It's been a little over six months since Jake and I started this trip (apparently reaching the 6 month mark means that we're world citizens, but I'd say that's debatable), and some days I feel like an Indian traveling wizard, and other days I feel like I'm back in the Bombay on day 1, feeling overwhelmed and terrified as we ran from ear cleaners and fake holy men. I still wear the (now dusty pink and gray) string around my right wrist, that was tied on by an old man in bright orange with wild gray hair on our very first day in India. We were driven to the Colaba district straight to the Gateway of India, in the city of Bombay, where we were bombarded with Indian tourists wanting to take our photo, loads of white people, lots of stares, an ambush ear cleaning (aww Jake..) and this 'holy man'. He tied the string around our wrists, put a bright red tikka powder dot on our foreheads and demanded 200 rupees. We scoffed, we laughed, gave him 10 rupees, and continued on our way. I still wear that string as a reminder of that incredibly overwhelming and exciting first day, as worn out and unraveled as it may be. I was so uncertain in everything I did-- was I paying too much, were people staring because of what I was wearing, was I going the right way-- Now six months later, there are things that I know and can navigate confidently, but there are still things that I'm still just as unsure about, if not more...
If I'm not in a hurry, I can talk to the begger kids a little bit and buy them some ice cream, or I can give some fruit to the begging women. Other times, it's 'vas vas, nahin nahin' (enough enough, no no) and I'm on my way. Still there's a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach sometimes, and I just freeze, unsure of what to do when I see their faces and hands outstretched. Paying for an auto is another thing-- initially I would accept overpaying, yell in English, or try to be nice in English, but still entirely unsure of the rules. I knew I was overpaying, but part of me figured that I needed to learn some of the game in order to play it right. Now I can hold my own in Hindi pretty well, give directions, and have a general sense of the city of Delhi, and I still find that I'm overpaying and having to fight with a lot of the drivers. Same thing with buying fruits, vegetables, dry goods, handicrafts, anything and everything-- no matter how much Hindi I speak, I still have to haggle and fight and eventually overpay.
About a month ago, I vented about how irritating it was to be constantly reminded of my outsider status.. However, the more I look around, and watch my Indian friends and Indian strangers navigate this place, I realize that it's not just a gori thing. If you're a life-long Delhi-ite, speaking perfect Hindi, and obviously very Indian, you're still going to have to fight and argue with the vendors and the auto drivers. You still get that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see beggers. Recently I've been reading a lot of travel forums, reading what future travelers to India have to ask-- most of them have this idea that India is out to rip them off-- and in a way, it's true- foreigners are much much more likely to overpay, get cheated, and get scammed- but at the same time, I watch Indians around me calmly tell these foreigners (and I include my '6 month ago self' in this group) that all people, foreign or not, have to haggle, struggle, fight, and try not to get scammed. It's a matter of learning the rules, playing it right, and keeping patience. Still, it's something that is difficult to hear- I think it can really only be learned through experience again and again..
While many foreigners are subjected to the 'white tax' (I, for example, overheard an auto driver bluntly tell my Indian friend that we needed to pay more because I'm white), foreigners also get a substantial amount of 'white privilege'. Little things from getting into a club that only allows smart pants when you're wearing shorts (ah hem, jake in pune), to getting into a soldout Indian classical music concert for free, to getting put in the front row of theater performances, to ex-pat night at clubs in Delhi, to being invited to people's homes for the most personal of rituals. Today, my landlord told me to come down to her flat at 11am. I obliged and found myself seated in the inner circle of a puja and aarti ceremony for the anniversary of her husband's death. There were friends and family seated all around the flat, but I was sitting with the immediate family in the center, performing the rituals with them, singing when I could, and trying to keep in rhythm with them. It's amazing how much people are willing to open up their homes and their lives to you, when they know you've come from far away...
