Chalo! Chalo...Challlloooo!

["Let's go" in Hindi. Yup, definitely the favorite word at the moment. Give it a shot.]

So, for those of you who followed my (shortlived!) blog last summer, you might be familiar with this concept of a straw in a mango. If not, feel free to take a look into the archives (first entry ever) and even try it yourself. The title for this blog has stuck around because I like it, I love mangoes, and India definitely has delicious ones.

AND I’M IN INDIA. I know. I still can’t really believe it myself…let’s try again. I’M IN INDIA….AHHH!!

The above is a photo of Pauline, another intern here, with Mansi, middle, and Suhil, right (both AIESEC members who live here). This is at Mansi's house, overlooking the backyard, where two huge mango trees reside. I asked Mansi if I could take one home with me...sadly, that's rather unlikely.

I have so much to say, it’s ridiculous and I’m bursting at the seams. I had stories to share from the moment I got on the airplane in DIA, so this is going to be a LONG entry. Sit back, relax, have a glass of water. Take breaks. Stretch out. And maybe if you’re not so interested in my accounts of who I met on my flights (but really, they’re cool people), just scroll down until it gets to my actual account of being here.

My flights were all fantastic. Denver to LA, I sat next to a woman who has lived in Kyrgyzstan for the last 5 years of her life with her husband, after retiring in the states. They work in community development, especially with a racial minority that migrated from China (they speak a language that combines Russian and Mandarin, which I am curious to hear…). I told her about the reading I did last semester on bride kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan, and it was so insightful (and terrifying) to hear her personal experiences of knowing 15, 16 year old girls who literally are taken out of school, and married off with or without their consent. It was a great way to begin the journey, to feel inspired that someone else felt a passion to go somewhere and do something…and did it. PBS put out this fantastic documentary about it that you can watch online, if you’re interested: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/kyrgyzstan/.

The flight from LA to Delhi was also awesome, thanks to my new friend Jordan (hi Jordan!!), who is traveling India with his girlfriend for the next 3 months. Crazy awesome. We met before our flight, and had some time to chat about Canada (he’s from Victoria), the upcoming US election, India, Malaria medication, dim sum, and various other topics. By chance, we were both seated in row 57—thus providing an in-flight best friend for the next 20 hours or so. We were really excited about being in Frankfurt for a layover, but had less than 2 hours there to enjoy it—so we scouted the best place to take a photo. Ahem. I think we did pretty well. Yay Europe! (I promised as I flew over London and Paris to go back someday…I made a pact with myself…Mihai and Kels, beware.)

My perceptions of Indian hospitality were so great before I even landed. All the Indians I sat near wanted to know my plans for the summer, taught me Hindi, and some offered their homes to me like family. And for sure it has been exactly like that ever since I arrived in Chandigarh, too...I arrived in Delhi Wednesday morning around 4 am, then had a flight to Chandigarh at 9 am. I was in Chandigarh by 10 am, where I will be spending the next 10 weeks.

Homestay: Shivika, her mother, Ishan (an @er), Pauline and me

My internship is through AIESEC (@), which is the international non-profit that I’ve been working with at Cornell for the last two years (www.rso.cornell.edu/aiesec). AIESEC Chandigarh has been so amazing with my reception. Every moment, there’s some person here in Chandigarh to help me out—exchanging money, buying a cell, getting me places, helping me learn Hindi words. It’s a dream to be so well-taken care of! I spent the first day with Shivika, an @ member. Her family, especially her mother, brother, and sister, made us feel very at home, constantly making sure we were comfortable, fed, and happy. Their family is quite well-off –so it was already a culture shock to be in a gigantic house with 3 or 4 people who carried our bags, brought us water and food, scrubbed the floor…while we sat around lounging about. It was completely expected of us not to recognize them or thank them for their work.

Shivika's House in Panchkula, a somewhat suburb outside Chandigarh

It definitely is one thing to read about a societal hierarchical structure—and another to experience it first hand. Chandigarh is a relatively wealthy and clean city; it’s known for it. But even with that, small children as young as 4 or 5 always run up to us when we’re standing outside, begging for money. Some knock on your windows as you're stopped at a red light. It kills me to not look at them or not smile and talk to them as I usually would with any child, and I know that I’m not even seeing the worst of it. Many of the other Indian @ers, also university students, have talked to me about the extremities between the rich and the poor here, and it’s promising to know that my generation might have a hand in closing that gap. But it’s instilled in the culture, and you can see it everywhere…it puts so much in perspective, to say the least.

