Falling in Love with Manali

I have been wanting to go to Manali since my friends kept telling me about Manali and Leh. However, without taking leave from office, the Manali-Leh journey is impossible. I also told myself, perhaps there's no point going to Manali in mad rush because I wouldn't enjoy it. Hence, after 2nd week of internship, I let go the dream to go to Manali, while my friend still found tour here and there to go to Manali.

In the middle of internship, I've realized that four of us who did internship in Bahadurgarh had different interests, so we decided to split. Me and another girl decided to go to Palampur at the end of internship. It's something on tea garden and so on and so forth. We bought only the return train ticket because we planned to catch interstate bus from the terminal to go there.

In the last week of internship, the other girl found out that the two guys would go to Kathmandu, Nepal. Suddenly she said, "Umm, are you going to Kathmandu? coz I've seen Nainitol and Kaljuraho so I'm scared that Palampur will be the same." At that point, I knew that there was no point forcing to go to Palampur. I didn't have enough budget to go to Kathmandu and I don't think I'll go to Palampur alone. Hence, I told her not to worry about me, coz I'll stay in Delhi for the last weekend. I really didn't want to withdraw any extra money.

However, I felt that it would be a waste to stay in Delhi for the last weekend coz I'll need to pay for the hotel alone. I searched on the bus to Palampur, but the good bus only has one way: Delhi-Palampur. I was also worried that Palampur will just be another tea garden like the one in Indonesia. I dunno how and why, at the end, I searched on Manali and they've got volvo bus Delhi-Manali-Delhi. I've decided to withdraw some money, just enough to go to Manali and to book the bus.

I've found some trekking agents from wikipedia and emailed them. One of the mail failed, but one replied me. In my mind, I didn't want to find guide on the spot because I'm not sure how the situation in Manali.

Friday evening, I took the Volvo bus from Janpath. It was a very nice bus, a semi-sleeper bus. There was a mixture of guilt (because the bus was expensive, Rs 1000), and fear (coz I sat on the first row, I saw how the bus driver overtook the trucks) and worry (coz it was an overnight bus and the road was soooo dark). I was also questioning myself, whether I would enjoy trekking alone coz previously, I always did trekking with either family or a big group of friends.

On the way to Manali, 5 am

I reached Manali around 8.20 am. 1 hr 20 minutes later than scheduled. As predicted, many people approached us, the tourists, offering auto, car, and so on and so forth. Every auto-driver wanted to charge me Rs 100 even though I knew that Old Manali was only 10-mins drive according to the guide. Then, I approached Jean-Pierre and Anthony, new friends in the bus :) I thought, we could share the cost!! yeay! Coz they were looking for guest houses and Old Manali has lots of guest houses.

I stopped at the bridge and tried to find Himalayan Caravan Adventure. I walked to the right and did not find it, I asked around and they didn’t know about it, so I walked to the other direction. There was a HUGE writing on the wall “Himalayan Caravan This Way” and yeah...I found it!

It seemed like no one was in the office. An uncle greeted me. Too used to be surrounded by people who tried to cheat me in Delhi, I was a bit suspicious at the beginning. Apparently, the uncle was the owner of the small hotel next to the office. He knew Ravi, the guide that replied my email from Himalayan Caravan and the uncle offered me to have a cup of ‘chai’. Hehehe. Soon, I did feel that my decision to go to Manali was right. I had a nice chit chat with the uncle. He showed me pictures of Manali and I noticed that he likes reading! Hehehe. I saw lots of books on the reception table. I also met some Westerners in the hotel who have been doing expedition to some summits with Ravi. One of them pointed at their photos in the office. The office wasn’t locked, so I also noticed some thank you cards for Ravi and the company.

After waiting for a while, Ravi came and I put my backpack in the office. Then, I met Arun, a little boy who had flexible muscles and performed some acrobatic movements to entertain people and asked for money. It seems that the little boy has known the European tourists before coz they looked close with each other. I took picture of him and with him. He’s very cute!!!