So I guess what I've come to understand over these past 6 months, is that it's all bittersweet. Being a gori can be good, bad, and just about everything in between. Learning Hindi and learning local customs helps, but it's certainly no golden ticket. Being a foreigner can help get in to many places, from 5 star hotels to concerts, but actually one place my foreign-ness has barred me from is the prison. I've been writing this report and researching Tihar prison for the past month now, and today I've found that there has been recent legislation passed that requires all foreigners who want to visit the prison to register with the police, the courts, and the Ministry of Home Security. In other words, it would take a very long time to get done, if ever... Of course there are more illicit ways I could get myself a visit to the prison, but that would be more like a one-way ticket kind of thing. So sadly I will not be visiting the prison like I had originally thought.. However, this month has given me a great base to start from- kind of like a springboard to potential future research (because god knows I already need to get back to Delhi before I've even left...). It's one more bittersweet thing about being here, but I'm okay with it...
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Saturday, May 17, 2008
all kinds of tourist
In the past few days I've been checking out some of the Mughal and Muslim areas of Delhi, which is something I've been wanting to do since my arrival. A couple of days back, my friend Lambert and his friend took me to the Red Fort in Delhi (built by Shah Jehan who built the Taj Mahal) where we explored for a bit in the evening, and then we went to check out the largest spice market in the world (the smell of spices is incredibly overwhelming; I couldn't stop coughing, the air was just choked with chillis), ate some delicious parathas, and just checked out north delhi from the back of a cycle rickshaw. North and South Delhi are
like two different cities. In a way, the south is the suburbs, more posh, more malls, highways, and primarily residential. The north has tiny winding alleys that cycle rickshaws can't even enter, tons of tiny little shops, little food stands, and masses and masses of people. What's amazing about Old delhi is that the gorgeous air-conditioned and efficient Metro runs all over the north part of the city, while it won't be completed in the south until 2010 (we can only hope). The shock of stepping up into Chandni Chowk (where the fort and spice market are) from this new, fancy metro is pretty spectacular. Apparently the metro has eased up a ton of traffic in the north areas- I bet folks can't wait for it to come to the south, where traffic is pretty awful around rush hours.
After the spice market, we went back to the fort for the sound and light show. I didn't know what to expect from this show, other than the fact that it would explain some of the Mughal history of
Delhi. And that is exactly what it was. For one hour we listened to an oral history of the ruling empires in India up to independence, with sound effects, music, and fantastic dialogue, while different structures around the fort were lit up with colored lights. If you can imagine small town American tourist kitsch, try placing it in the context of forts and tombs built in the 1500s. The only thing it was missing was some animatronic soldiers fighting in the distance... We enjoyed it thoroughly, despite the masses of mosquitoes that made dinner out of us (there were only 4 other people there, so I guess they had few options).
Today I checked out Humayun's Tomb, where the headless body of Shah Jehan's favorite son, Dara, was brought after his brother Aurangzeb, the last major Mughal ruler (and a horrible jealous person, put very simply), had him killed. Humayun's tomb is very impressive, though the best part about being a tourist in the summer is that there are so few people there. I managed to dance with the dead in various chambers, climb to the terrace of the mosque, and just take in the sites (and the heat) on my own.
Beyond the typical tourism stuff, I'm learning more and more about the ins and outs of the Delhi legal system. Still haven't made it to the prison yet, but today I was shown around one of the lower courts, and on Monday I'll be meeting with a professor at Delhi University who specializes in women and prison. The more I learn about the Indian criminal justice system, the more that I realize how pervasive it is. I'm learning that I can't just study the prison, but I have to learn about the courts, and the police, and the services that exist (or fail to exist) for individuals upon release from prison. The legal system in the US is pretty tangled up, but it is absolutely nothing compared to what I've seen in India so far. More than that, in order to get anything (and really, anything) done, money needs to be paid. From 5 dollars to clerks for getting forms in on time, to 5000 dollars to judges for dismissing cases that need to be held, or creating false cases to implicate innocent people. It's strange to see all of the lawyers walking around in black jackets and white collars (even the few women lawyers wear black jackets over their sarees or salwaar kameez suits), looking like they've come straight from colonial British times. The court system has not been adjusted since the British. Neither has the jail manual. In fact, in 2007, the ministry of Jails convened a panal to start thinking about changing the jail manual which hasn't been updated since 1894. It's amazing to see a country that is changing at warped speed in some sectors, moving at an absolute snail pace in others. I suppose progress is determined by who can benefit from what. I know that the US legal system is nowhere near perfect-- just learned that the US has put to death 10 of the 19 juveniles who have received the death sentence worldwide since the 1970s-- but still... Delhi courts hold special court on Thursdays for 'old cases' that haven't been completed yet. The 'old cases' start from 1986! Perhaps this backlog explains how 90% of inmates in Tihar Prison are undertrials who have not been convicted yet? There's nearly 11,000 people in the prison that has the capacity for about 6,000. They are currently building two new facilities, and for the most part I am completely against the construction of new prisons, but there's such a backlog of cases, and the living conditions are so cramped, that it unfortunately makes sense to build these new facilities, as it doesn't look like the courts are going to speed up any time soon. I'm trying to be cautious about making too many judgments, as it's only been a few weeks, and I've only read a few books, but there are some things that are just plain clear. And sadly, those things are not really on many people's priority list issues to change..
