my hope

my hope

I thought it dead

but then I saw you

realized it's not dead

it cannot die

just as the love to you

observations

before I even get started I want to make one thing really clear, the following are just the written form of observations - it is far away from any kind of judgment, insult or rudeness. It's not even a statement, just some observations about the daily life in India, which are quite interesting to me.

Observation 1)
If someone sneezes, nobody says anything. You will not hear a "Bless You". Although it's a shame to me, but more and more people don't say it in Switzerland anymore, either.
Now, the funny observation though is, that sometimes, the person who sneezes says: "Sorry", "Excuse Me" or whatever. That is because they disturbed your thoughts with that sneeze, it's an awful noise or interrupted the silence.
Natural noises though leads me to

observation number 2)
Farting, burping, peeing on the street and men scratching between the legs is the most common thing ever. The other day when we talked to the landlord about the Air Condition that was still broken, the passed gas in a loudness and like a duck takes to water.
Looking at my friend who stood some stairs above we had to self-control ourselves a lot in order to not burst out laughing...

Observation 3)
In general, people here in India never say hello, thank you or good bye.
No matter where I go, might it be in a shop, buying some items, in the supermarket, in the taxi, recharging my phone... whatever interaction I have with Indians, of course I greet them at the beginning, say thank you and good bye or have a nice evening at the end of the interaction. Sure, the Rickshaw driver doesn't speak English but hello and good bye they definitively know. But I never get nothing back! Which is so strange to me, I'm telling you. To me it's just the most common thing and so far I quite took it for granted. But as I realize it here, this kind of politeness is not as naturally as I though - such as pretty much nothing is self-evident in this world I guess...

A certain kind of ungratefulness is also visible on the street.
Something I hate so much is that certain part of my way getting to work, where the beggars are. Since there is so much traffic, my taxi has to stop there most of the time. Whereas the mendicants might only stand for a short time at an Indian's car, whenever they see white people, they become so imprudent and won't go away before you give them something.
As a matter of fact, you shouldn't give them something.
Well, that's at least the general Indian perspective on that issue. As long as they are healthy, the general viewpoint is that they should get some work and not be begging on the street, since there is a huge mafia behind it and a lot of them spend the money on alcohol and drugs... The well-known conflict and problem...
Anyhow, I often give them money, just because I cannot handle it, them knocking and touching the window, pulling their sad faces and making movements of hungriness. I know, it's their profession, they know how to do it and how to get to the money. But still, it's so damn heartbreaking to me that I just cannot sit there ignoring them. That's basically why I rather give some money, which eases my consciousness, makes me feel like helping a little bit and also makes them leave which gives me my freedom back.

But the other day, when I gave some 5 Rupees to that girl she kept standing there asking for more. Sure, 5 Rupees is not that much, about 15 Cents - but it's a fair amount of money giving to a panhandler here in India. The fact that she wasn't pleased with that and kept asking me for more made me really mad! Seeing such ungratefulness drives me up the wall and although the girl obviously didn't understand English, I told her off so much that she even wanted to give me the money back. She might not have gotten my point but still I hope that the situation in India is going to change in the near future. The potential is there, that's for sure.

I know the world is an unfair place. The more I see of it the more I realize that.
I reckon this might be the reason why I'm becoming an even more grateful person, aware of what I have, how privileged I am and all the things that are not for granted.

Hema, a friend from work keeps saying, that I might become a next Che Guevara after my road trip...
who knows...

exploring Delhi

on the back of the Ghost Rider Javed we were heading to Delhi

went to see the Humayun's Tomb, which was the same architect as for the

Taj Mahal

the similarities are quite noticable

we took some great shots at the India Gate, the place dedicated to all the warriors who died in World War II

Funny was when I asked an Indian to take a picture of us, he wanted to take one with me too. First I thought he wants me to take a pic of them, but then I realized that he really wanted to take it with me. But instead of taking the India Gate in the background they just wanted to have me on, hehehe. Felt like a superstar, jejeje

As a matter of fact, non-Indians get looked at quite heavily. Whereas at white guys they just look, at our friend Julie from France they literaly stare, tall and blond haired as she is...

Next we went to a Sikh Temple, which was a really impressive experience. Sure we had to gett off our shoes and cover our heads. The atmosphere in the temple was really nice. And just as the Punjab themselves we sat down and praied. Although I don't need a temple to say please and thank you, I still enjoyed having that peaceful moment in such a hectic and lively city.