But I love it here already. The heat for one makes me so ridiculously happy. It reminds me of Taiwan heat, so as soon as I got off the plane, I felt like I was somewhere familiar. I literally can’t get enough of it, and it doesn’t bother me one bit. Chandigarh is very pretty, with lots of trees…and cows, and even camels just chilling by the side of the road. There are so many markets and fruit stalls (lychee!!!), and masses of bikes and scooters (I was thrilled about riding one—again Taiwan reminiscence) and cars and people. And auto-rickshaws (the favored form of transit—like a crazy cheap taxi) cost about 25 cents for a 15 minute ride. The colors of the women’s saris and the flowers are incredibly vibrant, mixed together with how green the trees are. Most of the auto-rickshaws are bright blue, like this one.

The food, of course, has been great. It’s definitely different than the Americanized version (as expected)—and the food in the north (where I am) happens to be spicier. I’ve been able to handle most of it, but I still have many more meals to go…on the plane, we got Takka Tak, the Indian version of Cheetos/Bamba—puffed rice, except with a load of spices. That was my first inclination that there would be future-mouth-burning-sensations to come. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant last night. There are actually TONS around, and most of the menus (at least three I’ve seen) include Chinese sections. It makes perfect sense, but I did not expect it at all. After dinner with Shivika’s friend, we went to a Bedouin Lounge. I’m no expert, but I believe I’m more educated on hummus than the average American. So, for the record, India does indeed know how to serve a proper hummus…

I’m living in a house right now with four other interns, all of who I like very much already (after literally JUST meeting them!). Pauline from Belgium is a sociology major who’s doing work in female foeticide, and just a lovely person overall (and my new roommate!). Piero is a Brazilian with an Arab, Greek, Italian lineage who speaks fluent Chinese (we watched Chinese music videos together, and yell at each other in Chinese a lot). He’s been here for 3 months and speaks fluent Hindi ALREADY. Ganda is from Indonesia, and overflowing with energy and warmth. Nithin, from Chapel Hill, and I are going running in the morning together—so already I’ve made a new running buddy (we’ll see how we handle the heat…). So far, there are three girls from London here, a guy from Mexico, one from China, a few more from the US, a girl from Canada, another from Slovakia, another from Malaysia. It’s unbearably cool to be in this community. This photo is of Cynthia, my buddy from the states also here for the summer, and Ganda. And our matching cell phones. How adorable.

That’s PLENTY for now, I think. There will be more, for sure! Keep tuned.
Oh, and a fun fact: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were supposed to show in Chandigarh yesterday, and Ganda was going to meet them at the place where he works (Chandigarh Department of Tourism). But they flaked…which is fine by me. Chandigarh’s plenty exciting enough without them…

lots of love, angie

A Special Note to AIESEC Cornell:

I love the LC here. I’m in awe. I am already loading up on tips and plans and strategies for us to use next year. They’re bringing in over 25-30 trainees this summer. They are able to rent two houses JUST to put the trainees, and they’re about to sign on for their third. They have OCP’s within the LC, and VP’s for each of the 5 kinds of TNs. @ Chandigarh made the papers with a huge color photo of my friend Cynthia from Illinois at her traineeship. They’ve partnered with Chandigarh Tourism, so each of us received free goodies and coupons for discounts as soon as we arrived. They have to select (SELECT!) the 26 individuals from the LC who can go to the national conference held later this month, because so many WANT to go. It’s mayhem in the office, because there’s always multiple meetings happening, or about to happen. I’m seeing them at their best, welcoming in @ers from around the world. It’s any @er’s dream come true. AND WE ARE GOING TO GET THERE. The team for next year is so freakin’ talented, ambitious, and motivated—and there IS the foundation for us to start seeing the kind of results we’ve talked about for so long. Keep it up, guys! I’m totally feeling the @ pride to the nth degree, and it feels good.