I haven’t written here for a while because of our unreliable internet. It has been down for over a week. However, I have a lot to report about.
First and the most importantly, our stay here might be extended by six weeks (Y). If everything goes as I hope it will, YFU will find us some community work after our school is over. We will stay in our current families and cities. I was really excited to hear about this plan as I have always thought that 9 months are way too short time to stay here. Besides, if I would go home in April, I would have 5 months till the starting of my school.
The second important news is that I am going to see Taj Mahal. It is all thanks to Sam whose birthday is coming on 20th October and whose birthday wish is to visit the Taj Mahal. At first we were supposed to go there with Sam’s host-family but as none of the Indians are actually interested in seeing it, Sam’s family suggested us to go alone. I am perfectly happy with that, since it is going to be a whole new experience (and perhaps even a challenge) to travel on our own. I just hope that YFU has no objections to that.
To leave aside the important news, I have spent my week, dancing. The Shiamak Dawal (don’t know the spellings) classes are wonderful. Although I know that these instructors of ours are just doing their jobs, I can’t help but admire their professionalism and enthusiasm. After all, getting 40 Indian youngsters to do the same thing for an hour is an accomplishment on its own. In any case by now I am fully enjoying my stay here.
Another news which might not sound so important to you but is of the highest importance to me is that instead of gaining weight, I have lost 8 kg since I came here. I am weighing 67 kilos (over 4 years I think).
P.S. If Mr. Ian from YFU is reading this, he might be glad to know that the school has agreed to increase the number of my Hindi classes.
P.P.S. Today, three months ago I landed in India
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
16 Sept (busy week)
In my last post I wrote that I was accepted in to the school basketball team. Well, basketball practices were the events which filled every day of my previous week. We had practices in the morning (basically a couple of hours from the school time) and evening…every day. On last Sunday I had my first match. It was great, we practically killed the other team despite the fact that they had a lot of tall players. I suppose, height isn’t everything. However, it was just a practice match for the upcoming tournament on the next Friday-Saturday (which was yesterday). The tournament was held in a place called Nawan Shahar (navan sheher) in a boarding school. The school campus and the sports section were magnificent. The campus had an amazingly beautiful temple complex, which by its structure reminded me the Golden Temple. there was some hall (which was under construction) in the center and it was surrounded by water and separate temples for Sikhs and Muslim and Hindus (Gurdwara, Mosque and Temple, respectively). The only thing that got me wondering, was why would someone build something so beautiful for a boarding school in the middle of nowhere, in fact I even wonder, why would someone build such a state of the art school in the midst of fields.
In any case, the tournament was quite well organized and important. It even had TV coverage. We won 4 games out of 5 and came third in overall. We should have come at least second, because the team which we played in the semi-finals had collage students in it and that was illegal, but no-one cared about our complaints and they got their victory. I played with a jersey which had Yogesh written on it, because Yogesh was kicked out because of me and they couldn’t get a new jersey with one week. This caused me some trouble because a lot of people thought that I was Indian. The tournament was fun and I even got a nice tan. The sun has come out and every day is like the most beautiful Estonian summer day.
During the ending ceremony, when Bhangra dancers performed, all the teams joined them on the court and so did we. This was the first time I ever danced Bhangra (or something like that) and it felt great.
When I arrived yesterday (at 12.30 in the evening), I found a nice surprise: Sukhbir and Harleen had re-arranged my room. I now have a table and 4 chairs, a night lamp, an extra closet for my clothes and a lot of free space, since an entire section of my room was freed due to the removal of unnecessary furniture which was kept there earlier. The best thing, however, is that all the annoying pictures of my little brother are gone and replaced with pictures of gurus, Harimandir Sahib and a painting. I truly like it, my room feels so much bigger and at the same time, cozier.
Today, I went to a birthday party of three girls (three friends who happen to be born exactly on the same day and same year and go to the same class). I was a bit confused because I had no idea what to give them (who knows, what is and what is inappropriate here in India) and there was no-one to help me. The only thing, my host mother told me was that I can get all my gifts from a particular shop in Model Town. Therefore, I headed out for Model Town, where I found the shop as well as many others, closed. I had forgotten that the life there starts in the evening. However, I couldn’t wait until evening and had to improvise. I went to the best bakery shop in the city and bought three chocolate cakes.
