Udaipur: Fairy tale city and the Monsoon Palace.

So it was time for my next journey! Yes, again. After not had traveled at all during my first two months here, I did a lot in a short period of time. But it has mostly to do with all the holidays that has been this month. This time it was Diwali, the Hindu version of Christmas I guess. I also traded the Monday at school for a Saturday in the future.

Oh well, the Friday of the journey, (this time to Rajasthan) started badly. As I stepped out of the taxi when going to work, the strap of my backpack broke. Darn crappy 500-rupee street bought backpack! Then soon later I discovered that someone had stolen 600-700 rupees from my pocket. Oh well, I had more money, and at least I was able to borrow a bag from work that could use for the trip. It helped a lot.

In the morning I went along with Swati to my favorite slum community, and visited some of the kids that I like so much. The afternoon was calmer.. and I prepared myself mentally for the journey.
Then it was finally time to go and I took a taxi towards the airport. The traffic was sooo bad, and I became worried that I would miss the plane. I started to hope that the taxi had a built in rocket launcher, so that it could clear the traffic ahead (it's not the first time I've had those thoughts). When I was about to arrive I realized that the two airports have the same name and that I was headed to the wrong one! What type of a complete idiot decided to give them the same name? Seriously. Luckily, they weren't too far apart.. and I did make it. Yeee-haaa!
And as a happy ending of a otherwise pretty crappy day, I was upgraded to business class since it was full. He he he... tadi tada.

When I sat down at business class, my first thought was that this is the place where they should put the really fat people (I did not have a politically correct mindset at that point). I had planned to sleep the entire trip, but now I was too excited to do so. I wanted to enjoy the entire experience. Gourmet dinner and all. I thought this upgrade to business class was an urban legend, or something that just happened in the movies. Now I was expecting that the love of my life should sit down next to me. I mean, the whole thing had to have a purpose to it? But instead a middle aged, partly bald Indian business man sat down next to me. The hope came back when he realized that he had sat down on the wrong seat ...but instead he was replaced by an even older and balder Indian business guy.
He slept most of the trip, so I couldn't find out if he had a single daughter that was looking for a Swedish man.

The planbe arrived to Jaipur in Rajasthan, but I was going to spend my first two days in Udaipur, further south, so I took an auto rickshaw directly to the train station where I was going to take the night train. It was a bumpy and interesting ride. I was confused in the beginning to what the high pitch bird sound was, until I realized that it was the sound that the rickshaw had instead of the regular annoying honking sound.

Well on the train I discovered that my seat bunk number didn't exist, so I chose the one closest to it, and by that way I got to know a man and a woman from South Africa. Garth and Charlene. They weren't a couple, but were traveling together. I had a nice chat with them before going to sleep.

This train trip was the bumpiest in my life. I felt like a wasp being shaken inside a matchbox by some child. So I was pretty tired when arriving to Udaipur ...two hours late. I told my rickshaw driver to take me to an area of town that had lots of places to sleep according to Lonely Planet. I didn't feel like looking around, so I picked the first one... and it was a lucky shot. I really liked the place. I got a cheap room with a window view over the lake, and on the roof top they had a restaurant with an even more beautiful view. Lake Pichola is a lake with two Palaces in the middle of it. One of them was used in the James Bond movie Octopussy. Udaipur was truly a spectacular city. Couldn't wait to discover it. It was truly like a fairy tail city. Even though it had tons of Western tourists, it still kept its charm.

I was tired, but didn't want to sleep away my time, so I just dug right in to it. I spent my first day walking around and discovering the city on my own. I shopped a lot, and I bargained a lot. I got sick of bargaining from time to time, and just kept it short and told the maximum price. I made some really good deals... but probably also some less good ones too. I did get some really interesting things. But ironically, the last shop that I ended up visiting for the day ended up being the one I should have started at from the beginning. He had some really good deals on his stuff. The shop owner was a man from Kashmir that was selling things from that area. Oh well. Life is ironic.

I had a really good nights sleep on a king size bed that was all mine ...aaaall mine! The next morning I went and got an Ayurvedic massage. I needed a massage bad. But it was not the relaxing kind that I was hoping for, but instead it was this partially painful torture ..and I kept thinking that it is supposed to feel good afterwards. He pushed at some really sensitive spots, and it hurt so I probably wouldn't be able to say anything even if I wanted to. The weirdest part was when he "massaged" my scalp... well, it felt more like he was trying to scrape of my hair, and that I would see patches of my hair fall down in front of me. Hmmm... that was actually not the weirdest part, I think the weirdest part was when the massage dude asked me if I had a business card or had a cell phone number. I'm glad that I still haven't memorized it ..not that I would have given it to him anyway.
I did at least better after afterward .. physically, for a little while.

I spent the rest of the day having a auto rickshaw tour with Bellu, the driver that drove me from the train station the day before. He took me to various places in the outskirts and outside town. It was really interesting. I visited lots of interesting places, and he patiently waited for me each time, whether I visited a palace, a museum, a park, took a short ferry to an island in the Fateh Sagar Lake. There were many nice sights, and one of the more interesting ones was Ahar. Ahar is like a city filled with dome like monuments built for the maharajas of Mewar. I had it almost all for myself and it was an interesting to walk around among these monuments. A truly oriental fairy tale feeling. I even run in to a smaller puppy colony there. One of them approached me and licked my feet. It was so fragile and so cute, so I wanted to keep it and bring it with me. But I couldn't. :(

The most spectacular experience though, was the visit to the Monsoon Palace on top of a mountain a bit from Udaipur, at sunset. It had such a wonderful and beautiful view. ..and just the feeling to be there ..the peace, the serenity, the enjoyment of life ...and yet I felt grains of loneliness. Because this was such a romantic place, and I had no one there to share it with. Still, I have to say that being up there was one of my most joyful moments and experiences in a very long time. It's right on my top-10 individual travel moments of my life probably. It's just hard to explain why, it just was.

