The language

Hi, everyone! I am a bit behind with the posts in English, so let’s see if I have a bit of time next week and I can catch up. I am going to tell you a bit about the language.

Before I came, I used to tell everyone that, even though I don’t speak Hindi, that shouldn’t be a problem, as English is also an official language of the country. Huge mistake!

Yes, it is an official language, but no, not everyone can speak it. I realized how that could be a problem when I took a rickshaw with my housemates on the first day. I could only say the name of the place, and then… well, that was it! What if I get lost? I cannot even ask for directions or take the transport on my own!

Well, in the end, it’s not that bad. I have been here for 2 months and you can survive! When they talk to you, instead of answering with yes or no… well, at some point they realize you don’t understand what they are saying and just nod or shake their head. For paying, it is numbers, so you can use the fingers most of the time or, in shops, you can see it on the till. Sometimes they do speak English or, at least, a bit. And when they knock on the door and you don’t know what they want… you can just say “No Hindi” and “Angrezi?” (English?), and, if they don’t speak English, well, that’s it! So I think I’ll survive here!

However, sometimes you get misunderstandings. A rickshaw driver wanted us to pay sixty rupees, but that didn’t make sense to us, because it was too much, so we asked “Sixteen?” and he said: “Yes, sixteen”. Then, on arrival, he wanted us to pay sixty… we paid 20 in the end, which was the normal price for the distance. I also got two ladies into the house because they said something about cleaning lady and, the rest of the words, in Hindi. I thought they were coming instead of our cleaning lady, but, in fact, they were looking for work! So I got them in the house… and, in the end, we called our neighbour, who is very nice, so that she would help us and be our interpreter!

I have also bought a “Teach yourself Hindi” book and I may start getting classes next week. For the moment, I know the alphabet more or less (devanagari) and some basic expressions, like “My name is Aida” or “That is too expensive” (very useful for bargaining).

But even speaking Hindi wouldn’t be perfect. Ahmedabad is in Gujarat, where people speak Gujarati! It may be a bit similar to Hindi, but I think that people from other regions here don’t understand them; although they can always communicate in Hindi (as far as I know). Writing is also different, although some letters seem to be a bit similar. It is annoying, because when I go to the shops and I don’t know their vegetables, I cannot even read their names to look for it later on and check how to cook them!

I’ll keep you updated about my Hindi… फिर मिलेंगे or see you later!

El tráfico

Ahora que he terminado de contaros mi primer viaje en general, quiero volver a los detalles de la vida en la India. Hoy voy a hablaros un poquito del tráfico en Ahmedabad.  

Seguro que la mayoría habéis oído hablar de la cantidad de gente que vive en las ciudades aquí. Bueno, obviamente eso afecta al número de personas en la carretera, pero ¡una cosa es saberlo, y otra verlo! Además de que haya mucha gente, la cuestión es que aquí casi nadie camina para ir a los sitios. En cuanto se tarda más de diez minutos, lo normal es coger la moto, el coche o un rickshaw.

Tanto consumo de combustible no sólo es malo para el planeta, también lo es para los pulmones. Ahora ya me he acostumbrado, pero los primeros días, entre el polvo y los humos, notaba que me costaba más respirar y tenía la extraña sensación de que mi nariz estaba sucia por dentro. Y piensas: ¿Cómo se estarán poniendo mis pulmones? Seguro que estáis pensando que el tabaco también hace eso… pues que sepáis que, desde que estoy aquí, un día me fumé un cigarro, ¡pero eso es todo!

Aunque no se distingue bien, lo que veis es una rotonda. Los coches que van hacia la izquierda van en buena dirección,
pero vemos una bici y una moto que van en sentido contrario.

Además, tenemos que añadir la contaminación acústica, que no es moco de pavo. Aquí un semáforo en rojo no es más que una luz, y un cruce no es más que un sitio por donde va más gente, y una rotonda está ahí, pero como si no. Es más, a menudo van por el carril contrario tipo kamikaze, y aquí no ha pasado nada. Os preguntaréis qué tiene que ver esto con la contaminación acústica. Pues bien, como cada uno hace lo que le viene en gana, de alguna forma tendrán que avisarte de que quieren pasar… y aquí entra en juego el claxon. ¿Que quiero adelantar a una bici? Claxon. ¿Que estamos todos parados? Claxon durante 10 segundos. ¿Que voy por el carril contrario y un peatón me molesta para pasar? Claxon. Muchas veces incluso te preguntas por qué estarán pitando. De hecho, muchos coches tienen escrito detrás: “Use el claxon”. Vamos, que si venís, no os asustéis si os pitan, que aquí no significa lo mismo que en España.