Still, there is definitely a positive side to the Delhi criminal justice system... For all the government infrastructure it lacks, when Dr. Kiran Bedi served her 2 year tenure as Director General of Delhi prisons (1993-1995), she invited the community in. Though there were once 200 NGOs working in Tihar, and now only 54, that is still a substantial amount of community involvement. The NGO I work for, Family Vision, does some pretty great work in counseling, education, and work with children and crime-affected foster kids. More on the positive side of things later- because of course there's always a silver lining...!
like two different cities. In a way, the south is the suburbs, more posh, more malls, highways, and primarily residential. The north has tiny winding alleys that cycle rickshaws can't even enter, tons of tiny little shops, little food stands, and masses and masses of people. What's amazing about Old delhi is that the gorgeous air-conditioned and efficient Metro runs all over the north part of the city, while it won't be completed in the south until 2010 (we can only hope). The shock of stepping up into Chandni Chowk (where the fort and spice market are) from this new, fancy metro is pretty spectacular. Apparently the metro has eased up a ton of traffic in the north areas- I bet folks can't wait for it to come to the south, where traffic is pretty awful around rush hours.After the spice market, we went back to the fort for the sound and light show. I didn't know what to expect from this show, other than the fact that it would explain some of the Mughal history of
Delhi. And that is exactly what it was. For one hour we listened to an oral history of the ruling empires in India up to independence, with sound effects, music, and fantastic dialogue, while different structures around the fort were lit up with colored lights. If you can imagine small town American tourist kitsch, try placing it in the context of forts and tombs built in the 1500s. The only thing it was missing was some animatronic soldiers fighting in the distance... We enjoyed it thoroughly, despite the masses of mosquitoes that made dinner out of us (there were only 4 other people there, so I guess they had few options).Today I checked out Humayun's Tomb, where the headless body of Shah Jehan's favorite son, Dara, was brought after his brother Aurangzeb, the last major Mughal ruler (and a horrible jealous person, put very simply), had him killed. Humayun's tomb is very impressive, though the best part about being a tourist in the summer is that there are so few people there. I managed to dance with the dead in various chambers, climb to the terrace of the mosque, and just take in the sites (and the heat) on my own.Beyond the typical tourism stuff, I'm learning more and more about the ins and outs of the Delhi legal system. Still haven't made it to the prison yet, but today I was shown around one of the lower courts, and on Monday I'll be meeting with a professor at Delhi University who specializes in women and prison. The more I learn about the Indian criminal justice system, the more that I realize how pervasive it is. I'm learning that I can't just study the prison, but I have to learn about the courts, and the police, and the services that exist (or fail to exist) for individuals upon release from prison. The legal system in the US is pretty tangled up, but it is absolutely nothing compared to what I've seen in India so far. More than that, in order to get anything (and really, anything) done, money needs to be paid. From 5 dollars to clerks for getting forms in on time, to 5000 dollars to judges for dismissing cases that need to be held, or creating false cases to implicate innocent people. It's strange to see all of the lawyers walking around in black jackets and white collars (even the few women lawyers wear black jackets over their sarees or salwaar kameez suits), looking like they've come straight from colonial British times. The court system has not been adjusted since the British. Neither has the jail manual. In fact, in 2007, the ministry of Jails convened a panal to start thinking about changing the jail manual which hasn't been updated since 1894. It's amazing to see a country that is changing at warped speed in some sectors, moving at an absolute snail pace in others. I suppose progress is determined by who can benefit from what. I know that the US legal system is nowhere near perfect-- just learned that the US has put to death 10 of the 19 juveniles who have received the death sentence worldwide since the 1970s-- but still... Delhi courts hold special court on Thursdays for 'old cases' that haven't been completed yet. The 'old cases' start from 1986! Perhaps this backlog explains how 90% of inmates in Tihar Prison are undertrials who have not been convicted yet? There's nearly 11,000 people in the prison that has the capacity for about 6,000. They are currently building two new facilities, and for the most part I am completely against the construction of new prisons, but there's such a backlog of cases, and the living conditions are so cramped, that it unfortunately makes sense to build these new facilities, as it doesn't look like the courts are going to speed up any time soon. I'm trying to be cautious about making too many judgments, as it's only been a few weeks, and I've only read a few books, but there are some things that are just plain clear. And sadly, those things are not really on many people's priority list issues to change..
