Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. There are many gods like Ganesh, an elephant headed god and the remover of obstacles; Shiva, the god of destruction; Brahma, the god of creation; and Vishnu, the god of preservation.  On February 12^th, I celebrated Shivaratri in India. Shivaratri is a day on the Hindu calendar, set aside to honor lord Shiva. I went to a Shiva temple on Shivaratri; it was in an underground cave. The smell of incense was intoxicating. Humid air filled the underground room. One by one, people kneeled in front of an altar depicting lord Shiva. One man painted a tilak, a streak of red paint, on each worshiper’s forehead. As I was leaving the cave, the priest handed me some sweets made from milk and sugar.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

Unlike most religions, Hinduism doesn’t have a founder or one holy book, but it has many important scriptures. The Vedas are different chants and discussions from 1500 BC. They were written down in 1000 AD. Before they were written down they were passed on by memorizing and retelling.

Hindus worship gods in shrines, temples or at home. In India, there are many shrines on the sides of the roads. Brahmins are the highest caste in India. They worship Brahma; Brahmins are the priest class of the Hindu religion. Brahmin priests lead the ceremonies at weddings and give spiritual guidance to the people in their community. I have many friends in India who are Brahmin, but in modern India anyone can do any job regardless of their caste. My friends’ fathers are business men and teachers.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

My freind Sonu,. He’s in the yellow, black and grey shirt.

Sadhus are holy men of the Hindu religion. They travel from town to town asking for food. They are of the Brahmin caste, and have given up all luxuries to worship Lord Shiva. They are easily recognizable in a crowd because they wear orange robes, carry begging bowls, and have painted eyes or three stripes on their forehead. Tridents are a sign of Shiva, and Lord Shiva has three eyes, two regular eyes and one eye of destruction. When opened, the eye turns everything in its path to ashes. Brahma, the god of creation, had five heads, but now he only has four because Shiva fried his head off.

Hindus believe in reincarnation. Reincarnation means that when you die, your soul goes into another living creature that was born the moment you died. Then when that creature dies, your soul goes into another creature, and on and on like that. Hindu’s believe in karma. There is good karma and bad karma. To get good karma you do good things like worshiping the gods, helping people, and following your duties. When a person dies, if they have good karma they go to heaven and become gods. If a person has bad karma they may be reincarnated as an animal. If they have balanced karma they are reincarnated as a human again, and if they have really bad karma they go to hell. In the Hindu tradition, when you die you’re cremated. Hindus believe that spreading someone’s ashes in the Ganges River ensures that the person will go to heaven.

In World War II, Hitler used the swastika, the Hindu sign for good luck, as the symbol of the Nazi party, except it was turned around backward. In India it means good luck. Hindus usually have it on the door their homes and the entrance to weddings.  Most Hindus have shrines in their home that contain statues or pictures of gods. Ganesh is the most popular god; almost every Hindu has a statue of him in their house. He is the remover of obstacles, and he brings good luck. Even now, as I walk down the streets of Bangkok, which is Buddhist, I see statues of Ganesh with offerings like fountain drinks, money, and sweets placed around him. Even the Thais believe that Ganesh has the power to solve their problems and bring happiness to their lives.

            Sikhism is a small religion found in India. You can easily distinguish Sikhs in a crowd. All Sikh men and boys over thirteen wear turbans, so you can easily identify them. It is against the Sikh religion to cut your hair, although many Sikhs do. Five things Sikhs must do are: 1) Be clean 2) Commit good deeds 3) Protect their families 4) Not cut their hair and 5) Have self-discipline. Sikh means disciple.

            The most important Sikh site is the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India. Sikhs give gold to the temple, which is put on the temple’s domes. I haven’t been there, but from the pictures I have seen, the Golden Temple shines like the sun. Sikhs worship their god, Mool Mantar, in gurdaws, which are temples. The religious leaders in Sikhism are called gurus. The religion was founded by Guru Nanak, who was born in Lahore, which is now in Pakistan. He taught that god is in everyone. Guru Nanak wrote his ideas in the Guru Granath Sahib, which is the Sikh holy book.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

Although Sikhs believe in reincarnation like Hindus, Guru Nanak didn’t believe in the caste system and thought that it was ridiculous to worship icons and give offerings to the gods. Sikhs also do not believe in fasting and superstitions. They believe that you should do actual deeds like give to the poor and stand up against injustice. When we were in Delhi, we took a tour of the city to see how street kids lived. Our guide was a former homeless kid. He told us that no one starves in Delhi because of the Sikhs. Anyone can go to a Sikh temple and eat there. Sikhs cook food and sit and eat with some of the poorest people in India. They believe that all people should be treated equally, from the dirtiest street sweeper to the King of Japan. Sikhs also aren’t supposed to drink alcohol, take drugs, or smoke.

Sikhs believe they are holy warriors, fighting against injustice. Sikh men are supposed to be courageous, strong, and fierce. A great example of this was our Sikh driver, Mr. Singh, on our tour of Rajasthan.  Whenever there was a traffic jam, he got out of the van and scowled at everyone. They sure got out of there fast. Mr. Singh told us that he gives 10-20% of his earnings to the temple to feed poor people and help those in need.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

Judaism is one of the world’s oldest and spread out religions. The only place where Judaism is a majority is Israel. It is practiced most in the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. People who practice Judaism are called Jews. The original Jewish language is Hebrew. Judaism was founded in 1300 BC in Mesopotamia. The founder of Judaism was Abraham. God told him to leave Mesopotamia and go to a holy land, where he would be the founder of a nation. The holy land is now Israel and Abraham’s people are the Jews.

