Thanksgiving in Kasauli

Friendly cow at a market in Kasauli

For Thanksgiving, we traveled to Kasauli, a quiet mountain retreat and our first trip outside of Delhi.  Most fellow foreigners had never heard of this place.  After a 4 hour train ride in 1st class A/C, we were met by a car arranged by our hotel.  Following an hour car ride up a curvy mountain road dotted with small structures on the side of the road selling Dhaba (food) and "daily needs" - we arrived at our mountainside hotel, Kasauli Resort.

The resort was quaint, had a delicious restaurant, and peaceful views of the valley and surrounding mountains (when the fog briefly lifted each day).  The highlights of our trip include: walking 2 km into the town of Kasauli and following a group of cows being herded up the mountain road, going through the markets (NOT being yelled at to buy thing like in Delhi), walking along narrow cobblestone streets through the village and smiling at passing villagers.

On our trip, we learned that Indians love taking photos OF foreigners and especially WITH foreigners.  The first day it was a novel idea...  Indian: Can I click a photo with (of) you?  Tim or Karen: (nod) Sure... (smile).  The second day we went to Manki Point - the highest point in Kasauli and the location of Hanuman's Temple.  We were surrounded by Indian high schoolers from a nearby region ALL asking to take photos with us.

The town of Kasauli seems to be a place where Indians have their summer mountain homes.  They are also very eco-friendly and posted humorous signs everywhere - some of which we "clicked photos" of.  Kasauli is one of the few Indian towns with a stiff penalty for littering.

Overall, it was nice to be away from the hustle, bustle, and hustlers of Delhi - and we successfully navigated our first Indian railway experience!
 

Porters carrying some else's bags

Eco-friendly Kasauli

Market in Kasauli

First haircut in India

Church of England church from British colonial times

Train back to Delhi

Kasauli Resort

Kapoor the Taxi Driver

Taxi stand in our neighborhood

One concern I had about living in India was my daily transportation to-and-from school.  There are about 35 apartments on campus, but since the school now has over 150 teachers, most people live off-campus (anywhere from 5 to 35 minutes away).  Our first week in India, the school had a driver pick me up and drive me home - the good life!  After that, I was on my own.  My morning routine consisted of calling the neighborhood taxi stand, waiting outside, and haggling over fares with taxi drivers whose meters were always "broken" and covered with cloths or newspapers.  (There has been a problem lately of taxis overcharging foreigners and insisting on charging sometimes double what the normal rate would be for locals.  We hear this problem has gotten worse since the start of the Commonwealth Games in October of this year.  The Commonwealth Games was the largest international event EVER in New Delhi.  Sort of a small-scale "Olympics" with athletes from around the world competing in events ranging from Aquatics to Wrestling.  At the games in New Delhi-2010 there were 6700 athletes representing 71 countries.  We arrived in India the day AFTER the closing ceremonies, but the taxi drivers had already figured it out.  Foreigners = more moolah in their pockets.)

My afternoon routine consisted of walking down a few blocks to the "Diplomat" taxi stand and again haggling over fares.  Some days I would pay 120 rupees and some days 180 rupees (equivalent to about $4).  One afternoon I lucked out and hopped in the taxi-van of "Kapoor the Taxi Driver".  He turned the meter on right away--instead of saying "meter broken" or "old meter" and banging on it like most drivers insisted.  He happily drove me home and then inquired, "Come back tomorrow morning for pick up?"  "Sure," I said, "7:30 - Same price tomorrow?"  "Of course," smiled Kapoor.

Since then Kapoor has driven me to school every morning (well it's only been a week) and I even call him some afternoons to drive me home after school.  Today I decided to take my chances and not call Kapoor because I didn't want to wait for him to get there.  I walked to the taxi stand and saw 2 taxi drivers sitting next to their black & yellow cars.  They looked at me expectantly, when suddenly Kapoor pulled up out of nowhere and said "Come with me" - my driver had arrived!

Almost all foreign families and businessmen have a car and driver to take them anywhere, anytime.  Kapoor is my "driver" for the moment.  It's a relief not to worry about transportation each morning, and know that I'll be paying the same fare everyday.  I pay the equivalent of about $3 each way...$6 a day... $30 a week in taxi fares.  Not too bad!  My daily commute is 10 minutes in the morning and anywhere from 15-30 minutes in the evening.