Before taking me back, Bille, my rickshaw guide took me to an art shop, where I ended up spending even more money. But I did buy some nice pieces of art. I'll show you in the future if any of you pay me a visit.
I paid 500 rupees for the sightseeing. A pretty darn good price for a tour like that, even if you still have to pay the entrance fees to all the places visited.

I took it easy and chilled with a nice dinner at the roof top restaurant at my hotel before heading to the train station. Now it was time to back to Jaipur and spend some time there...

Have become a shawlaholic... but truly enjoyed Aurangabad and the super cool caves in the area.

Towards the end of the TISS planned trip we took a night bus to Aurangabad. Where we were gonna be a little more touristy, but yet cultural. Aurangabad is in northen Maharashtra, and a pretty cool town. We visited various sights during our days there, the first one was the Daulatabad hilltop fortress that was more or less a well preserved ruin city. Really cool place. I was the only one though that desided to make it to the central bastion on the very top of the mountain.
Didn't think that it would be that bad when we were about half way up (or so I thought).
Climbing all those gazillion steps was for me a great accomplishment. Despite the fact that I was sweating like pig and breathed as if I was about to die, while numerous young Indians passed me bouncing up like mountain goats and smiling as it was the most normal thing to do. Not sure that I would have made that climb if I knew from the beginning how far up it really was. So many times when I thought that I only had a little bit left, there was even more ... again, and again, and again.

We also visited the Ellora caves, and the Ajanta caves. Ellora is world heritage listed and is basically consisting of a bunch of temples carved out 1000-1500 years ago by Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus. We only visited two of them (including the main cave), and it was an amazing place. It was like a smaller city being carved out from the rock. I felt like Indiana Jones walking in there.
The Ajanti caves were hidden for many years and is placed in a horse shoe shaped valley by a river in a smaller jungle. It was amazingly beautiful surroundings. The caves consisted even here of numerous temples, but with a different "design". I found a "secret" spot there where I could be by myself for a little while ...and ponder about life and it's mysteries ... but also feast upon the surroundings.

The salesmen at these caves were the most persistant that I had encountered so far. I felt like I was a walking sugar cube with flies flying after me. Not sure what type of anti-salesman spray Sebastian took, or where he got it, but it helped. They walked past him, and often even the others, in order to trying sell things to me.
I actually think that it has to do with me walking around with Indian style clothes, and thus signaling that I am an easy target and want to by more Indian things. The salesmen even kept knocking on the car window after I closed the door.

Bibi-Qa-Maqbara mausoleum was pretty impressive too. It was built by the son of the dude that built the Taj Mahal. Haven't been to the real one yet, but from what I could see, it had some basic similarities, but in a smaller scale.

We went shopping too... at a store where they make silc shawls (we visited a shawl place in Sholapur too btw). I have to admit that I got completely sold on these beautiful fabrics ..and pieces of art. I wont reveal how much money I spent on shawls ..and I urge any witnesses that read this to keep it a secret.
Well... maybe it's not a spectacular amount for some Westerners ... but for a straight, worker class boy, who is single and thinks that ice hockey is the greates sport ever, ..it was quiet an unexpected amount. I blame it on my artistic genes .. and appreciation of beauty. Plus... I bought many of them to give away as gifts... to my mother, others, and (...insert your name here if you're a potential future girlfriend of mine...).
Some of them I will just keep as decoration or just keep for the future. I might actually wear one of them myself though. One that looks manly enough. ...and yes .. I might actually try to sell atleast one of them on internet, and see if I can get a good prize for it. Seriously.. these are really, really nice.

The rest of the places that we visited were of various degrees of interest. But none could be compared to the ones mentioned. I'm really happy about the Aurangabad visit. ..the auto rickshaw ride our last night (to and from a restaurant) was a nice bonus. It was fun trying to fit in 5 passangers in a rickshaw that's meant for 3. Since I was the biggest, I had to sit in front and share seats with the driver holding my arm behind him. Since there's only one wheel in front, I was worried that it would tilt over in the curves. It all went well though. I have seen worse cases though ...I've seen 7-8 Indians crammed together in a auto rickshaw. Quiet amusing to see. :)

Meeting the Daliths and other great learning experiences in rural Maharashtra.

The past week I went on my next journey. This time with Sebastian, the American girls Candice and Jessica, and our TISS coordinator Soummya. Vi visited the rural campus of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. It was beautifully located on a hill top on the Indian countryside, outside Thulapur, a few hours from Solapur, Maharashtra. The campus itself and our housing was above expectation. We even had western style toilets... AND toilet paper!

During our time at the campus we visited various sites, villages and NGO:s (Non Government Organizations) in order to get exposed to, and learn about the rural life in India.
It was impressive to see the dedication and hard work that many people in the various NGO:s put in, and listening to their struggles and often uphill battles. Including working against against some people's bigotry in some areas. For example the view some upper caste people and their refusal to even speak to people of the lower castes.

Our first day started with some introduction and a little tour of parts of the campus. Our first visit was out to a place where water was preserved. It was interesting to hear how effectively water was preserved and harvested through the facilities that has been built, and how much it had changed the usually much dryer are to the better, and how much it has improved the lives of the people.

Our first village visit was to the Wadgaonlakh village, where we were guided about the lives and the system in that village. The visit was pretty brief but interesting. It was also interesting to see the curious yet very shy reactions of the people there when we came. Especially the children. During the tour I was told that the various groups try to get many children, because that gave them more power, the power as a group.

