India Itinerary

Dec. 19- Arrive in Bombay
Dec. 20- Fly to Nagpur
Dec. 22-29 - Tour of Agra and Rajasthan
Jan. 3- Fly to Bombay
Jan. 7- Depart for the U.S.

Link to India Pictures...

http://ssharif.shutterfly.com

(there are two albums)

Final Post

So I just got back to LA after three days in Bombay and nearly three weeks total in India for the first time in 16 years. I had such an AMAZING time. I loved the food, the culture, the people, the history, the place-- all of it.

Bombay was a good time. We were really just there to shop, and Bombay is definitely the best place for that. And thanks to the rich family, we had our own personal driver for the whole time. But the city is SO crowded. There are people everywhere. And in such a small area. They haven't mastered the use of taller buildings or underground parking. I don't think I could live there, mainly because of all of the congestion. There's definitely an effort to improve roads and infrastructure, but a lot of roads just don't seem like they can get any wider. And the number of people with cars keeps going up...

Something that I thought about a bit during my trip was my identity as an Indian American. My younger cousins kept telling me not to even try talking in Hindi because I just sounded funny. And when I called myself an "Indian girl" to the German, my older cousin said that I wasn't Indian, I was American! But in America, I don't really feel like an American-- people always ask me "what" I am and I always check off "Indian" or "Asian" on forms. My cousin told me that I was "ABCD"-- an "American-Born Confused Desi." (Desi is another word for an Indian.) I'd never really thought about this before, but now that I have, I am definitely confused...

That's it for me... Thanks for reading!

New Year's Eve!

My cousin took my sister, the German, and me to a "CP Club" party. The CP Club is a really exclusive club in Nagpur that you need a membership for and this was supposed to be the best party in Nagpur. It turned out to be a rather fun night, especially because my cousin had given me such low expectations. There were definitely some families there, which is a new thing. And the whole thing was outdoors, which was pretty nice. It was a much more wholesome party than the ones we're used to. Girls were much more covered and dancing was way more tame. And families actually danced together. There was a severe shortage of girls, which my cousin attributed to the fact that girls aren't usually allowed to go out at night. I asked him where guys and girls meet up, and apparently, there are afternoon parties in India that the girls come to. They close the curtains so it seems dark and dance away... interesting phenomenon...
In any case, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thoughts on India in General