"Por favor, toque el claxon"

Coche kamikaze. No olvidéis que aquí se conduce por la
izquierda, como en Inglaterra. Restos que quedan del
colonialismo...

También hay otras normas que no se aplican mucho aquí. Por ejemplo, nadie se pone el cinturón de seguridad. De hecho, te miran raro por hacerlo y, si se compran un coche, quieren llevarlo al taller para quitarle el pitido de cuando no lo lleva el conductor. Y hablando de coches nuevos, lo normal aquí es dejarle el plástico a los asientos durante un par de meses, lo que no es muy cómodo cuando estás a 40 grados… Además, todo el mundo va siempre colgado al móvil, y sólo lo esconden un poquillo si ven a la poli.

Un par de personas en una moto. Yo he visto hasta 4, pero
no tengo documentos gráficos...

También es muy normal ir en moto. De hecho, familias enteras la usan. Con esto quiero decir que puedes ver al padre conduciendo, con la niña sentada delante, la madre detrás (pero no a horcajadas) y cogiendo al niño, por ejemplo, o dos personas a horcajadas y el niño en medio. Y ninguno con casco, claro.

¿Y si te pillan? Pues el poli de turno te dirá cuánto le debes y asunto arreglado. Para qué meter la burocracia de por medio, ¿no? De todas formas, esto yo no lo he visto, mientras que las infracciones que os comento son el pan de cada día.

Aunque poquillas, también se ve alguna bici. Yo aún no me he podido comprar una (espero que sea la semana que viene), pero creo que me van a mirar raro por ir con casco… Lo bueno es que parece que India es un lugar bastante seguro para esto, porque como no conducen guiándose por señales, sino por lo que hay a su alrededor, prestan mucha atención. Además, por lo visto tienen cuidado extra con los que ven que no son de aquí.

Un hombre lleva su puesto por la carretera.

Por cierto, las carreteras aquí no son sólo para los coches… También para los puestos de fruta que el dueño va moviendo de un lado a otro y para los peatones. Aquí, o no hay aceras, o están llenas de puestos de comida, o incluso tienen árboles plantados en medio, así que uno camina por donde puede. Y lo de cruzar es una aventura. Porque ellos no van a parar a menos que te metas. Vas cruzando por etapas y rezando por sobrevivir…

Vamos, que me acuerdo de mi señor padre, que no me dejaba ir en bici de chica por la ciudad, y no le hacía gracia que lo hiciera en Inglaterra, y al que no le gusta que conduzca ni que me montara con mis amigas cuando se sacaban el carné, ni que tuviera un novio con moto, y pienso: “Si viera como son aquí las cosas, creo que no me dejaría ni salir de casa”.

Delhi-Amritsar-Chandigarh (part II)

So, last time, I was telling you that I was in Amritsar and we could see many people covered with different colours in the street…

Everyone, covered in colourful powder, 

on the way to a temple.

It was Holi! After leaving Mata Mandir, we went to look for them. At the beginning, we followed them discreetly, but then they offered to paint us a bit, and then other people joined… and we ended up covered in colourful powder! Everyone was very nice, they gave us food and drinks (although we couldn’t have the marihuana juice, because we cannot drink the water in India) and were all the time throwing powder at us and saying “Happy Holi!”. It was amazing. Then we went dancing with them to a temple and, at the end, the guys were climbing on each other to take the water from a suspended pot (it seems that Krishna would steal butter like that). You can see, in the following pictures, the state in which we finished the celebration… We were even thrown an egg at! But that is not really part of the Holi tradition…

Dancing at Holi.

The floor of the temple covered in petals and powder.

We started like that...

Here we looked a bit better...

A guy trying to get the butter.

And we ended up like that. 

Next day we went to Chandigarh. It was a bit stormy, but we had to go out, because we only had that afternoon there. We went to the Rock Garden, built with recycled material. In this case, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Mosaics on columns.

Ecology, the foundation of the garden.

Waterfalls.

Even the trees are recycled.

A wall covered with plugs. You had to get closer to realize.

Sculptures of what I'd say are giraffes.

The clothes of these sculptures are made with bracelets.

Small sculptures. This is a small selection. There were loads!

More sculptures.

And people looking at you...

Tile bits to cover a wall.

Here we can recognise the shape
of the material used.

More figures with bracelets.

We also visited and artificial lake and a rose garden. By then, we were quite tired, so we went back to the hotel to rest, as the following day we were going back to Delhi.

In the Rose Garden.