In the afternoon we visited the Apsinga village, where we started out at a special school for children with mental or physical disabilities. Children came there from various villages in the region and spent three months there. During that time they were taught according to their abilities. Hearing impaired students for example were given hearing aid, and were taught how to speak through various exercises (if that don't work, they are taught sign language). Even at this village it was big curiosity about us white people, and flocks of school children followed us, and peeked in through the window when we were in the school. Even adults joined in after a while.

After that we went along some TISS students (from the rural campus) to the area where the Dalith lived. That was a group of people that I wanted to visit even before coming to India, and I was very happy for this opportunity. The Daliths are the "untouchables" - a group of people without a caste. A group that is greatly discriminated in society.
We walked through their part of the village, smelling the bonfires from their kitchens and listening to the trumpet and drum music from a poor man's wedding. Unfortunately we weren't able to observe the festivities. It would have been interesting to see how it was like.
The Daliths were very nice and friendly. We all sat down on a big blanket on the ground outside, where we were informed about the various living conditions that they have. I was truly impressed by the Dalith women, and I hold a very high respect for these women. Most of them work on other people's farms, and for only 50 rupees a day (less than a dollar), half of what the men get. They get up at 5 am and do household work, then they work out in the fields from 10.30 am – 6.30 pm, after they get home they do even more household work. Then they go to bed around 11 pm. This is their lives every day of the year, and some of them even have seven children. I asked them if they don't get exhausted (with the help of a translator) and they said "Yes, but what should we do? We need to eat." That made me realize even more that a lot of changes needs to done in order to help these people. I felt love for this people.

In the evening we went in to Sholapur and visited the temple there. Sholapur hasn't been that impressive until then, so it was nice to see some more interesting parts of town. For the first time I experienced locals wanting to be photographed with me. "Hello sir, can I take a picture of you?" And then I had to pose standing next to them while one of their friends took a photo of us. The others experienced the same thing. It was something I only heard about before from other foreigners. But I thought that it was fair to pose with them, since I myself, after all do take photos of Indians, and sometimes pose with them.

On Thursday we visited an other village, close by, Where we were introduced to the panchayat system – the governing body of a village. We sat in a room and met with the Sarpanch – the head of the village. His job is to implement the government policies in the village. The board had seven members, who are elected every five years. It was interesting that two of the seats were reserved for women.
It was also interesting to hear that almost all students finish 8th grade, and that girls got free education and get free bus passes, in order to motive the parents to educate their daughters. This was in all honesty surprising, and very nice, since I didn't expect too much of these things in rural India, where the women's rights are held back.

This rural trip has been a great learning experience in many aspects, and I am very satisfied with the trip there. After that ruraal trip we went to Aurangabad, in northern Maharashtra... but I'll write about that in my next post.

Signing autographs & becoming a dance star in Patan

Patan, Patan, Patan...I'm so happy that I decided to go there. I wanted to see more of Gujarat during my short stay there... and by what I read from Lonely Planet, Patan seemed like an interesting enough place in the close vicinity.
It's not a place usually visited by tourists, and it's not a place you really pass on the way to somewhere.
Patan is a dusty town with a little over 100'000 people, but is still very hectic and lively. The foreign visitors that come, usually do it because of the Patola silk work made weaved in town. It's hand weaved fabrics that are made in a 1000 year old traditional way.

Less people here speak English, and most things are only written in Gujarati... and has a different alphabet from the Hindi one. So getting around was a lot more complicated.

Patan seemed to have even more cows per capita than even Ahmedabad, plus they have camels on the outskirts of town (the ones with one hump on the back). The town felt so exotic, and at times it was like I stepped in to an Oriental town 100 years ago.
The looks people gave me here were even more different than in Ahmedabad... and seemed to be more surprised to see me, and more curious. I went around town in the afternoon by auto rickshaw and saw some of the sights there while it still was daylight. I visited an other baoli (see my last post). Very interesting, but not really cool as the one I saw in Ahmedabad), and I watched an other Jain Temple, Panchasara Parasvanath. This time I was able to take photos inside.

When it became dark I walked around the city the way I like to do it the most ..randomly choosing streets to walk on. I walked through dark and dusty narrow alleys where people lived, passing curious kids, stray dogs, and occasional cows. I walked through long market streets. I bought a couple of saris (not for me, but as gifts... I promise).
Even here random people greeted me all the time, using the same phrases as in Ahmedabad.

I ate dinner at a place called Hotel Alpha. When I walked in, the entire bottom floor turned around looking at me as I walked in (all men). I thought that I would be more private up in the AC floor (air conditioned), but when I was about to order, seven waiters stood around me watching. Not sure about the purpose for that... other that I might have been the first white person ever eating there and I became a some type of novelty.

Then I was about to look for my hotel. I knew what street it was on, but didn't exactly remember where. The fact that almost everything was in Gujarati letters didn't help ether. I heard some singing and music being played across the street, so I went there to check out what it was. It turned out to be a a local neighbourhood celebration as part of an other of all these festivals. When they discovered that I stood on the side observing, I was invited to join in.
They were so friendly and open, and very excited to have me there. I had so much fun dancing with them. They taught me the steps to some Indian group dance done in a circle. It took a while to get the hang of it. Then they wanted me to show them some of my native dances, so I showed them the Swedish "frog dance" (sma grodorna). They liked it and thought it was very funny. I danced with some of the kids first. I did the singing, but they joined in the dancing part. After a while I convinced even some of the adult men to join in, and they did. There was a lot of laughter. Never did I imagine that I would see random Indian men dance the Swedish frog dance.
After a lot of dancing I was exhausted and sat down. I socialized with them for a while. They were very curious about me. The brought soda to me, and some of the younger boys brought me candy and Indian Sweets. I even signed a couple of autographs for some of the kids. Not sure that it will be all that much worth in the future, but hey, why not? The boys also wanted me to come back next year. The local TV station and local newspaper was there.. so I might have been on TV and in the newspaper... but not sure since I didn't have time to check it out before I left Patan.

