Forests, Roadtrips, Elephants, Songs...and Leeches

Well, my last days in Jaipur were bittersweet. We all successfully finished our research papers and presentations, then zipped about getting all dressed up for our final banquet. I decided that one bright blue sari was my destiny. Everyone looked gorgeous for the event, and afterwards we danced with the wedding party that had been celebrating every night in the courtyard of our guesthouse. It was just a riot of color, music (they hoped to lure us to the dance floor by playing Shakira) and smiles. For the next day, I helped my friend make a slideshow of the semester and by the end all of us had just broken down crying! We have gotten so incredibly close and I will miss them all like sisters. We ran some final errands in the city, puttering along in rickshaws, bargaining for gifts, purchasing odds and ends, etc. Even as I walked at dusk through the chaotic jumble of life in the "Old City," Jaipur's famous sprawling market area, I breathed deeply (probably coughing a little as a result...) and gave thanks to Jaipur for all its challenges, its surprises, its lesson, its noises and smells, and its people. After most everyone had departed, I spent my last evening with Mami Ji and Papa Ji and celebrated MJ's birthday. Seeing the joy on their faces at enjoying a simple and loving celebration made me grin. I will always remember their home as a peaceful place. I wrote them a long letter in Hindi expressing what they have meant to me. They were proud that I got the "Best Hindi" Award at school.
From Jaipur I flew through Mumbai and Mangalore, arriving in Cochi, Kerala to meet my mom! We took the train with her students, followed up by a drive into the beautiful forest, where one student's grandfather lives. He lives on 50 acres of land filled with coconut palms, rubber trees, cocoa plant (heaven), and an assortment of other fruits, spices and vegetables. Basically it was paradise...leeches and all! Ajay's (mom's student's) grandfather led us through the real forest with a machete. We were hoping to see wild elephants, but unfortunately all we acme into contact with was leeches! Ew. We also took a road trip through national parks, even into the neighboring states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and we did see some wild elephants! They were pretty engrossed with twisting their trunks around grasses and munching with their mouths open. It was funny because Mom's students went crazy any time we spotted some deer, while we were ecstatic about the elephants. If elephants bothered our garden, maybe I would feel differently about them. All of us got a kick out of swinging from the hanging roots of banyan trees by the side of the road in Tamil Nadu.
We spent the 7-hour train ride back to Mom's Catholic college smacking roaches. Mom has been helping three students with Masters degrees with their English, as they arrive in the states in January to work on their teaching certifications through a partnership program in Maryland. Mom has gotten to be great friends with "the kids," as she calls them, and we spent a lot of time hanging out and laughing. They were all amazed, and perhaps aghast, by my infamous monkey call (which, by the way, has gotten me 3rd place in the Albemarle County fair, thank you very much! :)) Most days are bizarre here, but one night Mom and I sang Christmas songs at a dinner, then we were whisked outside to see a caroling truck. These trucks basically have huge speakers, mics, and lights strapped to them and they travel through neighborhoods blasting music. Our friends gave us their mics when they were done and insisted we sing again in front of everyone. I thought of it as a giant karaoke machine and had fun. Then Santa Claus rode up on a motorcycle. Anywho, now we have been at this "Nature Care and Yoga Centre" for a couple of days, leaving at the end of the week...It has been quite an adventure already, but I will save it for next week. I can't believe that on MONDAY, DECEMBER 28TH, which is only FIVE DAYS from this moment...that I will be in the United States of America. At home. In Charlottesville, Virginia. I am grinning already.