I left my heart in Jaipur!

One of the other things following the why and the how come I chose to study in India, people would always ask if I have been to the Taj Mahal- yes it is that popular. I have been in India for almost 2 years, and with my first visit I did not visit the Taj, it did not bother me that much simply because India has a whole lot more to offer trust me. I am not disregarding the grand standing that is the Taj Mahal, I mean just the story behind it will get you hooked. And when you read about Agra, you most likely to stumble upon the “Indian Golden Triangle”, which constitute Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur cities, the three of them kind of form a triangle when you map them out. And so I figured, if you gonna visit Agra, might as well complete the whole triangle right, see what all the fuss is all about yeah. Anyone I told about this plan over here thought we were being crazy because it is summer and all those cities have temperatures above 40 degrees during the season. Typically, everyone travels to the north of India during the summer vacations because we have awesome cool weather up here. And here was me and my friend planning for the deserts of Rajastan and humidity of Delhi. I did not care, I just wanted to feed my curiosity, and so off we were- RoadTrip! RoadTrip! RoadTrip!

By the time we reached Delhi, our last stop, my finances were running somewhat low and so our plan to visit the monuments in this city didn’t realize- at least not yet. Anyway Delhi is so close it can always be done, and perhaps deserves its own post- so much out there. We did pass by the markets- Sarojini and Chadni Chowk tough- soo crazziiiee! Fast-paced! Loud! Crowded! Everything everywhere! Sarojinin was a little more organized though, as in it was easier to navigate. Chadni Chowk on the other hand is a hell of a maze, so good-luck figuring it out! Both are great spots for shopping, they very cheap and if you are a good negotiator, you can get a hell’a good price.

Before Delhi we were in Agra, because, hello! That was kind of the whole motivation behind the road trip in the first place right. Different people had mentioned that there is not much to see or do in Agra besides the Taj Mahal. That is not true! It is only that Taj Mahal is the most popular one and the centre of all the attention, much like how the last born of the family is treated- you follow? It is a beautiful sight with a lovely story behind it- which I’m not going to go into because I see you Google it already:). But there are other sites worth a visit too-Fatehpur Sikri, which by the way was my favorite spot in Agra, and “baby Taj” (Itmad-Ud-Daulah), Agra Fort, etc. (the locals are your best source of information). And these are less crowded in comparison. Oh and Mehtab Garden, which overlooks the Taj Mahal, because you know, all roads lead to Taj Mahal right…

 

When we left Shimla on this trip, we were headed towards Rajastan, Jaipur. In the midst of all the detailed royal architecture and welcoming spirit of the Rajastani people, I left a piece of my heart. Over-looking the Hawa Mahal that was initially designed to allow the royal ladies of the palace to experience the city through the little windows (as I hear) with a view that falls directly onto the buzzing markets in the street, a true Rajput architecture! I fell in love. Taking in the history of the life that existed before us in the scorching heat at Amer Fort and Nahagargh Fort, I tasted royalty. Somewhere between Vidhyadhar Garden, City Palace, and Albert Hall. I left a piece of my heart in Jaipur. Words would not do justice as to what a beaut Jaipur is, why don’t I leave some (lots!) of the pictures so you can at least partially grasp what I am trying to portray…

 

HawaMahal from the inside

Rajastan Thali dish

Albert Hall

Entrance to Sisodia Rani Palace

The wildlife of the forts. PhotoCredit: Marima (insta: @mijn_fotootjes)

Amer Fort. PhotoCredit: Marima (insta: @mijn_fotootjes)

Hawa Mahal front view at night. PhotoCredit: Marima (insta: @mijn_fotootjes)

Temple near Panna Meena Kund stepwell. PhotoCredit: Marima (insta: @mijn_fotootjes)

Birla Temple

City of Jaipur from Nahargah Fort

Panna Meena Kund stepwell

Jal Mahal. PhotoCredit: Marima (insta: @mijn_fotootjes)

Amer Fort

Inside Amer Fort

Hawa Mahal front view during day

Magnifica deco walls inside Amer Fort. PhotoCredit insta @dinastylie

In the end the full experience lies in the state of Rajastan, the Pink City! India. Go get it!

Bummer! Its not a fairytale…#AfricanInIndia

First of all, this blog post might seem to have a negative tone. However, remember that the intention of #AfricanInIndia series is not to discourage you in any way, it is merely to share the experiences regardless of how raw they are. It is my hope that the blog posts can help everyone considering applying to Indian universities and the ICCR scholarship to be well informed and hence make an informed decision. So here goes…meet Refiloe Khali of Lucknow University, state of Uttar Pradesh.

