The Final Days

Well, I'm not quite home, but I'm writing from the Hyderabad airport. I was supposed to leave at 1:10 AM, but due to a strike in Frankfurt (unexpectedly), my flight it delayed until 6:25 AM, so I have some time to kill. I'm hoping to catch my connecting flights, though, and still make it home on time. :)

It was another really good weekend, and a great way to close out my stay in Hyderabad. On Friday after work, Helene and I rented cycles and sped around the fields. We saw a lot of wildlife: a kingfisher, an eagle, a turtle, jungle cats, hares, and two monkeys! Unfortunately neither of us had a camera. After that, Daniel, Helene, Shraddha and I went to A-Lounge, a fancy restaurant we had been planning to visit for a while. It was pretty good, especially the bread basket with a delightful assortment of naan. Plus, the brownie sundae we got for dessert was served on a cabbage leaf on a sizzling hot plate. Then we watched Harry Potter, so it was, by default, a satisfying night.

On Saturday we had planned to go to the Golconda Fort, but unfortunately I was told there might be a chance I had to go back to the police station to get my exit permit (even though I had been assured 2 months prior that I would not have to go back; I guess they needed to verify I hadn’t done any crimes.) So after doing some yoga outside in the courtyard with Helene, I was driven to the police station for a relatively short visit – I only had to wait an hour this time, and I remembered to bring a book. For lunch, while I was gone, Helene prepared a picnic, and she, Daniel, Shraddha and I cycled to look for the monkeys again and have a picnic. We stopped near the row of a church, mosque and temple, and had our picnic. It started to rain, so we found some shelter and played cards for a while. We had a very nice view of the storm as it rolled in.

Outdoor yoga

Rice salad

For dinner on Saturday, Daniel, Helen, Sahima, Shraddha and I went to the Hard Rock Café again for some highly anticipated nachos, sandwiches and the brownie sundae – and it was everything we had hoped for. I think it was KISS night, too, based on the face paint on the staff…

Legendary nachos

Most flattering angle ever

On Sunday (which was also Friendship Day! This is an Indian holiday that is celebrated on the first Sunday of every August, and generally involves friends giving each other little string charm bracelets. I bought a few a while ago and gave them to the others), we got to go to the Golconda Fort again. I really wanted to visit this again before I left since it was, I think, my favorite place in Hyderabad. Sahima and Shraddha weren’t feeling well and Helene had an entire final report to write, so it was just Daniel and me, but it was still fabulous. We started off with the Qutb Shahi Tombs which, we would later learn, were the burial sites of the seven different moghul kings who ruled successively at the Golconda Fort in the 15-1600s. There is an underground tunnel system connecting the tombs and fort that was used for funeral processions for the kings. There was a sort of uncomfortable moment when some men asked if we wanted a guide for the tombs. After pulling away our taxi driver shook his head and said that the guides were "Muslim and stupid".

The last time we went to the Golconda Fort, we had lunch at one of the most delicious places of the trip. I didn’t know the name, only that it was in the vicinity of the fort and next to a Baskin Robbins. I asked someone at the tombs if he knew where we could find a Baskin Robbins, he spoke to our taxi driver, and we got there! I was very happily surprised, and just as delighted with the lunch. I also bought some biryani spices to bring home.

Then we finally got to the fort. There wasn’t a festival today, so it was much less chaotic. Daniel and I wanted to take a guide, and found one for 350 rupees for a 2 hour tour. I’m really glad we did it because, even though I know you have to take those types of things with a grain of salt ("all the body guards were 7 feet tall and could lift 250 kg because they were African"), it was really interesting. Apparently the seventh king had 360 wives, who each had separately portioned rooms and were kept out of sight behind curtains. When the king died, all of his wives committed suicide. The king was huge and never walked anywhere, but was carried on a chair by an alternating crew of four servants (taller ones in the back and shorter ones in the front to keep the chair level while ascending the steps of the fort). The close bodyguards who worked near the wives were eunuchs.

Daniel and our tour guide

In the part of the tombs where the 360 wives supposedly had rooms.

And more of the wives' rooms

At the top!

Looking down at more private wives' quarters

What used to be a queen's mirror/make-up station

We also saw the various water tanks and systems, like the pump and pipes which were maintained by manual labor from servants 24 hours a day, and the heater, which was used to heat baths or to make boiling water or oil to pour on any approaching enemies. We saw the jail where a Hindu minister was once kept for 12 years for building a temple without permission, who was only released after the king of the time received a message from a god in a dream. The view from the top of the fort was breath-taking, and you could just see the Charminar in the distance, which was built by the son of the third or fourth king as a double-image of the tower at the top of the fort.

We got a fair amount of attention as well, like the usual frequent requests for photographs. Women tended to ask me, while men would ask Daniel. Whenever men would ask us both for one, most tended to only thank him and shake his hand, which was a bit bothersome. I got a lot of confidential whispers asking whether he was my husband, and what seemed like genuine confusion or surprise when I said no. 

At the end of the tour, the guide took us to a room that was quite larger. He had Daniel stand in one corner and I in another, facing the wall, and told us to speak quietly into it – and we could hear each other clearly! It was really cool. We walked through another tunnel, where we could smell something pretty awful and hear a high-pitched squeaking. I asked what it was and the guide took us farther in to see a huge flock of bats flapping above us through on tunnel. We took a few pictures and they were really eerie, with all the eyes reflecting back at us.

Unfortunately, the tour ended on a bit of a sour note, when the guide asked for a tip and we gave him one (a really good one – 500 rupees when we had agreed on 350), but he still kept demanding more. We got away, but it was sort of a shame, since we’d had a good time. After the fort, we headed to Vijeta, the supermarket, for some last minute groceries and things I wanted to take home, and then back to the campus, where a delicious farewell/celebratory dinner/Ramandan snacks-feast was waiting for us. I ate so much food, I couldn’t believe it, but we had a great time and played a final few games of cards.

