We’re leaving tomooorrow dun dun duuun

Emil’s gone around singing it all day long, it’s the last day in Banaras, leaving at noon tomorrow for a quick visit to Delhi before we head back to Sweden.

I’ve got everything I need to complete my thesis, I passed the Hindi test (15ECTS credits, wopdidoo), I sent a 19kg package home to Sweden, I’m going to cook dinner and watch a movie with Ashish and the rest of the guys tonight, I get more money than anticipated in December… and soon I get to meet my family, my cat and my fair lady. It’s a NICE day alright!

This is probably the last update for this travel blog, evuuurr. I just noticed that the blog had over 2.500 views, that kind of creeps me out. I thought this was meant for my girl and my mum, but oh well, hope you enjoyed the ride, I know I did.

Now it’s time for kittens! MEOWZAH! I miss her bigtimes.

Back to Bananas

Just came back from supper with Sara and Emil, the trio in Bhawan have been reduced to two, Fredrik went home to Sweden yesterday. Rishikesh has been awesome, stunning views and sore muscles made up most of the trip. The train back from Rishikesh to Delhi went smoothly, it was even at the platform before estimated departure time, word! However, we made up for our good speed by standing still nearly an hour this morning. And I had gotten little to none sleep during the night, since two Indian fellows next to me decided to crank up the volume on their lap top and shout to each other, bastards. And I have a major cold, again. It always comes in handy when flying. Anywho, it’s neat being back in Banaras, will be a few days of studying, sending shit home and saying good byes.

So… now we’ve managed to survive yet another adventure in Bananaland, and here are some pics to prove it!

Panick Attacks & Adrenalin Kicks

Just keeping you all informed about the awesome place called Rishikesh.

Me and Emil left Amar Bhawan at 8.30 the 12th of December, since this country is India we planned for the traffic to be a mess, so we had roughly two hours until the train departed. Or so we thought. Turns out Indian Railways is as prepared for foggy weather as SJ is for snow. The train left at 14.30 instead, from the wrong platform of course, that’s and Indian tradition. We were due to arrive in Haridwar at 04.35 the 13th, we got there at 9 instead. Took a taxi to Rishikesh, and walked around looking lost for a bit. We hadn’t booked a hotel or anything so we just went over a rocking suspension-bridge (and I mean that literally, not that the bridge was funky/cool/whatever). We climbed a steep hill and took residence in a shabby hotel called Hill Top. Seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, now – not so much… my legs are burning.

Yesterday we were just chilling in the town, browsing some handicraft stores and enjoying the stunning views of mountains and rivers. Went for a stroll and ended up at a beach next to Ganges, spectacular. Ganges is actually green up here, not brown as in Banaras. Our room lacks any form of heating so we had about 12 degrees Celsius. Bought ourselves a room-heater that blew out the building’s electricity in a matter of seconds hehe. On the second time it went a bit better, so now one side of the bed is nice and toasty, while Emil’s freezing like crazy.

Today we went river rafting in Ganges. Quite the adventure, thought I was going to kick the bucket big time every now and then. Went trough rapids that were a 5 on the rafting scale, which apparently was quite a bit. It was awesome anyway, in the word’s original meaning – breathtakingly awe-inspiring.We also met a white guy claiming to be a monk and a previous cook for Rage Against the Machine. He approached me with the words; “are you proper straight edge, or do you just look the part?” Funny guy. He gave me a book, so I gave him some cash, everybody wins – yay.

Tomorrow we’ll go on a Safari in Rajaji National Park, and on Friday we’ll be trekking in the base of Himalaya, 1600 meters altitude, before heading back to Delhi with the night train and then fly back to Banaras from there. Next Tuesday it’s back to Delhi and next Thursday I land in Sweden, hectic and superb.

Will post some pics from the trip as soon as I get back to Bhawan, there are some nice ones indeed, and hopefully there’ll be more by the week’s end.

Over and out, miss you all, peace out etc.

Gorge

ऋषिकेश is ON!

The 4^th Dec we went down the Gaths and saw the elephantman, the guy known from various documentaries and ‘an idiot abroad’. People here call him Bāba Gaṇeśa-ji, believing him to be the reincarnation of the Hindu God Gaṇeśa. The things he did when we were there were smoke some pot and drink some chai. Couldn’t decide if I should be a bit amazed to meet a man revered as a God or think wrongly of it since it’s a guy with a tumor being exploited in my opinion.

