Religion in India (Our iterpretation of it at least)

This blog post will also have three sections. One about religion in India, one about how to eat in India, and the last will again conclude with various thoughts.

 

Our Experience of Religion, Mainly Hinduism, in India

As many people understand, India is largely a Hindu nation. The second most common religion to be practiced is the Islamic faith and there’s also a very small percentage who practice Buddhism, Jainism, and Christianity. One of the most important things to know about Hinduism is that out of the over 330 million gods (how do they keep track of them all?), there are three main gods named Brahma (the generator), Vishnu (the operator), and Shiva (the destroyer).

The last place we visited was a city named Pushkar, which is one of the three holiest cities in India (or so we’re told). Before going, we weren’t exactly sure why Pushkar was a holy place, but we were still looking forward to seeing it with the hopes of experiencing some sort of “spiritual feeling” while there. Later, we discovered that Pushkar is important to Hindus because it is the only temple in the world that worships Lord Brahma and thus, every Hindu should make at least one visit to Pushkar in their lifetime.

Unlike the other gods, Brahma only has one temple basically because his first wife got pissed at him.. As we were told (or my interpretation of it), Brahma’s wife was at the top of the nearby hill getting ready for some sort of ceremony that was happening down at the lake for Lord Brahma. She was late to this event so then Brahma picked up a second wife and began the ceremony. As you imagine, when Brahma’s first wife showed up, she got pissed. As a punishment, she then demanded there could only be one temple in his name in the world and people couldn’t even worship to him in his temple. The only thing they could do is get flowers in the temple and then bring them down to the lake. The lake is the only place in the city where people are allowed to worship and people will also take baths in the lake to receive some sort of extra blessing; which is why it is considered the Holy Lake.

The only Brahma temple

 

Stephanie and I are terrible tourists and didn’t want to pay money to go in to another crowded temple, but we did go down to one of the ghats (stairs going down to the lake) with our guide. We were then told get a blessing from a religious man on the stairs and this is where our distaste for Pushkar began.

Like I said before, we were looking forward to being in Pushkar because we thought it would have a different vibe than the other cities. When the religious men began speaking to us, it all sounded great because they wanted to give a blessing for our family and whatnot. They had a plate of flowers, some powder stuff and a coconut that was all involved in the blessing. But then it got weird when they kept insisting that we would have to give money to bless our family. They were even pushing us to pay in US dollars rather than Rupees which was extra weird. We were also separated between two different religious guys so it also made the situation more difficult because it was one-on-one. To top it off, Stephanie even got hit on by her religious man with him saying that he, as a 60ish year old man, should be her boyfriend.

Soon enough the end of the blessing finally came and they were pressuring us to give money. They said we should give money according to the number of people in our immediate family and should give at the very least, 500 Rs per family member which would be almost $40 for my family of four. According to these men, this money would be given to preserve the city and for food for the religious people, but it all seemed like a scam. I tried to come up with every excuse in the book: that I’m a poor graduate, I didn’t budget for this etc., but he was still pushing for me to give a lot. Then I finally just gave him 100 Rs and told him that this pushy-ness doesn’t align with my values because I don’t like to feel pressured to be charitable. He then seemed disappointed but finally accepted it and I left. He proceeded to say that when I get a husband and children I need to come back and give $100 USD…fat chance of that happening.

Needless to say, this left us with a very bad vibe of this holy place. We didn’t expect the religious men of the highest caste here, named Brahmins, to be so focused on money. Especially when every other honest person we’ve met in India says that money is not important, as long as you have a pure heart.

A view of the lake. We couldn't take a picture of the people bathing but it was also an interesting sight.

Even though it was a difficult experience, at least we have this nice picture.

A view of the lake from where we had lunch.

This is unrelated but is a view from our hotel room.

Overall, the influence of Hinduism is obviously huge in India. You seemingly can’t look one way without seeing some sort of religious symbol; a figure of one of the gods; and you can’t go one month without having some sort of religious holiday/festival. It’s also interesting to hear the stories relating to Hinduism and all of the gods which are of course quite different than the Christian stories I grew up with. Especially with all of the various wives and girlfriends of the gods, along with the many reincarnations of the various gods, I don’t know how people can keep track of it all!

