010 So This is What Love Feels Like

Today was without a doubt, a highlight of our trip! We had the chance to visit a village school that is associated with an incredible orphanage, Sumangali Seva Ashrama. When we arrived, we were treated to an adorable marching band performance by the school’s students.

In. Love.

They had clearly prepared it just for us, and it was such a wonderful experience. All the kids were super excited to see us, and would run around us, quite literally, and try to shake our hands to wish us a Happy New Year. Too cute! We went into the teacher’s room for a brief introduction of all the teachers as well as our group, and it was so heartwarming to see the level of dedication the teachers had for their school.

Some of the school's incredible teachers.

After introductions, we had the chance to tour the school and see the kids in their classrooms. They all were so excited to read passages and sing songs for us that they had learned in class and eager to impress us with everything they had learned!

Cutest troublemakers ever!

When we could, we would sneak pictures with them, and right after they picture was taken, they’d rush forward to see it in the LCD screen. I suppose they haven’t had much exposure to digital cameras, because they absolutely adored them! And I know they absolutely loved being at the center of attention.

:D

We left the children after completing their tour so that they could finish the rest of their lessons and prepare for the activities that were set for the remainder of the afternoon. The village was old, and not overly developed, but there was a kind of peace and calm that was refreshing.

The people were shy, but friendly, warm and inviting, and many allowed us into their homes to see how they live.

Absolutely beautiful.

Being in the village made me wonder just where the 8% annual GDP growth India witnesses is coming from, and more importantly where it’s going to. Many of the villagers still don’t have running water or electricity, and yet, they find a way to live and be content with what they have. They live simpler lives and aren’t distracted by nonsense like reality TV or Twitter, so who’s to say that their lives are any less full than ours?

 

In any case, the village was beautiful in its own quaint way and the people were wonderful to talk to and so hospitable.

All in all, it was a truly wonderful experience.

Once the tour was complete, we headed back to the school to participate in some activities with the kids! The teachers had us sit on the stage with them and while we waited for the kids to set up, we were of course again treated with incredible hospitality. Each of us was given fresh coconut juice still in the coconut, which was delicious.

First, we had the opportunity to watch the kids take part in some sports activities, like races and musical chairs.

Coordinating the kids!

Musical chairs.

Naturally, we wanted to play as well and so before we knew it the girls and the guys were taking part in rounds of musical chairs. It turned out to be a whole lot of fun, and it didn’t hurt that I won second place!

Boys' turn to play!

After games, the kids performed an adorable song for us with an accompanying dance, followed by a slew of other performances including traditional songs and dances which were wonderful.

First song with the most repetitive, unchanging drum line. Ever.

Traditional dance.

While getting the kids to line up later, one the students started acting out and got a swift slap from one of the teachers, who I assume was the disciplinarian. A lot of the Walton students were surprised and put off by what appeared to be harsh punishment, but it didn’t really surprise me, as that kind of discipline was certainly employed in the schools where I grew up. One thing that I’ve learned that differentiates the Asian school of thought and the American school of thought when it comes to education and discipline is that Asian families tend to break you down in order to “build you up”, where as American families tend to encourage their children to achieve the same result. I turned out alright, having experienced both, so again, who’s to say which method is better?

Prize giving for the races and games was held after all the performances were finished and we left soon after.

Top 3 for girls' musical chairs. Yeah. We're awesome.

Winner of the race!

The hope and potential we saw in these kids were inspiring and I’m so excited for them!

In love.

My heart is absolutely bursting!

It is this generation that will be driven enough to continue India’s growth in the international arena! I loved that we had the chance to meet them, and hopefully inspire them a little to see that they can do whatever it is they set their minds to.

After we left the orphanage we had lunch on the bus and headed back to our apartments. We had a little bit of rest time, and before we knew it, we were off yet again, this time to MG Street.

Kaleah and I being hood during down time.

We went into a government-run souvenir store to do some investigating, and it definitely was not my cup of tea. I love bargaining and looking for great deals when I’m out of the United States, so being in a store where all the prices were set and non-negotiable was not fun!

Cool stuff though.

Pretty legit carving of Ganesha.

Soon we split and went our separate ways, and I went to a clothes store nearby and picked up some traditional Indian wear for my family and my boyfriend’s family. I also managed to pick up some sari material, which I’m super excited about! Hopefully we’ll have time to get it tailored before we get back to the States! I’m not sure tailors back home in Fayetteville, Arkansas would know what to do with it…they’d probably think I was giving them tablecloths....potential problem. We eventually wandered over to Commercial Street and it was so much fun to walk down! There were plenty of pretty lights and fun stores to explore.

We eventually made it back to the apartment complex by auto rickshaw, which was definitely an experience. Every rickshaw driver we tried to hire would try to cheat us and that was definitely frustrating. We finally found a police…booth with a policeman who issued an auto rickshaw ticket for us with a set price to our destination. Boss.

