Rainbows of Glass, Hills of Emerald

I’m sorry that it’s been so many days, but the internet worked only some of the time at the hotel and I don’t have internet in my house so I need to wait until I get to school (it was Independence Day yesterday, so we didn’t have school).

We keep talking about how very strange it is to think that we’ve only been here for one week.  So much has happened that it feels much longer.  All the students are getting along really well and we feel as if we’ve known one another for years.   We spent a lot of time together at the hotel, learning interesting and very random facts about one another and talking about everything from philosophies of religion to our holiday to bucket lists.  We’ve moved into our host families now and weren’t completely happy to move out of the hotel and away from one another because we had gotten used to it there.  Fortunately, we will still see one another every day at school and will undoubtedly be spending a lot of time together outside of classes as well.  There are hookah bars here that some people tried on Saturday night and really enjoyed and coffee shops that I’m sure we will begin to frequent.  We’ll also have extra-curriculars: yoga, Bolywood dancing, Henna classes, etc.

Another thing that we’ve gotten used to is crossing the street.  In the beginning, most of us were quite afraid of dying.  As I’ve already described, the traffic here is just a bit more hectic than we are used to at home.  I’ll see if I can post a video of it at some point.  But now we’re quite good and can all cross with almost no effort... it makes us feel quite accomplished.

However, it is still a bit of a shock to ride in the autorickshaws.  The experience can’t really be described, but suffice it to say that they are eager to get people to their destination as soon as possible so that they can take on more passengers.  They drive these things for a living, so they do know what they’re doing, but that still doesn’t fill you with the utmost confidence when they barely miss hitting three separate people in the span of five minutes.

On that note, they drive on the left-hand side of the road, which can scare you quite badly when you temporarily forget this.  Also, this means that when you walk, you need to pass people on the left.  We aren’t used to this yet and keep passing people on the right, which means that we keep walking into people and getting slightly irritated looks.

But, of course, they can tell we’re foreigners.  As white people, we are constantly stared at wherever we go.  For the most part, we’ve gotten used to it, but at points it’s still a little strange and it would be nice to go unnoticed for a little while.  One of the reasons that we’re enjoying the hotel so much is because we recognize all of the staff at this point and they don’t really stare at us anymore.

Bangle shopping

Thursday and Friday, one of our teachers took in two groups to Tulshibaug, the local market (clothes, bangles, and such).  It was slightly overwhelming how many people were there.  We were stared at the entire time and some of the girls had to ignore guys who were whispering to them.  On the other hand, several people asked what country we were fun and welcomed us to India.  Friday (the day that I went) it was pouring as well, so that didn’t help.  The bangle lane was a lot of fun (at least for the girls, the guys were a little exhausted by it all)... bright and sparkling with a million different colours.  Almost none of the girls walked away without bangles.

The mountains on the way up to the Bhaja Caves.  They’re much more beautiful in reality than they look here.

Saturday, we went to the mountains to see ancient remains of religious centres Buddhist monks.  They dated from the second century B.C. to the first century A.D. and were stunningly crafted.  Bhaja Caves was a place that the monks would stay during the Monsoons every year.  The craftsmanship was pretty impressive and included an underground water reservoir that they carved which holds a lot of water (I think it was 2,000 gallons, but I can’t remember for certain... it was a lot).  These caves took around twelve years to carve... and they were the less complicated set by far.

The prayer hall of Karla Caves.  The beams on top are wood, the original wood from when it was carved.

Our guide called the second set that we saw, the Karla Caves, “the Vatican of the ancient Buddhist religion.”  Dating from around the second century B.C. to around the sixth or seventh century A.D., it was much larger and more elaborately carved, despite being just as remote as the other set.  They were both way up in the mountains and we had to climb flights of rock steps to get there.  It rained the entire day and, for the first time since I’ve arrived, I was actually cold.  But it was gorgeous: very green and more beautiful than any description or photograph could capture, and the air was clean and fresh.  We had a lot of fun and were quite tired by the end of the day.

Some of the carvings at the Karla Caves.  The arch on the left-hand side is the entrance to the prayer hall that you see above.

 Most of us are feeling a little shaky, health-wise.  We sort of rotate feeling nauseous and having headaches.  The food is proving a bit much for us to handle every day all day.  We’re trying to eat a little less spice and making sure that everyone has the right medication.  Malaria medication isn’t really helping, actually.  But feeling a little nauseous is better than getting Malaria.  So far, nothing major has shown up, but we’ve been promised that we will all get sick while we’re here.  A lot of computers are suffering too.  For once in my life, mine seems to be one of the only ones that doesn’t have a serious problem.  Some people can’t charge them and some have just become unusable.  Hopefully this isn’t a trend that will continue or be permanent, because we all need them so badly.

I hope that you enjoy the photos and are all doing well.  My Mum keeps reminding me that I haven’t actually put up any photos of myself, so I will try my best to do that soon.  I will post again tomorrow, providing the internet works.

*L*