My 2011

As the Christmas is rushing and the year is almost over everyone send wishes, blessings and kind words to each other. The atmosphere becomes lighter, brighter and full of love.

Christmas really brings miracles to people's life and makes them more sensitive. Last year was really blissful for me. Lots of longings came to a happy end and made me feel blessed with having all the people in my life who fill up my days with love and care.

The year of 2011 was eventful indeed. My sweetheart visited my country and the result was our engagement. We had a great time in Armenia and then I got an opportunity to visit India. I was happy but apparently I couldn't imagine myself how wonderful that trip would be. During those two months not only had I a chance to discover the most incredible country in the world but also I made friends from all over the world.

Just imagine almost 70 people from around 20 countries gathered at a place studying, traveling, eating, spending time together and becoming closer to each other. That was a really amazing experience. And today receiving so many greetings and well wishes from all of them I realize how much blessed I was to meet each of them. They really made my trip an unforgettable one.

Now I know that Bangkok is not the capital of Thailand but the city where my sweet Puk lives. I can see her in a mess of preparations for the wedding which is so soon to be. I wish I were there to help her anyhow. She is such a lovely and caring person. I just wish her a happy family life with lots of lovely kids and promise to bye a helmet when I am back in India :)

My sweet Melissa whom I called the best traveler of our group. She was always in search of new discoveries in Delhi. Her camera saw all the corners of the city. The Camera, Delhi map and Metro map were in her bag in search of new places to see, to eat and to buy. I remember the day when I saw her with her notebook making a list of sight seeings for her husband to travel in the city while she would be at classes. Every morning she would wake up earlier than everyone to manage to talk to her daughter left at home with her grannies. Amazingly she was also managing to take care of her business. I always admire this wonderful mother and woman and wish her a new addition to her lovely family.

Cuba - is not the farthest communist country of hot dancers any more but the place where Leticia enjoys the life the way she used to do in Delhi, so cheerful, joyful and enthusiastic like none can be. I will never forget the way she was teaching me to dance Cuban way, how she was speaking so quickly, making jokes and poking everyone. She was my roommate for two days at Agra and Jaipur hotels where I managed to see that behind this strong personality a big and soft heart is beating... I wish my Leticita lots of love and romance for the coming year.

Machu Picchu is my next destination whenever I plan to travel. Did you know this is in Peru? I didn't. This is the country of Jaime and Pamela. Yes, now I know Jaime who is not the bold headed and strange & funny man from a South American serial but the modest graphic designer from Peru who can dance a whole night without brake :) Actually I overestimated him a bit regarding dancing. Actually even the challenge to win a game couldn't make him dance:) I wish Jaime a big love, a wonderful girl who will understand his gentle heart and hopefully will make him dance.

Martha lives in Namibia. Firstly I loved her curly hair then discovered the cheerful woman. She was storming Palika Bazar all the time buying up everything for her daughter. That night in her room at the Jaipur hotel was one of the most unforgettable moments in India. She was infecting us with her laughter and will to enjoy her life to the fullest. I wish Martha all the best for her coming soon wedding and all the joy in her family.

My day is not a day if I don't get greetings from Ghana where Alice lives. My lovely Alice, thanks for making my days. "Teacher", your voice sounds in my mind all the time I remember our classes. I hope the coming year will bring a new beginning in your life, the one you deserve.

Zaur is going to become a Father for the first time. Or maybe the kid is already born? I am sure he is going to be a good father. There was so much love and dedication in his eyes when we were talking about his wife. He also helped me with a small gift to my niece living in Tashkent. So the day is not far when I will visit Uzbekistan where Davron, Zamira and Dima also live.

Vote for Halong Bay to become the next wonder of the world. It's in Vietnam - the country of our Bodyguard!!! He was making so much fun all around even with his little knowledge of English. But that was not a big problem because he would say "Yes" to whatever he was requested or asked. The last thing we heard from him was the news about his wedding. Now he must be enjoying his honeymoon. Hope to see new photos of his happy family life.

In Costa Ricca lives a Cosita Ricca Yorles and a gentleman named Ely who is desperately looking for Rimma from Kazakhstan.

