it.
2- be recognized by a nice little old Italian truck driver named Guiseppe as "the girl with the huge backpack" who will then insist that "he doesnt really speak english but his friend does", at which point he will invite you to join them for dinner and share some of their italain wine.
3- chat with guiseppe's english speaking italian truck driver friends while you wait at the bar for the dining room to open. note that everyone else in the room is a)an italian truck driver OR b) an italian truck driver
4- Befriend Enzo, the bartender from Honduras, who--despite the fact that Honduras is nowhere near New York--claims western-hemisphere comraderie. Accept a gin and tonic on the house. chat about his life working on cruise ships, on the fact that yes, you are traveling alone and that no, this boat isnt full of backpacking college students at all, laugh at the absurdity of this situation
5- join your new italian friends for dinner of pasta, veggies and copious amounts of italian wine
6- head back to your cabin for a nice night's sleep being rocked by the sea

lather. rinse. repeat.

what an experience.

Suffice to say, I have made it to Rome, last stop on the grand travel adventure in one (comically absurd) piece. How wonderful it was to finally see Daniel waiting for me at the end of the train platform at Roma termini, after making the journey from the boat to the train station in civitavecchia with a french mother and daughter with whom i could communicate, but barely. AH travel travel travel.

Roma roma roma is bene bene bene. Today i wandered all over the place, snapping pictures galore of this and that...you know: ruins and fountains and churches and fountains and piazzas and churches and ruins and fountains--this nerd's fantasy come true!! tomorrow the Vatican, on wednesday the colloseum, on thrusday a day trip to florence perhaps? AH italy!

I am however, quite aware of the fact that yesterday marked the beginning of week 5 since departing from Darapana 9(unbelievable....i miss it all the time), which means i am now in week 5 of living out of a bag and i would be lying if i said it wasnt wearing on me. i can count on one hand the number of times i will have to don the backpack again, which makes me unceasingly joyous, and my heart twitters a bit each time i realize that i can say "next week i will be home"

next week i will be home

but before then
tonight i get to have dinner with annie! (fitting since the measure final concert is tonight...sing beautifully ladies! not like i have to tell you...you always do!)
so dont worry....i'm not counting the days just yet!

bueno sera!
a

french keyboards....merde

2007-12-08T18:48:00.000+05:30

apologies in advance for the mistakes made on this keyboard. in france a's are q's, w's are q's and m's are commas. oh la la.

SO

sorry for not having updated on the french adventure. we did have a computer in our hotel in paris but it was très (the beauty of french keyboards? accents!) slow, and there was always a long line. Alors, c'est la vie!

Paris was lovely lovely lovely. Zoe and I stayed in a cute little budget hotel in the 7th arrondisment, where we had our own little room with its own little sink, and the bathrooms were communial, which actually gave the place a nice campy feel. We spent some part of each day with our dear friends Anna Raff and Elizabeth Wachtel, who played excellent tour guides and showed us around town. On friday night Elizabeth took me to see Les Fables de la Fontaine at the Comedies Français (note: one cannot sat without a haughty voice and one's pinky in the air!), which was lovely even though i didnt understand a word of it (thats actually a lie...at one point one of the characters started singing in english...i understood that!) And on saturday night all 5 of us (me, conner, zoe, anna, elizabeth) went to see Andromaque by Racine at the Theatres Bouffes du Nord, which was even more fantastic and mades me very triste indeed that i cannot speak better french. Quel dommage!

Other highlights of the time there includes a bread/apple tart/cheese picnic at the Jardins Luxombourg, wine and cheese at the tour eiffel, free sunday spent at the centre pompidou and musee dorsay; bannana and nutella crepes, and those splendid long european dinners that somehow seem to last for hours and hours and hours over wine and laughter. I was very sad to leave paris.

The sadness, however; was tempered by an excitement to get to Avignon and finally meet Penny. For those of you who dont know, Penny was my sister's host mum when she first visted france the summer qfter her sophomore year in highschool. A british ex-pat, penny has lived most of her life in the south of france, raising her 3 kids and riding horses. She and wendy got on so well that last fall when wendy was studying in nantes she spent a few weekends visiting penny in avignon. so, i figured it was only right, since penny has become like family, to meet her myself. Wendy did not lie---she is every bit as wonderful as she ever sounded!

late mornings, a visit to the mediterranean in Marseille, to the Palais de Papes in the old walled city of Avignon, dinners with penny in her living room, meeting the french fireman Marc who "proposed" to my sister last year..these are all highlights of the past 3 days. Mostly I was just thrilled to meet Penny and her daughter Charlotte, both of whom already felt like part of my family, being such a huge part of my sisters life. It was very cool for me to be in a place that is so important to Wendy, and made me miss her even more.

Which brings me to here, now, qt qn internet cafe in Toulon, (that it took me over an hour to find!) wasting time before my boat leaves for Italy tonight. It was very strange saying goodbye to Conner on the train yesterday....excepting the 2 weeks he was in China i have seen that kid every day for the past 4 months. Just another signal that my time a-journeying is coming to an end.

SO, its one more week of adventures and then? christmas, lizzie, hamburgers and strawberry champqgne with my parents, a visit to vassar,the dresden dolls on new years with kendra, snow....

yea, i'm ready for those things!

a bientot! and next time from rome!!!

bisous
a

A [not so] foggy day in Londontown

2007-11-28T18:55:00.000+05:30

This week has been nothing but absolute joy.

I would provide you with pictures of thanksgiving, but since to do that alex's computer would have to load ALL of my pictures from India, and since i dont want to do that to him, ill just tell you about it. OH let me tell you about it! From around 1pm to 9pm Catherine, Zoe, Conner and I cooked. Pies, veggies, cranberry sauce, lasagna (a zoe thanksgiving tradition that i think the pilgrims missed out on!), pies, turkey, pies, stuffing, and did i mention pies? oh it was a feast. and last i checked was still feeding kids over at camp zoe a week later!

since then the week has been a blissful combination of exploring london and hanging out with people i have so dearly missed. so, really, what could go wrong? nothing. nothing nothing nothing. on monday when zoe, alex and catherine had to go back to school (remember that thing that i havent actually done IN MONTHS...weird), i spent the day strolling from one end of london to the other, wandering aimlessly through the Tate Modern Art Museum, eating jacket potatoes in covent garden, and braving the terrifying world of Harrods. This is a wonderful city. i love walking everywhere, i love the crisp early winter air, i love wearing a jacket, i love the deep green scarf zoe brought with her to give me at the airport, i love getting a glass of wine and chatting at 3 in the afternoon, i love it all.

as for this tricky little thing called culture shock, i feel that shock is too strong a descriptor to place on what i am feeling. definitely not shock, but awareness. like how every time i fill up a glass from the sink i hesitate first. or how i keep catching myself eating only with my right hand. or how everything here costs almost a hundred times what it used to (thats the worst one!) but i think that the comfort of being with people who are so familiar in a culture that is so much more familiar has rendered the shock value much less potent. still, i do find myself talking about india to just about anyone who will listen, and find it incredibly strange looking back and realizing i have already been gone for a week. a lot of people i have met here have asked when i was going back, assuming i had come to london on holiday. thats odd too, as i wish i could give them a date that i was going back. but alas, only time will tell!

tomorrow i re-don the backpack-from-hell and board the eurostar for my maiden voyage through the chunnel and back to Paris, for which i am very excited! (despite growing tales of transit riots....ill keep you posted!) ah paris, land of wine and cheese. [i prepped for my adventures of only eating bread and cheese in france the other day at the Marlybone farmer's market, where i purchased a huge loaf of bread and a block of cheese and walked around the rest of the day eating it! its going to be a great few days!] Plus we are in paris for the first sunday of the month, which apparently means that all museums will be free. so watch out paris, because i will be running around like a mad woman seeing all of my favorite places again!

Me, Zoe, Conner and Craig in covent garden, marvelling at the enormous christmas decorations. they love their christmas here let me tell you!

cheers!
a

always on a plane or a fast train

2007-11-22T16:27:00.000+05:30

i'm sorry, i woke up where this morning? oh, ok london. and thats not in india? weird.

so 10 days traveling in india flew by incredibly fast, in a blur of rickshaws, trains, busses and airplanes. we crammed so much into so little time that i am honestly suprised we didnt break down [which isnt entirely true. on the train to agra our last day i developed on of those colds that is like a letter from your body asking you if you cold please stop getting less than 6 hours of sleep, waking up before 6 am, slapping a 50lb backpack on your back, boarding a crowded moving vehicle and going someplace new. unfortunately at that point i had to respectfully apologize to the body but inform it that i had a 7am flight to london the next day, but that maybe the next night?]

some highlights from the trip:

our cocohut in Agonda Beach, Goa

The cove that we explored (we made it all the way out to the rocks at the tip!)

The hut

the beer and fruit feast mentioned in my previous post

sunset at Colva Beach, Goa

Kanniyakumari, the southernmost tip of India

watching the water of the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea all meet at one point

Me and Co at the tip of India

Sipping coconut milk from a coconut that had just been cracked open

The Taj Mahal
(yes, it really is as incredible as you think it would be)

And from the taj mahal it was but a quick train, rickshaw, other rickshaw, plane ride to london, where a beautiful zoe and catherine met us at the airport. it was incredible to see them again after so long. sometimes you dont realize how much people are missing from your life until they are back in it. and so now i will leave you, and head off on a nice stroll through londontown to zoes flat where we will begin to cook the epic thanksgiving feast we have been looking forward to since...april?!

happy thanksgiving all!

love to india, america and back again
a

livin the dream

2007-11-17T18:48:00.000+05:30

with not too much time to write, i will consolidate the past week's travels into an image:

hut on the beach (yes, literally ON the beach. you want yards? fifty.) looking out at the arabian sea. the beach is nestled into a cove lined with palm trees and fishing boats. the sun is just starting to set. conner and i sit on our porch looking at a table covered in fruit (watermelon, papaya, pineapple, mosambi, chickoo, bananna) and beer. as the sun sets, conner "man-hands" marx breaks into these fruits with his leatherman, and we sit. and feast. on fruit and beer. on the beach. as the sun sinks into the sea.

refer to the title of this post

i'm afraid its time for goodbye again....