At night, after getting help to find my way back to the hotel I discovered a spider hanging from a thread. Not sure it was poisonous, but I killed it just in case. In bed later I started to have these thoughts about having poisonous spiders crawling in through the window ..and these thoughts developed to the images of green poisonous snakes. It got me little nervous, so I started to think about more positive things. Until the shower suddenly went off in the bathroom and the spooky feeling came back. It had a natural explanation though. The water stopped coming when I showered earlier, and when the water came back on a few hours later... the shower started again.

The next day I went to VK Salvi, the the place where they weave the Patola silk saris. I got a private tour where they showed me how the silk was made. They are award winning weavers, and have done it for many generations, and this is the only place where they sell there work. So people from various parts of the world comes here to by the hand made silk works. I bought four pieces. Two of them were silk shawls that took one month each to make. ..and yes, they are also meant to be gifts. At least the shawls. I needed to take out money in order to pay for them, so I got a ride on the back of a scooter to an ATM. That ride was the coolest thing ever. I got such a rush to cruise through those dusty Patan streets, dodging cows and people and rickshaws.

I decided to walk back to the hotel, so that I could experience more of Patan before leaving it. I found myself a nice bamboo walking stick (and got even stranger looks when I walked around with it). When I looked at some bracelets that a lady sitting on a blanket was selling, I was soon surrounded bu 10-15 curious townspeople staring at me, both men and women. Now I got a little annoyed. This was crossing the line and I felt it was too much. I didn't want a crowd standing next to me staring when I am shopping.
After buying some bracelets some village idiot started to follow me down the street mumbling something in Gujarati. When I though that I shook him off, he suddenly appeared from nowhere and continued to follow me. Not only that, now a second weirdo started to tag along. He was an older bald man with a red mark on his forehead, and he wore a white robe, and cane, and looked like some type of guru. I did finally get rid of them with some local help.

Before heading back Ahmedabad and the train to Bombay I decided make a stop in the state capital of Gandhinagar. Gandhinagar is India's second planned city, and varies greatly from any other place that I have visited in India. Quiet frankly, it was probably not worth the visit and more of a waste of my time. I wasn't really that impressed by that city. Sure, it was by faaar calmer than any other place that I have visited. But the city was so spread out with these broad green avenues everywhere. It was a bizarre, eerie, and boring town. I felt like I was in some sci-fi movie where some type of virus killed 90 % of the population in the city, and where the remanding 10 % tried to live as normally as possible. The only real sight I cared to visit was the Akshardham temple. It was nice... and interesting, and beautiful. But no photo was allowed, and with all the other temples and site that I have visited in India, I have sadly enough forgotten how it looked like now. ...yeah, already. But I remember it to be beautiful. Still not worth the visit to Gandhinagar though, in my opinion.

I took the bus in to Ahmedabad, and killed some time at the train station before taking the train back to Bombay. On the train I got to know a man named Daniel that was from Israel. He had spent some time visiting some spiritual center up north, and was now headed to Pune. We sat up for a while talking about life, religion, travel, love and relationships. It was quiet interesting.

Back in Bombay I went back to the hotel where I usually stay at, Seva Niketan, and rented a room just for the day. I needed to shower, a place to sleep, and a place to store my things for a few hours before heading for my next journey, in the evening.

This journey to Gujarat was so great as a whole. It was so darn refreshing, and gave me lots of strength. It was not just the adventures and the experiences themselves, but it was also a time where I could ponder about my future, and other things that was bothering me. This trip was also a spiritual rush for me.

Three of the things that help me during times of frustration are spiritual matters, dancing, and traveling. I was able to do all three of them.

Amazing Ahmedabad

The journey went really well. Far above expectation, and probably one of the most interesting trips that I have done in my life. Thus I will divide this trip in to two posts.

Traveling by sleeper class was quiet an experience, with little sleep. The bunk beds were in three levels, and petty close to each other. I was lucky to have the bottom one. Well, not counting having bypassers in the hallway bumping in to my feet when walking by. The train was very shaky at times, and did not have the soft cradle effect that puts one in to sleep. The noise.... yeah, lets say that the noise from the heavy snorer above me somewhere drowned in all the other noises. Kadooonk-kadoonk..boooom-booooom... hooonk-hoooonk....screeeeee-screeeee.... beeep-beeeep!!! ..and occasional festival music form villages and cities in between. The worst noise was from passing trains with ear numbing train whistles. My backpack was chained to my bunk and laid under me. So I felt it was safe there. Besides, any thieves had to get passed the old man that slept on the floor between the bunks.

The guy next to me when I boarded the train turned out to be a carpenter from Malaga, Spain. His name was Raul and it was his first day in India. He was going to travel India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka for a year. We talked with each other at night before going to sleep, and in the morning. When we arrived to Ahmedabad we decided to share an auto rickshaw and look for a hotel. After looking at various places we decided to share a double room at Hotel Kingsway.

We decided to become travel partners while in Ahmedabad, so we went out discovering town together. I didn't know much about this place before arriving, but I have to say that I took a lucky shot going there. Ahmedabad is an intriguing city with 4,5 million people. About the forth of the size of Bombay, but with ten times more cows roaming the streets.
There were even more of other types of animals. There were goat herders with 20-30 goats walking around. There were donkeys ...and more amazingly, at parts there were groups of large falcons on top of houses, that flew down or soared only meters from us, catching fish parts or other eatable things from the piles of garbage on the streets. I have never been so close to wild falcons before, and never seen so many at the same time.

