Break your Heart

Well, it has been a really laid back couple of days. I have been out and about and come back to relax. Since I have told my cravings from my hangover, I got an email from my mother after my hangover post, with the following typed-

" You looked like shit on skype. So its not my imagination."

Thanks mom, you just know what to say to make my heart fill with joy. Speaking of quotes, or quoting quotes, or however you would put it, I have a couple of funny ones that I would like to share. A couple have to do with diarrhea, which has become completely acceptable during any conversation at the dinner table. All of these will remain anonymous.

One of my friend's descriptions of her bowel movement:
"I just peed out of my ass."

After a long period of liquid, my friend on the can, with so much excitement:
"SOLID!"

Describing the greatness of martial arts films:
"It's like a Bollywood film, but instead of breaking out into song they break out into fighting."

Now for a couple of photos. Pongal, the holiday that I had over the weekend, meant some serious shopping. I got a couple of paintings for a friend of mine and some pants and a kurta. These two paintings are actually for my mom who, as mentioned above, is the epitome of supportive. They both feature fish.

Also, here are a couple of others.

Getting henna.

Auto rickshaw!

Chalk designs for Pongal.

~The Finn

Don't Stop the Music

You know those shiny moments? The ones you always think are fleeting because everything falls into place and you are just having the time of your life? Well, right now is not one of those moments. I am incredibly hungover right now, although not the messy "I vomited all over the floor and the hallway and the bathroom floor in order to make it to the toilet" hungover, just "head pounding and I could use a burger" hungover. Only problem with this type of hungover is that in India, they don't have burgers, not beef ones at least. At McDonald's they have something called a Big Chicken Taj, or something along those lines.

But those shiny moments, don't count them fully out of the equation. I've had a great holiday weekend (it's Pongal, a New Year's type of thing.) Just need to find some greasy food right now.

~The Finn

99 Problems

I've been thinking a lot about my experience in India so far. I know, it has only been a week, but there still has been lots to reflect on. I think it takes a certain type of person to think to themselves that it would be a great idea to spend an entire semester in an entirely different place. To just say, hey that would be a really cool idea and then go out and do it can seem so incredibly scary and yet so invigorating that it could be hard to describe. Yet to study abroad in India, I am certain that this experience takes an entirely different type of person than just one that studies abroad. So much of the culture in India is undocumented and unfiltered. As much as one can prepare for any experience, coming here has been one that cannot fully be prepared for.

Much of this is because what most people are exposed to in everyday life, a Western developed society, is nowhere close to what you experience in India. Rules seem erratic and bizarre and life seems very dreamlike. All you can do, or I have done really, is jump and hope to land on my feet. So far so good. If you suck in your experiences and your outlook on one country based on one part of your journey, you will never fully get the big picture of your stay. To see the entirety you must see everything, the good and the bad, and chalk what you figure out to what has become of the country through it's hard work.

India has vigorously continued to push forward and open its own senses outward. This is good for a developing nation, yet it is the inward journey that might need some reflection as well. Yesterday, a friend of mine encountered an event that shows India's treatment of women and foreigners. This shocked the individual and started to question the logic behind personal aesthetic. Can a place be beautiful even if part of the culture is ugly?

It has since made me think about my own thoughts on the subject and has lead me to the above argument, that in order to appreciate all that is beautiful about a different environment one must discover and study all of the opposing elements to that beauty. It is that oppression or strife that is behind that thing, that sense that things must be worked for and dawned upon, that to me makes things beautiful. Living without the acknowledgment of ugliness makes things one sided and not full.

Coming to India takes a very particular type of person. Staying in India for an extended period of time takes a person who can see outside themselves. At least that is my belief. There is a big world out there. In order to figure how the pieces come together I must first find all the pieces. I am sure one of them is in India.

Myself in the red and black, walking around Golconda Fort. (Photo credit: Denise)

~The Finn