Thanksgiving in India

For Thanksgiving the four of us ate at a fancy restaurant that sold good chicken, mashed potatoes, bread and green beans! Marc and I ordered “crispy chicken” that we thought was the fried chicken, but turned out to be a Chinese saucy chicken- quite good, but not quite like Thanksgiving turkey. We realized we were eating Chinese chicken, Indian bread, green beans, and mashed potatoes, topped off with the an American Pepsi. What a Thanksgiving! The group also humored me by watching White Christmas, a tradition I’ve had for three years now. We also played Frisbee! What is Thanksgiving without some kind of sport? Overall, we were pretty pleased with our Thanksgiving in India experience.

While in India I’ve been making a list of things I’m thankful for. I started it back in October and made sure to write at least one thing down from Halloween until Thanksgiving. This is the result:

Thankful List

- Dreams. They can bring relief from stresses, help ease what I’ve missed while in India, make me laugh or smile, and fulfill my "wants" from home when I can’t have them- like restaurants where I can drink the water, food that tastes like what I expect, and of course, my family and friends.

- Christmas and pudding

- Music

- Friendly people who just start talking to you

- Sidewalks

- Drinking fountains and clean water- oh how I miss clean water!

- Clean bathrooms with toilet paper and soap

- Actually, just toilets and not squatters…

- Seemingly minor events- such as candle light vigils

- Just candles in general, especially when the power goes out

- Sunrises and sunsets

- Gorgeous visuals that give us the same promise of a new day no matter where we are

- And the are amazing from my balcony!

- good friends, who send emails just when I seem to need them

- coke, to keep the “beasties” away and calm the unsettled stomach, and bring a smile as we toast “to diabetes” with every drink

- Desserts

- Clean clothe, Just that feeling of putting on clean clothes- esp. after you haven’t for like a week… And fabric softener! I miss that so much…

- American democracy and the American dream

- Laughter, Tibetans love to laugh, and I have laughed a ton w/ my family and friends here. It can break barriers and lighten moods like no other.

- Newspapers, to commemorate big events and keep us informed

- Little things people do, such as giving you their newspaper when they are done.

- Good movies, all good movies that make you feel like a little kid again, or make you laugh, or fall in love, or believe in the good in people, or just allow you to escape for a few hours. The world tends to be much simplier in a movie, and reminds us that life can be so much more.

- Atonement, the peace that believing in another perfect world, and the comfort a Savior can bring to you, the perspective it can bring.

- Christmas songs and movies, those ongs that get stuck in your head and make you happy all day. Movies that make you think of your traditions and your family.

-Beautiful buildings and nature

- Hard work

- Intricate, detailed things

- Exercise!

- Makes me feel so good! And relieves stress so well!

- Good transportation

- Universality of being human, the things we all have in common simply because we are human

- Pictures, the keep sakes of all those moments you hope not to forget.

- Good authentic Indian and Tibetan food

- Ice cream!

- Movie theatres, particularly ones where the power doesn’t go out in the middle… Although it does make things more exciting and create more suspense…

- Alone time, the time to ponder in quiet space, rejuvenate.

- Passions/interests, that make life more exciting. I suppose they aren’t necessary, but make life so much better, worth living.

- Good books!

- Technology; computers, emails, phone calls, DVDs, news on the internet and tv… I have been so spoiled!

- Fall; the colors, cool breeze that zips through, wanting to be tucked under blankets by a fireplace.

- Heaters

- Fireplaces; nostalgic, romantic, cute and cozy, and completely warm. Plus, I really just like watching fire…

- Singing out loud

- Understanding of others

- Stars, gazing at them every night while out here- there is a calmness and sereneness in the skies at night.

- Freedom, gratitude that I’m not confined to a prison with no options, that I can work, go to school, make decisions, move to another place, have a social life and surround myself with those I love… and just the pursuit of happiness

- Classy things; black and white pictures, fancy dining tables, tuxs and dresses

- Babies and children, the awe, the wonder, the trust, the faith, the smiles.

- Difference architecture, art, designs; I really like Asian architecture, fabrics, etc

- Cologne and perfume! Oh how I miss getting wiffs of good smelling people everywhere I go! Its only a rare occurence here

- Holidays/special days, they get us to celebrate, make the most of life for at least one day. We should see every day as a gift and reason to celebrate, but we are forgetful creatures and in the hustle and bustle of the “everydayness” we forget what it means to live to the fullest. We need reminders- and these days provide just that. Reminds us that life is worth living, put the fight and zest back into us. A renewal of energy, faith, excitement, hope, and happiness.

- good food, good traditions, good family and friends, and the holiday season!

Norbulingka, Amritsar

So much to catch up on! The first place to tell you about is Norbulingka. It’s the Tibetan Art Institute. It’s secluded and tucked behind some Indian villages about 30 minutes from Dharamsala. It’s completely quiet and secluded, which almost seems like a novelty in India. We were given a tour of the art studio full of thangka paintings. No mess ups are allowed mind you, and they usually take at least a month to finish one painting. Next we saw the fabric thangkas that Buddhists hang from the walls. The work is done at different stations with groups of people working on individual pieces. Next was the woodwork shop. They draw detailed, intricate designs on the wood, then carve them out.

