Pandu Lena

After waking up at 4 and walking to a temple for Dandia Festival worship, I convinced one of the people I was staying with to bring me to some Buddhist caves on a nearby hill. According to most Hindus you talk to, the 20-odd caves were created in five nights by five brothers (Pandu) Hindus believe a lot of bulljive when it comes to God, including that whistling at night will bring ghosts, sitting in certain trees will have you dead in less than a day, and that the colorful creation of earth stories are fact: Mountains are made when Lord Krishna pushes them up with his pointer finger. As silly as it sounds, my dad pointed out that craziness isn't limited to India. In the US, most people will tell you that the world is 6,000 years old.

Hinduism is exceptional for letting anyone worship whatever religion they want, but only because Hindus take credit for everyone from Allah to Jesus. "Well sure you can be Christian...because we created it and it's really Hinduism"
Oh religion, your persistence is admirable.





B-L-O-O-D

This building was unmarked and nobody looked
twice at it. India's got beauty to waste


My team won, but i was real close. 20 Rs per game


She literally made a thousand that morning


Gateway of India: Mumbai. Eh.
 

I found the source!

4 Days before mosque bombing in Malegaon, at a
mosque in Malegaon

Me and double, Adam



Hi Mr. Sloth Bear!

"Well hey there kids..."
 

catching up on photos

another day at the the daal mill

I saw this girl and thought "that looks like
the cover of a Feed The Children" pamphlet

Bad Craziness at Ganputi Festival...they clearly
aimed for the American 

Treading Water

I'm back in Nashik after a few days romp in Mumbai. Indians mistake me and the other white Americans for affluent partiers and remove the velvet rope wherever we go, thinking we're kings of our turf back home. Anyone can appreciate some chilling with the super rich in incredible apartments. Even with the Extravagance, my favorite part of the Mumbai trip was the one hour take-it-easy ferry to Elephanta Island. No elephants to speak of, but mountain-sized Shiva heads and miles of ancient caves.

Now that I'm back I can't avoid this pang of depression that tells me being in India is useless. Cool, sure. But productive? My happiness hinges on whether I feel I'm moving forward, but here I just watch time roll back like a distant wave toward the sea. I keep myself busy (distracted) with traveling, reading, and riding my bike, but whenever I think about why I'm here an empty nervousness starts in my stomach and swims all around.
Things are only compounded with no one to talk to. The only exchange student I'm close to is 6 hours away and we both don't have cell phones so Rotary can't track us. No girls is another problem. So here I am, talking to the damn internet. When my journal-caliber thoughts make it to my photo blog, I worry.

But if you came for another chipper tourist update: I'll be tiger watching later in the year, I bought my ticket for the tent in the Gujarati desert, and the three week tour to South India is only a month away.


who knows

Incoming!

Off to Nashik for a few days to relax and meet some of the other exchange students. My friend Adam recently relocated to Nagpur, which means I have a good excuse to visit yet another interesting Indian city. Trains are my absolute favorite way to travel, even if today's train in 2 and half hours late. It's a culture where timeliness means nothing and "aram sey" (taking it easy) is king.

Promise to get plenty o pictures up when I return. Getting to this computer requires a 3 mile uphill bicycle ride, so when I forget to bring the little cable for my camera, I don't go back and get it. Send me some email and comment love.

Hello World

I just returned from Pune, where I celebrated the rest of Ganputi Festival with lots of dancing, music, and spicy food. I went with my new favorite exchange student friend, Adam, who is eerily similar to me. Despite Rotary's best efforts, we managed to have an excellent time, ditching our 8-hour lame tour bus for a more exciting directionless tour on foot. I remember eating fresh pomegranate in the street as we walked towards Pahwati Temple, the ruby colored juice making my hands sticky and me dropping fragments of pomegranate after picking out the fruit. At one point we walked into a park and the first Indian cross dresser I've seen grabbed both my arms and was too close even by Indian standards. I tried to shout him back but finally had to shove the dude powerfully. He frowned, off to harass someone else.
When Adam and I got back with his host family, they wanted to go out to McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and the new Western style mall. It's sad to think that India's favorite American cultural exports are fast food and shopping--the things I like least about the US. Instead, we ate at terrific Indian restaurants. I recommend everyone tries chilli milli, veg. chigani, and petla. All Punjabi food is a safe bet.
Tomorrow I'll be going in the Agra (Taj Mahal) area to visit Manputi, or Lord Krishna's birthplace. After the 12 hour train ride it's a 21km barefoot hike to an ancient temple. If I'm (more) lucky I'll find the time to get to the Taj Mahal and do some touristy things in Agra.
I've promised my host sisters to teach them how to play Monopoly, so I've got to run. I'll try and be more frequent with my blog entries from now on. I'll be back to Jalgaon on the 12th. Photos of Ganputi, Pune, and Malego will come shortly.