Busy Busy

Hey everyone,

I can't even explain how good it feels to be home after such a long vacation. My spirits have been continually lifted since I've been back, it's nice to settle into my everyday routine again. It also got me to notice the small things that I really appreciate in my daily life here. For instance, en route to school I pass by a couple blocks-worth of slums and each morning all the slum children run up and greet me with the biggest smiles and waves and ask not for money but for chocolates. That never fails to start my day with a smile. Then as I get to campus, the guards at the small gate know me well by now and speak in slow and clear hindi with me as they welcome me to class. My bike ride to class takes me down a road that is uncannily like northern wisco with tons of greenery and small dragonflies and bugs and such with the smell of woods. It's really a great way to start my days.

It has been really weird, though, to see it getting darker earlier and earlier without it getting cold. It's cooled off a bit, by maybe 5-10 degrees, but it's not fall. I see everyone's status updates on facebook about the first snow and all and it's very strange to not partake in that. I have to urge to wear sweatshirts and sweatpants and blankets despite the fact that they're so unneeded.

These next few weekends are going to be pretty busy though. Next weekend is one of the biggest Indian (Hindu) festivals called Diwali. Although I don't know everything it entails, I know the main event is fireworks. And let me tell you, there are no legal limits on fireworks here like there are in the states, so I'm sure I'll see quite the shows (each family has their own). Just last night we all went shopping for new clothes to wear for the festival and today we might go for house decorations. Also, next weekend my host brother from Delhi, Bharat, comes back with Alok. The house is gonna fill up again =). On top of all that, the 19th (Monday) is my host mom's birthday and the day afterward is my friend from the program's birthday. Then the following weekend there's a group of 20 of us going to a concert put on by the group who sings "Jai Ho" from Slumdog Millionaire. According to Sawmya, that's one of their worst songs, so I should have some good music to look forward to, too. The weekend after is not only Halloween, but also the big SIP cultural show where everyone who's been learning tabla (me), sitar, kathak (dance) or vocals gets together and performs for the student community. As I said, I'll be keeping busy.

Two more things. First, WE FOUND BAGELS!!!!!!!!!! I've been on a hunt for them since I've been here, we've found cream cheese but never bagels. Last night we went to this new, small little bakery and checked around for them but didn't see any, but when we mentioned the word bagel, the baker said they have them but would need to whip up some fresh one's for us. Ahhhhh life is good. They're unbelievably good, too.

Second, before coming here I joined this thing called Classroom Connections. The basic idea of it is to buddy up study-abroad students with young classrooms to teach them about different cultures across the world, and I figured India would be a good candidate for that. So I buddied up with my fifth-grade teacher, Mr. Gaylor, and seeing as school has only just started, we just recently began our correspondence. In my first letter home, I asked for any questions the kids might have, and got a great response. Now, I've been asking you guys all along for any questions you may want answered and haven't gotten hardly any response, so I'm going to post the back-and-forth email up here, because the kids asked some great questions. Here it is (read from the bottom up):

Kinsey:

Wow, thanks for all the good information. Sounds like you had to do some research. Thanks for the prompt reply. I'll share the information with the students.

By the way, I looked up Kinsey in a baby name web site. It says it means "royal victory" or "kingly victory." Different sources may give different results.

Glad you are doing some traveling. India seems like such a rich and varied country geographically and culturally!

Thanks again,

Ian Gaylor

P.S. Stay away from those panthers

>>> Kinsey Bice 10/07/09 9:12 AM >>>
Hey!

These are actually some really great questions! I've been asking my family to send me questions they want me to answer on my blog for ages now and they haven't come up with half as many, much less ones as interesting as these. Also, I think a group email would be a lot easier, internet here is by no means a guarantee, so a smaller mass of emails is better.

