A New Perspective

Back a few blogs ago I said, "going to India was like stepping back in time."  If you would ask me what I learned in India or how it effected me I would have to say it gave me a new perspective on the Bible.  I've been raised in a Christian home where the Bible was talked about and read a lot.  However, as we all know it wasn't written in our time or culture so there are things we can read and know about... but until we experience cultures similar to that time period, there's a part of the Bible that I don't feel can be reality to us here in America.  Take for example the story of Esther.  Esther was taken into the kings house to be prepared to go before him.  Ok, so yeah... pretty straight forward, BUT I got a picture of what that might have looked like when we went to India. We got to experience the traditional custom of preparing the bride for her wedding.  I couldn't help but wonder if what the bride, in India, went through could possible be similar to that of Esther.

On Tuesday morning we walked into the kitchen and Ritu was there getting something ready.  It was an orangish/yellow mixture that she was combining in a pot.  Without looking it up I can tell you that it definitely had turmeric in it, lavender oil, and some sort of flour.  When we asked what this was we were told that it's the turmeric paste that we would apply to Manisha's, the bride, skin.  For days they had been talking about the gathering that would take place that night. Neighbor women and family were all invited to come and we'd put the paste on and feed Manisha sweets, so that she'd be sweet.  The entire day we teased Manisha that she couldn't eat ANYTHING except sweets from the night of the party until the wedding.  There was a lot of jesting and laughter, it was fun.  In the afternoon the men went to little Pakistan to get the food for the celebration.  Over there they believe that the muslims/pakistani make the best foods and so it's a big deal to have it at your celebrations.  In the preparation we moved the table out of the way, took all the chairs out of the house and got ready for the party.  We would be sitting on the floor so that more people could fit into the house. Manisha wore a Sari the color of turmeric and the rest of us dressed up and made sure everything was ready for the preparation.
Let me tell you what, they know how to put on a party.  The guests arrived and we all sat around and sang for a while.

 Then they started applying the paste on Manisha, and feeding her sweets.  Everyone got a chance to put the scrub on her skin, and when a neighbor walked in they would great the bride, apply the paste, and join the rest of us singing, clapping or talking.  They also poured oil on her head, which reminded me of the verse, "You anoint my head with oil." NOW how many of you have memorized Psalm 23 and said that verse? Question number two: how many of you actually put oil on your hair?  In india they use mustard oil to make their hair healthy and soft.

 Those were the two things in the bible that really came alive and gave me a realization of what actually might have gone on or what they were talking about in the scriptures.
After the paste started drying on Manisha we took more oil and carefully massaged it into her skin.  (that's what I'm doing in the above picture) You had to be careful though because the paste was very abrasive and was causing slight irritation to her skin.  The sweets that we fed her were an interesting combination of textures and flavors.  They were made up of some sort of meal or coconut that was SOAKED in corn syrup.  When you would bite into it the sweetness would ooze out of the dense meal coating your mouth with sugar syrup.  Emily really liked them, but I'd have to say they weren't my favorite, and I didn't like how sticky mine fingers were after eating them.  Poor Manisha had AT LEAST 6 sweets shoved in her mouth at once! (upper left picture in collage)

Once the traditional singing and preparation was over we the music started and we all started dancing together!  It was SO much fun and it made me wish all my cousins and favorite dancing partners were there to join me.  They dance in a different style than we do and I noticed that they use their hands and hand movements a lot.  My favorite was with the Aunt was dancing with one of the girls and they were all singing... she would sing and the others would respond.  It was so extremely festive!  Here's a video for you to enjoy!(sorry they're a little blurry, they're still so much fun!)

The begging "Auntie", isn't she sweet?

 We danced a while and then I told them they should put soldier boy on.  A few years ago, at my cousin's wedding, my younger cousin taught me part of the dance.  I thought it would be fun to dance for them and teach it to them.  It was so much fun and they loved it, however part way through the evening they were begging me to dance it again.  This one older lady was especially insistent, she claimed her daughter hadn't seen me dance.  I said, no because I was seriously sooo overheated... it was a pretty long dance for someone out of shape, like me.  But they continued begging and it got to the point where they told me it would be offensive and disrespectful to my "Auntie"  if I didn't dance again. SO yup, you guessed it, I danced again.  I did better the second time, I wasn't so rusty on all the moves.  The memory makes me smile... She was so cute and after I got done she told me she really liked the crisscross thing I did with my feet it was "very beautiful".   WE danced until after 11 and then we ate wonderful spicy chicken, rice, and cheese mixture with our hands.