Last was the cooper molding/statues, some of which can take a year and half to do. As we walked through these different workshops, I realized it had never hit me just how much time it takes to make these beautiful objects. All of these projects are so time consuming, so intricate. I can never look at any of these objects the same again. Last we visited the Doll Museum. It shows the history, culture, traditions, of Tibetans all through these little puppets.

Two weeks ago we went to Amritsar, the famous Sikh site.

First, it was a huge shock to get back into Indian culture. For almost two months we’ve been around Tibetans. Loads of people, rickshaws, lots of noise and horns, people staring and gawking, and lots of pollution! Every Indian state is so different- in language, in looks, in behavior, etc. Punjabis for instance are exptrememly tall. Even some women are above six feet (vs. the south where not even the men are that tall). Punjabis are also much lighter in skin color- many look almost like a tanned Caucasion, while the southern Indians can be almost as dark as Africans. The Punjabis we found to be more friendly as well. They were always asking to shake our hands and introduce themselves, even if that was the only English they knew. They also loved to take pictures of us, and would ask if they could take pictures with us quite frequently.

But the big site there is the Golden Temple. It is the most beautiful building we’ve been to so far. As you walk into the square, you check your shoes in and walk barefoot all around the building. You walk through water on the way in to clean your feet as well because it is holy ground. You also have to have your head covered (as you can see from out pirate looking bandanas. The Golden Temple is in the center of a giant pool/lake. All around the square is tiled floor with a red carpet in the center.The big white buildings surround the square. The only way I can describe the feeling is by comparing it to what I think a big Muslim mosque would feel like. The loudspeakers around the square play prayers being read from their sacred book. Oh, and the kitchen there feeds anyone who comes through, which is an average of 30,000 people a day! I expected the food to be not so great, being made in the mass like that. But it was delicious! Especially the rice pudding… yum!

A little that I learned about the Sikhs, they are like a fusion of Hinduism and Islam. They have 5 symbols they wear on them at all times- a turban/head covering, a dagger, an under garment, a bracelet… and I forgot the last one. They have a long history of war and have been persecuted by many different groups. For those of you that are LDS, an LDS guy who studied Sikhs called them the “Mormons of the Middle East,” for a few of the reasons you can guess from above, but also because of their history being quite similar to the history in the Book of Mormon, particularly some of the war stories.

The Indo-Pakistan border is a little over an hour ride from Amritsar so we went to the changing of the guard ceremony. I have no idea what to say about it because I have no idea what I witnessed and what exactly happened. I’m sure it was full of symbols that were lost on me. But the guards had these amazing peacock looking hats. The march with huge arm swings and big high kicks. There was lots of yelling on both sides, lots of chanting and cheering. It was interesting to see the Sanskrit Indian language and the Arabic Pakistani language, one on each end. I also couldn’t help but realize that the land looked exactly the same on both sides of the fence. No rivers, no mountains, no land differences at all. The only thing that separated “India” from “Pakistan” was the fence and the soldiers.

We also experiences our first Bollywood movie in an Indian movie theatre. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the one I was hoping to see, from all the previews. We saw one called Fashion- which right away we knew probably wasn’t going to be a big it with any of us. But it was playing so we saw it. First I need to fill you in on a few things about Bollywood movies. There is always music, dancing, colorful clothes. There is also never any kissing on the lips- that is not appropriate in Indian culture, although the new trend is to show kissing on the neck, etc, there is still no kissing on the lips. Also, there has never been a movie about extramarital affairs- until last year when one came out. It was a huge controversy and many said such movies should not be made. But it was actually quite successful from what I understand. This new one had an affair in it- of course they don’t show anything in Indian movies, but you know its going on. There was also no dancing and no singing by the characters. It completely baffled us! This was not a normal Bollywood in any sense of the term. I think the only things that were traditional “Bollywood” were that that it was in Hindi (although quite a bit of it was in English), almost 4 hours long and the over dramatic acting. If it weren’t for those three things and for the power going out in the middle of the movie, we wouldn’t have realized it was a Bollywood movie.

The last part of our trip to mention is that I finally got sick! After almost three months of not having more than an occasional upset stomach or diahrria, I finally got sick like almost every student of India. And let me tell you, it was a great joy spending half the night by the toilet. At least it was a real toilet though, and not a sqatter like many places here in India.

Mumbai attacks

I have fallen way behind in writing in here- almost a month behind! ANd although I have much to catch up on, for the moment I just wanted to post a blog about the recent Mumbai attacks. I don't know the mileage to Mumbai, but it is probably at least 1,000 miles away from where I am at. We are just fine where we are now, so no one worry about that.

To give a little bit of information though, although this is a huge terrorist ploy here, it isn't the first one since we've been here. THe biggest and the most damage to be sure. But violence, especially around the time of elections in India, is not rare. There are huge tensions between the Muslim and Hindu groups here and they often turn violent. It's actually ironic because I had just mentioned to someone it had been a few weeks since something happened. I spoke too soon.

I'm sure I'll comment more later as the rest of the story unfolds, but for now know that we are safe in the mountains...