1) So what do kids do? It seems to me that every kid here plays cricket in their free time. There are cricket games going on everywhere, on any free plot of land. This question also depends on what caste the child is from, but cricket is definitely a universal kids game here. The two board games that are popular here are chess and snakes and ladders. This is because both of these games were invented in India a long time ago and hold a lot of meaning for the people here as well as pride. They consistently win international chess competitions.

2) The traditional Indian greeting is "Namaste". People use it for hello and goodbye, but its literal translation is closer to "I respect divinity within you that is also within me" which I think is a beautiful way to greet someone. Upon saying that, the people place their hands together in front of their chest like they're praying. I've attached a picture of the namaste.

3) The idea of household pets didn't reach here until very recently, maybe within the last 10-15 years I'd say. There are many many dogs here, but they're all wild dogs. They live on the streets in the days and gather into their respective packs at night. You can't pet these dogs. My host brother, Rohit, comes from an area of the country where they grow a lot of coffee and have huge coffee plantations. He always tells us (me and my roommate) stories about his home village. He told us that he has about 5 dogs at home but they aren't pets, they're watch dogs and uses the word "ferocious" a lot to describe them. Apparently not only do they watch out for people but also for panthers! Finally, there's my host family, who does have a pet dog. His name is Leo and he has golden fur. He's very tame and sweet. I haven't seen any pets other than dogs so far.

4) The food here is so different that the food I ate at home that I'm not sure I can even describe it in English. Also, the food you can get in the south of India is incredibly different from food you'll get in the north. In Hyderabad, we eat tons of rice with vegetables. On the rice you put sambar, which is a kind of soup that has a bunch of veggies in it, and the rice soaks it all up. I haven't found much food here that I don't like, but you have to not be afraid to try anything while you're here, because there's no way of knowing what's in the food. In the north there's lots of curry and bread, and in the deep south there's a lot of coconuts and seafood. They also love sweets here and have a wide variety of sweets that they eat with every lunch and dinner.

5) I haven't seen the Taj Mahal yet, but as soon as my semester is over I'm going to head up north for a couple of weeks and go see Delhi, Jaipur and the Taj Mahal. I'll send pictures when I can!

6) This question actually stumped me. As I can't provide an adequate answer, I looked it up online and found this website that gives a great answer. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8424/indiancow.html. I know I've definitely heard of the first reason as true (used for their milk), and I see them working a lot in the fields as well. I just didn't know the details of the religious aspect, which is explained here.

7) Yes, many Indians are vegetarians. But most of the Indians who are vegetarians are Hindus as well. In Hyderabad, the population is about 50% Hindu and about 50% Muslim, and Muslims are not vegetarian. One thing you can guarantee, though, is that every restaurant will have many vegetarian options, and many restaurants will only serve vegetarian options. Vegetarianism here also includes not eating eggs.

8) There isn't a royal family here, however you'd be surprised what weight a name carries here. Any Indian can hear another Indian's name and know how much money they have, what state they're from and many times who their parents are. Often times this will give one politician an advantage over another because of a family legacy. For instance, the Chief Minister of the state I live in recently died unexpectedly. Instead of holding new elections, there are hoards of people demanding that his eldest son be put in place as Chief Minister, despite the fact that his son has no political background. So, there's no "royal family", but your name carries a lot here.

9) The dot on the forehead is called a bindi. Originally it was worn by married women and used in Hindu religious ceremonies. However, nowadays it has become a trend and they make fashion bindis for girls and women of all ages to wear. They stick on like stickers. The religious bindis, though, are a kind of paint given to both men and women who go to temple. I've also seen it used for guests in a house as they're leaving as a way of blessing them. I've been given a bindi several times here.

