Indian Thanksgiving

Before I get to the non-turkey day, I want to make sure I mention the Indian Trade FairApparently ever year in Delhi there is this huge fair, like on the magnitude of the Minnesota State Fair for those who get that reference. This year, like the world fair in shanghai, the theme was something like better earth better life, putting the focus on sustainable, Eco friendly living. There were about 19 huge pavilions that showcased everything from kitchen supplies, clothes, toys, and jewelry to new biochemical technologies and cars. There was a separate pavilion for each of the states, all dressed up with elaborate displays. There were also stalls from many other countries as well showing off the best they had to offer, pearls, dried fruits, clothes, lamps, glass, crystal and more from Turkey, Burma, Cambodia and basically all over asia. It was quite overwhelming and I basically just walked around and got lost for 3 hours. Of course every fair needs food. There were also food stalls from all over India, however i wasn't very hungry so I only had some momos (dumplings) and kulfi (a saffron local icecream). There were tons of interesting things, but I restrained myself to just enjoy them with my eyes.

When I first arrived Seina mentioned that we should do thanksgiving. I was really excited by the idea since it is my favorite holiday, and this will be the first one that I can remember I have missed. As the time got closer, I offered to make the thanksgiving for the family since they have been so generous and kind to me. However, I soon found that making a Thanksgiving meal in India would be c challenging. In planning the meal I found that Turkey is very hard to come by, as is canned pumpkin, cranberries, corn, and ovens...so in lieu of these basics here is the Thanksgiving menu I devised.

-cumin deviled eggs for appetizer
-mashed potatoes with garlic, shallots and Rosemary
-orange and whiskey carrots braised with cinnamon and nutmeg
-green beans with roasted almonds with lemon, thyme and butter
-savory bread pudding with celery, mushrooms, and pinenute
-leg of lamb instead of turkey
- chocolate mousse infused with orange and chai and some cardamom/whiskey whipped cream

It isn't quite the thanksgiving i am used to, but I am still excited for it. Seina was going to make an apple pie, but I think she has gotten stuck at work which is why I am writing this instead of eating right now. I have no idea how anything turned out but I am hungry.

It has been quite interesting explaining that this indeed is a huge holiday in the United States where what we do is eat, get together and at least theoretically give thanks.

I spent all of today and a bit of yesterday cooking. In someways it was the most challenging thanksgiving and in others ways one of the easiest. The lack of ingredients and working in a whole new style of kitchen was the biggest challenge. Another challenge was trying to cook 6 dishes while the maid, Lakshmi, who was also making food for the family in the same small kitchen. When she wasn't cooking, she and the other maids would be attentively looking over my shoulder to see what I was doing. Whenever I needed something like black pepper, a rather hilarious play of charades ensued. Lakshmi was amazing. Once she understood anything I was doing she was the best sous chef, prepping anything I wanted and cleaning up everything. I gotta say, cooking without cleaning anything takes out so much work. We had a fun time giggling trying to figure out what each other was doing, and I made sure she tasted everything we made. I wanted to give her a plate of food but she went home before we ate.

My one cooking disaster were the mashed potatoes, the one thing i nought wouldn't be an issue. However after cooking them and they turned all gluey. I tried to salvage them, but gave up. Fortunately with the magic power of a pressure cooker, boiling them again only took like 10 min.

Tomorrow Seina and I venture off to southern India! First we fly to Bangalore and go straight to Mysore to see the palace. Then we go to hampi to see these awesome ruins I actually studied at school. Then we will leave karnatika for goa to hit up some beaches. Then we go further south to Kerela to relax in some back water jungles. The next post will no doubt be long and full of pictures. Until then everyone have a happy and safe thanksgiving, I am so very grateful for you all.

From Platinum Potter to the Slumdog Slums

So Seina's home has been a full house recently. Recently her cousin, aunt and uncle have also occupied the house because there are in Delhi for a wedding.

On a side note, so this is wedding season in India, and weddings here are huge. Much of the year in India it is too hot to do anything, let alone dance and be merry, or raining. This is really the few months of the year when it is cool and pleasant, hence a lot of weddings that are coordinated carefully with busy astrologers to figure out the most "auspicious of days." My friend Katherine's wedding will have over 350 people attending and I have heard of weddings with as much as 1000, and I am sure some even excede that. That being said, it makes sense that a lot of people go to weddings, but seriously with the number of weddings I alone know that is going one, it is hard for me to believe there is anyone left in India who isn't married, or who has any money left for that manner. I will be attending two weddings, Seina is attending like 3 and I just saw an invitation for another this morning, my homestay family has gone to 2 since I have been here and there is another invitation I saw today! Weddings here are intense affairs as well, usually lasting until 2 am, so everyone has been kinda sleepy.

