Bidada Sarvodaya Trust

The past few weeks have been an incredible experience. We volunteered at a NGO in Kutch, the western region of rural Gujarat, called the Bidada Sarvodaya Trust. You can look them up at www.bidada.org. The organization is over thirty years old and started out providing dental and ophthalmologic care to large numbers of patients. The organization had begun expanding its services and especially after the catastrophic earthquake in Bhuj in 2001. Since then it created a multitude of not only specialty health care camps but also a huge rehabilitation center. It is phenomenal that they can make a prosthetic limb for less than 20 bucks. Well, every January there is a massive medical camp where throughout the month, various physicians and specialists come and set up all kinds of clinics ranging from orthopedic, gynecology, general surgery and of course pediatrics. Then they operate on a certain number of surgical cases and even refer complicated cases to Mumbai, which is supported by donors.
Well, we spent about 3 weeks there with our primary focus on a child health care project which consisted of packing a bus full of volunteers, physicians, optometrists, educators to random villages and setting up day camps at the various schools. Here we would basically see anywhere from about 250 to 400 kids ranging from 1st to 10th grade, and would give them screening physicals. But of course, with the poor access to care, and the socioeconomic conditions of the people, it definitely wasn’t just screening…Man, we had NO idea how some of these kids went to school and played like no big deal with massive malnutrition, raging pneumonias, skin infections, thalassemia/severe anemia and congenital heart disease. Tarak set up a two-day pulmonary clinic where people, mainly adults came out of the woodwork (they read an ad in the paper) for a medical opinion/treatment. We were once again amazed how some of these people were able to work and function with how bad their chest x-rays and lungs were. If that wasn’t overwhelming enough, the 2 day pediatric camp at the actual hospital was nuts!!…so basically it was Tarak, me and Shefali (a new pediatric friend from Raleigh) each set up at small tables with TONS of families that had lined up since the night before in massive numbers to be seen at this well known annual charitable camp. I swear for the first 2 hours, every 10 minutes, one of us would shout “Oh my God!” (Shefali), “Woah!” (Tarak) or “Oh shit” (me), which usually would result in the other two running up to see what god awful congenital abnormality or disease the poor child had. I won’t go into details of the crazy stuff we saw, for the sake of the non-medical people (We showed my parents some of the pictures, and my mom just starting making gushing auntie sounds and just started repeating gods name). Anyway, it was definitely an experience of a lifetime, and we consider it a blessing to have been able to participate and provide some service to these people. And the people there were so appreciative and grateful for everything, even when we were frustrated at the severe disparity and gaping holes in the health care system. Well, we hope this is our first of many years of attending the camp!
In between working, we did have some time to play and see some of the surrounding areas(the above picture is the salt flats near the Pakistani border). So, considering we are Gujarati and we have spent a lot of time in Gujarat in all of our trips to India, we can say that the region of Kutch (it means tortoise in Gujarati since the region in kind of shaped like one) is like none other. It is surrounded by the Gulf of Kutch and the Great and Little Ranns (deserts). The coolest things is that in the midst of what seems like inhabitable lands, there are traditional tribal villages that produce some of coolest textiles, embroidery and mirror work, bustling mud hut communities, camels that are always causing traffic jams, and beautiful palaces and Jain temples. We were in Bhuj during Sakranti, or Kite flying festival where the sky is filled with a sea of vibrant colored kites and the entire day is spent on the terrace, eating and trying to cut other people’s kites. From Bhuj, we took a day trip to visit some traditional villages in Hodka, the salt lakes that is only15km from the border of Pakistan, Bhujodi (known for weaving shawls and blankets) and Vijay Villas Palace (the king’s residence). In our time here, we had a chance to make new friends who had also come to serve. In some of our other pictures on the link, you can see our Kachhi compadres…Vaibhav, Shefali, Mike, Rishi, Bhavesh, Jay, Tushar and Monte who definitely contributed to our awesome experience!!

