relief!

Today is definitely a good blogging day, because I have lots of happy thoughts and general revelations on life! My friend, Gul, came to Lucknow, and due to her influence, I actually went around Lucknow to look at some of the sights. Up until now, all I knew were the markets and the restaurants and vegetable vendors (shock!), but now I've seen all the sights too!

My Day in Amritsar = The Day of Many Many Mixed Lime Sodas
After 2 days in Lucknow, we went to Delhi, spent the day running errands and eating Italian food and cake, and then took an overnight train to Amritsar, Punjab. It was so unbelievably hot, so we would go the sights, then take a break to drink lime sodas in any AC restaurant we could find! We went with 2 other friends, which was a good idea since Amritsar is not the most exciting city, but it has 2 main attractions that we really enjoyed. The first sight is the Golden Temple, built by Sikhs and considered to be one of their most sacred sights, symbolic of freedom and spiritual independence (thank you wikipedia). We actually went to see the Temple 3 times- at 7 Am, at 1 PM, and at 9 PM. It was so beautiful every time we saw it, but I thought it was stunning at night. The temple was lit just enough for the golden dome to shine, but it was dark enough that it reflected from the moonlight. Stunning. The picture doesn't do it justice, but you can get a vague idea of it's beauty and magnificence! Just a side note- I managed to get yelled at 3 times when I was at the temple by tall Punjabi men carrying really sharp spears. Scared the hell out of me! There was also a Hindu temple built as an exact, though substantially inferior, copy of the Golden Temple. It was really bizarre because Hindu temples don't usually look like the Golden Temple, so it's unclear who and why someone thought it was a good idea to make an exact replica of the Golden Temple with Hindu deities instead of the symbols of Sikhism.

The other attraction was the Border Ceremony which takes place along the border of Pakistan and India. Somehow it managed to be really fun and interesting and eerily disturbing all at once. So we showed up at the border where there are 2 elaborates gates- 1 gate is the India side which is where we sat, and then there was a huge gate. On the other side of the gate was the Pakistani gate where there are Pakistani spectators. I included a picture of Pakistan's gate just because it was prettier than the Indian gate. The border ceremony was between the guards on both sides of the ceremony, they marched towards each other and opened gates between the countries as they took down the flags of their respective countries. The Indian side was super rowdy, with people chanting, "Jai Mata Di," "Hindustan Zindabad," and "Vande Mataram"; dancing to popular Bollywood songs, and overall national sentiments. There dozens of popcorn vendors and I heard some less than positive things being said about Pakistan and the Pakistan soldiers from my fellow Indian viewers. It was fun because the entire event was designed like a sporting event, but it was disturbing because when the gates were closed again, people on both sides rushed the gates and were calling out to people on the other country's side. Really disturbing to see people who formerly lived side by side separated by something arbitrary like a gate and clumsily drawn line in the dirt.

We returned to Delhi that same night, I spent the day in Delhi, and then returned to Lucknow that night. I went to the wrong train station in Delhi, and ended up having to run to the other side of the train station, hop on the metro, and then run through the other train station to make it to my train on time. It was crazy, but I somehow managed to make it to my train. Silly Anisha!

So, travels were great, and to top it off- I found a new place to live! I am so thrilled! I move today and tomorrow! I'm also going back to Delhi this week, and if tickets work out, I have lots of fun plans for the next 2 months... more details to come soon...

More rambling...
Other stuff- I am becoming increasingly convinced that I am not suited to work in the field of public health, or at least the way I am doing it right now. I am becoming very frustrated by the process of working with the Indian government and dealing with local NGOs. Everything comes down to money, and I feel like the idealism and desire to do good that many people have when they enter this field is constantly compromised and possibly destroyed at some point. I've met some amazing people who manage to do great things in spite of all the barriers, and I am trying to learn from their examples, but I wonder if I would be useful in another area of public health...