I received some fantastic news today... but you'll just have to wait.
Anyway, our first week of vacation started with a mini "road trip" to Amritsar. Eric and I were sick (quite literally, for me) of the bus trip to Amritsar from the first time we went, and so we decided to be a little more venturesome while avoiding the local bus. So what did we do? We took the local train! (also known as the Toy Train).
Why do they call it the Toy Train? Well, it quite literally looks like a toy train enlarged just for real people to take a ride in! That's how they want you to feel, but really, it's a toy train because once you're inside with the other million people going to Amritsar, you feel like you're a doll packaged inside a Christmas train ready to be set under your tree. In fact I was lucky to have a seat... but then again I was sitting on one butt cheek, yup! Count'em ONE BUTT CHEEK the entire way from Kangra to Pathankot. That's 4 hours! My left quad was sore just from holding myself up!
We were in Pathankot, still another 2 hours from Amritsar. While waiting for our next train we ran into a little trouble. One man who spoke English stopped to talk to us while we were seated on the cement floor of the outdoor train station. After just speaking with us just a minute or two, it caught me by surprise, but I suddenly noticed a large gathering of Indian men (only) around us as we remained seated on the ground. We were not seated for long. As you can imagine, we felt quite intimidated by the at least 50 men surrounding us so Eric and I stood up and gathered our belongings closer to us. The original man who spoke to us was just curious, and meant no harm. Honestly, I think everyone was just curious onlookers since we were the only white (*ahem half-white) people in the train station.
The conversation remained harmless until a young man around the age of 25 dressed in an all white kurta and pyjama, with a bold purple colored turban, and a thick black beard butted into the conversation. He heard me say that I am Panjabi, and I explained to him that only my father is from Panjab and my mother is American. He seemed fine with that, but was disturbed at the fact that Eric and I were together. He decided to test our nerves (mine for sure) by disrespecting our relationship. Needless to say this discussion didn't last long, not with me around anyway.
You know what I did?
I threw him onto the open train tracks.
Ah, just kidding!
I let out a "Yo Momma" insult.
That's right. I said, "Yo Momma (Note: "Yo Momma" is just for writing flair.) didn't raise you very well," I said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Just leave."
(Thank you, Thumper!)
Another funny thing about Amritsar was that we basically had a bodyguard wherever we went. Eric and I would even scheme how to escape him. One time we wrote notes in the back of the car making plans of how we'd get away in the mall. Later we were meeting with a friend in the neighborhood my Auntie lived and the father who spoke decent English was looking at my little notebook. I discovered that he was reading our notes about how we would lose our body guard. Imagine me trying to explain that one.
After Amritsar, was our journey to Chandigarh, the home of my Dad's university stomping grounds, Panjab University, Sector 14. Yup, Chandigarh is the only planned city in India. It's divided into sectors and based on the model of a human body. Pretty freakin' neat, huh?
Anyway after waiting in boundless lines, shoving impatient students and commuters out of the way, walking up and down five flights of stairs 3 times in a day and just praying that all the people who told us we wouldn't be able to get the certificate were wrong. We finally completed the application after 4 days, and signed a paper confirming that the University will send the certificate to our address in the U.S.
As you may remember, Eric and I had two weeks to roam through northern India. We chose to spend our first week in Amritsar. We spent the first night in the hotel that we adored so much (primarily because of a little boy, Chinpreet, who treated each of us like respected ambassadors visitng his father's hotel. (Keep in mind, this young man is 7 years old, but acted like he was 35! A little gentleman/business man, that's for sure.)
Anyway, our first week of vacation started with a mini "road trip" to Amritsar. Eric and I were sick (quite literally, for me) of the bus trip to Amritsar from the first time we went, and so we decided to be a little more venturesome while avoiding the local bus. So what did we do? We took the local train! (also known as the Toy Train).
Why do they call it the Toy Train? Well, it quite literally looks like a toy train enlarged just for real people to take a ride in! That's how they want you to feel, but really, it's a toy train because once you're inside with the other million people going to Amritsar, you feel like you're a doll packaged inside a Christmas train ready to be set under your tree. In fact I was lucky to have a seat... but then again I was sitting on one butt cheek, yup! Count'em ONE BUTT CHEEK the entire way from Kangra to Pathankot. That's 4 hours! My left quad was sore just from holding myself up!
Now as crazy as this sounds, I'm always up for a workout, so I guess this didn't bother me as much as you would think. The duration of the train ride ended up being quite pleasant actually, the scenery was breath-taking and some nice girls painted a henna design on my arm, starting at my right hand and ending at my elbow practically! Then the last 30 minutes was filled with a little boy trying to get me to dance (and sing) even while crammed together like sardines. I must say, this was one time when asked to dance, that I desperately refused the request. Then our journey ended with lots of pictures of us with our neighboring seat-occupiers. All-in-all a nice little adventure. Oh but it didn't stop there.