There’s also the obvious influence of Hinduism relating to people’s diet here because mainly, everyone here is vegetarian. It’s more difficult to find a non-veg restaurant which is interesting because in the US, you’re lucky to find four items on a menu that are vegetarian. However, while there are non-veg places, you will not find beef anywhere on the menu because the cow here is the holiest creature of them all. With this, cows basically own the land and can walk anywhere, including the streets, and eat anything, including the plastic garbage on the road.

Essentially, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand Hinduism and its many layers as much as would like to.

 

How To: Eat in India (Without Making a Mess)

Eating in India has high potential for being a messy situation for various reasons. Firstly, most dishes are made with a gravy sort of liquidy-base and secondly, spoons are not common to use. Spoons are only really used to transfer the food from the dish to your plate, and then you use bread to eat the food.

There are various types of breads in India and they’re all delicious. The most common one is a chapatti (also named roti), that is round and looks like a tortilla. There’s also naan, which is bigger than a chapatti and is normally a bit thicker. There’s a few others but I don’t know how to describe them well. Mainly chapattis and naan are your go-to.

Here’s our procedure for eating in India:

1.       Look at the prices on the menu, get annoyed if any dish costs more than 200 Rs (~$3)

2.       Choose at least one paneer dish between the two of us (paneer has the same texture as cottage cheese but is in a rectangular prism form). Palak (Spinach) paneer is a common one for me.

3.       Order usually two chapattis each to go with our dishes

4.       Order mineral water (bottled water) and be annoyed if it’s more than 20 Rs

5.       Wait…talk with Steph…I’m wonder if I’ll ever get tired of talking to her during this trip because we do EVERYTHING together…so far so good though!

6.       Receive plate, napkin and a spoon

7.       Receive the food

8.       Place two different types of dishes on our plates

9.       Rip a piece of chapatti about the size of two square inches (or according to the size of paneer or vegetable you want to eat)

10.   Place your thumb and index finger in the center of the bread (to avoid them touching the food)

11.   Strategically grab or scoop the paneer, vegetable and/or sauce that you would like to eat

12.   If a beginner, hold your head over your plate to avoid the sauce dripping on yourself

13.   Enjoy

14.   Rip bread, repeat

15.   Ask for bill, pay, only leave a tip of about 10% if a service charge isn’t added

As you may expect there are various strategies involved in this but the key goal is to not make a mess. I find it easier to eat when we get rice with our meals too, but I normally don’t like eating rice which makes this conflicting.

 

Various Thoughts/Comments

·         Another reason I don’t like Pushkar is because it’s the place I first got sick during this trip. Something I ate during the last dinner in Pushkar wasn’t good and caused a very uncomfortable night and morning. Luckily, I felt less sick during the car ride to Jaipur and a lot better in the evening after eating some fruit that Chacha got for me.

·         This tour through Rajasthan with a driver has been nice and a good intro of India, but I’m ready to start traveling on my own terms. Once we come back to Delhi on Saturday, we’ll stay for two nights and then leave for Shimla in the north by train which I’m really looking forward to.

·         We booked a two-week stay in an ashram in Rishikesh (the “yoga capitol of the world”) from September 17 to October 1. This costs 800 Rs (~$13.50) per day and includes three meals, two yoga sessions and a place to stay. We’re looking forward to this because although we expect it to be a bit challenging, we believe we’ll be able to focus on ourselves and relax.

 

Caroline’s Song of the Day

30-Aug Roses by Kanye West

31-Aug Settle Down by Kimbra

1-Sept Ave Maria by Luciano Pavorotti; Kurt Adler: National Philharmonic Orchestra

Udaipur - A Charming City

This blog post will also have the same format as the last blog with the same three sections. Also, Stephanie and I have made an agreement that I will write the blogs and she will edit them so now I’ll write in first person rather than an awkward third-person voice like the previous blog posts. This set-up works out great because Caroline likes to type about her experiences but absolutely hates editing and Steph would much rather edit than write and she has her travel journal that she would rather write in. This is one of many reasons we’re like two peas in a pod J.