We went and saw some tourist sights... the first one being an intriguing baoli built in 1499, the Dada Hari Wav. A baoli is a big well, that looks like a big gray stone temple in the ground, with lots of stairs and pillars in different levels. It was quiet an fascinating and spooky place. Next to it was an other interesting place, an even older Hindu temple, where we (and our rickshaw driver there) got a private tour by an old temple guard. During the trips to one of the roof tops he pulled out a huge pack of foreign money ...dollars, euros ..and currencies that I didn't recognize. I guess he had his own little side job with black market money change or something. I had no interest in it.

We visited a few other cool sight, including an impressive Jain temple (where photo was not allowed). But mostly we just walked around randomly visiting markets and streets that seemed interesting. That's how we run in to some more interesting things, including some type of parade with large crowd of men with big colourful turbans. ..lot of them holding up sabers or flags.
I stood there with a camera and then suddenly a bunch of them wanted to shake my hand as they passed me... and in between I managed to get some nice photos.

I got more attention in Ahmedabad as a white foreigner than I usually get in Bombay. Raul had a little darker skin, so he could pass as an northern Indian. People were constantly yelling "Hello!", "How are you?", Which country?", "Welcome!" or "What's your name?" People were generally friendlier too in my opinion.

At one spot close to Bhadra Fort Raul and I were stopped by three women in Indian clothing. They pulled up Raul's right shirt sleeve and started to stamp his upper arm with henna tattoos. I wanted one too and asked them to give me some too... being aware that they probably would ask for money afterwards. Raul's was cooler, mine was a cheesy heart with "I love you" and some nice patterns around it. Plus, being placed on a snow white, non-muscular, arm didn't make it cooler. ...and the darn thing burned too! It's not supposed to do that. They warned about that in my Lonely Planet book. Not sure how it affected me, but at least I didn't get an allergic reaction from this one ...strange thing.
Hmmm.. have to admit that when I look at my henna tattoo, here at the internet cafe, now afterwards... it does look pretty cool. ..yet still cheesy at the same time.

At night there was some celebrations... since this was an other of these numerous Indian holidays. They had stuffed a huge sculpture, made out of paper, with fire crackers. He was symbolizing some evil dude. After having put on some show on a stage, they lit it off and the sculpture exploded. Quiet interesting... even tough I got confused about whether I should take photos or cover my ears ..I hope the loud explosions didn't affect my hearing too much.

The next morning we went on an other walk randomly in the streets discovering more interesting things. Ahmedabad feels much more exotic than Bombay... and I do think that I like this town even more than Bombay. I finally got to see my first Indian elephant. It's head was painted colourfully. Not sure if it was part of some other festivity or if it just was his regular everyday makeup.

I started to have some eye problem again, so I walked around with my right contact in order to make it feel better.

After an interesting time together, Raul's and my path together ended. I had decided to take the bus to the city of Patan, 3,5 hours northwest of Ahmedabad, and he was going to Oidapur in Rajasthan up north later that day.
My photos, that I eventually will be putting up on Facebook will do more justice to my visit to Ahmedabad.... even though they can't describe my emotions and impressions that I have hard time to describe in words, without making it a novel. I also didn't have the opportunity to photograph everything I saw ether, for various reasons.

Anyway... I loved Ahmedabad! ... and now it was time for Patan!

I'll see if I have time to write about it before I have to leave... and I am not sure about my internet access this upcoming week... but please read it. Patan was even more amazing!!! :) (Not meant to be a cliffhanger)

Going on a journey...

It's interesting how things work... when bad things happen to me here in India, bad things seem to happen at the same time in other aspects of my personal life. It stinks and it's very draining. But hey, this post is not about that... and I don't want any pity... maybe a hug, but no pity.

Tomorrow night I'll be going on a well needed journey, on my own. Thursday is a holiday, and I took Friday off. I'm going to the province of Gujarat north of here. I have some set places that I will visit, but other than that... it will be pretty spontanious. I only have a few days on me though.

This will be a good time to think.. and get a distance to various aspects that has been bothering me lately.

I'll be back in Bombay on Sunday morning. On Sunday evening I will be on to my next journey, but this time through the TATA Institute of Social Sciences. The school here that is responsible for my internship placement, and the stay here. My university back home has some type of exchange programme with them. We will be going to the rural parts of the state of Maharashtra (where Bombay is), and to the school's rural campus for a few days (in the Sulapur district), then we will spend some days in Aurangabad. I'm looking forward to that trip too.

Anyway... I may, or may not go online on Sunday... but if I do, I'll write about my Gujarat experience. If not, I'll do it in little less than two weeks.

In all honesty.... I am a little bit nervous about this solo trip. But I'll manage. Now I need to finnish off some stuff online... and then start packing.

Happy thoughts, Mahatma Gandhi, dancing with sticks, and partying with Swedish girls.

For the past couple of days I wanted to write a post that was all positive about Bombay, to be fair, and to balance things up a bit. I still stand by what I wrote in my last post though. I do feel at home here again... and I'm liking it here ....things are far from perfect, but still.

These are some of the things that I love with this place;
How exotic many things really are,
The clothing style, especially for the women - so beautiful and creative.
Some of the architecture, especially some random buildings here and there (even if many of the are a little run-down).
The people I work with in various ways ..at the office, in the slums, and at the TATA institute (and many more).
The good hearted and hospitable strangers that takes care and welcomes you with open arms. There are many of them. Far from all people are jerks, husslers, or prejudice.
How cheap things are.
How important the people here thinks that the family is.
Some of the food is really good.
Leopold Café and Woodside Inn restaurant.
The street markets and the exotic and alive streets in general off the touristy areas.
All the new impressions and experiences that I get almost every single day.

Some of the most interesting time here have been when working with some of the people in the slums.

Well anyway, today is a holiday since it's Mahatma Gandhis birthday. It's nice with a day off to recover and catch up on various things ...including sleep.

