Last night in Hyderabad

So this is my last night in Hyderabad at the Tagore International House. Tomorrow at 1 pm we fly to Delhi, to spend 5 days of travel between Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra; the Taj Mahal will be one sight that we will see. Obviously I haven't blogged in a while, honestly aside from not being in the mood to do it, nothing has really happened anyways. I have mostly spent my time writing a paper, studying for exams, and killing time by watching things like THE OFFICE or ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, of which I have done too much.

I am virtually all packed up, aside from a few things I will need to use in the morning and what not. The hostel is really dead, as most people, including half the miami students have already left. So I am killing a lot of time right now, checking my email and facebook every 20 minutes. I did just have some Subway delivered, and for the record, Veggie subs in India taste the same as veggie subs in America; Italian BMT's however, are lacking here, as the meat is of course of a different substance. Nevertheless, that is the highlight of my evening, and a testament to why there hasn't been any blogging.

Exams were fine, though they seemed to drag on and on, thankfully those are done. I am ready to get out of the hostel, as I have grown a little stir crazy by sitting around in it studying and what not, and I am ready to go North for some traveling, as well as looking forward to coming home. I am kind of starved for efficiency, organization, movie theatres, video games, driving my car while singing loudly, and crappy American fast food; such as chicken quesadillas and the McDonald's Dollar menu...I will however, miss the maharaja mac, and you know that I am going to pull up to every McDonald's drive thru attempting to order it, simply to confound the 'angry at life' drive thru worker. I am also sporting the manliest beard ever right now, and will continue to do so upon my return despite any objections; one should look wise and weathered after returning from the far east, and that is how I plan to return.

It has been quite an experience, one with a set of dimensions, though I look forward to coming home, I am glad I was able to come and live here for several months. I do not wish to deliver a synopsis in this blog though, I will reserve that until I have returned. Peace out Hyderabad...the next blog will be state side.

A wild elephant and the Tree of Life...okay not really but still

Pictures from Ooty, Mysore and Bangalore

More photographs

Prodigal Photographs, and the Trip

Alright, since the last blog I have visited two cities, Chennai and Pondicherry, as well as places in between them on the bus ride. It was good to get out of Hyderabad for a bit, even though it was not until we took a trip that I actually started having course work to do, which made for a busy week when I got back. We first saw Chennai and took a flight from Hyd., it wasn't actually that different Hyderabad except that it is on the coast, and it isn't that clean of a city. A bus drove us around to see some different things, which consisted of two temples, the Beach, and the resting place of St. Thomas. When I say St. Thomas, I mean Thomas...as in the guy who doubted Christ. History has it that Thomas traveled all the way to south India spreading Christianity, which I did not know. He was Martyrd in what is now the area called Chennai, by a spear to the back. So in the church, there is what is supposed to be some remains of Thomas, and the head from the spear that killed him. I do not know how anyone would know whether or not it really was the spear or his remains, but Catholics love their relics. 

On the beach there was a little market where we looked around, and walked to the shore. The beach itself is not one you really want to lay down in, or swim in, it was a bit dirty. We spent two nights there, and left for Pondicherry the following morning. On the way we stopped at various old places and attractions, which consisted of more temples and a silk shop where they weave and sell the products. We arrived in Pondicherry that night where we slept and left the next afternoon. The night we arrived though, some of us walked to the shore from the hotel, and sat on the rocks watching the waves of the Bay of Bengal...pretty cool. Then the next day we drove back to Chennai and stayed another night to catch our flight back to Hyd. the next evening. It was a good trip, bought a few trinkets, and a copy of the Mahabharata. I guess we have the funding to take another one, and we are debating about where to go. Some people wanted to go to bombay and Goa, another choice is Bangalore, another is Kerala (which I want to go to), and another is going to Gujarat. From what I gather, Kerala and Gujarat are expensive, and Goa is just a beach, so we will most likely go to Bangalore...oh well. 

Upon my return, I had a Hindi test, a paper, and a philosophy test this week...so I have been fairly busy. There isn't much else to report, and I am not actually in too much of a writing mood, having to walk 15 minutes in hot weather to get online doesn't make one in such a mood. I did get air conditioning in my room however, and now there must be a 25 degree difference between my room and the hallway, it's great. I really want to play some video games though, or just be able to go get some food whenever I want...or snacks....or go see a movie or something, or have a cold beverage. Cold beverages are nearly impossible to find, everything is usually lukewarm, including pop. It isn't that hard, I know there is a fridge in the kitchen downstairs....keep it in the fridge...*shrug. We get Ice cream after every dinner so, I suppose I can let it slide. I am going to have to find mango ice cream when I get back, because it's good. 