• Roads and Traffic- absolutely insane! This is something they never show in Indian movies. There are no lanes or traffic lights that are taken seriously. Cars just go anywhere and everywhere! With traffic or against it—no difference. Speed limits are non-existent. And you have bikes, rickshaws, cars and everything in between all on the road at once. They honk so incessantly and unnecessarily and there is a sort of rudeness in the honking, too. I’ve never seen anything like this. And I fear for my life every time I’m in a car… And apparently, there isn’t any penalty for getting in accidents or even killing someone on the road! They just pay people off and move on. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen any accidents yet, so maybe this system works…
• So much inequality! Distinctions between people are so prominent here! Just in terms of weight, it’s clear that the poorest people are skin and bones, while wealthier people are much more meaty.
  On the road, you notice it even more. You have bikes, scooters, motorbikes, rickshaws (really cheap versions of taxis), and cars all on the road together. The cars seem to dominate the road. Everyone has to move out of their way. The bikes get pushed to the edges of the road—it’s really a sight to be seen. I haven’t noticed any sort of public transportation, at least in Nagpur. In the U.S., we have different classes of cars, but I feel like they all are equal on the road. This is definitely not the case in India.
• Smell- there are definitely some distinct (unattractive) smells that pervade the region. You acclimate to them in minutes, but that almost scares me. I have a fear that the smell will never go away.
• Electricity and plumbing- definitely problems with both, especially electricity. The power goes out city-wide for three hours a day, which can be a huge drag. And the absence of toilet paper is a little disturbing.
• Poverty- so much of it. people line the streets begging for money or asking you to buy dumb stuff. People showcase their deformities to earn money- you see tons of twisted limbs, burnt arms, and weirdly shaped people. My uncle says that some of them do these things to themselves to earn some cash. I really wish the Indian government would just employ all of these people to fix up the country! There is so much that needs to be done: roads fixed and expanded, fences fixed, cleaning, etc.
  But there also seems to be a sense that people have given up on the poor. My sister was giving my uncle a hard time about the really young servants that are employed in the house, and he was saying that there aren’t any other options for these sorts of people. They don’t care about education or improving themselves. I have no idea how true that is. But the number of kids employed and on the streets instead of in school is definitely sad. And people really don’t seem to care that much. I was giving my cousin a hard time about the trash he was throwing on the floor and he said that everyone did it and that it didn’t matter- him picking up after himself wouldn’t make a difference. And he defended himself by saying that he didn’t litter when he went to Japan…
• Animals- so many random animals all over the place! There are stray cows and dogs and goats! I have no idea why they are there, but they are literally everywhere and they just eat trash and each other (when they die are are lying on the streets).
• Servants- Everyone has them! And they’re so young! And they’re treated with such little respect. These people hire cooks and then criticize the food they prepare so openly…I feel so guilty and bad, but I guess this is just the culture…
• Language- I feel like a total poser speaking in Hindi. I can understand most of what's being said and I can get by pretty well in speaking, I think, but it just doesn't sound natural. And my family teases me about how I sound, so it's a no-win situation. But I really wish I could speak the language with more ease and comfort...
• Family- lots of emphasis on it. Joint families are pretty common, with multiple siblings and their families all living together. I really liked seeing all the family togetherness and warmth. I also felt like kids are being brought up really well-- they listen to their parents and seem to be focused on the right things.
• Food and shopping- I actually haven’t gotten a chance to do much shopping, but I am hoping that our time in Bombay at the end of the trip will make up for that. And things are actually more expensive than I imagined them to be. I thought I’d be paying like $.50 or a $1 for everything, which is unfortunately not the case. Although I may just be getting really ripped off. People talk to me in English before I even open my mouth. They can tell I'm American from the way I dress and carry myself, apparently. Food, on the other hand, is amazing and ridiculously cheap. I really have yet to try bad food. And I haven’t gotten sick from anything, which is awesome!
• General Hospitality- People are A LOT nicer and friendlier here. There is a certain sense of community that I don't think can be replicated in the U.S.

Trip to Agra and Rajasthan

So we took a very cool, one-week, private tour of Northern India, which included Agra, Jaipur, Bikaner, Jaiselmer, and Jodhpur. We started off in a 15-hour train from Nagpur to Agra. Indian trains are a lot less nice and a lot slower than European ones, but I guess you get what you pay for. We had a private van for the duration of our tour, which took us to the different sights in each city and between cities. There were eight of us total: me, my mom and sister, aunt and uncle, another aunt, a 22-year-old cousin, and a 17-year-old German exchange student (the white guy you’ll see in pictures).
Agra was probably my favorite city of the tour, mainly because of the Taj Mahal, which really is something spectacular. It was really foggy in the morning when we went, so it probably wasn’t the best, but I was still very impressed. The rest of the tour was very historical, with visits to a bunch of Indian forts and palaces. They were really pretty and interesting, but they definitely blurred together by the end of the trip. Another highlight of the trip was Jaiselmer, where we got to go on camel rides through the desert up to a valley area and watch the sunset. It was very cool and really beautiful and relaxing.
The trip ended with a 27-hour train ride back to Nagpur, which was less than stellar, to say the least...

Nagpur

It certainly pays to have wealthy relatives. I get to stay in mansions in both Nagpur and Bombay. Nagpur is the city my mom grew up in, located in the Maharastra region of India (sort of in the middle, on the Western part). Nagpur's population is three million, but it's a sleepy sort of town with not much going on. The “Rana House” (Rana is my mom's maiden name) has three floors and there is basically a separate house on each floor. Lots of servants. And full air conditioning. And nice cars. And pretty balconies and swings. So I’m definitely going to be a getting a privileged view of India. In Bombay, we’re staying at my dad’s uncle’s house, which has seven stories, 25 servants, an elevator, and a personal driver… the guy is in the oil business. No complaints.