Arun

I started trekking around 9.30 am. I didn’t have any ideas how far it is. I just knew that it was categorized as “easy trek”. I love Manali. These three words are enough to describe how grateful I am to be there, how Manali is not only another ‘mountain area’. The people are nice and they greet each other. On the way to Goshal Village, Ravi talked about something to the men who were breaking the rocks. If I’m not mistaken, he said something like the rocks are unstable and have collapsed once before just after they built the new road.

breaking the rocks for building houses

So far the journey was “ok”, meaning I didn’t feel tired. Ravi pointed at the hills where we were walking to and pointed where the waterfall was (which I couldn’t see), my response was only, “Wah...”, but my mind said, “Can I reach there? It looks far, considering I must be back by 4pm to take the bus back to Delhi.”

marijuana

Goshal Village

I was very happy when I crossed the bridge and met some women who were breaking the rocks. The view was just sooo beautiful. Then, the ‘real’ trekking began. We climbed up the hills. It was quite tiring, but when I paused and looked at the view behind me, I was just too happy too feel tired. I couldn’t believe that I was in Manali and I was surprised that I enjoyed trekking with ‘stranger’ who then became a new friend for me. I paused two times to take some panorama view. Then, Ravi waved at me from the rock up there, so I couldn’t wait to climb up too!! Just the week before, I was amazed by the view of Udaipur City from the top of the hill which we reached by cable. A few weeks before, I was also amazed by the view of Delhi from the top of Tughlaqabad Fort. Two months before, I was amazed by the view from the top of Nandi Hills. However, climbing up and walking all the way up there, looking at the small spot down there and telling yourself “you were there and you doubted yourself, but now you are here!”, was totally a different experience. When I looked at the beautiful view, I also felt a feeling of ‘nothingness’, how I’m soooo small compared with the mountains. Another thought that kept coming to my mind was, the nature was sooo beautiful, how can you not believe that God is the creator of these things? How can you explain this beauty ‘only’ with magma activities, earthquakes and plate movements, without referring to the Mastermind of all these things? The beauty of nature is really an evidence of God’s presence and I couldn’t stop saying thanks to Our Lord.

when I paused in the middle..taking a breath..

We continued walking up till we reached the waterfall, Joghni Waterfall. Ravi said, there’s no way to reach this waterfall except by trekking. There was a temptation to think that I conquered the hill or the nature, but as I thought about it, I couldn’t conquer the nature, I could only befriend the nature. Trekking is a befriending effort with the rocks, the trees, and the bushes. I know nothing about trekking, but as I tried to hold some rocks, as I stepped and tried to feel the land, as I held some trees and avoided the thorns, I realized that I tried to be a friend for them and I must have trust on them too. At some other points, I found myself skipping happily on the pathway. The silence up there kinda helped me to listen to my heart.

Joghni means Angel. The waterfall is a holy place. I was so happy to be there that I suggested to Ravi to have lunch there. I was sitting there and trying to write something on my travel diary, but I could only write “I Love Manali” and huge smiley faces! I was speechless. When I was eating the sandwich, I was tempted to pick a flower for myself, but I stopped and decided to take the photo of the flower. There were lots of flowers and butterflies up there and I wanted other people to enjoy their beauty too.

After lunch, we walked nearer to the waterfall. When I closed my eyes, I heard the different sounds of the water. Okay, let me correct, not “heard”, but “listened”. Some sounds came from the water that just came up from the rock up there and some sounds came from the water that crashed the rocks. I love the sound of the waterfall and I love the splash of the water!

As we walked further from the waterfall, there was a point when the sound was suddenly ‘blocked’, then it became a total silence with only the sound of the birds. We needed to go down some slopes. Climbing up is tiring, but going down is more scary for me. It was slippery!!! However, the fun thing about going down is I must ‘feel’ more. I must feel the rocks more, must listen to Ravi’s guidance more, and I must see more details too because some trees have thorns and I couldn’t hold some parts of the trees.

Then.... “tradaaaaaaaaa” (sound effect!) We reached Vashist Village around 2.30pm and we visited Ravi’s friend’s house. Wahh his friend’s house is COOL! He has lots of snowboarding equipments. Wahhh..

I walked around the village and visited the temples for a while. There was a hot spring bath, but I didn’t bring any towel, so I didn’t try. Some people asked me, “Korean?? Japan??” or “Konnichiwa”. I asked Ravi’s friend, “Do I look like Korean?” He explained to me that there are a lot of Koreans visiting Manali (other than the Westerners), so all non-Westerners are just labeled as Koreans. Hahaha. If there are more Singaporeans or Indonesians, maybe they’ll ask, “Singapur?? Indonesia??” Anyway, Vashist Village is more touristy than Goshal Village.

