It's been an eye opening and interesting trip to India, considering the main purpose was for work. I was able to do a lot on the weekends and felt like I took advantage of my time here...shopping for cottons, carpets, silks. Just kidding, well not really. I have a few new kurtas and kurtis (long and short tunics), a soft cotton blanket from jaipur, pearl earrings from hyderabad, silver from delhi, kashmiri pashmina, a (small) kasmiri silk carpet. I think I oulled my weight as a consumer here. As for tourist attractions, in Delhi I visited Lal Quila (Red Fort that I first saw on Jeremy Piven's "India: Journey of a Lifetime" which was great and got me excited for the trip), Purana Quila (Old fort, wasn't too impressed with this one), Humayun's Tomb (my favorite), Lakshmi temple (I'm going to name my next dog Lakshmi, goddess of wealth), Jama Masjid (biggest mosque in India also built by Shah Jahan who built Taj Mahal). In Hyderabad I visited Qutub Shahi's tomb, Golconda Fort and drove around Charminar and Hussain Sagar (lake with a bug buddha statue in the middle). I imagine at least 70% of tourist attractions in the world can be categorized as a tomb/building in memory of a dead person, house of worship, government/military site or ruin. This was true for this trip anyway.
The one thing I wish I could do is spend more time in the old muslim quarter around Charminar instead of just driving around it like I did. This area was bombed a while back and at least two co-workers said it wasn't the safest part of town to be in. When I first stepped out of the airport here, it was the first time I saw a muslim woman in a burka. I've seen them in photographs and on TV, but I don't recall seeing someone in real life. There's a woman draped from head to toe in black cloth and all you can see are her eyes. My intial reaction is to feel sorry that she has to wear that, but she probably feels sorry for me that I don't believe in Allah. As I spent a little more time in Hyderabad, it became a common sight throughout the city. Even still I find it intriguing and want to know what they look like and who they are underneath. For the most part, you couldn't tell that the men were muslim other than the fact that they were with a woman dressed in a burka. They wore business casual or sporty attire. The difference was quite striking when they stood next to each other. The woman seems anachronistic, like she belonged in the middle of the desert a hundred years ago. There was a young couple just like this enjoying the gardens around Qutub Shahi's tomb this morning. They were sitting close to each other on a bench, giggling, probably sharing jokes and being love birds. The girl had her head uncovered for a few moments until I walked by. Later on I crossed paths with the couple again and the young man approached me, asked me where I was from, what I was doing here, all in an amiable and inquisitive manner. Then he shook my hand and we parted ways. His friendliness touched me and a left me a little bit ashamed of myself for having been wary or suspicious.
Fifteen more minutes before I head downstairs to check out of the hotel. I'm incredibly elated to be going home to Justin and Lucy after two and half weeks of being away. It reminds me how incredibly fortunate I am to have them to come home to. Somehow they've managed to survive without me. I think Justin only ordered pizza twice which is very impressive. And it sounded like it was smooth sailing taking care of the puppy and vice versa. I remember the days when Justin would walk Lucy and when I fell behind (to either go somewhere else or to find a garbage can for her poop), she would stop to look for me and kind of get nervous like "You're leaving me with him?" Now she's going to say to Justin "You're leaving me with her? The mean one who never lets me have any fun or lick all over her face?" I think there's a quote, the best part of traveling is coming home. That definitely resonates with me now.
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Kathy,
What an interesting post about your exciting trip to India! And I definitely agree about the best part of traveling being coming home. Ever heard Michael Buble's "Home?"
Getting to the point, I have a favor to ask you because you blog about living with diabetes. The International Diabetes Federation (IDF) would greatly appreciate it if you would add a banner to your site.
Here's how and why:
We are in the midst of our preparations for the first UN-observed World Diabetes Day (www.worlddiabetesday.org) on 14 November this year, and I wanted to ask you if you would like to help us to spread awareness of this worldwide event and the theme we have chosen for it this year - Diabetes in Children and Adolescents.
It is estimated that over 200 children develop type 1 diabetes every day and there's no question that the disease often hits disadvantaged communities the hardest, and that children in the developing world can die because their parents are unable to afford medication. In many countries diabetes is still considered an adult disease and as a result can be diagnosed late with severe consequences, including death. Even after diagnosis many children experience poor control and develop complications early.
This is why one of our key objectives for World Diabetes Day this year is to double the number of children covered by the Life for a Child Program - http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/go/wdd-2007/life-for-a-child. We also want to encourage initiatives that can help to reduce diabetic ketoacidosis (diabetic coma) and to promote the sort of healthy lifestyles which can prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes in children.
A version of the diabetes circle, the icon we used for our Unite for Diabetes campaign http://www.unitefordiabetes.org/ has now been adopted for World Diabetes Day and we have produced a number of web banners that you can view and download here http://banners.worlddiabetesday.org.
The way in which you can help us spread awareness of World Diabetes Day is to add one of the banners to your own blog, which we would really appreciate.
The UN's World Diabetes Day Resolution (61/225) was really just the first goal of an ambitious campaign that we have been leading. This is the first time a non-communicable disease has been recognised as a serious threat to global public health and we are hoping now to further raise awareness globally of the disease that is predicted to contribute to 6% of the world’s mortality in 2007.
If you would like to know more about the UN Resolution and our plans for World Diabetes Day this year, just drop me a line at stephanie.tanner@idf.org and I will get back to you with more information.
Many thanks,
Stephanie Tanner
IDF - Communications Assistant
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