Margaret Thatcher Roses. They had odd names 
(I published this photo before she died; nothing to do
with me agreeing with her or honouring her!!!).

Already on Friday, we visited the Red Fort (Lal Qila). We had to pay 250 rupees for being foreigners… for Indians it is only 10 rupees! And it wasn’t that good… Just ok.

Lal Qila, the Red Fort, seen from the outside.

The entrance to Lal Qila.

A building in the Red Fort.

Another building in the Red Fort.

Red Fort's Gardens.

Lal Qila and an Indian Flag.

Swaminarayan Akshardham.

 On Saturday, our last day, we visited Swaminarayan Akshardham, a Hindu temple. It is quite new, from 2005, but it is amazing. It has gardens and the walls are all sculpted. For example, on the lower level we can see lots of elephants in different situations among them, with humans, in nature and with the gods and goddesses. Unluckily, we can’t get the camera in, so I don’t have any pictures, but you can maybe go to their website to have a quick look.

By the way, the entrance is free, as it is a place of worship (unlike Westminster Abbey, e.g., that is a touristic place, not religious, right?). Moreover, the food and the books, postcards and souvenirs were at a reasonable price.


And, lastly, we went to the Lotus temple. Outside, it is quite impressive, but in the inside there’s barely any decoration. That is because it is a Bahá’í temple, a religion that seeks the spiritual union of humanity. Everyone enters in silence and you can stay as long as you want, meditating or praying to the god you believe in.

Lotus Temple.

Then, we took the train back to Ahmedabad. As you may have realized, I just talked about the cultural side. We have done and seen so much! But I didn’t want to bother you with details, and all that information will be part of future entries, devoted to specific topics, as transport or food. I leave you for some days! See you soon!

Delhi-Amritsar-Chandigarh (Part I)

Well, it seems that I am a bit behind with the blog in English… I have been quite busy, but I will try to catch up! I am going to tell you a bit about my trip to Delhi, Amritsar and Chandigarh, but divided in two entries, so that it is not too hard to read…

The bazaar we went through, seen from Jama Masjid.

Our first stop was in Delhi. After a night on the train, we arrived there at 7.30 and went to visit Jama Masjid, one of the biggest mosques in India. We had to walk through bazaar streets until we reached our destination. The mosque is not the most beautiful thing we have seen, and we had to pay to get in because we had cameras and nowhere to leave them! But it was alright.

Jama Masjid

Jama Masjid, inside.

The bazaar close to Jama Masjid.

India Gate.

 After lunch we went to India Gate. That was nicer, especially because of the gardens in the whole area. We also visited the house of the president and some other buildings of the government. It was so quiet! There was almost no traffic… It had nothing to do with the bazaar we had been in in the morning.

Myself, in front of India Gate.

By India Gate.

The gardens in India Gate.

An elephant in Laxmi Narayan Mandir.

Then we went to a Hindu temple called Laxmi Narayan. We couldn’t get the camera in, but it was worth visiting. It’s quite big and it’s formed by rooms connected at different levels. It looks like a small village with all the houses joined together.

Laxmi Narayan Temple.

In Laxmi Narayan's garden.

Dusk at Laxmi Narayan Mandir.

In front of the Golden Temple,
where you have to be barefoot and cover your head.

 Next day we took the train to Amritsar and, there, we visited Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple. It is a sikh temple, so you have to be barefoot and cover your head. To get to the centre of the “pool of nectar”, where the temple itself is, you have to queue (as you can see in the pictures) and it took us an hour to get in. 

The Golden Temple on its pool of nectar.

"Small" fish in the pool of nectar.

In the Golden Temple.

About to join the queue to get in the Temple.

Representation of the British shooting at Jallianwala Bagh.

After that we went to a park close by, Jallianwala Bagh, in which the British killed many people in 1919 because they were asking for independence more and more. You can see the representation among the bushes. There is also a well where many jumped and died to avoid the bullets.

The well at Jallianwala Bagh

Hands coming out of the earth at Jallianwala Bagh.

From room to room in Mata Mandir.

Next day we went to Mata Mandir, a temple where women pray to get pregnant. It is quite impressive. It seems small, but then, inside, you go from room to room, sometimes through tiny entrances. At some point, you even have to walk on water, and it is all covered with mirrors. From there, we saw some people covered with some kind of powder… 

Getting into a "cave" with water,
to follow the path in Mata Mandir.

In Mata Mandir.

Colourful people...

And I will leave it here for today! I will finish the story about my trip another day, so that you don’t get too bored. Hopefully, it will be this week. I hope you enjoy it.