On the bus from Manali to Delhi, I cried a bit. It was silly, I know...., but Manali was just soo beautiful. I think only mad girl like me accomplishing 14 hours journey only to spend a few hours in Manali. I didn’t even manage to see Solang Valley. However, at the same time, I felt sooo grateful that I had chance to ‘feel’ Manali, not only to ‘see’ Manali. It was such a great time to chat with the Hotel Dream River Uncle (I’m sorry I dunno his name), the Isreali hiker who was surprised that I’m 21 years old (and I was also surprised that he’s at my dad’s age! Hahaha), to listen to Ravi’s stories. I guess he is another example of how a job is truly a vocation. While many people migrate to the cities, there are people like him who choose to stay close to the mountains and help other people to see the beauty of the mountains. It was a simple and ordinary encounter between tourist and locals, but Hotel Dream River Uncle’s and Ravi’s friendliness really touched me and I see them as new friends.

I would like to visit Manali again, someday.... not in one day, but minimum 2 weeks, from Manali to Leh. Hopefully I would be able to visit villages around Kaza too. My friends who did internship in Ecosphere, Kaza, showed me beautiful pictures of the villages around Kaza. Hopefully I would be able to meet Arun again. Hahaha. I wish the hikers could also visit Indonesia. I’m sure they’ll love Mount Bromo. Hehehe.

Thank God for the great experience. Manali was a perfect wrap-up of my internship. Both Udaipur and Manali are the best places with the best people that I visited in India. However, I didn’t regret to work in Haryana coz it is the best place to walk out of my comfort zone. It’s cliche, but it’s really a training ground for me. As the internship ends, I keep telling myself, quoting the queen’s sentence at the end of Anastasia cartoon, “It’s not a perfect ending, it’s a perfect beginning.”

All the best for final year, Ferninda!! ^^

The last two weeks in Bahadurgarh

The last two weeks in Bahadurgarh


Time flies! I only have two weeks left here in Bahadurgarh, then I’ll spend the last week in Bangalore for final presentation and Appreciation Dinner.

Let me think what I’ll miss once I leave India:

1. Taking auto-rickshaw to office every day. I used to take auto-rickshaw back in Jakarta to go EVERYWHERE: to school, to church, to market, but I moved to Tangerang, another city without auto-rickshaw.

2. My favorite masala dosa and uttapam onion in Polka

3. The kids near Conserve HRP

4. The peaceful evening that I spent reading, writing, cross-stitching

5. The peaceful morning when I hang my clothes at the roof top

6. Handwashing my clothes? Hahaha

7. Moping the floor with wet clothes coz in Singapore I always use the disposable wipe

8. Jay-walking as a survival skill, with a worry that the truck will crash you, not with a worry that the police will fine you

9. My own scrambled egg. I won’t have time to make scrambled egg once I go back to Singapore and yeah..there’ll be hall food.

What I’ll miss from Singapore if I stay in India longer:

1. The people: my beloved friends 

2. My roommate

3. Church that is only 7-minute away and Opus Dei Centre that is only 15-minute-walking-distance. I really can just run there anytime

4. Uploading photos? :P

5. NUS?

Anyway, I’m sad that this India journey will be over, but I’m also excited that once I arrive at Singapore, I’ll rush my thesis and start my data collection. It’ll really be exciting. Hehehe.

This is my plan for 29 July – 31 July:

1. 8am arrive at the airport

2. 10am arrive at Eusoff, check-in

3. 11am early lunch

4. 12-3pm Catch Matric Fair

5. 4pm Meet supervisor for thesis discussion and RA interview

6. 6pm dinner

7. Evening: SHIFT THE STUFF FROM VACATION STAY ROOM TO MY ROOM IN A BLOCK arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh... (hoping to lose some weight from this exercise)

30 July

1. Mass!! This time I don’t want to waste the opportunity to walk in the morning for mass!!! God please help me with this resolution

2. Catch up with Joyce and friends at Opus Dei

3. Unpacking my stuff. Start a new life with an organized room  at the same time, let facebook loading my photos hehehe

4. Lunch

5. Unpacking again

6. Sleep early.......

31 July

1. mass

2. Packing the stuff for Penang-Bangkok trip!! Hihihihi...

3. Hoping to meet up with old seniors and hoping to catch up with Legion friends and Sr Jocelyn!! (I miss you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! )

4. Making list of books that I want to sell *sob* (I do think I have too many books ) or if I change my mind, shipping these books to Indonesia.

The crazy dream

The crazy dream


7 July 2011

After writing the post yesterday, I’ve realized that my dream is crazy, but somehow I want to keep it in my heart. I’ve realized that perhaps being a therapist is one of the things that I want to be in the near future, but in the loooooonggggg future, I want to contribute in another way, which is to teach and to do research.