Yesterday was one of the greatest nights so far here in Bombay. At night I went to this festivity around the corner from my hotel. They were celebrating one of their many Hindu gods. Don't remember the name of this one though, and don't remember the story behind it ether. They are usually complicated.
I went by yesterday and I was invited back the following night for the dancing part. At first I went by myself, and soon after I came, after their ceremonies, they invited me in. I got some Curd pored in my hand (like filmjölk for my Swedish readers), that I had to lick and then whipe off at the back of my head. Then they put me on a plastic garden chair and I was surrounded by a bunch of happy and excited Indians. One father took his little son and put him on my lap and took photos of us with his mobile phone camera. Then he took his son's head and made him kiss me on the cheek. The poor little boy looked a little frightened. There were others that were taking photos of me too.

When the crowd disapeared I started to talk to a man that sat next to me. He told me that they were so excited because I was the first white Westerner, ever, to join in and be with them during the celebration. Wow... I felt special.
Afterwards I joined in with the dancing outside. A dance done with sticks. I brought a couple of painted wooden sticks that I bought earler during the day from an old lady in one of the slums. People are dancing in two rows, facing each other, and while they dance, they hit each others sticks. Like a mix between dancing and fencing. Hundreds of Indians .. around me, and up on the balconies were looking at me dancing with the others. I could hear a lot of laughter and cheers. I didn't get in to the rythm at first, and I probably looked like a fool, ..but hey, it was way fun.

I went back to the hotel where Sebastian was, and two other Swedes that were in Bombay for a few days, "Lasse" and "Kalle". "Lasse" is a little brother to Sebastian's best friend from home, and he and his friend are travelling India for three months. I told them about my experience and convinced them to check it out. When we all came there were even more cheers. We danced ... and we danced .. and I sweat a whole lot. But maaaaan was that fun. We joined in various dances. I had the time of my life. The music was very rythmic with lots of heavy drums, and they were played loud on the speakers. The people were way excited and cheering and were really in to the whole thing. They loved having us there and made us dance with them all the time.
I eventually got rid of some of my hippo dance moves and became more "smooth". When it was time to leave 30-40 people, mostly kids and young people, run up to me and wanted to shake my hands, cheering. What a crowd! Once again I felt like Jay Leno, or some type of celebrity. We were invited back tonight.... I think I might go. This was an excellent and way fun way to burn fat. ...I have lost atleast 5 kilos so far btw since I got here.

Then we took a taxi down to Colaba, and hung out there with some female Swedish Social Work students that the guys had met the night before. They are studying in Poona, and where up in Bombay for a few days. We had a good time with them. We went to the luxurious hotel Taj Mahal and hang out at the bar/dance place there for a little while. I had a couple of Cokes there (for the readers that may not know it..I don't drink alcohol). I spoke to business men from USA, Singapore and Dubai there ... I danced to some cool beats (not with the businessmen), and got to know some of the Swedish girls better. Going to the bathroom there was an experience. Some worker there turned on the water for me when I was going to wash my hands, then he pored soap on my hands, and afterwards he handed me some nice thick paper towels.

Then we went and spent the rest of the night at "Polly Esther", some fancy place where many of the more well set Indians go to party. .. still sticking to Coke, and away from the alcohol. It was way fun... I truly enjoyed dancing on the disco dance floor. Good music, and there were many really beautyful Indian women there. Hey, I'm single now, so I might as well enjoy.

It was a sad back-to-reallity feeling afterwards when we all went out after closing time, and I saw all the families sleeping on the streets, under blankets or newspapers - mothers, fathers, children, and babies next to each other. Such a contrast. This was the not so fun part of the night.

But I have to say... that I in the mood of liking life here... and I will make alot of it before I have to leave.

Mei thi koo!

Bombay is a dump

Okay, a few days ago I finally started to feel home here in Bombay, and things felt good and I enjoyed life here. Then, this last Sunday it all changed and I got sick and tired of this dump. So now I'm gonna tell why... but end this post with some positive things. (It's not like I'm consumed with bitterness).

On the way back from Church, in Vashi, it started with a bird drop a bomb on my brand new tailor made pants. Then I had to wait for over two hours for the stupid train to come, not sure if it was delaied or if they just don't go as often on Sundays ... and no taxis in sight, only rickshaws (rickshaws are banned in the southern parts of Bombay, so I couldn't take one home).

When the train finally came, it suddently changed to a different platform on the other side of the train station, so I had to hurry over there. Then the train was completely packed with people, and there I stood, crammed and sweatty and barely able to move.
When the train was about to arrive to Govandi, two stops away, it felt like a hand was searching in my left side pocket, but I couldn't do anything, because I was holding on with my left arm and couldn't take it down becausee it was so darn packed. I was holding my bags with right arm, plus I was protecting the camera and the mobile phone that were in the right pocket, so my right hand wasn't avaiable. Then suddenty the train stopped and a hord of people pushed out. I could feel that my wallet was gone and run out, but to no use since I wouldn't be able to know where the thieves went among all this myriad of people. I felt violated, and so powerless ..and a hatred towards the Bombay public transportation and traffic system.

I jumped on the next train, and ironically, soon a salesperson jumped on the train trying to sell wallets to th passangers ...twice.

Why do I constantly have to travel with these insanelly packed trains, where I from now on will feel unsafe because of the vunerable situation that I will be in with limited mobility, and being selected out as a easy target because I am Westerner (and who probably has a lot of money, in the thieves mind). I already hated the claustrophobic feeling that are in most trains.
Buses are generally crowded too, and often stuck in traffic jams when they really are needed.
That partains to general traffic here too... cars everywhere.. traffic jams ... constant honking... improvised traffic rules. Crazy and egotistical motorcyclists... and at night many taxis drive without any headlights.. causing a great danger, especially if they drive behind a car that has headlights, when you need to cross the street and think that you're safe.
The pollution and the terrible air from the traffic... yeah, the list goes on.