I actually found the pictures that I thought were deleted, so some of these below are of the fort, and some from the trip. I have more, but to post them I have to decrease the size of them one by one...and load them, it's a pain. So they will just be put up in installments. I found one that has me in it, there are not too many of those. Is it just me, or are my eyes abnormally close together?

Rituals, Dancing, Divine Food and a Bryan Adams sing along

A few things happened this weekend, I will exposit them chronologically by day.

On Friday evening I accompanied Veena (fellow abroad student), to a temple nearby where a kind of festival was going on, and they have revived some old practices of temple dancing that were banned from temple due to some other historical developments. This marks my second visit to a Hindu temple, as well as the most pleasurable. Prior to the rituals in the temple, there was a guest performance outside of a particular form of classical Indian dance, that everyone gathers to watch, and following it were the temple dances which had more religious roots and derivation. 

The newly revived ritual dances were set up in a very systematic way, beginning at the middle of the temple, circling around it and returning to the center, having a performance at various particular spots that correspond to a deity. The idea is that the dancing is a kind of narrative or descriptive presentation of the deity that it is directed towards, and the observers ideally are treating it as a ceremony of prayer. So I and a group of Miami students that came later apart from my arrival, were able to observe the ceremony which is no short process, but an interesting cultural experience nonetheless. 

After the dances were finished, they brought out the idol (which I prefer to call Icon, as it more accurately describes the roll of the "idol") and marched with it, stopping after so many paces as a dancer performed in front of it before the icon marched forward (reminded me of David bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Israel, where after so many paces they stopped and worshipped through music and dance before moving forward again), until it came to a place outside where they sat the icon down, performed a ritual of blessing and then marched the icon back to the temple where each dancer one by one circled it while holding a pot of oil with a lit flame. They then returned the deity to its resting place, and proceeded to perform a final ritual of blessing. 

This ritual seemed to be more of a typical one that a devotee would undergo in a normal visit to temple. Where the priest brings out a flame, the warmth of which you are supposed to feel with your hands and touch your face, then blessed water that they put in your hands and you drink, then a metal cylinder kind of hollow object that has designs and carvings on it they briefly place over your head, which represents the feet of God blessing your head. Granted I am not aware of all the symbolisms of these ritual actions, and it would probably be exhaustive to expound upon them justly anyways, so I am just trying to describe the ceremony as I saw it. 

On this particular evening, I did not participate in the above ritual of blessing, as I did not know what is expected of the practitioner, and I personally feel as if I am being very disrespectful, and perhaps even blasphemous if I undergo a ritual having no idea what to do, let alone not knowing the meaning. So I sat that one out, I did however, participate in the partaking of the blessed food (Prasad). When this takes place everyone is handed some leaves that have been pressed and sown together with straw, and the priests come out with rice, and another sweet substance that I do not know the name of, and place a portion onto your leaf-plates, and you eat with your hands the food that has been blessed by god (prasad). It was very tasty, of course at first I was questioning the fact that it was dished out to me by the guys hands, and who knows where these leaves came from, but you just don't refuse 'divine' food that a holy man is offering you, you just take it with thanks. So I did, and it was very delicious, not just plain rice, but a yellow rice that had a spice to it; god makes a good rice I suppose. I very much enjoyed the experience of sitting in an obscure temple in India and eating Prasad with my hands off of a dry leaf plate that no doubt someone hand sown together, not something you do everyday. Unless of course you are a Hindu, of which I am not. 

The dancing itself was of course interesting, but it was probably more interesting to those who enjoy dance. I do not consider myself one of those people, as I do not go out of my way to watch any kind of dancing, be it ball room or dry sex humping in a club. I can appreciate the cultural significance of something like classical Indian dance (like when a particular story I am familiar with is being depicted), however beyond that I cannot have too much of an interest in it; for that, I would need to have an interest in dance itself. 

The temple was set up in such a way that in two corners there were deities inside the 'closet' like space that they are usually kept in, that periodically opens up at the appropriate times, and in the center was the main deity of the temple. It kind of reminded of the "Holiest of Holies" that you would find in the center of the Hebrew temple of the Old Testament, where it is located at the center and only the Holy priests can actually enter in to that space; the same seemed true for the space that this main icon was in, as it was encased in a closet-like space as well, and only the priests could pervade that space where the holy deity is occupying. So the layout of the temple seemed significant, and the same is true for the Old Testament temple as well. 

So while I find the witnessing of religious ritual to be interesting, it is not my area of interest when looking at any religion's ideology. Taking Hinduism as an example, I have interest in the philosophies you find coming from thinkers who happened to be 'Hindu', and I see these philosophies to be a separate thing almost altogether from ritual. To believe that a ritual or recited prayer entertains a spiritual dimension which causes your material situation to be changed, as a result of performing the ritual, is to have a mystical belief, and a purely mystical belief is I feel, irrational. Of course there is the effect that ritual has on the mental state of the person, which then effects their attitude and their situation, but that is different from believing that the ritual itself is responsible for a material change. 