General Summary of What We’re Up To

On Wednesday, August 27, we left Jodhpur to go to Udaipur. The drive was much more beautiful than we expected with a lot of greenery and hills. I found it to be kind of a comforting scenery because it reminded me of the scenery back home, which has a lot more trees and grass rather than the desert which is 95% sand. For a part of the drive we even entered a jungle area that had monkeys on the side of the road and supposedly leopards as well. Overall, this was one of our favorite drives thus far because it was lovely to see so much greenery and to also breathe fresh air in the hills.

A view from the car window - much different than the desert

A view from where we ate lunch

Once we arrived to our hotel we were glad to find our Scottish friends, Jamie and Leah, at our hotel as well. To no surprise, we spent a great amount of time just talking about random stuff over dinner and a few beers. We then walked to a different place to have a beer with a beautiful scene of the city’s palace and then later walked to there because we heard we could have a beer within the palace. We figured it would be expensive, but didn’t expect the beers to be more than triple the price of beers elsewhere. So like the cheap backpackers we are, we simply left to go back to our hotel to drink one final beer.

Udaipur is a beautiful city and we are lucky to have a hotel with a great view of the city and its surrounding hills. I feel like I could sit on the hotel’s roof all day and watch over the city’s compacted buildings of varying colors. While we are in a very touristy area of Udaipur, which has the same crap that’s sold in all touristy Indian areas, it’s still a cute place with the compacted streets and foreigners from all over. Oh, and there’s a big lake in Udaipur which is nice to see from a distance, but not so nice to see up close because it’s quite polluted and has much algae in it.

Thursday was a rather relaxing day for us because we had breakfast with Leah and Jamie before we had to say goodbye to them and went on a relaxing walk that extended beyond the touristy area of town. Later in the walk, we then had a chai break at a tea stand (a necessity, of course) and then relaxed back at the hotel. We strategically planned to come back to the hotel during the midday because it can get quite hot during the day and there’s a lot of commotion and whatnot on the streets. It’s also the perfect time to relax on the hotel’s roof and write outstanding blog posts, such as this one (haha).

The sign for where we had tea - at the Tea Room Hotel

And the inside view of the Tea Room Hotel

A view from the roof of our hotel. The palace can be seen in the top right.

A view from the other side of the roof

Me on the bridge over the lake

A nighttime view from the roof of our hotel

 

Our final day turned out to be a lot different than we expected. Our only plans for the day were to visit a postcard and book shop to buy some postcards. Each of us also ended up buying books and as we were about to leave, we met a new friend, Mariano, from Guatemala. We then decided to walk around the city together and later coincidentally met Mariano’s friend, Matthew, from Seattle. We then spent the day with them by drinking chai, getting lost in the streets, eating lunch, viewing a sunset from a hilltop with beautiful scenery (joined by another friend, Martin from Germany), eating dinner and watching a festival performance.

Mariano, Matthew and Martin are great guys with interesting stories. Mariano is from Guatemala, as I mentioned before, and knows Spanish, French, Portuguese and English fluently. He’s also well-traveled where he has studied in France for two years (I think), Brazil for one year and has also traveled throughout Central America, areas of the US, Spain (where a lot of his family is from) and probably a lot of other places. He also recently got accepted to a graduate school in Madrid that will begin in January to study art direction. From what I understand, art direction is about creating the background and overall feel for various things ranging from movie sets to art galleries. While this profession is much different than what he originally chose to study (a biochemistry degree), he seems very happy to be on the path he is on and is really looking forward to his future career in art direction. He only found out about his admittance to the school in Madrid about one month ago and then on a whim chose to travel India, Nepal and throughout Southeast Asia until January.