“The initial reason that drove me to apply to study abroad was the high unemployment rate in my country. Finding a job was increasingly difficult, and so the moment I heard of ICCR scholarship and gone through the information, I applied. Lucknow University was my third option, but that did not bother me much, I was more excited about getting my life started in a new place. And once I got to know that there were other students en-route a similar journey, I was completely at ease. Moving from one continent to another you expect there should be challenges of course, however, I must say, I might have underestimated how difficult it was going to be. The little things that you take for granted and hardly ever give them a thought suddenly become a thing. Getting a cab from airport to your destination, student registration, buying bread, all these are simple and easy tasks, but an extreme sport if you are not familiar with the local language. Even my lectures are conducted in Hindi even though the university agreed to accept international students. I already arrived late to the university, catching up with the work already done was tricky.”

On paper, all these university agree to conduct lectures in English, but the reality is different. I too had one Prof. who would utter English sentences only when our eyes met, the rest of the time he would sail off with Hindi.

“I am not going to get into the hostel situation because I literally do not have anything good to say regarding that. The conditions are bad and rules are super strict. We have lizards and all sorts of insects as our pets. My friends and I joke about it, try to keep things light and try to embrace the positives to keep sane. Others were not strong as we are, they left the program almost immediately. If it is not the hostel conditions or the registration process, then maybe it is the food, the heat, or pollution, something is likely to trigger you. Expect the extremities and constantly stretching your comfort zone. Perhaps if my situation were different and I had other opportunities at my fingertips I too might have left for home. I do miss my family a lot, my friends, the food back home, and most importantly speaking my own mother tongue. Forget English, “ke batla ho bua Sesotho”. Any other language will always be somewhat limiting. After weighing all the pros and cons, I would not encourage anyone to apply to my university. It is simply not yet ready for international students, a lot has to be done. I do believe that other university in the country are better. However, there is still much to consider, prepare yourself, especially mentally. Prepare to be independent and work extra harder. On the positive, the scholarship is pretty good, and life in India is relatively inexpensive. If I had to do it all over again, I would, perhaps with a different university though.

Truth is, I have been so pre-occupied with trying to find my place here that I have not had the chance to actually go out and about and see what else Lucknow has to offer, let alone the rest of India. I did however attend a friend’s wedding in Kampur, and I had the whole traditional saree thing going, it was one of those moments I would cherish always. Indian weddings are fantastic! Trust me, nothing short of royalty. And hell, I looked so good in the saree don’t I?!

Hopefully after all this, you will come to Lucknow much more prepared than I was. “

There are so many fabulous things about Lucknow and I do certainly hope that Refiloe will get to experience them eventually. Ultimately, if you want to see just how awesome a study abroad venture can be, just do it! Happy Easter Holidays!

#AfricanInIndia Maseru to Delhi

One of the main reasons why I started this blog was to have a sense of community of my own. Like I am all for diversity and stretching the comfort zone, but sometimes you just want to converse or scream in your mother tongue, I know I am not the only one who feels like this. If you follow my blog, you know that I am the only African student currently enrolled in my uni. And although my time in India is almost over and has been nothing short of a good time, I still want to establish my African community. And now I am excited to share the first experience of an African student in India who is not me:) Here goes:

Name: Thato Kholoane
Home:Maseru, Lesotho
Studies: BSc Industrial Chemistry
India: Delhi

“It was one of the happiest moments in my life. I felt blessed and I was not going to waste this opportunity. My family was very happy for me, I am the only person in my family to go as far as I am with education and not for lack of trying but they could not afford it. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me and I was ecstatic.Landing in India was not bad, the weather was harsh but that didn’t bother me at all, after all I was excited to be in a different environment. My excitement was soon leveled out by the processes of settling in, university registration, and so on. I believe I would have had a different experience and probably got things done quicker and smoother if the registration was not as exhausting and if I had proper help not only from the scholarship committee, but the university as well. The language barrier made it almost impossible to do anything on time. Obviously being so different expect to get people staring and whispering behind your bag. To be fair it is nothing personal,it just a little uncomfortable, but you learn to ignore all of it and embrace your foreignness. I am the only African student in my college and sometimes the lecturers communicate in Hindi, and so do most students, making it a little difficult to make friends or let alone participate in activities. Hindi is not an easy language.The food is so different from what we have at home, to this day I am still struggling to adjust to the diet here. Being a first time traveler, and first time in India, I would say food was the most culture-shocking for me. My first few weeks were bad I can tell you that much, but I stuck it out because this opportunity was not going to escape me easily. I am more resilient than I thought. The one thing I miss about Lesotho and my small town back home in Lesotho is the fresh air and being in a space that is generally less crowded and less busy, because Delhi has no such thing as calm hours. I appreciate Lesotho a lot more than before because of my experiences here. I have not explored my new city yet, but I plan to and hopefully I find a new interest or a place I can truly call my spot :). My word to future foreign students: Be ready, strong and resilient. India will test you in ways you can never imagine.”