Still, there is definitely a positive side to the Delhi criminal justice system... For all the government infrastructure it lacks, when Dr. Kiran Bedi served her 2 year tenure as Director General of Delhi prisons (1993-1995), she invited the community in. Though there were once 200 NGOs working in Tihar, and now only 54, that is still a substantial amount of community involvement. The NGO I work for, Family Vision, does some pretty great work in counseling, education, and work with children and crime-affected foster kids. More on the positive side of things later- because of course there's always a silver lining...!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Traffic
I sat in traffic for one hour today, traveling a distance that should have only taken 20 minutes.. It's not the worst bout of traffic I've been in, but it made me miss my yoga class, so I thought I'd pay attention to the crazy world around me that was at an irritating standstill. Traffic in India is ordered
chaos, to say the very least. In the big cities like Bombay and Delhi, you can sit for hours (on day 2 of our trip, Jake and I sat in traffic for FOUR hours to go about 5 km. Luckily it was day 2, so there was still a lot to see and take in, but much of the novelty of the streets are no longer as exciting). Usually seated in a tiny yellow and green auto rickshaw, I'm amazed at how many things occupy the road. There are cars, with the windows tight shut, A/C blasting, both small and increasingly large (the amount of SUVs I've seen in Delhi is disturbing.. If you think it's ridiculous to have an SUV in suburban America, try justifying it in Delhi where traffic rarely exceeds 40 mph) ; buses that zoom down the side lanes, with people dangling in the doorways, packed in like sardines; autos blasting Bollywood, squeezing their way through the mess, the drivers completely at ease; motoscooters, sometimes packed with a family of 4 on board, zig zagging and zooming around the larger vehicles; cycle rickshaws teetering along, driver and passenger usually looking miserable in the hot summer sun; bullock carts piled with masses of produce; solo bicyclists cycling along on decrepid looking things, completely in tune with 
the rushing traffic around them; jaywalking businessmen, jaywalking housewives, jaywalking yogis stopping all traffic with just one palm held up; dogs that act like squirrels, running across the roads and freezing in the middle like they've never seen a car before; children, who sell everything from magazines to jasmine strands, that dart in and out of the lanes and approach momentarily stopped vehicles with their rehearsed salesman script; begger children, and women holding babies who painfully look you in the eye, and simply hold out their hand, point to their mouth, and point to their baby until the traffic starts moving again. And then of course, there are the cows who show up periodically. It's madness, it's mayhem, it's absolutely terrifying, but pretty beautifully coordinated at the same time. I've seen a couple of minor skirmishes, and I know there are pretty big accidents, but considering that traffic lines on the road serve an aesthetic purpose and little more, Indian traffic is pretty impressive.
