The Final Days

I’ve been thinking a lot about what I can say about my last week in Hazaribag. The pressure to accurately and meaningfully sum up my time here, and especially the last part of my time here, has given me writer’s block. I feel like nothing I could say is adequate. So here are a few attempts.

These are some of the most memorable moments from my time in India:

1. killing an army of cockroaches one of my first nights in my flat and then eating the only meal I could prepare with the few ingredients I had—scrambled eggs—and trying not to cry
2. Helen and I talking and Helen saying that something or other was “So hard!” and the driver saying “SOHUR!” and Helen agreeing, “So hard!” and me cracking up because Helen thought the driver was trying to speak English, but his name is Sohur and he thought she was trying to say his name
3. Going on the field visits to Bodh Gaya and suddenly and unexpectedly ending up at the Buddhist temple, which is the most beautiful and peaceful religious place I have ever seen. Sadly, someone bombed it three days later, but fortunately no one was hurt and the damage was minimal
4. Going to a “pub” in Kokata that turned out to be a funky family restaurant with booze and karaoke
5. Rita Auntie showing pictures of Jeff to everyone she introduced me to and saying, “Good couple”
6. Hiking to a waterfall with Satish
7. Spending the day on a houseboat with new friends in a beautiful place
8. Falling off my bike into a mud puddle
9. Having armies of children wait for Helen and me to bike home from work and then run after us waving and yelling, “BYE BYE!” at the top of their lungs
10. Many lovely conversations with colleagues at the office about India and culture and poverty and hierarchy and caste and gender and so on

And here are some skills I picked up:

1. Identifying the type of vehicle coming up behind me (bicycle, bicycle rickshaw, auto rickshaw, motorbike, car, bus, truck, tractor) firstly by the sound of its engine and secondly the sound of its horn
2. Blinking dirt out of my eyes quickly and without using my hands (while biking)
3. Riding on the back of a motorbike on bumpy, potholed, muddy, animal-filled streets
4. Riding a bicycle on said streets, avoiding the puddles and potholes and little baby animals and children and sleeping dogs/cows/goats
5. Making grilled cheese sandwiches by the light of a headlamp
6. Showering in cold water when it is not hot outside. And when it is hot outside.
7. Sleeping on a rock-hard bed
8. Doing laundry by hand in a bucket
9. Buying foods from small local vendors who do not speak English
10. Expressing myself with words that are easy to hear and understand for people who are not used to my accent, and listening and repeating what people say to make sure I understood them when I am not used to their accents

Meghan, who came here as an intern in 2009 and has come back several times since then, got into town while Helen and I were in Kerala. She has been showing us around, taking us to meet some great people, and talking to us about why some things here are the way they are. In a way, I feel cheated that I’m learning all this now. Seeing how comfortable Meghan is here (she even speaks reasonably good Hindi) has been contributing to the feeling I would have anyways that I should have spent my time differently/better. If only I’d asked the right questions or been more bold about exploring, maybe I would have learned more.

It’s weird, preparing to leave. A week ago I was ready to step on the plane at any moment and leave everything behind. Now, I’m not so sure. Being at this transition point, I feel odd. When I left Senegal after six months, I was pretty positive I would come back. Here, I’m not. There’s not a lot in Hazaribag, it’s hard to get to, and I have no idea what the next few years will bring for me. Plus, I’m much less comfortable living here than I expected to be. Having a study abroad orientation and living in a city meant that I learned Dakar very quickly, and the lack of those things has made it much harder for me here.

Still, I don’t like the idea of leaving the people I’ve met here and never seeing them again. I know when I get home I will get caught up in the busy life I lead in the US. I know I won’t be reading 2+ books per week, and I will spend my free time very differently. I’m excited about the things I have coming up in the US, but it seems very surreal to me. How do I get really enthusiastic when I don’t believe it will actually happen? I really just can’t imagine what it will be like to get home.

Tomorrow at 7:30 in the morning I leave for Ranchi. Helen and Meghan and Anand and Vinay ji will come. I’ll see if I can make the last changes needed for the annual report at the printer’s office (technical problems and other people’s inability to meet deadlines have caused this project to drag on beyond what I imagined possible), and if not, I’ll finish it in the US. We’ll have lunch, and I’ll go to the airport.

