Happy Holi!

India abounds with holidays. There is probably a different holiday celebrated daily somewhere in the country. I have rarely even had a full week of classes because we have so many days off due to holidays. This week held by far the best holiday I have witnessed here in India. On Wednesday, March 11 we celebrated Holi. Holi is the Hindu ‘Festival of Colors’ and is fabulous.

Celebrations began on Holi Eve. On campus, a couple hundred of people gathered on a field. There was a big bonfire, lots of drunk people, a DJ, and a lot of dancing. A couple people decided to start the color fest a little early- I ended up with a half green face, and much anticipation for the next day.

Wednesday morning the big fun began. Everyone dressed in clothes they knew would never be the same again. We set off with water guns and bags of brightly colored powder. About two minutes down the road we had our first encounter. There were a couple younger boys standing on the side of the road, watching us intently, as we were them. When we reached them there was a moment of unsureness, and then yelling of “Happy Holi!” as we ran at each other with handfuls of colored powder. And that was that and we continued down the road, so excited for more. After a few more minutes of walking we reached a boys hostel and were immediately bombarded by guys with bottles of dyed water, and of course with the shouting of “Happy Holi!”. We continued walking and had several more similar encounters. Finally we reached an area called Gops where the real Holi celebrations were happening. Everyone was running around and yelling and throwing colors at everyone else. Just minutes after we joined in the fun, most of us were barely recognizable because we were so covered in colors. It was good, not only because we got to throw colored powders at everyone all day, but because I didn’t feel as if I was viewed as such a foreigner- we were all the same color. It was the only day that when someone asked to take my picture I said yes and didn’t think they were simply taking my picture because I looked different.

Things at Gops died down around lunch time so I headed back to my hostel for food. After lunch I went into the showers and the floors were all sorts of colors. After my shower I still had a blue forehead and lots of other colored skin, as did most other people. You could definitely tell if someone had been a party-pooper that day because they didn’t have any unusual colors on them.

Sometime later in the afternoon I was invited to a party. Not thinking it was going to be a colored powder party, I dressed in (my only pair of) jeans and a dark t-shirt, just in case. I was hoping people wouldn’t laugh at my blue forehead. We arrived at the party to find that it was just as colorful as campus had been previously, and we were the clean out of place ones. Pretty quickly I was again covered in colors. There was one table full of big community buckets of colored powder. There were also huge tubs of pink-dyed water, which I got a bucket of poured on my head. Followed by an egg. My blue jeans are now purple jeans. Everything that was in my purse now has a pink tinge. And now 5 days later my skin is still a nice pink/magenta tint. I’ve been called Violet Beauregard (the girl that turns into a blueberry on Willy Wonka) multiple times, and rightly so. Everything I touch turns pink, really. My bed, clothing, phone, even a computer mouse that I used have pink on them now. The never-ending color was well worth it though, as Holi was one of my favorite days spent in India yet.

P.S. Watch out next March if you’re near me- I plan on bringing this holiday home.

A Typical Week at the University of Hyderabad

Sorry I haven't updated much lately- we no longer have wireless at our dorm so everything takes a long time. The past couple of weeks I have just been hanging out in Hyderabad, so here is a description of a typical week for me. Campus photos coming someday...

Monday
My week begins around 8am Monday mornings. I get ready for class and go downstairs for breakfast. Breakfast is served daily from 8-9am. Breakfast always consists of bananas, cereal, toast, and hard boiled eggs, and then there is a daily change between french toast, pancakes, oatmeal (known here as porridge), or some sort of Indian breakfast- often idlis or an Indian style grits. While sitting at the breakfast table we are served eggs/omelets and fresh juice (grape, watermelon, cheiku, banana, etc.).
(An alternative to this is a few of us sitting on a train, coming home from a weekend excursion. We get back to campus at some point in the morning, and sometimes run to class, sometimes don’t make it.)

After breakfast I hop on my bicycle and ride approximately 1.5 miles from my dorm (known here as a hostel) down to class. On Monday I have my first class from 9-10:45am. It’s called Thought and Culture of India and is taught by a visting professor who normally teaches at Miama University in Ohio. All the students in this class are study abroad students from the US (and one from Norway). My next class is Anthropology of Complex Societies from 11am-1pm. This class is a “normal” university class with mostly Indian students. Class culture is a bit different from what I’m used to. When the professor enters students stand and always refer to him as ‘sir.’ After this class I take my long bike ride back to the hostel for lunch.

Lunch is served daily from 1-2pm. There is a serve-yourself buffet line that has bean salad or fresh veggies, a fruit, curd (aka yogurt), roti (a flat bread), and a sweet (often gulab jamun or some other sweet ball of dough or other typical Indian sweets). Next is another buffet area where a kitchen worker serves us rice, a vegetable curry type dish or two, often some fried somethings, and dal (lentils). Lunch is nice because it is always vegetarian. Meals are usually followed by chai and sonf (anise seeds used for mouth refresher and good for digestion.

After lunch I usually rest for some time, do Hindi homework, or go to campus to attempt internet usage, which is not usually all that successful. I have Basic Hindi class from 4-5pm. After class sometimes I go with some friends to get chai and samosas, or just head back to the hostel to wait for dinner. My bike ride home from Hindi class is always the best because of the amazing sunset I get to see every day. And it’s not quite scorching hot anymore by the evening, so that’s nice. Sometimes I plan my bike rides to campus and back based on the heat- it’s sometimes nice to go a couple hours early just to avoid the crazy heat.

Dinner is served daily from 7-8pm. It’s pretty much the same as lunch, except not completely vegetarian. And dessert is ice cream every night.

After dinner time is often spent lounging around- doing homework or watching movies. Sometimes we will go into town, but that is quite a process as it takes so long to do anything or get anywhere here.

Tuesday
Breakfast routine repeats. After breakfast is some down time. Then I have Indian Philosophy class from 12-1pm. Lunch 1-2pm. Rest. Hindi class 4-5pm. Meditation class 6-7pm. Dinner 7-8pm. Hindi tutor Avinash from 8-9pm.

Wednesday
Breakfast. Thought and Culture of India 9-10:45am. Anthro of Complex Societies 11am-1pm. Lunch, often eaten at the student center due to lack of bike time. Indian Philosophy 2-4pm. Hindi class 4-5pm. Rest after 7 hours of class. Dinner. Sleep.

Thursday
A repeated Tuesday. Often ended with a train ride out of town to begin a weekend excursion.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
The weekend goes two ways. If I’m in Hyderabad it is a pretty relaxing weekend. We hang around our hostel, sometimes ride to campus to get on the internet. Sometimes we will go into town for shopping, and sometimes we go into town to see the Hyderabad sites (Golconda Fort, Charminar, zoo, Buddha statue, etc.).