Camel Trekking

So, right after the wedding, Kaushal, Priti and the two of us headed on an action packed Rajasthan tour. We spent the next day in Jaipur, which is incidentally referred to as the “pink city” as the maharaja (king) of Jaipur painted the entire city pink to honor King Edward, who was visiting at the time. We saw the Hawa Mahal (in the picture above), Amber Fort, City Palace and hung out with our friends, Sonia and Rishi, who were our Jaipur localites and served as great tour guides. That night, we took a night train to Jaiselmer..little did we know that it would be a train ride from HELL!!....Tarak and I, you know by this point, think we’re pretty rough and experienced backpackers..so we thought we’d buy the 2nd class sleeper tickets (as 1st class is usually for AC, which in the cold desert winters, we knew didn’t need) for you know, the lovely 12 hour journey…WRONG!! First of all, the train was late 2 hours..we waited at the FREEZING cold station and we looked around at all of the other 2nd class passengers with thick thick blankets and warm clothing…after the train finally arrived, we thought..good, some warmth…WRONG AGAIN! So, the difference between AC sleeper and second class, for anyone that needs to know, is NOT only the AC option, but HEAT and almost more importantly, sealed compartments, windows and insulation. So, there we were, lying on these ghetto seats, without sheets, blankets…as blasting “bone crushing” wind rushed through every freakin’ open crack in the windows, doors and ceilings. Of course, the stench of the nearby latrine, and no door to block the fumes..was yet another plus. And finally to top it off, the train midway had some type of brake failure or fire hazard (we weren’t exactly sure what was going on besides that smoke was coming in our compartment and that we were too damn cold to care). The city of Jaiselmer was a sight for sore eyes, and then things took a turn for the MUCH better. The city is the oldest inhabited medieval fort in the world, and we were lucky enough to stay at an amazing 500 year old haveli inside the actual fort. There were shops and bazaars galore right outside our residence, along with an incredible Jain temple, and an awesome maharaja and rani palace. It was crazy..the king and queen had separate residences..I actually was a little irritated, that the kings pad was WAY better than the queens…hmm..typical…
Anyway, day 2, we had a chance to take a much talked about, camel desert safari…we left for the sand dunes in the afternoon by jeep, and arrived to experience the incredible desert sunset on camels. Soon after the sunset, we sat by the campfire mesmerized by the sky of stars and the calm of the desert night. We headed back and ate an awesome dinner at a typical Rajasthani dhabi (it was actually called Desert Boy Dhani). The next day, we did some sightseeing, shopping and headed on another overnight train (but this time, we had switched our tickets for AC sleeper..a WORLD of difference) to Udaipur, which is the yellow city. Here we visited the famous City Palace, and then hung out at a rooftop restaurant, listening to live music, eating great food and of course a fabulous view of the Lake Palace. The next morning, our friends took off for Surat and we headed back to A’bad, only to take another (this is our 3rd now) night train to western Gujarat, in the Kuch area, near Bhuj (the area devastated by the earthquake 4 years ago) for our health camp.

Shaadi Rajastani Style

Greetings after yet another beautiful region of India we've visited!! Well, after chilling out in Ahemdabad, we had an action packed 10 days or so...we went to Mumbai for a few days and rung in the New Year with my best friend Shilpa. And then we were busy with our friends Nehal and Ritu's wedding...it started with a mehindi party in Mumbai that included an entertaining live Qawali (music group that sing urdu ghazals/songs) and then as in the traditional Hindu wedding style, we left with the "jaan" (the entire grooms side) on a train from Mumbai to Jaipur. Try to imagine, over a 100 people, on a 18 hour train ride, taking up almost 2-3 compartments of the train, eating, singing and dancing as we make our way to the brides home city. We were greeted at the Jaipur train station, with garlands (I felt like a celebrity, until I realized all 100 people of our party had garlands on) and we were fed a humungous lunch. Afterwards, there was a Sangeet party, with dances, music and of course a ton more food. There are a bunch of open stalls, and you can go and eat buffet style, whatever you feel like. The next day, we had a precious 2 hours of shopping before the wedding..so, we had some amazing homemade thick lassi (kind of sweet thick yogurt drink) in disposable clay cups and set off to shop. You know, it's funny because I've basically just been shopping with Tarak..and even so, we always get more than we anticipitated. BUT, when there are 2 or 3 more Indian girls with me..that's a definite force that can't be stopped...for instance, we hit this jewelry store (don't worry it wasn't real, but it was fun costume and Rajasthani jewelry), and I swear in about 30 minutes, we basically depleted this man of most of his merchandise. Anyway, Jaipur is known for beautiful handicrafts, jewelry and "bandini" (which is tye-die..not to be confused with the cheezy tie-die shirts back home) saris-so, we had to take advantage of that.
After a few hours of action packed shopping, we headed off with the jaan, to start the wedding. The "baarath" (grooms side) basically dances their way to meet the brides family...our friend Nehal, was actually on a massive, decorated elephant and was all decked out in traditional Rajput gear (Rajasthani warrior including a sword..look closely in the pictures) and was even carrying his little 4 month nephew, Ayush (absolutely adorable, and was dressed in an identical outfit to that of the groom. Nehal's close friends, accompanied him on camels and horses as the rest of us danced beside them (of course closely avoiding the land mines of the animals made in the process) to where finally the brides side, where we all entered the wedding hall and the ceremony took place. It was a blast! The whole wedding took place at Chawki Dhani which was a secluded place that was made in the form of a traditional village that had stalls of food, elephant/camel rides, traditional Rajasthani dancing and much more. And then of course, we ate a Rajasthani thali and stayed until it was time to bid the bride farewell from her family and to be welcomed by her new home. The only thing that was bad...was that it was FREAKIN' cold..now, I know after living in Houston we don't really have real cold..but damn, all of the aunties weren't kidding when they said, the cold of Rajasthan goes straight to your bones. Of course, being in exceedingly thin chiffon saris, with exposed midriffs and cute open toed shoes doesn't do jack for warmth. The night ended with a ton of fireworks lighting the sky (isn't that nuts?? You would think it was some big show in the states). If there is only one thing I can imprint on your minds about an Indian wedding, let it be the food...we ate it seemed like, CONSTANTLY...when you were hungry, when you're not so hungry, and of course, all of the aggressive pushy food auntie's favorite, when you are EXCEEDINGLY full and feel like you might burst.
Anyway, overall it was awesome seeing a bunch of our friends that we hadn't seen in like 7 months, making some new friends, and getting to be a part of a true rajasthani shaadi!!
Oh ya, we wanted to put more pictures on the site but our internet connection was soooo slow. However, we did manage to get some pics uploaded to the Our Trip Photos link.