Ok so the spare bedroom in Seina's parents house was taken by the uncle and aunt and we set up a cot in Siena's apartment for her cousin. The next night another family friend came and Seina offered him our bed in the apartment, so us "kids" relocated to cots and couches spread across the houses.

After I booked my tickets to come abroad, I quickly realized I was going to miss the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have not been one to see all the films on opening night, but I did read almost all the books within a week of the books being released deeply enjoyed all the them. Therefore faithfully see all the films. However it has been a long time since the books came out, and having not read any of them since they were released, seeing the films has been a nice almost brand new experience. Luckily much of India speaks English and Harry Potter is super popular here too. Seina's cousin also wanted to go see it, so on opening day Seina got us tickets to the "Platinum Lounge" to see Harry Potter. Situated like a balcony

above the regular theater were Lay-z boy chairs and little cushions. They brought us popcorn, took our orders for drinks, and even took our orders for dinner. Dinner was served on china with real metal forks and knives. There was even a little bell button to call an attendant, like they have in airplanes. After the intermission (even if the movies don't come with intermissions they are injected into films here), refills on drinks and popcorn were served as well as desert. I must say, it was the most posh film going experience I have ever had.

The next day I did some errands. Seina was nice enough to lend me a beautiful rust Sari for the wedding so I don't have to buy a new one. It is like a dark orange with undertones of deep almost black purple. However I still need to have a blouse made. So I set off to my old neighborhood of Lajpat Nagar to find the right fabric. After going to a few stores I found a specialized "blouse" store called Varuns. Floor to ceiling fabrics stacked and color coded like a glittering and shimmering rainbow wall jammed packed with women looking at splashes of color on the counter. I joined the throng, handing a man the Sari I need the blouse to match. Within a minute of him climbing up shelves he found what looked like the exact same material as what the bulk of the blouse was made of. I bought a yard for my blouse and then felt inspired to shop a little more. I only brought 3 kurtas (long shirts) with me, and my laundry cycle has been pretty short. I ended up getting three more kurtas and some black leggings, giving me a

full week of clothes now. I couldn't help myself to five pair of earrings which were just my style and all together cost about $1, and then I topped the shopping extravaganza with some hair clips to help manage my new shorter hair.

Today I met up with Jaya (part of my Homestay family) again.

Jaya just started a NGO called Ektara (which means "one star") to educate and in general elevate the quality of living of the people living in the slums of Delhi. After Jaya saw some of my pictures last time she asked if I could come and take some pictures for her.

I said sure. We arrived at a "Raen Basera" which means a homeless shelter. Jaya, Mama and Jaya's partner covered their noses from the smell when we got out of the car. I felt a little strange already. All of us were

well dressed with designer bags, some with designer sunglasses and make up. We were brought up to a "clean" room where they starte to discuss th

ings. I asked if I should start taking pictures and did. It was clear that the people here had absolutely no idea why we were there.

I felt kinda strange snapping away at them. I later found out that Ektara was donating a bunch of food, to last the 350 people there about a month. I felt especially strange when I started to get directed as to what kind of pictures to take. "What about that woman on the ground" or "that man with all the flies." I know we were there to help and that I don't understand Hindi or even the full explanation of what was going on, but something about it felt just so impersonal. I felt concerned I was tokenizing these people as poor people from the slums and I was worried we weren't actually helping them. Jaya pointed out to me a key thing they were trying to change is education, about hygiene and health. I could see this would be key. I have full faith that Ektara will do good work. They are determined to personally attend to their projects and not just give money and walk away. Currently they are searching for projects to invest in.

I started to try to talk to some of them, asking what their names were. Especially when the two girls whom I posted their pictures, started to pose for me, I told them in my broken Hindi how beautiful they were. It didn't take long for me to start to draw a crowd. The people loved to see what their pictures looked like. I started to get requests for portraits, groups and individuals, posed and candid. People were laughing and smiling. I know I wasn't really doing anything but somehow this felt better, to just interact with them instead of just objectifying them. However I was soon pulled away by my homestay family when the crowds started to touch me. I didn't mind but I could tell that Jaya and Mama were concerned.When we got home I helped Jaya spruce up her webpage which you can see at www.facebook.com/pages//Ek-Tara-Foundation/164259216920708.