In all this I gained perspective into a new culture a new way of living and celebrating.  I seriously LOVED every minute of it!  I long to hear them all sing again, even though I have no idea what they are saying!  If I remember correctly they said something about the one song being about a bride getting ready and being ready for her husband.

I know this India trip is taking me a long time to post about but I really want to share my experiences with you!  I want to thank Mardi for giving me SO much traffic, Julie for being a great help, a wonderful blogger friend, and for featuring one of my cheesecakes on her site!  I want to encourage you all to check out, my two wonderful twitter friends and most supportive commenters, BUTTER and Stacey and their creative blogs!  I'm still very new at blogging... but I enjoy writing down what I see and think and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences!

Have you ever been to a different wedding with interesting traditions that changed the way you look at the traditional weddings you've been to? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

To market, to market!

Hey everyone.  I’m sorry that this post has been so prolonged in coming to the web.  We got a computer that was new to us, and we’ve had some slight problems and technicalities with it.  I had written over ½ of this blog post on it when it totally crashed and I haven’t been able to fix it yet to get anything off of it.  (Slight disappointment)  SO I was feeling extremely discouraged, upset, and not in any mood to blog.  BUT  now that you know my excuses let’s head to the MARKET! 

It was very important for us to go the market one of the first days we were in India, because we need to get ready for the wedding!  We needed to get our material for our sari’s so that our tops and under skirts could be “stitched”. I’m getting ahead of myself though, before we head out there are a few things you should know about shopping in India. 
#1: NEVER pay the price the person is asking for.

Isn't he charming?

Bartering is just a way of life in India, and in most of the foreign countries I have visited.  But what I found most interesting in India was how young they ingrain bartering in the children.  Ryan is four and he is the nephew of the family we spent most of our time with.  He is extremely charming and is going to an English Christian school where they are teaching him to memorize certain passages of the Bible.  His parents wanted him to quote psalms 23 for us.  He didn’t really want to so there was some bribery involved; they told him he could have a chocolate if he said the verse. Satisfied, Ryan starts the chapter. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.  He makes me…” he stops mid sentence holds up two fingers and says, “TWO chocolates!” It was from this moment on that I realized how young the Indians learn to barter!

Me, Angelina, Emily and Rosie

#2 in most situations you should have an Indian with you so that you don’t get ripped off. Often if the sellers saw a white person the price would double and sometimes even triple.  And EVEN if you got the price to come down you still were paying much more than you should have.  In our case, Angelina, will be our amazing tour guide, and constant barterer.  I have NEVER seen anyone be able to haggle a price down like she did.  More stories of this to come!

 The bangle shop will be our first stop.  Make sure you watch out for the trash, and those power lines that are just laying everywhere!

 

  Under the canopy of the bangle tent we start looking at the multitude of colors and designs of bangles.  From what I heard, traditionally bangles were only worn by married women, but it’s not as common now, anyone can wear them.  In India the women LOVE their bangles.  I was talking to Angelina, our chatter box and constant shopping guide, about bangles and I asked her if she wears them to bed.  She said, “YES… I like to hear them jingle when I roll over at night!” We needed to find bangles that matched the material we had picked out… so we found them and now let the bartering begin.  The first price they are asking for is 1500 rupees which is 33 dollars.

Photo taken by: Emily Walters

  Angelina thought that that was an outrageous price and she starts talking a mix of fast English and Hindi all at once.  Meanwhile we all just stand and watch her pretending like we know what’s going on until we see her shake her head from side to side (the equivalent of nodding) and hear her say, “TK”.  She turns and tells us the final price, “500 rupees (about 11 dollars) for two full sets of bangles”.   Now I don’t know about you all but I’m amazed at this girl’s skills… over the course of 5 minutes she managed to pay a THRID of the original price! From now on we're not going shopping without Angelina again!

What’s that?  Did one of you say you’re thirsty?  Well you’re in luck; right next to our bangle shop is a man making chai!

