Jodhpur

Jodhpur was great.

The city is not as blue as Jaipur is pink, but there are enough picturesque buildings, temples, forts, havelis and antiques shops to keep me happy for a few days.

The Clock Tower in Jodhpur

Central marketplace in the Blue City

Fort lit up at night, as seen from our restaurant on the second night

Ganesh! Ganesh is the remover of obstacles in Hinduism

Daytime shot of the fort with the Blue City surrounding it

One of our favorite shopkeepers yet! His nails were painted and he enjoyed showing them off to us

Tooth Hurty

The Dentist of Jodhpur - I realize now that the tooth and bite molds are out of the frame, as are the bike gears that were sitting next to them, but take my word for it - they were there.

 

"The Dentist of Jaipur"

Village Voice

 

The view from the bus - a cow and then sandstorm.

     One of the meetings we took from Bikaner was a half-day trip to a rural school, the NGO that runs programs in that area, and one village in the area. In the meeting with the NGO, we talked about the lack of schools in the area, lack of access to water, and poor health care. Like many places that we have visited, the details about basic schooling are hard to hear - a significant distance for elementary school kids to walk until about grade 5, where the school becomes even further and more unrealistic to attend. A bevy of other normal factors in the American education system are conspicuously absent (ie, a teacher is in the classroom). Trying to think of new ways to ask "But really, what else is a problem around here?", I asked if they would expand or open a service, which they would pick. The representative answered maternal health, as care for mothers as well as infants is lacking, especially for their daughters. Female infanticide and foeticide is high in that area.

Once we got to the village, we split into two groups to interview either the men or the women. We are 22 students, but 4 boys and 18 girls, of which many are interested in womens studies or empowerment, so I thought I was making a minority decision to talk with the men. Once 18 of us were headed to the men's area, I decided to swap teams and go talk with the women to even out the number in either group, and accidentally ended up having a really tough time with the answers they gave.

I wanted to follow up on the NGO's claim that maternal health was an issue, so I asked our translator (one of our Hindi teachers) to ask, "What do you hope for when your child is born? To be healthy? To be a boy?" I had added the two modifying questions to try and help hone the phrasing for translation, but it ended up being asked roughly as "Which do you prefer: a healthy baby or a boy baby?" My Hindi is no where near fluent, but I understood when the women answered "Ohh! Larika, Larika! Beto!!" For those of you with less Hindi, that's "Boy! Boy! Sons!" This was coupled with some chuckling and emphatic gestures.

It's no secret to me that there is a generation of missing girls in India, where demographics are drastically skewed for male children. But, this is the first time that I have sat in a group of women with only women interviewing them that boys have been not only a clear preference, but a seemingly obvious one. Also, being a group interview, with two translators, there was no opportunity for follow up. So I just sat there, knowing that these women would not value having my family (2 daughters) or my host family (2 daughters) or many other families that I know.  

So we talked more about village life (the water is polluted and salinated and they get diarrhea from drinking it but have no alternative), and then walked around for a bit. I made more lady friends aged roughly 8 - 12, and now avoiding the question of favorites (which girls don't have), I asked if my new friends went to school. Only one answered, and it was a No. When I asked why, she said, My parents don't send me. And why I asked "Why?" again, she wouldn't answer.

So then we played on the sand dunes, and then I left.

Bikaner

Lalgarh Palace

My own personal Watch the Throne Tour

 After the girls school, we went on to Bikaner. To put it plainly, Bikaner sucked. We had meant to go to a women's college, but they canceled on us, so we went sightseeing instead. We also went to a camel farm, but it was extra for cameras, so I have no evidence. Take my word for it, I drank camel milk.

The Door Lovers Club

Watch the Throne Tour, Part 2

Windows Logo?

 Bikaner was simultaneously overwhelming and underwhelming. Overwhelming because it was loud, full of neon and LCD lights, and aggressive. Underwhelming because it was full of crap, 3 people had been murdered in the old city the day before we got there, and while walking around, I had to avoid brushing up against a dog with gaping wounds.

Interesting to see, don't need to go back.

"Today - now - we are lady friends."

     On Friday, my program set out from our program center in Jaipur to head west for our second excursion. We packed into another huge bus, as always with TOURIST written across the windshield, and left for Bikaner.

Before we got to Bikaner, we stopped for a meeting with a girls' school. It was an NGO-operated boarding school for girls from the local colleges to study for their 5th and 8th standards. As you might be able to guess, that means for the 5th and 8th grades in American terms.