10) Indian music, like American music, has many genres. My host dad listens to Hindu religious music, which has a lot of sitar (like a guitar) and vocals. Most of the popular music here is either techno music or music from popular Bollywood films. In fact, one way of advertising a film is by putting the soundtrack on the radio before the movie comes out and people who like the soundtrack will go see that movie. Which leads me to the next question =)

11) Bollywood here is a huge industry. Bollywood movies are all in Hindi and every movie has at least 3 song and dance scenes. The acting is very dramatic, including the fight scenes. The films tend to be very long, normally about 3 hours, so there's an intermission in the middle where people get up and get snacks and stuff. Most Hindi movies have several plots in one, they all normally have a romance plot and a action plot. They also tend to be pretty funny, even if you don't know what's being said.

12) There are tons of holidays in India. This is in part due to the fact that they celebrate both Muslim and Hindu religious holidays. While I've been here so far the main holiday they've celebrated is called the Ganesh festival. Ganesh is the Hindu God of Justice. He has an elephant head and a human body. The festival lasts for 10 days and it has its biggest celebration in Mumbai (Bombay). For the festival there are huge (40-50 ft statues) of the Ganesh idol built, people come and pay their respects over the 10 day period, then on the 10th day the giant idol is carried to the nearest body of water (in Bombay it's the ocean) and is submerged. However, most families have their own, smaller Ganesh idols as well and submerge those on the same day, so on the day of the submersion there are hundreds of thousands of people gathered at all the bodies of water across the country dropping their statues into the water. The other main holiday I'll be here for, which is in late October/early November depending on the moon cycle, is called Diwali. Diwali is the festival of lights and is celebrated with fireworks. I still am not sure about all its traditions yet since I haven't yet experienced it. The third main one I hear about is Holi, which takes place in February/March. It celebrates the harvest and the coming of spring and is the festival of colors. It's celebrated by people throwing brightly colored powdered paint on each other, paint like what is used for bindis. Unfortunately, I won't be here for that one =/

13) It's hard for me to say what a typical Indian student does in his or her free time, seeing as I only have the perspective of a foreign student. Also, what men and women do are different here; men and women don't hang out together unless they're married for the most part. Lots of guys will hang out on campus by the lake or will play cricket or badminton . I haven't met many college women here, they tend to be pretty reserved in nature. Lots of people go to movies, though. I know that us foreign students do a lot of sight-seeing within the city or we'll go out to eat at night clubs and stuff. We also do a lot of weekend traveling across the country.

14) The school system here is designed very differently from ours. First, not all kids go to school. Even the public schools here are very costly and many parents can't afford to send their children. All the schools require a uniform and have their own bussing system. Generally a kid starts in nursery/play school, which is similar to our kindergarten, then advance to primary school, which I think goes until our 6-7th grade. Finally there's secondary school, which ends after our 10th grade. Those who will continue to college go to a kind of pre-college school then where they choose a specialization for 11th and 12th grades. Once in college, you have to declare a major of study before you can take any classes, and you can only take classes from that same department there, unlike in the US, where last semester I took a class from 5 different departments. Another unique thing about the Indian schooling system is that the classrooms are taught in three languages: the language of the local region (here it is Telugu), Hindi and English. Once they get to college, though, everything is taught in English.

Thanks you guys! These were great questions, and I actually learned a little bit more about India while answering them =)

I actually just got back from a two-week trip to Goa and Kerala, both on the western coast. They're both absolutely beautiful. I actually stayed on a two-story houseboat in Kerala and we floated through the backwaters for two days. There was some major flooding in my state and the neighboring state, many many people died in them. I was on my way home when they happened and instead of getting home Monday at 10am I ended up getting back Tuesday at 5pm. It's really sad but they're working on a relief fund for those affected. However, the rains have cooled off the weather a lot. I'm finally sleeping with a blanket on at night! By the end of October it should be averaging about 65-75 degrees here.