It is always fascinating and often disturbing to see how far things can divide people who live right next to each other. I often have a hard time with the poverty in India. I have been told by all that it is a bad idea to give the beggers in the street money because they give it all to their slumlords, and when I try to give them food, on more than one occasion I have had the food given or thrown back at me. I know Jaya is working hard to do good, but this experience pointed out to me how hard it is to do good sometimes. It is often not just about money, but a lot of work in figuring out how exactly to utilize that money most effectively.

Akshardam pictures

Thanks to the Akshardam website here are some pictures!

The main temple:

Ceilings inside the temple


One of the many Elephants:

And the It's a Small India boat Ride where Bharatnatyam is "invented"

HoHo bus, Aksherdam and Homestay reunion.

After feeling a little down on myself for not being "productive" enough with my time in Delhi, I decided to step up my game.

So I boarded the Hoho bus, sounds perfect for me right? Hoho actually stands for "Hop On Hop Off" and hits 19 tourist sights in Delhi on a half hour rotation for a flat fare. It is also air conditioned, has a tour guide on board that gives basic information to the sights, and some brochures with info as well. Sounds great right? I thought so too. So even I thought 19 was a little ridiculous, so I chose what I thought was a modest but exciting 5 sites that I wanted to see. However, when I arrived at the starting point at 11am, I was told that the ride alone for a full circuit would be 4.5 hours if I didn't get off anywhere. One site I really wanted to go to was actually the last sight on the route, but right next to the starting point, and if I waited for the full circuit it would be closed by the time I came around to it. So I took the HoHo bus into my own hands (that sounds dirty), and went to the last stop first on my own.

This last sight I was going through so much trouble for is Jantar Mantar. It is an ancient observatory that still works! Sadly I wasn't able to calculate the current date and time even though there were instructio

ns because the day I became inspired to finally go sight seeing it started to rain...and these ancient instruments/ monuments are in different complicated ways basically sundials. This usually works very well for a sunny desert place such as Delhi. There are five huge monuments that were used to calculate the time, day, month, year, astrological signs, and houses and a bunch of other things I didn't understand.

I have always been drawn to taking pictures of a geometric nature, so I kinda went nuts here. It was just such a visually interesting place! Astrology has a major influence in India. All holidays, events, and weddings are carefully scheduled around auspicious astrological dates.

Indian monuments and ancient buildings seem to be seen by the locals as more of parks or adult size jungle gyms. Photos were taken yes, but mostly everyone climbed up the walls, made out in the corners, and ran around the pillars as fast as they could. I found similar behavior in Lodi Gardens and a few other ruins I explored last time I was here.

My dad has been trying to get me to come here for awhile and I am so glad I made the effort to check out. It was probably my favorite place in Delhi.

So I went to the bus stop to catch the Hoho bus and "begin" my HoHo journey...however after waiting for 45 min I called and asked where this bus was. They informed me that it won't come for another 20 min. So I went back, explored some more and then finally got on the bus an hour after I expected to board and be on my way.

The next stop was the Cricket stadium, some old ruins, and a mosque. Though I REALLY didn't want to spend more than 30 min there, and the bus dropped me off on the opposite side of the road. After playing frogger with my body, I made it across, but got a little lost as to where I was supposed to go. By the time I crossed a park and found the ruins I only had 10 min to make it back to the bus stop. So not really seeing much, I made back to the bus stop, and the bus was 15 minutes late.

The next stop was a big one for me, the Red Fort (Lal Quila) located in Old Delhi. Built by Shah Jahn who also built the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort served as the capital for the Mughal Empire after Agra and is probably Delhi's biggest tourist attraction. I somehow never made it to the Red Fort last time so I was pretty excited this time.

I know I keep mentioning this and I am sure it will get old soon, but since I keep getting mistaken for being Indian I tried to sneak into the Indian ticket line to only pay $0.20 instead of $4. However, halfway through the line an attendant asked if I was Indian, I got nervous and said no and was redirected to the foreigner line. While I was buying my ticket though, a man came up to me and asked if I would buy 2 more tickets! Meaning even though I was in the foreigner line, another foreigner thought I was Indian and wanted me to buy the cheaper tickets! I found this amusing, told him I am a foreigner too and went inside.