chaos, to say the very least. In the big cities like Bombay and Delhi, you can sit for hours (on day 2 of our trip, Jake and I sat in traffic for FOUR hours to go about 5 km. Luckily it was day 2, so there was still a lot to see and take in, but much of the novelty of the streets are no longer as exciting). Usually seated in a tiny yellow and green auto rickshaw, I'm amazed at how many things occupy the road. There are cars, with the windows tight shut, A/C blasting, both small and increasingly large (the amount of SUVs I've seen in Delhi is disturbing.. If you think it's ridiculous to have an SUV in suburban America, try justifying it in Delhi where traffic rarely exceeds 40 mph) ; buses that zoom down the side lanes, with people dangling in the doorways, packed in like sardines; autos blasting Bollywood, squeezing their way through the mess, the drivers completely at ease; motoscooters, sometimes packed with a family of 4 on board, zig zagging and zooming around the larger vehicles; cycle rickshaws teetering along, driver and passenger usually looking miserable in the hot summer sun; bullock carts piled with masses of produce; solo bicyclists cycling along on decrepid looking things, completely in tune with the rushing traffic around them; jaywalking businessmen, jaywalking housewives, jaywalking yogis stopping all traffic with just one palm held up; dogs that act like squirrels, running across the roads and freezing in the middle like they've never seen a car before; children, who sell everything from magazines to jasmine strands, that dart in and out of the lanes and approach momentarily stopped vehicles with their rehearsed salesman script; begger children, and women holding babies who painfully look you in the eye, and simply hold out their hand, point to their mouth, and point to their baby until the traffic starts moving again. And then of course, there are the cows who show up periodically. It's madness, it's mayhem, it's absolutely terrifying, but pretty beautifully coordinated at the same time. I've seen a couple of minor skirmishes, and I know there are pretty big accidents, but considering that traffic lines on the road serve an aesthetic purpose and little more, Indian traffic is pretty impressive.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Jaipur blasts...
I don't know how much coverage this will get in the Western media, especially considering the cyclone disaster in Myanmar and the earthquake in China (we can only handle so many disaster headlines!) but yesterday evening there were multiple bombings in the city of Jaipur, killing around 80 people, and leaving 150 people wounded. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/80_killed_150_wounded_in_Jaipur_blasts/articleshow/3037229.
Just want everyone to know that I've spoken to a few of my friends in Jaipur, and so far everyone I know there is safe and okay. Everything's closed and everyone's a little rattled, but doing fine.
Just want everyone to know that I've spoken to a few of my friends in Jaipur, and so far everyone I know there is safe and okay. Everything's closed and everyone's a little rattled, but doing fine.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Return and Exit
Oh hey there, nice to see you again.
I'm back. Well, I never actually left. I just can't keep up with Sara. A lot has happened, such as.... I'm not in India anymore. I'm in Nepal. Just like the talking heads say; "how did I get here?" well, here's a brief timeline of the events of recent past (chronologically of course!)
Met Sara in Delhi for posh party times (see previous post)
Left for Varanasi by train (12 hours)
In Varanasi the law of balances (not karma because good didn't always lead to better events)seemed to be in full effect. For every single negative action (which there were a bunch of) a positive one occured.
Witnessed the burning ghats from the top of a building
Chased by a really annoying man asking for two rupees, or a snack, or tea. So I sat down - he ordered tea for himself and told me I would pay for it. While he was still talking I got up and walked away...he couldnt follow because he hadn't paid for the tea yet.
Wandered into a homeless shelter that also harbored 350 year old trees - a little girl wanted a photo, I had no camera, told her I am an artist, she went and got a sketchbook and basically challenged me to draw her portrait. I agreed. You can't turn down a little girl with that much determination - and it reminded me to always put my drawing hand where my mouth is.
Ate a papaya (obviously)
Met a yogi for Jesus. By yogi I mean white Australian who has had many spiritual experiences and claims that Jesus is the most powerful path. That actually sounds a lot more cynical than it actually was. His younger friend and I had a discussion about believing in a higher power, Jesus, the old testament, etc. And then this guy, Michael, paid for dinner. Awesome.
Hopped a bus to Sonauli (Nepal Border, 15 hours)
I had some deep thoughts about the way mudpies (cow pies used for fuel burning, yay renewable sources!) are stacked differently between two towns that were very close to each other. One rolled them into cylinders and stacked them into a pyramid. The other did a log style that towered into a jenga formation. Why so different even though their proximity is so close?
Many of the farms have recently harvested their wheat. And the monsoons come soon. In order to maximize nutrient potential, they set fire to their fields at night so that nitrogen will return to the soil. Driving by this at night, and not quite putting it altogether, I almost had the urge to run to the front of the bus and yell that the fields are burning, we must help!! But alas, the inquisitive mind made me sit and think about it before rushing to the conductor, who sat in front of me.