Hanging in A'bad

Greetings from Ahemdabad!! Tarak and I have been here for the last week, and will be leaving for Mumbai (another wedding) in a few days. We’ve been staying with my parents, relaxing, and trying to limit our shopping that had been getting out of control. We also contacted our friend Ami’s sister, Anjali who has been here for the past couple of years through Indicorps and got us in touch with an organization called Manav Sadhna. It’s a great foundation-its’ basic mission through the Gandhian philosophy is that of serving the underprivileged through creating and promoting educational and career opportunities for children, women and communities. Their office is in the Mahatma Gandhi Ashram and they have over 38 projects throughout the slum areas, which help over 4,500 children!! The best part of these groups are the simple things they do that have a huge impact. For example, a well known problem is the lack of water sanitation and cleanliness. Well instead of simply preaching it, they put it into action by taking kids off the street, bathing them, dressing them, and letting the kids see themselves in clean new clothes. These habits they take back to their families and communities. Some of kids who have grown up around this center, are now volunteers working to spread the same message of the importance of education.
Anyway, we were lucky enough to set up a few health camps, to perform medical exams on the children in the "anganvadis" (kind of like preschools) and then work in their evening clinic. It was crazy to see these poor kids, who for the most part, were malnourished, anemic and as a result were always victim to chronic skin infections, parasites, poor physical and mental growth and developmental delay. You’d never guess from their smiles, their love and their constant running around that these medical problems affect them.
On a random note, it is NRI season here!! (non resident Indians) (like us). It’s so funny because apparently, the locals make fun of NRI’s…there are even articles in the paper on "how to spot an NRI"..(things like..wearing tacky shorts in the Indian winter, shielding themselves from the sun, carrying around water bottles everywhere they go, packed cereal boxes, etc etc). All of the store owners are ecstatic (it’s their big season)..it’s pretty funny to see the influx of Indian parents and teenagers from the U.S and U.K coming in and just shopping like mad. Man, but I get so mad because I proclaim always to be super FOBy and yet still they spot ME out…I will even have Indian clothes on, hair pulled back, shawl on even though it’s 55°, and NOT shielding myself in the sun, and STILL they say "it’s they way you stand, or the way you carry yourself, or you’re just too tall"…anyway, Tarak keeps telling me to give up..but I will NEVER…