The Final Post

Sorry it's been SO long since I've posted, but it has been a crazy last couple of weeks! Now I'm back in the U.S. and at my first day on the job, i.e. downtime...
A postscript on Paris: People are actually not that rude at all. They were totally cool about speaking in English and I thought they were friendlier than the Italians!
Vancouver was awesome-- really nice to see my family and religious leader.
I came back on Monday night and had to write one last paper. I have found that writing papers actually got way harder as the quarter progressed because I was just so sick of it! I had slowly lost all motivation.
But I finished that on Thursday and did one last night of Oxford clubbing on Thursday night, which was quite fun.
Friday and Saturday were, I think, my two favorite days in U.K., probably because classes were done, it was sad to be going back, and the weather was FINALLY good! On Friday I spent the whole day in London, doing all the touristy stuff that I hadn't done yet. I went to Hyde Park (I think Central Park is way better), saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, went on the London Eye, saw Westminster Abbey, took a tour of the Parliament (coolest place ever and I think it was my favorite place in London), and went to Harrod's and Trafalgar Square. Awesome awesome day! I came home at night to our big year-end house party. People from Oxford actually showed up, which kinda surprised me, although I think 95 percent of the Oxford guests were male. Hmmmm...
On Saturday, I went punting for the first time. I really wish I'd tried it sooner because it was SO fun!!! Punting is a big thing at Oxford and Cambridge and it's like rowing, but without the paddles. There is one person at the back who is steering and moving the boat with a long pole. Everyone takes turns with the pole, which isn't as hard as I thought it was. And when you're not steering, you just get to sit on the boat and relax. It was sooo fun! I'll have pictures up soon.
On Saturday night, we went had a group dinner at a very yummy Indian restaurant and then we went to a boat party thrown by one of the colleges. The party was cute and pretty fun, and it was a nice, chill way to spend the last night.
I spent all of Saturday night packing until my flight on Sunday morning. I thought I could sleep as soon as I got on the plane. Unfortunately, my flight was delayed like two hours without airconditioning, so I was pretty miserable. And right now, my luggage is lost somewhere and the United service is awful, so I'm wearing borrowed clothes on first day of work. The only nice thing about yesterday was Whitney picking me up from the airport and having an excellent dinner with her family. And the shoes she gave me for work are also awesome (Thanks Whitney!).
The office seems really neat-- everyone is nice and friendly and young and there is tons of free food and drinks. Yummy. I don't really have any work yet, but I'm assuming (hoping?) that changes.
Thanks for reading this blog the last couple of months. I cannot wait to finally catch up with you guys and hear your voices. We should be talking soon...!!!

Paris!

(Link to pictures: http://ssharif.shutterfly.com/action/?a=8AcNGbVyzasmKv)

Paris was AWESOME. It is such a beautiful city with so much pretty stuff to see. I loved just walked around aimlessly and the food was great! Lots of yummy crepes and pastries!
Stuff we saw: the Eiffel Tower (of course), Louvre (a little over-rated), Palace of Versailles (beautiful), Museum d'Orsay (the first art museum I've ever liked), a night cruise on the river Seine (sooooo amazing), Moulin Rouge, Palace of Concorde, Concergerie (a little boring), Bastille, Saint Chapelle church (best stained glass I've ever seen), Notre Dame (way cool and big), Sacre C'oure church (great view of the city), the cafe from Amelie (very cute), and just a lot of walking around.
This turned out to be a great weekend to go because Paris was having a ton of festivities for their Olympic bid. On Sunday, the closed down the entire main street of Champs d'Lysee and there was a huge parade and just thousands of people doing sports demonstrations. Paris has put tons of effort into their bid and there are signs and brochures everywhere. I would predict them getting the bid, especially after this weekend. London isn't doing too much, Madrid seemed okay, as did NYC before their stadium thing.
In any case, I loved Paris, but I am kind of exhausted right now because I had so much work to do when I got back and I'm leaving for VANCOUVER tomorrow really early in the morning (I was supposed to go to Vienna, but there was a slight change of plans because of a big religious thing I'm going to with my family, in Canada). This is short, so I may add stuff later...

My awesome roommate welcoming me back with balloons and a sign... I love Veronica!

The Reichstag!

The awesome dome of the Reichstag

Corie and me in Potsdamer Platz-- the center of the city.

BERLIN!

New Belin and Oxford pics here: http://community.webshots.com/user/lilcupid1

I got back from Berlin on Saturday in a very tired state. But it was a very good trip! There were like 60 Stanford people there from six different overseas centers, plus German interns from Siemens and Lufthansa, who were the corporate sponsors of the shindig. The conference itself was pretty decent. Speakers were good and the activities were passable. I totally felt privileged knowing that I was attending a school that could afford to organize and pay for this conference that seriously brought students from all over the world together.