Matthew just graduated from Tufts University in Boston last spring in something similar to cognitive science (I think) and chose to backpack India and Southeast Asia (I think) for six months until Christmas time or so. So far, he’s traveled throughout most of northern India and much of Rajasthan and was able to give us some advice about northern areas of India. We also learned that he really likes China and has studied Mandarin in China two different times in Shanghai and Beijing. He also seems to come from a well-traveled family who has been to many different countries throughout the world for vacations and whatnot. His parents are currently in Beijing and it sounds like they’re still trying to figure out where they’re going to have their Christmas. Right now, I guess the options are between somewhere in Eastern Europe and Morocco.

Martin is probably in his 40s or 50s from Colon, Germany and quit his managerial job about a year ago to travel. He’s already spent 6 weeks in Columbia and then I think he returned home before beginning his travels in India. He’ll be in India until the end of September, will go home for a bit and then go to Brazil for another six weeks of travel. I didn’t talk too much to Martin, but he seems to be an interesting guy overall.

We had a beautiful day overall and we are so thankful to have met these wonderful people. We’re especially thankful that they invited us to join them to go up to the Monsoon Temple to view the sunset. While it was a bit pricey (250 Rs plus an auto ride), it was our favorite sunset thus far. The sun was a glowing orange-pink color and looked beautiful around the surrounding waving green hills.

The temple on the hill

A view of Udaipur from the hill

After we saw the beautiful sunset, we went to dinner at the Bob Marley Café which didn’t have great food but did have a good time with our new inspirational friends. Following dinner we watched an interesting festival performance for the Ganesh festival that was going on, and then we said goodbye to our friends. They were leaving for Mumbai the next day so we knew we wouldn’t run into them again which was a sad feeling. We then returned to our hotel roof, watched the heat lighting throughout the clouds, read our new books and went to bed

I’m sorry if I go into too much detail about our daily activities in these blog posts but I’m finding it difficult to cut things out. I just want to share everything with you because we’re having a great time here! We are falling more into a routine these days though so I bet the blogs will slowly become less “and then I did this….and then I did this…and then I did this…” and will soon develop into more general topics relating to observations throughout the trip.

 

 

How To: Have a typical introductory conversation with a local Indian

 

As said before, the local Indians here are very friendly. Sometimes it can be a bit tiring however because we tend to have the same conversation every time. It goes like this:

Local Indian: Hello, hello!

Stephanie and Caroline: Hello.

Local Indian: Where are you from?

Caroline/Stephanie: America. Where are you from? This city?

Local Indian: Yes, I am from this city (or maybe 30 km outside). What is your name?

Stephanie: My name is Stephanie.

Caroline: And my name is Caroline. What is your name?

Local Indian: My name is ______. What is your job/what do you study?

Stephanie: Well we both just finished university and I studied social work and she studied engineering.

Local Indian: Oh wow, so do you have a job?

Stephanie: Nope, not yet. We’re just traveling right now.

Local Indian: How long will you be in India?

Stephanie/Caroline: We’ll be in India for about seven weeks and then Nepal for six weeks.

Local Indian: Do you like it so far?

Stephanie/Caroline: Yes, it’s been great! The people here are so nice.

Local Indian: Are you married?

Stephanie/Caroline: No way, not for a while.

Local Indian: Do you have a boyfriend?

Stephanie/Caroline: Nope. There’s no reason to right now. Are you married? And if not, when will you get married? (Because they have arranged marriages, it’s usually planned at what age they will get married).

Local Indian: I will get married next year (this response obviously depends on the person).

Stephanie/Caroline: Oh, that’s great. Are you looking forward to getting married?

 

Local Indian: Yes, very much so.

 

Then we’ll maybe talk about one more thing and go on our way. Every conversation won’t have every component of what’s mentioned above but will probably have at least 80% of it. Especially the “hello, where are you from?” part.

 

 

Random Thoughts

 

·         In the past, I’ve typically daydreamed about the first type of food I’ll eat when I get home. But even if I went home tomorrow, I would probably still want Indian food. We love the spices and the quality of food here because it tastes so much fresher than compared to home.

·         I’ve been keeping track of everything we spend money on throughout the day through an app called Share-A-Bill which has been incredibly helpful. I had a dorky idea however to put this info in an Excel sheet and plot our spending so far only because I thought it would be entertaining. And this is when I was reminded yet again that my dorkiness will never go away…and I’m okay with that of course!