The philosophers of the East however, are occupied with metaphysical views, epistemological systems of "how do you know..." and what "what is knowledge", and then ethical philosophy, all of which are centered around knowledge and not ritual. It is clear then, as confirmed by Dr. Prasad in the Philosophy department here, these philosophers didn't take ritual very seriously, as I don't think that any pursuer of knowledge would. In fact these philosophers would say that liberation is not attained from ritual at all, it doesn't bridge the divide, but knowledge bridges that divide, whereas ignorance furthers it. To me, if religious ritual/prayer is not kept in its proper symbolic place then it can perpetuate ignorance, which you see happening in various kinds of religious outlooks.

So when it comes to ceremony, for me, it is just that and nothing more. Nothing more than a physical experience the practitioner (if it is religious in nature) undergoes to have some particular kind of feeling or emotional state. These states vary greatly in nature, ranging from the kind of person who performs ritual with the belief that it effects an unknown spiritual dimension, to the person who performs ritual without any belief in the spiritual or God at all and simply enjoys the feeling of nostalgia one gets from practicing age old tradition they inherited. The latter is more legitimate and honest a reason to be a practitioner of ceremony/ritual, as it is not treated as a methodical means to attain a supposed "greater" knowledge of something spiritual. It seems to me, that most educated Hindu practitioners take this latter stance when it comes to the practice of the religion, as being Hindu does not only amount to religious belief; as you could be an atheist-materialist, and be a practitioner of Hinduism it seems. So I see no problem with performing any religious ritual for the sake of experiencing inherited tradition, the problem I have lies in the purporting of ritual to be a method for attaining knowledge, or that some supernatural truth lies beyond it that the practitioner effects through repeating a prayer, taking communion, or reciting a mantra. 

Although for me personally, I have never been one to enjoy something simply because it is my inherited tradition either, and tradition for tradition's sake for me is a waste of time. It's one of those things that I want to ask "why..." and then someone says "just because...", which needless to say does not satisfy me; and so apart from having cultural experiences of ritual (be it religious, or a wedding ceremony), I do not care much for it, and much time could very well be saved without it (especially in weddings, there is much "blah blah" that could be cut out). And when it is supposed that a ritual is a method for attaining a kind of Truth, I must oppose that notion and not simply be apathetic towards it, as I am with ritual for the sake of inherited tradition. 

The next day, Miami kids went to a museum, which was okay. Not much to tell about it, and no pictures were allowed. Following it some others wanted to go back to the same temple where they were having some vendors there for the festival they were having, so a few of us stopped there with the Pappus. The little market was less than impressive, so I and another girl from Miami went into the temple with Dr. Pappu, and he told a priest we were students here to study, and so he wanted us to experience the ritual. I was still less than comfortable doing it, but Dr. Pappu insisted, so I suppose it wasn't a big deal, and my feeling of disrespect in not being fully aware of the ritual meaning was probably something I was conjuring; though it was still legitimate, and I was probably one of the few who gave a second thought to it the night before, where several of the other students just jumped in and performed it. So I felt the heat of the flame, drank the water, and had my head blessed by God's feet, as we were standing right in front of the space where the deity was; an interesting experience of course, and it was nice that the temple was so welcoming both nights we were there. They insisted that we all have dinner on Friday night that they were serving, and made sure we experienced everything as much as possible. At the first temple we went to as a group, a very large one, I did not feel so welcome there for some reason, and did not get a kind vibe from it; not that I felt I shouldn't be there, it was just a large temple with a lot of people whereas this was a small one and was more welcoming. One could draw an analogy here between small temples seeming to be very welcoming as a opposed to large ones, and how small Christian churches seem to be more friendly and welcoming as opposed to large ones.

This was pretty much my weekend, the only other thing to report is that last night I watched Shawshank Redemption; which was severely overdue. It was a good movie, and the reason it has been regarded as a classic is very clear; I mean...Morgan Freeman...enough said. 

Oh I almost forgot, we also had a little bon fire outside, where some other Indian students joined. One had a guitar who is learning, and someone volunteers me to play it. So I do, and one of the Indian guys asks if I knew "Summer of 69" by Brian Adams. I don't actually know the song, but I remember an MxPx cover of it very vaguely, so I just played the chords according to the melody. So me and some random Indian dudes have a little brian Adams sing along while sitting around a small fire in Hyderabad, India...not exactly something I foresaw happening, ever. So I just played random songs, they also recognized Free Bird. There are two bands I have noticed Indians being fond of, Coldplay and Linkin Park. The former I have no problem with at all, the latter however, can't say I am a fan. I also overheard that Iron Maiden was performing in Bangalore...go figure. 