On Monday, I went into work and wrapped up all my loose ends. I printed my final report, went to the bank, the MAMTA shop for a few last minute gifts, and packed up. I had a final lunch at the Indian canteen and final dinner at the western one. After that, we bade Helen farewell, as she is leaving two weeks early to travel around India. And a few hours later, I was on my way to the airport, accompanied by Dr. Ram. I was really lucky to get him as an adviser.

And now as I finish writing this – I am home! I can hardly believe it. I got in around 11 pm on one of the most frightening landings of my life through a thunderstorm, and went home and made chocolate chip cookies. And then slept in my own bed with Buddy. I’m still trying to turn on the light switches by flipping them the wrong way, though!

Well, good-bye for now, India! Perhaps we will meet again.

An excellent welcome home:

And thank you for reading the blog, I enjoyed writing it!

August 1-5: Final Week and Presentation

I’ve been quite busy in this past week or so with everything coming to a close. I’ve been finishing up with work and trying to spend as much time as possible with the friends I’ve made here. On Monday and Tuesday, I went to the IACD to give some of my last English classes, which were mostly just practicing conversation and showing pictures from the U.S. I had too much work to do on Wednesday to make it to class, and Thursday was my last day. I brought in some more no-bake cookies and shared a few more pictures. Then one of the girls gave me mehindi. She did a beautiful job, even incorporating ‘Izzy’ into the design. I took some last pictures with them, which I will print off at the ICRISAT printing shop and drop off at the IACD before I go. I hope I was able to help them at least a little with their English.

At work on Monday I prepared an excel file with all the data from the vegetable soybean taste-test survey which would be sent into the bio-nutritionist at ICRISAT for analysis. On Wednesday, we got back the results, so I had to work pretty quickly to get it processed into charts and into the final report I had written. I’ve never had a statistics class, so I was pretty clumsy with handling the numbers and had to redo a lot of work because I had compared things that had been analyzed separately and so were incomparable. But after a late evening of work on Thursday, I got it submitted to Dr. Ram. There weren’t too many significant results, as the survey was pretty limited in size/scope, but some tentative conclusions could be made; Indian participants seem to favor the basmati flavor/aroma, gray seed coat color, and pods with no hairs. However, Dr. Ram told me the report was good and that it and the literature review I did last month should be helpful to AVRDC’s progress.

Outside of work, I’ve been doing a lot as well. On Monday we had a spaghetti dinner with fresh tomato sauce and parmesan cheese which was fantastic. We’ve been playing a lot of cards, and I’ve learned some new games to bring home from Helene and Daniel like Betting Whist. We’ve also been watching the Harry Potter movies (again!). On Wednesday, we went to the Shilparamum, the outdoor gated market/bazaar near the High Tech City mall, to do some final souvenir shopping. Then we went to Paradise again for some delicious biryani and daal. We’ve been doing a lot of good eating lately.

Spaghetti dinner... warming up for home!

Shopping at Shilparamum, the outdoor market district sort of place, where I got to do a lot of bargaining.

Dinner at Paradise!

On Friday, I gave my final presentation at the office. Since I had had such a rush to process the analysis results and get them into my final report, I was up quite late on Thursday preparing the power point, but I think I managed to make a good one. At 10 AM everyone at the office met in the conference room where I used the projector to make my report. It was a casual presentation (since it’s such a small office: Dr. Ram, Dr. Warick, Usha, Rehana, Neeraja, Tomar, and Aqil sometimes). Helene, Daniel, Sahima and Shraddha also came to watch, which was really nice of them. I spoke for about 20 minutes and then had a sort of discussion about my feedback and thoughts on the potential of vegetable soybean. I think it went well overall! Then the office went to canteen as a group for my farewell lunch.

After lunch, as I had previously made cookies and a cake, Neeraja and Usha each taught me how to prepare an Indian dessert for the little farewell gathering we would have for me during the afternoon tea break. Neeraja made semiya, which is sort of like rice pudding with raisins and nuts, and Usha made carrot halwa. Both were really good, and I’ll have to give them a try at home. Neeraja also invited my friends to come back for the break, so Helen and Daniel joined us. The office got me a gift as well – some beautiful pearl jewelry. (I wrote them all a card and gave them nice Lindt chocolates). I said a few words of thanks, and Dr. Warwick gave a little speech about my time here, even saying I should come back if ever interested in a job. The only drawback was that before tea I had to sing! Huyen sang a Vietnamese lullaby during her farewell tea party, so they wanted an English song. I was a bit flustered and sang part of I’ve Just Seen a Face by the Beatles. It was a bit mortifying, but it was a really sweet, touching conclusion to my work here.

The celebratory farewell tea break - semiya, no-bake cookies, laddu, carrot halwa, and tea/biscuits.

Posing to receive the gift :)

My little speech

And suddenly it is my last day in Hyderabad! As I write, I’m trying to pack up and wrap up any loose ends before I leave tonight. My flight leaves at 1 AM India time on Tuesday, August 9, and I will arrive in Columbus at 7:40 PM the same day. I will make one or two more posts about the final weekend (which was really fun – we had a lot of great food, cycled, went to the Golconda Fort again, and had a farewell party). But I might be writing them from home, or at least an airport on the way! This is a pretty good feeling – I am leaving an amazing trip on a high note, but I also can’t wait to get home. I’ve missed everyone so much!

More Pictures from the Palace Tour

Firstly, I thought I would put up a few more pictures from last weekend. I downloaded some from Helene, who has a really good camera, so some of them are of a lot better quality than mine.