·         We’re glad we don’t have to deal with football games and tailgating stuff this year. We find it crazy how obsessed people can become just from a game played by 18-23 year old guys. If people cared the same amount about their local community/neighbor or even their government system as much as they do for sports or other entertainment, I bet there’d be less corrupt crap going on in the government, a decreased level of income disparity throughout the country, and a happier society overall. I know that’s a very general statement but that’s the best I can describe it without going on a rant (which I definitely could do).

Caroline’s Song of the Day

27-Aug Those to Come by the Shins

28-Aug Hide and Seek (Songs for Tibet version) by Imogen Heap

29-Aug Pusher Love Girl by Justin Timberlake

Our Lovely Time in the Desert

This blog post will have three sections. The first will have the general summary of what we’re up to, the second will begin our new “how to” series and the third section will have random thoughts that Caroline and Stephanie would like to share. There’s also “Caroline’s Song of the Day” section but that’s short so it doesn’t count.

General Summary of What We’re Up To Section

This section will explain our past four days.

Desert Experience

Saturday, August 23 was a very memorable day for both Stephanie and Caroline. We arrived to a village in the desert at about 5:00 pm an almost immediately began our “camel safari.” We’re not sure why it was called a safari because we weren’t looking for other animals, we simply rode a camel through the desert.

Each of us had our own camels that were guided by men dressed in white clothing and the ride was overall enjoyable. It’s funny because both of us have never even been on a horse ride, yet we were on a camel ride in the desert of India.

A view of Luna, the camel guide, and Lalu, the camel I rode

My first view of the dunes in the desert

My camel, Lalu

 

After about 30 minutes we took a rest off of our camels to sit in the shade and we met a cute couple from Germany and Morocco who were also resting from their camel ride. We eventually got back on our camels to walk up a high sand dune to watch the sunset over the desert. Once we got to this point we actually met up with the two guys from Portland from the night before, Luke and Michael, and also met another couple from Scotland, Leah and Jamie. It’s funny that we finally met Leah and Jamie because we had seen them in both Mandawa and Bikaner at our hotel and we assumed they were on the same tour as us under the same company.

Steph taking break from the camel ride

Caroline taking a break from the camel ride

Steph on her camel

 

Watching the sunset over the desert was absolutely beautiful. This was actually Caroline’s first time in a desert to which made it that much more special. What was even better was the conversation we had while on the sand dune as the sun set. We mostly talked to Leah and Jamie who just left their jobs in Scotland to travel for five years. Jamie was a social worker working in child protective services and got quite burnt out from this job and decided to quit his job to travel. Leah was incredible because she was able to convince her boss to let her take a five year holiday and get her job back when she comes back. Leah seemed like she was an incredible teacher and this is why she was able to make this deal.

Sunset over the desert

This man sang a song about the sunset over the desert as he used his cooler as a drum

 

It’s great that they’re making their traveling dreams work before they settle down to have kids in five years or so. Their plan (as I remember it) is to be in India until the end of September, go to Nepal for a little less than a month to trek, then go to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and later they’ll have to go to South Korea in February to begin a one-year teaching English gig where they’ll also earn some money. Then they have a plan to go back to Scotland for a bit, go to South America for a year and then I’m not sure what. Stephanie and I basically have a mini crush on them because they’re going for their traveling dreams and we are so happy for them.

Anyway, after the sun set we rode the camel back where we started which kind of sucked for Caroline because her hamstring is still hurting a bit and the bumpiness of going downhill on a camel is not very pleasant for a sore hamstring muscle. We then watched a dance performance that actually wasn’t that impressive because we could tell the dancer did not want to be there at all because she seemed to hate the music that the four musicians were playing. We actually found it comical by then end with how often she would stop dancing and turn back to the musicians to give them a disapproving look. Followed by this we then had a dinner that was pretty good.

