Random video I messily put together to showcase some fun dancing I saw in Rajasthan.
Showing posts with label Travels. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Travels. Show all posts
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh=]
Hey you guys, I plan to visit a lot of places in my life so I decided to start a "Travels" label in my blog. During every out of the country trip I make, I'll cover some aspects of the trip in my blog.
Last summer I took a trip to India; specifically to the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In Rajasthan I stayed in Jaipur and in Uttar Pradesh I visited Lucknow. I had loads of fun and I'm already planning on going back. During my trip I hadn't started a blog yet, but I did write some things down. If Interested, those things can be read by clicking the below links:
http://lindaunique.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-full-day-in-lucknow.html
http://lindaunique.blogspot.com/2010/07/milenge-milenge.html
http://lindaunique.blogspot.com/2010/06/train-ride-from-lucknow-to-jaipur.html
Now, I'm just going to write a quick reflection on my trip to India.
Prices in India:
Most things you can bargain for! 30 Rs is enough for about 3 kilometers in a rickshaw (You can get it down more if you're good). Biscuits and chips are always around 10-20 Rs. Everyday informal saris are around 500-600 Rs and less; anything more than that had better have more embroidery and be a bit fancy. Water in a big Dasani bottle was 15Rs. Flight to Lucknow was 7, 450 Rs. You'll catch on quick. (Note: I sound matter-of-fact writing this, but in actuality, I paid a lot more for things then I should have. I chose to do so though, because a lot of people live below the poverty line in India and they don't make much money being a driver or running a small shop. It just felt good helping out in a small way. I made sure though that the people knew I wasn't ignorant about the real prices. I didn't want them to think I was just another ignorant foreigner)
Food:
The food was delicious!!! We were always served a thali with traditional Rajasthani dishes. I found it odd at first that lunch and dinner was always served with yogurt. After awhile though, I became dependent on the yogurt! It wonderfully balances out the masala of the food. My all time favorite foods while in Jaipur were: samosas, paneer , spicy aloo, and pakoras!!! I miss it already =[. I also miss eating with my hand. I was eating with a spoon one time and an Aunty Ji came up to me and was like, "No, no, no! That is not how you eat it." She showed me proper technique. Basically all you have to do is break off a pieces of w/e flour based substance is served at the meal (naan, roti, paratha, etc) and use that to scoop up whatever you wish to put in your mouth. Yum! I think it made eating much more fun lol.
Picture break (These pics I took with my phone. I took better pics with my camera but I lost the sims card):
Clothes:
I remember my first day out on the Indian streets I was overwhelmed by the colors of India; especially of Jaipur. Women are always draped in the most vibrant colors . Regardless of how poor, every women in Rajasthan owned a sari and I must say that even the most simple ones could look royal when worn by a hindustani woman. The women of jaipur popped admirably in their colorful attires. The younger women could often be seen wearing jeans and a kameez; or a full salwar-kameez ensemble. I preferred myself to just stick to wearing a kameez with tights underneath. I found that the most comfortable. Sometimes I would also sport my jeans. It all depended. I hated wearing my dupatta because it kept falling off my shoulder and making me look ridiculous when I had to fight to keep it up. Bangles were fun to wear, and I pretty much bought new articles of jewelry everyday.
People and attention;
Boy did I get A LOT of attention! Sometimes I felt like I was honestly the only black person in India. In the states we are taught early on that it is impolite to stare so you can just imagine how uncomfortable I was for the first few days when I was faced with some of the most unfaltering stares. These people, despite your discomfort, do not look away!!! I got over it pretty quickly though. It got to the point where I could actually consider the stares and attention as pretty humorous. I felt like a Bollywood actress having to be weary of paparazzi. The use of the word paparazzi was quite appropriate to my situtation. Wherever I went, people would take candid shots of me without asking my permission. Like seriously?!?! But once I got over all that I started having a more enjoyable time. Every time I went out to wander, I made it a goal to meet new people and speak Hindi with them. I did grow weary of some, but over all, everyone was so friendly and welcoming towards me =]
Conclusion:
Cheers
Last summer I took a trip to India; specifically to the states of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In Rajasthan I stayed in Jaipur and in Uttar Pradesh I visited Lucknow. I had loads of fun and I'm already planning on going back. During my trip I hadn't started a blog yet, but I did write some things down. If Interested, those things can be read by clicking the below links:
http://lindaunique.blogspot.com/2010/07/first-full-day-in-lucknow.html
http://lindaunique.blogspot.com/2010/07/milenge-milenge.html
http://lindaunique.blogspot.com/2010/06/train-ride-from-lucknow-to-jaipur.html
Now, I'm just going to write a quick reflection on my trip to India.