After that we went to Akshardam, the biggest Hindu Tempel in the World constructed by Swaminarayan. It was quite a hassle to get in there. We had to deposit everything, from cel phones to camera to bags and guns... So although it is a really beautiful place, that's why there is only one picture about it. Still, to me it was more like a museum than a temple, since there was no space to sit down and pray. People just walked around in the temple, watching the statues, paintings and impressive ceilings and walls.

Almost starving after that, Javed took me to the best kebab place in town before heading back to Gurgaon, which takes only about 25min by bike compared to the 50min by car or 1.5 hours by bus.

all the pics of our sightseeing in Delhi

I'm full with more impressions and observations about the daily life, which I hope to find the time to post them soon...

HUMAN ART in Jaipur

Jaipur

Saturday, July 5, 2008. 3.30 a.m.
7 trainees leave U59 heading off in the AC cab to Jaipur. Julie (France), Anca (Rumania), Stefano (Brazil), me (Swiss), Svetlana (Bulgaria), Jaime (Chile) and Matteo (Italy (he took this picture, that's why he's not on it))

at 7.30 a.m. we arrived in Amber, where we did an elefant back ride and got to see the fort.

Then we headed to Jaipur to do some sightseeing. It's a wonderful city and we spent a great time together.

Javed, my Indian roommate took us to places where we otherwise wouldn't have reached - it was just wonderful, but see yourself more by clicking here

Thank you guys, it was great and I enjoyed a lot!

so many people

I keep saying: SO MANY PEOPLE!
in India you have so many people, any place, any time - and so many people! it's incredible!!

also at the get togethers with the trainees we are so many people, which is just cool! See what I'm talking about...
Nataliya's Farawell-Party last Friday, on the roof of U59 (the block where I live)
90% of the people you see on the pic live in one of the 25 rooms of the two blocks, which are linked together over the rooftop, where we usually get together and party...


That was at my first party in Delhi, the one that made my day, catching up with about 40 trainees from Gurgaon and Delhi...

...soooo many people...

There's quite a funny story to tell about the client's meeting on Friday. On the way getting there, an Otto driver (Ottos are these little 3 wheel taxis) knocked on the window of our taxi, saying that we lack some air in the rear wheel. Thanks for information - never mind - keep on driving - but only for a couple of kilometers when the driver stopped - and we had a puncture!! There we were, in our formal cloths, sweating, stuck on the road. Already quite short of time, we had to take an Otto to the meeting. When my colleague got upset, I said that this is a nice story to tell and that she always has to look at it from a positive perspective, right?!

Well traffic in India... an issue for itself!
Cause after a wonderful welcome dinner with my company some 20 trainees were off for Vischiquesh, a village (you know, only 500,000 habitats) 250 km up north from Delhi. After 45km, which took us unbelievable 3 hours, one taxis engine broke and we were stuck on the road.
Some trainees were just fed up with the whole chaos and took the running taxi to get back. All the hardcore people did it the Indian way, took a crowded bus and made it somehow to the desired destination.

It was a wonderful place, in the middle of the woods. It wasn't a big surprise that there weren't enough tents for all of us - so we shared, as usual here, jejeje
Did some trekking to wonderful waterfalls and great refreshments.
In the evening we had a BBQ and Goton playing the guitar, which was great!



The rafting on Sunday was good fun. But defenitaly and unfortunately at the same not a raft 5. It was too dangerous they said, so out of the wanted 27km ride we could only do 11 with some 5 great rapids. But still, it was cool, especially the swimming in the Ghanges was such a well doing refreshment!
To give you an impression about this small village, I best put some pics:




Getting back to Delhi, an issue for itself - remember, traffic!!
It took us fkn, insane 8 hours for 250 km!!! Imagine, that's about 35 km/h the bus drives!!
The guys at the Tour de Suisse are faster!!

Roads here are the most terrible thing ever!
And the most annoying to me is that HORNING!
At the back of buses it even says: "Horn Please"
That's so stupid, they'd do it anyway, all the time. And of course, the louder the horn the better... GOSH, grrr, dono if I'll ever get used to that...


Besides most the things could be sorted out:
- have a room to stay now that I share with Javed, my new Indian brother
- have an own taxi driver - like my chauffeur, who brings me to work and home, jejeje
- my stomach felt a little strange for only one day, which is fair enough
and at my job we agreed that I don't work 12hours daily but rather 8. I reckon doing some 9 hours, since I really like what I'm doing, it's a great project.

Don't worry, I don't and won't go ape :-))

Link to all the pics