Rob and Ashley here showcasing the double bed!
Me, getting ready to sleep in my small single bunk! Oh and that fan did not work the whole time...The one problem with the three of our beds was that it was located in the back of the bus so we had a VERY bumby ride! This may have just been to be expected from trying to sleep in a bus but I think it also may have had something to do with the fact that our bus driver had no regard for slowing down for potholes or speed bumps. Normally, this would have proved a hellish experience for me as I have a terrible time sleeping in a bed, let alone in a bus in India, but one of our fellow interns was very kind enough to give me some of her...sleeping aides. So what seemed to be tortuous night turned into a solid 5 hours of sleep. I was not complaining.
I woke up around 5 AM which was just in time to watch the sunrise. As I was sleeping on the east side of the bus, I was able to get a lovely view of the sun rising over the coconut trees and plains of Tamil Nadu. Probably one of the coolest things about taking this bus ride, and being awake this early, was being able to see where Tamil Nadu ends and Kerala begins. It's as if where the state ends, the geography and climate change immediately.
One moment you're in the flat plains of Tamil Nadu with clear sky and the sun ready to do its worst against you, the next minute you're in the middle of these lush, green, mountains with rain clouds hanging over you. It's really quite the site to see. Shortly after entering the mountains, we got off the bus at this small village and took autos to a house where we could take showers, rest, and leave our bags for the day. Once everyone was showered (and by everyone I mean the girls and Rob), we had breakfast and went to a tiger reserve! Despite the name, we saw no tigers. In fact it's very rare if you do see tigers there. Apparently tigers do live there but are not often seen. Instead we saw a ton of monkeys.
In the middle of the reserve was a lake that was created by some huge dam. However, they would not let us on the boat ride with cameras unless we payed a camera fee. I chose not to do this and am thank for the decision as the only exotic animal we saw was a kingfisher which would have been to small to catch on camera. It was cool to see a kingfisher though as it is the mascot of the most popular beer/airline/water/wine company in India; aptly named Kingfisher. Anyway, after we left the reserve we walked through the cool rain to a place where we could ride elephants. Now I know I already talked about riding elephants before but I no longer consider riding the elephant in Mysore as a legitimate elephant ride experience since there he crammed six of us into a saddle box. That just doesn't seem to do elephant riding justice. What I was really looking for was a bareback elephant ride. The kind of ride where your legs are so sore from riding that you never want to do that again. I got that. But I got more. A whole lot more...
Meet Lakshmi. Our elephant. Rob, Ashley and I piled onto this girl and set off through a fabricated jungle maze to make you think you're doing something exotic and to make your friends remark at how cultured you are when you show them a picture of you riding an elephant through the 'jungle.'
As you can see, my legs are spread pretty far apart and as you probably cannot see, my...rear end is resting comfortably on a a metal rod. Needless to say halfway through the ride I was ready for it to be over. To I regret it? Not at all! Would I have liked to have been a little more comfortable? Yes, very much so but what to do? Anyway after the ride the owners invited us to take pictures with another elephant. This time a male elephant.
Meet Krishnan. Even Tom Cruise couldn't resist getting close with Krishnan!
Though from the looks of it, it doesn't look like he was having that much fun with Krishnan. Anyway after this exotic experience we loaded up on a private bus that was taking us to the hill station of Munnar. We were told that the bus ride would only take one hour (no problem). It took four. Luckily someone brought a bollywood movie, 'My Name is Kahn,' so we were distracted for three of those four hours. This was a very good thing as the bus ride was one of the most exhilarating yet frightening experiences I've had. In order to get to Munnar we had to go through the windy mountain roads which normally would probably be very scenic and beautiful. However, since we were there at the end of the monsoon, the fog was thick that you could barley see 50 ft in front of you. This was of no concern to the driver as he seemed to be driving as fast as possible shooting around the sharp mountain turns. As I said it was exhilarating but definitely made one ponder their own mortality. At one point we stopped next to a large tea plantation and the sweet smelling fragrance of tea poured through the windows into the vehicle. The smell was intoxicating to say the least and was a welcome scent in comparison to some of the other interesting things I had smelled since arriving here. We got to the hotel and then promptly fell asleep as our first day in Kerala came to a close.The next day I was woken up early to the loud sound of drums and some body yelling into a megaphone. Tom Cruise, my bunk mate, told me that it was a Hindu festival where the women go up to the temple with bowls of rice and ask the gods to grant long life to their husbands. They then cook their rice in a small bowl to see if the gods responded favorly to their request. If the rice boils over the bowl, then the gods have granted them their request. The line of women dressed in red saris seemed endless but we finally were able to cross the street, get breakfast and then pile all 11 of us into a small jeep.
