As of today I have officially been on India turf for a full week. With everything that has already happened in just seven days, I should have started blogging earlier..but with jet lag getting the best of me my eyes are finally staying open past 6pm.
Anyway, for my first post I’ll briefly recap some of my favorite things to happen so far. Like I said, jet lag was pretty intense since India is 12 hours ahead of Los Angeles, meaning when it was 3am here I was wide awake on California time. Luckily, this meant I was up for the sunrise on the roof of the hotel, and also starving for breakfast that unluckily wasn’t being served for another two and a half hours. So my second morning here had a pretty incredible start.
That night my boss from Expeditors and his wife took me and Daniela out to an authentic Indian dinner at a restaurant that I was incredibly nervous about. The entire summer leading up to this trip I was convinced I hated Indian food and was positive that I would return at least 15 pounds lighter…Boy. Was. I. Wrong. The food is amazing and I’ve already gained at least 5 pounds. The naan is as incredible as everyone said it would be.. and when it’s wrapped around their tasty rice and lentil potato dish I can’t stop myself. Not to mention Daniela and I are getting more than comfortable with this hotel living life which includes room service delivered in under 15 minutes. And as much as we’re learning to love to Indian food..we still have a strong pull towards the pasta and pizza menu items. I guess you can take the American girls out of America, but not their love for American (and Americanized) food.
Although we’ve done a lot of eating ..we’ve also done other things..like drive around a lot. And I don’t say this as a bad thing cause for the first few days this is what we woke up excited to do. Even if someone were to come all the way to India and never leave their car they would leave having a completely altered vision of the world they’re coming back to. You drive past poverty like you can’t imagine, children milking their family cows, women carrying baskets of food on their heads, toddlers playing in front of their tents, toddlers sitting on mounds of trash while watching their parents hard at work building houses or selling fruit. Dogs are everywhere limping and starving searching for leftovers–the whole scene makes it seem like it’s the set of a movie. It’s everything and more than what I had imagined. In just the drive from the airport to the hotel, my perspective of the world changed.
And it changed even more last night when we were invited over to Ravi’s (our driver and friend of our boss) sister-in-law’s home for coffee and tea. It was in a small village where people survived mainly on what their livestock could provide for them. This family in particular being–comparably–better off than their neighbors was in possession of 10 cows. When I tell you they were excited to show us these cows, I truly cannot put into words how proud and ecstatic they were to have us see and touch their most prized and valuable assets. Yesterday was really the first time Daniela and I interacted with India outside the hotel, office, and small outings to restaurants and malls and it was pretty insane to say the least. At the zoo people were nonstop asking to take pictures of us, and with us, which was a strange feeling at first but happened so often we started getting used to it. So when the family asked if we would take a picture with them and their cows we of course said yes having a small idea of how much this might mean to them. It was very humbling to see how simply these people live–yet how genuinely happy they are. The most elaborate decoration in their home is a shrine for their god. Other than that their rooms have only a bed and closet. It was moving to see how proud they were to show us their lives that many people in America might be embarrassed of.
Today was also the “Ganesh Festival” which is a national holiday here in India. This is the time of year where they worship their Elephant god, Ganesh, who is the Lord of wisdom, prosperity, and good fortune (all of which I could use some of). “Festival” is actually is a little deceiving of a term. Daniela and I anticipated throughout the week leading up to today that there would be streets closed off and parades marching through towns when in reality it was more of an intimate community gathering to celebrity the holiday. Which was still incredibly cool. So our Expeditors boss, Anand, invited us to his apartment complex where his community was gathering in their event hall to celebrate. Once we got there we sat on the floor cross legged while watching their priest perform the roughly two hour service.
It was beautiful, colorful , intricate and shockingly loud. Children were playing all around, people were talking and walking back and forth basically making it the opposite of anything I have experienced in a Catholic church or Jewish temple. And the best part of the whole thing was that you get to eat the food offerings made to Ganesh..just a little better than the Eucharist in mass. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and appreciative of us being there to experience and celebrate their religion. And that goes for more than just today as Indian hospitality is unlike anything I have seen before. “Guest is God” is a phrase that they follow, meaning they go out of their way to make sure their guest is comfortable and pleased. I saw this first hand when I noticed the village family send a member running through the streets trying to buy a loaf of bread for us to eat with our coffee. I was trying to start my no carb diet but there was no way I was going to refuse it after all the trouble they went to, to get it.
Now that I’m writing I’m realizing how much I can actually go on and on about..like the traffic and overall culture shock, but I’ll save it for another post. Until then, I hope you enjoyed a small taste for how I’ve been living all the way over here in Asia! 
HYPEROPIA 