August is (was) for Visitors

**I started writing this in August after a delightful visit from some Peace Corps Bolivia buddies (B-39 represent!).  Then I started having laptop troubles that sidelined my writing until now. So now it seems pretty outdated, but I will soldier on.**

We're halfway through our second August in India.  It's hot and humid and muggy and sticky; it is monsoon season after all.  But despite the weather, which, quite frankly I prefer to the oppressive dry heat of May and June, both Augusts we have had friends brave that horribly long flight and the mugginess to come to India and visit the TK family. (Well, mainly they've just come to see me.  But they don't mind Mr. ATK. In fact, some were meeting him for the first time.)

Last year, on August 15 (Indian Independence Day) our very first visitors came to India.  I shall affectionately refer to them as "The Sarahs" because they are both named Sarah. Mr. ATK was doing temporary duty in Mumbai so I was all alone (with the exception of our crazy dog).

It seems so long ago now, but it was a pretty fun learning experience. Since we hadn't been in country that long (about four months), I wasn't really familiar with the tourist scene.  My first trips to the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort in Delhi were with The Sarahs, as was my first bicycle rickshaw tour of Old Delhi.  It was the first time I really noticed the staring.  Fun story: While the Sarahs and I were at the Red Fort, I was reading the Lonely Planet trying to figure out what everything was (we didn't pay for the audio tour and the buildings aren't well marked) when we noticed this group of Indian dudes taking pictures of us. I think there were like five of them.  They were maybe 30 feet away and would do that thing where it looked like they were taking pictures of each other, but they were clearly setting the shot so we were in the background.  The Sarahs noticed these guys, but I was too wrapped up in the guide book ("I think that's the mosque...no wait, I think it's the throne room. That over there must be the mosque.")

Well, the guys got more and more brazen as we sat down on a bench ignoring them.  They came closer and started posing next to us--not asking permission or anything.  This is super common in India actually, but at the time, it was new to me.  The complete ballsy-ness of these guys was just so unbelievable that we were laughing about it. This probably encouraged them.  One of them sat down on the bench next to us.  I kept reading the book.  Finally, one dude came over and made the universal "scoot over" motion so he could sit in the middle of us.  That was the final straw. I was like, "Nope. We're done here." And we got up and walked away.

Anyways, it was great learning about and exploring India with The Sarahs. I do feel a bit bad, though, because as our first guests we were sort of flying blind. There are lots of cool things they could have seen but didn't because I didn't know about them.  They wanted to see monkeys and elephants and I think they are our only guests who saw neither. Even the guy who stopped by from Nepal for a day saw monkeys! We've since perfected the house guest routine.  It's a fine tuned machine.

Now for some pictures (circa 2012)!

Charlie's Angel-ing it up at the Taj Mahal. We learned after taking this that you aren't actually allowed to pose like this in front of the Taj.

Here we are at the Gateway to India in Mumbai. It was rainy. I was unimpressed with Mumbai.

First time coming upon the flower sellers in Old Delhi.

Flash forward one year: It's August 2013. Two great Peace Corps friends, I shall call them Mateo and Kathy Snant, made the long journey to India to visit (Mateo even came from Bolivia via Brazil and South Africa! He wins the "Longest Flight" award). They came for three weeks and stayed at ChezTK for a week. During this time they went site seeing by day and hung out at home with us boring people in the evening. Mr. ATK got the privilege of listening to reminisce about the days of yore (2005-08) living in the Bolivian campo eating potatoes.

Of course, Mateo and Kathy Snant are seasoned and wily travelers so that whole routine that I have for guests was not needed. Still, I think they enjoyed their time here--even if it was godawfully hot. While they normally do the thrifty backpacker style of travel, they did start springing for air conditioning.

The ATK-Snant-Mateo travel itinerary included hanging out at ChezTK (where they were terrorized by Aloo) and traveling to Amritsar over Eid. Mr. ATK and I had been to Amritsar already (if you've forgotten, you can read about it here.)  Well, Amritsar was still hot and humid and crowded, but it really is a must see for anyone traveling to India.  It was nice to vindicated when Kathy Snant agreed that walking on the street barefoot is pretty gross. And this time we waited in line to enter the actual Golden part of the Golden Temple.

The Golden Temple part of the Golden Temple. Notice the line to get in. Inside is where they keep the Guru Granth Sahib- the holy book of Sikhism.

And here we are in the line to get into the temple.

There I am with a random stranger who asked to have her picture taken with me.

That said, I have no intention of ever going back to Amritsar. Waiting in that massive crowd at the Wagah Border is not something I need to live through a third time. But you definitely should see it at least once, if you haven't already. I'll be happy to give you directions and send you on your way.

