Street Art (ST+ART) in Delhi

I saw a notice sometime last weekend about a street art festival, WIP (works in progress) that was going on this month and sponsored by the ST+ART foundation which strives to "create an art-hub in an unexpected space to offer diverse sectors of society newer experiences, especially to people who are usually excluded from the reach of art" according to their website. Today was the last day of their temporary exhibit at a dry dock in Okhala, where artists had been painting on shipping containers to create their works. When the show closes, these shipping containers will then continue their normal lives in transit, bringing a bit of art across the country, and maybe even the world. 

As we got to the space we saw that often these works were across multiple containers stacked 3-4 high or across. In addition as we walked around I realized that some artists had chosen to decorate the inside of a container, a special surprise for workers I would guess. I particularly liked the one of a face made of faces.  

Wandering around each corner revealed something new, given me new appreciation of how the artists were able to wrap their work around corners or buildings, using space in somewhat unusual ways. It was a definitely a different way to enjoy an afternoon out and about in Delhi. 

The Benefits of Fashion

Last night was the second annual Benefits of Fashion show that students at my school organize. Now, I've been to more fashion shows then I ever anticipated thanks to working at schools where students seem to have a desire (and the connections) to pull things like this off, but I have to admit that this one is a step above many that I've been to. Why? To start with the clothes are designed (but not sewn) by students working in groups of three to create three distinct collections. This year the first collection was focused on formal wear, the second collection on a cultural fusion of color and fabrics and the third was inspired by the Crusades. All of the clothing is modeled by other students, and this appeals to me for a couple of reasons...first it means that not everyone is stick thin and an unrealistic role model (although after seeing many of our girls dressed in form fitting clothes I realize how thin many of them are), it also means that there are just as many boys out there as girls. Second it provides an opportunity for many of our students to do something outside of their comfort zone and usual experience. Will they turn in to models, no, but there is a sense of confidence in oneself that can come from successful walking down a spotlit runway while photos are taken of you in front of over a hundred people. The real reason I enjoy this particular fashion show more than others though is that all of the money earned in this rather elegant endeavor goes to support a group that is working towards women's empowerment. This year the recipient is an organization call Work + Shelter which is trying to "create safe spaces in India where women can come to live and work." The following is from their website:

WORK+SHELTER focuses on women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation. Fundamentally, we provide women in India with fair-trade work and, should they need it, a safe place to live with their dependents. Each shelter has a physical location where activities are centralized. 

At our pilot, W+S New Delhi, women are entered into our paid training program where we teach them the skills to create high-quality products for the export market. The only entry prerequisite we have is demonstrated economic need. When the woman completes training and begins to produce for the export market, we increase her pay. The women are paid whether or not the products sell. 

Beyond work and shelter, we regularly confer with the women to ensure their other key needs are met. For example, at W+S New Delhi we are currently assisting one stakeholder to find medical support for her kidney problems. We also actively support the women to ensure children in their family are in school. We are aware of each woman’s unique challenges and actively work with them to overcome them together.

I know that they are working to be able to open up several more shelters for women in need and I have no doubt that our students have helped them out with that goal. When you think about that, it would be hard not to go watch a fashion show!

Aishwarya's dance performance

Last weekend I escaped my apartment for a short time (perhaps 45 minutes total) to go watch Aishwarya's dance performance. She is a friend who works at school with me who has been practicing traditional Indian dance for the past 18 years. We walked in a bit late, and it took me a few minutes to actually accept that the woman on stage was actually the Aish that I normally see laughing and smiling. Immaculately made up, with a head dress of fake flowers and an extension added into her braid, she seemed like a different being. I was drawn in by her facial expressions - feeling that I understood part of the story despite not having any clue what she was actually dancing about. A later inquiry revealed she was dancing one section of the Ramayana - a great Indian epic, a section which the website Aish directed me to said the following:

