Erika in India

First day of 2010

What a way to begin a new year. I was really sad that I couldn’t talk to my family right when the clock stroked midnight. Luckily I did lots of things to occupy my mind. I went to a Hindu temple for the first time, I road on an auto rickshaw and a moped for the first time, I also had my first home cooked meal in India today. I enjoyed today so much, I hope that today will be an indicator of what is to come in 2010.

I spent Thursday and Friday night over at my friend’s house. I met her through a friend at VCU who is from Hyderabad. We were penpals for a while and on Wednesday she came to visit me. I’ve stayed at her family’s house and they have been so kind to me.

We were really sleepy so we don’t look very enthusiastic.

There was a lunar eclipse which means that a Hindu cannot eat until they’ve been to the temple. I’m not clear on the details of it, but all I know is that I had to go to temple too. It was my first time going so I was really excited about it. I got to wear a nice green salwar kameez. I didn’t know any of the things I had to do so I messed up on everything. When the priest guy (sorry I don’t know the term for him) came to give water in people’s hands, I cupped my hands wrong. My friend laughed so hard and she showed me the correct way. I was told never to drink water from non-bottled sources. I’m pretty sure this was a non-bottled source but I couldn’t be rude and deny the holy water. I drank it anyways, and I had to a total of four times.

At one of the alters, there was one statue of a god and his two wives. It was so packed and people were pushing to try to see him. When I finally pushed to the front, my friend told me to ask him something. I’m not a religious person so it felt so strange, but it also gave me a heavy feeling in my chest. It was an ornate gold figure completely decorated with flowers and beads. At the end of a viewing of the figures there is a person with water that pours a scoop of water in your hands. Then there is a person with a golden cup (I don’t know the correct term for it) that they place over your head. There is also a person who has a plate that had fire and a few other things. With your hands, you hover them in a circle then pass your hands over your face and head. I did all of these things wrong. I rotated my hands incorrectly and I’m sure I did a million other things wrong, but at least I tried.

During the late afternoon, I went with my friend to a travel agency to book a ticket for her mom so that she could visit her old town. To get to the travel agency we had to ride her moped. This was the first time I have ever ridden a moped so I was terrified. If you don’t know what the streets of Hyderabad look like, then just image small cramped streets filled with people, cars, buses, mopeds, auto rickshaws, and bikes. People generally don’t follow the street laws and there aren’t signs that say the speed limit. Everyone honks their horn to let the other drivers know that they are nearby. It looks and sounds like chaos and I was nervous to go for a ride. It actually turned out to be really fun and exciting for me. My friend is a good driver and she knows how to drive in those conditions. Even though it was fun, I don’t think I could go for moped rides in the city often.