Prices in India:
Most things you can bargain for! 30 Rs is enough for about 3 kilometers in a rickshaw (You can get it down more if you're good). Biscuits and chips are always around 10-20 Rs. Everyday informal saris are around 500-600 Rs and less; anything more than that had better have more embroidery and be a bit fancy. Water in a big Dasani bottle was 15Rs. Flight to Lucknow was 7, 450 Rs. You'll catch on quick. (Note: I sound matter-of-fact writing this, but in actuality, I paid a lot more for things then I should have. I chose to do so though, because a lot of people live below the poverty line in India and they don't make much money being a driver or running a small shop. It just felt good helping out in a small way. I made sure though that the people knew I wasn't ignorant about the real prices. I didn't want them to think I was just another ignorant foreigner)
Food:
The food was delicious!!! We were always served a thali with traditional Rajasthani dishes. I found it odd at first that lunch and dinner was always served with yogurt. After awhile though, I became dependent on the yogurt! It wonderfully balances out the masala of the food. My all time favorite foods while in Jaipur were: samosas, paneer , spicy aloo, and pakoras!!! I miss it already =[. I also miss eating with my hand. I was eating with a spoon one time and an Aunty Ji came up to me and was like, "No, no, no! That is not how you eat it." She showed me proper technique. Basically all you have to do is break off a pieces of w/e flour based substance is served at the meal (naan, roti, paratha, etc) and use that to scoop up whatever you wish to put in your mouth. Yum! I think it made eating much more fun lol.
Picture break (These pics I took with my phone. I took better pics with my camera but I lost the sims card):
Clothes:
I remember my first day out on the Indian streets I was overwhelmed by the colors of India; especially of Jaipur. Women are always draped in the most vibrant colors . Regardless of how poor, every women in Rajasthan owned a sari and I must say that even the most simple ones could look royal when worn by a hindustani woman. The women of jaipur popped admirably in their colorful attires. The younger women could often be seen wearing jeans and a kameez; or a full salwar-kameez ensemble. I preferred myself to just stick to wearing a kameez with tights underneath. I found that the most comfortable. Sometimes I would also sport my jeans. It all depended. I hated wearing my dupatta because it kept falling off my shoulder and making me look ridiculous when I had to fight to keep it up. Bangles were fun to wear, and I pretty much bought new articles of jewelry everyday.
People and attention;
Boy did I get A LOT of attention! Sometimes I felt like I was honestly the only black person in India. In the states we are taught early on that it is impolite to stare so you can just imagine how uncomfortable I was for the first few days when I was faced with some of the most unfaltering stares. These people, despite your discomfort, do not look away!!! I got over it pretty quickly though. It got to the point where I could actually consider the stares and attention as pretty humorous. I felt like a Bollywood actress having to be weary of paparazzi. The use of the word paparazzi was quite appropriate to my situtation. Wherever I went, people would take candid shots of me without asking my permission. Like seriously?!?! But once I got over all that I started having a more enjoyable time. Every time I went out to wander, I made it a goal to meet new people and speak Hindi with them. I did grow weary of some, but over all, everyone was so friendly and welcoming towards me =]
Conclusion:
Once I got used to the stares, and the heat, India was quite pleasant. I loved the calls of the sabzivala (vegetable seller) that woke me up early in the morning. I loved how the cows just roam the street. I loved the monsoon rains! (I was there during monsoon season so the heat was often cooled by the rain ). I loved how when you missed being "western" you could hit up the mall with the Pizza Hut, Mcdonalds, and movie theater. I also loved going around and speaking my hinglish. It was fun. Sigh, yea...I miss it. I'm already planning for a trip back in maybe a year or two. I'm most likely going back to Jaipur because I loved it there. I dunno. But wherever I go Mera dil hindustani hai =]; I consider myself black and Indian! What is that? Blindian? Perfect! Oh, I was asked if I was indian once too!!! I was so flattered! It was because my hindi was coming out pretty good in a conversation with that person!
Cheers
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Milenge Milenge
The movie was okay. Kareena Kapoor was opposite of Shadid Kapoor. The movie was so simply that the title “milenge milenge (We will meet, we will meet)” pretty much sums it all up. The story follows both Kareena and Shahid Kapoor as they live life and destiny brings them together. Blah! Bollywood needs to step up their game. I hate luv stories* was beyond horrible and now they come out with Milenge Milenge*!!! When will Bollywood realize that just because someone famous is in a movie doesn't mean it'll be a hit. I don't know, but I think that Hollywood has one thing up on Bollywood, in that it is a tad bit less superficial appearance wise. It seems as though Bollywood sometimes puts beauty on a higher pedestal than say, skill. Bollywood has too many model turn actors/actresses that can't act to save their lives. At least in the states these two occupations are held in different respects. Though one thing that is unarguable is that Bollywood may have become superficial in regards to appearance, but where it really matters, movie content, Hollywood falls short with way more meaningless and worldly movies.