Family Bonding

It has been another long stretch since our last entry. Earlier in November, my (Tarak’s) family visited us for a few weeks. It was a whirlwind of a trip. We had been so looking forward to their arrival, and after they left, we missed them a lot. After getting settled in (that’s jetlag for 10 adults, 4 kids) for a few days and some preliminary (or should I say excessive) shopping, we headed out to Goa. For those of you who don’t know, Goa used to be a Portuguese colony. What remains can be seen in the white cathedrals, Goan cuisine, especially the curries and last but not least, the festive atmosphere. We stayed at a place on Baja beach called the Villa Goeasa. The accommodations were awesome. It was a nice blend of big clean rooms on the beachfront without the big resort prices. For most of the days, we would hang out on the beach and enjoy the nice cool breeze; people watch, eat panner tikka with some cocktails, watch the sunset and most importantly, play with the kids (best part!!). Our nieces and nephew (Shivani, Dhruv, Anjali and Maia Karina) were ecstatic playing on the beach and in the water. We couldn’t get enough of them. Having our nieces and nephews, and being called “mama” and “mami” (Gujarati term for maternal uncle and aunt) is the best deal…you get to have all the fun without any of the responsibilities!! During the evenings, my sisters would frequent (or more like attack) the roadside stalls looking for deals on Indian handicrafts and designer clothes.
After Goa, we went to back to Baroda and hung out with our own “mama” and “mami”. We even had the chance to visit my mother and father’s villages and meet some of our distant relatives. The entire last week of their stay was filled with shopping, shopping and more shopping. I usually have a high threshold for shopping but by the end of the week, I was exhausted. At end of this week, I went with Alpa (my youngest sister) to Hyderabad to visit her in-laws relatives. You know it was crazy, since the start of our trip 5 months ago, these 3 days were the first time, Sharvari and I had been apart…going from spending 24-7 together, it was hard (a little cheesy, I know). Of course, once the kids left, we totally went into niece/nephew withdrawal...it just wasn’t the same without them!!
We also went back to my dad’s village, Vasad, and spent 3 days at the local school, grades kindergarten through 10th, doing school physicals on over 700 kids. It was a blast! All of the boys would only stand in line to be seen by me, and the girls went to Sharvari. Anytime, I had to examine a girl, she, along with the entire line of girls, would go pink in the face and erupt into giggles in the middle of my exam. It was neat being like pseudo-celebrities…everyone knew about the “doctors” in town..Oh ya, we've added some more photos to Our Trip Photos link.

Kanyakumari and Beyond

It has now been close to a week since ending our journey through South India. The last leg of our journey consisted of visiting many famous and pilgrimage sites. However, the first place we went after our houseboat adventure in Kerala was all the way to the southern most tip of India, Kanyakumari. It is where 3 bodies of water merge-The Bay of Bengal, The Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Here we witnessed incredible sunsets, a beautiful island where the statue of famous Vivekanand stands (picture above) along with a peaceful temple, and sandy beaches with fishermen always hard at work (picture also above-those nets look heavy). After spending a couple days here, we started our journey to the north. The city of Madhuri (back in the state of Tamil Nadu) is well known for the Sri Meenakshi Temple (picture above), which is an amazing temple complex. It has 12 highly decorated gopurams (gateway towers) and was completely covered with carvings of various deities and animal figures. After Madhuri, we went to the city of Rameswaram, which is actually considered one of the most holy pilgrimage centers for Hindus, and is considered one of the 4 sacred sites. It was quite a unique experience. In order to do darshan (prayer), we first had to go to the temple at 5am, then we had to “bathe” (dunk ourselves) in the river at sunrise (we actually saw the sunrise, as we dunked ourselves fully clothed), and then walked around the entire temple (dripping wet, mind you) as we were “blessed” (dunked with) with holy water from 22 different wells. Afterwards, we left for the cities of Tanjore and Tiruchirappalli (known as Trichy), which also had fascinating temples, filled with ornately decorated walkways, doors and shrines.
We next had a religious hiatus and headed for Pondicherry, a city completely different from other Indian cities. Although the French rule left 50 years ago, the remnants of a former French colony is easily seen within the architecture, ambience and even some of the local food. We had a chance to visit the infamous Aurobindo Ashram, where many devotees stay for weeks. However, we just enjoyed the food, the clean streets and relaxing by the seaside.
The final leg of our journey was that of going to Tirupathi, which is actually better known than even the Meenakshi temple. It is said that there are never fewer than 5,000 pilgrims at any one time, and in fact in a single day,the number may reach 100,000. (this is according to Lonely Planet, our bible). In fact, it said "it is said the number of people who come to worship eclipses the Vatican, Mecca and Jerusalum". It was an incredible experience to say the least. We arrived in the evening time on the day of Diwali, and we already had gotten some advance darshan tickets. Our waiting time of 2 hours was nothing compared to the 12 hours that some wait, and others who actually walked the 14km hill barefoot to come to the “holy hill”. When we actually entered the temple, we could literally fell the energy and the faith of the people crowded around us. I was moved by the lengths and depths that some of these people, who probably were quite poor, had come to make this pilgrimage.
The last few days of our trip was spent in Bangalore…no more gardens, tea plantations or even temples…basically, Tarak and I went nuts at the malls…HUGE export warehouse sales!!! Anyway, we were are now in Gujarat and await the Patel clans’ arrival in the next few days.

Gandhi Memorial on Diwali

Gandhi Memorial on Diwali
Originally uploaded by taraksharvari.