We were in Pathankot, still another 2 hours from Amritsar. While waiting for our next train we ran into a little trouble. One man who spoke English stopped to talk to us while we were seated on the cement floor of the outdoor train station. After just speaking with us just a minute or two, it caught me by surprise, but I suddenly noticed a large gathering of Indian men (only) around us as we remained seated on the ground. We were not seated for long. As you can imagine, we felt quite intimidated by the at least 50 men surrounding us so Eric and I stood up and gathered our belongings closer to us. The original man who spoke to us was just curious, and meant no harm. Honestly, I think everyone was just curious onlookers since we were the only white (*ahem half-white) people in the train station.
The conversation remained harmless until a young man around the age of 25 dressed in an all white kurta and pyjama, with a bold purple colored turban, and a thick black beard butted into the conversation. He heard me say that I am Panjabi, and I explained to him that only my father is from Panjab and my mother is American. He seemed fine with that, but was disturbed at the fact that Eric and I were together. He decided to test our nerves (mine for sure) by disrespecting our relationship. Needless to say this discussion didn't last long, not with me around anyway.
He then discovered I don't speak Punjabi (I was doing really well understanding his melange of Punjabi and English, until he asked me whether I speak it... I, ofcourse, said Main Punjabi bol thori thori. Apparently little little just isn't enough. He spouted out, "You're not Punjabi if you can't even speak the language!" And that was the icing on the cake.
You know what I did?
I threw him onto the open train tracks.
Ah, just kidding!
I did what any respectful American would do when they're fired up...
I let out a "Yo Momma" insult.
That's right. I said, "Yo Momma (Note: "Yo Momma" is just for writing flair.) didn't raise you very well," I said, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Just leave."
(Thank you, Thumper!)
And would you believe it? That man left without a word. When I told my Dad this story, all he could say was God bless that man because he didn't harm us. Dad's right. God bless him, for listening (cuz I was ready to give him a piece of American Hoo Yah! (Hey. I can dream.)
Let's hop to our time spent in Amritsar... we stayed with my Uncle Master Bua Singh, Auntie Manjit, and my cousin, Harmeet. This was a fantastic next few days! Eric and I were spoiled by our family... drinking fresh water buffalo milk everyday, fresh butter, yogurt... I mean you name it, and it was fresh! We were dining at some of the finest restaurants in Amritsar. Eric gained about 10lbs in 5 days! You know him and milk... he was downing this stuff like crazy! A friend in Amritsar told me that people who want to be smart drink cow's milk and people who want to be strong drink buffalo milk. That just means buffalo milk is a lot creamier than cow's milk.... but damn it's GOOD! (And that's coming from a girl who rarely swears.)
Another funny thing about Amritsar was that we basically had a bodyguard wherever we went. Eric and I would even scheme how to escape him. One time we wrote notes in the back of the car making plans of how we'd get away in the mall. Later we were meeting with a friend in the neighborhood my Auntie lived and the father who spoke decent English was looking at my little notebook. I discovered that he was reading our notes about how we would lose our body guard. Imagine me trying to explain that one.
After Amritsar, was our journey to Chandigarh, the home of my Dad's university stomping grounds, Panjab University, Sector 14. Yup, Chandigarh is the only planned city in India. It's divided into sectors and based on the model of a human body. Pretty freakin' neat, huh?
We went to Chandigarh almost solely to get my Dad's degree certificate. This was an adventure on its own. We started by trying to find the Pharmacy School, which was at least a mile from the centre of campus. Once we reached the Pharmacy school we just barely found the Dean of the Pharmacy School. He was just arriving to his office, and invited us in for tea and cookies. We stayed there for about 2 hours, getting a letter of confirmation saying my Dad graduated from Panjab University. We still needed the actual certificate though. This was like a wild goose chase. We were sent to the Certificate Section, in the main administrative building. The guards outside would only allow one of us in because we didn't have a badge (highly secured place for some reason) so I went in, while Eric waited on a bench nearby (this happened atleast 4 times). I found the Certificate Section after walking up 5 stories. Here, I found the head of the Certificate Section, Mr. Soni. I can only describe him as that Bank Manager on Mary Poppins who is really cranky, and tries to get the kids to save their Toppins instead of feeding the birds...don't worry he turns good. By the end he enters a never-ending laughing fit due to a joke about a man with one leg. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you're quite confused, but if you do know then... God bless ya, because you're just as crazy as I am. :)
Anyway after waiting in boundless lines, shoving impatient students and commuters out of the way, walking up and down five flights of stairs 3 times in a day and just praying that all the people who told us we wouldn't be able to get the certificate were wrong. We finally completed the application after 4 days, and signed a paper confirming that the University will send the certificate to our address in the U.S.
This brings me back to the beginning. The news we received today was that the certificate actually arrived! My Mom was the first to tell us! I can't even express the feeling of accomplishment after going through so much. Honestly, we spoke to about 10 people about getting the certificate and every single person told us that we were going to need to bribe the adminsitration, others said that we had to have written consent from my father. But we were persistent and it paid off! Just goes to show you that one approach isn't always the best, and just because one way doesn't work, doesn't mean there isn't another method to git r' done!
