From the Himalayas to the Sierra Madres: Hanging with the Raj

I’ve only been here for about 4 days but I feel as if it’s been two weeks. Not in the sense that time goes by slowly, but in the sense that I feel as if I’ve learned and seen an amount that could only fit into a minimum of two weeks.

Yesterday at Dr. Kumar’s clinic (the old and wise one, a muse in my opinion), a man with the last name Singh came in to talk with Dr. Kumar in a friend to friend sort of manner. Dr. Kumar and Mr. Singh talked in Hindi for a while as Callie, Zack, and I sat back and waited for them to finish. Finally, Dr. Kumar introduced us to Mr. Singh and told us that Mr. Singh’s family has come to him for many years and developed a very wonderful, friendly relationship. Mr. Singh seemed very well educated, as his English was great (almost always an indicator here of the well-educated). Mr. Singh started asking us many questions about why we were here, and then I asked him some simple questions about their culture and the Hindu religion (i.e. why do some women have a red dot on their forehead? I now know that that indicates marriage). He then went on to tell us that we could have our futures told (not predicted!) by his family’s priest, and that as long as we knew our exact birth time, we could have our futures told. So with all of us frantically calling our parents (it was about 2 a.m. their time, sorry Dad!) to get this time, Dr. Kumar sent us off with Mr. Singh to go to his family’s Ashram (basically a Hindu church) to better understand Hindu worship and find the priest. But before leaving, Mr. Singh emphasized one thing with us: this was not a superstitious thing, this was fact and we must not look at it as some ritual. Their priest is a very holy man and has special abilities and we must recognize this. With complete respect of their beliefs, we were off.

On the way to the Ashram, Mr. Singh started telling us more about his family. Before India gained independence from British rule, his family ruled all of this land (Dehradun and the surrounding area). His great-grandfather’s name was Raj Singh (or King Singh). Unfortunately, the priest was not there, but he wanted us to meet his family and see his houses, yes houses, plural. So we then went to his sister’s house and his entire family was there to welcome us and talk to us for about an hour. They were incredibly nice and, wow, was their house beautiful. So many pieces of art, samurai swords, staffs, all gifts their family inherited from visitors from outside lands. It was all so incredible. Zack, Callie, and I kept looking at each other with faces of disbelief as if to say, “Is this really happening?” Mr. Singh’s brother in law (the owner of his sister’s house) had asked me something that I thought was “Do you like Dehradun?” I said yes with strong conviction and suddenly he left the room as if to go get something. The entire family started staring at me with looks of curiosity and almost disgust. Mr. Singh broke the awkwardness by saying, “Do you really want some alcohol right now?” I then said, “What? No of course not!” (Drinking during the day is not a common practice, even drinking at all among the very civilized is almost frowned-upon.) Mr. Singh then told me that he had asked if I wanted alcohol and that he was going to get me a drink. We all started laughing very hard, and the whole thing was very funny. The brother in law said, “I know you Americans are very fond of day drinking so I thought that would be nice to ask!” We continued to laugh for a while. I am very grateful for the Singh family’s hospitality. They told us to come back at any time for dinner or tea in a tone of deep sincerity.

Afterwards we went around town seeing everything the family owned (which seemed to be half the city) and then finally to Mr. Singh’s house for lychees with his wife (his servants were told to climb up the tree to get the lychees for us to eat). We then went back to our house, still in disbelief thinking about the fact that we just randomly spent an afternoon with Indian royalty. And it was only our third day!

Thus far, my average day has been waking up around six (combination of jet-lag and going to bed early from exhaustion), eating breakfast, playing a couple hours of Texas hold-em, then heading off to Dr. Kumar’s office from 11 a.m. till 1:30 p.m. We then have a break from 1:30-6:15, during which we roam around Dehradun, shop, eat, go to the Internet café, visit Indian royalty, etc. We then eat lunch around 3:30, head to our second round at 5:30 with a cardiologist, and come back at 8. Then possibly a stop at the Internet café if we couldn’t make it before (it was closed at both times we tried yesterday, they say hours that they are open but they definitely differ from the times they are actually open. It reminds me of some Latino cultures, very relaxed and open when they want to be open, nothing is set). We then eat dinner around 9:30 and then head to bed. This is my schedule for this week only because each week is different. The second week will be spent in the Himalayan village of Patti, the third week back in Dehradun, and the fourth week in the Himalayan village of Mussoori. Unfortunately, I won’t have any internet access in Patti next week, but I will still have phone service.

Zack and Dr. Kumar

My Indian mother Mrs. Sethi just said something at breakfast that made me think: “It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, mothers are mothers, they will always worry about their children. I will always worry about my children, and you are my children.” Even though this place is entirely different from my home, people are the same deep down no matter where you are. These words came across as very comforting and soothing, as it makes it easier to relate and connect with anyone, anywhere.