Sab Kuch Milega

A lot has happened since I last blogged. My friend got rammed by a cow. I saw a Holy Lake and a Holy City. I (think) I booked my flight to Goa. I rode on a bus that was more like an amusement park ride for 5.5 hours. I sat in the homes of two of my women from class and received a ring from one. And I went for my first shopping excursion alone.

Friday was a busy day. We had one of the interns come to Katputali Nagar with me and unfortunately, only one woman could attend class due to (of course!) Diwali! So we did our pre-assessment tests with her and there were some struggles with it, but for the most part she did well. It was lucky to get her on her own so that we could complete the test...so that is about four down so far. My afternoon class with the girls went well and ended with one of the girls who has a fantastic talent with henna, doing an extraordinary design down my arm. I was late and my tuk tuk driver had been waiting at the 'entrance' to KN so at quarter after four he burst into the schoolroom and was loudly gesturing and motioning for me to come with - "You are late!!!" he was saying, but only teasing me. When he saw that I was getting henna, his eyes got huge and kept saying, "No touch, no touch" as you have to let it dry before touching. We started driving and then about 2 minutes later he pulled over, ripped up a newspaper and put it in my lap so that the henna wouldn't get all over my pants. Then a moment later he pulls over, buys some odd looking fruit from a market stall and shoves one of the parts of it in my face - "try, try!" and so I did and it was delicious and he bought a few and put them under his seat.

But that is just a normal trip home.

So Friday night a bunch of us decide to head to Jahawa Kala Kendra - an exhibition centre. There was a HUGE market with the most beautiful ceramics, sculptures and jewellry and then a music and dance show from 7 - 9 with about eight different groups. It was in a fort-like structure under an open sky and was really beautiful. It also made me think of how multi-cultural Winnipeg (and Canada) are and made me really proud.

The super talented Laxmi.

Saturday morning we woke up somewhat late and leisurely headed down to the bus station (which is a nutty experience on it's own) The tickets are 103 Rupees. Why three Rs when they usually don't even seem to care about the coins? Who knows. So I hand him 110 Rupees to cover Jimena & me, Sian (a girl from Australia with us) hands him 103, Lynne (a lovely lady from NZ) hands him 103 and he screams at us "THREE RUPEES, HAND ME THREE RUPEES" and we spent about two full minutes explaining, "Dude, they're in your hand" and he was did a 180 and was like "Ahh yes, no problem, no problem." and laughed super loud and pointed us to our bus. Ahhh! It's so bizarre here, I know I keep using that word, but it's hard to explain just how BIZARRE it is.

Anyway, the trip up was great and Pushkar was delightful. It's a small market town surrounded by mountain terrain and is based around a small Holy Lake. It has the only temple for Lord Brahma and is known for it's 'special lassi'. There are many coffee shops where you can get legit coffee and delicious iced capps (except of course, the power is out from 9 - 3 so not during that time), the shopping is incredible (because rather than being yelled at for the entire time, you go into each tiny market stall, sit cross-legged with the shopowners and choose amazing gifts for good prices) and there is such a good vibe. At sunset we visited Lord Brahma's temple. Sunday, we sat and listened to wicked music and bought a couple CD's - mainly the Roots of Pushkar (so good). We had an early morning walk around the Holy Lake and a delicious candlelit dinner at Out of the Blue, owned by Sandeep - a smart guy who is studying Biology and running his Dad's restaurant cafe and whom taught us the term Sab Kuch Milega -- Everything is Possible. In  India, you'll hear that everyday...

My other favourite saying? "Same same, but different." It's used all the time. And is so true.

When we very first arrived to the lake, we were 'bumrushed' (I never really realized how many odd sayings I use all the time until I started only hanging around people who don't speak slang English and never know what I mean) by four Indian men who gave us flowers, and began to pray with us. It went something like this, "Repeat after me. Brahma. Brahma. Pushkar. Pushkar. Holy lake. Holy lake. Holy city. Holy city. Holy charities. Holy charities... Holy donations. Of course. Holy donations..." and over and over until - How much are you going to give M'am? 500, 1000, 2000 Rupees? EVERYWHERE you go they will ask for donations, donations and then you give a little and they're like, Yaaaah, no that's not enough.!!! But it's for a temple! And a holy lake! I didn't know there was a limit. Ahh. At the monkey temple our 14 year old guy was SO nice until we only gave him 200 Rs for the guide. Then he turned on the, "But it's Diwali, but I need it, but you have so much money". Ohh, the entrepreneurial spirits.

Making the steep climb up.

Divide and Conquer tactics on the stairs.
Holy charity. Holy donation.

Pushkar.

Lakeview restaurants.

The colourful markets. We bought Bindi stamps here.

Same same, but different.
Just another cross legged shop.

The sweetest kids.

Streets of Pushkar at sunset

Brahma's Temple

The bangle shop with the bangle master.

Rooftop restaurants & great conversations

Waiting to go home. Sian & a buddy.

One story to note, we had yet to drop off our bags and were roaming the narrow streets of Pushkar, when we noticed some Indians running away from a couple of cows. We thought that was strange, as there are cows everywhere and it's just so normal. So we continue walking along. Yet I notice this one cow eyeing Jimena up bigtime. And sure enough, he dips his head and rams her side!!!! This cow has huge horns and I thought she'd be hurt, but thankfully she was okay and so I laughed for about an hour straight...haha it still makes me laugh so much. And all the Indians around told her it was "Ohh, great karma, great karma! The cow knows a beautiful girl!" Hilarious.

Other highlights of Pushkar? The monkeys are diferent - they have black faces with loooong tails. There were people playing didgeridoos in the street. We could finally see stars from our hotel rooftop and spent a couple hours chatting under them, sharing 'Appy Fizz' before bed. And on the way home, we had yet another must for Indian adventures - a 5.5 hour bus ride that felt like we were on a rollar coaster. Our hotel guide of course told us this was the 'Express' bus. The express that stopped twice, randomly, for a half hour each time, and that took three extra hours to get home. Upon arriving home, we were in the tuk tuk going home and stopped and picked up three passengers randomly along the way. Oh India. Sab Kuch Milega.

Today's work involved sitting with a couple of the women in their homes and then doing some Diwali stories with the girls and translating them to English. Tomorrow will be games and sweets and then we are off for the week! There are lights everywhere here, so it feels like Christmas. And YES, it's very cozy. I love walking home and so I'm going to do just that right now. Pyaar!