2007-11-10T18:23:00.000+05:30

so, three months--an amount of time that once seemed so endlessly daunting--has passed by here in ahmedabad since my first frantic posting about lost bags back in august. as i write this conner and i are mid-packing, and preparing to thrown the ultimate goodbye "dance till dawn" bash at darpana. we have literally invited everyone we have met here. our itinerary for the next month is as follows:

november 11-15: goa
novemeber 15-16: train down the south west coast of india
november 16-19: trivandrum, kerela
november 20-21: Delhi/Agra
november 21-29: london
november 29-december 4: paris
december 4-december 7: avignon
(here's where we split)
from this point conner heads to Nice and Ireland.
I go december 7-8: toulon
december 8-9: a ferry across the mediterranean
december 9-14: rome
december 14-15: london
december 15: usa

3 months ago i sat at the computer in the family room of my house in white plains terrified and excited and sad and thrilled. tonight i sit at the computer in the bookstore at darpana feeling the exact same way. oh i will miss this place. as conner describes it (for those of you who know that rayamaya), hanuman opens his chest and there is Ram written on his skeleton. if we could open our chests, india would be written there. so much. this experience has just been.so.much. and i am ready for more, but a part of my heart will always be here, and this place will always be in my heart.

who knows where my next post will come from?

chalo (let's go!)

a

Hey, you wanna, get some lunch and then go see a circus?

2007-11-05T16:08:00.000+05:30

For future reference, the answer to this question is ALWAYS yes! Especially if the circus in question happens to be: The Great Bombay Circus!

This has got to be the dinkiest and most wonderful circus in the world. First of all, to the credit of the experience, this may be the first circus i have ever seen (cirque du soleil excluded) that took place in an actual circus tent. bonus points right there! the big top was multi-colored, there were popcorn venders, there were....russian guest artists who were really not impressive at all and performed pieces to a russian communist soundtrack, there was an elephant who hit soccer balls into the audience using a cricket bat! there were also some really dull acts, which didnt impress me but definitely didnt impress one of vassar's own barefoot monkeys sitting to my right. our test of whether or not an act was impressive was whether or not conner could do it, and whether or not conner could do it on fire. Then there was a trapeze super-finale that made up for all of the dinkiness in the world! these daring young ladies/lads on the flying trapeze. (wendy--can you hear our grandmother singing this?) were flying every which way, and though there was a huge net under them the whole time,it still terrified me. which brought me to the conclusion that i could never be the type to run away and join the circus. but really, who is the type to run away and join the circus? and do you have to have an act already or can you just show up and they give you one? what if you show up and they give you an awful act? where do you run away to if you cant run away to the circus?

As we launch into our last week here (and a whole series of "lasts" which we make sure to note...constantly. ex: last monday morning. last lunch at Roopali. Last trip to the tin dwarza market...) we have been making sure to go out with a bang, seeing friends and being out as much as possible. saturday night we had a great dinner party at our friends Namita and Enika's house, where we all cooked (i was in charge of finely chopping the onions!), ate, talked all night. (and hung out on their terrace which has the most incredible views of the city. next time i come to ahmedabad im living there!)

Last night was another night for the Naina book of crazy, as she took me, conner and aaron out with her cousin to the Rajpath club in Ahmedabad. (cross american country clubs with the remains of Raj India British tea clubs and you begin to get the idea!) Her cousin wanted very much for us to enjoy ourselves, which included a dip in the club's pool if we so chose. Which we did. Trouble was naina only mentioned the pool on the way to the club. so we didnt have bathing suits. No probelm says naina, the club has extra swim suits. which is great. except for this:

so when i was maybe 8 years old i had a swimsuit that i called my Nancy Kerrigan swimsuit because it was a red plaid body piece with a white skirt around it and it reminded me of a figure skating costume. i loved this bathing suit. wore it that entire summer at Rocky Ledge. which was cool, cuz i was 8. The rent-a-swimsuit they had at the club not only involved a skirt, which is never ok on a swimsuit once you pass the age of 9, but also involved shorts under the skirt, and neon/hawaiin prints. Oh yes, an a swimcap that was vaguely amish in appearance. the experience ranked up there with our dermatology visit with naina circa august 14.

i am still in denial about leaving. but i am also getting more excited by the day about adventures yet to come. one week from right now ill be on a beach. with a drink in my hand, watching the sunset. aaaaaah

shanti
a

Fruit flies like a bananna...

2007-10-30T18:15:00.000+05:30

...time flies like an arrow.

So that was my cheesy way of saying that I have less than two weeks left at Darpana and I dont know how the hell that happened. Yeesh!

Let's take it back to the last night of Navratri, which I think takes us to my last post. Aaron, Conner, Shubha, Naina and I arrive to the Garba at around 10:30/10:45 and immediately pressed our way to the front of the crowd, nearest to the stage where all the judges are. (Most of the bigger events award prizes at the end of the night: best dancer male and female, best dressed male and female, sometimes best child..you get the idea. anyways people go balls out to get these prizes, spending upwards of 10,000 RPS on custom made dresses etc.) Naina wins every year and likes being where judges can see her. SO, she starts leading some steps and i start following and a judge comes over and asks for...both of our names. which i think is hysterical. so i give it to him. and we keep dancing. for hours. i keep taking breaks because im still pretty sick but trying to ignore it. (Hell I figure if anything is going to kick this cold it is going to be the 24 sun salutations i did that morning and then dancing till dawn. Turns out: it worked!)
At one point a group of really hardcore Garba dancers (like in matching outfits and everything) invite us to start dancing with them. we start in a slow, simple circle at first and end up doing more and more complicated steps. The video men who take the footage which shows on the big TV screens (yea..like at a concert. THAT intense!) keep focusing on our group, on me specifically actually. At one point i look up and can see myself dancing on a huge TV screen for a group of 5,000+ people at the event. Just nuts! (On previous nights the constant attention from cameras because we were foreigners at the garba was really irritating and i would stop dancing whenever they would come by, but since it was the last night i decided i just didnt care and kept on dancing!) Then these dancers pulled us up onto this stage at the front of the crowd, where we spend the next 40 minutes dancing with them. One of the newer elements of Navratri celebration is a dance called Sonero, during which the singer improvises a verse and all of the dancers get real low to the ground while he sings. then he hits the chorus and everyone jumps up like there are rockets on their feet hootin and hollerin and going crazy. then the verse comes and you crouch low again. then you jump up again! anyway apparently our new friends told us that the singer, who was improvising in gujarati, was singing about "white girl you are so beautiful you stole my heart". my friend kept looking at me going: he's singing about you he's singing about you! At 2:40 the dancing was finally over and it was prize time. we were all keeping our fingers crossed for Naina. The best dressed male was one of the guys from our group. we were all very happy for him. then best dressed female. then best female dancer. "a...amanda culp" says the name over the loudspeaker, and all of my friends go WHAT?? Thats right. Betcha didnt know that you were reading the blog of the best female dancer in ahmedabad! (i mean, its clearly a lie, but i won the fucking prize!!!) Naina won a prize too, so we were quite the victorious group!

After around 3 hours of sleep it was up again to attend a Puja in honor of the mother goddess, to which i wore my first saree. (Which I wrapped wrong at home and had to have re-done for me when i got to Darpana. my goal is to be able to wrap it myself by the time i come home, cuz otherwise ill have no one to help me do it!) This puja was one of the most spectacular rituals i have ever partaken in. A priest goes through a traditional sanskrit ceremony reciting verses from the Vedas and consecrating the altar with flowers, water, incense etc. What made this puja so special is our participation in it. The night before the puja all of the artists at darpana left their "instruments" (whatever we use to make our art) at the altar for the mother goddess to bless. Then, after the Priest's ceremony was over the next morning, we took the instruments and used them for the first time in the presence of the goddess. I left my flute, as a physical representation of the music in my life (that means you, measure!) and a book of poetry that i hope to use as part of my thesis, as a representation of the work i hope to do in my life.

most of last week was dedicated to figuring out the rest of our plans for traveling in both india and europe, which thankfully (with a few exceptions) are now fully taken care of! We are leaving Ahmedabad on the 11th, spending about 4 days on the beach in Goa, taking an almost 24 hour train ride down the south west coast to Trivandrum (the capital of Kerela), where we are going to see some professional Kalari and Kathakali, AND visit the southernmost tip of India (which I am pumped for!) and then fly back north for a day in delhi and a day in agra before flying to london.

i find it very, very strange that i have so little time left in Ahmedabad. I am excited as hell for all the travel we are going to be doing, and in many ways am ready for the "academic" part of my semester to be over, but am wholly unprepared to leave the home that i have made for myself here, the friends i have made across the city, the family that i have found at darpana. i find myself already plotting ways to come back as soon as possible. everyone keeps asking if i will come back. there is a part of me that cant believe they would even bother asking such a silly question.

of course i will come back.
i have to come back.