Years pass and Rama, Sita and Lakshman are very happy in the forest. Rama and Lakshman destroy the rakshasas (evil creatures) who disturb the sages in their meditations. One day a rakshasa princess tries to seduce Rama, and Lakshmana wounds her and drives her away. She returns to her brother Ravana, the ten-headed ruler of Lanka (Sri Lanka, formerly Ceylon), and tells her brother (who has a weakness for beautiful women) about lovely Sita. Ravana devises a plan to abduct Sita. He sends a magical golden deer which Sita desires. Rama and Lakshman go off to hunt the deer, first drawing a protective circle around Sita and warning her she will be safe as long as she does not step outside the circle. As they go off, Ravana (who can change his shape) appears as a holy man begging alms. The moment Sita steps outside the circle to give him food, Ravana grabs her and carries her off the his kingdom in Lanka.                               from this Ramayana Summary if you want more detail

 Despite my great lack of knowledge I still felt like I understood a good part of the emotion of the story as Aish danced around in a circle, stomping her feet in time to the live music provided by a quartet and making the bells on her ankles ring, then holding precise poses. Emotions that included supplication, denial, sadness, surprise, and more. Aishwarya took me through several emotions as I watched, an escape from a rather mundane weekend.
    

Mini escape

There is no denying that I live in a big city, although I must admit that Delhi is a lot greener than I expected before I arrived. After a few weeks back though I'm always reminded that I grew up (sort of) in the country. At least with a lot of green space around me and with a ton of time spent outdoors. I start to miss it....a lot. Luckily for me I have a mini escape just two blocks from my house. The Aravalli Biodiversity Park is a reclaimed space that used to be mined for morrum and clay. A fact that is still obvious when you look past the edge of the main trail to find a variety of pits cut into this spur of the Aravalli mountain range. I stick to the main path, approximately a three mile round trip, which takes me along a red dirt path, past fields, a set of greenhouses and a couple of small Hindu shrines. The way is well delineated with both stick and wire fences, the occasional over sized wooden gates letting you know you shouldn't follow that fascinating looking side path. One of my favorite things about walking or running the path is that abundance of bird life, and my particular favorite - peacocks. I don't think that I've ever gone out without chasing a peacock for at least a short way down the path. Today I was pleased (but not quick enough with the camera) when some dogs surprised a group of them out of the bushes and they came flying overhead. Of course you can't ever forget that you are still in the city, and if by chance you had, the planes flying low overhead or the glimpse of an informal settlement off to one side will quickly remind you that this is really just a mini escape. But then my attention is captured again and I have to wonder why is there a pile of old bricks in the middle of the path? What is the point of the old rail road ties that they planted upright on the side? How do you just lose a sole?

The benefits of fashion

How many fashion shows have I been to in my role as a high school teacher? Way more than I ever would have dreamed. Of course one probably would have been more than I ever dreamed. Last weekend brought that count up to five, or is it six? Although I will say this one was a bit more student involved then the ones in Asuncion. Four IB diploma students decided to take on the task of organizing a fashion show to benefit a NGO which works on women's rights and safety. An area in India that is increasingly coming to the worlds notice with reports on gang rapes, young girls being forced into prostitution and domestic violence. (In fact did you know that in the week following the well publicized gang rape and the subsequent death of Jyoti there were 9 more rapes reported in Delhi, and that is only in Delhi, and only the ones that were reported). What made this fashion show different? Nine students designed their own collections (okay, three collections designed by groups of three students), employed tailors to sew them, and other students to model them. The even which took place on the gardens of the Australian High Commission was a big undertaking, and provided us with an excuse to dress up for the evening, plenty to observe and perhaps a reminder of the need to choose a side in the women's right campaign that seems to be gaining strength in India.

100 people

I've been putting off posting because I want to write about this summer, in the meantime I'm having experiences that I feel like are worth a post. So I thought perhaps I'd be better off sharing some of the small things that have happened recently and getting myself back into the swing of things, after all I've been back in Delhi a month and we just finished our third week of school.

One cool thing that has come out this week is that the 100 people project is featuring a video they shot at our school which highlights the exchange our high school students do with the Vivekanand Community across the street. It will give you a glimpse of what life is like here for some of our neighbors. I've attempted to embed it here, but you can watch it at the 100 people website if you click on India (or try this link if that doesn't work).