Just as I reached home with my cakes, Sanchit, my friend, called that since they (he and Mantej) were in the area, they were going to pick me up early (about 3 hours earlier than they were supposed to) and that I can take my stuff and get ready at Sanchit’s place. That is exactly which I did. I even had a shower at his place. I couldn’t think of doing something like that in Estonia, but here it is completely normal, Indians’ attitude to homes is somewhat like “my home is yours” and that is literally how it works. I can feel myself totally home in my friends’ homes.
To get back to the topic, before we went to the party, we went to a florist and got some beautiful flowers for the girls.
The party started at 3 o’clock and ended at 7 o’clock. At first I was kind of critical about the length of the party but then remembered that this is India and this means no alcohol. It was very refreshing to find that Indians (and even me) can have fun without alcohol. We danced for almost all the time (the sound system was great). This was not the kind of dancing as we have in Estonia and I learned some nice moves.
I remember reading from Siim’s blog that he went to a birthday where there were only boys. Well I have to say that over half of the guests at the party today were girls. I suppose, it has to do with the type of people you hang out with, because I know that there are such kind of guys here who don’t talk to girls very much and even look down upon them. I’m glad to announce that it is not this way with my friends.
That’s about it,
Happy birthday, Gunjan, Garima and Additi !!!!!!
In any case, the tournament was quite well organized and important. It even had TV coverage. We won 4 games out of 5 and came third in overall. We should have come at least second, because the team which we played in the semi-finals had collage students in it and that was illegal, but no-one cared about our complaints and they got their victory. I played with a jersey which had Yogesh written on it, because Yogesh was kicked out because of me and they couldn’t get a new jersey with one week. This caused me some trouble because a lot of people thought that I was Indian. The tournament was fun and I even got a nice tan. The sun has come out and every day is like the most beautiful Estonian summer day.
During the ending ceremony, when Bhangra dancers performed, all the teams joined them on the court and so did we. This was the first time I ever danced Bhangra (or something like that) and it felt great.
When I arrived yesterday (at 12.30 in the evening), I found a nice surprise: Sukhbir and Harleen had re-arranged my room. I now have a table and 4 chairs, a night lamp, an extra closet for my clothes and a lot of free space, since an entire section of my room was freed due to the removal of unnecessary furniture which was kept there earlier. The best thing, however, is that all the annoying pictures of my little brother are gone and replaced with pictures of gurus, Harimandir Sahib and a painting. I truly like it, my room feels so much bigger and at the same time, cozier.
Today, I went to a birthday party of three girls (three friends who happen to be born exactly on the same day and same year and go to the same class). I was a bit confused because I had no idea what to give them (who knows, what is and what is inappropriate here in India) and there was no-one to help me. The only thing, my host mother told me was that I can get all my gifts from a particular shop in Model Town. Therefore, I headed out for Model Town, where I found the shop as well as many others, closed. I had forgotten that the life there starts in the evening. However, I couldn’t wait until evening and had to improvise. I went to the best bakery shop in the city and bought three chocolate cakes.
Just as I reached home with my cakes, Sanchit, my friend, called that since they (he and Mantej) were in the area, they were going to pick me up early (about 3 hours earlier than they were supposed to) and that I can take my stuff and get ready at Sanchit’s place. That is exactly which I did. I even had a shower at his place. I couldn’t think of doing something like that in Estonia, but here it is completely normal, Indians’ attitude to homes is somewhat like “my home is yours” and that is literally how it works. I can feel myself totally home in my friends’ homes.
To get back to the topic, before we went to the party, we went to a florist and got some beautiful flowers for the girls.
The party started at 3 o’clock and ended at 7 o’clock. At first I was kind of critical about the length of the party but then remembered that this is India and this means no alcohol. It was very refreshing to find that Indians (and even me) can have fun without alcohol. We danced for almost all the time (the sound system was great). This was not the kind of dancing as we have in Estonia and I learned some nice moves.