Back sweat, and the little victories in life.

The internet has stopped working in the international hostel, and it could be a few days before it gets fixed. Which actually means it could be a couple of weeks. So I just now have managed to get to the library and get online for TCB (takin' care of business). This week has been slow and there isn't much to blog about, I just feel like posting one; so here are some totally insignificant events that have occurred, I will try to spice them up. 

As you know it's hot in India, and getting warmer as we approach spring months. This kind of climate forces a mid-western United States citizen to opt for a different showering/bathing schedule. Typically at home I shower every morning, both as a way to get clean and a way for me to awake out of the pseudo-slumber I am in just after waking. Though this past semester I would opt for evening showers if I had worked that night, to rid myself of the nastiness of quiznos. However, it is impossible to walk to class (which is a 20 minute hike from the hostel) and not sweat hardcore. This has lead me to opt for a twice a day shower schedule, one when I wake up, and one when all my classes and hikes are done for the day. By the time I return I am on the verge of stinking anyways, so the morning shower is mainly to rid me of my pseudo-slumber, and the second post-class shower is for deep cleaning. 

Since I carry a back pack, it causes my back to sweat. I have never had this problem before, and it isn't that pleasant because it causes the upper back of my shirt to smell as well the back of my back-pack. So I can't wear shirts twice without washing them, they pretty much need a wash after one wearing. I am not sure what to do about my back-pack accumulating an odor, I am thinking of applying deodorant to my back as well as a drastic effort to solve the problem; which may not be too pleasant and brings me to my next insignificant topic. 

So I had one stick of Degree High endurance I had brought with me, and early this week it started running thin. Not good for such a climate. As I went to apply it one morning the remainder simply crumbled, so I, being the resourceful person that I am, pick up the crumbles and apply it to my body via my hand. This might be odd and gross, but it's also economical and better than no deodorant at all. I kept this up for a couple of days, until I found out that in one of the stores on campus they sell toiletry items. So yesterday I proceed on a journey to find this holy grail of cosmetics, and alas, after looking around in this tiny little shop I see sticks of fresh deodorant in a glass case among other items. 

The time-worn shop clerk approaches and asks "What is it that you seek traveler?", and I say "I have come in search of deodorant". He leads me to the selection and lays my choices out in front of me and says "choose wisely...". So I weighed my options and tested each scent and weighed my logic desperately trying to figure out which stick (grail) is the right (holy) one until I figure it out and make my decision. The time-worn shop clerk says "you chose...wisely", I immediately apply it to my odorly wounds and it miraculously heals me of them. The ground started to shake and rubble began to fall around me as I barely escaped with my life, and with a fresh new stick of deo. 

Okay so that didn't happen, and is only a satire of Indian Jones and The Search for the Holy Grail; but at this point, a fresh stick of deo was a holy grail, so it works. All they had was the gel kind, and I am not sure about it. It doesn't seem to last very long in such a warm climate, it might not work if I try to apply it to my back to solve the back sweat problem. Nevertheless, I came out victorious obtaining some fresh deo. 

Other random stuff, I watched a bootleg copy of Burn After Reading yesterday with some fellow students, odd movie...

And I learned how to play a song I should have learned how to play a long time ago, Blackbird by the Beatles. Another student bought a cheap guitar, so it gets passed around among those who can play, which oddly is a lot of students in the hostel. 

A movie review, a rant, and other random things

I have gathered some pictures that others took of the zoo and the fort, as I lost mine. However, the picture uploader is not cooperating, and fails to load the photographs. So i will periodically attempt to upload them, I just do not have the patience to wait around for it to probably fail the upload. 

There isn't too much to blog about really, but I will start from the end of the last one. Monday evening, a group of us went to the movie theatre to see "Slumdog Millionaire". The theatre was huge, as well as the screen, and it was dirt cheap; by far the least amount of money I have spent going to see a movie, and buying popcorn. The movie itself was good and highly enjoyable. It is about two brothers who lose their mother and are forced to fend for themselves in the slums of bombay. A bunch of stuff happens, but how it is set up is that the younger brother is on the indian version of "who wants to be a millionaire" and ends up being able to answer all the questions. Not because he is smart and educated (he is a slumdog), but because little events throughout his life as a slumdog provided him with the answers to most of the questions, and the questions just so happened to pertain to events of his memory he was able to recall. Of course there is the element of love involved, where he and his brother meet this other little girl in the slums, but the younger brother becomes separated from her and the older brother, which drives him to be on the Millionaire show. 