My Moldavian neighbors Katya and Leta, Cherry and Tan from Thailand, Jose and Malala from Madagascar, Satish from Bhutan, Xong and Ekalath from Laos, Edmenty and Florence from Hait...

I wish you all a Happy New Year and Merry Christmas. May all the success, happiness, health and prosperity come to your homes and may you always be surrounded with only good people and caring friends.

Lots of love and hugs to you from Armenia.

Moving in Delhi: Metro

Unlike going and coming back from classes by a taxi provided by the program we preferred not to move by a car in Delhi. Instead we were using Metro, Rikshaw and of course Bike.

METRO is the best means of transport in Delhi. It's very comfortable and flexible. We went to the Metro on the very first day оf my arrival and I was amazed to see how well designed and organized it was.  After several days almost all our group members had already learned the metro map by heart and could move around the city quite confidently. Whenever anyone was telling us a name of a place to visit we would open up our Delhi map to find it and then Metro map to see the route.

Despite of having a Metro in Yerevan and being used to traveling by it whole my life I saw a big difference between these two in Yerevan and in Delhi. Just imagine the one in Yerevan has only 1 line with 9 stations and short trains have two coaches. Delhi Metro has 6 lines with  more than 142 stations covering almost all Delhi area and Gurgaon as well.

It surprised me a lot when I saw police checking points at the stations with two different gates for both male and female. That was new to me and quite strange but in the meantime I felt more safe in a big and diverse city like Delhi. Another difference was double entry barriers at station for both entrance and exit. You can  buy either a token informing the cashier about the station you want to get off or a smart card. Tokens for each destination have different value. While entering the station you put the token on the display of the entry barrier and you leave it inside the entry barrier while leaving metro. Similarly it goes with the smart card and while putting it on the display the system is calculating the value of your destination and charges accordingly. So being unfamiliar to this I would always forget to get my card out again while leaving the station and would create queues after me trying to find it in my purse.

Smart Card

It was a huge fun every time being in Metro in a group of foreigners accompanied by an Indian(s). We would speak in different languages attracting the passengers' attention to us who were trying to hide their smile especially when we were repeating the announcements like "kripya, darvazoon se hat kar khare ho"  or "Agla station Udyog Bhavan hai". believe me it sounded quite funny and even we were laughing at ourselves. Whenever my sweetheart was not with us (it happened rarely) we were taking special coaches for women. These are separate coaches only for women to make their travel by metro more comfortable and troubleless.

Metro Map. New stations are being constructed yet...

Within two months of my stay in Delhi only once I traveled by Metro alone when I left the girls with their shopping at CP to get back to the hotel for another meeting. Imagine that was also the only time when the automatic announcement machine got broken and I couldn't get where actually I was. When I decided to clarify it with the lady standing next to me it appeared that I missed my station:) 

Unfortunately, it was prohibited to take photos inside Metro. Especially I regret about one poster which was announcing "Spitting in Metro is prohibited". However my friends managed to click some and I'll post one here. Hope they don't mind:)

Refreshing memories

I came back to Yerevan with enthusiastic plan to write down everything happened to me in India. but soon I dived in so many different projects and work that I left my blog for a while (again). While  am preparing new posts I decided to upload here some photos taken in India as a shower to my Tulsi not to fed away:)

Lotus temple - my first sightseeing destination in Delhi

People visiting Akshardham

Mandir - a Hindu temple at Chandni Chok , old Delhi

My favorite flower tree

Humayun Tomb - dedicated to a husband by a wife

Malls are everywhere in Delhi. This one I liked because of
its excellent decorated surroundings

Kutub Minar

Mother

Purana Qila

At Isckon temple in Vrindavan

Amber Forte, Jaipur, Rajastan

Red Fort, Old Delhi

Arriving in Delhi

My first meeting with India was through the illuminator of the airplane landing at Delhi International Airport. It was a long journey of 3 hours flight from Yerevan to Dubai, 8 hours wait at Dubai airport and almost 4 hours flight from Dubai to New Delhi. However I could feel neither tired nor sleepy but excitement to see the land which had been calling me for more than two and half years. 
Delhi was still sleeping and only street lights were welcoming us in the dusk.  The monitors in the plane went on and we could see the road on which our plane was landing. I don't remember how I went off the plane, how I passed the immigration desk, how I received my baggage I just wanted to get out of the airport as soon as possible to see my sweetheart one month after his departure. Finally the doors opened and there he was, my fiance, my sweetheart, my future husband for whom I am here...

