FRRO + Auto-Rickshaw adventures

For foreigners coming into India with a visa, it's required to get it registered and receive a residence permit from the Foreign Regional Registration Office.  Unfortunately for all of us, it is one of the slowest, most inefficient, waste of time experiences that anyone will go through when traveling to India. 

I had my experience with the FRRO yesterday, along with the rest of the USAC students who are here for the first Summer Session and are starting classes today. 
Originally we were supposed to arrive there are 8am to be the first ones in line to start the registration process, but then our program coordinator Jacob was told that we had to register online and then wait until June 5th or 6th to complete it.  When he "lubricated the process" as he put it (bribed the officials and pulled some strings with an acquaintance of his) we were able to go later in the day and all register.

I arrived at the FRRO at 1:30.  We first waited for an hour for the workers to finish their lunch break, then waited another hour in line to get our 'tokens', just to wait even more to be called upstairs where the actual registration was taking place.  It was cool to get to know the other USAC students though, and we had a LOT of bonding time.  Everyone was really friendly and it was so easy to make friends!  There was even one girl from New York who knows my friend at UD.
Even when we were finally called upstairs, we had to wait again for our token numbers to be called, to hand the workers all of our papers.  Then they told us to sit back down.  Then they told us to come back to the counter and sign some forms, and then sit back down.  This happened repeatedly about 4 or 5 times.  Even though the FRRO was supposed to close at 6, we were there until around 7:30 still waiting for all of the forms to be filled out.  Instead of having everything being completed electronically, they had to print out papers and have messengers running all around the building to get specific signatures from different officials, just for the papers to come back to the people at the counter for them to fill out more forms.
What took a whole day to complete could have easily been done in an hour if the system was privatized!
I FINALLY got my residence permit at around 7:30, at which point I was way too tired to go out with the rest of the USAC students.  I also have an early checkout today to fly to Pondicherry and Auroville!


Yesterday marked my first time riding an auto-rickshaw, and it was a BLAST!!  I wish I had remembered to bring my camera, because I passed so many cool sites and streets on the way to and from the FRRO.
Since I was only given a twenty minutes notice to get to the FRRO before 1:30, I had no choice but to hop on a rickshaw and tell the driver to go as fast as he can.  My driver really tried his best to get me there as fast as possible! 
While he was speeding down the crowded Bangalore streets, he did countless illegal things like driving on the sidewalks, driving on the wrong side of the road, almost hitting countless pedestrians and bicyclists, and even running red lights when he had the chance.  It was just like a roller coaster ride, except if he lurched too hard to one side I would have fallen out the door!  At one point there was a cow in the middle of the road and the perpendicular traffic was stopped, so my driver just sped on out of the road solo while everyone else decided to wait for the light to change.  In the end, I was able to arrive at the FRRO, just barely past 1:30, thanks to this guy!

Clothing Showcase

Right next door to my hotel is a "Five Star Chicken" restaurant, and on the other side is a small market stall with a large variety of Indian-style women's clothes.  From there I bought two dresses and some used books on Sunday.  I should have bartered to pay a lower price, but I thought it was all pretty cheap to begin with so I didn't bother.

Still being a little jet-lagged, I woke up today at 5am and this is what I spent my time doing:

Its my attempt to dress more like the women here do, even though its nothing close to a sari and I'd say 95% of all women here wear saris.  BUT when I went to Christ University's campus yesterday it seemed like the female students were more likely to wear clothes like these, instead of traditional saris.

I even saw one girl showing her knees *gasp*!

Indian Ingenuity!

In my shabby little hotel room I have one of the most efficient and useful technologies available for me.  It works as my shower, a bathtub for my feet, a laundry washer, and I've also used it to kill bugs!  Here it is:

It saves a lot of water too.  Because I only have access to cold water, my 'showers' are extremely short and I only use about 3/4 of a bucket of water.  Every home should have one!

Passage to Bangalore

It took me four days to get here, but finally I reached Bangalore on Sunday morning when my plane landed at 5:30am.  It is so crowded and busy compared to everything I'm used to in the U.S!
This is the view from the window in my hotel, looking right down onto Hosur road, one of the main streets of the city:

From about 5 in the morning until past midnight, there is a continuous honking by cars, buses, auto-rickshaws, and motorcycles.  People basically honk for everything: to signal other drivers to move over, for stopped buses and rickshaws, slow drivers, people trying to j-walk, etc.  It literally never stops!

This is the Indian auto-rickshaw, how lots of people get around cheaply in the congested streets.

The only things I've done so far is that I went to Forum Mall (where I got this internet cord!), one of the largest malls in the city, and I also went down to Christ University where I'll be studying come June, to try and sort out my visa registration papers.

Thailand - Day 1

What a shame I only had one day in Thailand!!  I had the most amazing time with my host family, and exploring the city.  My host-mom made the best homemade Thai food, and I had so many yummy fruits that I never even knew existed.
This is a typical sight on Bangkok streets, people selling food or other goodies straight off of their carts by the side of the road.

The day after I arrived, my friend Natcha and I went via BTS train to Siam station in the middle of Bangkok.  We went to a huge market area (also called Siam) and wandered around two market buildings called Bonanza and MBK, which both had hundreds of market stalls set up.  They sold everything from clothes, jewelry, and shoes, to watches, Thai silk, and iPhone cases.

