Magic Words

When we first started our Bangla lessons two weeks ago, I assumed communication would be the primary benefit. However, at least up to this point, most everyone I’ve interacted with knows enough English to facilitate communication and if they don’t, there’s always someone nearby eager to help translate my words or my accent. While I’m very much looking forward to being able to communicate in Bangla, so far I think the primary benefit of learning to speak the language is not the exchange of information but the connections that are formed with people. When I was going shopping for a kurta (long tunic) on Wednesday and described one of the pieces the saleswoman showed me as shundor (pretty), her eyes lit up and she started giggling. We started speaking to each other in broken English and broken Bangla as she asked about what brought me to Kolkata and as I asked her for fashion advice. Earlier that night, a similar exchange happened at an amazing Bengali restaurant, Bhojohori Manna. There, the staff were eager to recommend dishes, happy to de-shell the chingri (jumbo prawns), and all hoped we would abar achen (come again). As with the saleswoman, once we started using Bangla, their faces lit up and they started asking us questions and teaching us words. They were such amazing interactions and they’ve made me even more determined to become conversant in Bangla before I leave. If just a few words could have such a huge effect, imagine what a complete sentence could do!

Settling In

My home for the year!

The view from the balcony

I’m slowly but surely settling in to my new life in Kolkata.Julie, Sarah, and I moved into our apartment on Wednesday morning, registered at the FRRO that afternoon, and managed to navigate the city in the midst of a transportation strike to arrive on time to our Bangla class on Thursday morning. While taking public transportation is always an adventure, one which I plan to blog about later, I would say getting to the FRRO was the adventure of the week. What is FRRO, you ask? Well, to put it simply, foreigners who will be in India for more than 6 months are required to register at the Foreign Regional Registration Office within 14 days of arriving in the country. You can’t leave the country without this registration so unless you want to register late and pay a heavy fine, it’s best to get it done as soon as possible. Although there was an FRRO right next to the hotel we stayed in last week, the office for Salt Lake (the area of Kolkata in which we live) was pretty far out of the city so we were driven by Sumanta (our program coordinator), a colleague of his, and our facilitator, Oisharjya. 

A different view from the balcony

What should have been an inconvenient 45 minute drive turned into an unbearable 90 minute
drive because our driver made a wrong turn. 
Then, when we finally arrived at the FRRO, we
were greeted with boarded up windows and a locked door. The office had moved. Sumanta’s colleague was able to ask around to find out the new location of the FRRO and about 20 minutes later, we arrived. The process itself was painless. We filled out one form, gave them all sorts of paperwork and some passport photos, waited awhile, were asked a few questions to verify the information they were given, and that was it. We left at around 2:00 and thankfully the driver didn’t get lost on the way back.  We’ll have to return next week to pick up the booklet that confirms our registration which means we’ll probably miss another day of Bangla.  Ah well. I’ll have plenty of time to study on the way there!

ami bangla sikhchi (I am learning Bangla)!

We were thrown into the deep end on Monday with our first Bangla class...four hours of Bangla class, but already it's becoming easier. Having knowledge of Hindi, however minute it is, has definitely helped me with the sounds, letters, and some grammar concepts (e.g. both have a subject-object-verb structure rather than English's subject-verb-object structure) but there aren't as many similarities in vocabulary as I thought there would be. We're taking classes at the American Institute for Indian Studies and have separate but equally amazing teachers for each subject: writing, grammar, speaking, vocabulary, and listening. In the vocabulary class alone I think we've been given over 200 words to learn this week so when they say intensive, they mean intensive. It's a language-lover's dream!

To give you a sample of what we've learned, here's my Bangla introduction:

amar nam pamela ar ami iowa theke esechi. My name is Pamela and I'm from Iowa.

Ekhon, ami salt lake-e thaki ar ami bangla sikhchi. Right now, I'm living in Salt Lake and am learning Bangla.

kendriya vidalayate ami pOre ekhane english pOrabo. Later, I will be teaching English at Kendriya Vidyalaya.

bEs! That's all!

July 5-9: Orientation

The view from our Kolkata hotel room

Our orientation session in Delhi was a short day and a half, after which we five Kolkata ETAs left to continue the orientation in our new city. During those several days, we met with security officials from the US Embassy about staying safe, a doctor about staying healthy, and current Fulbrighters about living in the city. During the Kolkata portion especially, many pieces started coming together regarding what we’ll be doing these next nine months; we met our English teacher trainer who will meet with us twice a month starting in August to help us become more effective ETAs and to offer advice for any problems we might be experiencing; we had a getting-to-know-you session with our host school principals and teachers and later, were able to visit the schools and work out a teaching schedule (I’ll be teaching four, 35-minute classes a day for grades 6-8); we visited the American Institute for Indian Studies where we’ll be taking intensive Bangla classes for the next three weeks; and, most importantly, we met with our facilitator, Oisharjya, a local college student with the arduous task of teaching three bumbling Americans how to survive in the city. She has taught us how to take all forms of transportation (bus, taxi, auto rickshaw, and metro), shown us where to buy the latest fashions (Fab India) and basic necessities (Big Bazaar), helped with the apartment search, and will be spending several hours with us tomorrow as we register with the foreign registration office. Without her holding our hands along the way, I don’t know how we would have survived this first week!

