India with Friends

Well, it’s been pretty ridiculously social since Christmas onwards. I’m not complaining. I’m very happy that I have had so many people who I care about around me, or else the holidays would have been overwhelmingly depressing. The day after Christmas, my friends from America flew into Delhi. I already wrote about this a bit. But I didn’t include the pictures of the Red Fort, about which I previously wrote. Those pictures are in the album, which I’m including in this post.

We did Delhi for about a day, which was a little too much for my friends. Getting your first dose of India in Delhi is rough, because you really have to know Delhi to have a completely pleasant time there. The Red Fort was a good experience, but it did not hold up in comparison to what I’d already seen in Delhi, Rajasthan and Agra. I think there are other structures in Delhi that are nicer, but I guess it’s located well and it was used up through the British Empire, which is interesting at least.

The next day, I returned to Dehradun and my friends went to Agra. I had about a day in Dehradun before they arrived and we spent most of their first day looking for a hotel. I had no idea how difficult it is to find a place to stay in Dehradun. It really isn’t a tourist destination, so it does not have a good array of budget options. It’s also extremely difficult to travel around a city with five people and four huge backpacks if one doesn’t have access to a taxi. So overall, the day was a bit of a wash, except that they did end up staying in what turned out to be a very grungy place.

The next day, my friends moved to a cleaner, more pleasant guesthouse complete with pugs. We then proceeded up to Rajpur, which is only a little ways out of Dehradun, and home to a Tibetan community. The Tibetan restaurant that I wanted to go with them was closed, so we went to this little hole-in-the-wall that only I recognized as a restaurant rather than someone’s house. The momos and chowmein were amazing. A huge improvement over the restaurant that we planned on going to, with the exception that it did not have the Tibetan bread that is stuffed with meat. We walked through Rajpur to the Sakya Center, but the Temple was closed for cleaning. From there we took the vikram (large, shared rickshaw) to the main bazaar. I bought a sleeping mat, which I will really use for yoga.

For New Year’s Eve, we went up to Landour, which was a great break for them from the chaos of even a small city like Dehradun. We stayed in a very small, clean guesthouse, which we completely occupied. It was up at the top of Landour and was quiet, pine-scented and an overall perfect place to celebrate the New Year’s if you’re feeling homesick for North America.

I brought them down to Mussoorie for dinner; we ate at what is probably the best non-veg restaurant that I’ve ever eaten at in India. Everyone ate about three times what all the Indians were eating for dinner and we got a lot of nervous looks from the staff before they realized how capable of eating Americans are. Jason made best friends with the cook, who overheard Jason praising his food with a lot of English swears. I think Jason may have offered him a visa in exchange for being his cook in America; little does the cook know that Jason has no such power.

We made our way back up the hill and eventually got a taxi to Sisters’ Bazaar, which is where we were staying. Jason and Lara kept on falling asleep before midnight, and none of us had room for the wine that Jason bought for the occasion. But we were able to eat some Indian sweets, which no one really liked. No one ever really likes them. New Year’s was pretty laid-back. The notable exceptions were the fireworks that Mussoorie blasted off at midnight and that Peter sent me a text message at exactly 12:00 AM Indian time.

The next day we wandered through Landour and I hiked around some parts that I’d never seen before. We made our way down the side of the hill to the old cemetery were Christians in Landour are still being buried. But the graves go back to when a British military hospital was located in Landour, and the soldiers who did not recover were buried in there. It was very melancholy to walk around those who died far away from home. I don’t know that I related to them, as I know when I am leaving India; but I think understood some of the concerns that they might have had before leaving for India in the first place.

We returned back to Dehradun and I slept much harder than I have in a long time. I think the combination of hiking and thinner air really wore me down. The next day we did more Tibetan stuff, which included seeing Mindrolling Monastery and more momos. I’d say the momos were as good as the previous place that we had gone, but that the chowmein was lease greasy, and therefore not chowmein-y enough. That was the last day that my friends spent in Dehradun and we ended it with the bottle of wine at my place before they were taken to the train station. I think they’re in Bangalore by now.

Having friends come and visit you in India is a blessing. It does however; bring a different light to the whole place. I felt much more carefree and less concerned about appearances when I already look so much like a tourist. It is also nice to have shared some of the places that I’ve been with people who I will see back in the United States. Peter is hopefully going to visit in February. We’re going to explore the area around Mumbai together, which will be a very different experience for me. In that case, I will be a tourist completely. I’m a little excited to go into a new situation without thinking about work.

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, I’m going to Joshimath. I might be a bit harder to reach up there, because I’ll be less obsessed with telecommunications now that I’ll be up there after the medical school application process. It should be snowing up there soon and I’ll try to post pictures as much as possible. I am however, a little concerned, because Sarita had surgery in Dehradun this past week. I visited her during her recovery, and she says that she's fine, but she is in a lot of pain. I’m worried about her health and also I know that I’ll be going to Joshimath without an interpreter. Hopefully, I’ll be able to adjust to the circumstances and Sarita will have an easy recovery.

The photos along with this post are here: https://plus.google.com/photos/101737615291512796999/albums/5693751164182292833