One last thing I want to leave you with is the name thing. In the question about the royal family I talked about people's names a little bit, but there's so much more to a name here. I've been asked often what my name means, and when I respond that my name doesn't have a meaning people here look baffled. This is because all Indian first names carry a deep, thoughtful meaning. For instance, my host dad's name, Mohan, means Krishna, the God. My host mom's name, Sudha, means ambrosia, or nectar of the gods. My host sister is named Sawmya, which means tenderness, and one of my host brother's names is Alok, which means light or wisdom. I've heard the name Kavitha, which means poem or poetry, Anand means happiness, Vijay means victory. All of these are very common names, some people are named directly after the Hindu gods: Ram, Krishna, Ganesh, Vishnu, etc. If you know anyone of Indian origin, try asking them what their name means, hopefully they'll know it because they're all such beautiful meanings.

Well, take care! Again, if you have more questions feel free to send them along, otherwise I'll write back in a week or two!

~Kinsey

On Oct 6, 2009, at 11:27 PM, Ian Gaylor wrote:

Hi Kinsey:
Thanks for the note and the photos. The 5th graders enjoyed hearing about India and especially seeing the photos.
I wasn't sure how this works. Do you want individual students to email you? Or would you prefer a group letter?
I asked the students to come up with questions about India for you. Here are the questions:

1. What fun things do kids do? (games, sports, etc.)

2. What customs do Indians have upon greeting people?

3. Do Indians often have pets? What kind?

4. What is the food like? What do you like or dislike?

5. Have you seen the Taj Mahal?

6. Why are cows sacred?

7. Are many Indians vegetarians?

8. Is their a royal family in India?

9. Please explain the dots that some Indian women wear on their foreheads.

10. What is Indian music like?

11. What are the movies like? (I told the kids that I thought movies were very popular in India)

12. What are some of the major holidays in India?

13. What fun things do kids your age (college age) do?

14. How are elementary schools different or similar to our schools?


Don't feel obliged to answer all of the questions.

Hope you are having fun. Are you getting lots of rain? I heard that there was flooding in southern India. It is about 50 degrees and rainy today. Thanks for being our pen pal!


-Ian Gaylor

>>> Kinsey Bice <kbice@wisc.edu> 09/10/09 6:58 AM >>>
Hey,

Back to school already, eh? Hope it's going well! Here begins our
correspondence for the semester. I guess now I'll just introduce
myself a little bit.

I've been in India for two months now already. I got here in July when
it was really really hot, like 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit every day,
but now it's cooled off to about 75-85 degrees every day. I'm staying
in Hyderabad, India. Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh, a
state in southern India, but is more in the middle of the country. The
main university here is the University of Hyderabad, which is where my
program is and where I'm studying. At home, though, I study at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A little more about Hyderabad: to begin with, it has a population of
about 9 million people, or about the number of people living in New
York City! Of those people, about 50% are Hindus and about 50% are
Muslims. This mix of religions makes Hyderabad a very unique city
because most cities don't have that big of a Muslim population. The
languages spoken here are English, Hindi (the national language of
India), Telugu (the state language of Andhra Pradesh) and because of
the Muslim influence a lot of people speak Urdu. Most people born here
are raised knowing at least three of these languages fluently. The
exchange rate right now is about 50 Indian rupees for every American
dollar. I recently went to Bombay (now Mumbai), which is about 500
miles away, or about the distance between Madison and PIttsburgh, and
I paid 600 rupees! So that's like paying $12 to drive to and from
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from Madison!

Since I've been here, I've been living with a host family instead of
in the dormitories. But families here are different than a family in
the United States. Here, an entire extended family will live under one
roof together. At one point, we had 14 people living in this one house
together! There was Grandma, Mom, Dad, two cooks, Sister, Brother,
Brother's wife, Brother's two friends, and family's two cousins.
Everybody's really nice and they've taken me out a lot to see the
city, including to places I would never have found on my own. My
Brother and Sister both finished college already, and my Sister
actually studied in Chicago for her Masters degree. We all have a lot
of fun together. Attached are some pictures of my host family, some of
the city, and a couple of me, too. Feel free to email me back with any
specific questions you guys have!