Happy Diwali to everyone!! We are in Pondicherry (former French colony) during Diwali, the most celebrated Hindu festival. It's crazy..every sweet (mithai)shop is packed with long lines, and the whole city is lit up with decorations and filled with literally deafening fireworks. Diwali celebrates the New Year which begins on Nov. 2nd...

Also..we are celebrating our second year wedding anniversary.. :)

The Magic of Munnar

Well, we are halfway through our South India trip and have seen some incredible sights!! From where we left off, we next headed to Cochin, actually the area called Fort Cochin (the older area). It’s a pretty amazing city. Talk about the religious diversity..we saw the oldest church in India, plenty of mosques and a very strong Jewish community with a 16th century synagogue. We basically visited the sites and then just relaxed in the city. The strangest thing is that we don’t think Indian nationalists (Indian locals) who are vacationing, ever stay in Fort Cochin..they just stay in the actual busy, overcrowded city. When we told our driver Fort Cochin..he had never been there and we all started getting worried as we kept going into deeper and darker streets..and then out of nowhere…it was touristville..or, should I say foreignville…it was nothing but backpackers and white people, cyber cafes and budget hotels..it was great!!
Anyway, after seeing the sights, we all quickly ran for our much awaited “ayurvedic massage". We had read they use special oils which cleanse the body and that it was a “must do”….hmm..let’s just say, it was interesting. We all walked in at our appointment time, into these 4 separate small rooms, with strange music playing and this small bamboo mats on the floor with these 2 small woman (my dad and Tarak, had 2 medium sized men, I think)..and then, in my room, I was told to take off my clothes…so, I, a little shyly took off my top and my jeans..and then she said, “Take it ALL off”…I just stood there in shock and vetoed…I asked for a little towel.she said no..then I begged for a little loincloth thingy(I wasn’t even sure where they would have one)..and she said no..I looked at her little assistant..and she just looked at me (no sympathy) waiting for me to strip….needless to say, it was hard to appreciate an hour long massage when you are butt-naked with their hands getting awfully close to certain risky areas and all you can think of is first, “I wonder what Tarak said and did” and then “how the hell is my mom handling this?”…Afterwards, we all recovered and dissected with each other in detail of the trauma we experienced and then went to an amazing Kathakali dance.
For those of you not familiar with Kathakali, it is an art form, that originated as early as the 2nd century, and literally means “story play”. It is used to portray the Hindu epics, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata. The actors prepare with extremely elaborate costumes, makeup (takes 2 hours to put on) and headpieces. Interestingly, all of the makeup comes from natural rocks, and they put seeds in their eyes to make them turn red (look at the picture above). Each of the colors, are also representative of good, evil and so on. There were drummers and singers accompanying the dancers who tell the story only by facial expressions and body movements (mudras).
Next, we set out for the gorgeous city of Munnar…I think thus far, this is has been our favorite place. Munnar is the commercial center of some of the world’s highest tea-growing estates. It sits amidst amazing mountain scenary, beautiful tea estates and crisp mountain air. We just sat mesmorized by the view and we actually saw a ton of women, who came and collected the tea leaves, which are then dried and crushed to form the actual ground tea. We went on walks around our cottage, and saw cardamom, sandalwood and coffee plants…our cottage was nestled in between a large tea estate, so everyday we could see the women coming and leaving for work. It was so serene and awe-inspiring. We extended our stay there a day and wished we could have stayed there even more.
Of course, I had to get attacked by another 2 LEECHES!! My god, this one was huge and I threw a big fit in the middle of the tea estates..Tarak, instead of coming to my rescue, busted out the camera..so, you may enjoy the leech under the link, our trip photos. Let me just add, the camera makes that gross thing look smaller than it was..it was huge on my leg. Anyway, we of course, bought some tea, cardamom and headed further south to the backwaters in Alappuzha for our houseboat adventure. We had heard sooo much about renting a houseboat for a day, and going through the backwaters of Kerala and seeing the bustling village in the water. So, we set off in our boat..and it definitely was great…the boats made from bamboo, traveling along narrow canals where we saw people transporting everything from sheep to hay to schoolkids by small boats from one end to the other. It was crazy to see tiny settlements where people lived on narrow slits of reclaimed land only a few metres wide. We also experienced Keralan food, but I think something in the water, did NOT settle well in our stomachs. The scenary was amazing, but I think the hype was too much.
Now, we head off to Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of India.....

Masala Dosa Anyone?

