Dancing fools reunited in fairytale land!

Photos from top:
That's me with Rishi's sisters and their friends. I absolutely love these girls. They're all studying to be doctors and engineers, and they study all day and all night every day. Definitely a lesson in how to work hard and be a good student! When we would hang out, we would just laugh and laugh.

That's all the boys dancing at the disco. I never thought I would be outdanced by so many people, but damn can Indians dance hard for hours...

Jake and his teacher Sri Singh. Check out that beard, folks!!

Jake took this shot of his painting studio while we were waiting to go to dinner at his teacher's brother's house.

Greetings from Udaipur! I'm staying with Jake for the next couple of days while I get my head on straight, and figure out where I will bounce to next. I had a few too many crazy adventures in Jaipur, and thought it might be best to get of town before I became a reluctant star in my own bollywood movie. The work I was doing was really wonderful, and I'm sorry to be leaving that behind. I was able to compile and share a great list of resources and networks concerned with responsible tourism, particularly in India. However, my short stay in Jaipur has been one intense lesson about India after another. The uglier realities of this society are setting in, and I unfortunately had to witness some of them, from scam artists to perceptions of foreign women. The day I decided to leave was a day in which the following happened: midnight- a drunk man at the disco I would often go to made some really rude comments to Rishi about me and Rishi nearly punched the guy out. 11am - Rishi was hit by a car while driving his rickshaw, thrown from his vehicle, knocked unconscious, and the driver fled (which I'm learning is very common in India), leaving Rishi to pay for his totaled rickshaw on his own.. 4pm- Met with "Jack Daniel" a scam artist who tried to convince me that he wasn't one, but couldn't prove anything because when I asked for his ID, he couldn't show me. (I had been introduced to Jack by a friend who had no idea this man was a scam artist. I knew right away from the gold bracelets to the things he said to the fact that he couldn't really tell me what he did for a living. Didn't want to cause a scene, so I enjoyed tea with him and left, hoping he wouldn't call again, but unfortunately he did. It was because he kept calling that I had to tell him that I knew who he was, and that I didn't want to see him again). Found out later that Rishi had brought "guys" and Jack had brought "guys" to wait outside the coffee shop in case anything happened. What is this, a gangster movie? Was a bit freaked out about the way things ended with this man Jack, especially because Jaipur is such a small city, and he was nervous that I would go to the police even though I promised him I wouldn't. 09pm- While eating dinner on a rooftop restaurant with a fellow American woman, we experienced a near tornado, as the wind picked up suddenly, lighting and thunder started, and tables and chairs, glasses and plates were whizzing by as we ran for cover with the other diners. 11pm- Calming ourselves over beers in a pub downstairs from the restaurant, we watched the rain intensify and finally subside. Just when I thought everything was fine, I got a phone call from Rishi telling me he had been in ANOTHER accident (because of the rain, the roads were slippery, and the rickshaw he was driving flipped). I rushed to the emergency room (not a fun place in the states, and definitely not a fun place in India), dodged strange looks and the 'what country' questions, and waited with Rishi's friends for him to get his x-rays and his head wrapped.

I stayed on in Jaipur for a few days more, just hanging out with Rishi's family and taking it easy. It wasn't easy to leave the dear friends I'd made in the city, but I think it's for the best that I head out of town... Now I'm in Udaipur with Jake, and I understand how he can stay here for a month. He has an absolutely incredible setup, and this city is just beautiful. Everybody seems to know him (there aren't too many wild-haired bearded guys wandering around, but still...), and he introduced me to his painting teacher and his family, who are just fantastic people! The Hindi New Year was celebrated yesterday, and we managed to stumble into a huge BJP (Hindu nationalist political party) parade, in which Jake promptly got swept up and nearly carried away by the dancing men. (Crazy dancing in political parade- check)


All in all, I think this will be a rejuvinating few days... Then I'll head off to Delhi, and I think to Singapore for a week. We'll see what the next few weeks will bring- Positively nothing can surprise me anymore...