I remember reading from Siim’s blog that he went to a birthday where there were only boys. Well I have to say that over half of the guests at the party today were girls. I suppose, it has to do with the type of people you hang out with, because I know that there are such kind of guys here who don’t talk to girls very much and even look down upon them. I’m glad to announce that it is not this way with my friends.
That’s about it,
Happy birthday, Gunjan, Garima and Additi !!!!!!
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Wednesday was the teachers’ day at school. I gave a speech in front of the whole school and it was excellent. At least, that is what everybody says. I wore my curta and jeans on that day and it seemed to impress a lot of people. My classmates performed with a dance and I must say that Indians are (in general) very good dancers, it seems as if the majority of them are professionals. The day was nice and chilly. The school ended at 12.30 and I didn’t know which bus I should use to go home (since I usually stay back until 2 o’clock). Instead, one of my classmates invited me to his house for a lunch. Actually he wanted to take me on a city tour on that day but he had to go to Chandigarh. Anyway me, Mantedz and Santchit went to Santchit’s house (which was actually more like palace than a house) and had a lunch there. Afterwards the guys dropped me home and went for their tuitions.
Thursday and Friday were sort of pointless days in school, because most of the teachers were engaged with exams for the juniors. We didn’t have any proper classes, instead we just chatted and played truth & dear (which seems to be their favorite game).Also, on Friday was my first practice with the school basketball team. It lasted for 2 hours ( of our school-time). I seemed to impress our coach and my teammates, so they took me on pro-bail. However, my pro-bail didn’t last for a very long time and since this morning, I’m officially on the team. It would not have been so tough to get in, but they had already full team, which meant that someone was to be kicked out because of me. Well, they’ve done that now and I’m feeling good about it. I know I shouldn’t feel good about other people’s bad luck but I still feel kind of pleased because I know how tough it was to get in and I accomplished to prove myself.
I might go to my friend’s house to see today’s cricket match (India vs. England).
Thursday and Friday were sort of pointless days in school, because most of the teachers were engaged with exams for the juniors. We didn’t have any proper classes, instead we just chatted and played truth & dear (which seems to be their favorite game).Also, on Friday was my first practice with the school basketball team. It lasted for 2 hours ( of our school-time). I seemed to impress our coach and my teammates, so they took me on pro-bail. However, my pro-bail didn’t last for a very long time and since this morning, I’m officially on the team. It would not have been so tough to get in, but they had already full team, which meant that someone was to be kicked out because of me. Well, they’ve done that now and I’m feeling good about it. I know I shouldn’t feel good about other people’s bad luck but I still feel kind of pleased because I know how tough it was to get in and I accomplished to prove myself.
I might go to my friend’s house to see today’s cricket match (India vs. England).
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
4 September
My posting here seems to get more and more irregular in time. However, I’m trying my best to change that from now on.
I shall start from Tuesday, 28 August. It was a holiday, since there was a festival called rakhi. On that day, sisters tie thread to their brothers’ arms. This is to symbolically ask their protection. It is said that once up on a time, there was an empress who needed protection from her brother and tied a thread to his arm and that is where the festival comes from. The truth is that it used to be a Persian custom and Indians have just taken It over. I am glad to announce that I have a second sister now (although, no-one can replace Mirjam). I say this because on Tuesday morning, Raj came and tied a thread to my hand, and said that this is from Jashan Jot, her sister’s daughter (my so to say- host cousin) wants me to be her elder brother(note that in India, cousins, nieces and other female relatives are also called sisters and all male relatives, brothers). I was very pleased and bought her a nice book in return.
On Wednesday I went to school and gave my computer weekly test (which went really well), but nothing special or exciting happened.
I took Thursday off for myself, since this was the day when Guru Grand Sahib (the Sikh holy scripture) was taken to our house and since this is a cultural exchange, I wanted to be a part of the event. We cleaned out the entire sitting room and dining room and set up a sort of an altar-like thing on which the Guru Grand Sahib was kept. I would have expected the ceremony to be bit longer and more extravagant, but actually it was rather casual. In my previous post I said that the book would be read until Sunday but actually it was read only until Saturday. This meant that for 3 days, our house was turned into a temple. The worst thing about this was that I had to give my room for the priests, who read the scripture in shifts and therefore, needed to have a place to sleep.
