So, let me start by apologizing for waiting so long to post a blog on here. I have been in India for 4 and a half weeks now and the whole experience has been very rewarding. Part of the reason it has been so rewarding is that there has been very little free time, and with the time that my fellow classmates and I get, we of course have many sights to see and things to do. On top of this, the internet in the hotel we are staying at (The Oakwood in Pune/Poona) has had spotty internet and when it is up it is often slow especially when many of us are trying to use the wireless (which also makes it very difficult to share photos). However, enough excuses. I feel bad for not filling you all in earlier. But maybe i can make up for it now.

The first three weeks of the program consisted of the course titled "State and Society in India" which focused on the last 500 or so years of history in the subcontinent. It ended with an assignment of a research paper on a topic of our choice over this period. Most of us tried to bend the assignment towards our own academic majors or interests. Accordingly, I wanted to focus on a publich health issue. Auspiciously (Indians love using the word auspicious in their literature as well daily conversation), a NY Times series on water supply was appearing during the time I was beginning thinking about a topic for the paper. I eventually focused on the related topic of water sanitation, which was a little more interesting to me. Anyways, that worked out well, as I was able to link the recent increased awareness of the issue if not recent success at addressing it to the recent (mid 90s and ongoing) decentralization of the Indian government. (After Independence, the nation-state was very centralized under Nehruvian socialism).

Anyways, I actually was able to have fun with the paper a bit. During all this academic work though, there was fun and exploration of Pune. I took a day trip up into the nearby mountains by jeep to the remnants of a fort once controlled by a regional Prince who was rebellious to the late Mughal emperors and as a program we spent a weekend in Bombay (Mumbai - they are changing a lot of city names here) where we saw some man made caves that were carved into the side of a hill on an island and had several depictions of Hindu gods, but most of the time during the first 3 weeks was spent trying to explore Pune and get used to my environs. For those interested, no I have not run into Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie who are staying in the city while Angelina is here being part of the filming of the movie to be about the reporter killed in Pakistan a few years ago. Pune is a relatively large city and though I have past the hotel they are staying at while riding in the back of an auto-rickshaw, I don't think I'll run into the celebs (because I wont try).

I'll jump ahead to the past week which was a break between the first and second course (of 3) that, including the weekends was a 9 day break plus we got to leave the friday afternoon it started (the 13th). I was rather fortunate for this break because I was unsure of what I wanted to do, where to go, what to see, but I ended up tagging along with a group of people that had a good idea. We ended up being 8 people. Later, 4.

Friday evening we flew to Delhi from the Pune airport. Boarding and landing was done on outside on the actual pavement and after landing we were put on a bus, so we though we were a ways away from the actual airport building, but actually we were on the bus for less than a 30 second ride, which made us laugh because we probably could have walked faster than having to wait for everyone to load the bus.
The first 6 days of my break from here was booked with a "trekking" company that for less than 50 dollars a day gives you breakfast, 4 star plus lodging, drivers, and then when trekking (or hiking) all meals, nice tents and sleeping bags, and guides.
After getting luggage we went outside and found two drivers we had booked holding one of our names and piled into 2 jeeps. The plan was to drive overnight (starting at 8:30 hopefully ending by 10 or 11) from Delhi north to the little mountain town of Dharamsala. However, it became clear at about 4 am that our drivers had lost the way to go (which isnt hard to do with poor signs and the darkness of night). However, we eventually got to our Dharamsala hotel at 12 noon exactly. Dharamsala is known for being the home of many Tibetan Buddhist monks as well as the younger 16 year old (15th?) Dalai Lama. It is also a very beautiful place in the southern skirts of the Himalayas. We spent the rest of Saturday and Sunday there seeing the monastery, a Tibetan museum, a waterfall and inspecting many little shops.

Early evening Sunday we started another long drive through the mountains (over very bumpy, never straight, and little more than one vehicle wide roads) north eastward to Manali village which sits in a valley of southern Himalayan Mountains. After a short night's rest in the trekking company's lodge which was nice but very cold, but had hot water (a luxury at the time) we had the best breakfast I have had in India. Normally, it seems at least to me and some of my friends that spices are not limited to lunches and dinners but also used in Indian breakfast food. Thus, breakfasts have left much to be desired for us. But starting this morning and while trekking, we had fried eggs, the most amazing oatmeal porridge with cashews on top and of course improved by the addition of honey, good chai (here they like to boil milk with or without water and then add it to tea leaves to make chai), toast, bananas, all of which seemed amazing at the time (and still do and will continue to until being back in the states).

