hawa mahal

Beginning of the Hawa Mahal! The palace of winds (hawa mahal)

Inside the building, near one of the windows!

In a little cubby hole! CHEESE!!!

At the end of the trip!

Hawa Mahal is really beautiful. Will post more pictures from my fancy camera later. This place is a photographer's dream because there are so many beautiful opportunities to shoot. Will go through my photos soon and will post the best ones from my journey thus far. I cannot believe it is coming to an end so soon.
This weekend Whitney and her roomate might come and visit in Jaipur. We are supposed to go Sanganer as a class, but if they cannot come, we can do something else. We will go to that resort Saturday night, Choki Dhani and then Amer Fort on Sunday. Sounds like a great time. Perhaps we can do something else on Saturday. Or perhaps we can go to Sanganer separately.

Anyways, will post soon. Leave comments. Love you Mom, Mel and Dad!

delhi!

Here is the first place of the Delhi trip! Qutab Minar! It is the world's tallest brick Minaret. Each story of the minaret was built by a different ruler in a different time period. Was absolutely beautiful to see the intricate artwork and the time and detail put into everything.

Qutab Minar!

Some arch way at the Qutab Minar garden area.

Purana Quila: This is the oldest fort in Delhi. The history behind this place is still very vague to me as believed this was the place the Pandavas lived in the Mahabharat which occured centuries ago.

Another shot at Purana Quila

Here's a fellow Tulanian and I at the India Gate which the national monument of India. It commemorates the 90,000 soldiers that died fighting for the British Indian Empire in World War 1 and the Afghan Wars.

Here I am at the Jama Masjid, the largest mosque in India located in Old Delhi, more specifically Chandini Chowk.

Again at Jama Masjid!

This is at the top of one of the Minarets! It was a high climb in a small tower!

This is at the base of the minaret after making the walk up to the top!

Another shot at the Mosque

Here's an attempted cycle rickshaw picture of us in Chandini Chowk!
Here I am at the Red Fort which was built by the Emperor Shah Jahan in Old Delhi! There was a sound and light show here at night. It was pretty interesting. It is officially a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

More photos to come of my other camera, my more fancy camera. Hope that you enjoy them!

mid term break photos!!!!

Rock Garden, Chandigarh, Punjab, India - July 14, 2010
This garden is made entirely of recycled materials. There are walls made of the electrical sockets, some statues made from broken bangles, etc. It was really wonderful.

Rock Garden: Mili and I! Tulane Grads unite! Mili was so gracious to let me stay with her and her family while I was in Chandigarh. I stayed in Sector 22. I love that, when people ask you where you're going, you say the sector and then you are automatically understood. Her mom is amazing as well.

Sarovar: Harpriya, Mili and myself at Sunset. Chandigarh, Punjab

Lava Bar: Myself, Samira, Mili and Harpriya. This was a lot of fun. Chandigarh has a lot of fun things to do.

Kasauli! I also went to the Monkey Point, but because it is in Army Boundaries, no photography or any form of bags are allowed in there. They definitely confused me with a local and didn't even bother to ask me for my passport. It is pretty nice to be confused with a local, especially on such minimal Hindi spoken.
Here is the photo that I've wanted to be taken for so long. Here I am at the Harmandir Sahib, Golden Temple. This Gurdwara is one of the most important for Sikhs. It is located in Amritsar, Punjab. This was absolutely breathtaking. I cannot describe in words what this experience was like. I went and visited this place about three times in the two days I was in Amritsar. The second time I ate dinner there, for free, and then ended up seeing a religious function at night and then slept on the floor of the temple with the other people. I got up in the morning to go volunteer and washed dishes and cut vegetables to be prepared for the meals. It was a really nice experience and I was really welcomed in.
Here I am at the monument for the 1818 Massacre at Jallianwala Bagh. It was a more morbid experience. What happened here was truly sad but the park is well kept and everyone there seemed to be very respectful. There is a nice museum inside telling of what happened there.

Here I am outside of the Jallianwala Bagh!

Here I am with Hanuman Ji at the Durga Mandir, which is somewhat of a rip off of the Golden Temple. You will see in the following photos what I mean.

Here I am with the rip off Golden Temple. This is actually the Durga Mandir in Amritsar. It was interesting to say the least.

Here I am at the Wagah Border ceremony where they close the gates between Pakistan and India.They have a staged ceremony which was somewhat weird. They do not allow bags in of any kind and my passport got me into the VIP section!