The 5^th Dec we went to a spice market and then strolled around in Godoulia, the old market districts, on the hunt for some Christmas gifts. Didn’t buy much, apart from spices. Think I managed to drag about 2-2½ kilos home. Not that it ruined me particularly, spent about 170 SEK on it in total, and that’s including two boxes of saffron.

Today I’ve just been studying my arse off, Hindi exams are coming up (it’s on Thursday) and my essay is nowhere near done. I thought I’d have about two weeks left to finish it, but I kind of spontaneously booked a week’s trip to ऋषिकेश (Rishikesh) with Emil, and I leave for Delhi the 20^th. So this Wednesday and Thursday will be spent on Hindi, Friday we’ll go to Surya and have a wee bit of fun with Fredrik and Linnéa as it’s their last weekend here. Saturday-Sunday will be HARDCORE study sessions. Monday (12^th) – Saturday (17^th) will be spent on trains and in Rishikesh, a mountain town at the base of the Himalayas. Will be hiking, rafting in Ganges and perhaps go for some bungee jumping? (No, Anti, I won’t – promise!) That leaves Dec 18,19 to complete the essay, 20-21 in Delhi, and 22 back to Sweden. Jeez, tough schedule much?

Sixteen days

Until I leave Banaras. It’s something I’m looking forward to immensely, yet I don’t want to leave India behind. If I could bring Ashish with me home I guess it’d make things a whole lot easier.

This Friday we went to Pizza Hut with him, first time of his life he went there, all dressed up. Kind of cute. When we were sitting there he practiced his Swedish a bit; “det brinner, passa dig! Heja Sverige!” And out of the blue he said “I know they chant in Punjab, they say Balle Balle, teehee”, which cracked me up. He continued with telling me that I should ask the waiter what shoelace is called in Hindi, so I complied. When the waiter showed up I asked him, “shoelace को हिनदी मे कया केहते है?” i.e. what’s shoelace in Hindi? He pointed at my shoe and said Fitta. Funny guy. Made it even funnier by asking “Why, is that your name?” to which I responded yes, of course. So now I’m starting to see a trend at Pizza Hut, in Agra they called me Gorge, in Banaras they call me Fitta.

Aaaanyway, time to study.

Cheerio!

Gorge the Vagina.

 

PS. I MISS COOKING! AAAAAAAAAKKKK

Boringly blogging a boring blogpost, blarb blurb blaha.

I just realized that I haven’t ever written about my daily life here in India, so let’s do the most boring blog post ever.

I start the day whenever Fredrik or Emil tries to kick in my door, about 8 a.m. Have some breakfast, soy milk and muesli or some Thin Crisps with peanut butter and water. Sounds all exotic and nice doesn’t it?

Usually I’ll try to study a bit after breakfast, or do the Hindi assignments if I have Hindi later during the day.

Currently my essay looks like this;

 

and I’m nowhere near finished… have the background, result, analysis, discussion and conclusion left to do. So what have I done all this time? Good question.

At around noon it’s time for lunch, rice, vegetables, dāl and chapāti. It was great food. For a week.  At the moment I loathe the smell of coriander, but oh well, our cook is awesome and likes to hug mums.

After lunch we usually head to Open Hand Café if it’s a Hindi day (i.e. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday), have some coffee and then a dose of Hindi.

Exams are coming up, 8^th of December, yikes. If we don’t have Hindi I like to pretend that I’m studying, usually reading interesting articles or book only to realize that they have fuck all to do with my subject.

As of today we started with a daily ritual, Sunes Jul @ 6 p.m. sharp. After that injection of Swedish awesomeness we go for supper. We have quite the rolling schedule, swapping between Yaffa, I:ba and Hayat (our friend the Arab).

I’ve got to say I dig the Arab the most. He makes me yummy hummus.

In the evening it’s time for some recreation, usually this involves something as thrilling as yawning through an episode of some series and read a book.

And so, alas, we call it a day.