He has a gas burner and he’s making chai for whoever would like to pay 30 rupees (less than a dollar).  The liquid boils up, he takes the pot swirls the chai so it almost sloshes over the edge and then sets it back down on the flame so it boils up again and he repeats the process. When he’s pleased with the caramel color he strains the tea into plastic cups and serves you your chai.
Please don’t be too anxious to drink the chai because it’s VERY hot, and I almost always burn my mouth! 

Let’s walk on and enjoy the sights, smells, and people.  I’m sure you’ve noticed there are a lot of cars, motorcycles and people everywhere and there’s NEVER a silent moment.  Horns are always honking and letting you know when you’re in their way.  All around you there are tables full of fruits and veggies.

Emily and our shopper, Angelina. 

Over there are some coconuts, yes the green round things are really coconuts!  They are the type that they slice open, stick a straw in and you drink the milk.  I don’t really enjoy it but everyone here says it’s good for your stomach if it’s upset.  They also have other coconuts too but the green ones seem to be much more common.

This face should have been a clue!

 Angelina has gotten ahead of us and has
joined a crowd of people standing around this street vender, holding paper bowls and eating something that the man seems to be making for them.  In her cheerful voice she tells us that we HAVE to try Panipuris, they’re Max’s favorite and he can eat FIFTY of them!  Emily and I decided to be brave and we step up in the circle and join the hungry crowd.  I hold my bowl and the man puts this small fried bowl (the size of the mini cream puffs) in my bowl.  He places a few cubes of fried egg, adds a red sauce and some cool broth into the fried bowl.  Joseph, the man shopping with us, has already gobbled one down so we ask him, “Is it good?” He smiles and says, “yeah kind of”.  Well that seemed safe enough so Emily and I decide to dive into the water together, you see because the liquid you have to pop the whole thing into your mouth at once.

Into our mouths the concoction goes and I chomp down.  There’s NO way possible to prepare yourself for what was next to come.  Water gushes out, filling my mouth, the fried dough turns into crumbles and my cheeks are filled with swirling textures.  I don’t know what I’m supposed to do swallow it all or a little bit a time?  In the delay of swallowing my gag reflexes kick in, and I almost lose it all.  I quickly gain composer and just take 1 huge gulp.

photo borrowed from http://myrecipeflavors.blogspot.com/2009/03/pani-puri.html

You all are cheering and laughing and Emily declares that she “was fine until Erin gagged”.  Before we realize it the vender man is filling our plate with bite two.  The textures were too much for me, I drained the broth almost completely out and ate the snack that way, but after two I’m finished and ready to move on to our next adventure.

  I still feel a little hungry so we find another vender selling something like deep fried grilled cheese with a relish inside.  This is MUCH better and I enjoy a whole serving of this! 
 

 In this market you can find anything you need or want.  One shop is selling small tea cups, plates, and serving dishes.  Another vender is selling white material and next to him are the men dying scarves whatever color you need.  Men are sitting on low stools putting mehndi on hands and feet for about 200 rupees (4 dollars) and others with little carts selling soda. Something I find very interesting is all the men sitting next to sewing machines altering or sewing new designs.  I had to laugh and think about some of the guys at home sitting down to a sewing machine.  They think varnishing is “women’s work”, I can’t imagine what they would do if they had to alter or mend their own clothes.  

Most of the streets are just repeats of other streets we’ve been down, but it’s fun to see the people, smile at the children, and just experience it all!I can’t help but wonder what it would be like living here… day in and day out, until you know all the venders, and they no longer see the color of our skin.  

Let’s hop on a rickshaw and ride home.  Rickshaws are bikes in the front and a cart with two wheels on the back.  Most times you can fit three people on and the driver will peddle you where ever you’d like to go.  A good price from the market is about 30 rupees (less than 1 dollar).  I hope you don’t mind the bumping of the uneven streets or the panic of being in the middle of the intersection surrounded by honking horns.  Rickshaws are a fun, and cool way to get around and they let you see all the sights of India!




 
What are some memories of adventures this has brought back to you?  Have you even been to India before?  I know there are a lot of people who read this blog and I'd LOVE to hear some of your adventures!  Don't be shy, I'm waiting to hear from you!