The best part was definitely hanging out in Berlin with new Stanford people for free. I really liked the city. It was different from the other European cities I've been to so far-- a lot more modern and interesting in its architecture. The history of the city itself is so new, with the Berlin wall coming down in 1989. It was also neat seeing the divide between East and West Berlin, although the sides are more similar than different now. We didn't have time for much exploring, but we did get to do a bus tour of the city. We saw the new Holocaust Memorial, Blandenburg Gate, and I got to go to the Reichstag, which I'd really wanted to see. The Reichstag had an awesome dome that you could climb through and get a 360-degree view of the city, which was amazing. We also went to the Hackescher Market area in East Berlin (thanks Lauren!). We also had really yummy gelato, but no German food (I was a little relieved). It was really hot all weekend in Berlin (90 degrees!), but I was greeted with rain today in wonderful Oxford.

On Friday night, we went to the Stanford in Berlin program's VILLA! They actually have a villa! It is three stories and really really cool. The President of Germany actually has a house on their street, where he receives visitors. Pretty cool stuff. We also went to a gigantic club on Friday night-- the biggest I've ever seen. It was only one story, but it had four dance floors and 20 bars. Insanity. It also had people of all ages-- like old 40 yr olds and teenagers, all under the same roof. There were also strippers, which was kinda gross. BTW, German guys are way better dancers than British dancers. But I was soooo exhausted after the weekend because of the total lack of sleep. I crashed big time when I got back. Now I'm leaving for Paris on Friday morning and coming back on Monday, so you can expect the next entry to be about that!

A cool picture of a bunch of us at a club!

Stuff

So David, in a very professor-like comment, asked that I write more "substantive" stuff about the people I am living with. I will attempt to do this, but it's a little weird, especially cuz they're just normal Stanford students and they might be reading this (not that I'd write anything mean, I promise). But everyone is really nice and friendly. I don't think we had any like best friends coming into the program so we all hang out together. There seem to be two big groups. One group that goes out and one that doesn't, which is probably about normal. But that means there is a whole half of the house that I don't know very well at all. But I like how at least half the house likes to have fun. We went to "The Bridge" club last week and we had a group of 19 people!!! I was really impressed. More generally, we seem to have three academically-focused groups: the English majors, Social Science people (poli sci, econ) and Hum Bio people. So we're all interested in pretty different things, I think. Something I wonder about is how many of these people I'll continue to be friends with next year. I really like them, but at the same time, it's a little funny because we don't have each others phone numbers! We dont have cell phones here, so if I like wanted to call someone next year, I'd have to look them up on facebook, which is mildly sketchy. That's just a really random thought...
I can't think of more to write. But you can email me or comment me with any other questions. (I like getting comments, so leave me more!)
I'm leaving for Berlin on Wednesday, where I'll be till Saturday, so I'm super excited about that! It's a Stanford overseas conference on globalization, with people from all the other Stanford abroad programs, including Corie from Chile, so that will be lots of fun. This is actually my last whole weekend in Oxford because after Berlin, I'll be in Paris and Vienna for the last two whole weekends here. Kinda crazy. But I have no idea when I'll be in Europe again, so I wanna see EVERYTHING!
Oh, and some interesting things about Britain:
Their movie ratings are divided between 12 yr olds, 15, and 18. But unlike our system where you can get into an R-rated movie with your parents even if you're underage, they dont let you do that here! I heard this story about a mom who tried to buy movie tickets for herself and her son for some random 15-level movie and they wouldn't let her!!! I always thought Britain was more liberal than the U.S., so that was weird to hear.
Also, Oxford has a really strange practice where they'll turn your bachelor's degree into a master's degree five years after you graduate if you pay them a given sum of money. Sketchy, sketchy!!!

That's it for now. But next post will be in a week or so about BERLIN!!!

Pros and Peeves about the U.K. experience

Dislikes:
The stupid faucets that have separate spouts for hot and cold water
I can't check out books from the library so I spend WAY more time there than I ever have before
Looking on the wrong side of the street before I cross- I will be getting myself killed very soon
The fact that British guys are really bad at approaching girls
Abundance of potatoes, butter, and mayonaise in food
Having to write a paper every week
Being relieved to only spend 10 pounds on dinner in a restaurant-- $20 USD!!!