Here I am at the border afterwards. I'm on the India side, obviously.

Here I am at the Mata Mandir, where women who want to become pregnant come to pray. I did not want to go in, but was somewhat coerced into doing so. The mandir turned out to be some sick fun house where we had to crawl through weird spaces and whatnot. Then I saw this and decided to mock it. This is me with Kali Ma. See the similarities?

Here I am for the last time at the Golden Temple. This place is so remarkably beautiful. If you've ever seen it in a movie, it does not do it justice.

Here I am chilling out on the banks with the guards there at the Golden Temple. I called it a big swimming pool with these guys as the really decked out lifeguards. They don't have buoys though to save people, they have spears. This is just a joke though!

Last photo at the Golden Temple. I hope everyone gets a chance to visit here one day.

This trip was absolutely exhilarating. It was definitely what I needed and I was really glad that I had the opportunity to do so. I met some wonderful people on this trip and Punjab has captured my heart. Whatever media people have seen of Punjab does not do it justice. Punjab is so green and lush. The men are beautiful too! The food is great and the sites are beautiful. I suppose I am biased because I've always been fascinated by the Punjabi culture. I like the way Punjabi looks, sounds and everything else. I suppose I should learn Punjabi!
Now we are back to the grind and I've decided to go to Delhi this weekend to see Saba and then perhaps Lucknow the other weekend. The first weekend in August is my trip to Agra to see the beautiful Taj Mahal. I will probably piss myself out of excitement. I am so honored to have the opportunity to be here in India learning so much and to be able to see so much. I am afraid I will not be able to ever see everything truly remarkable here in India no matter how many times I will visit.
I hope one day my family gets the chance to come here and at least see Kolkatta and the Taj Mahal.
I cant believe its almost over though.

Puskar and Tilonia Trip

Here I am at the hotel with the lake behind me. It is not filled, that is why it looks so desolate. It is where many Hindus come and give offerings at this lake during certain times of the year. Yes I am wearing a shalwar kameez. Be shocked. I haven't worn one in a long time.

Thank you Mom and Dad for my wonderful camera. It allowed me to take beautiful shots of Raja, the camel we had dressed for us by traditional Rajastani people.

Here I am outside the Brahma Mandir, where I went to give offerings for my family!!

We had some Rajastani Dancers come and put on a show for us with live music and dancing. My beautiful camera allowed me to take such a beautiful shot like this one.

Here is the fire dancer. He's a pretty good dancer. Even better than me I would say.

Here is some fyah from he mouth!

Tomorrow I will be going to the Punjab. Will have lots more beautiful pictures to share once I come back. I'm looking forward to it as I've always dreamt of going to Punjab since I saw DDLJ when I was 9, way back in 1995. I am so excited. I know there will not be any yellow flowers or anything so filmi of the sort, but it will be so wonderful to see the place that I've only seen in my dreams and the movies.

birthday birthday photos!

At the Italian Restaurant, Mediterraneo, before going to see I Hate Luv Stories opening night!
Sarah, myself and Milla, day before my birthday!

Fettuchine Spaghetti. A GREAT break from Indian food.

Birthday day! First we went to Birla Mandir!

Birla Mandir

Me outside Birla Mandir

Sarah and I at Albert Hall Museum

Rashmi ji, my elementary Hindi teacher, feeding me cake!

American Cake. Reminds me of the time in Michigan when we got a fourth of July cake for my birthday. Remember, mom?

Again with the cake face.

Desi girls...kinda. Birthday Celebrations!
Violet, Myself, Jennie, Jessica, Sarah

Some more desi wear!
Violet, Farah, Sarah, Krish, Milla and me.

I had three birthday cakes this weekend. One from the school, one from the hotel (which I didn't get to take pictures of since it was so impromptu) and then with my friends. It was definitely one of the best birthdays I have had in a while. The only thing that would have made it absolutely perfect would be my mom, dad and sister here with me.

I'm going to Chandigarh and Amritsar for break, hopefully. We'll see what kind of fun I get into then!

Having a lot of internet troubles, these photos took me a while to upload. Hopefully I'll get things straightened out soon. This weekend we are going on an overnight field trip to Ajmer Fort, Pushkar and more. It seems like a lot of fun! Will take lots of pictures.

Lots of love. And LEAVE some birthday love.