I just had my first oral Marathi exam and my professor told me that my accent has very much improved since I arrived. That’s not too surprising, considering my propensity to pick up accents when I am exposed to them. However, I’ve been noticing how the muscles on the sides of my neck are slightly sore and it took me a couple of days to realize that it’s because I’ve also caught the head bobble that’s characteristic of India. My team laughs at me all the time because at this point I don’t even realize when I’m doing it. Also, I’ve taken to wearing a scarf wrapped around my head both for the pollution and the fact that it makes the colour of my skin less noticeable. One of my friends last night looked right at me and didn’t realize it was me. One of my professors keeps telling us that I’m going to get tan and my hair will get darker and then I will be indistinguishable from people here. Frankly, that’s fine with me. Foreigners need to pay a whole lot more for everything and then people wouldn’t stare at me either.
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Notice the price disparity... and this isn’t the worst we’ve seen either. This was at Bhaja Caves; the Taj Mahal is really bad. |
I’m sure that at least some of you are aware of the protests and rallies going on all throughout India. Obviously, it’s the biggest piece of news here. While we haven’t actually taken part in any of the protests, we’ve seen quite a few. I’ve tried to take photos of them, but none have turned out very well. It’s amazing to watch history being made... it’s almost as if we’re watching the American Civil Rights movement. It is now the ninth day of Anna Hazare’s fast; he is demanding the passage of a strong Lokpal Bill against anti-corruption. So far, the government has been vague on their intentions, but I think they will need to do something soon or the protests may move from peaceful marches to riots. We keep having what one of my friends calls “we were there moments.” It’s neat to just stand back and watch it all unfold and know that you’re seeing an important piece of history.
So...
15) We were well-supplied with the paper every morning in the hotel and my family receives them as well. The English paper... I’m not that good at Marathi yet (although we found copies of the Harry Potter books in Marathi at a street-side book vendor a couple of weeks back and I am sorely tempted to go back and buy it. On an aside, the cover art of the Marathi version looked just like the American one while on the back cover of the British version that they sell here, Hogwarts looked like the Taj Mahal.). English papers are in good supply here and probably in many other countries as well. If not, read online. You should stay informed of what’s going on wherever you’re staying as you learn all sorts of important facts. For instance, yesterday there was an article about a sheep that got a bucket caught on its head. But in all seriousness, we’ve been able to follow everything very well. If you don’t want to read about it, there are definitely English news stations on television. Besides, even if you don’t want to read the news, useful bits come up. I was able to find something that related exactly to my Independent Study Project the other day, so I have an additional source for my paper now.
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Sunset over the city. We’ve found a place where we can see almost the entire city, which stretches to every horizon here. |
People here are getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Our feet are getting the worst of it, at least for the girls because we’re constantly in long pants. It’s actually not as bad as I expected at all, but I’m one of the least-bitten. Most people are getting the most bites at night and I’m not having that problem, so that’s nice. Anti-itch medications are liberally shared between all of us on a daily basis, which is great. Whenever we go out, insect repellent is the same way. We take good care of one another on the medication front, so that’s really nice.
This has been a rather sleepy post compared to my previous ones, but I’ll have a few this weekend so that should make up for it. I hope that everyone is doing well!
*L*
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