Goddess Worship

2007-10-20T13:19:00.000+05:30

Here's what America is lacking: festivals of dancing, dancing, and nothing but dancing. Especially if they involve fancy, brightly colored costumes,and dances with sticks.

The Rules of Navratri:
-You must be in traditional attire
-You must dance
(Unwritten rule: You will not sleep this entire week. You may get sick. you may be exhausted. Deal with it. It's Navratri!)

So, the traditional story behind Navratri (well, there are two. One is what Mallika calls the Boring one, and one is the one she calls the real one.)
Boring One:
Rama and Ravana are locked in a deadly war over Sita for 9 nights. On the 10th day, Rama kills Ravana. Navratri is the 9 nights that they fight.
OR
Siva gives a boon to a demon for his pennance that allows him to be invincible against the gods. He then begins to wreak havoc on the earth. All of the gods try to defeat him, and all of the gods fail. It is then up to the Mother Goddess (Durga,Parvati, Shakti, Kali etc.,) the goddess of Power and Strength to defeat the demon. She fights him for 9 nights and on the 10th day she defeats him. This is why we dance the Garba, in Goddess Worship. (For a country with such strong gender biases and sexism issues, it is thrilling to spend 9 nights worshiping a woman who saved the world!)

Shubha and Me before our first Garba--dressed to the 9's in our schamncy Garba dresses (and this ain't nothin compared to what some of the women wear!)

Revanta pilaged the Darpana costume closed to score these traditional outfits for himself and Conner...the turban is really my favorite part..or maybe its the shirt I cant decide!

Me, Anahita and the Dandias. This is a special dance, similar to the Garba, but differnt because, well, you use sticks! All of the steps are choreographed so taht you are either hitting your partner's sticks or your own. If you mess up you end up smacking either your partner with the stick, or yourself. I can proudly say that in over an hour with my dandias i did not injure a single person! (The next night, when Shubha and I ventured out to experience our first Indian McDonalds experience, we reeived free dandias with our extra value meals. Sweet!)

Tonight is, unforunately, the last night of the festival, which means that I will be dancing till dawn, barefoot in the grass, exhausted and happy, and then getting up tomorrow mornign for a Puja (religious ceremony) to honor the Goddess at 8AM. Should be interesting!

Have you worshipped a Goddess today?

love
a

I live in India

2007-10-12T15:53:00.000+05:30

Ok, so I know what some of you must be thinking: Newsflash Amanda: you have been living in India since August. But i would have to disagree. I have been in India since august, but until recently that is all it was--being in india. until the past two weeks, when suddenly something has clicked (i think this is what is known as phase 3 on the super handy-Vassar JYA handout, which gives one's evolution abroad as 1-utter misery 2-frustration spiked with excitement 3-feeling at home 4-utter misery. (i joke, but only slightly. those of you who have read this lovely document know what i mean!)) If you were to now ask me how I felt about Ahmedabad I would answer that I love living here. Which is a great thing to realize...a month before you have to leave. Still, I am not yet looking that far ahead, as tonight begins Navratri (the biggest festival in Gujarat--9 nights of praying to the 9 forms of the Goddess Durga (the mother goddess, whose forms include Shakti and Kali), celebrated by 9 nights of dancing the Gujarati folk dance the Garba until dawn), and I have numerous activities to be excited about in the weeks to come.

(A rainbow over the Sabarmati River, as seen from the stage at Darpana)

Something I love and hate about India at the same time: a general lack of organization. I have been told by many people that this is by no means a phenomenon that is limited to India, but in fact seems to exist in most places in the world, and it is us as Americans who have trouble adjusting. To clarify, what I mean by a lack of organization is that things just seem to happen or not happen on a daily basis. Classes sometimes get cancelled at the drop of a hat, plans dont seem to get made in advance (or if they are they are usually forgotten...in fact i am the only person i have seen here who uses a date book as a date book--everyone else just uses them as journals!) and things just seem to happen organically, without consulting the clock first. As a hyper-anal-Virgo breed of American, i find this ignoring of time and its confines terrifying. I have a schedule, i like to keep it. I make lists within lists. If a class just suddenly doesnt happen one day and i find myself with an extra hour or two of time i find my anxiety level rises ever so slightly. i make lists of things that can be done. i think of how to be productive, how to fill the hour. only later does it occur to me that maybe, Maybe...nothing has to be done. What i love about this in India is that nothing should be done, can be done often. Which is a phenomenon i never experience in the states. Do Nothing. Have some tea. (GASP) relax! Don't get me wrong, as i sit and sip my tea the virgo within broods over what else i could be doing, but i am working at how to get her a cup of tea as well, so that maybe she can learn to relax a little bit too(i'll make sure hers is a decaf!)

I have so many stories to share from the past few weeks, that I dont know where to begin, so I suppose I'll now present a photographic journey of some of the highlights, just to get you all caught up!

Foreigners (and Anahita) at Natarani's Opening (from left to right) Meha, Anahita, Shubha, Me and Myra

Naina and Me at Kakaria, a lake located to the south of the Old City, which vaguely resembles a boardwalk. We went to the zoo there (which was wholly depressing. the bronx zoo--even with the polar bear who walks in endless circles--is a miracle compared to this place. Animals in cement cages. terrible). BUT we also went paddle boating out on the lake, which was awesome!

Anahita and Ravi took me out for my first Indian hookah experience

Revanta (Left) and Sashi (Right) present Krishna and Arjuna in Meghadoota, a classical dance interpretation of Kalidasa's poem The Cloud Messenger. After almost 2 months in India studying the form, this was my first live experience of a performance. I sat in the front row with the largest, doofiest, most uncontrollable smile. All of my friends who were performing came up to me afterwards and made fun of me. The best way to describe it I unfortunately cannot do on the blog, since it is a physical expression used in Kathakali (a gradual shaking of the shoulders and raising of the arms coupled with the same goofy smile i have referenced about), so until i see you all and can demonstrate in person I will say this: Joy.

Me and a colored-sand illustration of Gandhiji at Satyagraha Ashram, which is just 10 minutes north along the river from my house. The ashram is an inspiring place, and i hope to spend some lazy sunday afternoons there before i leave.

Hookah with Shubha at Vishalla Restaurant, a place in Ahmedabad that is set up like a traditional village. Diners are greeted with flowers and sandalwood paste bindis, and are then invited in to experience a traditional puppet show, some music and dancing, dinner served on a leaf-plate, ice cream, hookah, more music and more dancing. We went with a group of exchange students Shubha knows at IIM (international institute of management) and, to steal a phrase from Annie's blog, we were like the United Nations Jrs division out for a night on the town: America, India, Italy, France, Germany, Sweeden, Switzerland you name it!

Dancing under the stars at Vishalla Restaurant

I will end this post with a note about my studies (i mean, thats why im here, right?)
I recently started studying the regional folk theater of Gujarat known as Bhavai. This form, which is a little over 700 years old, is all but dead in the region now, as the younger generations, who would normally learn the tricks of the trade from their parents have no interested in involving themselves in (what is supposedly) a moneyless, futureless occupation (sounds sorta familiar doesnt it, fellow theater majors!). The form, which I can best describe as a combination between Commedia Del'arte, Brecht and Political Street Theater, has been used for centuries to bring news, satire and political commentary to the otherwise illiterate rural villages of Gujart. The form is largely improvisational, using music and dance as well as basic characters who would be found within village life to better communicate to its audience. In the past Darapana has used Bhavai to stage productions of Good Woman of Setzuan and Caucasion Chalk Circle (both Brecht). In an interview I watched of one of the last remaining Bhavai artists, he said:
"The lawmakers cannot stop the rising prices, how could they stop art from dying."
This statement left me increidbly sad. How many art forms have died without our knowing because we live in societies that no longer value their vital importance? The empty feeling this thought left in the pit of my stomach vanishes only when i think of the incredible artists i know (both at home and here) who had dedicated thier lives to the continuation and betterment of these forms. I am proud to include myself in such a community.

namaste
love
a

Love All, Serve All

2007-10-04T12:34:00.000+05:30

Last night Shubha and I volunteered at the Seva Cafe. Before I continue on this experience I should share a little bit about the place:

"Seva Café is an experiment in the joys of giving and selfless service. Run mostly by volunteers, our wholesome meals are cooked with love and served with love, offered to you as a genuine gift.

Seva Café invites you to feel at home and engage in inspiring conversation. We welcome you to feed your mind and your soul by taking the idea of selfless service beyond our walls, into your daily life and into your community.

Are you ready to be the change you wish to see in the world..." (from sevacafe.org. the link is now on my list of links)

Located on the rooftop of a large commercial building on CG road, Seva Cafe is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. The floor is intricately tiled, there is an open air roof to admit the light of moon and stars (those that can get through the city light pollution!), there are beautiful wood tables and chairs, and everyone working there is smiling. I went for the first time last week for dinner. As a guest, you are welcomed in the Cafe as a guest would be welcomed into their home. The food is all prepared right there in the kitchen, which is located behind a bar right next to the dining area. And at the end of the meal, as a return act of selfless giving, you pay what you feel in your heart like paying. Money isnt what the experience is about. it is about sharing the time together.

As a volunteer, i spent the night making chilli cheese toast. toasting, spreading, grating, toasting, cutting, serving for 4 amazing hours of watching people come and go, and hanging out with everyone else in the kitchen. At the end of the night, all of the remaining food is gathered together and assembled on the now clear-of-tables floor of the cafe, and all of the volunteers come together and share in the dinner. We chatted, laughed, ate. Under the stars. I got home at 11:30, exhausted, and very happy. It really is a beautiful place to be.