I miss peace and serenity, and I'm sick and tired of all these huge crowds of people everywhere. I'm sick and tired of people caughing straight out, or sneezing in their hands .... spreading germs and bacteria all thr time. I'm sick and tired of all the garbage everywhere.. and how some people just throw it on the street or right out of their windows.

I think I'll stop here... and I even skip the other bad things that happened last Sunday.

... on the positive side of things... I still don't regret coming here, even if there's no way in hell that I'll settle down here. I have met some really, really great people here... and there are aspects to my internship that I really love and enjoy, and that has given me great learning experiences. I still want to get out the most of my experience here. I try to learn Hindi phrases, wear Indian clothing, buy various Indian movies (including Bollywood), eat Indian food, befriend people here, learn about the culture, and eventually travel around a little.

Tadi tada...

Life feels better now. I like the turn of events. We have switched to single rooms, as was the plan from the beginning… and in these rooms we have an outlet for electricity! Yea, now I can watch “Heroes” and movies on my laptop after all, and play with photos on Photoshop and all those other things. ..and the bed, the bed is still as hard, but my body has adjusted to it surprisingly well. My room is in the corner, and has windows too two sides. The view is the best I’ve had so far here in India. I think that I eventually will be able to block out the sound from the traffic and all the honking horns that comes from one side of my room. The cold showers are also manageable. Hey, I haven’t had a nice warm shower since I came to India anyway. Just “not that cold”, “a little cold”, “cold”, “way cold”, and “hey, is it supposed to be this cold!?”.

Things here feel easier to handle now. I’m happy. Not joyful, and not inner peace like, just simply happy. Some things still stink big time, but that would be hard to avoid anyway.

I sold my bag of the Swedish candy “Gott & Blandat” to Sebastian for 1500 rupees. It’s way good. …and eating Swedish candy when being far away from Sweden, and for so long, has some magic healing power. My bags of “Polly”, “Ahlgrens bilar” and “Fruxo” cured some of my stress.
Sebastian offered me 500 rupees at first, but I said “No way!” I also turned down the offer of 1000 rupees, but I finally accepted the final bid. Sad thing is that I don’t feel bad about it. It’s a bag of “Gott & Blandat” and we’re in India after all. The approximate rate of 1500 rupees now = 220 Swedish kronor, 40 US dollars. ….yeah.

Monsoon over the Dharavi slum – the biggest slum in Asia.

I had a new adventure… and a very, very interesting experience, that I feel deserves a post by itself. Last Tuesday, Sebastian and I went with our co-worker Swati to the very southern part of the Dharavi slum, in the northern parts of Bombay. It’s usually not in the area that the Family Services Centre cover, but they work with a group called Chirag, that works with people that are HIV positive, their families, and on community level in order to inform people and create awareness and acceptance towards people with HIV. We visited their organisation where a lady told us about her organisation. They were in a big rectangular room, where they also had some people working, sewing. It was a little hard to hear at times because of the sewing machines in the background.

After that we did some home visits where FSC sponsors the schooling of some of the children to HIV positive parents.

I won’t go in to further detail about the work process, but instead tell about the Dharavi experience. As the headline says, Dharavi is the biggest slum in Asia, and is a maze of dark alleys and dusty streets. The buildings are a mix of multilevel concrete houses built tightly next to each other, and simple iron shack housings. Whole families usually share small, small one room apartments, some of them smaller than some people’s bathrooms.
But the society works “normally” anyway. Most people have electricity (with cables hanging here and there over and between the buildings. Inside many people have electric kitchens and fridges. Most houses seem to have a TV and some type of stereo system. You see people with cell phones and motorcycles.

There are various small shops everywhere. There are tailors, smiths, electronic stores selling DVD players and VCR’s, computer stores, snack bars, barbers, clothing stores selling western style jeans, places you can reload your prepaid phone card, and so on and so on, I even saw a jewellery store. All this in the slum!

Of course there’s full of poverty there, and people suffering. Some of the big problems are also the small spaces, and the hygiene. People live so crowded, and there are sewer lines running down the streets. I saw rats run around that were bigger than kittens (and that was just the body, add the tail on top of that).

While there, a terrible monsoon rain just pored down, flooding some of the streets. At parts the puddles were so deep that I almost got knee deep in water. The rain seemed to have no end.

As with many other parts of Bombay, the area was full of various smells. The outside had its smell of pollution from the cars and rickshaws; the inside smells from the sewers and the garbage, but also the smells from the various food places, the fruit market and the fish market. The smell could turn from good to bad, and back again, really fast. You never know what smell will wait for you around the corner.

I felt like an explorer, going to places where no white man has set his foot before. Lots of people stared at us everywhere we went, more than usually. Random men wanted to shake our hands, women smiled at us talking amongst them selves, young people wanted to touch us as we pasted them and made some cheering (or mocking) noises, and children were full of innocent childlike curiosity.
A young boy that saw us started to yell to his friends in Hindi from the top of his lungs “The English sirs are coming, the English sirs are coming! Come out, come out!” (Swati translated).
All looks and comments weren’t friendly though. I’m also not sure how to interpretate all the laughs ether. I guess there were various reasons for them.

I got later that expected and we were all exhausted when we got home.

Well, these are all the impressions that I remembered, and I don’t know if I did the experience any justice, including my mix of emotions and thoughts. It was far more than I could fully express in words. It needs to be seen ...and even better – in person.

"Spank it! Spank it!"

Ok... time to went and whine. Especially since I wrote on Facebook that I had the crappiest weekend in a long time.