Make some noise for the bhawan boys

Yesterday we went to the movies with Ashish, had planned to watch an Indian horror flick, but it turned out to be too late to catch it in the cinema. The only screening was at the moment Desi Boyz, a movie about two mates joining a male escort service. Somehow I didn’t quite guess for that being a big hit in India. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0flFuZxMcc

The one thing you need to succeed in India is (and I quote Ashish); big in the body, big muscle, and dimples!

Anyway, not been up to much lately, been catching up on my reading and whatnot. Went to Open Hand Café today and the power lines started snapping a bit, suddenly there were sparks flying all over the place, quite an experience. Turns out that the big ad put up had become loose and hung down on the lines, smooth indeed. Luckily, Tom Cruise (dunno the fella’s name, but they sure look alike) climbed a steel pillar full of barbed wire, agile like a monkey, and cut the bastard thing down.

I filmed the whole adventure, and I thought I’d show you to it, but apparently movie clips is a safety hazard according to wordpress, so tough luck.

You’ll have to make do with these pups, cute eh? A beggar has made them a blanket out of a grain sack and some newspapers, and is keeping the mum fed. Even though he barely gets by each day, he still finds it in his heart to feed the street dog, now that’s something…

 

Prepostorous pots

Remember when I told you I’d keep you posted? Well, never mind. I had the shittiest night, threw up at around 3 a.m. and couldn’t really put myself up for Kabaddi this morning. I’ve mostly been hanging with Fredrik today, and doing some background research for the C paper. Just came home from a wedding reception, was not all the fanfare I believed it to be, since I thought we were going to the actual ceremony, but oh well, was fun to see. At least both the groom and bride seemed happy about it.

At the moment… I’m just bitter is all. People are apparently spreading rumours, amongst others that we smoked marijuana at Ganga Mahal? I’ve never touched any drougs in my life, not counting nicotine, caffeine or alcohol. Makes me sad that people have to go around sowing in bullshit. What’s more – it annoys the living hell out of me seeing Ashish, one of the dearest friends, and our field assistant, down here in India beeing treated like shit. He works non-stop trying to make people happy, but that’s not enough now, innit? Anthropological behaviour my ass, people treat him like a god damn servant.

People seem to have way easier judging other folks than noticing their own bloody flaws.

I’ll go to bed now, sorry for the buzz kill.

Oh, and happy first of Advent ya’ll! Miss you.

Gorge

 

Cracking hip bones, crisps and comics.

just noticed that the gothenburg film festival is kicking off the 27th of januari. STOKED!

today’s been quite lame, my body’s acting up, slept till almost 11 and woke up with a shitty stomach. At least I slept more than I’ve done the last week. Emil went off to spend some time with his mum, diminishing the amar bhawan boys to 2. I’ve just been camped up in my room for the major part of the day, but at least I’ve done something about the essay. Read Understanding Hinduism, by Frank Whaling, cover to cover, and the major part of David Kinsley’s Hindu Goddesses, so now I’m eager to start chipping away at the background chapter of my paper. Can’t find a decent book depicting the Hindu caste system, but oh well, can’t have it all, now, can we?
What else… I’m a bit confused about the whole mail system in India, and now I don’t mean the regular post, but how people react to e-mails. I’ve been sending my Hindi teacher mails, asking for him to help me with a translation but I never got a response. However, when I met him, he said “I’ve read your mail”. So… great, but what does that inclince? You helping me, or a polite way of saying ‘stop bugging me?’ Heh… hard to know. Anyhow, time to take a break from the essay and indulge in some crisps and comics, it’s Saturday after all.

Tomorrow I’ll head out for the banks of Ganga along with Steve and the staff at Open Hand. It’s time for Kabaddi ya’ll! I’ll keep you posted.

Over and out,

Gorge

Calloused fingers

It’s true, my fingers are calloused from writing. Never thought it was possible, I mean the tips are already quite battered from the bass and guitar and whatnot, but from the keyboard? Jeez.

Anyhow, I’m done with the bloody transcriptions! Finally! And what else, we found a nice shack to dig into and have some good food, neat! this calls for celebration – rice crackers and the walking dead comics… that’s hardly out of the ordinary, but it’s the means I have. And for those of you who hasn’t already, check it out. The comic I mean, not the crackers. Or them too, whatever floats your boat. Cheers!