The ride was absolutely ridiculous. AND AWESOME. Traffic in India is a lot scarier when you’re not sitting pretty from the safety of a bus. Once we got back, Kaleah, Jarred, Afshar and I went for dinner at the Royal Orchid Hotel which is right next to our apartment complex. Dinner was good, and company was incredible, so we had a whole lot of fun. Jarred and Afshar were a seamless tag team, with Afshar explaining to us the finer points of being a G, and Jarred being the not so kind dissenter. It was hilarious. Kaleah and I literally couldn't breathe from laughing.

Yay friends! :)

Yay beautiful restaurant.

Yay badass hotel!

009 My Foot Almost Fell Off

We had a relatively lazy morning today, and by lazy I mean we didn’t have to wake up before the sun rose, which was pretty exciting. The girls and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at our apartment while watching some TV, and that was both fun and educational...We watched the Indian version of Channel [V] and were surprised to see how similar it was its American counterpart. There was a brief clip about the latest Bollywood gossip – including sex scandals! And after that, there were showings of the Hindi version of the shows Cheaters and Wife Swap. Hahaha. Who would’ve thought? I understand that there is a pursuit of Western ideals and values in the country, but I didn’t think that it would be at the cost of their conservative values. This may just be indicative of a shift in ideals as the country moves from one generation to another. I hope that India’s culture doesn’t become as overtly sexualized as America’s has though, I appreciate that traditional values still hold water in a country with one of the youngest populations in the world.

Investigated our apartment complex and it was basically awesome. Reminded me a lot of the condo where my family lived when we stayed in Kuala Lumpur!

Condos are awesome.

Pool wasn't in use while we were there. :(

Anyway, after lounging around, the group gathered on the bus and headed for the WIPRO campus. WIPRO is the second largest outsourcing company in the world. The reception we received when we arrived was phenomenal. We each received a bouquet of flowers and a personalized name tag, and of course, were treated to a buffet lunch right outside the conference room. Once inside the room, we were treated to a full day of lectures from some of the company’s top executives as well as a steady stream of food and drinks and other souvenirs.

Branding like you wouldn't believe.

Trying to be grown ups at the conference table...

...LOL YEAH RIGHT. Playing football instead.

Each executive presented insightful and interesting information about the international arena in which their company now competes. The group learned quickly that America and every other developed Western nation is no longer alone in the pursuit for excellence, and that to me, was a humbling thought. India is such a young country in that it gained independence not so long ago, and so its fight to be a viable competitor in the global arena is that much more pronounced. After the lectures were finished, we had the opportunity to visit the WIPRO campus on a guided tour, no less!

WIPRO campus.

The facilities were top-class and the training modules they had available were similar to or even better than the ones that I have seen back home at Tyson and at Walmart, which was remarkable. An aspect of the company that I was truly impressed by was its desire to see self-improvement in its employees. The company offered countless classes and training modules so that their employees could continue to grow personally and contribute to their company. Such forward thinking! In any case, the hospitality that was shown to us was incredible. WIPRO, like I said, is the second largest outsourcing company in the WORLD, and the fact that they devoted so much time and effort to a bunch of college students was a wonderful experience.

The WIPRO visit took much longer than we originally had planned, and so the group headed straight to the apartment complex once it was over. After that, we walked to the Pizza Hut that was nearby to try some local versions of our favorite meal…but we totally cheated and got cheese and pepperoni pizzas instead.

GLORIOUS FOOOOOOOOOOOD!

Dining at Pizza Hut in India is somewhat different than eating in a Pizza Hut back in the States. The Indian Pizza Hut experience is a little more formal whereas dining at a Pizza Hut in America is a lot more casual. The food, thankfully, was pretty similar to what we were used to, so we had an awesome and fun dinner. We still haven’t quite gotten used to the communal dining concept, so splitting money has not always been an easy feat, especially when the Indians aren’t fond of providing small change either! Eep! We finally figured the small change out though, so it worked out well.

After dinner, a few of us split up to try and get our phones recharged, and to get some ointment or medicine for my foot, which after being bitten by the ants/baby spiders at Kabini had swelled pretty much to twice its size. No fun.

OH MAH GAHHH.

We managed to find someone who could charge our phone, but couldn’t get any medicine for my foot. I’ve told Dr. Anand and Dr. Ellstrand about it though, so hopefully there will be medicine for me tomorrow and I my foot won’t fall off. One thing that we noticed at the smaller stores were that the items were sold in smaller packaging and like in the bigger stores, products were stuffed anywhere they could fit, with a little more order to them. We thought that the smaller packaging might have been employed to make the products more affordable to the customers.

One of the small shops we found.

In any case, we headed back after charging our phones and have been hanging out ever since.

008 A-Temple-Hoppin'

Another eventful day today! We started by leaving Kabini bright and early this morning, for a famous local temple called the Shri Chamundeshwari Temple. The atmosphere was vibrant and loud, as most of India is, and the lot of us just soaked it all in.

There were hundreds of people milling around waiting to worship in the temple, and there were plenty of cows walking around, very much ignored by everybody.

Milling around.

Just hanging out, no big deal.

I think it so intriguing that a multitude of livestock – chickens, cows, and goats – have the freedom to walk around undisturbed. In any case, the temple was beautiful. Like all other architecture we’ve seen in India, every aspect of the architecture is well-thought out and intricately carved or molded. There were many holy men around the temple who were offering blessings of some sort for a small donation which was interesting to watch.