The gate led to a covered bazaar where merchants sold things from all over the country. Then it led to a large courtyard and then the public hall where Shah Jahan spoke to the public from a marble throne. Inside were some nice Mughal gardens, a bit of inlaid marble like the Taj, and a fairly interesting museum with old Mughal paintings, scriptures, clothes, jewelry, furniture, weapons and more. Yes the red fort is big, but I was actually kinda underwhelmed. However I do plan to go back at night for the sight and sound show where they light up the whole fort and do a story-telling tour around the fort.

Across the street from the Red Fort is a Jain temple that has a bird hospital. I remember trying to go last time but never making it. The temple itself was rather impressive, beautifully riveted long pink cones into the sky. I was invited inside and saw floor to ceiling cages of birds. On the left side of a narrow passageway were large cages with hundreds of pigeons, one had doves, and other had hawks or some kind of raptor.

The other side were smaller cages, often with birds that looked like they had broken legs or wings. There were also more floor upstairs of this as well. As the birds get better they release them to the roof and more injured or sick birds are brought in. As I was leaving I was approached by a man who said he was a vet there. I nodded my head approvingly. He then held out a small brown looking pill and told me it was bird medicine. I again nodded approvingly as he pointed out to me a "black dancing pigeon." He then asked me to lick the pill. I told him no thanks. He then licked it and offered it to me again. I think he was trying prove to me it wasn't poison or that it was safe, but really this just deterred me more. He then got a little pushy, saying please just take it, now trying to get me to take the whole thing, licking it again and then offering/ pushing it in my face. I told him thank you for the talk and started to leave. He tried to follow but I got firm and hurried out.

My plan was to see where Gandhi got cremated and Purana Quila, the old for that the Pandava brother's built from the ancient epic the "Mahabaharata." However when I got back to the HoHo bus stand, the bus was again 45 min late, and I realized that there were no more buses after that. So I took the bus back home and slated my last two sights for another time. On the way though I kept seeing goats all over the place! Goats in cars, auto rickshaws, buses, bus stops, on the side walk and in the road, sometimes in flocks!


I realized it was Eid the next day, the Festival of Sacrifice celebrating when Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son to God. Now everyone sacrifices goats.

I came home exhausted.

The next day I went to go have lunch with my old homestay mother who makes me lovingly call her "mama." She is so sweet, and a very spirited, energetic and positive older woman. She invited her daughter, Jaya, and two grandchildren to join us as well. Mama made it clear this was my home and I should be comfortable, and though she would sometimes called me "Amber" I felt right at home. This also meant I was expected to help out as if it was my home. I actually really enjoyed this. I happily set the table, cleaned some dishes and helped get the house ready for guests. We had a lovely lunch of peas and paneer, chicken curry, rice, raita, and some saffron custard.

My hindi has been slowly coming back at best, but it was amazing how much more of my homestay's Hindi I could understand. I am not sure why, maybe just because I was around her Hindi more when I was learning the language it feels more familiar to hear her speak. Regardless, it was nice to feel like I could generally understand the conversation even though half of it was in Hindi. However it didn't take long for the subject of Katherine's wedding to come up, which quickly led to leading questions of when am I going to find a nice Indian boy to marry? They had suggestions and offers to help me find one, they promised he would be wealthy as well.

Today I went to Akshardam. I didn't really know about this place but had heard it was another tourist sight. This place blew my mind, it was incredible. Sadly I wasn't allowed to bring any cameras, batteries, cell phone and a long list other things, basically I could only bring in money and jewelry, but if I was allowed to bring in my camera they would have been the best pictures I took in India.

Ok so Akshardam is a huge Disneyland-like complex devoted to a guy a have never heard of before today, Lord Swaminarayan. His followers believe in non-violence as their basic principle. Swaminarayan mastered the vedas at like 7, left his home at 11 to do severe austerities in the forest, and did a bunch of apparently awesome stuff. He also gets reincarnated, like the Dali Lama. The walkway in glistened with sheets of water coming out of beautifully stone fountains.

The major temple had hundreds of elephants carved out of pink sandstone at the base. Many of the carvings depicted fables and stories from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, life of Buddha and more. Other just values like about strength in numbers and caring families, and being playful but not caring about winning. These carvings were amazing. So detailed and full of motion, even the wrinkles in the elephant's skin could be seen.