The morning commute is the most interesting - and the inspiration for a future blog post: Bike Deliveries.  I plan to write about and document the things I see people carrying or hauling on bikes (the kind with 2 wheels and pedals - not motorbikes).  So far I have seen the following items on the back of bikes: a full-size LG refrigerator, large PVC pipes that must have been 20 feet long, wooden crates stacked up to at least 20 feet high, and chickens in cages (likely going to the meat markets).  I plan to get photographic evidence of similar instances to share on the blog.

Street Children

Marker mustached street child and entertainer

Seeing begging street children is one of the realities of living in India.  Before moving here, I wondered what I would do and how I would feel when a 7 year old child, holding a 2 year old baby, walked up to me begging for money.

For some reason, the begging children gravitate towards me (Tim).  The most intense experience happened a few weeks ago when Karen and I were leaving a mela, which is a really neat craft/music/gift bazaar.  Outside the main gate, there was a young boy casually talking with a man who looked  to be 45 yrs old.   I saw the boy before he saw me and I knew, damn!, it's about to go down. When Karen and I reached the gate, the boy, who looked to be about 10 years old, noticed us and hopped towards me at a startling pace. His hop was due to the fact that half of his left leg was missing. He latched onto my arm and made his way down to my hand, grasping my right pointer finger and pinkie. I stopped to comprehend this situation and the strength of his wrestler-like grip. He motioned with his eyes for me to look at his gnarled leg that ended just below his knee.  Pleading "please, please, sir," he put one of his hands to his mouth expressing his great hunger. After the initial shock wore off, I realized I had to keep moving or else I'd be there all day holding hands with this young boy. People around me tried to "shew" him away in their native language, Hindi, but that didn't help.  His dirt drenched hands tightened around my fingers even more.

UNICEF conservatively estimates that there are 11 million street children in India. If you haven't seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it is great!  It's an interesting and entertaining movie that gives you a glimpse of what goes on in the the lives of many street kids in India. I won't go in to much detail, but it shows that many children are lured into bonded work that they are unable to escape from due to unscrupulous and cruel proprietors/owners/"uncles". Some of these "uncles" maim the kids just so people would pity them more and, therefore, give more money. Due to this fact, I cannot give any begging child money.

Back to the story outside the mela. Most likely, the man who was talking with the boy earlier was one of those "uncles". Karen said the man watched the boy latch on to me with a keen eye.   Eventually, I had to, with a lot of guilt, pry the boy's fingers from my own.  I repeated this 4 times while quickly shuffling my feet over to an auto rickshaw that was near.  Karen and I jumped in to escape that situation.

There is a tour in New Delhi given by former street children.  It is coordinated by the Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps get kids off the streets.  The tour starts at the railway station and goes throughout Delhi.  Many of Karen's co-workers recommend it.  It's organizations like this that I keep in mind when a child walks up to me begging.  I feel money can be better utilized by these organizations than by the "uncle".  To slightly diminish the guilt factor, Karen and I are going to start taking granola bars or some kind of food with us.  Interestingly though, we've had a few conversations with locals and expats who carry food and they've expressed that most kids don't want the food!  That's when you know there's some racket operation using these kids.

All this being said, don't get the impression that all the children here are sad and begging!  This past weekend, Karen and I made a wrong turn and faced the beginning a long residential dirt road near a tourist spot called Hauz Kauz Village.  People were everywhere.  They were eating, cleaning clothes, preparing food, sanding furniture, playing cards, etc.  Amongst the throng of people were about 40 shoeless kids playing along the street.  I was petrified looking at what was ahead of us!  The only interactions I've had with children since moving here involved sad faces and begging.  Impressively, Karen led the way and this terrifying walk down this random dirt road turned into the most exciting experience I've had since being in India.  The kids waved and smiled at us saying "Hi, Hi, Hi."  They were some of the happiest kids I'd ever seen and they definitely made us feel very welcome in their neighborhood!

If you are wondering who the young boy pictured at the beginning of this post is, he stars in a short video of a recent auto rickshaw ride near our neighborhood.  I taped it on my phone to show the auto rickshaw experience and ended up getting a performing street child with a marker mustache!

The Obamas visit India

 

President Obama's brief speech (with U.S. Ambassador)

President and Michelle Obama visited the U.S. Embassy here in New Delhi as part of his "Asia tour".  We arrived at the Embassy gate 3 hours prior to their arrival and were greeted with heavy security checks (my large key for the front gate at our apartment barely made it through the security checkpoint).  However, Tim's pocketknife/multi-tool wasn't so lucky.  We sipped on Orange Tang and nibbled on cookies on the lawn of the Ambassador's residence awaiting the Obamas arrival.  Tim left his camera at home so the photos are from my Lumix camera.  A coworker's wife "clicked the photo" (as they say in India) of me shaking the President's hand.  That was my second handshake because I snuck around to the side after the first one.  Tim shook the hands of both President and Michelle Obama!

