Shabash!

I am sitting in a lil internet cafe right now in Landour, a town that is basically part of Mussoorie. Mussoorie is a gorgeous mountain town nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas and a vacation destination for scores of Delhiites escaping the toxic burn of summer in the city (could I write a travel guide or WHAT?).

We left Delhi on Saturday at 7 am and didn’t arrive to our lodgings until 7pm. Our estimated 8 hour bus ride took 12 hours due to 2 major traffic jams and a flat tire, but it was an enjoyable ride nonetheless. We stopped at a rest stop half way through the ride that was the must beautiful rest stop I’ve ever seen. In addition to the fast foodish walk-in restaurant adjacent to the parking lot and Indian style bathrooms (no TP, it’s crazy here!), there was a huge garden to roam around and foliage everywhere! It was fun making friends with the people in other buses and trucks that were stuck in the traffic jam too! And the trucks used to transport goods here are SO COOL. They aren’t 18-wheeler, probably something Uhaul-ish sized but they’re all painted these vibrant reds and oranges with intricate decals on the windows and paintings of birds and cows and flowers on the sides.

Our buses stopped at the foot of the hill because the roads were too narrow to drive us up to our hotel (it’s not really a hotel but I’ll say that for lack of a better term—it’s more like a collection of cottages around a big house where we have our meals). Little did we know we were literally in for the rides of our lives. Our driver flew up the hill in an old Ambassador (such a fantastic car: we’re talking bench seats and a frame of curved edges), passing traffic on curves and honking liberally.

We decompressed from the journey on Sunday and out first day of school was Monday! 4 hours of Hindi Monday-Friday for the next 4 weeks! INTENSE. It’s going really well so far. The alphabet (Devangari I believe) is composed of 51 letters and each vowel after a consonant makes a new sound, which makes a new slightly variated symbol, which means we’re learning somewhere around 200ish symbols. The sentence structure is totally different from English too, particularly post positions. Instead of saying “The pen is on the table” we say “the pen table on is.” It’s really exciting finally being able to decipher signs and greet people more appropriately. Also, "Shabash" is how you say good job in Hindi so whenever we are able to make a coherent sentence or pronunciation of a new letter we hear "Shaaabaaash!" It's really confidence building.

Anyways I am still in this little cafe and I am trying to eat dinner soon as it is nearly 7 pm so I shall retire with but one anecdote:


So where I am staying there are trees and monkeys everywhere. Two mornings ago people were eating outside and a girl left her plate on this table about 5 feet away from the group and this big Langur monkey straight up stole her cheese toast. Then he perched on a bench and stared at us while he ate it. Hilarious.

PS: Tomorrow the group leaves to go on an epic hike to check out Yamunotri Temple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamunotri). Really stoked!