Monday night I’ll spend at a nice hotel in Delhi. I’ll leave around 2:30 in the morning to catch my 5 am flight to Abu Dhabi, then I’ll have 2.5 hours in the airport there, then 15 hours to Chicago. Jeff will pick me up, and we’ll…drive off into the sunset? I can’t even imagine that far in advance. Everything seems impossible about it.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Wrapping Up Vacation

Saturday morning Jithin picked Helen and me up at the hotel around noon, and we checked out of the hotel and headed toward the elephants. Turns out they were pretty far away, but close to Jithin’s house (which, incidentally, is pretty far away). We were not allowed to ride the elephants or even get close to them, because, as Jithin had been telling us all along, elephants go mad during monsoon season. The elephant training center doesn’t even conduct any training during monsoon season.

I seriously doubted this madness until I saw the elephants. Not that I’m any kind of elephant expert, but it was clear that there was something wrong with them. Their eyes looked unfocused, and they were all swaying back and forth to some rhythm in their heads, raising and lowering their trunks, turning their heads back and forth. They did not look suitable for riding. We took some pictures.

On the way back, we went to Jithin’s house and met his family. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. I was in the depths of a head cold, so my ability to hold an interesting conversation was compromised by my inability to breathe through my nose and the stuffy, confused feeling in my head.

We stopped by a temple that we were not allowed into (we’re not Hindu) and took pictures. Then we got coffee/tea near the airport and waited for Vijay, who had borrowed my flash drive to give me some great pictures he’d taken our first day or two. He came, and then we checked into a new (also lovely) hotel right next to the airport, and then we headed out for drinks at this awesome resort place called something like Shaj Earth Resort. I think.

They had a huge swimming pool, cool colored LED lighting, lots of bamboo growing, tables and chairs on scenic lawns, walking paths, etc. I’ve heard that tea with honey and brandy is good for head colds, so I wound up getting a drink called Honey Moon, which is brandy with honey and lime juice. It was delicious. I want another now. It also made me feel a lot better all through dinner, which was a huge relief. Then, after eating, I felt like I needed to crash, so we said our goodbyes and headed out.

We got to sleep around 9:30, woke up at 4, left the hotel at 5:40 for our 7 am flight. Which, we discovered when we got to the airport, had been canceled.

All week, when Helen and I would reflect about our somewhat hellish journey to Kerala, we would say, “At least on the way back, we have a nonstop flight, a few free hours, and a bus, and then we’re DONE.” In rescheduling our flight, we had no option but to miss our bus, which meant we had to stay the night in Kolkata and take the train at 6 the next morning to Ranchi, followed by a bus from Ranchi to Hazaribag. Okay.

Flights went fine, the day was going okay, I booked a room at a cheap place with good reviews, we took a prepaid taxi to the hotel…

And it wasn’t there. Or, it was there, but no people were. It’s still unclear what happened. What is clear is that we could not stay there, our taxi driver did not speak English, Helen and I were both beyond exhausted and frustrated, and the stress was making me sick to my stomach. Not to mention, it was 11 pm in a city we were not familiar with in the least, and we had a train to catch at 6 the next morning and no place to lie down.

After one more failed attempt at a hotel, we finally found a place (which is to say, the hotel was closed, but we banged on the door until the receptionist, who was sleeping on the floor and spoke no English, woke up and consented to let us stay). We had several of those frustrating conversations that happens often when there are language barriers:

Us: Sorry to wake you! Do you  have a room for tonight?

Him: Room? Tonight?

Us: Yes, we want a room tonight. We have to leave at 4:30 tomorrow morning.

Him: Booking?

Us: We do not have a booking.

Him: Room? Tonight? Leave tomorrow?

Us: Yes, that’s right.

Him: Booking?

Us: No booking. Can we still get a room?

Him: Room tonight, no booking?

Us: Yes. Whatever you have is fine. We are tired, and we will only be here a few hours. We have to leave at 4:30.

Him: Leave tomorrow 4:30?

Us: Yes, and we need a taxi to the railway station for a 6:00 train. Can you call us a taxi at 4:30?

Him: Taxi tomorrow 4:30?

Us: Yes.

Him: Okay. Tomorrow at 4:30.

Us: Great.

Him: Okay, 3:50.

Us: No, 4:30!

Him: 4:30. Okay. 3:50.

Us: WE NEED TAXI. 4:30. NOT 3:50.

Him: Yes yes, taxi 4:30! 3:50!

Us: [looking at each other]

Him: Taxi PAYMENT 350.

Us: OH! 350 rupees??

Him: Yes yes! So room. Booking?

The hotel room, when we finally got there, was not very nice, but it had beds and a Western style toilet and a shower. Possibly also bedbugs. We’ll find out soon.