I recommend seeing it at least once, even though it has the "cheezy" happy ending, that one of the girls in the group pointed out was improbable and the only thing about the movie that wasn't good. But I say, that the nature of a probability such as this entails that at some point the improbable must happen. Say there is a 1 out of 10 chance that two people in love get the "happy" ending, well all that entails is that 9 of those people don't get the happy ending, but 1 does. So why discount a good movie because the improbable happened? After all, the improbable must happen at some point right? Otherwise there would be a 0 out of 10 chance that the "happy" love ending would take place for a couple, and by experience we know that isn't the case. This leads me to want to explore probability theory, which I have not done yet, but I still recognize the difference between highly improbable and impossible. So one should not ascribe impossibility to a situation that is simply improbable. After all, it is improbable for a gambler to win at the craps table, given the odds, but by necessity there are those who do win at the craps table and role the improbable number, and this chance drives people to play the game. The same should and must be true for a person's attempt at securing a relationship even though the odds against it are paramount. Suffice to say the realism during the movie allows for the improbable ending to occur, and in fact not be "cheezy" in theory; even though the way it was acted out might be a little cheezy, with the whole "kiss me" line when the young man is hesitating to do so. Such cheezy acting can be overlooked for the sake of the transcendental point of what is going on. 

Some girls are watching "sex and the city" dvd's right now, and I abhor that show. It is an abomination to nature, and all things productive and intellectually or creatively stimulating. In my personal opinion, I find the show to reflect negatively upon women, and I doubt  many women will agree, which I find sad. I have met few young women who do not like the show, and I can't figure out why the number is so small. If there were a show that was only about men talking about their hook ups, and indulging in "locker room" sex gossip, I would find it demeaning and unproductive, and to reflect negatively upon me as a man. It seems apparent that the women who do love the show empathize with the characters and plots, which are severely lacking, and there is almost a sense of womanly pride amongst viewers. Ahhhhhh yes, the struggle of inner city women trying to "make it", and I suppose by "making it" we mean have a lot of sex and gathering to discuss the encounters as soon as possible. The show is almost never about the women's struggle in the workplace or the like, but it's them talking about their hook ups and indulging in "ladies room" sex gossip. Does anyone else not see the negative portrayal of womanly priority amongst young single women? I am failing to find words adequate enough to express my distain for this program. 

I have started to watch episodes of the old mtv show "Daria" with a newly acquired friend from California, as she has the episodes on her computer. I haven't seen that show in a really long time. I should have brought some family guy dvd's or something, I didn't really think about it. I can only watch the two south park episodes and one American dad episode I have on my computer so many times. 

Every morning the electricity goes off for a time, and I wake up, because the fan turns off. It also goes off randomly throughout the day. Such things are normal, and you don't even flinch, you just keep doing what you are doing and it will be back on shortly. 

Tonight we are going to eat dinner at this italian restaurant so we will see how that goes. 

Photograph disaster

So this blog is going to be less than epic, because the pictures I took of our trip to the zoo and Golconda fort were deleted. Apparently, if you accidentally drag the photos from your camera window to the camera icon, it deletes the photos you have selected. I meant to drag it to another folder, but the icon was right below the hard drive folder. So I have no pictures of my own to post of the trip, I will have to use other people's pictures. I find this very frustrating, and it makes me want to fight the nearest cow. 

However, Saturday we went to the zoo, which was fine...everything you would expect from a zoo. We did go on this safari ride thing where lions, tigers etc. were on a free range. Some tigers were really close to the vehicle. I would show you the pictures I took of it buuuuuuuuut...yeah. 

Yesterday we went to Golconda fort, which I don't know that much about suffice to say it is the ruins of a really old one. You climb steps to the top where there is a great view, I think I recall that it was built during Islamic rule. I will just have to take some other people's photos of it and post them.

On other random news, we are set to go to Madras and Pondicherry on Feb. 18th I think, where we will spend five days. I am excited for that, and now that I know that dragging the photos to the camera icon deletes them, hopefully I will retain those photos. These cities are on the east coast, so we are bound to be on some beaches; not that anyone will be scantily clad, women are usually in traditional Indian garb no matter the temperature it seems, and traditional Indian garb=a lot of cloth. But maybe, just maybe some Muslim women will show some face by temporarily removing their birka for the sake of being on the beach, sexy. And if we're lucky, some elbow and ankle...but I wont count on it. 

