Hindi Classes Continued

Namaskar all,

I am writing this blog after a wonderful day in Mussoorie. This is a long one, but I have a lot to say.

This morning before class I went down to the bazaar to pick up some of the shirts I had made. I go to Inam tailor, a Muslim tailor, who speaks English but will also allow you to practice your Hindi. This is a perfect combination because I get to use what I have been learning but can get some clarification if I don’t understand something. One of my favorite things about going around town is having the locals correct my grammar. (Maybe we should start doing that for each other in English.) Only one of my two camises (shirts) were ready at the tailor, but the one I picked up is beautiful. I had gone to the cloth shop to pick out what I wanted. I selected an orange and red pattern and a blue with flowers. I attached a picture of me wearing the blue outfit below. When I arrived at Inam’s, the man who works in the back was the only one there. Sometimes I think he is the only one who actually works. Inam and his brother, Islam, seem better at socializing. However, this man was able to call Islam who in turn called Inam. Inam was apparently at his house working (questionable) but came with one of my partially finished camises. He let me try it on and then put in the finishing stitches. It is amazing the work they do! I am planning to have a lot of clothes made for while I am here and for when I go home (including a dressy suit) because they can make both Indian and Western styles. You get everything made exactly how you want to size, although sometimes it takes a bit longer than you planned. It is incredible!

I had my four Hindi classes this afternoon. My favorite class is always with Habib-ji. He is one of the Muslim teachers so he teaches both Hindi and Urdu (which puts him in high demand). He practices yoga and writes Urdu poetry in calligraphy. His wife and father-in-law also work at the school which is really a family place. (I am realizing what a small town Mussoorie is and how everyone knows everyone.) For our class today, we went for a walkie-talkie. When he first asked me if I wanted to do this, I did not really know to what I was agreeing. From our conversations, he learned that I like to run and enjoy nature. He must like being outside too because we took a walk for my Hindi lesson. It was cloudy today but without rain, so it was perfect. We took the scenic route past the school, and on a clear day we would see the Himalayas. Still, Habib did point out the surrounding villages, which was exciting because he knows I will be working in villages nearby. It would have been nice if our walk included basic conversation, but I am not quite there yet. Instead, Habib drilled me the whole time. This is one of the most useful parts of my Hindi practice. He says sentences in English, and I translate them into Hindi. It’s very effective. Although I feel like I am learning very slowly, I can tell that I am making good progress. I am looking forward to more in depth conversations with Habib and my other teachers in the coming months.

After my classes today, I went with Sarah and Nilima (two other Fulbrighters) to an Indian cooking class with Manisha. She teaches classes to foreigners who want to learn to make Indian food. Basically, we watched her cook while we furiously took notes. Somehow, everyone in India seems to know which spices go with which dish. With a combination of Hindi and English, we learned to make bindi masala (spiced okra), basic yellow dal (lentils), and chaval (spiced rice). Then, we got to eat! It was absolutely delicious! Using the pressure cooker, the dal took maybe ten minutes and the rice about five. The pressure cooker is a wonderful invention!

I just got back from dessert; we treated ourselves at the nice hotel in Mussoorie. It feels very British there. I had chocolate mousse for dessert. The best part was that it tasted like real chocolate. For some reason, Indian chocolate has a very different and less appealing taste. There is an additive to keep it from melting in the heat, but it also just does not taste as good. Unfortunately for me, I ate my last ration of good dark chocolate from the States yesterday. (If anyone is coming to visit me, a dark chocolate bar would make a great gift. Hint, hint. :) )

We had a very successful part 2 of our lecture series on Thursday night! See the attached flyer (which I made) to see the topics we covered. I continue to be amazed by all the people here. 

I had my first experience at the Landour Community Hospital this week. I was walking back on the path back to Woodside (my guesthouse) on Wednesday night. It’s a gravel path, and I twisted my foot which hurt pretty badly. I went and consulted with the two doctors staying at Woodside, David and Sarah. They said I was probably fine and could see how it felt in the morning. Of course, I was getting worried because of my previous stress fracture and upcoming half marathon. I took their advice and went to bed, but I woke up in the middle of the night in pain. After a couple ibuprofen, I was doing better but was still pretty concerned and sore the next morning. Because David is a volunteer at the Landour Community Hospital, he told me I could come in and get an x-ray to make sure I didn’t hurt myself too badly. It ended up being a really neat experience, and the good news is my foot is fine. 

When I arrived at the hospital, I needed to register. I went to this window where two people were working and all of these people were lined up against it (not in a nice line, more like a pod of people trying to get to the window first). I eventually made my way to the window, paid forty rupees, and filled out my registration. For my paperwork, all I had to write was my name, my father’s name (a very useful piece of information apparently), and my address. I told them I was there to see my doctor friend David, and they sent me to room 3. I walked right into the room even though other patients were being seen. There is no patient confidentiality, so we all sit together on plastic chairs, and others will comment on your symptoms if they like. All I had to do was get an order for an x-ray and proceed to room 13. After paying for my 250 rupee x-ray (roughly 5 USD), I went down the hall to room 13. The technician took an x-ray of my foot, and it was available almost immediately in room 3 for David who said I would be fine. The whole process took about one hour, and I got all my business done in one building. Although there are many other complaints about the Indian health care system (such as patients not taking their prescriptions), my experience was both cheap (compared to Western standards) and painless. 

To conclude, I have a monkey story for those who enjoyed them last year. On Wednesday, I was sitting in my classroom on the third floor of the church/school. At the window, I got to enjoy three monkeys. The baby monkey was acting like a little kid pushing his face against the glass and making faces at me. This was a safe distance for me since there was glass in between us. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have dared to look at him.

That’s it for now. I am going to work on getting some pictures of the beautiful birds for you. Thanks for reading, especially if you made it this far!

Love,

Margaret

Here I am in one of my new outfits. Although mismatching is the trend here, I don't plan to wear it out of the house with my pink flipflops. =)

This is a picture of Habib and me from last year. I would say that we both still look about the same.

Below is the flyer from our lecture/discussion on Thursday night. Please note the directions at the bottom. I think they are kind of funny.