The 100 People Project: The American Embassy School New Delhi, India from 100 People Foundation on Vimeo.

The Mughal Gardens

Twice now this semester I've had the opportunity to walk around what must be the most beautiful formal gardens in Delhi. I know, you're probably thinking "why is she saying that like it is unexpected?" It is not so easy to explore a garden though when they are at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president's residence which has restricted access. The first time I went was during the month that they open the gardens up to the public. Thousands of people pour in to walk through this oasis, and when you first reach the gate it is a bit overwhelming. Luckily we were able to avoid the first hour long line because I had read the directions carefully and knew that basically we didn't want to bring anything in with us - no phone, no camera, no bag, no water, no food....so with a bit of money and my keys tucked into my pocket we skirted the bag check line and went directly to the security line. With the way that people were pushing through I was starting to worry about what we had gotten ourselves into, was it going to be this chaotic when we got into the gardens themselves? Luckily no. After the herb garden the crowds thinned out a bit as people were drawn into the beauty of the landscape that surrounded them. Some ventured through the bonsai garden, others headed straight to the fountain spraying in time to music, while others just followed the paths through the gardens themselves. There was no question that there were a lot of people there, the paths were full but moving steadily as everyone took in the sight. My favorite was the sunken circular garden which just seemed particularly peaceful.

The second time I had the opportunity to walk through the gardens it was significantly quieter. A small group of teachers was there for an official tour of the parts of the residence which are open for the public - the formal banquet hall, a ballroom, a few rooms which had been turned into museums, a courtyard with a fountain where water was spit out of a cobra's mouth, and down an unassuming white washed wall to emerge on the patio at the house end of the gardens. While the flowers weren't quite as pretty this time around the garden felt remarkable tranquil and peaceful. Organized beds laid out according to the Mughal aesthetic, cut by water courses some of which had fished shaped tiles on the bottom.

As no cameras are allowed on the ground all photos of the gardens are from the official president of India website. We were however allowed to take some pictures out front of Rashtrapati Bhavan, near the formal entrance used for offical events which overlooks a rather empty part of the city all the way to India Gate.

Gurudwara Bangla Sahib

Earlier this week a friend and I hired a driver to take us downtown. We knew we wanted to do a bit more shopping as we will be leaving for the summer soon and it is always fun to be able to share a bit of what India has to offer when you are going home. We also had the idea of seeing something else in Delhi, only we couldn't decide what that should be. Luckily for us, we didn't have a plan and were open to unexpected ideas. As we were driving to Old Delhi we passed the walls of a massive Sikh temple. Our driver was very proud to point it out to us as a part of his faith and proposed the idea of taking us through it once we were  done with our shopping. Doreen and I latched onto the idea and couldn't believe our luck. What could be better than going through a religious site with someone of that faith?

So, on our way home we stopped for a visit. Our driver was so excited about the idea of being able to share this with us and stated that we were no longer his customers but his sisters, the smile never dying from his face. So we stripped of our footwear, and waited for him to deposit our shoes in the shoe check, making sure to keep our feet in the shade so that they wouldn't get burned on the hot marble flooring. Peering around the corner to look up the stairs at the white marble building topped with enough gold to make it glitter in the sun. Through a basin of water to clean our feet, a quick wash of our hands at the faucet, up the stairs, drape the scarves we'd just bought over our hair, down the green carpeted walkway and across the door sill into the temple itself. Directly in front of the door was the focal point of the temple; a man sat reading from the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh holy book, under a gold pavilion while off to one side three musicians played music in the background. There was plenty of open space around this area where people were sitting and praying (reminding me of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul in some ways). We did a quick tour around the inside of the temple then excited out the back. As we walked out our driver instructed us to cup our hands to receive the food offering of karah prasad which everyone receives as they leave. We were a bit skeptical, but didn't feel we could turn down any part of the experience that he wanted to share with us. So we received our share, took a small bite and then got rid of the rest.

