A few interesting experiences...

CEPT University

So it’s been a few days since I’ve had a chance to write a journal entry, but I’ve definitely had a few interesting experiences since I last wrote. On Saturday, we went to CEPT as well as Chharanagar (since apparently in India school is week long and there is no such thing as a weekend!). The work in Chharanagar was pretty successful; we were able to speak with an 88-year-old woman as well as a man who is involved in the community punchayat, which is the local governing system.

So we were at Chharanagar until about 6, then we had about an hour’s worth of a rickshaw ride to see Mr. Mehta’s (the man who’s family we’re staying with in Khadia) “musical performance.” No one, however, thought that it might be beneficial to inform us that the “musical performance” was probably the most upscale wedding that any of us had ever been too. So we show up, after a day outside in Chharanagar, jeans, t-shirts, backpacks- at this ridiculously fancy hotel/event venue- don’t even know where we’re supposed to be going. The dress was beyond extravagant, as was the food, which was all veg, of course. There was an also fantastic dancing- very specific dances to which there were distinct routines.

Eventually we found the Mehta’s…performing on the stage…though that didn’t really reduce the awkwardness- at all. Not only were we wearing super casual clothes to set us apart- we were all white. People stare at us and takes pictures of us enough as it is- like we’re from another planet- through us into a super high-class wedding- we definitely did not fit in.

Come to find out later, the celebration was only the rehearsal. Two ceremonies had already preceded the evening, and the actually wedding and reception still remained. Tad and a few other ended up talking with the uncle of the bride who said that the evening alone cost about $100,000- not rupees, and that the reception was to be held at an even larger location as they were expecting over 2,000 guests. Yikes.

To say the least, I was more than excited to get out of there when we left, and I was a little more than irritated that no one had bothered to inform us that the mystery “musical performance” was a fancy wedding rehearsal. Anyways, we did get some good food out of it as well as some interesting pictures.

The mall BEFORE the entire city decided to shop up

The following day was essentially a free “work day,” though I think we all slept til 11 and spent the day shopping or attempting to play cricket (I was in the shopping group). Tad and I went to the Sunday market near Ellis Bridge, and then went the mall near Khadia, which- on Sunday’s we discovered- is absolutely insane. Our experience in the “Big Bazaar”- which is the Indian version of a super market/everything store- puts any bad Walmart experience to shame. It was wall-to-wall…or rather aisle-to-aisle full of people. We were in numerous standstills because there were so many people that we couldn’t move. Checkout…for our Rs. 40 of merchandise…took at least 20 minutes. In addition…every single person that realized there were white people in the store stared us down until we were out of sight. It was a pretty overwhelming experience and I was more than glad to get back to the house at the end of the day.

Today was another day at Chharanagar, with several rickshaw rides from hell. The worst was the driver that Chloe’ and I had on the way, who clearly did not know where he was going, though he claimed he did. It took us nearly an hour to get there…and he wanted Rs. 250 for it. We argued for a while with him after we finally arrived (though he understood no English), gave him Rs. 200 and walked away.