I used to want to be a teacher and now I think about it again, I think I can’t let go the idea of being a teacher. It’s just that things change in my life and what kind of teacher I want to be has also shifted. I used to want to be a primary school teacher and when I’ve decided to be a therapist for children with autism, it’s also a teacher in a unique way. A therapist is a kind of teacher that doesn’t stand in front of the class to teach according to the textbook, but a therapist teaches children with autism to learn basic life skills and to understand instructions from other people. Eventually, the more you learn about things, I think it’s normal to give back to the society. Maybe that’s why I want to be a clinical psychologist and eventually be a lecturer.

I still want to be a therapist. I want to interact with the children and the parents and I want to know more about them. I also want to pursue a clinical psychology degree because even though I’m particularly interested with autism, I also must understand other issues in clinical psychology as a psychologist. That’s why I also want to work in a hospital as clinical psychologist. I’m inspired by my supervisor in Independent Research Project, who set up Speech and Language Pathology Programme in NUS. In the loooooooooooooonggg future I want to set up something like this in Indonesia. It might not be Speech and Language Pathology programme, but it might be a diploma in Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy because we need a lot of therapists in Indonesia, but I’ve seen many people are reluctant to take psychology because we are not ‘ready-to-be-employed’ because we still need to do clinical psychology degree. At the same time, this will give more opportunities for them who can’t afford going to university to still study Psychological concepts as their interests are in this field.

It’ll be a loooooooooooooonggggggg journey for me. The more I think about it, the more I can’t think of what life would be if I live in Singapore. Singapore will be my training ground. Don’t worry Singapore, I’ll still contribute to your people in some other ways, but once I have enough knowledge and experience, I will go back to my home country.

Now that I’m entering year 4, I also can’t wait to achieve my dream to set up an NGO, so while I’m here in Singapore or in other countries to study, I can still work for my country. Slowly, Ferninda. Think – Think – Think – Think – Think and make an action 

Yeah... I’m crazy.... my principle is if it is God’s will, it will happen. Even if it doesn’t happen and it’s not God’s will, I will be happy with whatever I ‘end up’ doing as long as it is God’s will. Now I feel relieved 

I feel 'small'....

I feel ‘small’.....


5 July 2011

Yesterday I did some research on postgraduate application and I looked at “Referee’s Report Questionnaire”. I suddenly felt that I didn’t have enough capacity to apply for postgraduate application. Just now I was trying to write a personal statement and I felt that my personal statement sounded so childish. It sounded like answering a question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” with an answer, “I want to be a teacher because I like children.”

Sometimes I do not understand how to answer ‘general plan in the future’. I thought if you want to apply for master in clinical psychology that the direct answer is ‘to be a clinical psychologist’. Sometimes I feel scared, what their reaction will be if I say that I want to be a therapist? Being a therapist doesn’t need clinical degree, right? So I wrote something that was a crazy dream for me: to be a lecturer in Indo! Hehehehe. I’ve never thought of being a prof before, I think only in my second year I kept this thought in my mind.

I have lots of dreams in my mind! I dunno how to convince ‘them’ that I really want this, I really want to pursue the clinical degree, that even though I did tell myself that being a therapist doesn’t need clinical degree, but I want to have my own clinical practice too. Is it possible to write “I want to be a therapist AND set up my own private practice?”

Jiayou, Ferninda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Weekend when I was broke

4 July 2011

After buying AC train ticket to Agra and Udaipur, I’m really broke... hikzzz...

It’s actually not that expensive, but because of the accummulation of travelling PLUS the foreign tourist price in New Delhi’s world heritage site that I visited last week, I do feel broke.. Hahahaha.

So last Saturday, I left at around 6.30am to Tughluqabad Metro Station. It was a loooonggg journey to the Southern part of Delhi. I didn’t read the guide book carefully, so outide the Metro Station, I had difficulty explaining to the auto-driver that I wanted to go to Tughluqabad Complex. Apparently it was a fort, coz another driver kept mentioning, “Qila” (fort). So I asked, “kitane?” and he said, “300.” I spontaneously showed a disgusted face and walked away. Since they have shown the general direction when they were talking about it, I walked to that direction and kept walking and asking around. At the end, I found another auto that was willing to use meter and I only spent Rs 50.

I’ve explained the experience in Tughluqabad in the previous post, so let me jump to the experience after that. I walked to the bus stop and asked people at the bus stop how to go to the metro. I met two grade-12 girls that took the bus together with me and they stopped one stop before me. They’re very nice. Hehehe. So I arrived safely at the metro with only Rs 5. Hehehehe.