July 5-6: The Taj

Entering the Taj Majal Hotel was entering a world of extreme hospitality. After 14+ hours on a plane, well, let’s just say I wasn’t the freshest looking I’ve ever been and my mind was a bit mushy but that

didn’t seem to faze them one bit. I stepped out of the car and was immediately greeted with Welcome Madame by the several staff people who surrounded my car. My bags were whisked away before I could utter a word and perhaps noticing my less than alert mental state, I was gently guided to the security desk where I had to step through a metal detector and have my handbag scanned (a common occurrence in India). When I asked about my luggage, I was assured they would be following me shortly and at that moment, the 14 other ETAs arrived from a Delhi excursion so I was now greeted with a chorus of Hello Pamela’s and questions about how my flight went. Before I could answer, I was asked to follow a staff person to the check-in desk, a journey of 10 feet during which at

least 15 Welcome Madame’s, Hello Madame’s, and Good Morning Madame’s were uttered. As I was going through the usual check-in procedures, my program manager, Sumanta, magically appeared by my side, asking how I was, helping me check-in, and answering my questions about the day’s schedule. I was then guided to my room by a woman in a beautiful sari, the uniform for female Taj employees, and my luggage, as promised, soon followed. I had about an hour before our first session of the day and so I took what became the best shower of my entire life, played around with the room remote on the nightstand (see photo at left), and took in the gorgeous view.

July 3-5: The Flight

The beginning of my trip started somewhat rocky. I missed my flight due to a mistake on my part (note to self: learn to read 24 hour time) so rather than flying from Boston to Chicago to Delhi, I flew from Boston to London to Mumbai to Delhi. Sleeping was difficult on the plane due to two factors: 1) my chair didn’t recline on the Boston to London flight and 2) the flight attendant on the flight from London to Mumbai flight insisted on waking me up whenever a savory snack or meal was served. While I understand the importance of eating, sometimes a girl just wants to sleep! Once landing in Mumbai (at 2am), I took a 10-minute bus ride from the plane to immigration, got my necessary clearance, gathered my luggage, and headed into the sea of people needing to board buses back to their terminals. The vast majority of people in the mass had trollies piled high with bags and boxes of every shape and size so occasionally, someone on airport staff would notice little ol’ me with my one roller bag and one backpack and direct me to go straight ahead...until I hit another bottle neck and was forced to stop. I was so tired and clueless at this point that I just took it all in and had faith that eventually I’d get to my terminal, which I did with plenty of time to spare.

The last leg of my journey was a short 1 ½ hour flight from Mumbai to Delhi and I spent it sitting next to a sweet, elderly Punjabi man. We bonded over Bhangra and I showed him photos of me dancing, which he thoroughly enjoyed. When the Indian meal came (that’s right, there was a meal on that short of flight!), he explained to me what everything was and how best to eat it. Being completely stuffed, I put my head back and closed my eyes only to be slightly jarred a couple of minutes later when my seat suddenly tipped back! As it turns out, my new friend saw I was a bit tired so decided to help me out by reclining the seat for me. So, although my flight started out a bit rough, it had a nice ending.

Greetings from Kolkata!

I can’t believe it’s only been a week! The combination of our full days, the hot weather, and jet lag (which honestly, hasn’t been that bad) has meant that by 7:00, I can barely keep my eyes open. I’ll be starting Bangla classes this week so the pace should slow down a bit, making it easier for me to blog. Plus, our school has free internet, making it much cheaper for me to blog J So, rather than one huge post about this past week, plan on seeing several posts within the next couple of days covering all my adventures to date.

Let the games begin!

In her book, "Snakes and Ladders: Glimpes of Modern India," Gita Mehta draws a comparison between the ancient board game Snakes and Ladders (also known as Chutes and Ladders) and India's first fifty years as an independent nation, both of which she characterized as having joyous highs followed by dismaying, or in some cases disastrous, lows. As I read her descriptions of the"roller-coaster ride" experienced in both areas, I couldn't help but contemplate the ride that waits for me in India. As a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant living and working in Kolkata for nine months, I know I will experience the ups and downs, the ladders and snakes, that come with adjusting to life in another culture. And while I hope this blog will 1) keep my family and friends up-to-date with my adventures and 2) provide helpful information to prospective Fulbright ETAs, there is also a more personal reason for documenting my experiences; when sliding down the snakes, it will remind me of the ladders I've climbed and when perched atop a ladder, it will help me appreciate how far I've come while gazing at the snakes below. In five, short hours, it's time to roll the dice!