 

There were two more things to see. The sarovar, the holy lake, which was used to help treat the ill during a choloera and smallpox outbreak in 1664 when the location was just a bungalow of a raj that the eighth Sikh Guru stayed in during a visit to Delhi. The temple itself was built in 1783. The lake is considered holy and many people bathe in the water for a special blessing, a single bath house existing for the use of the women who wish to enter the water, while men and children just enter from any side of the main basin. The lake is surrounded by white marble on three sides, the last side opening to the stairs that lead up to the temple itself. On the opposite side of the temple was the langar hall, where anyone is welcome to eat. A simple meal is served to anyone who walks in regardless of their belief.

While I still may not understand much about the Sikh religion, I feel like I got a special look into the largest Sikh temple in Delhi, the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib.

sari shopping

Saturday I took off to go shopping for a sari. Little did I know it would turn into an 8 hour adventure. First stop was a little sari store where the process reminded me quite a bit of shopping for a carpet in Turkey. Having 10 people there meant they were willing to pull out a lot of different saris out for us to look at, although I'm not sure if that was good or bad. We sat in two rows facing away from each other in the center of the shop and soon enough there were saris flying through the air over our heads as they tossed them back and forth. Saris were being pulled out of clear plastic bags and draped on the platform after being held up by one of the workers. There I sat; just waiting for one that caught my eye and whose texture was appealing to my fingers. I think I only touched 3 or 4 in the 3 hours we were there (most had a bit too much bling for me) and the only one I picked up to really look at I ended up buying after having it wrapped around me to try it on. Its a dark teal with a red border and lots of little mirrors stitched around. Have to say saris aren't cheap, but then I didn't expect them to be.

After 3 hours we decide a lunch was needed and so off we went for a well deserved break. The debate then turned to should we have the cholis (the shirt that goes under the sari) made now? Most of us voted "yes" as we just wanted to get as finished as possible. The sari shop had cut the fabric off of the end of the sari for that and gave it to us, so we headed out to a tailor who specializes in making cholis. There were tons of designs on the wall, samples hanging around, and more choices then I wanted to deal with at that point. Here is where our timing for the day went a little awry. We walked in, checked what we needed to do and were told to stand in line. Okay, we can do that. This lady was in there and had a ton of cholis to be made. After watching her pull fabric after fabric from a bag we were finally told that we had to have an appointment. Aargh! Turns out making an appointment just meant putting your name on a list, but by this time everyone who came in after us already had their name down and we now had another hour to wait. We'd come so far though that we decided to persevere. Eight names got written down, and off we went in search of tea for a brief break. Just had to make sure we were back in an hour.

Luckily once we walked back up the stairs to Eve's we didn't have long to wait. Decisions just had to be made and explained well enough for the tailor to draw a sketch. What shape in the front - round or v-neck? How should the back go (this is more important as you actually see the back of the choli)? Should it tie? If so you need to step over there to that cabinet afterwards and pick out your dangle. Trim? Where should the zipper go (front or side)? Padded support or not? Gosh, I wasn't quite ready for that many choices. I let a few people go ahead of me then managed to come up with an idea. After explaining  it was time to step around the counter and get measured. I never knew you could take so many measurements for a top! Some I expected: bust size, length from shoulder, across the shoulder, around the rib cage (after all the cholis and short), arm width, down an arm....but then there were at least 5 more measurements. How deep cut in the front, how deep in the back, around the arm in three places, across the upper chest...this thing should fit quite well!

So after eight hours I found myself back home with nothing concrete to show for my day's adventure. The sari was at the store getting the fall put in. The choli being made at the tailor. I suppose I did bring home a matching colored simple petticoat, but that hardly seems like enough to show for such a day! I hope I'll be happy when I get to wear my sari for the first time, and will be sure to share pictures then.