Inside the temple was mostly marble with a huge golden statue of Swaminarayan. The walls and columns were all intricately carved, and the ceilings were mind-blowing stone mandalas. The detail rivaled or surpassed Khajuraho and Jaisalmer. If this place was a thousand years old it would be a wonder of the world, however it is all pretty new so instead it felt like what a Maharaja must feel like when moving into to his recently completed palace. Everything was clean, the fountains were all running, and all the art was just stunning.

I don't say "Disneyland" like lightly. The second part of this place was a whole tour/ride of Swaminarayan's life. It was a lot like "It's a Small World Ride," complete with state of the art animatronics that depicted vignettes of his life that were constructed by the same people who did Disney Land. Moving from room to room we saw different phases and stories acted out by the robots, complete with subtle hand gestures and facial expressions, and accentuated by lights and music.

The second part was a rather well produced IMAX movie of his life, where I got to wear snazzy Bose wireless headphones that translated it for me into English. The Third part actually was a lot like the "It's a Small World Ride," complete with a boat ride that showed the wonders of Indian ancient culture. Things like how the Indians' invented the zero, astro physics, universities, hospitals, and even airplanes, I got dubious when it mentioned someone who "invented" Bharatnatyam and airplanes.

Regardless, it was still amusing, state of the art and thoroughly entertaining. I wish I could show you all this, but I encourage anyone coming to Delhi to check it out. The Animatronic part cost about $3.20 and the rest was free! It sucks that I couldn't take any pictures or video. I would LOVE to shoot a film here someday, but in a way it was actually kinda freeing to not have anything on me at all while walking around, just a few rupees. The security was quite reassuring as well. They stored your belongings for free, made you fill out a form that catalogued your valuables, took a picture of you when you deposited it, and then quizzed you on your name, address and cell phone number when you picked it up.

An exciting few days and more to come!

Chameleon Tendencies

When I was here last, my fellow classmates consistently complained about how obnoxious it was to be so stared at. When we traveled to many tourist sights I saw Indians come up and take many pictures with my classmates, and at some places local boys would sneak up behind them to sneak pictures with a foreigner in the frame with them. This never happened with me, so I guess I viewed it as slightly amusing. I accredit this never happening because of people assuming I was from somewhere in India, that is before I opened my mouth and it was apparent that my Hindi was very broken at best.

However this time in India with Seina, I have been wearing a lot more Western clothes. I didn't bring that many clothes with me and I don't really feel like buying a bunch more, so wearing western clothes gives me about two more outfits in my laundry cycle.

The other day I decided to go see the Bahai Lotus temple. I think of the Bahai as the Indian version of Unitarian Universalists. They don't worship any particular idol or god, but instead are welcoming of all religions and faiths. They instead focus on a philosophy of universal peace and elimination of prejudice.

I arrived at sunset. The architecture was really beautiful. The aptly named Lotus Temple is shaped like a blossoming lotus. Outside are these beautiful pools to contemplate, and inside is a hall where people are invited to sit in silence for however long they like. On my way out, some Indian woman made the universal "picture" sign, the one where you hold up an imaginary camera to your face and click the shutter. I thought she wanted me to take a picture of her, but instead she wanted to take a picture with me! Amused I agreed and recalled all my classmates doing similar things at first. As I gathered my shoes, some random guy shook my hand and asked what country, and I saw a few others sneak a photo. It was quite bizarre, in my whole 6 months here last time this never happened. I then realized I had worn jeans and baby-doll shirt, and this might be the source of my new-found fame. So apparently I can easily pass for a foreigner in Western clothes, and sometimes pass for an Indian in Indian clothes. I have often thought of myself as a chameleon, being able to shift between different social groups, different modes, different states and countries, basically different identities. I suppose it is just interested to see my chameleon tendencies outwardly reflected.

I found the cure to my antsy-ness is to do at least one thing "productive a day." So Friday I went to the Lotus temple and Saturday I went to a Sufi concert. Seina's friend had a pass to this "by invitation only" Sufi concert of Abida Parveen who Wikipedia explains as "one of the foremost exponents of Sufi music." We didn't know about it until late, so I missed the first two hours but was still able to catch the second two hours, it apparently was a long performance. I didn't get to go to that many performances last time, but this one was really well attended. I suck at estimating but I would estimate over 2000 were there. Every once in awhile she would pause in her singing and say something, and the entire crowd would collectively sigh, like as if all of them were saying "wow" from some amazing spiritual line. I felt like everyone around me was feeling enlightened by the experience of listening to this music, and I couldn't help but smiling being around it.