Here are a few snapshots:

Tim's hand in Michelle's (bottom-right)

Photo gallery:

President Obama visits India

The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

If you want a detailed map, click here

Something profound always happens when groups of people gather for a cause.  Many groups chose to promote their cause by moving in a circular manner.  There is the Crop Walk, Walk for the Cure, and even 24 hrs of Booty where participants ride bikes on a "booty loop."  There is just something about a journey ending at the starting line that helps so many wonderful organizations raise money!

This February, I am joining a group of 18 or so strangers (mostly whom are also total strangers to each other) in Mumbai a.k.a Bombay.  We are embarking on The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge or "GCIRC" to help feed our need of adventure while, more importantly, helping raise money for Railway Children, a charity that provides relief to children and young people who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress - in particular those living on the streets.

In an extremely simplistic attempt to summarize this trip, The GCIRC is a railroad journey around the circumference of India in 15 days.  The organizer of this trip, who smartly claims he isn't in charge, has been planning the trip for years.  If you want to see a visual representation of the meticulous planning put forth, click on this flow chart for the journey.  Click on the picture itself to zoom in. After looking at it, you are probably totally confused.  Not only does it represent the amount of planning put forth, it represents the amount of potential mishaps that can occur!

Here are some interesting points about the GCIRC.

• The famous Trans-Siberia trip is 5,800 miles. The GCIRC is over 7,500 miles of track and another 350 miles by various means of transportation.
• Transport includes: 18 different trains, Maruti vans, 4x4s, taxis, 2 ferryboats, one tram, and the inevitable autorickshaw.
• The train in Assam is one of the last non-tourist steam trains.
• GCIRC covers 17% of the Indian Railways network.
• We will be traveling 2AC class on most trains but some in SL and AC3. (click here for class description and photos)
• All but 2 nights will be spent sleeping on a train. Darjeeling and Dibrugarh will be the pit stops.
• First train leaves Mumbai on, Friday, February 18th and arrives back in Mumbai on Saturday, March 5th.
• The price of traveling over 7,850 miles including food, 13 nights on various trains, and 2 nights in hotels - less than $375. 

Click on the official Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge web page if you'd like more detailed and interesting information about it.

Again, this trip was organized to help raise money for Railway Children, an organization very fitting of this journey.  If you'd care to donate, I created a PayPal donation link below as well as one on the top right side of this blog.  I am working on gifts for all those who donate via this blog...something to do with photography I'd say...I will let you know in the coming week.

Look Snazzy!

If you want something very unique and cool to wear, there are T-shirts and other items.  Click here for details!

The Tortoise Beats the Hare!!

The first box!

Sorry, this is not your ordinary interesting post ooozing Indian culture, ethnology or folklore.  No, it's much more exciting than that!!!  Our sea shipment arrived last Thursday!  This serves as one excuse why this blog has been quiet for the past week!  

Fifteen boxes, two twin mattresses with box springs, a set of golf clubs, 1 air purifier, 18 dishes, 22 glasses, and other essentials such as a crock pot and 8 rolls of Bounty paper towels have made it to our new corner of the world!  Amazingly, there were only 3 injuries!  Our Brita water pitcher fractured its bottom, a small book shelf cracked its top shelf, and a tall standing oscillating fan broke it's only leg rendering it gimp.  Not too bad!  The packers at Charlotte Van and Storage come highly recommended.  Now we are left with a Himalayan mountain (side note regarding the word himalayan: After watching many science programs, I've officially dropped a syllable and switched from saying and thinking [him-uh- lay -uhn] to [huh- mahl -yuhn].  Sounds much more pompous, educated and interesting thanks to the Brits) of packing paper and a bunch of boxes filling our hallway.  As expressed before in a previous post, our bed is the highlight.  Nothing like your own bed! 

Now we await our AIR shipment (yes, the shipment that takes 15 hours to fly instead of 4 months to float!)!  Our sea shipment arrived in Delhi from Mumbi just last week and was delivered first thing.  Our AIR shipment continues to sit in storage in India where it has been for the past 3+ months.  Essentials like a jug of El Paso Taco seasoning mix, 2 jars of Country Time Lemonade mix, 2 bottles of Bar-B-Q sauce (forget which brand), 4 blue plastic totes of Karen's teaching supplies, and my tripod are the highlights of that shipment!  Here are some pictures of Move In Day!

***Update:  We just found our our air shipment is at the Beijing Airport!  What?!