We cool.

Around the temple, there were also many vendors and hawkers selling fruit and flower arrangements, perhaps as offerings within the temple.

I truly enjoy how important of a role religion plays in the lives of most of the Indians we’ve had the opportunity to meet. So deeply ingrained in them is religion that it is a way of life, rather than simply a facet of life, the way it is in the States.

Anyway, after walking around, the group got the chance to try coconut juice/water! Mary, Pree and I had had it before, so we knew exactly what we were getting ourselves into.

Everyone else pretty much had a love-hate relationship with it, and it was funny to watch their reactions to trying it the first time. We also saw some kids dressed and painted up in costumes, apparently to depict some famous Indian gods and goddesses, who would dance and pose for tourists for a fee (but of course...).

After leaving the Shri Chamundeshwari temple, we went to see a large statue of a…sacred bull or cow. A few of us went close enough to touch it, and stick a coin (with a wish!) on the statue!

Can't decide if creepy or awesome.

We went to the Mysore Palace soon after and as you can imagine, it was gorgeous. We had to remove our shoes and couldn’t take our cameras in which was definitely a letdown, as the palace was beautiful!

Before we had to put our cameras away. :(

We took an audio tour of the palace and that was fun. One thing that we noticed when going to purchase the tickets was that a different price was charged for foreigners and for Indians to enter the palace. I suppose one reason for that discrepancy is the assumption that foreigners have more money, and can therefore afford to pay more. Another reason might be to encourage local Indians to visit monuments within the country, which seems to already be a popular option.

We left the Mysore Palace and headed for lunch at a hotel called Sandesh the Prince – super cool name. Lunch was a buffet consisting of Indian, Oriental, and Western food, and I definitely ate a LOT of Chinese food! It’s hardly ever a first choice back home, but I miss it now more than ever!

 There was a night club next to the restaurant that said entry was restricted only to couples, which I thought was hilarious. It was so different than the concept of clubs in the States, where people go out with the intention of meeting new people to date.

Other important rules.

Before heading to our apartments in Bangalore, we stopped by a mall/shopping center to pick up some groceries to cover breakfast over the next few days. Like in Big Bazaar, there was little to no rhyme or reason with regards to the layout of the store. Fruits were next to kitchen appliances, which were next to a rack of DVDs. And just like in Big Bazaar, all the shoppers knew exactly where everything was located, and had no problems locating their items. We picked some McDonald’s up after finishing our shopping and finally got to our apartment complex. Then, we had to go to the office to get paperwork filled out and passports copied. After some mix-ups, we were finally assigned our apartments, got settled in, and are about to go to sleep!

Groceries...

...in the apartment!

I’m sharing the apartment with Kaleah, Amanda and Pree, and I know we’re going to have a great time. The shower utilizes a water heater though, so Kaleah and I will have to figure out how and when we can shower...

007 Happy New Year from Kabini

First and foremost, Happy New Year! If the way I spent the first day of 2011 is any indication of what to expect for the rest of the year, I have nothing to worry about!

We woke up at the crack of dawn today of course, for a jeep safari in the jungle! It was freezing, but it was beautiful and our group was lucky enough to spot plenty of animals including spotted deer, peacocks, samber deer, langurs and wild dogs!

They seemed cool at the time. Gimme a break.

Monkehhh.

Badass wild dog.

Apparently another jeep saw a wild elephant, which I wish we had gotten the opportunity of seeing, but you win some, you lose some. Along the way, we saw some elephant crossing signs, which I thought were adorable.

Beware of elephants!

One thing that I noticed was how quiet the resort was. Dr. Anand and Dr. Ellstrand mentioned that they only have a set number of rooms that you have to book months and months in advance. Even though the resort is so wildly popular, there are no plans to expand because preservation of the jungle again, is more important to them, than profits. I absolutely love that the Indian people seem to have their priorities in the right place – it’s such a refreshing thought!

After our safari, we returned for breakfast, and played cards around our rooms.

Indian breakfast...was...interesting.

"Around our rooms". Yeah. Our resort was this bamf.

Got tired of playing cards...and so Jarred recreated the Taj Mahal.

A lot of the group took naps, as did I, and before we knew it, it was lunch time! More hanging out and exploring the resort area after that, and we went for a river boat safari at around 5:00pm.

We had a really fun time and saw a LOT of birds, which Dr. Ellstrand definitely enjoyed!

The other boat!

Birds.

More birds.

The highlight of the trip was seeing a wild elephant bathing in the river. Though we rode on elephants two days ago, seeing one in the wild is a completely different experience.

It was so majestic and calm and a wonderful sight to behold.

To think that people, to this day, still poach beautiful animals like this makes me sad. I can guarantee that ivory looks a lot better on an elephant than on a mantelpiece. Hmm. In any case, we got to watch a beautiful sunset as we headed back.

After the safari, we got off the boats into a grassy area, and I got bitten by some insects! Couldn't tell if they were ants or baby spiders, but it hurt so much! Ick! My foot’s pretty swollen now, but I can still walk, so I suppose I’ll need to monitor it and make sure it doesn't get any worse.