We started our visit by being served dinner - a standardly delicious rice, roti, dal, and some veg combo. At the time, I thought students were serving us. We all used the opportunity to try out our newest Hindi lesson - polite commands. "Please don't give me more dal!" "Please don't give!"

We threw away our leaf-plates*, washed our right hands and suddenly were surrounded by a large group of young girls. We sat down throughout the crowd, and then introduced ourselves one by one, in stumbling Hindi. I will admit that I was the first to garner applause by my genius, and dare I say ice-breaking use of the Hindi word for 'lady friends'. Roughly my introduction was "My name is Olivia. Today - now - we are lady friends."    Booyah.

After our introductions, we began asking questions to the students and staff. Some of the answers were eerily similar to what mine would be - when asked what they tell their parents about school, the girls said "I am learning lots, they feed me really well, and I have lots of time to play." I have passed similar reassurances back to my own parents, who by the way should know, that I am learning a lot, eating well, and playing more than ever. When asked what they wanted to be when they grew up, the girls stood up and shouted out different professions "Nurse!" "Engineer!" "Doctor!" "Teacher!" "Policewoman!"

Most of the answers were not like what mine would be. For example, when asked if they were married, some of them answered yes. Just to return back to an earlier point, these girls are in 5th and 8th grade. For those who are married, a ceremony had already taken place to match them to their husbands, and at the time when the reach puberty (or 18, according to different translators at different times) they will leave school and go to stay at their husband's family's home. When asked how they knew about the school, one girl answered that her sister had attended. Oh and what happened to her? She's married now, living in her husband's home and using the vocational training that the school also offers to make some extra money.

After our talking, we split into smaller groups to play games - Indian versions of Steal the Bacon, Simon Says, and another game about forming groups quickly of a certain number (I've played ones like this before in the US, but can't remember any names). While playing, the 4 boys (already excluded from my inspiring 'lady friends' friendship accord) were eliminated almost instantly. The students were fundamentally uncomfortable interacting with them in any way. I, on the other hand, was somewhat of a hit, and let my lady friends handle the numbers while I just got dragged from group to group.

 Soon, my arms were by claimed by the ambitious Mumta, who began approximating a canvas before I had even realized that these girls were packing henna. While she worked on my arm, I tried to ask the girls questions to get the conversation flowing. What is your favorite animal? Mine is a goat (lies.) What is your favorite color? Who is in your family? What is your favorite book/subject? The girls were silent most of the time. Later I was informed that is unusual to ask girls about likes and dislikes in rural Rajasthan - good girls simply take the opinion of their husbands and make it their own.

Mumta! Doing her thing. I gave the camera to the girls while they tsked at me for moving while my henna dried, so I have a lot of photos like this.

The girls were welcoming, kind, and enthusiastic to have us there - pretty much lovely all around. Their enthusiasm was really refreshing. When so many standards and expectations are drastically different, its hard to know right from wrong, from different.

*I have used no paper plates since coming here, but instead have been served many time on a leaf plate. It seems to be a two-step process for the plate - pressing it into a normal plate shape (with elevated rims) and stitching the leaves together with some sort of raffia-like cord. They are not spill proof or whole proof, so we often use two or three at a time. They also come in bowls. 

Can you do that in India?

     Back from the desert (for now)! Our lodgings were a little bit nicer this time around, and I was able to discover my love for Music India - an MTV of sorts. However, because all music videos are scenes from Bollywood films, it is really hard to tell when it is a commercial break and when it is actually programming.

     Or at least, that is how it seems at first, but because fewer movies come out in India, the commercial breaks are the same set of 5-6 songs every time. This one is super catchy.

Oldies but Goodies

Subziwalla - aka the Vegetable Man

      Tomorrow, I leave for another school trip, this time off to the cities of Bikaner and Jodhpur, so don't expect to hear from me before Holi!
    Today was my Hindi midterm, and afterwards I ended up going shopping back in Bapu Bazaar with a lot of my classmates. The end of the week shopping trip was eerily similar to an earlier trip to Bapu that I took in one of our first weeks here - and the difference in my competence as a Hindi speaker, as a bargainer, and Indian resident made me feel like even though time is flying, I am adjusting better than I may realize. Even talking with mumma once I got home about where I had bought things, it was nice to be able to give more specifics (near the Hawa Mahal, No, not near that tree) that are meaningful now that three weeks ago would have seemed completely random.
     Around here, I'm starting to feel like a local. As such, the photo taking has slowed but I have quite a back supply to keep posting here. In the spirit of  feeling local, here's some shots of life around Jaipur.

Nonsensically-named shop in Bapu Bazaar

Jaipur as far as the eye can see!

All right, not very local of me - from inside the City Palace