Food, temples and carnival rides

Sunday, was a nice relaxing day of food and sight seeing.
To start I sat in a cafe to have a spinach omelette with garlic naan. This naan was the best naan I have ever had. I love garlic and each bite I took was packed with buttery pieces of garlic that was cooked inside the layers of naan. After I finished my food I stayed in the cafe to leisurely drink my coffee as I read a book. It was nice to take in the morning slowly but I was now ready to explore.
Before heading out, I was able to witness my host Rajan participate in giving her brother, Jagdish, a special bracelet and sweets to celebrate being siblings. In India, on this holiday, sisters put a special bracelet on their brother's wrist and then feed them special sweets. The brother will also feed their sister sweets and then gift them with something like money. I did not participate in the festival ceremony but Rajan still had a nice plate of four different sweets for me to enjoy.
Thankfully my hosts allowed their youngest daughter Rosy to be my tour guide today. We went in a rickshaw to the heart of Sarnath, Varanasi to visit a beautiful Buddhist temple. Inside the temple were paintings of the story of Buddha's life. Just a few step from the temple was a park with a beautiful tree that Buddha sat under when he spoke to five disciples. Inside the temple and near the tree we had to remove our shoes out of respect.
Since today was a holiday there was a little carnival not too far from the temple. Even in the states I am afraid to go on carnival rides because I always get the feeling that if the rides are always being taken apart and put back together that pieces might go missing. Here in India, the carnival rides were very old and shaky but we decided to ride a few anyways. It was interesting to me that women and men are put into separate lines for the rides and also not sat together on the rides themselves. There can only be mixed gender sitting with women and young children but not women sitting with men.
Before heading back home we walked around an open air market outside the temple so we could find a rickshaw to take us back home. All over people were singing, eating food, children were playing, men were praying, couples were fighting and lots of dogs, goats, chickens, & cows roamed the street among the people.

Art, English, shared meals and Mehndi

I was able to interact with the children a lot more today. First I did an art project with the kindergarten class and it was truly a joy to see their little faces light up. Each one reached out to hold my hand as I would walk around to view their progress. I decided to let them choose what to draw as long as it was something that made them happy. Lots of them drew flowers or birds or fish. Such simple yet beautiful things that make them smile.
After the art project it was lunch time and one of the teachers came over to me, grabbed my hand and lead me to sit down with all the teachers. Once I sat down she placed the top of her food tin in front of me. To my surprise, every teacher gave me a piece of their bread (naan) and a scoop of their lunch to share with me. I felt so accepted, appreciated and loved. Not one of them had a large lunch but they still wanted to share with me no matter how little they had. I even got a chance to try some delicious chai tea made by one of the teachers. They all sat around laughing and talking. Even though I do not speak Hindi, I didn't feel left out. I  attempted to understand what they were saying by studying their facial expressions and body language. After lunch I gave each of the women a hug to say thank you. I wish I could have recorded their reactions. It is not common to hug here but they each let me hug them and some even laughed because of it.
My next project was to grade the English work of the 5th grade class. The kids were so excited to have me be part of their class. I put stickers in each of their workbooks to congratulate them on their progress and made notes of corrections where needed.
Aside from my work at the school, I have been getting along really well with my host family. I really admire them because they went against their families to marry for love. My host Rajan said that she knew in her heart that Sukhdev was her true love and she had to be with him. Sukhdev truly loves and respects his wife which I can see each day in how he smiles at her when she speaks. They told me that it was out of their love that this school I volunteer at came into existence. Rajan is fiercely strong woman to be an advocate for women's rights/health and stand up for children regardless of the religious traditions that force them into marriage at a young age. I try to hang onto her every word whether it is about one of the children or the process it takes to run an NGO. One day I hope I can be in position like her to make a difference in a community.
This weekend is also the holiday Rhatki which is to celebrate brothers and sisters. They give each other bracelets and sweets. Since some kids don't have siblings, I had the chance to be their sibling for the day which was really nice.
As a gift from my host family I was also able to get Mehndi (henna) for the first time today. It was a nice bonding experience with their youngest daughter Rosy. Tomorrow we will go to visit some of the nearby Buddhist temples. I hope I can update again soon but since I do not have a reliable internet connection it is sometimes difficult. Oh! and the food here is amazing! I think I gained 5 pounds already. haha

  

First visit to the Sarnath market and nearby slum...

