Finally found a decent computer lab! It's kind of dirty and small and dark and dank, but it only costs 40 rupees an hour, which converts to about a dollar. Really good, since this will end up being where I write my papers. And it's only about a 15 minute walk from my house, or a short rickshaw ride.

This past weekend was...interesting. It had some really great, wonderful parts, and some really nasty, awful parts. We left really early to go to Haridwar, a city on the mouth of the Ganges. Because it's the mouth, it is considered extremely holy, and is full of pilgrims and visitors and tourists. Because of all these people, it is also a center for all the beggars, cripples, and decrepit people from that area to come and beg and cheat everyone else. It is such a game of manipulation, and is really disgusting. I had a young, decent-looking girl come up to me, quickly dab paint on my forehead, and bless me. She did this without giving me a chance to say okay. Then she asked for money for blessing me. It was disgusting. Everything about it just was. So many people playing off of the fact that it is a holy place filled with people eager to wash away their sins and doing everything they can to get money off of you. The fact that we were a crowd of white kids didn't help.

We left Haridwar early on Sunday and took a (very sketchy) bus ride to Rishikesh, about an hour north. It's in the foothills of the Himalayas, and is (I think) the yoga capitol of India. I think it's also where the Beatles went. While it was still rather touristy--I've never seen so many European-looking hippy people--it was not overwhelmingly so, and was actually very calming. There are lots of ashrams and such where people have come from all over to meditate and relax. There was some begging, but not nearly as much. It was very nice to be able to stand in one spot for more than five minutes without a child pulling on your kamiz or a man with no legs tapping on your shoes. I enjoyed sitting at a cafe overlooking the mountains and river and just sketching pictures while having a sign-language conversation with a little Indian girl who wanted me to draw her pictures.

Then we left, only to fall into more manipulation. We missed our bus back to Haridwar by about 5 seconds, and had to take two rickshaws on the hour long drive back. Bad plan. We paid a little more than we should have, but we were comfortable in our two six-person rickshaws, divided in half. We got part way there when they pulled over, made us all get out, told us there was a police barricade ahead and that we'd all have to get into one 8-person rickshaw. Bullshit. Lots of difficulty translating, since only two people in our group are in intermediate Hindi, and they have difficulty with it too. We crammed all of our large backpacks and our 11 bodies into the van, which then was driven the rest of the way by a boy who looked to be about 12 years old. We paid 250 rupees instead of the 6o0 they asked, and proceeded to be followed around by the boy cussing us out loudly in Hindi and a crowd of people who were just there to watch. We made our train on time, but everyone felt pretty shitty about the whole thing. The fact that they so blatantly tried to dupe us, just because we were young white kids made everybody so angry. And yes, the boy will probably be beaten when he gets back without the expected amount of money, but we couldn't help that. We couldn't let them get away with it and continue to feed the system. It really works on your hope for humanity. This weekend was pretty trying in that sense...

But it was a decent weekend, and I am glad we did it. It felt really good to get out of Delhi for awhile, and breath ever-so-slightly cleaner air. The mountains were pretty, and it was nice to have some time with the group when we weren't studying or talking about class.

Some people are making plans to go on a trip again this weekend, but I don't think I will. I want to hang out with my host family some, since I don't usually get to see my host-mom (she works nights, so I only see her in the morning for breakfast). I think I'll do a little shopping, and maybe try and see some theater. I'll at least go see some awful bollywood film with my friends. Maybe explore Old Delhi. We'll see. I want to stay here though, and not spend quite as much money on traveling.

Time to go work on Hindi. It's coming along, but getting harder. Our host family speaks perfect English, so there isn't much incentive to practice it at home.

Oh, I'm also taking Madhubani painting as a practica, which is really cool. It's this neat style of really simple drawing that is extremely intricate--if that makes sense. It doesn't call for perfection, which is what makes it really nice. Lines aren't straight, circles aren't perfect, but it still looks amazing. I can't really explain it. Look it up online...it's beautiful.

Okay, actually going now. Please email or comment--I miss everyone!