From Tugluqabad, I went to New Delhi Railway Station to book another ticket for the last weekend in New Delhi, but I didn’t have my friend’s passport with me, so at the end I didn’t buy any ticket. I went to Doll’s Museum with my friend and we were amused by the collection in the museum. Actually the interesting part is not the doll per se, but it’s the national costume that the dolls wear. Ohhh interestingly, the founder of the museum is a political cartoonist!!

Photography is not allowed, but I tried to take a few photos :P hahaha. I was soo happy when I saw Indonesian dolls. They were the typical puppets that Batik Keris (the famous shop that sells handicrafts) sells and the dolls in Javanese and Acehnese costume. I was also very amused to see the Thai dolls because the dolls were in ‘khon’ dance (mask dance) gestures so it brought back the memory of watching classical mask dance in Bangkok with my Thai painting class.

On Sunday, I went to National Railway Museum after mass. It’s Rs 80!!! Sobbed. And by the time I bought 3 cups from souvenir shops which costed me Rs 200, I was left with Rs 90 in my pocket. So after going around the museum, I went to a bookshop in Connaught Place and I was browsing interesting books, such as “Poverty and Plastic”, “Castes and Politics” (I forgot the complete title), “Justice for the poor”, and so on and so forth. Talking about Politics, I want to take Human Rights in International Law as my GEK!! Yeah, I was traumatized by my C+ in Government and Politics of Singapore, but I didn’t know that I can S/U my GEK and SS even though they are arts modules (stupid me!!!). Now I’m not afraid of taking another political science module, I believe it’ll be more interesting than other modules that people normally take only-to-pull-up-their-CAP. Hehehe.

Oh FYI, the founder of Conserve HRP, Mdm Anita took her Master’s degree in Political Science. Now I’m not surprised that she’s really into the issues of lifting up the life of the urban poor. Hehehe.

Oh back to my Sunday story... so after spending time in the bookshop, I reached home quite early for the first time. 3pm!!! Hahahaha. Then I spent time writing and writing and writing (actually typing :P). I’m hoping to finish my novel by the end of this vacation, but I’m quite slow coz before I continue writing, I already want to write stuff for my blog. Hahahaha. But the progress is still better than in Singapore, where I didn’t touch the going-to-be-novel at all. Hahahaha. It’s 56 pages now. Hehehe. Loooonnggg way to go.

3 more weeks to go back to Singapore!!! sad........... it’s not that I don’t want to go back to Singapore, but I’ll just miss India. I wonder if I only stay in Singapore for 2-3 months before I go to NUS, will I miss Singapore?

I miss the people in Singapore, not Singapore itself.

I miss Indo and the people.

I’ll miss India and the people.

See the difference? J

doll's museum

national railway museum

Sunday Journey

Sunday journey, 26 June 2011

4 July 2011

It was drizzling in the morning....

I was standing at the bus stop, but as the buses came one by one, people boarded before the bus even stopped. So another bus came and left, and another one came and left, until Haryana Roadways, a bus that usually never stops at the bus stop came. I asked some people around me whether the bus stops at Munda Metro station and they said yes. So I took the bus which was sooo full of people. It was so crowded till I couldn’t see that I was already near the Metro. While other people have hopped out of the bus, I was still struggling to walk between the chairs and said, “Excuse me, I’m sorry, Excuse me.” Thank God the bus driver was stopping till I got off from the bus.

The metro journey was not as peaceful as the day before. Even though it was still early in the morning, the metro was also crowded. When finally I arrived at Rajiv Chowk Metro, I was already determined to try walking to the Sacred Heart Cathedral because the rain made the weather was soo nice. So I walked...

It’s true that it was bright, but at 9am life hasn’t started in New Delhi. Auto-rickshaw slowed down beside me and people tried to talk, “Namaste!” or “How are you?” or “Where do you come from?” Well, in Connaught Place, the centre of New Delhi, you know that this will be scam. They will try to drag you here and there. So I just acted deaf and I imagined that I walk with my guardian angel and all the Archangels around me, having assurance, “I’ll be safe.”

And ya..Thank God I arrived at the Church safely. Yeay! The Cathedral has a high ceiling, its shape is similar with Church of St. Peter and Paul in Singapore. The mass on that Sunday was led by the Bishop himself.