Tom Cruise and I were shoved up front with the driver with Tom Cruise in the middle. Unfortunately for Tom Cruise, the stick (stick shift) was located right between his legs. Luckily the jeep ride to our next destination was not very long. We went to this amazing national park at the highest point in Kerala. It was amazing to say the least. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
Tea
Notice the waterfall that flows all the way down the mountain.It was probably one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We had another adrenaline pumping ride back to Munnar. unfortunately this time it was my turn to sit next to the diver which as you can imagine was not the most comfortable experience. The remainder of the day was spent walking around Munnar which included the guys stopping into a fabric store to get mundus for the next day (I'll explain later what this is). We went to bed relatively early the next day and then woke up very early to catch a bus to go to Neenu's house! The bus ride was nice and empty at first but about an hour into the ride I was pressed up against the side of the bus with tons of women's bags in my arms. I wish I could say that I volunteered to carry the bags but that's just not how it happened. When we got off the bus we had autos waiting to take us to Neenu's jungle spice farm. As soon as we got there we had fresh uppum and sambar waiting for us and coffee made completely from their farm. The coffee was from their farm, with masala from their garden and milk from their cows. Talk about organic. After this we showcased our mundus for Neenu's father and he agreed to take a picture with us in our mundus.
As you can see, we're all very colorful.We stayed there for two days and Neenu gave us a tour of her farm and showed us everything they grow including, coconut, cocoa, cinnamon, pepper, rubber, guavas, tapioca, coffee, plantains, and some more that I can't remember. The following is a video that you might find interesting about the one of the various resources her Father farms.
Rubber:
One of the oddest things I saw there was this:
Although it looks like an alien or some weird creature, it's actually a cocoa bean, or rather, a lot of cocoa beans! The strange thing, is that if you suck on the individual beans, they taste fruity. It's only when you take the slimy white coating off that you see the dark bitter bean that is used to make chocolate. Neenu's farm truly was one of the most relaxing spots. We didn't do any sightseeing (besides the farm tour) but I think everyone one of us enjoyed just relaxing in paradise for a couple of days. We spent the last day at the farm then got back on a bus for a long trip back to Bangalore. Once again I got the bouncy bed in the back.There was simply no time to rest once we got back as a we had found out that we had just had a successful operation in Andhra Pradesh and had freed a number of laborers. We were even written up in a local newspaper which you can read here: IJM saves the day! This was a great welcome to our as we had been struggling with the local governments for the entire summer to free bonded labor victims. Finally this case fell in our lap and the rest is history. That Friday I also had one of the biggest challenges in my personal life as I had to defend my title of "Bangalore Champion" along with my 'Certificate of Specialness.' As most of you don't know what this is, let me explain.
The Bangalore Challenge is an activity that has been here since I got here. Basically one person has the 'certificate of specialness' and another person can challenge the champion to whatever activity he or she wishes such as, chubby bunny, eating rice with chopsticks, or chugging a liter of water. I had won the challenge by challenging Jeff the legal intern to a push-up contest. This wasn't really a legitimate win, however, as he was leaving for the US and couldn't take the certificate with him. So it was this Friday when my true challenge would come. Deepa, one of the national interns, challenged me to a Pani Puri eating contest. I felt that this was a bit unfair as Pani Puri is street food and street food has a reputation for punishing westerners with very awful sickness. Additionally, Pani Puri is a fried ball with masala potato and spiced (non-filtered) water inside. Unfiltered water is yet another thing that is known to make westerners sick so I was very nervous as I contemplated my inevitable food poisoning illness that was to come.
