pardon my rambling

We took a long weekend to Simla, which was the British summer capital back in the day. I never thought I'd actually be taking a toy train through the Himalayans, it is so beautiful and cool up there. We had to take 2 trains to get there (a total of about 12 hours traveling each way). The first train was pretty normal, but the toy train from Kalka to Simla was more like what you'd see in movies where people are traveling in India. It was small with paneless windows so everyone with a window seat hung half way out of the train and it was completely acceptable to hang out of the doors. I've never appreciated cool air so much in my life, so if I wasn't already happy enough, the view was amazing, green mountains with clouds hanging out here and there, sometimes we went right through them. Simla is completely a tourist town now, so it wasn't hard to find a place to eat or stay, but it was a challenge to walk around there. The roads there remind me of this hill on a cross country course in Kansas that we went to every year in high school, it was so steep you felt like you ought to just grab on with your hands and climb it like a ladder...but in Simla that's everywhere. We hiked up part of the mountain to the Jakhu Temple, which is a temple of the Hindu monkey god, Hanuman. After dragging myself up the mountain, I understood why it was a temple for the monkey god: they are everywhere. It was odd to see them so often especially since the terrain, filled with evergreen type trees...and the random cactus...isn't exactly where I picture monkeys. We were warned not to carry anything because of the monkeys. As it turns out some people have trained them to take things like glasses, then the people retrieve them and charge 50 rupees (this happened to a girl in our group...). Since I don't wear glasses I enjoyed watching the monkeys when we got to sit down at the top...and as it turns out the other tourists liked watching us. In fact, we had quite a few groups of Indian people ask to take pictures with us. They all seemed like normal people just touring Simla, one man and wife even asked if we'd be in a picture with their little boys. We did that, then started saying no...although I was more on the "yes for 20 rupees" side (the group didn't take that seriously...but we could've paid off our weekend escapade had we set up shop).

On Sunday we (Julia, Caitlin, and I) went with the woman we were staying with to a girls' ashram (orphanage) about 1 1/2 hours away. The drive was fairly terrifying between the narrow, poorly kept roads (covered with "NO OVERTAKING" signs that nobody obeys), the huge buses, and the steep drops (that had great views, but minimal railings...). However, I was glad we went when we got there. The girls live perched on a mountain side and are equally as beautiful. We got to each lunch with them, and the food (made by some of the girls) was some of the best we've had in India and of course, they fed us way too much (I've never seen little girls eat so much). There was an old man there that we decided is a cross between Santa and Gandhi (because he had was so jolly and kind, but also taught the girls songs about community and overtaking hurdles in life and never becoming destitute...roughly translated). It was such an inspiring place, the girls, who were silly, healthy and happy, were such a breath of fresh air.

Sunday night we took a sleeper train home. We we were in a car with a group of "Britishers" (as Indians say) in our car that said they had been robbed by armed drunk men on their way north and consequently lost $4,000...or something like that. The bunks were comfortable enough, but our car was unairconditioned, so the sticky air greeted us back home to Delhi. There was definitely a stick of a scandaless "Rahul" on Julia's bunk, haha. It was fun experience although probably not the best night's sleep I've ever had. We arrived droopy-eyed and crazy-haired to the morning streets of Delhi at 6:30 am. Turns out that people sleep all over the place, we saw men sleeping on walking bridges and bags of who-knows-what commodity in the medians. There's always something new here for better or worse.

One final note, I saw a sign today saying basketball practice at Ramjas College is 6:15 am every day. I don't think I can get an auto or bus early enough to get there, but I'm really excited at the prospect of getting involved in something here that I 'belong' in, lol. My campus experience today was much better. We're discovering that some professors just don't show sometimes...and that the student recreation center is hidden behind a huge pile of dirt, but air conditioned and accompanied by students playing guitar. I'm starting to feel more comfortable and really excited to get involved in extracurricular activities no matter how much digging and questioning it takes to figure out what's going on. Everything here is figured out because you know someone who knows someone who is involved in whatever, so meeting people is on the top of the list. I've also learned that wearing black disguises my pool of sweat, haha.