From Church, I had lunch at McDonalds then I took auto to Nehru Memorial Museum. It was still drizzling and the museum was so quite. I got a little bit bored in the museum till I looked at Nehru’s book collection and found the picture of my first president, Soekarno. I didn’t really know about Nehru’s biography and Indian history, except that it seems like Soekarno was quite close with Nehru in the international politics (up to the point when Soekarno supported the communist party). After going around the museum, I was thinking of going to another museum because it was STILL drizzling, but at the end, I’ve decided to take auto to Akshardham Temple.

It’s FREE!! Yeay! The admission to the Temple is free, but you can’t bring your camera inside. I only brought my wallet with me and for me, Akshardham Temple is like a Disneyland, but Indian version. Hehehe. It was very new, only built in 2006, and it was soo majestic. The carving was in the same style with Hindu temple in Indonesia and it was soooo intricate!! Ohh you can take picture with their official camera but you must pay Rs 130. Ohhh (again), but the struggle to enter the temple was as horrible as the struggle to enter Mysore Palace before. People kept pushing you!!! At that moment, someone tried to push me from the back to join her friend in front of me, so I held the handle at my left side and held my position! Hahahaha. Anyway, it was beautiful. And thanks to the rain, after it stopped, the whether became sooo nice. I didn’t feel like I’m in New Delhi in SUMMER. Hahahaha.

So....that’s my Sunday. Ohhh..one more story. On the way back, from Mundka Metro Station, I took this mini van that was supposed to stop at Bahadurgarh, at the stop near the market where I usually take the bus to Mundka. However, somehow the van stopped at the gas station quite far from the bus stop. Only yesterday I’ve found out that the gas station is “The Border”, so before I get on the mini van, I must really ask the condectur whether it’ll stop at “The Border” or “Bahadurgarh” because it’s quite hard to find auto from “The Border”. But yeah...finally I’ve found out about these terms. Hehehehe.

Cathedral of Sacred Heart

Nehru's books

Akshardham Temple from far away....

My favorite places in New Delhi

4 July 2011

After two weeks roaming around New Delhi, these are my favorite places:

1.       Qutub Minar complex

Other than the superhigh tower in the middle that becomes the most photographed feature of this complex, I like being surrounded by the ruins. Those ruins made me imagine how the city was centuries ago and how advanced their cilivization had been for centuries. The journey to Qutub Minar was also a relatively smooth journey. Alighting at Qutub Minar Metro station, I took a mini van (only Rs 10) to go to the complex.

2.       Tughlaqabad Fort

This is another ruin of city from 14th century. It was built between 1321-1325 and it was connected with Ghiyathu’d-din Tughqlub’s Tomb (now they are separated with the main road). Unlike Lal Qila (Red Fort), Purana Qila, and Qutub Minar which were restored quite well and had smooth path and clear explanation in each building in the complex, the well-restored part of Tughlaqabad was only the fort. Inside, there were ‘only’ ruins of palace, houses, and a huge water tank, with bushes everywhere. However, I think the ruins are the things that make this place beautiful. The lack of smooth road which made me have to climb some stairs a bit and poked by bushes was also one unique thing that I didn’t get in other sites. Unlike Lal Qila and Purana Qila which even had a huge park inside where people can sit under the trees and have a picnic, Tughlaqabad doesn’t have an artificial park. Standing there at the top of the ruins and watching the complex below me reminded me of some history lessons from text book and Prof John Miksic, my “Marketing Southeast Asia Heritage” lecturer. Yes, there I was standing in typical Indian palace with some dry ponds and water tank. Water plays an important part in Indian architecture, which explains why the Sultanate Palace in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, also has a pond and lots of water channels. Ancient temples in Indonesia are heavily influenced by Indian architecture and there I was standing, in an ancient Indian architecture. Walking through corridor that used to be a market, I imagined how crowded the market was and how the trade used to happen there. It was just a beautiful experience for me. But a question arised, “How long can this fort stand?” Looking at the bushes and wild plants around, there is an urgent need to preserve this building. Another question is, “How to market this site and other unpopular sites?” Seeing the long queue in front of Lal Qila and comparing it with the quietness of Tughluqabad (there were only me and the other 4 people whom I only saw from far away), surely this site can be marketed better, especially as a site that is even older than Lal Qila and Purana Qila.

3.       Lal Qila

i left Bahadurgarh at 6.15 am and reached Lal Qila at 9am. There were not many people inside the complex so I really enjoyed myself walking around from one pavilion to another pavilion and being amazed by the buildings in the complex. Red Fort is very majestic and there were many things to see inside. On the top of some buildings, pigeons were just flocking there or flying from one building to another building. Among all sites that I have visited, Lal Qila was the only site with a different kind of bricks: red bricks (that’s why it is called Red Fort). Purana Qila, Humayun’s Tomb, and Tughluqabad Fort seems like they were made of same types of bricks.