Lots of new experiences and feelings over the past few days.
First I went into market in Sarnath with my host family. They needed to buy a few things for their restaurant and school shoes for their youngest daughter. The market was full of people, cows, dogs, chickens and goats. I even had the chance to cross the crazy streets of traffic. My host Rajan, let me hold her hand as we walked across the road as rickshaws, bicycles, motorcycles, trucks and cars rushed by. Once I made it safely across I felt like I had accomplished a big task of not getting ran over. I must have looked terrified because a few children were laughing at me and pointing. While at the market I remembered a reference in the movie Eat.Pray.Love to an Indian soda called "thumbs up" so I bought myself a bottle. In the movie one of the characters joked that he thought the soda was laced with methamphetamine so I expected it to be super strong. Surprisingly it wasn't too bad; tasted a bit like Coca-cola.
The next day was not as pleasant but it was a necessary experience. I went with my host Rajan and another teacher to visit one of the nearby slums. We drove down the road from the school, turned a corner and there we were, in the heart of a community who lived by the road and close to a dump. The homes were made out of any materials that could be found. In the town the previous day the majority of people there were men but here, there was mostly women and children. I don't want to indulge too much on the details of these slums because I don't want the people of India to be judged too harshly but I will say that I felt like I was walking into a war zone. Although I have seen poor areas in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, this was entirely different.
My emotions wanted to burst out of my eyes in tears but I was there to learn, to document and to observe so I had to take a deep breath and learn how to deal. Regardless of how infuriated I felt I greeted each person we met with the proper greeting of "Namaste" while hands in prayer form and a slight bow to them. Some of the adults seemed surprised that I greeted them nicely but the children's faces would light up and they would show me the biggest smile. By the time we left the slum we had gathered up 15 children to take back with us in the van to the school so they could get a hot meal and clothing. Sadly there were a few children who were not allowed to join us out of fear that they would be beat by their parents. Those children stayed behind to beg for money or take care of younger siblings.
As we drove away from the slums, I felt torn. I was relieved to be leaving the area of emotional turmoil but also felt so guilty leaving behind other children. I wish I had hugged more of them and wished I could do more but I had to accept that taking some children with us to feed them was better than nothing.
That night I cried a lot while alone in my room but I also felt more secure and confident in my decision to take on the career path that will allow me to work with the people of the world that society tries to ignore or forget. I know I will never get used to it and it might never get easier but that will just serve as my reminder to let love be the driving force to keep me going in the pursuit to help others.

August 2. Buddhas Smile School

Today was a day of emotion.
It started off with a nice breakfast with my host Rajan and her mother. We had lentil patties with yogurt and chai tea. As we had our food, Rajan informed me of the struggles the children of the untouchable caste endure in their communities. Many suffer the fear of danger from the mafia, pain inflicted by others, rape, or being forced into a marriage at a young age.Some mothers are even punished by their husbands for allowing their daughter to come to school or the daughters themselves will be beaten. I want to cry as she tells me these things but I am also in awe of how she is not afraid to take a stand against these actions to give these children a safe place to learn.
When we walk down stairs to the school the hallways are filled with song as the children are having prayer. Walking into the classrooms I see so many smiling faces and bright eyes of hope. Rajan tells me how each child there has a story of struggle or sadness but here at the school they have hope. I learned that some children have faced injury from accidents, dog bites, or at the hands of others. Instantly I felt a special place in my heart for each of the children and was honored that some even came over to me to give me a hug. I also had a chance to meet a few parents who waited near the gate in hopes there would be room at the school for their daughters. Lots of girls get pulled out of school once they start menstruating to be married off which is the reason Rajan wants to build a girls dormitory so that way the girls have a place to live while they continue their education.
Although I did not spend lots of time with the children today because I felt ill due to the heat, I pray I get adjusted to the time zone and temperature quickly so I can get as much out of this experience as possible in learning and sharing love.

August 1, 2014

Today I left the comfort of luxury accommodations, personal drivers and room service to make my trek by airplane to one of the oldest cities in the world; Varanasi.
Decked out in traditional Indian clothing, hair pulled back, nose ring and no make up, my driver to the airport was surprised I am a westerner. He said he thought I was an Indian from the area he is from, Rajasthan. As we sit in Delhi morning traffic, two young kids come up to the black BMW and start knocking on the back window where I am sitting. Right away the driver tells me to ignore them because if I give to them it will draw a crowd of other beggars. The more they knock on the window for my attention, the more guilty I feel for ignoring them. When we are finally able to drive away, I have tears flowing down my cheeks because so much of me wanted to hug these kids or give them the bottled water that was provided for me in the car. The driver looks at me through the rear view window and says, "Miss, this is India. You can not change. Sometimes you close your eyes or else your heart will break to pieces if you see everything."
I thanked him for the advice and explained I was flying to Varanasi to volunteer with children from the untouchable caste for 4 weeks. His demeanor become more serious as he warned me to never go outside at night or be alone. I asked if he had been there and he said he has been there many times because he is Hindu.. Seeing that I am nervous he changes the subject and for the duration of the ride to the airport he speaks of the beauty of Rajasthan. He said it has a much lower crime rate and that I should visit one day.
Upon arrival at the airport, he retrieves my bags from the trunk of the car and then asks me if he can do one last thing for me. He places his hands on my shoulders and granted me a Hindu prayer for my safety. Although I am not Hindu, I appreciate his kind gesture.
As I sat in the airplane looking out at the land, I finally realized, I am in India! I have been dreaming of this day for so many years and now I am here. The first few days I was dealing with the time zone change, buying  more outfits of appropriate clothing and adjusting to the new way of being treated as a woman alone so I didn't really take time to appreciate how far I have come.
Varanasi is the next chapter in this journey where I can learn from others while I grow as a person.