This time I went dressed in my Indian clothes. Not that there is a direct correlation, but this time no stares just really nice people. When I got there all the seats were full, so I stood on the sidelines with hundreds of other people, trying to get a glimpse of the singer in action. There were about eight cameras with corresponding crews huddled in the middle, and then a huge camera on a crane that periodically swept through the crowd. I noticed that as people were trying to get a better look, there was no shoving or even competitiveness. After standing and trying to catch glimpses for about thirty minutes a nice man near me invited me to stand in front of him to get a better look. About 15 min after this, a man sitting the aisle next to where I was standing asked the entire row to move down so that I could sit. When not everyone moved over (because they were saving seats), he got up himself and gave me his seat, claiming it didn't look good for him to be sitting and me to be standing. I tried to not accept, but he insisted, and within seconds of offering his seat to me, he was offered one as well. So even though I got there late and didn't even know the singer, I got to see two hours of the concert for free and got to sit in the 6th row. I actually recognized a few of the songs which was pretty exciting, and obviously everyone around me knew every word.

Yesterday I got a haircut, even shorter now! And today I went to see my old SIT school where Katherine is now working, and now I will start to do some more planning for our trip to the South!

Medical Tourism and Mendhi

I feel consistently flattered that so many people, merchants, hair dressers, friends of the family, strangers essentially think that I am from India. Seina even jokes that I am more Indian than she is. I am not so sure about this, there is a lot of India and Indian culture that I don't know, but perhaps that is her point, there is a lot she doesn't know too. I think the simple fact that I haven't been writing as much is interesting in itself. To me it indicates how comfortable I am here, that everyday things I usually find fascinating when traveling feel normalized. Yes the traffic is crazy and with its blaring horns and insanity of switching into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid the blocked traffic inyour lane, but that doesn't seem so strange anymore.

This visit has been very different from my last visit. Simple things make w big difference. Like i have yet to be in an auto rickshaw, bargain for anything, or even had any chai! Instead of feeling like I never have enough time, I feel like i have an abundance of time to just be leisurely about things. I suppose the root of it is that last time I was a student here, busy with school and homework and also being a tourist, this time I feel more like I am just living here/visiting a friend, sprinkled with some tourism.

Seina's mother has been giving me a culinary tour of India. Everyday she presents me with a different region, the general trends of the region and then the food. I have to say I have been quite impressed with the variety and all these dishes I have never even heard of. Today I had a Sindhi breakfast which was like an Indian savory bread pudding with tomatoes and onions. I should start taking notes, but in general I have just been enjoying the various flavors, colors, and smells.

So yesterday I got an introduction in medical tourism. I went to the Indraprastha Apollo hospital. They had a series of preventative health checkup packages already setup. I went for the simple standard check up which checked my kidneys, liver, thyroid and blood for an array of acronyms, gave me a physical and gyno checkup, a ECG, xray, ultrasound and more. I prepared by fasting for 12 hours, and then arrived in the morning. First of all the hospital was very impressive looking despite being under construction, it basically looked like a hotel, complete with doormen in elaborate cultural costume.
After checking in and paying less than $100, I was given a little yellow sheet with 7 stops and room numbers filled in. I felt like I was on a scavenger hunt. Everytime I made a stop I got a stamp, or a signature to prove my completion. After my initial "nurse assessment" where my height, weight and blood pressure were taken, I went to give blood sitting in comfy leather chairs. After I gave blood they gave me an exceptionally sweet mixture, with I think was just coconut flavored sugar in water. I then moved on to get mystamps for a chest xray, then a ECG. I then had to drink a liter of water for the ultrasound. This was really the only uncomfortable part because I already needed to pee pretty bad, but they still insisted I drink more. I was very relieved when I was allowed to finally go to the bathroom, and impressed that even the bathroom was fancy, complete with bathroom attendants there to clean up after you. I don't think I have ever been somewhere fancy enough to have bathroom attendants. I completed my medical health hunt with a gyno exam and a physical consultation. However while I was waiting for my doctor, they gave me a coupon to have breakfast which was included in the package! My free breakfast in a place called "whole foods" which was nothing like the American Whole Foods except that it was interested in healthy food. My free breakfast was some fresh fruit, some idli (little steamed rice cakes) and sambar (loose dal), some pulao (pounded rice with peas and spices), coffee, and fruit juice. Then made an appointment to come back the next day to discuss the results of my tests. By far it was the easiest and most enjoyable hospital experience I ever had even though it took a full 4 hours.