Greetings from South India!! Well, we started with yet another night train..this time from Baroda to Mumbai and then we flew to Bangalore. We first headed to the famous city of Mysore, well known for silk and sandalwood. Here we visited the amazing Maharaja’s Palace (in picture above) which was absolutely beautiful and apparently built by some huge raja (king) for his wife (I definitely wouldn’t mind one of those). The interior was decorated with stained glass, mirrors and many paintings. There were also a ton of mosaics portraying life in Mysore during the kingdom period and well known Hindu stories. Afterwards, we visited Chamundi Hill, which overlooks Mysore and in which resides the famous Sri Chamundeswari Temple. We took the 1000 steps to the top (and then nearly passed out) and enjoyed some fresh coconut water outside the temple. Afterwards we headed south to the even more well known Udhagamandalam (yes one word), thankfully known as Ooty.
Ooty is apparently South India’s most famous hill station, which was established by the British in the early 19th century as the summer headquarters of the Chennai government. It is a wonderfully quaint place, it is was definitely quite cold. We had to the bust out the shawls, and even considered buying 10 rupee hats they were selling off the street. Interesting tidbit: Ooty is also well known for chocolates, so of course, Tarak and I went to town. Next, we visited the botanical gardens and lakes but what we really enjoyed was getting away from the crowded city and taking a steam engine train to a small town called Koonor. Although it was only an hour ride, the views from the train were absolutely incredible. The cool breeze and the sights of the tea plantations, forests and waterfalls were probably the highlight of the day.
Next, we headed to Kalpetta (some quick geography: we started in the state of Karnataka (Mysore) then we went to Tamil Nadu (Ooty) and now Kerala). We came here especially to see the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctionary and to see the incredible wildlife and hopefully catch a glimpse of some endangered tigers. However, as our luck would have it, all we saw, as my mom so very eloquently put it, “We paid all of these rupees just to see 2 deer and the asses of 2 elephants?”. (She didn’t actually say ass, but the closest Gujarati equivalent). After being disappointed from the sanctionary, we headed to Pookote Lake and took a hike around the outskirts. That also would have been fun, if I had not been attacked by 3 leeches. There we were, the Parghis (my parents), Tarak and myself walking..and we noticed these 4 young guys behind us, who seemed to be picking things off their feet. We kneeled in to see, small little leeches (nothing like Stand By Me style or size)..anyway, so we all checked our feet and didn’t see anything. Of course, 10 minutes later, my feet were BURNING..and I found 3 blood-sucking leeches stuck in between my toes..SICK!! Needless to say, my mom rushed to put some ayurvedic ointment on my feet.
Well, I should mention that it is quite an experience traveling with the 4 of us..no one understands us down here..it’s crazy, they definitely don’t speak Hindi and their English is dangerous (just enough to confuse the hell out of us) and then my God, we just stare at them when they start rambling off in either Tamil, Kannada or Malayalam…but, we did learn a few phrases, we’ve absolutely mastered the sideways head nod (used as the preferred method of absolute confusion to mean either yes, no, or I have no freakin’ idea) and to add the syllable “eh” onto to every word. For example, when we are looking for a particular road..we ask “Aray Hellooo cheta (which means brother), Road-Eh” and then they will do this pointing gesture with waving arms, do the sideways head nod, and hopefully say “straight-eh”..and at which point, we return the headnod and usually Tarak says “thank you-eh”. We next headed further south into Kerala to Cochin where our adventure continues.

Navratri in Baroda

Over the past week we have been in Vadodara (Baroda) spending Navratri at Sharvari’s masi’s (maternal aunt) house. For those of you who don’t know, Navratri is an important Hindu holiday. Gujaratis celebrate the events occurring in the Ramayan through prayers and traditional dancing for 9 days. For the past week, we leave the house by 9:30pm and fight through the traffic of a ton of scooters/motorcycles and cars all with everyone decked out ready to dance. So then, we spend the next few hours dancing in this huge massive open outdoor field with 8 – 10,000 people, dancing in large concentric circles to the beat of live Indian garba music. By the time we arrived home, we would be ravished and pig out and then crash hardcore. For many years now, Sharvari and I have wanted to experience Navratri in India and finally witnessed this important event. The garba (traditional dance) in Baroda is famous all over India. The crowds are mind blowing who dress up to the max to impress and show off their dancing skills and eye potential suitors. If you’re single, it’s a huge matchmaking and checking out scene. Since the conservative environment usually limits young females from going out at night except during this time of year, you can imagine the crowd. The events are so big that it is televised live throughout the night. We were given strict orders to seek out the camera so our family could see us on TV. As Tarak, who on average is a head taller than most Indian men, was an easy search target and was easily spotted by our relatives on screen. The other most visible people were those came dressed in crazy outfits…huge peacock hats, carrying decorated umbrellas, and even a horse costume.
With all the festivities being over, we take the night train to Mumbai followed by a flight to Bangalore to start our trip to the south with Sharvari’s parents. . Hopefully, history doesn’t repeat itself and we don't miss our connecting flight…

