Cricket, Cooking, and Last Weekend!

Wow, I have a lot to update on! I uploaded a lot of new pictures so this is a pretty massive post!

l'll start with what's been going on this week, it has been pretty awesome! Another American student, Carrie, is here for awhile doing some research for her masters and it has been a lot of fun hanging out with her. The MSc (Masters of Science) students also got back from their break this week! They are really nice, so I am glad to have them back. A couple of the guys even taught Carrie, Stephanie, and I how to play cricket the other evening and we had a blast! I've never been much of an athlete and really don't care for baseball but I actually really enjoyed cricket! The guys were really patient with us and especially with my poor hand/eye coordination, haha. A few select pictures from the night...

My attempt at intimidation!

Carrie, myself, and Stephanie, modeling the cricket equipment!

I caught this sweet action shot- go, Stephanie!

We took this one of the whole group with my camera's self timer! From left to right: Murly, Sahas, Carrie, me, Stephanie, and Assif.

Another notable event of the week, Stephanie and I got to try our hand at cooking rotis! Rotis, a round flat bread, are a staple at every lunch and dinner here (nan is more of a special occasion bread and is more difficult to make, I've only had it at restaurants here!). Some of our friends on the kitchen staff were kind enough to let us try and help them, it was so fun! I've outlined some of the steps below...

1. You take the dough (which is really simple, I think just flour and water) and roll it into a flat circle. You can't really see what we are doing too much in this picture but I like it because you can see how much he is laughing at how inept I was at rolling out a ball of dough.



2. Place the roti on this flat stove for just a minute or two, flipping it occasionally.



3. Then you place the roti on the flame for a quick minute or so and it puffs way up! It is really cool!

Ta da! The end result- a delicious plate of rotis!

Now, for last weekend. We had been traveling every weekend since I had arrived so it was nice to have one weekend to relax a little more and stay a bit local. We did take the about hour long bus ride back to Haridwar, however, to see the Hindu ritual of aarti! Haridwar is one of the 7 holiest places of Hinduism (Haridwar means Gateway to God) and home of one of the most holy ghats (steps leading down to the Ganges River) called Hari-Ki-Pairi. The story is that some drops of Amrita, or the nectar of life, were dropped at the Brahman Kund there. Hari-Ki-Pairi means footstep of the Lord. The aarti is an evening prayer they perform at dusk on the Ganges River. The also light these huge bunches of candles and bring them down to the river and people give individual offering of these leaf bowls filled with flowers and a candle. Thousands of thousands of people come to Hari-Ki-Pari for the aarti. It was really incredible.

Here is a picture of mine and Stephanie's offering. We had to take off our shoes (as usual for temples and holy places in India) and we actually walked into the Ganges where a man helped us light our candle and say a blessing!

Here is a picture of Stephanie and I letting our offering go on the Ganges River.

Thousands and thousands of people! A lot of people bring some of the water home in containers to their family it is so holy.

This is the bunch of candles they brought down to the river. There were a number of these all coming down through the massive crowd. Everyone was chanting and clustering around so they could put some of the smoke from it on their faces and bodies.

The on Sunday, Stephanie and I went into the city with some of our Indian girlfriends! We hang out a lot with this really fun group of three girls. They took us to the Forest Research Institute where some of them got their masters. FRI was set up by the British and WII used to actually be a part of it. Unfortunately we got caught in a massive rainstorm (oh, monsoon season), but afterwards we had a really lovely dinner. The asked us so many questions about our lives, our education system, culture etc. They asked if we had anything like the caste system (which is still surprisingly very relevant here), how much of a role our parents play in our decision making and lives. It is really fascinating learning about their cultures and all the differences. They are so great!
From left to right: Neha, Ambica, Parabita, and myself.

Now today, I am off for some more traveling so I won't be posting or the next 5 days or so. Stephanie and I are leaving in a few short hours for Agra to see the TAJ MAHAL! Then we will go to Sariska Tiger Reserve. A few years ago all of Sariska's tigers were killed by poachers and now WII is helping with the reintroduction project which will be really cool to see. Then we will head to Jaipur for a day or two before heading home. I am so excited. BUT, I've saved the most amazing news for last. My big sister Tristy is going to have a baby at 5:30 AM next Wednesday!!! Luckily I will be arriving back from my travels that very day. I can't believe I will be an aunt for the second time to a beautiful baby boy in less than a week! I CAN"T WAIT! More updates to come!

Oh, and HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY everyone!!! Enjoy lots of yummy American food and fireworks for me :(