Later that day, Seina and I finally started to work on her apartment. It is such a nice space and I got really into nesting. We got the majority of her bedroom done and I think next will be the dining room. It got me really excited once again about setting up my own place, but I can only hope to have a place half as nice as Seina's 3 bedroom apartment and huge kitchen at some point in my life.

Today while waiting to go back to the hospital I went to get what i think of as an Indian manicure, mendhi, also known as henna. I went back to my old stomping grounds of Lajpat Nagar (where I lived last time I was here) to get my mendhi done along the row of men waiting for a customer among the bangles and jewelry. I negotiated a price and sat down. I really love every part of the mendhi process, it just feels like true pampering by adorning ones body, so much more than I ever felt about manicures or pedicures. I had two men working on me, one on each hand. I basically agreed on a price and then just let them do whatever they felt inspired to do. It was so detailed, so intricate, and mesmerizing to watch the 0.5 mechanical pencil thin paste slowly build up layers of design across my hand. This was by far the most elaborate henna I have ever had where the negative space feels so loud due to the intensity and density of the designs. The process took about a half an hour. I even love the drying process. Watching the paste change from an olive green/brown to an almost black, lightly outlined by the orange of my skin soaking in the dye. Then not being allowed to use your hands feels like the major pampering part, just forced to do nothing and relax, or in my case watch some movies. Once it starts to dry, there is this other magical stage where you get the see the reveal of the pattern left on the skin. It is similar to the magic of seeing a photograph appear when placed in developer. Then, as if it wasn't enough, there is the fun of watching the henna darken and deepen throughout the day and peaking before it starts to fade back to orange over the next couple of weeks.
Pretty soon after my henna dried it was time for me to head back to the hospital. I met with my doctor who carefully looked over all my results, and then told me with a smile that I am perfectly healthy. I told her I was concerned about my weight, and she assured me that my habits were healthy, I was very active, and there was no hormonal imbalances. I tried to press, just asking if there was anything I should be cautious of, watch out for, anything? She told me no, that really I am very healthy. I left with a huge packet in a pretty purple envelope with all my results. Along side the various acronyms that I don't understand, they gave a handy guide for normal ranges. After reviewing them myself, indeed all my results fell safely within the normal ranges. The packet also included some images from my ultrasound, pointing out my pancreas and kidneys, stating that they were also normal. There is also a CD of what I assume is my xray as well. I left the Apollo hospital with my purple packet feeling like I just completed a mini medical Disney land with souvenirs in hand.

Evenings have turned into an interesting routine. Indian soap operas are incredibly popular here. Many times I have traveled from different houses and even shops, following an episode because it seems like every house in India has the same show on. Seina's parents seem to follow two, one more historically set and one more modern. So after the news, they switch on at least 2 hours of these soap operas. Being a film major and not understanding the language, really all I have to look at is the hilarious film form. Every 5 minutes, or sometimes every 30 seconds is a dramatic pounding of a cymbal combined with a zoom in and slow motion close ups of everyone in the room, often accentuated by a random colored light or filtered flare of over exposure. I am sure American soap operas are just as dramatic even though I have never seen those either, it is just amusing how overt and hyperbolic the form is here. I also noticed that the soaps here look really cheap to me despite the elaborate costumes and sets, and I decided it is because of the lighting, it is all flat and feels almost fluorescent. Ok so there is my film major rant. After these soaps sessions, the parents go to bed and Seina and I watch a line up of "modern family" "how I met your mother" "friends" and "lie to me." a lineup which I am really quite pleased with and entertained by.

Delhi living

So I haven't been posting as much because honestly I haven't done that much since arriving in Delhi.
Diwali was a wonderful blur of excitement and ceremony overwhelming my senses with smells, tastes, and family living experiences. Honestly things haven't really seemed to adjusted "back to normal" since Diwali yet. Seina's mother andfather have been recovering from Diwali's festivities.