Sikkim

From one Himalayan land to the next, we have just spent 6 days in Sikkim (state in Northwest India). Just to give you some facts about Sikkim…apparently it was regarded as one of the last Himalayan Shangri-las because of it’s remoteness and spectacular mountain terrain. Tibetan lamas (priests) first introduced Buddism in the 15th century in Sikkim, and for this reason, the hills are filled with ancient monasteries. Sikkim borders Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. In fact, Mahayana Buddhism is the state religion and Sikkim remained a princely state until 1975, where it then joined Indian rule.
Enough factoids…so, we basically from Bhutan went to Siliguri (West Bengal) and from there, caught a shared jeep (this basically means, as many people that can fit into a Tata Sumo jeep and you can bet someone will be definitely sitting on your thigh) to the capital city of Gangtok. In Gangtok, we toured and visited the Rumtek monastery, the flower gardens and the Namgyal Institute of Technology (apparently it contains one of the world’s largest collections of Buddhist books and manuscripts). The next day, we took a day trip to Tsomgo (pronounced Changu) Lake, which is at a height of 3780m and is 18 km from the Chinese border at Nathula. It was absolutely beautiful and cold!! We rode a yak (yes an actual yak) around the lake and ate some more mo-mo’s and veg. Chowmein. The next day, we did a trip to North Sikkim to Yunthang Valley and then spent a couple of days in West Sikkim in the city of Pelling. Here we caught a glimpse of the magnificent Khangchendzonga mountain range-it is 8598m..the third highest in the world (that’s the snow covered mountain in the picture above). It was pretty amazing! And it was actually pretty damn cold..I know my tolerance is rather pathetic..but even Tarak was freezing in our hotel room..of course there was no heat.
Anyway, it was crazy because even though we were in India, Sikkim seemed more like Bhutan in that it was less populated, cleaner and it was extremely tourist friendly. There were travel/tourist agencies everywhere and a bunch of Europeans..especially Germans (man, they go everywhere..first Croatia and now Sikkim). There were also all of these environmental friendly signs..promoting to keep the roads clean, not to spit (tobacco, as many people do) and all of these super cheesy road signs like “if you are married, divorce speed”….and “be gentle on my curves” (they meant the road) and “slow driver, long life” and my favorite “good driver seldom hurt” (I swear to God that is exactly what the sign said). We wished we had more time in Sikkim to do a 10-14 day trek, but we wanted to get back to Gujarat for Navratri…can’t miss dandia/raas!!. Maybe we will come back to do a trek???

Land of the Thunder Dragon

This title should really be: Tarak goes to Bhutan. For the last 2 years, that is ALL I heard about…you know Sharvari, “Bhutan isn’t a country, it’s a kingdom”…”they only opened it to tourists in 1974 to minimize Western influence”…”it’s like Nepal 65 years ago”..and so we finally went with a local explorers group from India to the amazing Himalayan country. It is quite remarkable in that it still is considered a kingdom, and it tries to limit western influence, by limiting the number of foreign tourists annually. Some small facts: Population: 1 million, Language: Dzongka, Nepali & Religion: Buddhist 75%; Hindu 25%. In fact, as a foreigner, to visit Bhutan, you must spend at least $250 a day…we of course, went as Indians…how you ask? Let’s just say, we looked as “fob-like” as possible and Tarak was not allowed to speak…
Anyway, we first flew from Mumbai to Calcutta and then took an overnight train to Jalpaiguri (West Bengal) and from there a bus to the border town of Phoolsuling. Before we talk about Bhutan...let us tell you a typical India story.. After missing our overnight train (which of course are the only things that occasionally run on time in India) due to a delayed flight, we stayed a night in Calcutta and then made it to Siliguri. While in Siliguri, we went to a national park in hopes of seeing a wild Indian Rhino but missed the elephant safari by 30 minutes..Driving on these roads can be presumed to be similar to those of Iraq shortly after being heavily bombed. Well, as we headed back to Siliguri we were stopped by a road block.. The locals were striking due to the lack of no running water for 3 days..They wouldn't let anyone through..After Sharvari yelled at few people and almost threw down with an Indian Auntie, we used our doctor card to get through. We made it back to join the group after THREE hours..If you didn't know this fact West Bengal is a communist state so they strike for any and every reason possible. Now back to Bhutan..It was crazy, just to walk across the gate from Jaigon (India side) to Phoolsuling, we already experienced a drastic different culture. There were way fewer people, the streets much cleaner and a very simple way of life with Buddhist monks in robes freely roaming the streets. We went on to the town of Paro, which is known for the Tatkshang Goempa (monastery). It was amazing to see how well preserved and beautiful these monasteries were with prayer flags tied to trees all over the country. In all of these monasteries, there were rows and rows of what are called prayer wheels. It basically is a wheel, inside which scriptures are written, and by turning the wheel, it is like chanting the mantras. Pretty cool, huh? It was amazing in the monasteries, to see these schools of young boys in their monk robes living a completely simple, unmaterialistic life. We visited the markets and tried some of the local food, momo’s (basically like dumplings). Next, we went to the capital of Thimphu, where we went on a short hike to a monastery that was perched on the cliffs and then visited the national museum. We should mention (as Tarak loves adding random facts) that Thimphu is the only capital in the world to not have any traffic lights...it was crazy, no traffic lights, just police officers in funny uniforms, dancing, waving their arms to guide the flow of the cars.
We definitely could have spent a month in Bhutan, but we had limited time as we had come with a group. The group we went with, is another entirely different story. We went with 44 nineteen year old girls from Patna Women’s College (can we say raging hormones)…let’s just say there was a lot of dancing to Bollywood music in the aisles of the bus and a WHOLE lot of giggling at the two of us. Well, we left the "kingdom" and are now back into the realm of Western influence!!
We hope you like the pictures..we also put some more pics under links in the right column in the section my trip photos.

