Kate's In India

Hello Everyone-

This past week India finally went right through me... literally. I say finally because I have not met a foreigner here who hasn't gotten the stomache bug and spent a few days in bed and with the toilet. Needless to say my enthusiasm was low and I was craving everything that is comfortable at home. Thankfully I have recooped and am feeling pretty healthy again. (Don't worry Mom!!)

At the half way point in my trip I now feel like I have overcome a big hurdle and really want to make the most of the remaining time and mostly stay outside of Kolkata. There are 2 places that I really want to visit- Varanasi and Rajastan. We are hopefully getting train tickets today for Varanasi. This is a holy Hindu city, famous for its ghats situated right along the Ganges River, in central-northern India. Pending how much time is spent there and the price of a domestic flight we will then decide about a trip to Rajastan. This state is in western India, closer to the Pakistan border, and sounds incredibly unique- dessert, camel festival, and a largely Muslim population! It is the one place that Indians and foreigners alike continuously recommend to visit.

So when I said that Diwali culminates on Saturday I was not yet sure what that would entail. It is a huge celebration, this festival of lights, that actually finishes tonight. All over the city small communities work to build Kali Pujas and the city lights up with candles- on sitting taxis, along store fronts, on the sidewalks and a modern influence emerges in the Christmas lights strung across the streets. These pujas are basically temples with the Kali deity as their focus. Kali is one tough character and it is said that she kills the evil on earth. A typical puja has Kali with a black face, fire-red toungue hanging out, bloody hands, and a necklace of heads strung around her. Sounds gruesome, but I like her. People bring flowers and drape them on the pujas and pray and dance a little. Last night Robynne and I were invited to bust some dance moves in front of a puja, which provoked a lot of laughs! But it felt great to dance... it'd been way too long!


Alright, I'm off to a ticket office to get some information. I hope to hear from you soon and while I am enjoying this trip I know I'll be ready to go home come Nov 22. I miss my family and friends a lot!

Be well! Lot's of love.

We are back in the city and really settling in here; it's a gradual process but I am starting to actually feel comfortable. Back on my first day here, I could never have imagined feeling content in this place. I enjoy walking in the street where the rickshaw drivers, cab drivers and many beggars recognize my face and instead of hounding for money or some business they greet me with a smile and namaste. They know that my ride to the airport is a good month or so away! Now over the initial India shock my eyes see a lot more than the poverty. The other night I sat outside at one of the many chai stands and had a great conversation with a middle class Indian man. His english was excellent and it was wonderful to hear his perspective on life here. He had great questions for me- like why is the divorce rate so high in America if people marry out of love and not arranged marriages. He also offered some insight into Diwali, which is the current festival of lights going on this week and culminates this coming Saturday.

I have also started volunteering at Prem Dan. This home is for adults that need long term care, many are very ill and dying, and some are mentally ill as well. The first part of the morning is laundry time which I enjoy because it is an easy, physical task that has a start and a finish. This home is popular with volunteers from Spain (at least this week) and I have loved getting to use a bit of spanish as we pass the laundry along a small chain of scrubbing, rinsing, scrubbing, squeezing it dry. Other than that we spend time with the women, massaging them, helping them use the toilet, and helping with lunch. The first day at lunch time I was standing with a spoon in my hand, looking lost and awkward, and a sister grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a woman lying flat on her back. I fed her little bits of rice and mushy dal and worried each spoonful that she might choke. The hardest thing about this home is not knowing what the women need. They speak to me, but besides water, food or toilet, I have no idea what they could be saying. Part of it is language difficulties and the other part is that they are sick and out of their mind so I have no clue what they are saying. It is amazing how the Mother Teresa homes work. There is a constant flow of volunteers that teach the new ones what goes on each day. Right now is when there are the most volunteers because the weather is getting a bit cooler, as opposed to the oppresive and unbearable heat of the summer. It is a great thing that there are so many volunteers, but it can be counter-intuitive as well. It is not a good feeling to be around an over-zealous group of volunteers and not enough work to go around, especially in Kolkata because there is always a need. But this morning we left the home early simply because there were too many people there trying to help.

So I know this is a great experience, but more than anything this trip is making me question going into the peace corps in January. My time here makes me crave the stability of having my own apartment and routine at home. I am happy where I am in India, but am uncertain about a 2 year abroad commitment. There's a lot to think about and talk about with my friends and family when I get back! India is helping me realize that I really want do work with immigrants and refugees in the U.S. I am reading a lot and am craving some sort of work that stimulates my mind as well.

aaah, day by day... we'll see. You know how I tend to change my mind about things...

Adena and I are going to look into yoga classes =) Robynne has started an awesome project looking into the controversies surrounding the women beggars on Sudder Street. Most of them have homes in villages outside the city and come here to beg.

Also, word on the street is breathing kolkata's air is equivalent to smoking three packs of cigs a day! Besides a constant nasty cough I have fortunately been staying healthy.

I have enjoyed and really appreciated the emails and posts thus far. This is a hard city and each little reminder from home and message of love makes me smile.

