Traveling and Homestay Experience

I have been terrible at keeping everyone updated but it is because I am doing so many great things!

 

We had a great trip! The train to Mumbai ended up taking 29 hours but it was not nearly as bad as I had worried it would be. I am so glad that we decided to go there, mainly because I wouldn’t have believed a place like that existed in India if I hadn’t seen it! It was different from Banaras in every way and the most cosmopolitan and westernized city that I have seen in India. There were big red buses, city trains, and cafes! We got to do just about everything that we had wanted to. The highlights for me were going to the Kaneri caves, an ancient Buddhist cave complex, Elefanta Island, an ancient Hindu cave complex, seeing the beach, going to markets, and just walking around the city.

We also got to go to a synagogue! We read about one synagogue in the Lonely Planet guidebook and visited there first. We met a really friendly man who invited us to join his congregation the following night for their Sim Chat Torah celebration. When we came back the next night it was great! The small congregation was dancing around the temple holding the Torah and singing. There were some international visitors from Israel and Europe but most of the congregants were Indian. They were incredibly welcoming to us and we ended up joining them at the next synagogue they went to where they were serving a large dinner! My favorite part was seeing the old Jewish men who looked just like old Jewish men you would see at every other synagogue in the world! It felt so great to find a community in this country where I could feel like I instantly belonged! I also met a man there named Moshe which I knew Papa would be very excited about!

Staying in the YWCA also worked out really well. The room was great, breakfast and dinner were included every day and the food was actually really good, and the people at the front desk were so helpful!

 

After Mumbai we went to Jaipur, in Rajasthan. Jaipur was not quite as relaxing as Mumbai. It is a big tourist city and there are many people there who are aware of that fact and ready to use it to their advantage. We have never been followed or harassed for money by that many people! People were constantly trying to get us to come on tours of the city or come into their shops. Some people even waited outside of restaurants and stores for us so they could continue to follow us. Because of this, people were also extremely unhelpful if we were lost or looking for some place. If you asked where one restaurant was they would tell you about all of their great restaurants. One auto driver even took us to the hotel that pays him commission instead of to our own hotel and we ended up having to pay him anyway! This was exhausting and made me so grateful for the friendly people in Banaras.The experience wasn’t all bad though! We walked around the beautiful Old Pink City where there were beautiful old buildings and great markets. One night at sunset we went to the Sun Temple which is up on a hill and has a great view of the city. We were unaware when we went that the Sun Temple is the same thing as the Monkey Temple which we had heard about from a lot of people and had decided definitely not to go to. We had to carry rocks the whole way up to the Temple and while we were there to ward off the hundreds of monkeys! I am also more grateful now for the monkeys in Banars who just ignore us!

 

After Jaipur we took the train to Bikaner, another city in Rajasthan. Bikaner is in the desert and we got to go on an overnight camel safari! We left in the morning and rode camels in the desert for a couple of hours. Each camel was lead by a “camel man” and there was a “camel cart” holding all of our things and our food. We stopped for lunch and a “siesta” and then kept going for a few more hours until we reached a piece of land owned by the safari company. We set up camp there and had dinner and a campfire and slept under the stars! Riding the camels was a lot of fun. I had never realized how tall those guys are! Their legs are about 7 or 8 feet long so sitting on their backs we were at least 9 feet in the air. The only scary part was when they stood up or sat down you were thrown back and forth and had to hold on really tight! The sun was very hot but it was a really nice ride and a great time to think! I’m glad we didn’t go for much longer though because my butt got pretty sore sitting there… I was so surprised by how cold it got at night! They had cots for us and I slept under 3 wool blankets. I even had to keep my head under the blankets, I was so cold! The stars were the best part though – they were absolutely gorgeous out there!

In the morning we went back to the guest house of the safari company and then went on one of their day trips. The best part was the rat temple. There is a Hindu story about a Goddess who has her entire family reincarnated as rats. So this temple leaves out food and milk and there are thousands of rats everywhere! Our guide told us that there are only 3 white rats and it is good luck if you see one and we did! It is also considered good luck if a rat runs over your foot but I don’t think any of us got that lucky..

 

After Bikaner it was time to head back to Banaras with a layover in Delhi. Our train ride to Delhi was the biggest mishap of the trip. We got on the train and everything was fine until a man came up and told us that he had the same seats that we were sitting in. After examining our tickets it turned out that ours were for the wrong day – two days before that date! We bought the tickets while we were in Mumbai and the man messed up! I was really nervous that we were going to be thrown off the train in a random Indian village, but we talked to the ticket collector and we were able to get new seats for a small fee (bribe). I was so proud of us for working that out! Not only did we travel across a foreign country alone but we got ourselves out of sticky situations too! We were in Delhi just long enough to eat some bagels and then we arrived safely in Banaras with lots of stories to tell and laundry to do.

 

After so many weeks of things moving so slowly, we got back to everything in full swing. The day we arrived back in Banaras we went to stay with host families! Madee and I were with a family of musicians with 3 sons who are 22, 20, and 15. All 3 boys play instruments so the family spends the majority of their time practicing or hanging around the house. We were there for the week long festival of the Goddess Durga in which huge, amazing temporary temples are constructed around the city to house images of Durga and everyone goes out to visit them. There are also fairs all over the city! We had a lot of fun going to the fairs and the temples with our host mother and brothers and even saw elephants in the street one night! Living with an Indian family was such an interesting experience. The household consists of the mother, father, the 3 sons, 1 aunt and her son, and the grandmother. The aunt and grandmother are sick so all of the housework is put onto the mother. While the father and sons spent most of their time that they weren’t practicing lounging around the house, the mother was always cooking or cleaning, despite the fact that the family seemed to have a staff for everything.

Another interesting aspect was the use of money. This family was clearly very well off – they have someone who comes to clean, someone who washes their clothes, walks their dog, and there was even a boy who came to pray in their house everyday! However there house was still very traditional with a open courtyard in the center and rooms all around. This means that there were often birds in the house and tons of mice. As is common, the youngest son sleeps in the living room on a platform with his grandmother and aunt and all the other rooms are shared as well, despite the fact that there are open rooms.

The hardest part for me was the way that the family, especially the father and sons, treated us because we are women. They were very wary about allowing us to go out in the evening time, even with the boys. When we did go out, the youngest son was sent with us. I was very frustrated that, despite the fact that we have traveled across the world on our own, just traveled across this country on our own, and, not to mention, have lived in this city for the past 3 months, they still didn’t think we were competent of going any place alone. I am so glad that we got to stay there and I had a great time but overall I am happy that we are living at Nirman where we have more free will!

 

We have now been back at Nirman for a week and things have been great! The driver, Ramesh’s, family is here visiting and we have so enjoyed helping take care of his little 3 month old baby! We tried to celebrate Halloween and sufficiently weirded a lot of people out. First, we dressed up and walked around Nirman asking people for candy – and a lot of people actually gave it to us! We also carved pumpkins (green squash) and roasted the seeds. We went on a boat ride down the Ganges on Halloween night and stayed in our costumes, much to the embarrassment of our Indian friends. Then last night we had a party for all of the people who live here on Nirman’s campus. There are a lot of kids around since Ramesh’s family is in town and we had so much fun playing games and dancing with them. I loved traveling and I am so glad that we got to see so much of the country but I also love our little community right here!