Speaking Hindi in South India and
Other Lost Causes…
My friend Emily is still traveling with me, and we came for
a trip to South India over the last week or more. This is my first trip to the
South, and in a way, it is very much a different country. There are palm trees
to replace the oaks and pines, we have actually been on a beach, and everywhere
we go they speak a different language (none of which is remotely like Hindi).
Emily and I arrived in Vijayawada where we met up with our
friend Ashwin from Xavier. He is from Vijayawada (in Andhra Pradesh) but did
his MBA at Xavier. He is one of the most energetic and outgoing people I have
ever met. Needless to say, our time with him meant little sleep, lots of
excitement, and of course some funny stories. We came to visit him around the
time his friend was getting married so we could attend a South Indian wedding.
I had heard that weddings in India are week-long affairs, and now I know why. We
went to at least three formal celebrations of the wedding, and we actually
skipped a couple.
Because Ashwin is such a close friend, he was also
participating in the Sangeet. A Sangeet is basically a big celebration with
lots of dancing and delicious food. Both the bride and groom’s friends
choreograph dances to perform in front of the entire crowd. (Ashwin’s friend is
very well to do, so this was a huge production.) Because we were on the groom’s
side, I am going to tell you more about that. Basically, Ashwin and his friends
met every night with a choreographer to perform Bollywood dances. The dance
sequence overall tells the stories of the lives of the bride and groom and then
how they come together. (Yes, this was an arranged marriage, but they seem to
be a good match.)
The groom’s story was about how he loves to play basketball,
went to the U.S. to study, and got in a bit of harmless trouble before figuring
out his life and meeting the woman of his dreams. [Emily and I had to dance in
the U.S. part. We got roped into doing four moves which should have been easy,
but for us, they were not. I would say we did ok in the performance itself, but
not great. I am glad I don’t have a video of the performance, but unfortunately
the bride and groom do.]
All I can say is that the groom’s side definitely was more
into the dancing than the bride’s. They obviously loved practicing and learning
all these Bollywood dance moves in practice and did really well at the
performance. The bride’s side was good too, but they obviously did not have as
much passion for dancing as these 20 guys who work in offices every day. =) My
favorite dance from the evening was the one where the groom’s parents are
supposed to think he is actually gay. These were all close friends in the
dance, and they really enjoyed dancing with each other. I really wish I had a
video to show these hilarious moves!
After the performance (which was about an hour), we ate
delicious Indian food and danced the night away. The dancing started at 10 or
11pm and did not stop until at least 2:00am. It was so much fun to dance both
to Indian and American music. All of the friends of the bride and groom (as
well as some family members) were out on the dance floor. By this point, Emily
and I had made friends with Ashwin’s friends, so we also danced the entire
time. It was so much fun! [I was exhausted after this! Sleeping comes last when
it comes to weddings apparently.]
The wedding itself was very beautiful and was a lot of
ceremony. The bride and groom wore beautiful clothing, and we ate some more
delicious food. See pictures below.
In Andhra Pradesh, the main language is Telegu. Educated people
are able to speak very good English, but I found it very difficult to speak any
Hindi. This made it really difficult to get around without Ashwin. Telegu has a
really nice sound to it (and I especially enjoyed the Telegu movie we saw –
Mirchi), but it’s only spoken in Andhra Pradesh. Throughout the South, I have
only been able to speak Hindi with people who have migrated from the North for
work. They are always surprised when I pull out my Hindi. This is probably
because the South of India seems to be filled with many more foreigners and
hippies than the North. (Maybe it’s the beaches and warm winter weather.) I was
told in Goa that I was the first foreigner they met who could speak good Hindi.
They also told me that they appreciated the way I dress which is wearing the
traditional Indian salwar camise and a modest swimsuit. This definitely
contrasts all the big stomachs and sags I saw from foreigners wearing bikinis
and speedos!
After Vijayawada, Emily and I made a stop to Hampi,
Karnataka, which was the former capital of the empire that was South India in
the 15th century. The first day we took a biking tour through the
royal city and visited some temples. The second day, we went for a boat ride in
what looks like a basket operated by a local fifteen-year old boy. We walked up
to Hamuman’s temple (Hindu monkey god) which sits on top of a hill and has
beautiful views of the city. Our third day, we biked from Hampi island to a
nearby lake and enjoyed the quiet and the scenery. The scenery here was
gorgeous, but the weather is hot! It was about 90 degrees in February! Emily
and I went running just outside the city each morning, through the palm trees
and banana fields.
The next stop on our trip was Goa. We stayed in a hut on the
beach and visited the St. Francis Xavier Church where his remains are kept. This
was really special for both of us since we went to Xavier for undergrad and
because St. Francis Xavier did so much of his work in India.
From Goa, we are currently on our way to Cochin for my
Fulbright conference. The Fulbrighters are staying at a beautiful hotel, and
some are presenting current updates from their research. I unfortunately will
not get to present this time around, but I am excited to hear about everyone
else’s research. It will be nice to see some of the people I met at the
orientation in August as well as my friends who studied with me at the language
school.(This already happened. I'm a little late updating my blog. By the way, the conference was incredible!)
Lots of love,
Margaret
P.S. South Indian food is much different than the North. In
tourist destinations, we get some more North Indian food. However, people eat a
lot more rice down here, and there is a lot more fresh fruit available in the
winter. One of my favorite drinks is coconut water which I get to drink
straight from a coconut. I am also eating some delicious banana varieties that
we don’t get in the U.S.
Here is a picture of us walking through the banana fields in a village outside Vijayawada. (That's me looking very Indian in my red outfit.) I have a lot more pictures, but this one took about 2 hours to upload. Therefore, I think I am done for the night. I will try again when some more hi-speed internet comes my way.
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