Foreign Fixation

Although I said I would try to keep up with this website thingy, the length of time between each post seems to be getting larger and larger; partly because I lost the Internets, partly because I have to write 8,000 words for some papers by the 20th.

But never fear, I have returned with a compilation of stories from the past few days. AND NEW PICTURES.

What a treat.

In the mist of being in a new country full of sights and smells (good and bad) that I've never seen before, I forget that I too, am a rarity in the lives of these humble towns people.

So naturally, I draw more attention to myself than usual. And after my ego shrank and I realized everyone wasn't memorized by my blinding beauty, I found the true reason - I'm odd.

Not everyday normal odd, I'm talking like "if this creature is roaming the streets casually then h*ll has surely opened and Vishnu is about to send another avatar" odd. It's almost as if I embody everything that the Indian public cannot handle, yet I wear this uniqueness proudly, even if it gets me condemned by society for the next few months.

But why am I such an oddity? Let's take it to the list!!!!

My Hair

Because my tress taming skills are lacking, I have yet again tangled my locks into numerous braids. And because the only people who have hair not in a single braid are the same people that renounce clothes and society as a whole, it's not a common hair style. I'm sure the last time someone saw my spaghetti string hair it resembled the bowels of some demon that Kali had destroyed carved on the side of a temple, so I can see why most would be hesitant to touch it.



Don't insult her cooking


Only no one is hesitant.

In fact, my environment and health professor had to tell a gaggle of school children to "be careful because it could break." and what exactly is the 'it' in this situation???

Must...touch.....hair.....

I will admit I do enjoy getting the same amount of attention as if I jumped out of a cake at a party with pockets full of candy, so I let the kids have at it. Its the adults that are creepy.

One thing is its good to know that I always have a nice ice breaker right atop my noggin.





My Hot Chocolatetyness

It does seems strange that while every other country on the planet knows the history of America better than most Americans, still they seem to forget that at one point Africans were brought to aid the southern  economy in the agricultural and service sectors. I say this because no one believes that I am from America. It usually comes about in the following manner -

Local: (to group) So where you from?

The Group: America

Local: (looking at me) ALL of you?

The Group: Yes

Local: Hahahaha, you gotta be sh*ttin' me.

While this reaction has led me to just brush off the unintentional racism, it still amuses me when people try to assign me nationalities. During an altercation with a non-toothed passerby that I had insulted (I wonder how, he seemed to have a lot going for him, gnawing on bars of gold or however he lost those teeth) he claimed that "all Jamaicans are rude."

Sorry Jamaicans for representing your culture in a negative manner.

I was also even thought to be Indian because there was "something in my eyes."



Clearly I stand out the most



I'd put my money on it that the something in my eye is the Kum Kum* that keeps disappearing by the end of the day.



My Bracelets


If there is a legal limit to the number of handmade bracelets, I must have surpassed it three times over. If people aren't staring at the aforementioned physical features I possess, then they are fixated on the threads on my right wrist that remind me of family and friends. Silly me, I thought I'd fit right in, being in bangle country and all...

What? What bracelets?

But as I prance around thinking I'm enjoying life and all that, I'm being judged for my non-glass/metal arm attachments. In fact, I was fitted for some traditional jewlery once, but even my boney arms are too big for the local wear, so they snapped.

Alas, I will forever be an outcast.


Look how small this fresh a** orange slice is. Oh yeah an the bracelets.






My Inability to Stop Dancing

I have been cursed with rhythm and my body tends to express its capabilities whenever there is music around. And this hardly ever occurs at appropriate times.

Grocery store tunes. An oddly melodic cell phone ring tone. Trucks backing up.


Sometimes even real music... wait that's just a coconut and foil.




And seeing as though dancing in public for women is as outlawed as in the town in the film footloose, I have no problem collecting angry glaces from ladies.

I did however stumble upon an outdoor concert complete with drunken singers and a rowdy crowd - but that's for another post...

looks like someone's being ominous... teehee

*red powder that is used to make a bendhi (dot.)

Wise Elephant #92

As Muitas Pessoas

Caste system? WTF?

I understand the part where we are supposed to integrate into the stratified social system but I REFUSE to treat anyone less than a human being. If I did buy into the I AM AMERICAN HEAR ME ROAR role, then I would be trying to get cooking staff fired because the authentic Indian food is too spicy (I'm talking to you Steve from Michigan!)

But keeping in check with my moral system, I have been chattin' it up with the cleaning ladies for our dorm rooms. (That's right kids, study abroad and you don't have to clean your own room!)

And we have been gabbin like old ladies in a knitting club about food and family. However, we are only speaking in Kannada and with the 11 words or so I know I might have told her that I have 2 kids and that I'm married. Well, technically I am married but that's another post. ;) Sorry boys, the Hot Chocolate is off the market.

Speaking of marriage.... Random picture time!

 

But out of all the interactions I've had here with the other students and faculty, the two cleaning ladies, their names escape me as always, have taught me more about their culture than any 20-page lecture on historical Indian architecture ever could.

The thing is that despite having a grasp on other languages that couldn't get me out of an airport, high anxiety in most mundane situations, and a general disdain for over interaction with strangers, I have never felt more comfortable with people I don't know than when I am traveling, traveling alone more so.

I do enjoy the comforts of being in a group while abroad, but I always look forward to those moments when I can walk up and down the streets a little ahead of the rest of the Americans so I can just blend. There are not any preconceived notions of what I am, I am just another person in the world being in the world.