I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Thato in person yet, but she sounds terrific! And perhaps on my way back to Shimla I might make my traditional stop in Delhi. Yes it can be described as chaotic, busy and crowded, but hey what isn’t. I had so much fun celebrating Christmas in Delhi with friends, their family and friends. Hell guys! Life e monate man! We may have different reasons for ending up in India, but we sure have similar experience The challenges faced and lessons learned are pretty much the same. Stay tuned for more…

 

#AfricanInIndia

WinterIsHere!

I have never really done the tourist thing in Shimla. I am not saying I am always on books, but attending college for 6 days a week takes so much time. You want to rest on Sundays and at the same time hang out but then the day goes by so fast by the time you think of doing anything it’s already dinner time. I have a whole page of excuses, I could keep going. Anyway after exam was over, my friend and I both agreed to do the whole tourist thing. One of the first things that everyone does as soon as they land in Shimla is the city center, we call it Mall Road. I have been there many times over, but it is always get it, cross the errands on the list, and get out, and so we never really take a moment to just relax and appreciate what Shimla city center has to offer. Yesterday seemed like a perfect opportunity to do so. See I have been praying for snow season to hit Shimla for quite a while now. Odd thing to hope for, but its pretty exciting for me-South African weather has zero snow on its radar. The closest thing to snow is hailstorms, which aren’t so much fun given how hard they hit. I missed the snow season last year on the account that I went back home. And finally, yesterday the famous Gods of Himachal Pradesh made it happen!! It wasn’t as much as I wanted it to be, however, still exciting!

Shimla is not a big city to be honest; a weekend is enough to explore most of the well-known sites. First, the Mall Road itself is a tourist attraction site. I gather it is because of the British-influenced architecture and plus most people find it easier to stay in the city center as a tourist so you can access everything in one place. There is a Christian church by what is known as “the ridge”, which is a real hot-spot, not just for the tourist but the locals love it too- it serves as a good landmark to meet out-of-towners. And just down the road there is a small Tibetan market which sells mostly clothes, but they also have some dhaba stores (roadside/street food stall) which have upper northern cuisine. I met a girl from one of the areas in the upper north (Kinnour) who lived on my floor in the hostel, Chherring. Her energy and laughter was infectious we instantly became friends. She had lots of stories about her culture, and once we were comparing similarities of our local street foods, and one dish from her area in particular grabbed my attention- shapalee. Truth is I liked shapalee before I even saw what it was; the name sounded so exotic rolling off her tongue that I wanted to try it immediately. And I am happy to report that it taste as fun as it sounds.

smartcapture

smartcapture

smartcapture

smartcapture

smartcapture

Another thing you are guaranteed to come across here in Himachal and really most of India is temples. Jakhoo temple is the one I hear most about. I have visited back in 2012. One thing to look out for while you enjoy the scenery out there is monkeys; they are everywhere and ready to grab your stuff and run- carry as little as possible. Visceral lodge is also a pretty site, I like it best in the summers when it’s green and alive and the flowers are all out flaunting their colors and spreading their scent. Overall day well spent and if the weather keeps going on as yesterday, I might just have my first white Christmas 🙂

54hr Train Ride from North to South- I dare you!

I had this idea of sharing another person’s experience by now, but contrary to what I believe, not everyone wants to blurt out their embarrassing travel stories, or how culture shocked they were, let alone how they end up studying in India. Anyway, I have plenty to keep us going…

My department has this one professor who has taken it upon himself to show the students that India is beyond Himachal Pradesh. He told me one of his best memories from during his college days was travelling with the class to different regions around India. Unfortunately, due to the amount of work it takes to plan a trip for students and the responsibility that it comes with it (despite everyone being well-above 18 and technically adults and responsible for themselves), our next trip to Mumbai and Goa may be the last of these excursions. Too bad for future students. I am way too excited about this trip than I was the last time. They call it the “Pearl of the Orient”, who wouldn’t be excited?!

In any other day in my own country I would never have agreed to this, ever. I mean I do not even remember the last time I was on a traditional train, let alone for 54 hours! I kid you not.