 

Since the moment my feet touched the Indian land one thing was in my mind. I had been told and read a lot about specific smell one can feel right after getting off the airport. Despite of my efforts to smell something strange or unpleasant I could feel nothing but happiness for meeting people I hadn't seen for long time and those whom I new quite long but hadn't met yet. Even when I was asked if it was hot I said "no, it's quite normal" :) The only thing which looked strange to me was seeing so many people. Unlike the early morning hour when the sun was only starting to rise the airport was crowded with different different looking people and some of them were lying or sitting on the ground itself.
After warm hugs and introductions, bouquets of flowers and a cup of hot coffee it was the time to leave the airport for the Hotel we were supposed to stay.

Then only we realized that there was no one to meet us and take to the hotel. Before leaving for Delhi I made sure that I would be transferred to the hotel by a driver who would be waiting for us at the Gate with a banner announcing the name of Institution from which we got the scholarship. Simply he was not there even though our flight was delayed for about one and half hours. I tried to contact with one of the moderators to find out what was the problem. Finally one of them answered my call and ensured me that the driver was at the airport. After I asked him several times to check with the driver it appeared that "he is on way", then "he is looking for space for parking". In the end the driver (a nice man of around 50-60 who later became our driver taking us from the hotel to classes and back every day) arrived in the airport informing us that he even wasn't aware that he had to meet us... Anyway it happens sometimes but I wonder what two young girls are supposed to do appearing in a country for the first time, at 4 am without a mobile and without anyone to meet them. What if one of them didn't have a fiance ready to take them to the hotel. How would they contact the moderators? However I was insisting on following the rules and ethics of the scholarship instead of braking the rules from the very beginning and for that we had to wait for 2 hours.

View from my balcony

We reached the hotel and were welcomed by another nice Indian man  whom we later used to call Uncle. Lucky we were to arrive one of the first and to have a chance to choose the room we liked. This room had become my shelter for the next two months. In this hotel I met my dear friends. Here I had nice breakfasts and here I had reunion parties which I will never forget in my life.

My room at the Hotel

But then it was just a room with a big bed where I wanted to rest a bit before starting my journey to the new world called India...

Incredibly Nostalgic India

I am back home - my home in Armenia. Still I have such a feeling that I left my home. ...

I was in India for 2 months. That was a scholarship program sponsored by the government of India called ITEC/SCAAP. So I was both a student and a traveler but also went to visit my new family.

Cultural shock, climate, new experiences, likes and dislikes, new food, new people, friends and more than friends, new knowledge, parties, sight-seeings, discoveries, new family, new home and much more...I had experienced within these two months. But apparently the most important was the reunion with my sweetheart.

We traveled a lot all over Delhi - both New and Old and also managed to visits 3 cities - Vrindavan with the family and Agra and Jaipur with the whole group. Red Fort, Purana Quila, Lotus Temple, JNU, Qutub Minar, India Gate, Raj Path, Akshardham, Amer Fort , Agra Fort, Jantar Mantar and of course no visit to India without seeing the famous Taj Mahal. Food- lots of different restaurants and cafes with varieties of Indian food from North and South -Puri, Roti, Dosa, Raj kachori, Chana masala, Sabji, Thali, Khir, Lassi...so spicy and chili but so yummy. Moving round the city by metro, Rikshaw, Bike was such a great fun. But the most joyful pastime especially for girls - shopping in huge malls and street markets, Dilli Haat and at the buses...

Lots of interesting discoveries, events, people altogether was such a great experience to me and I want to write about each and every thing in detail. but now I just want to thank God for this opportunity I had, for those two months which changed my life a lot. i had so many apprehensions about the country I was going to spend my life. I was worried so much simply not to like it. I went , I saw and  I want to go back. Thanks to my sweetheart, his family, friends and of course my new wonderful friends I enjoined my life there.  Now I can say I really want to go back. Why? I'll try to give the answer through my posts about all the things mentioned above and much more. They say people cry twice in India, first time when they arrive and second time when they leave it. Hope you will enjoy the journey with me to India ...