I guess I start with some good news first... that Sebastian is alive and well. My stomach is doing well too. "Well" as in a "Swedes being India" standards.

Anyway... my weekend, I have been stressed and not felt very good. In many aspects. ..and the only place where I really could be by myself was in a small humid room in the Malaria Guest House.
Went and saw "Righteous Kill", some Hollywood movie, in a movie theater here (Regal). That was a different experience. It started off at first with playing the Indian National Anthem, and everybody had to stand up. The Indians there sang along. I heard later that it was a Bombay thing. Then the movie started... and the sound quality turned out to be pretty bad, so it was hard to follow the dialogues at times. Then, less than an hour in to the movie, they stopped for a break! During the break they even showed some trailers for some other stuff. It totally ruined the mood, that already was low due to the bad sound quality. Sure, have breaks during the 3-hour Bollywood movies, but don't touch the Hollywood ones! Sooo utterly idiotic.

During one of these moments when I wanted to have some time on my own, and not being in my humid room, I decided for a walk along a river walk close by. It's usually not too crowded. But on the way there there were these dudes trying to sell these giant balloons (almost man sized). I run in to them on a regular basis, and they keep trying to sell me those... and saying "Spank it, spank it!" while they spank it themselves. I don't really care for spanking any giant balloons, the less buying one. What in the world should I do with it, if I have no interest in spanking it?
I have these fantasies where I have this really sharp stick and where I go around poking every d**n balloon I run into.

What's even more annoying. are those "point-to-your-ear-and-poke-it-with-a-stick" people. On that river walk there was an army of those idiots. "Hey sir..." and started to point at my ear and get close. I was in a bad mood and lost it. I reamed "Don't touch me!" or waved them away aggressively. Those fools kept coming. Sure, do it for someone that asked for it, but leave my ears alone! I'm thinking of getting a bamboo stick and.... (...)

It was the last day of the Ganesh festivities. This time they put various sizes of Ganesh statues in the water and let it sink... along with people saying "Mooria, mooria!" I watched it and took photos of it. Even this time I got that colourful powder thrown at me. this time though, the powder had some type of chemicals in it, so I got an allergic reaction to it. By night I had a rash all over. All night my arms, stomach, chest, legs, and feet were itching. I barelly got any sleep at all. ..and I have slept bad the night before too. By morning I was way tired. The itch moved around during the day and my head, hands, and fingers started to itch.

Well, we moved to our new place... Seva Niketan. It's in the Byculla area, further north. We were taken there by an idiot taxi driver, that smoked in the car and then ripped us off. We paid waaay too much for the ride, but we were both too tired to argue, plus our luggage was in the car already. Then he just carelessly took of out luggage and drove away.
Well, our new place is cleaner, cheaper, bigger and nicer.... sweet! And we can eat food cheaply at the canteen there. But of course... it would be too good to be perfect. ... we have no electric outlets, so no chill nights watching "Heroes" or some movie on my laptop... and the beds are rock hard, including the pillows. The worst I ever have encountered.
I did not sleep well the following night ether...

With all this, I want to say that I have left out some of the most personal details about my crappy weekend.

Well... at least the rash is gone, and my stomach is okay... for the moment.

Malaria Guest House.. and other unclean things

We had enough of this new place. On Monday we're moving out to a new place. It's cheaper, bigger, and cleaner. Unfortunately, it's a lot further away from where we work. But we'll manage.

Sebastian has been way sick. He has been to the doctor, and the symptoms are the same as with malaria. ... yup. Dead serious. He did not look well at all. Would not surprise me if it was the unsanitary Malaria (Apollo) Guest House that caused it with their ladybug sized bed bugs (filled with blood) ..or some other type of insect. The humidity and other things there probably attracts various types of strange life forms. Sebastian is doing somewhat better at the moment. Let's hope that it continues to get better.
Anyway, I won't miss my humid room or the greasy walls and doors in the bathroom.

A couple of days ago I went along two other Social Work students and visited a young girl at a government owned hospital. She had Tuberculosis, and had such a sad life story. The hospital looked like it was from the beginning of the last century, ...and there were cats walking around there.

Yesterday I went along to an institution where they take care of used children. It can be child labourers, beggars, or in other ways used children. They keep them there for a couple of months and try to straighten out their lives. This day they had a bunch of child labourers that probably the police had caught in some raid. There were lots of them, and their employers were there trying to excuse themselves and how they in fact were "helping" them. (..all so that they could get away with having cheap labour). It was nice to see the middle aged lade put them in to place. "How are you helping them by pulling them out of school? How will he support his family? Their kids are also going to end up as child labourers." ..and so on. I liked her. She was way cool.
The employers had brought the kid's parents, many of them from rural areas, and having them talk to the people of the institution so that they can send the kids "home". What happens is that for a little sum of money from the employers ... their back to business as usual. What the institution tries to do during those two months is to talk to kids and their parents, and that way been able to lower the amount of kids going back to child labour.
Before I left I saw this group of maybe 20 boys around the age of 8-10. ..also child labourers of some sort. I said "hi" to them, but I got absolutely no response. They all just stood their in complete silence ...looking at me. ..this tall white boy with a strange hair style.

Today a pedophile came to the office where I work. He was involved in some type of shelter for kids in the area and looked for information about some girl. He used to be in prison here, but was let out earlier along with his friend for some strange reason. He's European, so I started to talk to him when he sat down by me, not knowing until afterwards who he really was. I heard about him from some European girls that lived at the same guest home as him. Photos of them have been sent out to various institutions and organisations so he was recognized. He didn't get any help btw. I was also advised to stay away from him. No problem with that. I don't want to associate with him now when I know who he is.

My stomach has been all messed up lately, again, along with other things. *sigh*