This is getting long. Sorry. I’ll be briefer.

We woke up at 4, got to the train station around 5, found some muffin-ish things for breakfast, found our train, and discovered we were riding in the executive class. Air conditioning, lots of leg room, and so much food/drink service! The train arrived in Ranchi at 1:30, a driver from NBJK took us to the bus station, the bus left at 2:45 from Ranchi to Hazaribag, and we finally finally finally arrived back home at about 5:30. Finally.

Tomorrow I may write about the many and various things I love and miss about Kerala. For now, I will sign off.

Cochin Vacation

This post is long because I’ve been putting it off. Enjoy!

Tuesday:

This was our first full day in Cochin. We slept until 9:45 and nearly missed breakfast (which ends at 10). Jithin came to meet us by noon or so, and he took us to the coffee shop next door to the hotel, where we met his friends Melvin and Anthony. After coffee and a Nutella crepe, we went outside where the boys smoked and we waited to go see our first sights. Jithin’s friend Vijay, who studied at Western just like the rest of us, came with us for a drive and then to see a palace “where the king would go to chill.” He was great at knowing the history of the places.

Next we drove to Fort Cochin and had lunch at a hotel there that was built by the Dutch in the 18^th(?) century. Lunch took forever. Afterwards, we walked around the fort a bit, and we went to the beach nearby. Helen and I were invited to help fishermen reel in their Chinese fishing net, which is built in a stationary location and has a net that can be lifted out of or lowered into the water. We caught about five little fish. Apparently it’s the off season.

[more pictures to come later in the week--the uploader is being horribly slow]

By the end of our walk on the beach, Helen and I were both pretty exhausted (Helen was still recovering from food poisoning and I was feeling iffy), so we went back to the hotel. We had room service dinner while sitting on cushy beds. It was grand.

Wednesday:

We had made all these plans for seeing palaces and temples and things on Wednesday, but instead we ended up going for a scenic drive with Jithin and his friend Shorn (like Sean) to a waterfall.

Apparently you can sometimes see tigers and elephants there, but we only saw monkeys and deer.

Still, it was cool seeing wildlife and the waterfall was spectacular. The drive was gorgeous: densely forested with palm trees and green beyond compare.

Thursday:

Houseboat! On Thursday we planned to get going by 8:30 to make it to the houseboat by 10 or so. So naturally we didn’t get going until almost noon, and we got to the boat at 2. The trip was shorter than we anticipated, but it didn’t feel too short. The boat was really cool: two bedrooms, a bathroom, a dining/living room, and a kitchen.

It had ceiling fans, and the whole boat was covered, so when it rained they just lowered some tarps over the open sides, and we were protected. The scenery was gorgeous, and being on a boat with great people (and booze) was really fun. We had a traditional Keralan duck dish for lunch on the boat, which was delicious. After we got back to Cochin, we went to Mezzo, the bar/restaurant where the guys always hang out. I was feeling fine, and then I wasn’t feeling fine and decided to go splash some water on my face in the bathroom, but as I was walking to the bathroom my vision blacked out and I wound up lying on the floor in front of the bathroom doors because I couldn’t see where they were or which was the women’s. After about 20 seconds my vision came back and I went into the bathroom and laid down on the floor again. Fortunately the floors were very clean because Mezzo is a fancy place. Anyways, I started feeling better and went back outside, and then decided that I really should be back in the hotel, so we went headed back.

Friday:

Today, we started out early with Achyu, another friend of Jithin’s. He took us back toward Fort Cochin to see Jew Town and the synagogue. Unfortunately, most things were closed because Friday is a holiday, but it was still nice to walk around. Helen and I got some gift shopping done. We also saw the Folklore Museum, which is a private collection of historical artifacts turned into a museum. I think if you have that many artifacts, you have no choice but to turn them into a museum, because you can’t possibly store it all otherwise. One cool thing about the museum is that the building itself is constructed from pieces of historical architecture and decorative woodcarvings salvaged from old buildings. The place is sort of a mishmash of all kinds of things, some very poorly labeled, but it’s a neat place. I’m glad we made it there.

Achyu took us for lunch at a dosa place near our hotel, which was possibly my favorite thing I’ve eaten in India so far. Dosa is like a thin, slightly crispy pancake made from fermented rice water. Ours were stuffed with a potato masala filling, which was tasty and complemented the pancake well.