Deepa was extremely confident for her win (Jeff and I, I think, would agree that she was little TOO confident) and was walking on air the whole day. I was the direct opposite. I decided if I'm going to go down then I might as well do it in a blaze of glory.
It came down to the last pani puri but I managed to choke it down just before Deepa. To be honest I think she should have one as she had the bigger pani puri's. The best part was, I didn't get sick!
That weekend was one of the last weekends that my roommates Rob and Ashley were to spend in Bangalore. This past weekend they left to go back to Arizona so we thought since we had a to have another Barbecue before they left, we should have it on labor day! Of course, this ended up turning into a dance party as every party and movie night does here. Our cook, Joitha, came over with her daughter, husband and their VERY little pug puppy Lassie.
Ashley and Christine being creepy while Lassie sleeps with one eye open...Amidst the Shakira, Beyonce and Electric Six that were playing all night, Neenu was kind enough to grace us with a classical Indian dance. It is very interesting seeing this style of dance as the whole story is cateloged through the facial expressions of the dancer. I recorded it on camera so you can see just what it looks like. Unfortunatley, since the lighting wasn't that great you can't see the facial expressions that well.
(Video coming soon)
It's been a really great time here and I am so greatful for this opportunity. Amidst these fun times though, when someone leaves it is very sad and hard as you do not know when you will see that person again. This time was especially hard as two people left and both of them happened to be my roommates. Rob and Ashley (Mom and Dad), I miss you guys already.
While we were dropping them off at the airport though, we saw a very strange site. This young, white, man was walking up and down the outside of the airport with his computer playing his music as loud as he could (which, as you can imagine, was not loud at all). We kept observing the guy and watched him slam his computer against the window where the receptionists for the various airline companies sat and then took his computer cord and started flinging it around in large circles. The girls left and I was with two friends who wanted to see what was going on with this guy. Turns out he had his ticket on his computer and did not print it out so he was trying to get his revenge on the receptionist who had denied him entry to the airport, by acting like a buffoon. He was French and was in India, as he put it, because he was "helping Indians say 'no' to westerners." I really don't get what that means, but my understanding was that he was trying to teach Indian buisnessmen how to communicate with westerners. While my two friends, Ollie and Arvind, were busy talking to the lady behind the window to see if they could get his ticket, the Frenchman started to talk to me and ask about what I was doing here. I told him that I was here with an NGO that works to end bonded labor and sex trafficing, among other things, around the world. This Frenchman then went on to ask if I believed it was wrong to prosecute a foreinger in say India if he had engaged in the sex trade here. Not really believeing what I was hearing I began to give a brief synopsis of the soverignty of the nations, which he just wasn't understanding. He then asked 'Oh so it's like Kant's Categorical Imperitive!'
It wasn't. But I was sick of discussing this so I just said, "Yeah. That's exactly what it is."
He asked what I would be doing after India and I told him I had no idea, maybe go back to school. He then invited me to the plethora of universities in Paris! I said that it sounded great but I don't speak French.
When I said that he seemed to change gears without even thinking,
"That's the problem with you Americans' He said. 'You don't learn our language. You Americans think that we are snobs but that's not true at all. All we want is for you to learn our language." Before I had time to explain to say a number of things that raced to my mind Arvind and Ollie came back with the man's ticket. Turns out talking to the receptionist, is much more effective in communicating with people than swinging your cord around. Ironic that he was chosen to teach Indians how to communicate with westerners. When Arvind and Ollie gave him his ticket he proceeded to crumble it up and said 'I crumble this because this is how they treated me!' At that point we had done what we could. We left in hurry not wanting to witness how this guy would shot himself in the foot again.
