We are back from our spring break travels up to the desert of Rajasthan in Northern India! I went with three other girls to explore Udaipur, Jaipur, Agra (to see the Taj Mahal) and Delhi. I loved Udaipur the most. It’s a city of lakes and palaces. We spent a few afternoons drinking lime soda in rooftop restaurants and one morning doing sunrise yoga! We took an overnight train to Jaipur, the Pink City, which I thought really exciting. They have little bunk beds that fold down and you get your own blanket and a pillow. We took a day trip outside of Jaipur to ride camels through a village; of course I was somewhat terrified of the camels, but it was still a good time. We also rode elephants up to the Agra fort in Jaipur! The Taj in Agra was absolutely stunning. It’s officially my favorite piece of architecture in the world. It’s fantastically beautiful, with carved marble flowers and inlaid stonework. We had a nice last afternoon in Delhi going to the Museum of Modern Art, where we wished we had even more time to peruse the paintings. All in all, it was an awesome trip. The perfect combination of relaxing and exciting. We had some funny moments with our driver Kumar, who only liked to drive us to the spots his tour company had a deal with. At one point he told us “You need three things to drive in India. 1. A good brake 2. A good horn and 3. Good luck.” Those were definitely all true, as we ended up in a few terrifying traffic situations, especially for the person who was sitting in the middle back seat with no seat belt.
My classes are mostly over now, except for one that I have a few mornings a week. Now we’re all doing our internships full time. I’m working at an NGO called Deep Griha Society (means “lighthouse”) that works in slum and rural development. They have a ton of programs that they run out of their main center and others in the greater Pune area. Their employees lead women’s education classes, child daycares with a nutrition component, youth empowerment programs and HIV/AIDS awareness and family support. They have a clinic on one floor for members of the Tadiwala slum community to come in a get free HIV/AIDS testing. It’s an amazing NGO. The woman who started it, Dr. Neela Onawale, has an incredible amount of energy. I had my first full week there last week. I’m still trying to figure out what exactly I’ll be doing for them. I really enjoyed going on home visits with the HIV/AIDS counselors who visit families in the slum who are affected by HIV and encourage them to come in and receive free meals at Deep Griha.
Overall, my India experience has been fulfilling and satisfying, but in the last few weeks I’ve started to feel the strain of living in a developing city. The traffic is incredibly frustrating. Today my friend was legitimately almost hit by a car that came up from behind her and sped across the sidewalk to turn into an alley. It doesn’t help that it’s now 100 degrees every day. I’m looking forward to coming back to the comforts of Western life- fluffy beds, clean water and a society where people wait in line for their turn. Living in India is like a constant struggle to get your share of the pie, when there is really not enough to go around.
I have really been enjoying this pottery class I’m taking with another girl from my program. Once a week we go to a woman’s home and sit on her kitchen floor making pieces out of clay. She and her husband are both young artists. He paints and does some sculpture as well. It’s fun to see what another Indian household is like. They seem really happy in their cool artsy home and are both incredibly down to earth.
Here are a few pictures from our travel week up North!
Beautiful Udaipur!
Taking security pretty seriously...
Getting comfy on the over night train.
Lassi in Jaipur out of ceramic cups- when you're done you break the cup throwing it in the trash.
Camels in the Samode village.
Major traffic jam.
My new desktop background:)