Family and friends are some of the most valuable things on the planet, but even they are at fault of taking away that special feeling of joy that can be derived from just being. Judgement is always the most painful when it is received from a loved one.

It just seems that most people I know back home don't really understand me, despite the lack of a language barrier - I think it's because my first language is nonsense.   It just seems easier to picture myself in these small scale situations with a more humble group of people rather than trying to fit into the masses. 

But in the grand scheme of things it does not matter what others think because we are all gonna die I guess. Wow that was morbid. I giggled when someone farted in Yoga today. Did that make it better? Good. :)

Wise Elephant Quote #74

I would like to introduce you to an old friend of mine - The Wise Elephant.

We found each other on my last Indian adventure and we didn't spend much time together, but the moments we did share (mainly trunk touching and synchronized eye blinking) was pretty memorable. Wise elephant was especially of interest to me because we found him at an elephant rescue camp and I wanted to rescue him from that place.

The men their beat the elephants in order to control them and yet we were still encouraged to ride the poor animals. Many in my group didn't think anything on it but I did  not want to prolong their suffering, even if it was just a few extra pounds on their backs. And even with all this torture, wise elephant did not let these men break him, nor let let life breaak him.

So in memory of my elephant friends, I have compiled some Wise Elephant quotes that I would imagine the wise elephant wanting to share with the world.

I have not added any names of the people who these quotes actually belong to because in my eyes they are universal truths and it doesn't matter to me who said it, although they are direct so feel free to look it up yourself.

And with that I present you with Wise elephant quotes.



Discharged from Aviation Station

Like I said before these accounts of my current Indian adventure are to be quite out of order but I have the utmost confidence that you will be able to keep up. I will admit that the comedic river runs dry in this post, so for some giggle therapy, look at my other website thingy's latest post found here. (It has many pictures)

Now let me take you back to a time when my feet were still atop American soil and the departure of my family had just ended, rather uneventful but at least no tears.

I take leave of Austin and embark on a rather unorthodox route to Indiatown. From Austin to Atlanta, Atlanta to Boston, Boston to Paris, and Paris to Bangalore. I didn't mind what the route, my destination was going to be heaven.

And 30 or so hours later it was indeed. Although it was at night and the skyline was not very forgiving when it comes to preemptive sightseeing out the window, I could still feel how my immediate surroundings had changed.

An example of outside. I guess.

The familiar smells of what was once foreign foods and visions of new faces of people draped in intricate cloths made me feel at ease and in a sense, at home, for the first time in a while.

All that was left to do was get my passport stamped and be on my way to the beautiful abyss that was just outside the window, still sheathed in the midnight sky. The moment came to hand over my passport for a simple overlook and a stamp.

Overlook. Stamp in hand. Double-take. No stamp.

Multiple men are called over. I am sent to an office. I explain my visa dilemma. (Long story short I got a tourist visa instead of a student visa because the Houston consulate is dumb.)

I am told that I have to go back to America. *glass shattering* I see the black vision of India somehow dim even more in the window that has been transformed from a glimpse into the future to an exhibit in a museum with a sign that says "Do not touch."

Ok plan B. Sprint to the door. I almost ran track in high school. Pros: possible make into the country and definitely let everyone in this airport know how fast the hot chocolate is. Cons: jail.

Alright, new plan. Get your thoughts together. Call mom. Oh good my phone is dead. Alright, figure out how to pay for plane tickets back home. Funny, I thought I was home now.

A man approaches me and asks to see the name of the University that I will no longer be attending. The piece of paper that I hand him is the same piece of paper that denied me a student visa from the consulate. The same paper that has me contemplating a fate as either a poor student back in the states without a college to go to, or a rich American airport refugee for the next four months.

The same paper that changes the word "No" to "Yes" from the man I handed the paper to.

I have no idea how fates work. I have no extensive knowledge of any religion nor do think there is a big man in a chair dictating our every move. But whatever force, either internal or external, that drives our lives, I thank it for putting me through this test and allowing me to not lose my cool in this stressful situation.

And the fruits of my labor have been entry into my Heaven: India.

BOO-YAH!!!!

Yoga Brain and the Right Arm Buffet

Just as a heads up I will upload pictures when I have enough brain power to remember to bring it one of these days, until then I will post my older India pictures just to spice the page up, even if there is no rhyme or reason to them.



Deceased Indian Butterfly

See what I mean? No rhyme, no reason. Now back to the good stuff.

Neutrino

नमस्ते दोस्तों! namaste dosto (Hello friends!)

Like a said before I am going to try real hard to be committed to this website thingy because last time, there were a few casualties when I went on hiatus. I have yet to bring my camera to any of our wonderful excursions and my tales will most certainly be out of order because I like to add entropy to the world whenever I can.

As a nice sum up of the days previous, which I will hopefully delve into on a later date, here are some of the highlights that will not get you up to speed in any means, just to give you a glimpse of my international epic thus far: 

• Airport refugee
• Yoga brain and the right arm buffet
• I don't speak "No" and/or tears on my pillow
• Gluttony: A a dichotomous story of food and board games
• ek, dois, three in Kannada and/or I should learn English first
• Pigeon monkeys and elephant prisons
• Hair maulestation

And as a delicious treat for your eyes and mind, I will allow you to engage in this rather boring yet epiphanic moment while I was in class if you can believe it or not.