The next morning went through customs and took a bus to Pokhara (told it would be 7 hours, took 10)
Took a hostel in Japan town and proceeded to sleep for the next 30 some hours. In 72 hours I spent 37 of those on public transport, and I know it's just sitting and doing nothing - but by george it gets tiring.
last night I met some Japanese dudes and one of them spoke Chinese, so we had dinner and talked in Chinese, I actually could hold down my end of the conversation and understand him fairly well.
met another japanese guy on my rooftop today. it was amazing, he had a set of speakers, cd player, two mixers, and a huge number of cables and was mixing his own beats. Times like this I love technology. To be surrounded by snowpeaked mountains and blue sky and towering clouds (which are now pouring buckets and mangy dogs) and listening to homeade beats (or his favorite, Aretha Frankin, not joking) is amazing. And it turned out we have the same birthday
met an old woman growing pot on her front lawn today. she was very happy.
So thats life in a nutshell recently. I'm drawing a lot. This place is very inspiring. And tomorrow I will try to begin trekking for the next 4-5 days.
PS. Scroll down for a post that I forgot to put up earlier titled "Dance Dance Dance"
I'm back. Well, I never actually left. I just can't keep up with Sara. A lot has happened, such as.... I'm not in India anymore. I'm in Nepal. Just like the talking heads say; "how did I get here?" well, here's a brief timeline of the events of recent past (chronologically of course!)
Met Sara in Delhi for posh party times (see previous post)
Left for Varanasi by train (12 hours)
In Varanasi the law of balances (not karma because good didn't always lead to better events)seemed to be in full effect. For every single negative action (which there were a bunch of) a positive one occured.
Witnessed the burning ghats from the top of a building
Chased by a really annoying man asking for two rupees, or a snack, or tea. So I sat down - he ordered tea for himself and told me I would pay for it. While he was still talking I got up and walked away...he couldnt follow because he hadn't paid for the tea yet.
Wandered into a homeless shelter that also harbored 350 year old trees - a little girl wanted a photo, I had no camera, told her I am an artist, she went and got a sketchbook and basically challenged me to draw her portrait. I agreed. You can't turn down a little girl with that much determination - and it reminded me to always put my drawing hand where my mouth is.
Ate a papaya (obviously)
Met a yogi for Jesus. By yogi I mean white Australian who has had many spiritual experiences and claims that Jesus is the most powerful path. That actually sounds a lot more cynical than it actually was. His younger friend and I had a discussion about believing in a higher power, Jesus, the old testament, etc. And then this guy, Michael, paid for dinner. Awesome.
Hopped a bus to Sonauli (Nepal Border, 15 hours)
I had some deep thoughts about the way mudpies (cow pies used for fuel burning, yay renewable sources!) are stacked differently between two towns that were very close to each other. One rolled them into cylinders and stacked them into a pyramid. The other did a log style that towered into a jenga formation. Why so different even though their proximity is so close?
Many of the farms have recently harvested their wheat. And the monsoons come soon. In order to maximize nutrient potential, they set fire to their fields at night so that nitrogen will return to the soil. Driving by this at night, and not quite putting it altogether, I almost had the urge to run to the front of the bus and yell that the fields are burning, we must help!! But alas, the inquisitive mind made me sit and think about it before rushing to the conductor, who sat in front of me.
The next morning went through customs and took a bus to Pokhara (told it would be 7 hours, took 10)
Took a hostel in Japan town and proceeded to sleep for the next 30 some hours. In 72 hours I spent 37 of those on public transport, and I know it's just sitting and doing nothing - but by george it gets tiring.
last night I met some Japanese dudes and one of them spoke Chinese, so we had dinner and talked in Chinese, I actually could hold down my end of the conversation and understand him fairly well.
met another japanese guy on my rooftop today. it was amazing, he had a set of speakers, cd player, two mixers, and a huge number of cables and was mixing his own beats. Times like this I love technology. To be surrounded by snowpeaked mountains and blue sky and towering clouds (which are now pouring buckets and mangy dogs) and listening to homeade beats (or his favorite, Aretha Frankin, not joking) is amazing. And it turned out we have the same birthday
met an old woman growing pot on her front lawn today. she was very happy.