Especially being that Tuesday was Gandhi's birthday, and national non-violence day (and given that his Ashram is just down the road!). I plan on going to visit it this weekend.

I encourage all of you to check out the sevacafe website. There is now a restaurant of the same concept with the name Karma Kitchen open in Berkley. So, those of you in the bay area, check it out! I'm trying to think of how to bring something like this to Vassar when I get back... any thoughts?

hari aum
a

ps. I saw my first Hindi movie the other night. Chakde! India, about a national Indian women's hockey team. (The Hindi A League of our Own!) 3 hours long. But so perfectly-sports movie formulaic that no translations were necessary. it was great!

Simplicity and Beauty

2007-09-29T16:06:00.000+05:30

Simplicity:

Going grocery shopping. Buying oranges, tea, mosambis and biscuits. Spending a long afternoon sitting out on our patio, sipping tea, listening to music and watching the river.

Beauty:

September 28th. The opening night of Natarani (Darpana's outdoor amphitheater)'s 14th season. The air is not too hot, the sky is clear, there is a full, bright moon shining over the river.

"Darpana Invites you to a unique performance of Sufiana & Rajasthani folk music by the world's only Manganiyar woman singer: Rukhmaanbai Manganiyar."

Witnessing one of the most breathtaking, powerful voices I have ever heard. From a singer who has been crippled (from Polio) since she was one year old, who has lost use of both her legs, who found a way to trample the patriarchy using the voice they tried so hard to silence.

[I was interviewed for a local TV station earlier yesterday. When asked how I feel about art, I answered "art will save the world."]

CHAKDE INDIA

2007-09-25T17:18:00.000+05:30

INDIA WON THE WORLD TWENTY-20 CRICKET CHAMPIONSHIP
first ever
in the world

imagine it
(or i'll just paint you a little (awesome) picture)

ok so it is the last over. (6 bowls left). Pakistan has one wicket left, and is 11 runs behind India. They hit a 6. They are now one 6 away from winning the match, and one wicket away from losing it. I am sitting on a couch next to revanta, hands over my face, shaking, frantically trying to decide whether or not i should watch what is about to happen to me. anahita is laughing at what a maniac i am being. everyone in the room is silent. you can feel the tension.

the bowl.
a hit.
a super hit.
the camera follows the ball up into the air and you can hear everyone in the room's heart sink...we can just see the ball soaring into the stands, scoring 6 for pakistan and ending the match.
AND THEN
under the ball appears a man
in a blue Indian uniform, holding up his arms.
The ball falls
he catches it
last.wicket.down.
INDIA FUCKING WINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I dont quite know what happened next. I remember jumping (flying) out of my seat. and screaming a lot, and hugging just about everyone in the room. This is the first championship the Indian Cricket team has won since 1983 (thats a big fucking deal!) I think everyone in the room was shouting/hugging/laughing/clapping/shouting some more for a good half hour after the match had ended. and thats nothing compared to what was going on in the streets. fireworks, firecrackers, Indian flags as far as the eye could see. It was a great night to be in India!

(in case there was any doubt in your mind, the cricket cap is being purchased immediately if not sooner. i'm hooked!)

CHAKDE INDIA!!

a

For your viewing pleasure

2007-09-22T18:09:00.000+05:30

Jami Masjid Mosque

Ganesha holding the 10 incarnations of Vishnu

Puppets

Me, Revanta and Pinakin on my birthday

Kathakali (with full makeup)

The 3 gates of the Old City

Meha, Conner and Dinner in our apartment

World's most amazing cup of tea

Our daily post-dance lunch at the cafe

Swami Narayana Temple

Monkeys!!!

Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks

2007-09-20T13:20:00.000+05:30

The puppet show was a huge success. Ok, well, maybe not huge, but it was enjoyed by all who attended. Out cheeky puppet/greek mythology humor was understood and appreciated (with a few audible chuckles!) and though I still think that the music selection was mostly because Conner and I love the songs so much, Total Eclipse of the Heart and I Would Walk... seemed to win our audience over. Especially when Orpheus cried/sung "cuz i would walk 500 miles, and I would walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked 1000 miles to fall down at her door...Badada Badada Badadadadadadadadadada" to close the show. I know, i know. It's brilliant!

Sunday night Naina took us back to the old village, where we wandered through stall after stall of clothes/decorations for Navratri (a 9 night all-Gujarat festival of dancing coming up at the beginning of October). I got a set of beautiful ankle bracelets and an incense burner. She then took us around to see the monuments in this, the most predominatly muslim area of the city. We saw the tomb of Ahmed Shah (the founder/city's namesake), and also the Jami Masjid Mosque, which was breathtaking. (Now for a history lesson)
"This magnificent Jami Mosque occupied the central position in the geographical layout and social life of the newly built capital city of Ahmedabad. It was erected by Sultan Ahmed Shah. The mosque has been considered by some scholars as one of the most beautiful in the East." (Taken from the inscription outside of the mosque).
We then shifted religions and wandered through the narrow, winding streets of the old city, admiring the Ganesha statues that are up for the Ganesha Chaturathi Festival (this is the festival i mentioned previously with the purchasing of the Ganesha idols and after 10 days putting them in the river). The street displays were incredible, and varied from traditional representations of Ganesha, to Ganesha as a coutroom judge, to Ganesha sitting on top of the world holding the 10 incarnations of Vishnu.

Tuesday morning Conner and I arrived at Yoga to find a young French actor/director, Astrid Bas here joining our class for 2 days. She is in India working on a project of 3 translations of Racine's Phedre in 3 different Indian languages with Indian actors etc. Her project is inspired by a similar production of Racine's Phedre done in India and Hindi around 10 years ago. A writer followed the company adn wrote a diary of the project called Phedre in India. So the impression that I get is that Astrid is interested in re-creating the project 10 years later to see if it yields similar reactions/etc. Though she was only here for 2 days working with the company this time (she will be back for a few weeks in December before the project goes up) it was fascinating to sit in on the rehearsals, to watch French text be translated into english, then hindi/urdu, then back to french. It was also exciting to be in a room and understand a language-other-than-english being spoken!

There have also been rehearsals for a production of Kalidasa (considered to be the Shakespeare of India)'s classical Sanskrit poem Meghaduta (the Cloud Messanger) going on the past few days, which have been really terrific to watch. Our friend Sasi, a Kathakali (the dance form we saw a presentation of a few weeks ago) master, is up playing the lead in the piece/helping otherwise exclusively Bharata Natyam dancers assume the appropraite Kathakali style (though he is the only one actually performing using kathakali techniques). Last year Sasi spent 4 months at the University of North Dakota directing/choreographing a production of Kalidasa's most famous play, The Recognition of Sakuntala. Conner and I are extremely jealous of this. We are on a mission to bring Sasi to Vassar!

It is still very, very hot here and the humidity builds a little more each day, just teasing us as we wait for it to rain. Apparently it is supposed to get cooler once October hits. Oh man I hope so! We have one week left of the first 6-week sesion of our classes here, and the next session will begin on October 1. This doesnt change too much in our daily lives, except that there will be no more puppetry, and there will be Bhavai Folk Theater and Arts for Change. I have no idea yet what these thigns will entail, but as soon as I do I will share!

I leave you with a thought on Kathakali, because I grow more fascinated with the form every day:

"It didn't matter that the story had begun, because Kathakali discovered long ago that the secret of the Great Stories is that they have no secrets. The Great Stories are the ones you have heard and want to hear again. The ones you can entrer anywhere and inhabit comfortably. They don't deceive you with tricks and cheap endings. They don't surprise you with the unforseen. They are as familiar as the huose you live in. Or the smell of your lover's skin. You know how they end yet you listen as though you don't. In the way that although you know that one day you will die, you live as though you won't. In the Great Stories, you know who lives, who dies, who finds love, who doesn't. And yet you want to know again." From The God of Small Things

a

(more pictures soon)

India Wins!!

2007-09-16T13:38:00.000+05:30

Friday night: my frist cricket match.
The Scene: post dinner with Vanita (our Bharata Natyam teacher), Jain (Her husband/my singing teacher), and their two adorable children
(The Dinner: some amazing chicken and mutton at a great place literally off the side of the road)
The Place: Vanita and Jain's apartment
The Match: was AWESOME.

So i've never watched cricket. so i had No idea what even went on in cricket until friday night. All i knew was there was something called a wicket (but thats probably just because of LBW and not actually because of anything having to do with the sport!) Jain was very excited about this match in particular, since it was India v. Pakistan, and as we drove back to their place from the restaurant you could see everyone on the street crowding around storefronts to see what was going on.

With the new 20-20 rules, the match ended in a tie. India saved their skins in the last bowl. it was inTENSE. (btw i'm using all the cricket lingo i managed to pick up. you know, passing along the wisdom and what not) So they entered into a shoot out: 5 bowlers, 1 wicket keeper.

India bowled first. Wicket down. Pakistan bowled. A miss. India bowled. 2 wickets down. Pakistan bowled. Miss. India bowled. 3 wickets down. All the pressure is on the next Pakistani bowler. He missed, and India won!

I think I may have been converted. Don't be suprised if i come home sporting a cricket cap.

Short Stories

2007-09-14T14:15:00.000+05:30

If Only My Arm Were Longer...