UPDATE: Crash Bang Ow Resolved

Two posts ago (Crash Bang Ow) I discussed a car accident the Mister and I had on the way to work.  I ended with a bit of a complaint about how the lady who hit ole Bassy promised to pay and then reneged and I compared her unfavorably to Ms. Lynn Eccleston of Baraboo, Wisconsin, who hit my car, promised to pay and never did.  I think I sounded a tad pessimistic regarding whether or not we would see our car repair money.  That would be because I really didn't think we would.

However, happy news, Readers! The lady who hit our car did pay for the damages, though after quite a bit of cajoling and badgering.  We joked that we had Vicky shakedown the lady, which, I mean, she owed us the money so it really wasn't a shakedown.  But I guess he bothered he so much that finally she was like, "Alright, already.  If I pay you can I get a recipe and signed statement saying you will cease and desist with the bothering." Which we were more than happy to pony up.

Regarding all this, Mr ATK and I did have a bit of a moral quandary. You see, the car repairs really weren't that expensive--about $160.  (Side note: It constantly amazes me how cheap labor is here.  The damage horrible person Lynn Eccleston did to my car was not nearly as bad as this and that cost me $800.  For some scraped paint and a small dent. Crazy.)  Now it's true we could have paid for the repairs ourselves with relative ease (thought $160 isn't exactly chump change.)  The lady that hit us was a teacher, so I feel fairly confident in saying we probably could afford it more than she could.  But, you know, she hit our car.  And it was completely her fault.  Like, if it had been close, we probably wouldn't have pushed it, but it was just so blatant.

Anyways, we decided to donate our shakedown money to Vicky's church, since he actually did all the work in getting the lady to pony up.  Although it's not much,  I'm sure the money will be put to good use.

Indian Independence Day Mubarak Ho!

Happy August 15 everyone!

As you may (or may not) know, August 15 is India's Independence Day.  Mind you this is not to be confused with Republic Day which is January 26. What's the difference you ask?  Well, Republic Day celebrates the ratification of the Indian constitution.  Now at first I thought, Isn't that kind of double dipping?  You know, celebrating independence and the constitution? Isn't that a little much? 


Then I started reading Ramachandra Guha's book India After Gandhi.  I checked this out of the library, like, last year, but didn't get around to starting it until we went to Australia.  Mr. ATK was not too keen on hauling around a 900 page book in our shared backpack which he generally carried.  Especially since I had a nice light Kindle I could have brought.  I sympathize, but I always do the most reading on vacation and I had been wanting to read it, so along with us it came.

Me in Melbourne starting the book at the beginning of our vacation. Thanks to Mr. ATK for the flattering picture.

So why the two holidays? Apparently, on January 26, 1930 the Indian National Congress passed the Purna Swaraj declaration--the Declaration of Indian Independence from Britain.  Seventeen years later, when the British finally agreed to leave, the Congress wanted the handover to occur on January 26 as that was already their Independence Day.  The British chose August 15 because it was V-J day.  So when they finally finished writing the constitution in 1949, they chose for it to come into force on January 26, 1950--the twenty year anniversary of the Purna Swaraj declaration.  So it's not just about double dipping holidays--it has a very important historical significance.

Anyways, this book, its fairly in-depth book and I'm not going to into it here (apart from the previous paragraph.) But I will say that reading the book, while living here, has certainly given me a better of understanding of India today, by teaching me about the path India has traveled over the past 66 years.  Mr. ATK and I have traveled quite a bit around India and I've really grown quite fond of this insanely chaotic yet spectacular place.  But in all honesty, the longer I live here and the more I read about India, the less inclined I am to say I truly understand it at all.  Such is India. What I do have is a much greater appreciation for all of its complexities and idiosyncrasies.  It's development as a free, independent democracy is truly amazing especially considering the incredible diversity (in race, religion, language, culture) and the challenges of developing economically and socially with an ever-increasing population.  That is not to say I agree with every decision or action India has made or continues to make (not that India is particularly concerned with my opinion anyway).  But considering the prevailing (and pejorative) wisdom in the "west" in 1947 was that India, and Asia in general, just "wasn't ready" for democracy and that it would undoubtedly crumble into chaos before becoming an authoritarian state (or perhaps break apart all together), it is nice to see India has defied the odds and proven the skeptics wrong.*

And so, in honor or Indian Independence Day, I would like to sign off with a quote from Nehru's excellent "Tryst with Destiny" speech:

It is a fateful moment for us in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the east, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materialises. May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed!

And I would also like to share this awesome Bollywood video from the movie "Chak De India." I haven't seen the movie (it's about field hockey), but the song is awesome. They were dancing to and singing this song at the India-Pakistan Patriotic Border Competition** which I have previously discussed here. 

 


*So far. And hopefully for years to come. जय हिन्द!
**Again, not the really name of the event.  I just made that up.