After we left there Natcha bought us some Thai bubble tea, a fizzy milk drink with tapioca beads, then we went to the Siam Paragon mall, the first 7-story mall I've ever been to.  This is the view from the second-to-highest floor.

Unfortunately we had to return to the airport that same day so I could board my flight to Mumbai, then transfer to a flight to Bangalore.  The new Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok has these statues of giants standing at each departure gate, guarding them like they guard Buddhist temples across Thailand.

The best souvenir my host family gave me was homemade, flattened, mango-leather... YUM!

Dubai - UAE

I had a layover in Dubai yesterday, between by 13hr flight from DC and my 6hr flight to Bangkok.
It was crazy to see the degree of inequality among the people from my overhead view, when I saw shacks built on sand in the desert right next to McMansions surrounded by green grass, lakes, pools, and fountains.

I also think I saw a herd of wild camels when the plane was landing!  Not something you see everyday in the U.S.

As you may know Dubai is home to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa.  Here it is in the background!

It looks like something straight out of the Lord of the Rings.  The architecture of it getting smaller at the top also makes it look even taller than it already is.

Bring on the Heat!

In order to try and tackle the 100+ degree weather in both India and Thailand (100 degrees hotter than what I'm used to in Wyoming) I chopped off my hair and donated it on Thursday!
After about three or four years of growing it, here is the outcome:

 

I also made it to Thailand last night after over 24 hours of travel, and got to my friend's home without any problems!

Navadarshanam

Navadarshanam is the second of the two communities I'll be staying at before my classes in Bangalore start. 

In 1990, a group of like-minded professionals came together and bought a large piece of land 50km south of Bangalore.   During their studies, they realized that all of society was caught in a "dangerous swirling current" of a materialistic lifestyle that is unhealthy both for the environment and for the inner health of individuals. 

Their main mission of starting Navadarshanam is to maximize inner growth while minimizing material inputs, and to explore alternatives to the modern way of living.  Everyone there lives without dependence on the electric grid, grows their own food in a communal organic garden, and lives in thatched-roof huts right in the middle of nature.

Here's the flyer for the Permaculture course that I'll be taking during my time there:

What's awesome about me going here is that the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware worked with them a couple of years ago to install some renewable energy devices, that they now use to get electricity.  My professor and the head of the CEEP department, Dr. Byrne, worked with the residents there to get windmill parts from China, then install everything on their property. 

Here's their website if you wanna learn more about Navadarshanam's philosophies:

www.navadarshanam.org/

Auroville - A Universal City in the Making

The first place I'll be traveling to after I arrive in Bangalore and get my paperwork sorted is Auroville!  Its a city near Pondicherry in the south of India, that is trying to reach a goal of sustaining the livelihoods of 50,000 people.  Once it is completed, this is what it will look like:

This is a community that concentrates on human unity through celebrating diversity.  The people there concentrate on transforming human consciousness away from materialism towards spirituality and living in harmony with nature.  There is a lot of research taking place about living sustainably to fulfill all the needs of their community.

Some of the technologies that they have and are already using include: electric bicycles and motorcycles, a solar kitchen, rainwater harvesting on buildings, solar water heaters, and wind energy.  A lot of the buildings there were made from Earth blocks (made mostly of mud and sand) or Ferro-Cement (made with chicken mesh, cement, and sand), both environmentally friendly and low-maintenance forms of building. 

The main landmark of this community is the Matrimadir, the center golf-ball looking building.  It's both a temple on the inside and an energy source from the solar panels it has lining the outside.

More pictures to come once I actually get there!

Jon Jandai TED talk

I've attached a link to a TED talk by Jon Jandai, the founder of Pun Pun Farm.  He talks about how we make life so much harder for ourselves in modern society by being materialistic and demanding more than our basic necessities.

He has a completely different perspective on life than most of us.  I'm looking forward to meeting him in person in Thailand and learning more about his philosophies!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21j_OCNLuYg

Trip Itinerary! May 23rd - August 25th

For those of you who don't know, here is my itinerary for this 3-month adventure I will be on this summer:

May 23rd - depart from Dulles International Airport to Bangkok, layover in Dubai, UAE (fly 19 hours!)

May 25th - overnight stay in Thailand

May 26th - June 24th - travel around Bangalore and Pondicherry - stay at Navadarshanam and Auroville, both rural Indian communities living off the grid and using their own means to sustain their lifestyles.

June 24th - August 2nd - study abroad program with USAC at Christ University in Bangalore. I'll be taking International Economics and Indian Art and Architecture

July 14th-15th - field trip with USAC to Mysore, "The City of Palaces"

August 3rd - depart for Thailand!

August 4th - 20th - go to Chiang Mai, stay at Pun Pun Farm: Sustainable Living and Learning Center.  Study rural development and mindful, sustainable living practices.

August 20th - 24th - explore Bangkok

August 24th - fly back to the U.S.

August 25th at 8:50 am, arrive at Dulles International Airport and drive back to Newark, DE!
 
My WHOLE summer is going to be so busy!  I'm a little sad I won't be able to go home to Wyoming and see my family and friends, or hang out in the sun in Delaware, but this is going to be such a great experience!!!!!