Imagine a candy store. Like, a really good candy store, where they just have every single flavor, color, texture, size of candy ever created. Sensory overload right? Then imagine that when you walk in, the people working there start offering you tastes of every candy, putting them into complimentary combinations for you, opening the special cases and letting you sample the special expensive candy. Ok, you got that image? Good. Now substitute bangles for candy and that is what the bangle store i discovered on tuesday is like. You walk in and the walls are literally covered in colors. every color known to man--peacock blue, tangerine, blood red, gold, silver, grass green, canary yellow everything everything everything. With glitter, two tones, designs, you name it. If that weren't enough, one of the men who works there took me on a "how-to-pick-your-bangles" tour, where he showed me how you mix a base color (gold, silver, black...) with any other color and suddenly bracelets that were already beautiful become stunning combinations of color that you just want to cover your arms with. It took a while, but I finally settled on bases of gold and silver, and colors of green and deep purple. sometimes i like to just look at them. They also make a lovely clinking sound which makes dancing with them even more enjoyable.

Street Volleyball

Last night on the way to dinner Conner and I passed by the group of local kids who live in our neighborhood playing a game in the street. As they volleyed the ball back and forth to one another, one of them turned to us and asked if we would like to play. Our answer: absolutely! We took opposite sides and joined in the nameless game of whose rules we were oblivious. All in all I think we did alright! One of the boys on my team had clearly taken on the role of coach, cheering his teammates along in gujarati, and encouraging me with the choice english phrases he knew. Each time I successfully volleyed the ball over to the other team's side without them hitting it back (which I am assuming was the objective of the game) he would toss an "excellent" or "good shot" or "fantastic!" my way. Which felt great. I have no idea won the game, but I'm pretty sure it was my team. Conner might disagree. (he would be wrong)

I Thought This Was Weird

Today during Bharata Natyam a pigeon flew in through the door, straight into the wall, fell down, toddled over to a corner and stood there. For two hours. Through our entire dance class. Without moving. Then, as Conner were doing our closing exercise, the bird decided it was time to pack up and move on, and as abruptly as it came, hopped up and flew out the window.

A month in India

2007-09-11T16:55:00.000+05:30

It is official: this weekend marks the longest that I have ever been in another country, and the one-month-aversary of being in India! I am finding this difficult to believe, since on the one hand it feels like I just got here, and on the other a month seems like an impossibly long amount of time, considering that i've got 3 more of them before coming home. but as you can see it has been one hell of a month, so i'm not too worried about the quality of the next three!

This was a great weekend. On thursday night we were invited out to a restaurant opening! The restaurant belongs to the brother of Agit--a friend of Meha's with whom we have become aquainted--and so Conner and I were invited to come out celebrate with everyone. The restaurant specializes in Punjabi food and was delicious! Their main dish is the paratha--a flat, warm bread filled with anything you could ever imagine. From potatoes to green peas to cheese to garlic and onions!

Saturday night, on our way into town with Anahita we passed down a road that was littered with enourmous statues of Hindu gods, mainly of Ganesha (the elephant-faced god). I asked Anahita what was going on. She explained that the street is (ironicly) called Hollywood, and is populated by some of the poorest families in Ahmedabad. These families are all sculptors, and they spend the entire year preparing these statues for one day, when all of (Hindi)Ahmedabad comes out, purchases a statue, blesses it, and then sets it into the river to float away, as an offering to the Gods. Though Anahita couldnt remember when the festival is taking place this year, it seemed that by the quantity of statues ready on the street that it will be happening soon. I hope so. I can't imagine what it would be like to look out my window onto the river and see hundreds of statues floating by!

That night Anahita and her friend Ravi also convinved me a conner to try a new indian specialty--the Masala Soda. Yes, yes, it is exactly what it sounds like. A soda ceremoniously sprayed into a stein filled with masala spices at the bottom. The result: drinking masala spices. Neither Conner nor I was particularly thrilled by this combination, but it was worth trying!

Sunday we were fortunate enough to go see a presentation of Kathakali dance at the school of Architecture in Ahmedabad. Kathakali is one of the 7 main forms of Indian classical dance which means "dance-drama." The stories in Kathakali are narrated by a singer and drums, while the dancer tells the story with his hands and facial expressions. The use of hands/face as story telling devices is pretty consistant across the board in Indian Classical Dance, which is very strange to get used to for me and conner, as in the states acting with your face/hands is a cardinal sin! As i have been told by a wise, talented acting coach: gesture is the death of specificity! Although i do think that these gestures would be let go, since they are the definition of specificity. Indian dance has its own unique sign language--where certain placements of hands and arms are universally known to mean things like night, forest, dear, clouds, etc. It was an incredible demonstration! If you get the chance i reccomend looking up some pictures of Kathakali dancers in full dress and makeup. The makeup they use is so intense that it honestly lookds like the actor is wearing a mask. Kathakali actors also put poppyseeds in their eyes to make them pop-out, since eye movments are also depended on for conveying emotion!

Sunday night Conner and I had our first non-veg Indian food at the house of the head of Darpana Communications, who had us over for dinner and drinks. Mallika (the darpana director) instructed me and conner that she was requiring us to get a drunkard's license, so then at least they can all drink legally. glad to know we are good for something! ;)

Classes continue to go well, and after a month of struggling with the positioning etc., I think my body is finally getting the hang of Bharata Natyam! I feel myself picking up on the steps and the form a little faster. And I love it. It is such a fascinating form to study, and even though I might not be getting it exaclty right yet, I love being able to actually do it as well! As for our puppet show, the performance is set for a week from yesterday. The script is written mainly by conner, and we have a soundtrack that consists of: it's a wonderful life by Ace of Base, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and I would walk 500 miles. We'll let you know how it is received ;)

Thats all for now, since I have to run to my flute lesson, but more to come soon, and maybe more pictures as well!

hari aum
amanda

Pictures....as promised!

2007-09-06T18:32:00.000+05:30

Me Conner and the Infamous Naina

Conner making his puppet in puppetry

My Birthday Cake!!

The quintessential JYA picture: me and conner with a group of school children (for whom I sang Avril Lavigne)

Dinner at Naina's with her mom and aunt

Conner and Me in front of one of the temples Naina took us to

Me, on the second day of classes, practicing my Bharata Natyam

93 degrees and sunny in Ahmedabad

2007-09-05T16:18:00.000+05:30

I'll begin this post with a little story which should put you all in the appropriate place for the blog today:
Every day after our morning classes are over, C and I head to the cafe next door for lunch. Sometimes we order random things off the menu to try things out, but more often than not we opt for the standard "lunch" which consists of 3 dishes in small bowls, chapatis (flat circular bread, tortilla-esque) and rice. However, you have to eat all of your chapatis before you can start on the rice--they are separate courses. This confused us enough, in addition the fact that Conner and i are slowly but surely getting used to the india style of eating (which basically means using only your right hand, and no utensils). Let me set the scene for you: each day the bowls are filled with something along the lines of mixed veggies (delish) beans (delish) and usually a liquid/curry dish. Conner and I (starving after 4+hours of dance/yoga) begin tearing our chapatis (a feat when using only one hand!) into pieces which are to be used to pick up the food. NOTE: chapatis should NOT be used to pile all of your food into like a burrito. this is foreigner mistake #1! when the chapatis are gone, then you get rice, mix everything that is left into it, and eat it with your hands. conner has somehow managed to master this skill. i, on the other hand, ended lunch with both of my hands, my chin, and a good portion of my clothing covered in food. we did, however, get a grin-filled thumbs-up from the cafe owner, who shouted to us that we were (finally) eating the right way!

Now that i have whet your appetites, let's jump into whats been a-happenin' in Ahmedabad:

I suppose one of the biggest events has been that we moved! Not far, just across the street from our old apartment, and now we are living in the same complex as Meha, which means that the 3 of us are sharing a kitchen/bathroom. it is great to have that added element of community to our daily lives, and i'm hoping that the 3 of us can get our stuff together enough to start actually cooking in our apartment. meha and i are also planning on having an arts and crafts night every week, since she loves doing paper mache/origami/other craft things and really, who doesnt love arts and crafts? The only part of our move that has been rough so far is that our new bedroom doesnt have an AC. This combined with the fact that it has been unbearably hot the past few days does not equal good sleeping times. i am hoping that somebody can provide us with an extra floor fan or something to help cool down the room a bit!

The move came at a great time actually, because the other night conner and i got home to our (old) apartment to find an ant invasion in our bathroom. i dont know if i have mentioned it on here before, but the ants in india? killer ants. well, some of them are. they apparently have pincer-esque things on their buts and they clamp them onto you in defence, leave the pincers in you and run away. how do i know this? one of the toes on my left foot had the unfortunate experience of meeting one of these ants. it full on bled. true story. needless to say, Conner and I were none too pleased to have these guys in our bathroom (to be fair, we didnt confirm if they were actually the killer ants, or their docile cousins--normal ants--but we didnt want to risk it). So we started eliminating. Armed with Deet and a bowl for crushing we must have killed over a hundred ants as the crawled through the bathroom window! with our powers combined we smoked them out, and we havent seen them since. Still, we are very much enjoying our new ant-free bathroom across the street.