So thats life in a nutshell recently. I'm drawing a lot. This place is very inspiring. And tomorrow I will try to begin trekking for the next 4-5 days.
PS. Scroll down for a post that I forgot to put up earlier titled "Dance Dance Dance"
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
the dancing fools go posh...
(the first photo is the living room of my flat! Been meaning to put that up for awhile...) So I know we're a bunch of dirty hippie backpackers, one with a mountain man of a beard(contrary to popular belief, that's not me...), but we dancing fools can clean up pretty nicely if I do say so for myself! Jake just took off on a train to Varanasi, after we spent the past week running errands, starting wo
rk (in my case at least), going to crazy posh night clubs, and completely indulging in a 2 day long addiction to the show Heroes, in which we watched one whole season straight (hey, you don't get too many chances to veg out when you travel, so we took the vegging to the extreme). We also found ourselves at a fancy club in South Delhi on ex-pat ladies night (basically foreign women get in for free and drink good drinks for free all night. I love it for it's utter ridiculousness. Of course it's not too bad having free drinks either!). Last night we went to an amazing salsa club where we danced our little hearts out (quite possibly knocking over a few bystanders in the process, but hey, it's okay). We also found some fun tricks we can play with our american accents (my attempt to ask some folks standing near by if
we could have 'some hookah' turned into free shots of sambuca!!), and we ended up hitching a ride with one of the owners of F-Bar, or Fashion-Bar, the fanciest club in Delhi (it costs 75 US Dollars to just get into the place). He asked if we wanted to see it, and of course we did, so we skipped around the fancy nightclub, and danced on the amazing empty dance floor for awhile. All in all, it's been incredible to meet so many new people, indian and traveller alike, and to have a place to settle if just for a little bit, to get to know people a little better..
rk (in my case at least), going to crazy posh night clubs, and completely indulging in a 2 day long addiction to the show Heroes, in which we watched one whole season straight (hey, you don't get too many chances to veg out when you travel, so we took the vegging to the extreme). We also found ourselves at a fancy club in South Delhi on ex-pat ladies night (basically foreign women get in for free and drink good drinks for free all night. I love it for it's utter ridiculousness. Of course it's not too bad having free drinks either!). Last night we went to an amazing salsa club where we danced our little hearts out (quite possibly knocking over a few bystanders in the process, but hey, it's okay). We also found some fun tricks we can play with our american accents (my attempt to ask some folks standing near by if
we could have 'some hookah' turned into free shots of sambuca!!), and we ended up hitching a ride with one of the owners of F-Bar, or Fashion-Bar, the fanciest club in Delhi (it costs 75 US Dollars to just get into the place). He asked if we wanted to see it, and of course we did, so we skipped around the fancy nightclub, and danced on the amazing empty dance floor for awhile. All in all, it's been incredible to meet so many new people, indian and traveller alike, and to have a place to settle if just for a little bit, to get to know people a little better..Now the nightlife is great and fine, but what I'm really excited about is the work that I'm doing here. I officially started work with Family Vision on monday. My first day, my boss Rohit sat me down and told me all about the work the Family has done in Tihar prison since 1993. What I'm going to do is write up a report detailing this work for them. I'll probably do the same thing with their Tsnuami effort, and I'll also be organzing a craft fair for crime-affected foster kids, and finally I'll 
go to the prison and visit with the women and children a few times. Learning about Tihar Prison makes me really appreciate and really despise different aspects of our criminal justice system back home. It's so different over here, both good and bad... I think when I learn a bit more, I'll write more on this topic, but it's just drawing me in- there's a possibility I may even want to apply to law school in the future.. what!? We'll see... But anways, the work is incredibly fulfilling, and I know that I'm helping out this organization a lot, which is great.
go to the prison and visit with the women and children a few times. Learning about Tihar Prison makes me really appreciate and really despise different aspects of our criminal justice system back home. It's so different over here, both good and bad... I think when I learn a bit more, I'll write more on this topic, but it's just drawing me in- there's a possibility I may even want to apply to law school in the future.. what!? We'll see... But anways, the work is incredibly fulfilling, and I know that I'm helping out this organization a lot, which is great. Okay, off to work-- peace!!
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