Yesterday I was supposed to visit my homestay Mama, but she called in the morning because sadly her Brother had just passed away. Strangely enough, we found out mere minutes later that one of Seina's relatives had also passed away. We don't know if they were related at all, but the morning was spent trying to organize things.

Eventually Seina and I went to Old Delhi to drop off some designs to a wedding card maker. I had my wonderful first experience with the new Delhi metro! Last time I was here the city was an absolute mess with construction for the metro, but now it is all done! It was way cleaner and nicer than the NYC subway system. They also have a "women's only" car. I found this interesting/ great. I consider myself a fairly experienced traveler, and even though I can and have traveled alone in India, I definitely prefer to travel with company here. I feel relatively safe or at least savvy traveling in Delhi, but having a women's only car was nice at least in the sense that it was less crowded and Seina and I were actually able to get a seat. It was also so cheap! All around, I approve and enjoy the metro here. There was even a little "exhibit" of various saris from around India in the station.

When we arrive in Old Delhi, the wedding card shop was right near the station. The wedding industry here is huge, I guess it is really huge in the U.S as well, but it just seems to have a much bigger presence here. We collectively spent about five hours in these stores, detailing the stock of paper, the color, the boarder, what kind of foiling to use, the "butter paper" (transparent paper), among other things. It was actually quite interesting. Seina and I were joking that I am totally going to have an Indian wedding because I was enjoying looking at all the designs so much...we we joking...but it is kinda true. Whoever I decide to marry will just have to be okay with an eclectic mix of designs and traditions, heavily influenced by India, and me in an amazing Sari with henna from head to toe.

In between this wedding planning, we went to eat in Old Delhi. I strangely hardly spent any time at all in Old Delhi last time I was here, but it is a whole different world from New Delhi, especially South New Delhi which is where I spent the vast majority of my time. It is jammed back with people in rickshaws (the old style ones with men biking other people around), old stores, street food, strange smells, sprinkled with some beautiful old architecture, and full of tradition.

Seina took me to this amazing Muslim restaurant. In general this has been an amazing culinary trip. Just being with Seina and her family of foodies I have pretty much eaten entirely new things every day. I thought I was pretty well versed in Indian cuisine, but there is a whole new world of various foods I am being introduced to and loving it. Seina and I shared a Mutton Qorma which was an explosion of flavor, a slightly tomato-y base with a lot of oil but surprisingly light tasting. We also had some very tender kebabs, and some interesting breads. One was like a really thin and huge chapati (tortilla type bread), and the other was a thicker slightly sweet bread that had the consistency of like a dense thick crepe. Overall it was really amazing. I never really drink soda in the US, but here in India I really crave it. The sweet, cold and carbonation of the sodas here really cut through the fatty salty foods. Also, the soda just seems to taste different here. The carbonation bubbles feel smaller? and instead of inducing large burps just seem to tickle my tongue.

Afterwards we went to this great paan shop.

Paan is always an experience, but this one in particular was so huge and had so many ingredients. There are different kinds, but I usually get sweet Paan. It is like an Indian breath-mint...of like extreme awesomeness. This one was piled on with a plethora of things that I honestly didn't know like...any of them. Then this kaleidoscope of red, green, brown, sliver, gold, and god knows what else is wrapped up and you are expected to shove it all in your mouth. I sadly was a failure and needed three whole bites with at least 15 minutes of chewing to finish this baby. But it left me smiling and feeling refreshed, as well as entertained trying to get the bits of whatever out of the crevasses of my mouth.

Seina and I have planned a trip to Goa, Kerela, and Chennai for the end of November and early December, but we still need to finalize the plans. I have also decided I want to go to Dharmsala, the place in the north I missed out on last time. Fortunately Seina's family has a house nearby and one of her drivers LOVES driving to the mountains, so I think I will get my own driver all the way to Dharmsala and back! If not, I will take the 12 hour bus ride adventure back into the mountains. In other exciting news, my friend from UWC, Brighton, is apparently in India, and due to the magic of facebook found that I am also here. We will be meeting up in Delhi this weekend. Tomorrow I have my first experience with the Indian hospital system. I am totally fine, or at least I think so, that is why I am going. Health care is so ridiculous in the US, I decided since I am here it would be a good idea for me to get a check up. I will be getting all this, for about $80 here. I will be sure to update about that.

Otherwise, I have spent most of my time reading other blogs, lounging around the house, playing with the dog (Bailey), and in general just kicking back "living" in Delhi once again.