Galtaji

  Saturday the 25th a group of us went to see Galta ji on the edge of Jaipur, also known as the monkey temple. On the way we also passed the Suyra Mandir and a number of other temples on the hill. Dede and I also saw the Ambagarh Fort. It was a fun hike up the hill and back down the other side to get to Galtaji. The temple looked small from the top of the hill but when you got towards the bottom and went around the corner it opened up to some beautiful architecture. Like its name suggests there were a lot of monkeys, I even bought some peanuts to feed them. It was also nice to be a way from the crowds of the city and see some large areas of greenery. The view of Jaipur from the top of the hill was also amazing.

Adventuring in India

Ok where to start. I’ve done a lot of stuff in the past week. Here are a few pictures to illustrate

 

 On Tuesday the 14h there was heavy rain and the streets flooded, a lot!. this is a picture from the corner of my street. a few cars dared to drive through and kids came out to swim. I also went on the roof of my house to take a few pictures of the street when I turned around to find myself surrounded by monkeys. the didn’t seem interested in me so I made a quick dash for the stairs to escape

  The next morning, Wednesday the 15th, Jocelyn and I went to the deaf school before class. One of the teachers showed us around. The school teaches ISL or Indian Sign Language so my ASL skills did not work out the best, but many students where familiar with ASL. We weren’t able to stay long because we had to get to class but we are planning on visiting again.

  Friday we took a field trip to Jaipur Foot where they make and fit people with prosthetics. The organization treats all their patients for free and astonishingly it only costs the NGO around 45 dollars to supply a patient with an prosthetic leg. This is strikingly different compared to the U.S. where artificial limbs cost thousands of dollars. One of the reasons they are able to do this is because of new technological inventions that have made this sort of thing cheaper and easily produced.

  Friday Night we left on a train for Bikiner for the weekend. We slept on the train ride and arrived early Saturday morning. We took a Riksaw to our hotel at around 4:30 in the morning and slept some more before we started our day’s adventure.

  In Bikiner we got a guided tour of the Junagarh Fort. The fort was constructed between 1588 and 1593 by Raja Rai Singh who was an army general for the Mughal emperor Akbar. The Fort also had a museum in it to share some of its history.

  After the Junagarh Fort on Saturday we took a city bus to a nearby town, Deshnok, to visit the Karni Mata Temple, also known as the Rat Temple. According to legend, Karni mata, a 14th- century incarnation of darga, asked the god of death, Yama, to restore to life the son of a grieving storyteller. When Yama refused, Karni Mata reincarnated all dead storytellers as rats, depriving Yama of human souls. (lonely Planet, 253). I also heard another story about this temple. That is that during the black plague all who worshiped here did not get sick. It is also considered to be very lucky to see a white rat. Sadly we did not see one while we were there.

  This is the gate to the old city in Bikiner. We walked through the narrow streets of the bazaars and saw old havelis, homes of the upper class.

  On Sunday the 19th we visited two Jain temples in the old city.

  The Sandeshwar Temple was small but had very beautiful detailed paintings on the inside

  The Bhandasar Temple was larger but equally as beautiful with its paintings and carvings. We were told that the foundation of this temple was built on 40,000kg of ghee. The temple was not busy so we were able to sit and talk with one of the religions leaders of the temple for a while. I was able to blow the temple’s conch shell which was very exciting and made my trip. 

  That night we took the night train back to Jaipur and made it home in time for Monday’s class.

  On Friday the 24th we took a field trip to see some traditional dancing and crafts and even got to partake in them. The locals were previously a nomadic group that traveled from city to city but recently settled in Jaipur in an attempt to make a better living off of tourism. The trip was very fun and eye opening.

More To Come!

Holiday Weekend

  Friday the 10th after our Hindi class we took a field trip to visit a paper making factory and family run block printing and blue pottery factory. The paper factory made had made recycled paper from old clothes and other cotton fabrics. Learning about the processes was very interesting. The wages that the workers make seem small but are considered to be a livable amount to support one’s self.  Most of the paper is surprisingly made for cooperation’s like Hallmark, Walmart and others.

  At the block printing and blue pottery shop we saw traditional Rajasthan block printing and blue pottery native to Iran, famous for its light blue color. Hand block printed fabric is being replaced today by screen printing that mimic the block printing design. This is one of the few shops in Rajasthan that still use much of the traditional method

The dyes used in this type of block printing are made of minerals and horse shoes instead of some of the other organic vegetable dyes they use. They are traditionally darker colors like black and red because of this.

Saturday the 11th Jocelyn, Josh and I went to the Museum of Indology not far from the MSID office. The museum seemed to be set up in a house but it had many interesting things, many of which were unlabeled and cluttered. The met the Museum owner, Sharad Sharma, who told us a little more about the museum his father started and his families places for constructing a new Museum to house the collection.