Dumping Grounds

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Originally uploaded by taraksharvari.

This is a shot of a family whose home is on top of the dumping grounds...they had 2 children with asthma however did not have enough money to have them properly seen or treated.

Govandi Dumping grounds

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Originally uploaded by taraksharvari.

This was a home visit that we did to see what type of respiratory complaints people had. It was crazy that amidst this absolute poverty, the children were so friendly and loving and followed us around. The family whose house we went to offered us tea, which would have used up half of their daily milk supply for their kids. We of course refused..

Mumbai Trains

It has been way too long since our last entry..We have been in India for a month now. It took us a few days to get acclimated to the humidity and heat and are now enjoying the cooler weather brought by the lovely monsoons. We quickly learned (remembered) after visiting relatives in Baroda and family friends in Mumbai that food is the means of showing affection. We ate and ate and over ate until we could barely move. We would have to refuse seconds or thirds even though we wanted more because in the end we would lose the battle and take additional servings. My favorite story is that of Sharvari eating 6 russ gulas, pehda,ice cream, burfee,kaju katree in one day (for those that are not familiar with Indian sweets..just know, it's a huge load).. We stayed in Mumbai for about three weeks to work with a NGO(non-government organization) called Niramaya. It is an off shoot of another NGO called Pratham. Pratham is responsible for setting up small schools in rural and underserved areas in order to improve childhood literacy. This in hopes that the underprivileged will improve their social and economic status. Within these balvadis (schools), they noticed a high amount of absentees due to the health related reasons. Upon further examination, it was noticed that these kids lived and worked in absolutely horrendous environmental conditions, which resulted in constant illnesses and poor nutrition. Our primary objective has been to set up an asthma program primarily targeting the "rag pickers" (children who look through the piles of garbage for recyclable goods). We also have been helping out with a clinic near the dumping grounds where all of Mumbai's garbage is placed...We have included some pictures of the actual dumping grounds (which let us just say are without a doubt the MOST disgusting and appalling site we had ever seen).
On a much lighter note, to get to this clinic was a daily adventure. Traveling by local train in Mumbai is an experience in itself. The trains are the primary means of moving millions of people each day to and from Mumbai proper.. Just try to imagine all these people piling in like sardines (we mean literally sardines) until there is no more physical space with the rest hanging off the edge of cabins. And then getting off the train is a completely different feat...you have to be mentally prepared prior to your stop and then since there is no space, you literally are shoved through to the other side of the train...it's kind of like floating amidst a sea of Indian people. And of course, there are those lovely occasions where you have to jump off the moving train otherwise you will be stuck for a few more stops to come.
As if Mumbai isn't populated enough, we happened to be there during one of the most important festivals in the state of Maharashtra..the Ganapati or Ganesh Festival. Basically it's a 10 day festival where we saw incredible numbers and sizes of Ganesh idols that people brought (sometimes via crates and trucks) to their homes and then on the last day, they sent the idols floating into the ocean.
Overall, we had a blast in Mumbai..we were lucky enough to stay at someone's guest flat so felt like we were actually living on our own in Mumbai. It's definitely a great city..there are some great restaurants, bars/clubs and of course non stop Bollywood. Who knows...maybe we'll settle here???
Well, we just got back from Bhutan and are now in Sikkim...we will be hopefully updating soon with some of our cool pics from the north. Stay tuned!!