The best part of the day was when we packed up to sleep under the stars in the desert. We were joined by Jamie and Leah (from Scotland), Michael and Luke (from Portland), Sabrina and Wassim (from Germany and Morocco). Once we got out to our location, we found out that Sabrina and Wassim were on their honeymoon and so they respectfully didn’t want to sleep next to the remaining six of us. The rest of us made a circle with our beds and we ended up talking for around three hours. We all knew that this would be one of those nights to remember for a long time because the scene in the sky was absolutely incredible; not to mention the numerous shooting stars we had seen!

Our conversation that night was great because we talked about what we love to talk about most – the importance of traveling, the problems of consumerism, ways things can improve, what we want to “do when we grow up” and such. It was great talking with Leah, Jamie, Michael and Luke because although we were from different areas, we could all come together and have great, bonding conversation. It is such a comforting feeling to meet like-minded people from completely different areas of the world who share some of the same ideas; it gives us more and more hope for the world progressing into a better place.

Soon enough we went to bed and actually slept quite peacefully. Soon enough, around 6:30 am, we woke up to see the sun rise (which was beautiful of course) and then went back to eat breakfast. We then got caught in another conversation with Leah and Jamie and then we said our goodbyes so we could move on to the city of Jaisalmer.

This is where we slept and what it looked like when we woke up

Sunrise over the desert

A view from our camel cart ride back to have breakfast

 

As I’m sure you can tell, we loved this experience and we kept saying “I can’t believe we’re here” because just days before we had no plans to even be in Rajasthan. Maybe it’s one of those karma things – good things happen to good people. We’d like to think so J.

Jaisalmer: the Golden City

Jaisalmer is a city made of a bunch of sandstone (making it the golden city). The main feature of the city is the huge fort on a hill which is unique because people still live within the fort. We had a great tour guide, Ram, who took us through the fort as well as other areas of the city.

We went to two Jain temples that were intricately carved (like all temples here) and then continued to see other parts of the fort including a Hindu temple. We enjoyed the Hindu temple especially because we were able to briefly see people worshiping in the temple. Our favorite part of the day however was seeing Ram give small candies to every kid he saw as if he was the fort’s candy man. Ram will finish his studies in one year and then he plans to be a social work – which we’re sure he’ll succeed in due to his big heart.

Within the fort

Ram giving candy to the children

A view of the city from the fort

 

We then left the temple and managed to escape its many shopkeepers who wanted us to buy their stuff. Ram then took us to three different havelis (intricately carved houses who were owned by really rich people) and then to a patchwork and scarves shop. This shop was interesting because they worked as a cooperative with widows, mentally handicapped people and other similar populations to help them earn a living. This is especially important for widows in villages because once their husbands die, they’re not allowed to leave the house and thus, they can’t earn money. This shop allows them to make various patchwork pieces, scarves, etc. in their homes and then have them sold in the city so they can earn some money.

One of the havelis

Crazy people in front of a haveli

 

Although we really didn’t want to at first, we ended up buying a few scarves because they were so nice and still a decent price. It’s also nice to know that our money is going towards a good cooperative effort rather than some random shop owner on the street. We also got the information of the NGO that’s involved in with this co-op so we can look up their successes later.

Later, we saw a manmade lake area and Ram bought some bread to show us the crazy catfish in the lake. It was crazy how wild the ugly catfish went for this bread. An interesting moment that happened was when Ram had told the young boy who was selling the bread that he should not allow the plastic that the bread was wrapped in to be thrown into the water; and then made him pick it all up on the shore along with his help. You really got the sense that Ram really did care for his community and the people in it, and even this small act could make a difference. We enjoyed this scene of the lake overall, but we were tired and hot and wanted to go back to the hotel.

Crazy catfish

 

The day concluded with relaxation at the hotel, a view of the sunset from a cremation site (romantic, I know) and then more relaxation back at the hotel.

On the Road Again – to Jodhpur

The car ride to Jodhpur was similar to the ride to the desert village. There were still a lot of pilgrims, one stop for tea – this time with cookies, and long scenes of the desert. The scenery did change a bit with more vegetation and hills, but had fewer camels.