The only new movie I watched and enjoyed since being in India was Ravaan. I applauded Abhishek Bachchan's acting in that movie. I love watching actor's progress and although at first Abhishek Bachchan may not have been a very good actor, he has come a long way and I am beginning to enjoy more of his films. He is becoming a better actor and hopefully one day he'll be as good as dad =] His wife is always a treat to watch. She's so beautiful and poised. I love Aishwarya Rai . If you really watch her act you will notice that she has ALWAYS been very good at conveying emotion and reaching her audience! These two are
The only new movie I watched and enjoyed since being in India was Ravaan. I applauded Abhishek Bachchan's acting in that movie. I love watching actor's progress and although at first Abhishek Bachchan may not have been a very good actor, he has come a long way and I am beginning to enjoy more of his films. He is becoming a better actor and hopefully one day he'll be as good as dad =] His wife is always a treat to watch. She's so beautiful and poised. I love Aishwarya Rai . If you really watch her act you will notice that she has ALWAYS been very good at conveying emotion and reaching her audience! These two are
a dynamic duo!
Note* Written after watching the movies in India a few days after they came out.
First full day in Lucknow!
July 15, 2010
Today I woke up at around 8 am and had maggi (Indian noddles) for breakfast with some samosas. Then, me and Shilpi Ji went out to visit the Bara Imambara. The weather outside was really hot when we got there and the area tour involved climbing a bunch of stairs. I didn't feel like climbing and being drenched in sweat, and Shilpi Ji was pretty adamant about not paying the foreigner price of 300 Rs to get me into this fort like structure; thus we just snapped some outside pictures and carried on. Our next destination was the mall because as fate's humor would have it, rain began pouring as soon as we left the Bara Imambara. We decided to get tickets for the film milenge milenge and window shop around until the movie started in a little more than an hour. I bought the tickets for all three of us. Who was the third companion you may be ask. Well, it was me, Shilpi Ji, and none other than our driver. Shilpi Ji got so disgruntled over the fact that I would buy our driver a ticket to the the movie; but he wanted to see it and he was a nice guy, so why not? Me and Shilpi Ji went into a few shops to browse. The only noteworthy experience here is that we walked into this Macy's look alike shop called “Shopper's Stop” with all these name brand accessories; for such a nice, sophisticated place the store name did it no justice. We walked in and my foreign face attracted immediate attention. Before I knew it, I was sitting in a chair and a Revlon representative was giving me a total face make over with shades that nobody could deny were too bright for me. She kept calling such shades natural and saying they would make me more fair. Uh...I'm black!!! Even if I bleached my skin I could never be “fair”. I'll always have that brown hue in me =] But yea, she had me wearing shades of foundation and blush that you would find in Scarlet Johansson's make up bag. Then she put on this ridiculously red shade of lip stick + gloss on my lips. I never, I repeat never, wear red shades of lipsticks, because I know I just can't pull it off. I have a baby face with no make up on and an older lady's face with make up on; so I try to conjure up a sweet in between by just applying eye makeup. All I really wanted to try on was the mascara, eyeliner, and the shimmering blue eyeshadow. Instead the lady made me up to be a pale ghostly black person with some extra bright lips. I looked like Chucky's bride for crying out loud!!!! Or like, if you seen Mulan, that part where she's getting ready to meet the matchmaker and her face is all white and made up, like that but more clownish and not as pretty. It was a disaster. And the entire time the lady was smiling from ear to ear like she was doing the most amazing job ever. See, what I don't understand is how come, in a country with people darker than me, the Revlon make up line doesn't have shades for darker people? So annoying. Anyway, because I know what works for me and what doesn't, I knew I was looking a hot mess but I didn't want to wipe off all the make up while in the store. They showed me the finished product, as predicted, I screamed LOL then tried to hide my face from people shopping in the store. They then proceeded to trying to sell me everything they used on my face, and like a fool, I said yes to practically everything. I felt I ought to buy something considering this lady spent some time really trying to “pretty me up”. All the stuff I dumbly nodded my head "yes" to, came out to being around 7650 Rs. Okay, that's about $174!!!! I don't even spend that much on cosmetics in the states. Not to mention, half those things weren't even my shade!!! Ahh!!! So, luckily we had to catch our movie that had already commenced. Shilpi Ji told them that I did not intend to but all those things and that after the movie we would come back to figure out what exactly I intended to purchase. They said okay, they'll hold everything at that particular counter. Hahaha...I bet you can just guess what happened. As an Indian and Black pair, we made the obvious choice of not coming back lol.
