The reason I haven’t posted in so long is because I have just had an amazing, busy, weekend.
Thursday, I went to the India Habitat Center (IHC), which is only a couple kilometers from my school. The IHC holds all types of convention meetings, and cultural/art exhibits. I went to the current art exhibit and saw works by two different artists: Raja Deori and Mangeram Sharma. Deori’s paintings were very unique and as he told me “nothing [you] have ever seen before.” One of the interesting things about his works was that he sketches an images and then washes over it with thinned paint, but he paints over everything, including the picture frames that encased the original sketches. Sharma’s work was very clean and colorful. Most of his works were reinterpretations of the Mahabharata, which is a Hindu text.
Friday, I went to a science museum in Delhi, the National Science Centre(NSC). It was…not exactly the American Natural History Museum in New York City. In fact, this museum was laid out in a way I doubt any pubic building could ever be designed in America. The science museum was 6 “levels” but only three floors. I went up three flights and then back down three flights through all the exhibits. And when I say up then down, I mean literally there was only one way to get from exhibit A to exhibit B. Picture any major museum in America--there are usually one or two central staircases and several elevators. If you want to look at, say, “Orange Flowers of Ancient China” on floor three before whatever exhibit is on the first floor, you can easily walk up the stairs, or take an elevator, to the 3rd floor. Now, at the NSC, I had to walk through each floor and go through all the exhibits to find the next staircase that would lead me to the next floor. By the final exhibit I was actually a bit anxious because I couldn’t figure out where the stairs were to take me back down and out of the building, AND I had just gone through a mirror maze and had almost gotten lost among my reflections! Pretty much all I was thinking about was what would happen if there was a fire...this seems to be my fallback thought whenever I'm not able to easily find a fire exit...weird. It was during this moment of anxiety that I had a unique experience; one of the guards at the museum (the kind decked out like this:
came up to me because I had passed by a couple of the “hands on science-interactive pieces of the exhibit”—things like pushing a button or pulling a rope to see how the ecosystem works or how hurricanes forms, optical illusions, and magic tricks, etc. So, he went around with me and showed me each little science activity. It was kind of adorable, especially when he said, “Okay, stay here,” and then walked behind a wall unit. I was staring at a plate of fruit on a counter, when all of a sudden his head popped up on the plate of fruit (you have to envision this middle aged guard with a mustache and green beret…). Of course he made me go behind the wall and stick my head up and out of an area cut out from the wall and counter. Very cute.
After the science museum, I went to the National Handicrafts & Handlooms Museum, which was alright. I stumbled upon a lecture going on at the museum about certain festivities that occur in Kerala. One of the festivals the speaker was talked about was how he was a part of a matriarchal society, and how when a woman gave birth to a girl a huge celebration was thrown in his village!
Saturday happened to be mon anniversaire, so I decided to spend all day watching Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi trilogy (Desperado + Once Upon a Time in Mexico) mostly because I wanted to watch Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp…In between movies, I had lunch with my house mother and some extended family members. I really enjoy talking to and hanging out with them! In fact, I had a very interesting conversation with one of my house mother’s relatives where he told me there were 52 states in America. He said Alaska and Hawaii were the two extra. I was pretty sure there were only 50 states in America, but for some reason did not feel confident enough to voice my opinion because I have been discovering that Indian people are ridiculously smart about the world. (Sorry Dad, money down the drain…) Luckily, when I googled it, I was indeed right (thank the lord and all my elementary school teachers)! I also went out for a nice and grossly expensive sushi dinner and had—a legal by American standards—glass of wine, though the drinking age in India is 25. Fail.
Sunday was BDE! My house mother, the girl that works for us, and I cooked a huge meal for my friends that were coming over for dinner. (okay, they cooked, I watched.) I went to this store in the mall that sells imported American food (Cha-Ching $$$) and bought some Betty Crocker cake mix and funfetti icing! It was such a fun day and evening and I have way too pictures of cake baking. Baking an American cake in India is tricky. Mostly because everything is in the metric system and I cook in cups and tbs! So I had to do way too much math for my birthday party, so I just added a little extra butter and everything came out great!
Photos of the big day:
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| Painting by Deori |
Friday, I went to a science museum in Delhi, the National Science Centre(NSC). It was…not exactly the American Natural History Museum in New York City. In fact, this museum was laid out in a way I doubt any pubic building could ever be designed in America. The science museum was 6 “levels” but only three floors. I went up three flights and then back down three flights through all the exhibits. And when I say up then down, I mean literally there was only one way to get from exhibit A to exhibit B. Picture any major museum in America--there are usually one or two central staircases and several elevators. If you want to look at, say, “Orange Flowers of Ancient China” on floor three before whatever exhibit is on the first floor, you can easily walk up the stairs, or take an elevator, to the 3rd floor. Now, at the NSC, I had to walk through each floor and go through all the exhibits to find the next staircase that would lead me to the next floor. By the final exhibit I was actually a bit anxious because I couldn’t figure out where the stairs were to take me back down and out of the building, AND I had just gone through a mirror maze and had almost gotten lost among my reflections! Pretty much all I was thinking about was what would happen if there was a fire...this seems to be my fallback thought whenever I'm not able to easily find a fire exit...weird. It was during this moment of anxiety that I had a unique experience; one of the guards at the museum (the kind decked out like this:
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| Seriously though, doesn’t this scream, Top Gun: India meets Tom Cruise?) |
After the science museum, I went to the National Handicrafts & Handlooms Museum, which was alright. I stumbled upon a lecture going on at the museum about certain festivities that occur in Kerala. One of the festivals the speaker was talked about was how he was a part of a matriarchal society, and how when a woman gave birth to a girl a huge celebration was thrown in his village!
Saturday happened to be mon anniversaire, so I decided to spend all day watching Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi trilogy (Desperado + Once Upon a Time in Mexico) mostly because I wanted to watch Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp…In between movies, I had lunch with my house mother and some extended family members. I really enjoy talking to and hanging out with them! In fact, I had a very interesting conversation with one of my house mother’s relatives where he told me there were 52 states in America. He said Alaska and Hawaii were the two extra. I was pretty sure there were only 50 states in America, but for some reason did not feel confident enough to voice my opinion because I have been discovering that Indian people are ridiculously smart about the world. (Sorry Dad, money down the drain…) Luckily, when I googled it, I was indeed right (thank the lord and all my elementary school teachers)! I also went out for a nice and grossly expensive sushi dinner and had—a legal by American standards—glass of wine, though the drinking age in India is 25. Fail.
Sunday was BDE! My house mother, the girl that works for us, and I cooked a huge meal for my friends that were coming over for dinner. (okay, they cooked, I watched.) I went to this store in the mall that sells imported American food (Cha-Ching $$$) and bought some Betty Crocker cake mix and funfetti icing! It was such a fun day and evening and I have way too pictures of cake baking. Baking an American cake in India is tricky. Mostly because everything is in the metric system and I cook in cups and tbs! So I had to do way too much math for my birthday party, so I just added a little extra butter and everything came out great!
Photos of the big day:
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