The idea of being on a train as group seemed like an adventurous one. I imagined we would break into some karaoke hits, play cards, and other road trip games and the whole thing would be over before we know it. And we would get to experience different scenery along the route, which we kind of did. I remember there was the rich green farms of Punjab covered with fog at the time and in distance you could see women hard at work and little ones playing just in sight. Then there was Delhi, a completely different situation. You could feel the buzz of the city even before you arrive at the New Delhi station. And then there was hours of just brown, like Kruger National Park without the wildlife (random analog I admit). However, all these were very hard to enjoy especially after the first night. I am not going to get into the details, but take my word for it, not a good idea overall.

After 3 days and 2 nights on the train everyone was eager to say hello Kucheveli! By evening time we had forgotten about the long journey and how tired we were suppose to be. Kerala had a lot to offer, people there are friendly and laid back. The city had a kind of a hippie vibe, like a Reggae town. The best part, especially for foodies, you can find different cuisines of seafoods. The Cochin Fish Market has all that your heart desires, and it overlooks the sea so its a complete experience.

The South, unlike my Northern home has a lot of Christians and that is also reflected in the number of catholic churches you will find in the city. Their architecture is pretty cool, reminded me so much of Barcelona. One other thing, you are going to see men in white skirts, correctly known as “the mundu” attire, so don’t ever tell me that skirts are strictly feminine. I also noticed that majority of the females in the South are constantly in sarees, unlike here in the North where your everyday attire is typically salwars or suit with dupatta.

The second day was my favorite, we had the traditional breakfast of the South, Idli and Samba (the name is more enticing than the actual meal, at least for me), then we took a walk along the Chines Fishing nets neighboring the market, and from there we were off to “the Venice of the East”- Alleppey. We found ourselves on a houseboat for the night and caught the sunset taking in the palm trees and golden atmosphere of Alleppey. Next day we were off to Kanyakumari, the southern most tip of India, where the Arabian sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian ocean meet. Are you imagining what it’s like? Yeah you totally are! Apparently, there is some distinction in the color of the water, but I could only distinguish two.

Overall a successful trip, the South welcomed us with such warm hands that we are planning to return- off to Goa and Mumbai soon! This time, however, I will opt for the 2hr long flight. 54 hour train ride was a one time adventure for me, so maybe I dare you not!

#AfricanInIndia #MatIndiaSeries

#AfricanInIndia

HPU #AfricansInShimla

I have been toying around with starting this blog series for almost a year now. See in the last couple of weeks I have been picking up such great material unintentionally so. I have been a student of HPU for a year pursuing my MSc degree with the Biosciences Department. It is an extremely small university with very limited resources regardless of being a Grade 1 university according to Indian standards. So the first question I get asked is why the hell did I not stay in ZAR, I was already a student of one of the best, University of Pretoria. Couple of reasons really. 1. I have been a student of Tuks for 6 whole years, see I am one of those people that took double the time to complete their degree. I am not going to blame this on anyone really, there was a year or two where I was not interested in anything academic. I took on an adventure once and lived in Namibia for year, which is a whole other blog posts of its own. 2. I have always wanted to be a research scientist, though the first time I said it out loud I was not aware it is such a journey. Given that I had already “wasted” so much time trying to complete my degree, I figured I can jump into MSc and skip the Honours year. And lastly, I wanted to study abroad and of all the scholarships I applied to ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) was the first to reply. And since I had been here before, I knew I could easily take on the culture shock and thrive in pursuit of my MSc, and plus the scholarship is good.

And so here I am, one year into the program and the Himachal lifestyle. It is has been one amazing experience, I mean sure there are some hard days where home sickness prevails and results in tears, but then I boil a cup of water and prepare the South African rooibos tea with rusks and move on. Everything is better with Rooibos!! My goal with this series is to share my experiences as an African student in India, which means I will write about the education system, what it is like being African in Shimla, the culture shocks, the awesome moments and of course the tough days too. I will also be sharing stories of other African students that are living here. My university-HPU has a couple of Afghani students but as far as I know I am the only African student they got. However, one nearby university has over 200 African students, mostly from the West region. I am super excited to hear and share their stories. Let us explore my first month and the visit to Manali in the next post. Stay tuned #AfricanInIndia #MatIndiaSeries

 

Took these few days after I arrived while visiting a nearby Art Gallery. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed inside the gallery, but man the art! Obviously I fell in love with the stone sculptures, few days in and I had already made such cool friends 🙂