Friday was pretty casual and nothing special happened except the tents were set up for Saturday.
Saturday was the culmination of series of events after the funeral. Early in the morning, the cooks came and started preparing for the langar (holy meal). In the afternoon, I took a shower and put on my curta-pajamis (traditional clothing) as this was the time when Guru Grand Sahib was brought from inside of the house to the huge tents outside. The guests started arriving about at the same time. Unfortunately I didn’t see how the scripture was brought out because I went to along with Sukhbir’s brother in law to pick up Yasmine and Mr. Ian Henderson (the YFU India chairman) from the train station. By the time we got back, the tent was already filled with people and there was a band of priests, singing the holy anthems. After some time, the scripture was taken back to the local Gurdwara. Now, the langar started and I helped to serve the food (along with Sukhbir’s friends) until all the guests had eaten. After most of the guests had left (approximately 200 people visited our house) I had my food. Sam, the American also came to the event. Me, him and Yasmine had a nice time, chatting. Although my first impression of Sam wasn’t very good (I found his body language and the way he speaks a bit weird), I realized rather quickly that he is a nice guy, a very honest and straightforward one.
At about 6 o’clock, we went to see Ian and Yasmine off and afterwards had incredibly good coffee at Café coffee day which is something like Indian Starbucks.
When we got back home, I was quite exhausted and was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again.
When I woke up on Sunday, the house was already normal. The furniture was on its place and most of the relatives had left. In the afternoon we saw off Bobby, Rajbir and Jakbir (with her family). In the evening I went to Model Town to meet Sam. I introduced him to the world of gulfis, goulcappas (I don’t know the spelling), nimbu lemon (lemon juice with soda and spices) and one of my favorites-milk badam (sweet milk with almonds).
We chatteng and discussed our futures and life in India.I got back home rather early and almost immediately went out with Sukhbir to find a host family for the German girl. We didn’t have any luck, since the family we were supposed to meet wasn’t home. Instead, we headed to a restaurant and had chilli chicken with beer (Fosters which is made in Punjab). The chicken was delicious and Sukhbir introduced me to the restaurant manager so that whenever I want to go to the same place, I will have the best service (by the way, Indian service is usually very good anyway).
On Monday I didn’t have any periods because all the teachers and most of the students were preparing for the upcoming teachers’ day. I also participated in the student council meeting (which was so typical to India: totally un-efficient and yet, fun). After the school-day was over and I was in my math extra class, the principal of the school (Zema Ma’am) came to talk to me. She had heard rumors about me, not eating breakfast at home and was concerned. She wanted to arrange me breakfast in school. I had heard rumors about myself before (for instance some girl had heard that I ate a samossa at school and got food poisoning) but was nevertheless surprised to hear that such talks reach even the principal. I told her that I do have breakfast and that there was no need to arrange anything. This is a perfect example of everybody being concerned about my well-being over here. Zema ma’am also asked me how I like the school, how I feel myself and eventually, asked me to write an article about how I feel in DPS. This article will go to the local newspapers as a commercial for the school. I am happy to write it and fortunately they gave me over a month to do that.
Today is the birthday of lord Krishna. This means another holiday for me. Thank god for the Hindus and their endless amount of celebrations, festivals and gods. Tomorrow I’m going to give a speech for the teachers’ day function. The great thing is that I won’t have to wear my annoying uniform since there are no classes. Instead, I will wear my red curta with jeans.
Another long post is finished…I wonder if anybody bothers to read it?
I shall start from Tuesday, 28 August. It was a holiday, since there was a festival called rakhi. On that day, sisters tie thread to their brothers’ arms. This is to symbolically ask their protection. It is said that once up on a time, there was an empress who needed protection from her brother and tied a thread to his arm and that is where the festival comes from. The truth is that it used to be a Persian custom and Indians have just taken It over. I am glad to announce that I have a second sister now (although, no-one can replace Mirjam). I say this because on Tuesday morning, Raj came and tied a thread to my hand, and said that this is from Jashan Jot, her sister’s daughter (my so to say- host cousin) wants me to be her elder brother(note that in India, cousins, nieces and other female relatives are also called sisters and all male relatives, brothers). I was very pleased and bought her a nice book in return.