Image above found at: Image found at: http://images4.fanpop.com/image/forum/36000/36385_1284240030485_full.jpg
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Train ride from Lucknow to Jaipur
Last day in Lucknow
6/18/2010
Night rolled around and Shilpi ji dropped me off at the train station. Okay so this really old lady in a blue sari made it a point to stand like 2 ft away from me and just stare!!!! Like dang!!! I think that was the most bluntness I've had to deal with since being here in India. Shilpi Ji ended up calling her paagal (crazy) and told her to go away. For some reason, this time around, when I noticed she was starring I stayed annoyed. Trust me, It didn't get funny. I told Shilpi ji if she didn't say nothing, then I was about to. Regardless of the language barrier, attitude gets across and believe me that lady was finna catch a case lol. But Shilpi Ji did the yelling for me, so it was all good. So my train came and I got settled. This train was nice; no bugs, air condition, and completely comfortable. I fell asleep for most of the night (train left Lucknow around 12:30 am and was expected to arrive in Jaipur at 11:30 am). When I woke it was around 8:00 am. I stayed up and didn't risk falling back asleep so that I could watch for my stop. Shilpi Ji had asked my train neighbor to watch over me and make sure I get to Jaipur, but this Uncle had to get off early. I got new neighbors and they didn't pay me no mind. Lol. Except at one point, one of my new neighbors, bunking directly in front of me, a guy, started blasting a Hindi hip-hop song with urban English phrases in it like: “baby girl,” “back it up,” and, “work it”. I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Now we all know good and well, if I wasn't his neighbor he would not have been blasting and singing along, like he hood, to that kind of song!!! lol. Anyways so 11:30 am came around and we still hadn't reached Jaipur. I was antsy at this point because I was really not wanting to miss my stop. Jaipur finally rolled around but I didn't see the train station sign until the train had stopped there for like 2 mins. I quickly got up and grabbed my things but I promise you, the train did not wait at that station for more than 3 mins before starting back up... WITH ME STILL ON IT!!! I was flipping out. I ran to the door and looked down at the passing tracks. The train was MOVING!!!! For a sec I stood there deliberating whether to stay on and get off at the next train station; and just call Rakesh Ji (Program leader) to explain what had happened and have him arrange for my trip back, or just jump and hope for the best. I opted for jumping. I jumped and OMG!!! Someone should have been there with a camera. This was totally my old hollywood moment. The caption for this scene would have been: Black girl jumps out of moving train. I landed flat on some guy and we both went down together. My luggage, in the spur of the moment, had escaped my grasped, did a few flips and landed inches away from me. Whew!!! The guy I landed on was totally pissed, and kept worriedly looking around to see who had witnessed the scene; which is totally justifiable because, I' m sure looking at our positions, the wrong idea could have been easily deducted. I had accidentally grabbed a good chuck of his shirt, lifting it up in the process. So picture this: Black girl lying on top of Indian man with his shirt halfway up and in her hands. Yea...not pretty. Lol. I wonder how do I always get myself in these kinds of situations. Ugh. It's just my luck. I got off from on top of him; thanking God there was no press around. Trust me, the Jaipur Times (newspaper name) loves taboo and prints just about anything. Since it's a local paper, I would have easily made front page, with a botched up headline and a story sensationalizing the truth. Hahaha. I can just see the story now:
“Sameer Khan (made up name) met a girl from Uganda (because I'm black. The Indian press assumes a lot. They wouldn't bother asking) online. They fell in love but his parents have forbidden their marriage. The girl has slaved away in an African diamond mine for 5 years; saving up in hopes of one day meeting her beloved. She flew to India the beginning of this month, and yesterday she took a train from Delhi to Jaipur. In excitement she couldn't wait for the train to stop and she jumped into the arms of her waiting beloved. He had been waiting at that station all afternoon. The two have been rumored to have run away together with Sameer's parents in pursuit, harboring intentions of performing honor killings (sadly an occurence here)! The police have seen no sign of either party since the incident, but will continue investigating”
Yup. That's probably how it would have been told; and all the while I would have been at home, reading the story over toast. I make it a point to read the papers everyday here. It really is quite interesting. Anyways, a lot of people must have witnessed the scene, because I heard a bunch of laughs. I was too embarrassed to laugh. I kept apologizing to the man in Hindi after I retrieved my luggage but he just angrily stared back. Oh well. I caught a overly priced rickshaw back. And, I reached home safely =)
Image found at:
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