In thinking about it, conservative pentecostals in some ways could fit in here, when it comes to the conviction to dress modestly. As the normative notion of modesty here is in some ways more conservative than that of American conservative evangelism. At least until missionaries come and teach American conservative evangelism, then those converts start looking like American pentecostals rather than Indian pentecostals, with women in jean skirts and such. Which is odd, considering that person's standard of modesty prior was probably much more modest than the showing of her bare calves and face. It seems that in conservative evangelical missionary work, the missionaries forget that standards of modesty are culturally normative, and so while spreading the Gospel they simultaneously spread the 'merican way concerning modest appearance; at least the old fashion 'merican way. So while conservative pentecostals SHOULD feel somewhat at home with the modesty of dress you usually find in India, it would probably be foolish to think that they would, as the methods to this modesty of dress are different. 

For example, a lot of men here wear what is essentially a long skirt, there is a name but I do not know what it is. It is just a cloth wrapped around their waste, which is usually very long. So along comes the missionary, who tells the man of the gospel news. Let's say the man frequents the church and eventually becomes a "born again" member. Does this man keep wearing his chosen garb of having a cloth "dress-like" thing to cover his lower self? I really doubt it, and it probably has to do with an undertone message coming from the missionary, as he/she teaches what is "appropriate" dress and what isn't. Of course the Pentecostal-apostolic missionary will teach the staple scripture of Duet. 22:5, where a man should not wear the clothing of a woman and visa versa, and supposing that we accept this logic, it does not apply here. The man was not wearing anything that a woman in India wears, it is designated as man's apparel in this particular cultural norm. For the man to be violating the above principle he would need to be wearing a Sari or something of the like, as that is specifically female apparel. Though, as the 'merican missionary sees this man in his "skirt-like" apparel, it just wouldn't seem right in the missionary's cultural conviction of what is appropriate for a man and woman to wear, and I doubt that the missionary would accept this man's apparel as appropriate in the long run; as I have never seen an Indian pentecostal-apostolic wearing such apparel. No, they look very "proper" and western. Hence the reason why missionary work is at times not looked upon too kindly, as there seems to be difficulty in separating the spreading of the religion from the spreading of the culture from which it originates, or is that even possible? 

Suffice to say, there will probably not be the immodesty on the beaches of India that you see on the beaches of America; such immodesty in apparel and actions are reserved for Bollywood movies and/or billboards and advertisements. I have been in India for about 1 month, and I have seen one female thigh lol, which is very scandilous and only seen in places where westerners would be, which was in this really nice hotel. The moral of this story is, if you want hot Indian cleavage, leg, or rear...watch bollywood movies; such dress is considered to be extremely inappropriate in public settings, at least in the places I have been thus far, places like bombay could very well be different as it is a much more western kind of city. 

Also, Dr. Pappu is going to nominate for this scholarship designated for philosophy students. He said he got the email asking professors for nominations, and he asked me where I stand as a Philosophy major. As I have received A's in all of my philosophy courses, he will nominate me for the scholarship, then whoever is directing the scholarship will get in touch with the nominees. So far, this is all I know about it. It would be pretty sweet if I could score another scholarship for next year, especially one designed for philosophers, (can I call myself a philosopher yet? At what point can one do that?). 

So in light of the photo disaster, I will gather photos from other people, and then post them later. 

McDonald's, a field trip, and more monkeys

So there were a few things worth mentioning about this weekend. First of all, yesterday we went shopping for some things, and in the process we ate at McDonald's. Obviously, the menu is different, as almost no one eats beef here. So they have things like the CHICKEN MAHARAJA MAC, or the McVEG; I got a maharaja mac, it was pretty good. It was like a big mac, only with spiced chicken patties, and a tomato, everything else was as a normal big mac would be. The fries taste totally the same, I meant to save my Maharaja Mac paper but threw it away when I left, I'm sure we'll eat McDonald's again at some point. 

It appears as if I will be going to this Inaugural Ball for students abroad on Tuesday night, as most of the SIP (Students in India Program) students are going though not many of the Miami students, and I was told that I "should" go for some reason. So I figure why not, it's a reason to dress up, there will be food and what not, and I can tell a story about how when Obama became president, I was at an inaugural ball for it in Hyderabad, India. So when we were shopping, I picked up a nice shirt to wear with the input of Liz Gerret, as I feel that buying clothes is a commitment, and I needed a nice shirt to go with my black pants with tiny grey pin stripes. So I went with a solid light grey, which worked out. I thought about a tie, but the only good ties I could find were pretty expensive, so unless someone has one I could borrow, the shirt looks nice enough without the tie; I just need to figure out a way to iron it. So this should be interesting, people are referring to it as "SIP Prom", because I loved prom....no, but this has a totally different dynamic to it that I exposited above, we'll see what goes down.