Likes:
The 6-pack of raspberry tarts I get from the grocerry store for only 22 pence!
British accents
Having only five hours of class a week
The antiquity of Oxford
Being close to the awesome city life of London
Amazing frozen and fresh Indian food
Proximity to fun bars and clubs and having the time to go to them
Being in Europe
My amazingly big room

I'll add to this list as I think of more things, but I thought I'd let you know how I'm evaluating things here...

I haven't really done anything too cool this week. We had a Bing day trip to Statford upon Avon yesterday, which was a very cute little city/town. We saw A Midsummer Night's Dream there, which was very well done, but I have decided that I am not really a big Shakespeare person.

Beautiful London (that's Big Ben behind me!)

British Election, London, Stuff

I've put some Oxford/London pics up! Link is on the side and here: http://community.webshots.com/user/lilcupid1

ELECTION, BRITISH POLITICS (skip if you don't care)
So the British election was on Thursday and as you probably know, Tony Blair got a third term. This is a big deal only because his party, the Labour Party, has never served for more than two terms. The big outcome of the election was that his party kept their majority in the Parliament (as expected). The only questionable thing was the margin of victory. Blair ended up losing 45 seats, which is kinda a big deal. Most people think that he lost the seats because of the Iraq war and that his party didn't do enough with their huge majority. He now has a 67-seat majority. That's definitely big enough for most stuff. The problem could come with the "rebels" in the Parliament. These are a pretty big group of reps in the Labour Party that don't always vote with their party. If they team up with the other parties, Blair could have probs with getting legislation through. So here are some things I found interesting about the British election and politics in general:

• The Labour Party is the more liberal party of the big two. But they are the ones associated with the war in Iraq (opposite from U.S.). This was weird for me in the beginning because I thought Blair was a total Bush lachey, but he's actually liberal on most stuff. And he's closer to Clinton than Bush personally, I think. I guess before Iraq, Democrats were associated with war, so maybe it makes sense...
• I read an article somewhere that Iraq was actually the #11 issue on people's minds, way behind healthcare, education, gas prices, etc... also very different from the U.S...
• People thought that a lotta people might be mad at Blair and cast protest votes for the third party, the Liberal Democrats. This didn't really happen-- the Lib Dems only gained 3 seats. People don't really like the leader of the Lib Dems and he just won't step down.
• The leader of the Tories (Conservative party) stepped down yesterday cuz his party didn't get the 200-seat goal that he had. But they still gained 35 seats. I think it's kinda silly that he stepped down especially when his party is technically on the rise! Instead of the election being like a celebration, it seems like defeat for his party.
• I think the election in general has no one really claiming a victory. Everyone is kinda blah... the biggest question post-election is when Tony Blair will step down. It's pretty funny because apparently, in 1994, he made a deal with his buddy Gordon Brown over who'd take over the party. Gordon Brown agreed to let Blair do it as long as he'd step down after some time for Brown to do it. But Blair is said to have overspent his time at the top and he and Brown are supposed to be rivals now. Brown was still campaigning with Blair (he's like the VP) and he's still waiting for his turn to be Prime Minister. This is SO different from how things are in the U.S.!

So that's my little summary and analysis of the election. It's awesome to be learning about this in class during the election time.

LONDON
So here's a topic that normal people might be interested in...
I went to London yesterday (Friday) to do some sightseeing. It was actually a very unsuccessful trip. We wanted to see Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and the Tower of London. So Westminster is closed till May 18, Buckingham Palace is closed to tourists until September, and Tower of London had closed five minutes before we got there. The trip was still pretty cool. We saw the places from the outside and walked along a lot of bridges and the Thames River, all of which were very pretty. I also just love being in cities and London is an awesome one.

OVERALL
I don't know if this has been made clear, but I am definitely having a GREAT time at Oxford this quarter. It isn't OMG-my-life-wouldn't-be-complete-if-I-wasn't-here great, but it is amazing to be in a total different continent and culture and just taking a break from Stanford. I love exploring new places, so I'm actually becoming a little concerned about spending a full nine months at Stanford next year. But yeah Oxford is cute, quaint, wonderful, fun, chill, and super cool!

Tons of people all over the place