Kashmiri Kahwa

Last night I was introduced to the wonder of Kashmiri Kahwa. I'm sure you are wondering "How did that happen?" and "What exactly are you talking about?" I joined a few friends at Dilli Haat, an outdoor craft market, where one of them has a scarf seller she is friendly with. I'm sure you can see where this is going. He showed us the best place to eat dinner and then joined us to give us a taste of his home. Now I can say I might have found my favorite drink in India. While I heard some of the legend behind the drink I'm sad to say I can't really remember any of them today. I do remember that we were told part of the name comes from wanting to say "Wah" after drinking a cup. So what is in Kahwa? It is a base of saffron boiled in water, with cardamon and cinammon. Sugar and almond slivers are added to the hot tea and then you are ready to enjoy. There is a rough recipe here if you want to try it for yourself (which I highly recommend).

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! You won't hear from me again until I get back from travels to Cambodia and Bangkok.

Lodi Gardens

After doing a bit of shopping with a friend in the Tibetan market and going to Gandhi Smriti, which happens to be closed every second Saturday, Doreen and I decided we should take advantage of the relatively clear skies and go take a walk in Lodi Gardens. Created in 1939 by the wife of one of the British viceroys, Lady Willingdon, they are quite a large green space (for being in the center of New Delhi) which is well used by families on nice days. As we walked around there were groups of boys playing cricket, several birthday parties going on, a multitude of picnics and plenty of kids chasing after large balloons. I was thrilled just to find some green space where I wasn't bothered because I was a foreigner, and also fascinated by the Lodi and Mughal remains that are scattered around the park. Right by the entrance we used was the tomb of Sikandar Lodi (1517) who was the second ruler in the Lodi dynasty and reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1489-1517. His tomb was enclosed behind some still standing walls and surrounded by a lovely green space. As we walked a little farther we came across a small turret standing alone which is thought to have been a part of old walls no longer standing. Across from there was a cluster of old ruins. The first we came to was the Sheesh Gumbad, a mosque also dating from the Lodi time period, with blue tile finishing and the tombs of an unknown family inside provided space for children to play. If you looked out the main door you could see the Bada Gumbad which the sign said was also from the Lodi time period and served as a gateway of some sort. This building, perched on top of a built up rock pile, sported more detailed etching than the others. A meander down a few more paths brought us to what I could only consider one of the defining sights in Delhi, that I had seen in pictures but could never place, the tomb of Muhammad Shah Sayyid (1445) the last Sultan of the Sayyid dynasty (the dynasty preceding the Lodi dynasty). It is ringed by a row of stick straight trees, an expanse of green and then the hill rises up which holds the tomb. An octagonal shaped tomb it is bounded by an arched walkway and topped by numerous domes. It is a bit inspiring to consider the architecture of past years and just how durable they built their monuments. But mostly it was just nice to be able to take a deep breath and relax in some of Delhi's green space.

Dussehra Holiday

I looked out our office window last Monday to see this giant statue had been erected on the elementary field and maintenance workers were hosing down the field with water. Huh? Asking around a bit I gathered it had something to do with the holiday which was approaching on Thursday, Dussehra. I figured the watering of the ground meant somehow fire was going to be involved, but I was still a bit surprised when during second period I heard some fireworks going on, giving me just enough warning to look out my classroom window and see the statue being enveloped in fire. Okay...clearly I need to do a little research on this holiday if I'm going to understand anything!

Turns out that Dussehra is the end of a 10 day holiday which culminates in a celebration of good triumphing over evil. More specifically, celebrating the victory of Rama (the 7th incarnation of Vishnu) who killed the demon Ravana who had abducted his wife. Of course it required some secret knowledge and the blessing of Durga for Rama to succeed (it also considered a celebration of the Goddess Durga's victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura). During the previous nine days numerous reenactments of Rama's life are performed and on the final day (Dussehra) the victory over evil is symbolized by the burning of the effigy of Ravana (sometimes along with his son and brother) and people are encouraged to similarly burn the evil within themselves and turn to follow a path of truth and goodness. 


I still feel like I'm missing a good portion of what this holiday is really about, and perhaps next year I'll manage to see a bit more than at school, or the random trucks of costumed individuals driving by. In the mean time at least I now know that the Diwali festival of lights which is coming up is also tied to this as the celebration of Rama's return to his home after this victory. I have a feeling there is plenty more for me to figure out though.