So, on Monday after the breakfast we started hiking through Manali village which gave us amazing views of the tall mountains in the far while often having people farming and working in the foreground right next to us. After 4 hrs, we made it to camp which had all of our tents set up for us (this is the luxury of paying 2000 rupees a day to get people to do stuff for you). The whole experience reminded me of many hikes in the Adirondacks with all of you and the recent Saranac Lake trips where we did our own camping.

The next day, Tuesday, our itinerary planned for us to hike over 1,000 meters elevation to the altitude of about 3,500 meters. Coming down I definitely felt my head ache a little from the altitude. It was a hard grueling hike, which was confirmed by two Swedes who did the same hike the next day who we met in our company's camp. Some of our group, being unexperienced hikers, in India not necessarily for hiking, or just being students out of practice could not make it all the way up, but what I noticed was that was unneccessary. There are many less trees on these mountain sides and so there are spectacular views all the way up, so every little turn or little increase in height gives you a new beautiful view. You will have to see photos to appreciate. and even those can not do justice.

Probably the best thing of these days were being away from the dirty Indian cities, being able to see the stars at night, going to bed physically exhausted and waking up soon after sunrise. Things I have not really experienced much since attending college. The next day, Wed, we took it easy and did not even expect to do the whole planned hike as many were sore and tired. Someday I would like to do this maybe with some experienced hikers and see how much climbing can be accomplished by pushing myself. I definitely suggest this area to those hikers and trekkers interested. We got to talking to our guide at one point where we were just resting and he told us recently he had had a group of 8 60+ women go on a 21-day trek with him. Anyone up for such a thing?

Thursday, our group of 8 split up. 4 of us got in a jeep at 7:30 after breakfast and started another long bumpy ride, this time south, back to Delhi. On the way, we stopped for a few hours in Chandigarh one of the few "well-planned" cities of India. It was certainly seemed less chaotic and we saw a rock-garden that was dedicated to the creative nature of Indians.

We got to Delhi even with traffic by 12:30 am Thursday night/Friday morn. and stayed in a budget hotel (350 Rs for a room corresponding to about 8 dollars). Since it was budget we were encouraged to not stay long and got up and out by 9. We didnt have much planned for Delhi (it was just a place to get the trekking tour people to get us to and end our booking with them and a place to go to Agra and the Taj Mahal from there). But we knew we had to get to the train station for a 6 pm train to Agra. So, we took the Metro into New Delhi which was closer to the station. Secruity checks awaited us before entry into the metro, and no photos allowed of the train or stration, which was a shame because we believe it was built little over a year ago and it was certainly clean, new, and I would say state-of-the-art. The train moved extremely quick and was a very smooth ride. From exiting we walked a ways to the Gate of India (not to be confused with the Gateway to India in Mumbai which was a British construction) where for once we were amongst Indian tourists and not Western tourists. we made our way to a park where in the shade we watched locals play cricket. We ended up wasting the afternoon in a American-style diner. We were on vacation and felt like trying to feel a little bit at home. Rickshawed to the train station.

That night in Agra we stayed in a hotel that was right next door to the East gate to the Taj Mahal. Which is an ideal place to stay and wake up before 6 to enter into the Taj grounds at opening. The Taj Mahal was very beautiful and was definitely worth the visit and worht being amongst many Western tourists (which can also entertain and make you laugh).

That evening took a train back to Delhi for the night as Sunday we had a flight back from Delhi to Pune. We found out Saturday morning that our original hotel had messed up our booking, but this was a blessing in disguise. We booked another hotel, clsoer to the train station and when we go tther they allowed us on to the roof from where we could watch fireworks set off by everyone city wide from their roofs to celebrate Diwali. Diwali is the 4 day long holiday that celebrates the Hindu God Ram/Rama (an incarnation of Vishnu) winning victory over his enemy Ravana as well as simply good winning over evil. The celebration was quite a spectacle as since it is left up to the citizens, everyone sets off fireworks and it starts around 8 and kept going until about 2 am. So we were amongst loud noises and bright colors from the second we stepped out of the train station to going to bed.

This past week started the 2nd course, Theology, Buddhism, and Indian Literature. it is a lot of reading. I hope to make more entries in the future. but if not, know that I think of all of you often. I miss all of our get togethers, but I am looking forward to those in December when I will be home. I hope to tell you more in person then, and maybe show some photos.