Today, the Miami group went to the film city theme park for Telugu films, sometimes called Tollywood. Most are familiar with Bollywood, which are films in Hindi from Bombay, hence the satire of Hollywood. It was kind of odd, it was like Universal Studios times -3, but for a developing country like India, it's an ideal place to spend a day with the family. They had some rides, a look into how movies are made sort of thing, some gardens, a tour of scenes that had been used to shoot films, etc. Of course none of us have scene any of these Telugu films, so it was not so exciting for us. 

All in all it was kind of a bizzare place, but the topper, was the wild west stunt show; now think about this, a wild west stunt show, in the middle of India...I mean we almost had to. We learned a lot, for example, did you know that in the wild west everyone fought fought ninja style? Or that you would give one man 5 consecutive round house kicks to the face, only to have your opponent get back up unphased? Or that with every shoot out, they fought to odd Sci Fi sound effects layered over saloon music of a different key? Oh yes, it was very entertaining, but I give them props.

My favorite thing of the film city, the monkeys! These would get closer to you, they would rummage through trash and get food, and when you would approach them they would feel threatened and charge at you to get you to stand down, it's actually kind of terrifying to have a monkey charge at you, and very hilarious, because it's so small, and you just freak out and run away to avoid getting a monkey to the face. They are really fun to watch, they are like little fury people, by far the coolest animal in the area. So I posted some photos I took, I didn't take a lot

People are still asking to get photos with us, it's actually getting kind of irritating. I think I am actually empathizing with real celebrities that get angry at photographers, or even getting hounded all the time to get pictures. Now I am noticing people take pictures of us from a distance, as opposed to those who ask to get one with us; they just bust out a camera phone and point it in our direction. When we got to the park some guy wanted a picture with me as we were shaking hands...like a presidential handshake or something, it's just odd. The next time I see an Indian family out and about in Cinci I might run up to them and ask them "which country are you from?" and "can we get a picture...?", to see if they get the joke.

Another irritating thing, is that there is no concept of a waiting line. You might be waiting to buy something until the worker is done with that customer in front of you, and as soon as they wrap up their interaction someone just pushes you aside. This pretty much happens in any waiting line, for some reason the revelation that things work much faster and with much more ease when they are done with order and organization has not occurred yet. So you have to learn just to push people out of your way. The worst is when there actually is a line formed and people think it's okay to just skip the whole line, I can't conceive of any cultural mindset that would consider that to be fine; as there is nothing special about any of us, and no reason why any one person should skip a line as opposed to another. Then other people think they should do it, and soon there is no line, even when an official says to form a single line, it just doesn't matter. So you just push your own way to the front. 

We sometimes refer to Dr. Pappu as Papps now, only to each other. I think that Mr. and Mrs. Pappu are officially our Indian grandparents at this point. Especially Mrs. Pappu, as she has a very grandmotherly command about her. If you combined both of my grandmothers, and then made this hybrid-grandmother Indian, you would get Mrs. Pappu for sure.

It was a hot day, and I am tired, and feel dirty, and will do some Hindi work tonight and in the morning. There is a quiz tomorrow, over the alphabet and not sure about vocabulary, but either way I think I am prepared enough. 

Also, is it weird that I like to read my own blog?

The Market

We went to this market place today, where there was a lot of kite flying for a holiday. It was cool, they had a lot of stuff you could buy, and I will probably return at some point to buy things before I leave. 

There were a lot of beggar children outside of the entrance though, and they were kind of aggressive in their begging style. They would touch you to get your attention, never makes for a comfortable situation when you have cash out trying to group pay the rickshaw driver. When we left we decided to get some pizza hut, and the rickshaw drivers ripped us off. We thought it would be farther than it was, but it was only around the corner, and the group agreed to 100 rupees per rickshaw, split by four people. So when we weren't going to pay that amount for going that far, they pouted about it, and this kid just paid it because he was already ticked off by the beggar children ripping his kite. You have to watch getting ripped off. The pizza was good though.

I also managed to do some laundry, always a good thing. There were some odd things at the market though, like this guy performing tricks with a cow, letting it step on him and bite his neck to make money as a street performance; I did not give them money. There was also this giant of a man that let you take pictures with him for a donated fee, whatever you wanted to give him for it. He was huge. I also tried to take a picture in the rickshaw to give a perspective of the experience of riding in one, as you can see. 

I also forgot to mention a local nocturnal animal that is kind of interesting, really huge bats. Within the first couple of nights I noticed some flying things in the nights and evenings. At first I didn't question what they were, and just assumed they were black birds of some sort, like the crows you would see in the day time as well. Not until I watched one swoop into the tree and dangle upside down, did I realize they were really huge bats. Kind of cool I suppose, it reminds me of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, when Dr. Jones and the hot blonde woman crash land in Indian and float to this village, where they then take a hike some place, and the hot blonde woman looks up and says 

"Look at all those birds..." 

and Dr. Jones says "those aren't birds...those a vampire bats...". 