So yeah..those are my favorite places in New Delhi. My crazy weekend was last Saturday. I left Bahadurgarh at 6.15am, reached Jama Masjid at 8am, then took a rickshaw to Lal Qila and reached Lal Qila at 9am. In Jama Masjid, a man greeted me and “guided” me to the Mosque and explained A-Z. I already had a feeling that this guy would ask for money but I didn’t have the gut to tell him, “You can talk, but I don’t give you money!” And yeah...my intuition was correct. This man said, ‘I’ve explained these things for you, so you give me Rs 200.” I wanted to give him Rs 50 and of course he said that Rs 50 is nothing. So I said in my mom’s style, “I only have Rs 100, you want it or not?” Grrrr.. I was very pissed off till I lost my mood to spend more time there. It’s totally a different case with Tughluqabad. In Tughluqabad (the week after Jama Masjid experience), I already gestured to the old man, “No.. money..” coz I don’t want to get cheated again, but this old man is around my grandpa’s age, most likely 60 plus and even though he couldn’t speak English, he’s really helpful in bringing me around the complex. And you know what?? The man didn’t ask a single penny from me. So at that moment, I remember my dad. I just felt like I want to give, so I asked this old man to take picture of me and slipped a little bit of many to his hand, just like what my dad usually does in this kind of situation. At that moment, I was really thankful coz my dad has taught me indirectly how to be sensitive to the inner movement in my heart and how to do it in a way that will not offend the person whom we give money to.

Back to the crazy Saturday. I spent 2 hours at Lal Qila, then I walked to Gurudwara Sis Ganj, a Sikh temple. It was a small temple, but because there were not so many tourists there and the place was used for worship and prayer, I like the atmosphere there. It’s always nice to see how people are so devoted. From Gurudwara Sis Ganj, I went to Purana Qila. From Metro Station, I insisted that I didn’t want to take auto because on the map, it looked near from the Metro, but I was wrong!! After I walked and walked and walked straight, I stopped at the bus stop and boarded to the bus with two other people. Interestingly, one of them, the girl, was from IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) in Kanpur, so I told her that I had a workshop given by Prof Iyer. She knew Prof Iyer too!

I spent another 1 hour in Purana Qila and the mosque opposite the fort, then I took auto to another metro and went to Qutub Minar. Qutub Minar was amazing!! I spent 1.5 hours there, enjoying the scenes of ruins and took picture here and there. The sad thing was the two other guys, fellow NUS interns, were supposed to join me at Qutub Minar. They told me that they would be late, so I just went in myself (luckily!). Then, the guys said, “Ohhh.. we don’t buy tickets and we already walked around the complex.” Arrrghhh... it’s different!! It’s totally a different feeling to be inside the complex. I tried to ask some other tourists to take picture of me, but they rejected me..hikzzz.. so I didn’t have a single picture of myself at Qutub Minar. Sobbed...

After Qutub Minar, I went to Hauz Khas to go for recollection at Opus Dei Centre. I really feel at home when I’m at the centre. The people are nice, just like the my friends at Opus Dei Singapore. the oratory is bigger. I met another university student who regularly comes for Circle, her name is Tara. Her mother is an expert in autism!!! So cool, right?? She’s currently third year in Delhi University and she studies English.

Okay... I should stop here and talk about my Sunday in another post.. Hahaha.

Commencement 2012

3 July 2011

I’m sorry coz I have not really written my experiences in Haryana. After writing down my experiences in my travel diary, I don’t really feel like writing it on my blog. Hahaha. I’ll try after writing this post, k?

The title is something that comes to my mind most of the times these few weeks. Partly because I have realized that I’m year 4 (not GOING to year 4 anymore). Another factor is two days ago was my mom’s birthday and I know commencement is a BIG thing for her.

I think I’ve written here before that my dad has bought a batik shirt for my commencement next year. For me, 1 year will be a short year, time will fly and I’m kinda looking forward to my commencement. It’s not that I want get out of NUS as soon as possible or that I’m sick of school, but I’ve realized that this will be an important occasion for me and my parents. It seems that there are three things that my mom is looking forward: first, my sweet seventeen (which was 4 years ago, duhhh....), second, my commencement, and third, my wedding (duhh, this one not so soon :P, but I can feel her joy when she’s talking about wedding).