On Wednesday I went to school and gave my computer weekly test (which went really well), but nothing special or exciting happened.
I took Thursday off for myself, since this was the day when Guru Grand Sahib (the Sikh holy scripture) was taken to our house and since this is a cultural exchange, I wanted to be a part of the event. We cleaned out the entire sitting room and dining room and set up a sort of an altar-like thing on which the Guru Grand Sahib was kept. I would have expected the ceremony to be bit longer and more extravagant, but actually it was rather casual. In my previous post I said that the book would be read until Sunday but actually it was read only until Saturday. This meant that for 3 days, our house was turned into a temple. The worst thing about this was that I had to give my room for the priests, who read the scripture in shifts and therefore, needed to have a place to sleep.
Friday was pretty casual and nothing special happened except the tents were set up for Saturday.
Saturday was the culmination of series of events after the funeral. Early in the morning, the cooks came and started preparing for the langar (holy meal). In the afternoon, I took a shower and put on my curta-pajamis (traditional clothing) as this was the time when Guru Grand Sahib was brought from inside of the house to the huge tents outside. The guests started arriving about at the same time. Unfortunately I didn’t see how the scripture was brought out because I went to along with Sukhbir’s brother in law to pick up Yasmine and Mr. Ian Henderson (the YFU India chairman) from the train station. By the time we got back, the tent was already filled with people and there was a band of priests, singing the holy anthems. After some time, the scripture was taken back to the local Gurdwara. Now, the langar started and I helped to serve the food (along with Sukhbir’s friends) until all the guests had eaten. After most of the guests had left (approximately 200 people visited our house) I had my food. Sam, the American also came to the event. Me, him and Yasmine had a nice time, chatting. Although my first impression of Sam wasn’t very good (I found his body language and the way he speaks a bit weird), I realized rather quickly that he is a nice guy, a very honest and straightforward one.
At about 6 o’clock, we went to see Ian and Yasmine off and afterwards had incredibly good coffee at Café coffee day which is something like Indian Starbucks.
When we got back home, I was quite exhausted and was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again.
When I woke up on Sunday, the house was already normal. The furniture was on its place and most of the relatives had left. In the afternoon we saw off Bobby, Rajbir and Jakbir (with her family). In the evening I went to Model Town to meet Sam. I introduced him to the world of gulfis, goulcappas (I don’t know the spelling), nimbu lemon (lemon juice with soda and spices) and one of my favorites-milk badam (sweet milk with almonds).
We chatteng and discussed our futures and life in India.I got back home rather early and almost immediately went out with Sukhbir to find a host family for the German girl. We didn’t have any luck, since the family we were supposed to meet wasn’t home. Instead, we headed to a restaurant and had chilli chicken with beer (Fosters which is made in Punjab). The chicken was delicious and Sukhbir introduced me to the restaurant manager so that whenever I want to go to the same place, I will have the best service (by the way, Indian service is usually very good anyway).
On Monday I didn’t have any periods because all the teachers and most of the students were preparing for the upcoming teachers’ day. I also participated in the student council meeting (which was so typical to India: totally un-efficient and yet, fun). After the school-day was over and I was in my math extra class, the principal of the school (Zema Ma’am) came to talk to me. She had heard rumors about me, not eating breakfast at home and was concerned. She wanted to arrange me breakfast in school. I had heard rumors about myself before (for instance some girl had heard that I ate a samossa at school and got food poisoning) but was nevertheless surprised to hear that such talks reach even the principal. I told her that I do have breakfast and that there was no need to arrange anything. This is a perfect example of everybody being concerned about my well-being over here. Zema ma’am also asked me how I like the school, how I feel myself and eventually, asked me to write an article about how I feel in DPS. This article will go to the local newspapers as a commercial for the school. I am happy to write it and fortunately they gave me over a month to do that.
Today is the birthday of lord Krishna. This means another holiday for me. Thank god for the Hindus and their endless amount of celebrations, festivals and gods. Tomorrow I’m going to give a speech for the teachers’ day function. The great thing is that I won’t have to wear my annoying uniform since there are no classes. Instead, I will wear my red curta with jeans.
Another long post is finished…I wonder if anybody bothers to read it?
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