Of course I am paraphrasing, I have not seen that movie for a long time, but I was reminded. They also are not really vampire bats, these eat fruit and insects I believe. I think actual blood feeding bats are found in the South American region, not really sure. 

Hindi lesson

So I just ran into a local student I met a couple of days ago, and tried out my Hindi on him, he said it was good! So here is a hindi lesson for you, in transliteration of course.

1. hello=namaste

-the a's are pronounced like the 'a' in Father, and the 'e' like 'ay', and short.

2. My name is (insert name here)= Mera naam (your name) hai.

3. What is your name?= aapkaa naam kya hai?

Mera=my

naam=name

hai=is

aapkaa=your

kya=what

The sentence structure is of course different, where the verb is on the end. So "My name is Joshua" would be "my name Joshua is". With the script of course, this would look totally different, it's only the transliteration to show the pronunciation.

So I guess I can practice speaking with this guy, who happens to be Mormon converted from methodist due to Mormon missionaries, perhaps we can have some religious discussions as well.

The Group

Here are some pictures of the group, most of them are Miami students, there are a few that are not. Of course, in the first photo there are some university faculty. You will find me camping out in the back of every group picture. I also realized I wore the same shirt on both of our little outings, completely unintentional, I need to do laundry but there are only two machines, and they are always being used when I try to do laundry.

On our trip to the Buddhist monuments, waiting for the boat, I apparently made some friends. You have to get used to this in India, if you come here, and you are white, you are some what of a quasi-celebrity. It doesn't come with any really great perks, like offers of free stuff because you are awesome, in fact you may get charged more because you are a "rich american". However, you will frequently be greeted by strangers wanting to try out their English, and get a picture with a white guy (or girl), and sometimes, get an autograph. 

 

Random News

So it's the start of the first "real" week of classes, and my schedule is set. It is how I previously stated after the slight change, and it looks to be a good schedule. There isn't much to report, I just feel like posting a blog, so here are some slightly insignificant developments.

1. I downloaded Death Cab For Cutie's latest album off itunes, Narrow Stairs, even though it is overdue. I enjoy it, it has all the aesthetic appeal you would expect from a Death Cab album, and it is good "study" music.

2. Two nights ago I was sleeping, and I woke up to someone knocking on my door. so I answer and two of the other non-miami students are outside as one says "Josh, we have reason to believe that a giant rat has ran into your room, because jaimee woke up to it perched on his neck, and we chased it out and it ran under your door." Naturally, I was shocked, so I responded with a typical "josh hamm is shocked" response and said...."hmmmm, okayyyyy". so put some pants on and the other guy gets a pole and we locate it under my bed, he prods it with the pole and we get it out of my room. They corner it in a bathroom stall, and I leave them to do the capturing and go back to bed. It was really big...hopefully I do not wake up to one perched on my body.

3. I talked to my independent study professor, Dr. Prasad, briefly about the direction I want to go with the Vedanta study, or what I am interested in or how I am interested in looking at it. 

-We could do some reading of the principle texts, the Brahma Sutras, and sort of retrospectively look at the issues involved in the three different schools of thought, 

-we could focus on issues raised in the philosophies and commentaries on the brahma sutras, which make up the different schools of thought and their approach to metaphysical/epistemological issues

-or we took take a comparative approach to the study. I expressed my interest in phenomenology and consciousness, and he brought up the idea of doing a comparative study of Edmund Husserl (thinker/founder of phenomenology) with Shankara, the sage responsible for the Advaita school of vedanta, who differ on how they see consciousness.

So I am not sure what will go down, we will see. I am not sure I want to do a very narrow comparison of these two thinkers at this point, or if I adequately can. I have not read Husserl's actual writings yet, so I would have his readings, as well as vedanta readings, it might be a bit much. We will see what happens.

4. I am also somewhat concerned about the voltage from these outlets to my computer, it might be on the verge of being too much, but not "too" much. Some people have reported their computer doing weird things, the only thing weird my computer has done is the speakers stopped working, so I have to use headphones, and the battery doesn't seem to last too long. hmmmmmmmm, I wonder if i need a converter that converts voltage as well, even though the girl at radio shack (who I think was quasi-flirting with me), said that I wouldn't need to convert voltage. Time will tell....?

Nagarjuna dam

Below are some pics taken from our trip to the site where the patriarch of Buddhism, Nagarjuna, founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism once lived. We took a boat to the island and walked around, it was pretty cool. Below are some pictures taken during the trip, in this blog and the previous one. 

Also, I found a new wild animal roaming around, wild peacocks. Below is one flying of the little lake on campus.