People say commencement is boring, you’re just sitting there and waiting for your name to be called. Some people even feel lazy to attend their commencement. Well, how important an occasion is really differs between two people, but what I tell my friends who don’t feel that commencement is important is, “Ask your parents first if you don’t feel like going to your commencement. It might be an important thing for them.”

I try to hypothesize why my parents are waiting for my commencement. I don’t think it’s because of NUS degree (my dad initially didn’t allow me to go to NUS even though I was accepted, thanks to my mom who has changed his mind). I think it might be because there’s a sense of accomplishment that I can experience something that they couldn’t experience in their era (grrr, tears always hang in my eyes everytime I’m talking about commencement and my parents). There will be a sense of pride even though they do not understand what CAP means, what honours degree is, what modules I have taken, and so on and so forth. Even though my mom encourages me to take clinical degree, when we talk about job, she never thinks that a psychology graduate MUST be a psychologist. Interesting, right?

Wahh.. now I hope my grandma can come for my commencement too. Hahahaha. I’m not sure if she’ll be able to come, she doesn’t have passport and she will be very tired in Singapore. Anyway, for my grandma, I think commencement means there will just be another few years before I come back to Indonesia for good. I remember the night before I left for Singapore in my first year, she thought I will never come back till 7 years later (4 years + 3 years bond).

Commencement reminds me of my dad’s cute remark in my first semester. When I told him that I got B for my essay, he replied, “B is good or bad?” In another semester last year, I told him that the project that WE did together (coz my dad was the one who brought me to Baduy village) got 80 out of 100, he replied in two words, “Ok. Good.” Commencement also reminds me that the sleepless night because of final exam will be over. There was one time I had a midterm in week 13. Can you imagine??? MIDterm exam in week 13, ONE week before reading week. I called her and talked very desperately, “I can’t do this.. there are lots of things to be remembered.. I must remember what baby can do at particular age.. bla bla bla..” And my mom, knowing that it’s ‘already’ 11pm that time (‘already’, coz in Sg, 11pm is ‘still’), said, “Ohhh just go to bed now and pray that what you’ve studied will come up in the exam.” She really has a great faith.

Commencement reminds me of my conversation with my brother and two cousins. I told them, “I’ll buy my commencement robe, so we can wait for Chika’s commencement (the youngest cousin, 6 years younger than me) then four of us will take picture together.” Commencement reminds me of those days working as usher during commencement last year and the previous year, how I felt bored during valedictorian speech and how I told myself, “If I were a valedictorian, I would not give a long speech coz I knew how bored the graduands and the parents would be.” Too bad, I won’t be a valedictorian. Hahahaha. So next year I must be listening to speech with patience. Hahaha.

One more year.

This feeling...hmmm.. I can’t explain this feeling. Coming to NUS for the first time still feels like something that just happened yesterday. Coming to NUS was a miracle for me and it IS still a miracle for me. I remember how I kept sneezing during Singapore Scholarship test, how I forgot what the English translation of “karet” (rubber) when I answered geography question and I wrote “substance of gum”, how only one day before entrance exam I went to my friend’s house to learn what “e” equals to (some maths thingy, I already forgot), how I met Ci Mila (my neighbor back in Indo) on the first day at Nanyang Supermarket, how I had stomachache a few days before I left Indonesia, how I was wandering around Eusoff Foyer and found by Tony, fellow Indo-Eusoffian and my rag journey began there, how me and Payoga was sooo happy when we could take MRT alone for the first time to our moms’ inn at Sommerset, how Jit Vern helped me to use transponder on the day I arrived at Eusoff, and how Lloyd found me at Matriculation Fair and gave me Miraculous Medal, and so on and so forth. In my first year, when the seniors introduced themselves and said, “I’m year 4,”, without any shame I replied, “Wahh..so old.” Luckily my birthday would be a few weeks after week 0, so if freshies said that I’m old, I can proudly reply that “Well, I’m not yet 21.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHA..

Last semester, Eusoff Choir sang “Do I make you proud?” for MDIS Commencement and I also had teary eyes when I sang that song in choir. I hope I will NEVER EVER disappoint my parents and will make them proud despite all my crazy dreams and wishes. I told myself, I would like to prepare invitation card for my friends to come to my commencement, to introduce my beloved parents that have raised me up and I would like to introduce my beloved friends that have accompanied me in 4 years journey in NUS to my parents. I love you, Mama, Papa. J