Pappan left last week, which was sad for everyone involved, so now we have a new Kalari teacher, named Bineesh, who came up from Kerela to teach while Pappan is gone. His style is very different from Pappan (he teaches straight up Kalari martial arts while Pappan was half martial arts half dance), and while in some ways it is easier to get through class with Bineesh (stamina wise) I am finding myself less and less interested in Kalari. I suppose i am beginning to consider the physical strain i undergo doing kalari, then yoga, then bharata natyam every morning, and since i have more interest in bharata natyam, i have decided that for the second session here i am going to stop taking kalari so that i can focus my time and energy on bharata natyam

Sunday night we went to this awesome jazz concert at a local school in Ahmedabad, which was sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center. The members of the band had been selected out of a pool of applicants to make up this special "all-star" tour, and they are traveling to Malaysia, India and China. We went with Meha, Reavanta, Anahita, and Arundathi. It was great and such a trip to be at an outdoor jazz concert in the middle of Ahmedabad. At one point in the concert Anahita couldnt keep her dancin' feet still and she and Revanta jumped up and started swing dancing in front of the stage! Conner and I were pulling out our best Charleston, but we kept more to the sidelines.

I purchased my very own South Indian reed flute on friday! Rajesh, my flute guru, took me to a music store in Ahmedabad where we stood looking at a huge bookshelf of flutes trying to find the right one. They let you test out the flutes right there in the store until you find the one that best fits you. It was like Harry Potter with his wands! Unfortunately, because we are in North India, the store didnt actually have too many South Indian flutes (the difference being that one is played vertically (n. india) and the other horizontally (s.india). So, i bought one that he had for the time being, and the store is ordering a nicer one for me to get as soon as it arrives. So far I have learned the Sapthswaras (7 notes) of South Indian Classical Music: sa ree ga ma pa da nee sa. (kinda like the Indian do re me!)

Yesterday was Lord Krishna's birthday, so we didnt have classes, and though i didnt get to go out and see too much of the festivities (i was feeling a little under the weather..boo) Naina did bring over a container of special holiday sweets that her mother baked, which was very sweet of her and so i got to participate in the holiday the best way i could--by eating! Conner, Anahita and I capped off the evening with our own special way of celebrating....watching The Incredibles. Meha and I are planning to go see ratatouille soon, since it seems that everyone in both india and america has seen it by now except us. i am tres excited!

so, i think that brings us up to date for the most part. i promise pictures will be coming soon (tomorrow mayhaps?)

time to make some puppets!

a

just a quicky

2007-08-30T17:01:00.000+05:30

a fast post before my flute lesson (and before the mosquitos in this booth eat me alive!)

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF CLASSES VASSAR!

to everyone reading this from our home at VC, i hope this semester gets off to a great start! i think of you all the time, and cant wait to hear about your lives as things begin falling into place.

i promise to write more this weekend when i have a little more time. but things are going very well, the soreness is beginning to abate (permanently, lets hope!) and each day i am becoming a little more limber, a little bit stronger, and a little bit more able to hold the positions in Bharata Natyam for more than what feels like just a few seconds!

all my love
a

A Tale of Two Cities

2007-08-28T12:07:00.000+05:30

NOTE: new cell phone number (i dont understand SIM cards i swear....)
same pre-number ritual as before, but now the number itself is:
9898468211
this will hopefully be the last phone number update

So, this has been a relaxing 4 day weekend! Saturday night was Poppan's house warming, which was lovely and it was great to be in a social situation with all of the people we see everyday. Darpana has some really fantastic people working for them! I sat next to Amman (Darpana's founder...the woman from the sources video for those of you who know this story...) at dinner and we chatted about Indian clothes, and women's body issues and how i dont count calaries (as i gleefully accepted another bowl of the.best.ice cream i have ever eaten in my life), and then after the party we hung out with her granddaugher, whose name is Anahita. She took me and conner out on the town with a friend of her's and as we were driving around I looked at Conner and asked him "do you feel like you are in a different city?"

I say this because suddenly we found ourselves in the Times Square of Ahmedabad; what was once the outskirts has--only in the past 3 years Revanta says--exploded with strip malls and real malls and movie theatres and neon lights. We went to Cafe Coffee Day (or CCD, the Ahmedabad equivalent of Starbucks) and then drove around playing loud music in the car and singing along. it felt like high school....in india?

the next night we had dinner with Naina in the old city, (Ahmedabad is divided into 2, the new city and old city, by the river that runs down its center. We live on the new, or west side, right on the river), which felt much more like the Ahmedabad i have come to know. we learned how to cook chapatis (flat bread) over the single burner in her mother's kitchen and all sat around in her living room eating dinner and learning various signs/hand movements for Bharata Natyam. flash forward to last night, when we joined Anahita and Revanta for dinner and a movie, american style. literally. the movie was rush hour 3, the dinner was pizza hut. (dont judge me!) it was just incredibly bizarre. there are times when i am here when i am so incredibly aware of being in India and then there are other times when i could seriously be, well, anywhere. the mall comlex place where we saw the movie could have been any one of the malls where i ate lunch in Israel, or city center for that matter.

for the holiday today, i bought conner a bracelet (in honor of his being my brother etc..see previous entry for more on this tradition) with spider man on it. (Anahita explained to us that they make these bizarre ones...there were pokemon and ugly betty bracelets as well, but that the more traditional ones are just beads on string). he was very excited about it!

we start classes again tomorrow, and though i will be relieved to have activities to fill the day, i am a little concerned that after 4 days off my legs are in for pain pain pain mgee. again.

A funfact about Indian Mythology:
In reading about the different underworlds of indian mythology, and the various punnishments associated with each, i learned the following: "those who kill mosquitos are tortured with sleeplesness"
looks like conner and i are in for an eternity of sleepless nights!

love and samosas
amanda

ps. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY!

I turned 20....?

2007-08-25T15:13:00.000+05:30

First of all, let me start this post by thanking all of you for writing/posting/calling/facebooking for my birthday. It was an incredible day, but very hard to be so far away from everyone i love, and hearing from all of you really, really made the day.

So i guess i should start with the birthday celebrations. We began on thursday night, when Meha threw a housewarming party/birthday party for me. So conner and I got to meet some of Meha's Ahmedabad friends, who are amazing and hopefully we will continue to spend time with them throughout our stay here. We had some illegal vodka in the house, (the drinking age in India is 18, but Gujarat is a dry state in honor of Gandhi, so in order to get alcohol one has to prove that they are not Gujarati, and then obtain what is called a "drunkard's license." i kid not. I dont have one yet, but am seriously considering getting one just for the novelty of it!), and with so many dancers in the house, sitting around and chatting quickly turned into a dance party. I wont lie its pretty crazy to be in India dancing to songs that are staples of my life at home (ghetto superstar, taking it back to 5th grade, or turn me on--a shoutout to the girls who share this song with me...you know who you are!) and then have crazy Indian remixes playing as well. One of Meha's friends from her dance class led me in a birthday salsa dance (him leading very well, me being flung around and pretending i knew what i was doing...apparently i fooled some people!) The highlight of the evening, however, was being taught the proper way to dance Bollywood style to Punjabi MC as it turned midnight, and then being presented with a cake that read Happy Birthday Dear Amanda. (The cake was Meha's friend's idea...a guy i had met only twice before the party).

I am telling you, the Indian concept of hospitality is unlike anything i have ever experienced before in my life. My birthday itself was filled with warm wishes from literally everyone i ran into (the traditional Indian birthday greeting is to take the persons hand and wish them "many returns of the day.") My Bharata Natyam teacher brought in a traditional Kerela dessert for me and conner and gave me a gift (a beautiful green necklace). A mother and her daughter who take classes at Darpana (and again who i have only met once or twice) baked a home-made Gujarati dessert that tastes like shortbread with an Indian kick, and brought flowers. It was unbelievable. I felt myself missing home very very much when i woke up yesterday morning, and while i continued to feel that way very much throughout the day, the warmth that i found in the community here had its own feelings and qualities of home. The night capped off with the birthday party of one of Vanita (my Bhata Natyam teacher)'s younger students, to which Conner and I were invited. A group of joyful, smiling 13 year old girls greeted us, shook our hands, fed us (the most incredible food oh.my.god!) and joined in my and conner's game of smear-chocolate-frosting -on-your-face.

This idea of hospitality has been my favorite part of Indian culture thus far. Immediately Conner and I are regarded as not strangers, not students, but as good friends, and as such, we are constantly being invited to our teachers houses for tea or dinners. Tonight we are going to a housewarming party for Pappin, our Kalari teacher, and the most incredible man in India. (unfortunately Pappin is leaving on the 30th to choreograph a production of Midsummer in London. Fortunately said production will be touring in the states in May, in which case Conner and I are going to fight tooth and nail to get him up to Vassar to teach a workshop!). During this hiatus, Pappin (who also has an apartment right next door to me and conner) has offered us the key to said apartment so that we can watch movies/play music/read his books while he is gone. Basically, he is giving us his house for 2.5 months. WHAT? Who does that?

The hardest part about this overwhelming friendliness is that saying Thank You is not considered appropriate. If anything, among good friends, it is considered rude, because it implies that the person has gone out of their way to do something, rather than doing something because they want to. (As Pappin says "Good friends NEVER say thank you). Now, having been raised very well by my mom (thanks mommy!) to be polite and grateful, i say thank you all.the.time. and i dont know how to turn it off. how are you supposed to not say thank you when someone invites you to their home for dinner, cooks an entire meal for you and makes you tea? It is very difficult to get used to.