I'll be in touch. Lots of love from India =)

As you may already know, Amelie is one of my favorite movies. There is a part where Amelie discreetly returns a box a precious childhood momentos to a French man, which brings him to tears of joy and he decides to contact his child after many years of silence. At this point Amelie decides to become a regular do-gooder for the world she finds immediately around her. She steps out onto the streets of Paris, the music, all string instruments, picks up and Amelie takes the arm of an old blind man. They cross the bustling street and she describes the details of the what is happening; ice-cream for such and such a price, a smiling baby watching a dog that is watching the meat turn in the window of a shop etc etc. Each time I watch this scene I feel excited about the simple things in life and, in fact, happy for Amelie because there is so much potential for good in her day. It's a happy to be here and now moment. SO, I want to share with you an Amelie moment that we were lucky enough to encounter a couple of days ago. In Darjeeling we visited this beautiful, pretty touristy, look-out called Tiger Hill. It was sunset, there were Tibetan prayer flags wrapped in the trees along the road and the horizon was absolutely stunning. On our way down the darkness creeped in quickly (sunset is just after 5 pm right now) and I was bouncing down the road,literally, shivering, trying to warm my body and wishing I had on more than my t-shirt. As we got close to town a woman stepped out of her home and commented on the cold. She then proceeded, "Have a cup of tea". Her intonation left us a bit confused- Was she inviting us in for tea or just commenting that a cup of tea would do us good? Turns out it was an invite. (woohooo!) The three of us sat down in the living room as she made us some tea and brought us cookies. She was from Nepal, her husband was Indian and they had 2 young children. They barely spoke English, but there was no need for it. Hospitality is a universal language and it came at a perfect moment that day. We did not stay long and they pointed us in the direction to where we could catch a jeep back to town. Along we went and I was warmly filled with this Amelie moment. =)

Currently we are in Gangtok, East Sikkim, India- deeper into the Himalayas. In Darjeeling we realized that traveling here takes a lot of patience and flexibility. I literally waited in line for a train ticket for almost an hour, did not move, and remained at the end of the line. I still do not know how that was possible. Luckily Adena stepped up to another window and got us some info. The next train for Kolkata with 3 seats does not leave until Saturday, so we decided to come to Sikkim. I look at where I am on the map and can barely believe it, yet I feel it. We had to get a permit (free of charge, just a formality) to come here and sign a paper saying we would not enter Nepal, Bhutan or Tibet! The jeep ride here was more exciting than the actual city we are in. Basically it is a base point for people headed out on treks, which we do not really have equipment or enough money to partake in.

I am very anxious to get back to Kolkata. It seems like a very long time ago that we were there and I am in a renewed mindset to handle the heat and streets. I have seen a piece of India that seems like an entirely different country. I feel like they should use another currency here! There is a lot of Tibetan-Buddhist influence where we are and I have been able to enter a few gompas (temples). I know that I barely understand a fraction of what the murals and figures mean, but I love looking around in them. Sometimes there is someone around who speaks English and is willing to answer questions, other times all we can do is observe. Sometimes I feel awkward because I want to show respect, yet I do not even know how to do this in some places. (Don't worry, I have the basics down of taking off my shoes!)

Tomorrow we are going to Tsomgo Lake which is only 12 kms from the border of China/Tibet! It looks like it is set between a couple of canyons (similar to lake Willoughby nat!) Then we will have one more day before our trip back to Kolkata. As of right now, we plan on spending a good chunk of time in the city, each getting into our own routines there. I will be in touch. Lots of love and hugs!

So our first excursion has brought us to utopia, ie Darjeeling. This town is in the north, on the border of Nepal. We took a 12 hour over-night train (we came along some broken tracks and had to sit it out for a bit), an autorickshaw, and a land rover type jeep. The jeep ride, and final leg of the journey, had 12 people and one child packed in and we road up a windy, narrow road for a couple of hours to Darjeeling. The terrain was exactly what I think of when I imagine what SUV's and jeeps should be used for; rough-riding. Needless to say, this type of travel is right up my alley... I love it. So I am at the foothills of the himalayas where some of the world's finest tea is cultivated. I have to tell you that as I type this I am smiling. Each day I think about how fortunate I am. After expressing a lot of hesiation to my traveling companions about traveling right away, I am fully embracing this time away from Kolkata. I hope to get in some trekking and we plan on staying for about a week. The knot that had me laced up tightly and uncomfortably in the city has dissintegrated literally overnight.
A couple of anecdotes just for fun:
I experienced my first flash flood this past week in Kolkata. It is the end of the monsoon season and usually rains hard each afternoon for maybe a half hour, but the other day it would not let up. We sat in a restaurant and watched the water rise on Sudder Street. We walked back to the hostel, sloshing through almost a foot of water! Crazy and dirty fun. I immediately washed my legs =)
I am working on my Hindi. Much of the time here I am wishing that I had read just a little bit more before I hopped on the plane. I feel pretentious traveling around and everywhere I am asking for english. Why am I so fortunate to be born into this nearly universal language?
We went to an information session at the Motherhouse in Kolkata, where Mother Teresa's body lays. I am looking forward to begining some sort of routine of volunteering. After just a few days in the city I felt restless and frustrated. I need to get involved if I am going to stay there. I will not be chaning anything, I question if I will be helping, but I know it is something I want to do. I have something to give and that's good enough for me.
As I type there is a buddhist monk (or monk in training, I'm not sure) hooked up to the internet on a computer behind me. Not something I see everyday.

Okay, I hope you are well. Happy October and I will be in touch!