Coming Up on a Month

I was just outside hanging up some of my kurtas (Indian tunics) to dry and a little girl waved at me and said, "hello, auntie!" It was super cute. I'm really bad at remembering to call people auntie and uncle and stuff. I'm trying to remember to call everyone ma'am or sir or add ji to the end of their name, but it feels really unnatural. Maybe it's just my American accent. It's charming in Hindi laced English! I've started to speak English in a little bit of an accent so that people can understand me more easily, especially on the bus. I roll my r's so hard!

I just spent about half an hour trying to find some English TV channels. There were some news stations, but the one I stopped on was showing a special on the luxury SUV with the best off-roading capabilities, so I moved on. I ended up watching The Father of the Bride for about 15 minutes before the channel turned into static. It made me kind of homesick! The US has some cool traditions.

On Sunday five other interns and I went to Jodhpur's fort for a touristy day. We got the two of the Indian-American (and Hindi speaking) interns to buy us all the discounted Indian admission (50 Rs. vs. 250 Rs. for foreigners) and then we hired a guide for the day--200 Rs. (plus 50 Rs. tip) for about 2.5 hours of walking us through the museum and telling us about the fort. It's massive, built around 1450. From what I understand, all of India was traditionally made up of princely states loosely controlled by various conquerers until the most recent independence. the city of Jodhpur was one of those states. The Marwari people, or the people traditionally from Rajasthan, are known for being fierce warriors, and the ruling caste, Rajput, was a warrior caste. The fort sits on a little mountain, and it seemed pretty impenetrable. It had thick walls and giant doors for the warrior elephants to walk through. The Maharaja of Jodhpur and his family (brothers, wives, concubines) lived in the palace section of the fort, which is where most of the museum is. One of my favorite exhibits was the elephant seat display. It made me want to make best friends with an elephant so bad! The Rajput women aren't allowed to leave the four walls of the home without being covered by four walls. This means that they either need to be carried in a box type carriage from place to place or they need to wear a full body veil. In the villages, the Rajput women are still bound to the four walls of their house. Usually this includes their yard, but that still isn't very much walking space.

Monday and today (Wednesday) I went to the village of Salawas to continue the nutritional survey. Salawas is only about 25 km from Jodhpur, so it is doing really well. They have four schools, a hospital, good water and irrigation systems, enough electricity, and their anganwadis seem to be working well. I love that in every village after a frantic hour of shouting and weighing we spend at least an hour in someone's house drinking tea and chatting. Usually I can't contribute much, but since I have a translator now I have been learning a lot about village life and politics. I have also been practicing my Hindi. Today at the bus stand, instead of just smiling at the curious crowd of children I usually attract, I struck up a limited conversation with them. They understood my questions (I think) but I wasn't totally sure what they responded with. Basically, they were going to a village with various members of their extended family to visit other members of their extended family and they either ate something or nothing for breakfast. Success!!! Plus, one of the little boys, Rakeesh, was just the cutest smiley thing ever. 4 years old, still covered in powder from his bath, and with his shirt tucked into hiked up pants.

Food report!! Last night my host maternal grandfather turned 67 so we went to a family gathering celebration. My host maternal grandmother had just come up with a new recipe called "Mango Vegetable" which was maybe the most delicious think I've ever eaten. It was mango pits with some meat left on them, swimming in buttery, savory, spicy mango puree. We also had a couple different vegetables, chapati, vegetable biryani with graham flour dumplings, sweets, cakes, and cold drink. For lunch today I had a Rajasthani vegetable with lots of chilies mixed in that made me cry. I can still feel it burning in my stomach. The spicy food is so fun!!

Today I saw a mother-in-law who was 104 years old. I hope to God I don't ever make it that far. She looked miserable.

The other interns and I are taking off for some sight-seeing in Jaipur this weekend. I'm so excited! But not excited to spend money. India has made me so frugal. Soon I will be out collecting bits of wire to sell to the scrap collectors like the rest of the old ladies.