Naina hasn't been feeling well this week, so unfortunately i dont have any crazy naina stories to share (we are having dinner at her house tomorrow night, so there will be some coming soon!). However, we did have a bizarre experience on Thursday when our Puppetry teacher took us to what he called "an exhibition at his school." Now being that he is a puppetry teacher/handicraft artist, i think both Conner and I were expecting an art exhibit. What we found was the Gujarat state middle school talent competition, or the indian equivalent of such. There were competitions in group song, group dance, skit, etc. There was one group from Ahmedabad who kept winning, so my puppetry teacher (with whom there is a serious language barrier...we need a translator in class....) kept telling me to take pictures, which i did discretely in my seat. Next thing i know he is lining the kids up, pulling them of stage to pose for a picture so i could photograph them. After some initial discomfort (it feels very strange having a group of children line up so you can photograph them...it was a feeling of entitlement that i neither asked for nor desired), i jumped into the picture with them to at least be a part of the experience and not an uncomfortable outside force. They were really sweet kids who chatted with me and conner for a few minutes afterwords, them asking me about New York, me asking them about dance and talking about singing. When i told them that i was a singer too they asked me to sing a song by their favorite American singer--Avril Lavigne. Then one of their teachers took a video on his phone of me singing Complicated to a group of children in India. Weird. The teachers then toured us around the school showing us projects the kids had been doing on Australia and Rajasthan (random, i know. I dont quite know why Australia, but i also keep forgetting how much closer i am to australia now than usually. maybe its like us studying canada? maybe...) but these projects were unlike anything i ever made when i was 12--to scale models of buildings and bridges complete with little cars and little people, and reports of every fact known to man about said building. The kids who toured us around recited facts about these places like machines--how much steel was used to build the Sydney Harbor Bridge, or how much coal is mined in Australia each day. One kid had even build a working model of Australian irrigation systems. It reminded me of Lil's failed attempt to build a beam engine for Trestle (i love you lil!). These kids would have put that beam engine to shame. (then again, putting that model to shame wouldnt take much.....)

Our puppetry class is a lot of fun, although it is slow going. Right now we are making our puppets, which means drawing them, tracing them onto goat leather, re-tracing the detail on the other side of the goat leather, cutting them out, coloring them, adding hinges and only then rehearsing. Conner and I are telling the story of Orpheus and Eurydice in our puppet show. He made Eurydice and I made Orpheus (because why be heteronormative and make the puppet of your own sex?) At first our teachers offered us the option of drawing our own puppets, but after Conner's Eurydice came out wearing combat boots and my Orpheus looked like a 15 year old english school boy (complete with jaunty cap!) our teachers insisted that we trace the existing puppets of Rama and Sita (hero and heroine of the Indian Epic The Ramayana). We were given creative licencing in the details, however, so as it now stands Eurydice is an anime-esque cowgirl and orpheus is an unshaven, homeless street musician wearing a top hat. i dont think our teachers find this quite as amusing as we do!

Our other classes continue to go well, though Kalari and Bharata Natyam still prove very difficult to get the hang of. I think that because we are only here for such a short period of time (considering that it usually takes 7 years to complete all of Bharata Natyam) our teachers are really really pushing us through things quickly. Which is great because we get to see a lot more of the form, but hard because we dont really have time to fully settle into and learn one step/movement before we have to move onto the next. I have faith that at some point things will converge and we will be up to learning at the speed we are going, but we arent quite there yet! I think that for the moment our favorite part of the day is our music lessons. conner is learning the mridungam, a traditional drum of South India that provides the beat for Bharata Natyam, and i have taken up the indian classical flute. It is very different than the western classical flute and has difficult to get the hang of. In 3 lessons i have managed to (semi) master the Saptheswaras, or 7 Notes (Indian equivalent of do, re, mi, etc), which are SA, RI,GA,MA,PA,DA,NI,SA. Each flute is pitched to a specific key, and some of the fingerings for the notes are like "half fingers" meaning your finger only half covers the hole. it is very strange, and giving me a little trouble, but next week my guru (teacher) is taking me to get my own flute, so that i can practice at home. (each flute he says costs about $150 rupees. approximately $2.50 american. sweet!) I am also hoping to start singing lessons with Vanita's husband who is the head of the music department at Darpana, and the main singing for their troupe of dancers. I have my first lesson with him at 5:30 on wednesday!

We dont have classes monday or tuesday. Monday is the Kerala New Year, and although we are in Gujarat, most of the teachers at Darpana are from Kerela (the state in South India where Bharata Natyam originated). Tuesday is Racksha Bundun, which Vanita translated for us as "to protect the bond." On this day brothers and sisters give eachother string-bracelets and little gifts. Vanita told us that the legend of this holiday comes from the story of a Hindu queen whose kingdom was being attacked by Muslim invaders. She sent a string bracelet and letter to a Muslim king with whom she was friends, requesting his help and pledging her bond of sisterhood to him. The king, though he was going to be fighting another Muslim, rushed to the rescue of the Hindu Queen. Although he was too late to save her, their bond and promise of protection is highly valued and celebrated.

I am going to close this already extremely long post with two quotations with which i have fallen in love this week. I have been doing a lot of research here to gather ideas for my potential thesis, and continue to stumble across ideas and thoughts that greatly excite me. These two i find particularly beautiful. I hope you enjoy them!

all my love
a

"there is in Hindu thought, an essential similarity between the saint and the lover. Both are consumed and tortured by the devouring fire of passionate love with its everlasting hope of consummation. With one difference. The saint does not seek happiness. He seeks understanding, comprehension and perfect knowledge. His seeking is a sublimation of the qualities of passion, a transience into devotion, surrender and egolessness. Yet, till that Oneness is reached, the concentrated conscious pursuit of the Beloved can be understood by the transient ecstasy of human commitment. A man who is bound to a woman [or vice versa] with as much intensity of attachment as possible in an ephemeral world, can comprehend a limitless state of bliss that is eternal. The ananda or bliss of the Supreme Brahma cannot be measured by the physical and mental rapturous involvement of lovers, yet the utter surrender of the two merged into one, and the complete though, momentary peace, is an infinitesimal glimpse of that absolute union with God. It illuminates for man a near-perfect experience, and is the beginning of transformation, for a human soul having known once a moment of complete surrender, will turn inwards, seeking eternal love."*

"The search for the ultimate Truth can only be through emotions that stir us deeply and violently."*

*Quotations attributed to Mrinalini Sarabhai, brackets attributed to me.

(ps. for my measure girls--the cafe where we eat lunch tends to play the most bizarre collections of american music ever, and today what came on? Stay. but singing it without you just doesnt feel right. i think about you ladies all the time. sing singy sing love)

Bindis and Bangles

2007-08-20T15:31:00.000+05:30

Here's a fun story for all you home listeners:

Yesterday was mine and conner's first full day off since we have started classes, and so--after sleeping in and having a leisurely lunch, we decided to brave the treacherous streets of Ahmedabad, and walk just a few blocks to this little park/garden we had seen as we passed in a rickshaw. Sunday in the park. Some reading, some thinking about what kind of play to do for our puppetry class, some card games. Sounds good yes? Well, no sooner had we entered the park than all eyes--of course--began watching us as we looked around for a shady place to set down our blanket. No sooner had we sat than a group of 3 indian boys came over and started chatting with me and conner, asking to see our books, where we were from, what our names were etc. Now, conner is friendlier than I tend to be in these kinds of situations, so after smiling politely i took out my book and started reading, determined not to let everyones fascination with the pale skin interrupt my leisurely sunday. Alas, between the 4 year old girls being sent to us begging for money, and the constant staring eyes, it was clear that this was going to be anything but. At one point, there were about 6 indian men standing around our blanket, one of whom thought that it would be hysterical (or something) to snap a picture of me on his camera-phone. At which point I decided that it was time to go.

This leads me to one of the most striking cultural differences I have observed in this past week. It is difficult to compare this kind of situation to New York, as nobody ever seems to stick out in New York, but lets just say for the hell of it that one day a 3-headed fuscia alien walks down 5th avenue. that would stick out. except that in New York, people dont stare. in fact, people often seem to make it their business NOT to stare. Yet in Ahmedabad not only do people find it perfectly OK to stare (and i dont just mean a double take as they pass on teh street. i mean legit full on not blinking staring), but also to shout things as us as they/we pass. Like HELLOOOO or OOOH AMERICA or any number of comments in gujarati/hindi which i will never know. It has certainly been a change--and a real look into what it is like not to be in the majority all the time.

On a lighter note--Conner and I had dinner at Naina's house last night, where her mother cooked us an absolutely delicious (albeit enormous) dinner. Before that, however, (because with Naina there is always a before that) we went to visit a friend of hers who lives in the residences of the largest temple in Ahmedabad. He is a sanskrit scholar and professor, and we had a great time trying to explain American culture to him, with Naina translating. He asked Conner and I if we were married (to each other), then asked if we were married (at all). Conner then got down on one knee and "proposed" to Naina to explain to her courtship in the states. Oh i wish i had had my camera out to catch the expression on her face. There is something about a man down on his knee with a ring that reduces even women who dont know what the hell is going on into blubbering, sighing schoolgirls.

Dinner was delicious--potatoes both sweet and spicy, some pickled mangos, rice, puri, and this very sweet gujarati dish called shiro. After dinner Naina and her mom decked me out with Bindis and Bangles, so that i can have proper ornamentation when i dance. The bangles took some squeezing to get on, and i can safely say that they will be staying on for...well, ever.

Our classes are still good, although the organization has been sub-par. The majority of the company has been on tour since we got here, including Revanta, the man who runs the educational component of Darpana and with whom I have been in contact all year. SO, some of the classes we signed up for have yet to happen, some have not received money to purchase the necessary supplies, and all of the above consist of just me and conner. which i suppose isnt so much of an organizational thing as it is we are the only two foreign students here. This has its benefits, (a very nice student-teacher ratio!) but is also a little bit strange. The company gets back tonight so we both have hopes that things will start to fall into place a little more this week.

