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.

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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 🙂

#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 🙂