After lunch we rested at the hotel for a few hours, got coffee at the coffee shop, met everyone at Mezzo, and then went to an Indian clothing store to try to do more gift shopping. We didn’t find much for gifts there—it’s a really great store for Indian women, but less so for souvenirs—but we’ll hopefully have time for more tomorrow.

Tomorrow the plan is to check out of this hotel and into one closer to the airport, see and hopefully ride elephants, and finish gift shopping. Our flight is early Sunday morning, and then we have about 24 hours of travel before we get back to Hazaribag. And then, I have only one week left before heading to the U.S. 

Arrival

This is our hotel room. We are in heaven. There is hot water in the shower, there are mirrors in the bedroom and bathroom, and there is wifi. The hotel also has laundry service, which I will probably take advantage of since my clothes have not had a proper washing in two months now. The floors are spotlessly clean, there is room service, and the beds are so comfortable. We have a fifth floor view of the city, which is not smelly or covered in trash.

The last parts of our travel were trying. Helen definitely had food poisoning, but thankfully most of it passed before our last flight. The flight was delayed both before and after we boarded, but it was pretty empty so we were comfortable and were able to sleep. The male flight attendant gave me his number so he can "give us hospitality" if we ever stay in Mumbai. Hellen's friend Jithin picked us up at the airport (in his Audi) and brought us here, to the Center Hotel, where he had reserved our room.

We slept very well last night and I barely woke up in time to get us down for breakfast (which is complimentary, and they have coffee). I took a second shower and stood under steaming water for longer than necessary just because I could. Soon Jithin will come retrieve us and we will check out some historical sites of Cochin. Hopefully Helen will be completely recovered from her food poisoning by tonight, but if not we will take it easy and get lots of rest.

Everything is good.

The Art of Waiting

The last two days have been a study in waiting. Helen and I left our house in Hazaribag just after 8:00 pm on Saturday evening, and we will arrive at our final destination (or so we hope) around 8:30 pm tonight, Monday night.

Sunday we spent most of the day at that Spanish cafe. I mentioned breakfast already (and here's evidence!).

The second picture is Helen enjoying her first cappuccino in about a month. We also had lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner there. There was a cute boutique next door, so we got some gift shopping done, too. One of the servers at the cafe seems to have a mental impairment, and he speaks no English, but I guess he developed crushes on Helen and me? By the end, he would purposefully grab our hands if we handed him order slips, and he would give us little notes (written in Hindi) and he followed Helen to the bathroom a few times. Generally, he was making us pretty uncomfortable.

After we finished dinner, we paid for all of our meals and snacks and drinks and internet from the day (which came out to about $11 for each of us). We took a taxi ($8) the 40 mins to the airport. Then we found out they wouldn't let us into the ticketing area to wait for our flight until midnight (the flight was 6 am the next morning, but we didn't want to get a hotel just to leave at 3 in the morning). We watched two movies, One Day which was mediocre and The Intouchables, a French film that was fantastic! It may be one of my new favorite movies. You should check it out if you get the chance.

We finally got into the main ticketing area, and then we had to wait for 3:30 to actually get our boarding passes and check our bags. At this point we hadn't truly slept in far too long (Saturday night on the bus doesn't count for much, and Friday night we got back late from Bodh Gaya), the airport was freezing and drafty, and they were playing incredibly repetitive and generic Indian music. Plus, there was nowhere comfortable to sit, no businesses (restaurants, cafes, whatever) in the airport, and too many grumpy people. We couldn't really sleep, we were getting hungry, we were freezing, and we were increasingly annoyed about everything.

We finally got to sleep when we were at the gate for a few hours and found a comfy chair. We both slept a fair amount on the plane. We arrived in Mumbai and found some wide chairs without armrests that we were able to scoot together to make little benches to lie down on, and we slept a good amount here. I just discovered the free wifi, which is great, but there aren't a lot of outlets around and my computer is sapped from the movies in Kolkata. I'm charging now while Helen sleeps--we had to get sketchy fried Indian chicken/potato (??) burgers, and it looks like Helen's made her sick. I think it should pass by the time we have to board our next flight at 5:30 or so. After this next flight, Helen's friend should meet us that the airport in Kochi and take us to some sort of lodging, where we can freshen up and nap and have dinner or whatever.

I'm looking forward to getting back in motion. I'm really struggling to keep myself from getting angsty about all this sitting around.

Oh! And today is 8 weeks since I left the U.S., 2 weeks to go. When I get back to Hazaribag on Monday morning, there will be 1 week. And then all sorts of new and fun things will begin.