Oh, and yes, until I am corrected of this fact, conner's and my mailing address is as follows:

Amanda/Conner
C/O The Darpana Academy of Performing Arts
Usmanpura, Ahmedabad 380013
India

We have located the post office, which (great news) is right down the street, and we have some pretty snazzy stationary that we bought at a local bookstore, so who knows? send us things and you might just get your very own, handwritten (gasp!) letter from India!

all my love
a

Team Rebel Without a Sash

2007-08-18T14:45:00.000+05:30

Re the title of this entry: conner and i are a team. we have team names. todays name: rebel without a sash (because conner has yet to purchase a sash/belt for our dance class, and i waited to put mine on until the last minute today. REBEL!) Past team names have included: team pimp-master general, team omega-saffron, and team sweet&spicy.

So far in our time in Ahmedabad, i would say that the most interesting experiences we have had have come in the company of an Indian woman by the name of Naina, who is a professional dancer (kuchipudi primarily, but she is also studying Kalari at Darpana, as well as Bharata Natyam), and who loves nothing more in her free time than to take "foriegners" out on the town. Conner and I are her two new favorite people? You will recall a teaster in my last post about a demotologist, a rickshaw and a stick? Lets start at the beginning, shall i?

Our fist day here we were running errands, trying to get a cell phone, and special indian dance clothes for our bharata natyam class. After having gotten the phone we were waiting for one of the women who works at Darpana (an american-indian woman named Meha who is taking a year off from getting her PHD at Columbia to be here), when Naina approached us and said "you need dance clothes, i will take you come with me!" From there the 3 of us pile into an auto-rickshaw (a little cabin built atop a 3-wheeled scooter) and jetted off through Ahmedabad to the old bazaar in the old city, where we proceeded to visit a total of 5 differnt vendors in the search for the right dance clothes. From there, the best way i can describe the experience is as if we were in a movie montage, where the boy and girl get a makeover and great 80's music plays. With a single word from Naina shop owners would pull yards of fabric off the shelves, sending them flying through the air with flair and holding them up to us as Naina either approved or dismissed the shades/patterns. Conner compares the exprience to Harry Potter getting his clothes for Hogwarts for the first time, and still refers to his outfits as his "dress robes".
On the way through the bazaar, conner and I noticed that everyone--literally everyone--was staring at us--the only white people for miles. (6 days later, we have yet to see any other white people other than ourselves!) We must have seemed so strange, in fact, that as we drove past a young woman with a bamboo pole in her hand, she reached into the rickshaw as we were paused for a moment and poked me with it! Not hard, and no damage done, but it might have been one of the most bizarre things i have ever experienced.

The next day Naina told us we were going out for tea, but first we had to stop to visit a very good friend of hers--like a father to her she said. So, we went up to this mans office only to find that he was her demotologist, and we were just tagging along for her appointment! After he checked her out we sat for another 10 minutes as he showed us before/after pictures of his patients with some of the worst cases of acne i have ever seen in my life. Dont worry--the after pictures were great! so if i get a killer case of acne while here, i know who to call.

Yesterday something similar happened, as we accompanied Naina to the Indo-American Education Society, a non-profit organization that helps Indian students who want to pursue graduate/undergraduate degrees in the US apply to schools. We were there as her references. What kind of credibility we have, i dont know! but we are supposed to go back on tuesday the visit with the director. After that she took us to see two incredibly stunning temples, one is a Jain temple, and the other a temple to the Hindu god Narayana.

Speaking of Hindu gods, Conner and i are learning in our Bharata Natyam class about the history behind the dance as well, and our teacher likes to test us between exercises, to give our thighs a rest and to exercise our brains. Today as we were resting she asked us "who is the lord of the dance." to which we both replied in confused, slightly hesitant voices...."michael flatley?" Only to remember seconds later that this is India, and here the lord of the dance (or natyaraja) is Lord Shiva.

Classes are going well, but remain incredibly difficult physically. Our schedule thus far has been:
Kalari (a martial art/dance form related to kung fu/karate etc) 7am-8am
Yoga 8:30-930
Bharata Natyam: 10-11:30
(at which point our thighs are shaking uncontrollably and we can hardly walk)
Lunch (with the BEST tea i have ever had in my life)
rest/break
Puppetry/Music lessons 4-6

The music lessons havent yet begun, but we are hoping to start next week, conner on the drums, me on the flute.

We have been eating most of our meals at the cafe next door, where every day they suprise us with a new kind of dish, or from the woman who lives next door with her 2 children, who make lunch and dinner to order every day. Two nights ago the son--Annand--brought us our dinner and starting chatting with us about New York. His side of the conversation went "New York--I love spider man! Spider man 2 is a great movie!" And he made the web slinging gesture, and another gesture slightly too close to his crotch for comfort, which confused us greatly. Pretty soon his sister joined the mix, and we were having a lovely time trying to break the language barrier when a lizard (of which there are many in the apartment--but we keep the around so that they eat the mosquitos) jumped down from the wall onto the plates of food, and then onto conner's leg. the scene went as follows:
Me, Annand and his sister: screaming and recoiling into our seats
Conner (in a calm, rational voice to overcompensate for the terror): its on me. it. is. on. me.
the lizard: wtf
The lizard then ran off, as did our two friends.

As for wildlife: there are some wild peacocks that hang out around Darpana, which are beautiful and really strange to see in the wild. They are also incredibly clumsy flyers, and seem more like they are just jumping from place to place and flapping their wings. We also discovered a family of monkies in the tree outside our house yesterday, which made me so unbelievably giddy that i took mmm maybe 10 pictures of them. Conner's plan is to befriend the wild dogs in the neighborhood and make them into his posse. My plan is to befriend the monkies.

Ahmedabad is a crazy city--not very walkable unfortunately (apparently most indian cities are not), and so an auto-rickshaw is required to get to most anywhere. Your average ride costs about 20 rupees (roughly 50 cents) so it isnt bad, but as a new yorker i feel a bit stifled not being able to walk where i need to go. I am excited that classes have started, so that i can start feeling out a daily/weekly routine, which will help me to conceptualize myself here a bit more. As of now i still find myself feeling a bit dazed and confused (big suprise), unsure of where the hell i am, and suprised to find that i am indeed in India.

Well, that was one hell of an update, so I'll leave you for now, but keep commenting and emailing, as i love hearing from all of you, and i will write again soon!
(pictures to come i promise, as soon as i can find a computer to hook my camera up to!)

disease free for 6-days and going strong!
me

Happy Indian Independance Day!

2007-08-15T16:27:00.000+05:30

Just a quick update before my internet time runs out:

1- Refer to title
2- I was wrong about the cell phone. Dial international calling code 011, then the india code, NO CITY CODE then the cell phone number
3-so much love from india
4-classes start tomorrow. yipeeee
5-fun stories to come when i have more time involving rickshaws, a stick, and a dermatologist

love
us

Finally Here!

2007-08-13T14:32:00.000+05:30

It took 3 flights (one cancelled and rescheduled 5.5 hours later..), one lost bag (mine, last reported somewhere near frankfurt...) and one pair of ripped pants (again, me, straight down the crotch as we waited for the bag that never arrived in Mumbai), but we are finally here. And can i just say, it is totally worth everything i have listed above.

Conner and I are living in one of the guest houses just down the street from the campus. We have a small kitchen-ette (a stove-top and a fridge), a bathroom, and 2 bedrooms in a lovely yellow building with orange trim that faces out onto the river.

The campus is nestled into a clearing of beautiful old trees, which often grow right through the floor of the rooms, and the main rehearsal spaces are out in the open air, under the trees. A peacock was sitting in the tree overhead as we toured through.

We start yoga tomorrow, independance day is on wednesday, and on thursday we jump head-first into our classes--a full load of dancing and martial arts and puppetry!

We also now have a cell phone. So find a cheap way to call us and give us a ring!

Country code: 91
Ahmedabad code: 79
phone number: 9998344367
So alltogether now that is: 91.79.9998344367

Thats all for now. (we've been awake for longer than our brains are able to count)

ps. on the way into town from the airport we saw on the street: cows, rickshaws, donkeys, bikes, goats, dogs, chickens, busses, camels and an elephant.

a dream, a chance, and a great adventure

2007-08-12T01:47:00.000+05:30

To the airport! The backpack--filled to capacity with over the counter pills, toiletries, toilet paper, and a few articles of clothing--is sitting in the trunk of the car just waiting for its maiden voyage. The carry on--filled with malaria pills, books, my journal and travel pillow--is sitting here next to me on the computer table, anxious to go. And I--sipping a glass of lemonade and bumming around online ignoring the fact that I am about to board a plane and fly halfway across the world--am trying to ignore all the nerves pulsating in me at the moment.

I'm off on my adventure! To find answers, and hopefully to find infinitely more questions.

See you in India ;)

packed and (almost) ready to go

2007-08-10T08:34:00.000+05:30

“Valmiki the poet looked down into the water held cupped in his hand and saw into the past. Before he looked, he thought the world was sweet poison. Men seeming to be living in lies, not knowing where their ways went. The days seemed made of ignorance and doubt, and cast from deception and illusion . But in the water he saw—a dream, a chance, and a great adventure. Valmiki trusted the True and forgot the rest; he found the whole universe like a bright jewel set firm in forgiving and held fast by love.
Widen your heart. Abandon anger. Believe me, your few days are numbered; make one fast choice now and no second!”*

*from William Buck's retelling of the India epic, The Ramayana