Saturday was also the Festival of Ganesh Chaturthi and Eid-ul-fitr (the end of Ramadan). The streets were blocked off to cars and full of people. It reminded me a lot of being at the Minnesota State Fair. To escape the crowed that over powered our streets my host family, Josh and I went to the other side of Jaipur to Mama ji’s brothers house. We went to a nearby temple for a large family get together where we ate dinner and felt extremely out of place, even though seemed just like any other family reunion that I have gone to with my family.


Sunday the 12th a group of us went to the Albert Hall/Central Museum. The Museum was quite large compared to the Indology museum. It was also very crowded. Not surprisingly, like whenever we are out in public, we attracted a lot of attention. A group of youngsters followed us around and tried to talk to us and get in our pictures whenever they could. After the Museum we went back home to watch the Parade, as an extension of last night’s holiday.

The Parade lasted hours. We were able to watch it from the apartment where six students host families live. From the balcony and roof top we had a great view. The scene was very colorful and crowded. There were many floats depicting godly and historical events, performers and bands. After the parade many students went to the fair to ride the ferrous wheel which spun abnormally fast and looked like it could use a little more maintenance.

Here is a picture of my host family.

From left to right, Josh, Udit, Mama ji, Papa ji, and Dadi ji.










Feel free to message me or e-mail me with any questions or comments you guys have.

Jaipur, Rajasthan

Thursday September 9th. I have been living with my host family sense Saturday the 4th, their names are Ms. Mamta and Mr. Suneel Bansal. other then my host mother and father my family consists of their two sons and their grandmother. The older son left on Sunday for collage. There are also two collage students who rent the room upstairs. I’ve really been enjoying the family and mamaji (Mamta) is a very good cook. The MSID school is only a block away where I am studying. We have three courses for half the semester, Hindi, International Development, and a country analysis class. The other half of the semester I will be doing an Internship that has yet to be decided. Will more than likely be working in a rural community on sustainable agriculture and other issues. So far my classes have been very interesting and I’m hoping they prepare me well for my internship.

  

This is my room in our host families house. It is very comfortable and the nights have not been to hot sense we are at the end of the rainy season. Everyone here is very energy and water continuous. Although there is more water available now because of the rainy season there are still water shortages in Jaipur. We take bucket showers which are actually really easy and you realize that you do not actually need much water to shower with. I have also been doing my own laundry by hand even though I could get a maid to do it for me.

There is a pack of monkeys that live in the courtyard of our house, although I have not seen them in the past 2 days. Udit, my host brother, says they hang around this time of the year. The monkeys will actually come into the house and use the stairs that go up to roof. I think they are super cool but they are considered a nuisance here and can be dangerous.  

From left to right Caitlin, Josh, Ache (Caitlin and Peggy’s host brother), Udit, and Peggy. We were visiting the Birla Lakshmi Narayan Temple which is very near to our house.

The Moti Dungari Fort can been seen from the MSID office and my house. It is right next to the Birla Lakshmi Narayan Temple and the Ganeshji Temple. The fort is privately owned by the royal family and is not open to visitors.

On Sunday the 5th a few of us travel to the old city which is full of bazaars and other attractions. We also took a detour though a back alley where we found less touristy shops.

 

 The Ganeshji Temple is only a block away from my home stay house. Every Wednesday many people gather at the temple. This Wednesday was especially crowded because on Saturday is Genesh’s birthday and there is going to be a huge festival, parade and fair which thousands of people will attend. In front of the Genesh statue you can see giant balls of laddu which is a holly sweet.

Camels are HUGE!

Sites like this can be very common in Jaipur. There are many animals all over the city. I took this picture when walking in Raja Park which is a market street near my house.

Settling In

I left the Minneapolis air port August 29 around 4:05pm. It was about 45 minutes to Chicago and from there 14 hours to New Delhi. We arrived in New Delhi on the 30th around 8:30pm. My first impression when leaving the air port was that the air had a sort of sulfuric smell to it. There was construction all over Delhi for the preparation of the common wealth games, which is supposedly the biggest global event to ever come to India. We stayed in a YWCA hostel the first two nights. Our first opportunity to get out was to go the Sikh temple next to the hostel. We were sent over there without any knowledge of what to do but they were very hospitable to foreigners and showed us what to do. That day we also got a tour of Delhi.

Wednesday, Sept. 4th we left Delhi on a six hour ride to Jaipur.  My eyes were glued out the window almost the entire way. There was what I thought was a lot of corn fields that looked a hint like cat tails, which I later found out was all wheat fields. There was a lot of development along the state highway. Construction of giant apartment complexes seemed to be sprouting up out of flat fields. For lunch we stopped at an Indian MacDonalds. I had a Mc Veggie and fries. The Mc Veggie was really good and so were the fries but a bit on the salty side.

Entering Jaipur was amazing. We entered though Pink city which is the old city and it is surrounded by walls and fort on the mountain side, which I forgot the name of. Most of the year Jaipur is very dry but we are at the end of the rainy season. As we entered the city we could see an amazing look palace out on a lake. Another highlight coming into the city was seeing a man riding a elephant that was running down the road.

I will try to keep you all posted on my adventure.Until next time, namaste!