We eventually made it to Jodhpur and were supposed to go see a market area but we were too tired to do so. Instead, we asked our driver to take us to a movie theater so we could watch a Hindi movie. Once we got there, we decided to see “Singham Returns” which we found out was about a Mumbai police officer who was basically a badass. He pretty much seemed like the Indian version of Vin Diesel or The Rock. The movie was all in Hindi with no subtitles so we didn’t understand every piece of the movie, but it was simple enough where we could understand the basic story. It had the cheesey elements we were hoping for from a Bollywood movie with the dramatic acting and very unrealistic fight scenes but we were disappointed that there weren’t many Bollywood dances. Hopefully it’ll be in the next Bollywood movie we see!

Jodhpur City

We began the day by seeing the city’s fort which cost a lot (400 Rs ~ $6.50) and to be honest, looked a lot like the other forts we’ve been to. We were interested in a few parts of the museum within the fort however we still didn’t spend much time there because once you see three forts in India, you feel like you’ve seen them all. Now thinking about it, this is Caroline’s sixth fort that she’s seen in India so they’re especially getting old for her.

A view of the Blue City (Jodhpur) from the fort

Side view of the fort

View of the fort from away - Do you think it's big enough?

Good ol' friends in yet another temple

We then went to a spice and tea shop, which was proud of its Lonely Planet approval, and smelled many different spices and teas. We then walked around the area to see the large market area which had a lot of stuff including plastic toys, pots and pans, fabrics and produce. We then found a place selling packages of outfits for women that included a shirt (kurta), pants and a scarf for 75 Rs (~$1.40). Caroline was excited because she really wanted to get another Indian outfit because she felt out of place with only having one Indian-looking outfit. Even though it’s not the best quality, it does the job.

We then went back to the hotel to relax, make plans for our time after Rajasthan, and eventually had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel. Not to mention, we drank some Indian beer in our hotel room while watching T.V. and ended up watching the Emmy’s to our surprise. Tomorrow we leave for Udaipur which we’re really excited about because we’ve heard from many people that it’s a great place with beautiful scenery and a wonderful lake.

How To: Drink Chai

If you are in India, then you will be drinking chai (tea). There is no doubt about that. Typically it is masala chai which is black tea that is spiced in a certain way and is mixed with milk and sugar. Chai is normally served as a welcome to many homes or shops and is also a necessity during a break. If you are not drinking chai at least 3 or 4 times a day, you probably haven’t fully acclimated to India.

Here’s the process of drinking chai.

1.       Specify what type of chai you want (either plain black tea, with milk/sugar, or just say “masala chai” and you’ll get it with both tea and sugar)

2.       If it’s served in a cup without a handle, hold it from the top edges or else your fingers will seemingly burn off

3.       Wait long enough to let it cool down a bit, but not too long where the people around you think you’re crazy for not drinking your chai right away

4.       Slurp the chai so you’re also inhaling air which will ideally help you not burn your tongue

5.       If you do burn your tongue, suck it up! Hopefully you’ll have better luck next time

6.       If you can, try to avoid the milk from forming a thin film at the top of the tea by mixing the tea. It’s not a problem but it is a weird texture to drink.

7.       Enjoy the chai

8.       If cookies/biscuits are available, dunk them in the chai

9.       Feel refreshed

Random Thoughts of Caroline and Stephanie

·         It’s weird that this is the first time in 17 years that both of us won’t be starting school in late August/September

·         This is the longest Caroline’s gone without shaving her legs (10 days). This saves her a lot of time with showering and whatnot but she’s also really getting grossed out by it. She wants to do it just to see how long it takes to grow to full length and she’s not here to impress anyone anyway so now’s the time!

·         We’ve expected to get diarrhea by now but we haven’t! Yay!

·         This is the longest Stephanie’s nails have been due to the fact that her nail biting habit must come to an end because of the hygiene of India (22 years too late-but it’s better than never!)

Caroline’s Song of the Day

24-Aug Here Comes the Sun by Bob "Bronx Style" Khaleel

25-Aug Night of the Flying Horses by Yo-Yo Ma & the Silk Road Ensemble

26-Aug Lagartija Azul by Fonseca

A lonely ass