Jews worship their god (the same god as in Christianity and Islam) in synagogues. The Jewish holy men are called rabbis. Some Jewish holidays are Passover and Hanukkah. Jews cannot eat animals with a split hoof like pigs, or with paws like rabbits. Jews can only eat fish whose scales and fins can come off. According to traditional Jewish Law, a Jew is “anyone born of a Jewish mother” or converted to Judaism in accord with Jewish Law. Most Jewish men and boys wear “kippahs”, skull caps, which are tiny black hats.

The Star of David is one of the symbols of Judaism. A popular Jewish folk tale says that the Star of David is made after the shield of the Israelite warrior, David, who would later become King David. To save metal, the shield was made of leather stretched across a simple metal frame of two interlocking equilateral triangles that would hold the round shield.

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

In Turkey, we had a Turkish teacher named Alper. He was a Jew whose ancestors were from Spain. When the Muslums ruled Spain, Muslims, Christians, and Jews could practice their religion freely. When the Christians came and took over in 1492, they told the people who weren’t Christian to either convert to Christianity or leave. Some people agreed to convert, but secretly followed their religion, some left Spain, and some did neither and were tourtered until they converted or died. Most of the Muslims who left Spain went to Northern Africa, many of them settling in Tunisia.  Alper’s Jewish ansestores fled from Spain and went to Turkey, which was part of the Ottoman Empire. Under the Ottoman Empire, anyone can practice their religion. Alper still spoke a little of the old, medival Spanish from that time!

Islam is one of the world’s largest religions. People who practice Islam are known as Muslims. Islam was founded by Muhammad. Muhammad spoke the words of God. His followers wrote his words in the Koran, the Muslim holy book, so they would not forget. Since, the verses of the Koran came directly from the Muslim god, Allah, Muslims consider the Koran very holy. One cannot even touch the pages of the Koran. You have to use a special tool to turn the pages. Since Allah spoke Arabic to Muhammad, Arabic is considered a holy language, and Muslims are expected to know the lines of the Koran in Arabic. Even though he wasn’t a very religious Muslim, our guide in Tunisia, Yussef, believed that the writing of the Koran is proof that god exists. Yussef said that the Koran is written so beautifully, that no one but God could have spoken the verses.

Muslims follow the “Five Pillars” of Islam. The first is Shahadah, believing that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is his prophet. The second, Salat, states that you must pray toward Mecca 5 times a day. The third pillar is Zakat, giving 2.5% or more of your salary as donations to the poor or to those in need. The fourth is Sawat, which means you must fast (if you are able) during Ramadan, an important Muslim holiday. The fasting lasts for an entire month. During Ramadan, Muslims do not eat during the day; they only eat at night. Last but not least is the Hajj, the fifth pillar. Every Muslim (if they are able) must make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their life. During the Hajj, which lasts for four days, millions of Muslims go to Mecca, a city in Saudi Arabia, and perform a series of rituals. The Hajj creates a sense of unity among Muslims of many nations.

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

Muslims go to their mosque, the place where they worship. Mosques have domed roofs and minarets. Five times a day the call to prayer is chanted from the minarets, magnified by giant bull horn speakers. It is a Muslim’s duty to worship their god, Allah, five times a day. Most Muslims don’t go to the mosque five times a day. They may pray wherever they are, like in a park, at work, or at home. When they pray, they must be clean. They take out a prayer rug and face Mecca, the most important Muslim holy site. In the mosque or on the prayer rug, praying Muslims kneel on the ground and put their head on the floor, submitting to god. As a matter of fact, the word Islam means “submission” in Arabic. You can tell if a Muslim worships God a lot because they have calluses on their foreheads where their heads touch the floor.

Some Muslim women wear dark black robes covering themselves. They do this so they don’t tempt men or give them impure thoughts. Like Jews, Muslims don’t eat pork because they consider pigs to be unclean. Some important Muslim holidays are Ramadan, a month of fasting, and Kurban Byrami which celebrates the submission of Abraham to God, by agreeing to sacrifice his son. (The Koran says that Abraham was to sacrifice Ishmael (the father of the Arabic people) not Isaac (the father of the Hebrew, or Jewish, people.))

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

            Most countries where the majority of people are Muslim are in North Africa and the Middle East. The exception is Indonesia, in Southeast Asia. Indonesia is the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. Of the countries I’ve been to on this trip, Tunisia and Turkey are the ones where the majority of people are Muslim. India has many Muslims as well. In fact, as we were driving to the airport in Delhi, we saw a special terminal set aside just for Muslims going to Mecca for the Hajj.

Buddhism started with the birth of Buddha about 2,500 years ago. Buddha was born into a royal Hindu family, but gave up all luxurious comforts to become a monk. He tried to find out why people die and why they suffer. Buddha tried to follow the life of a Hindu monk by hurting himself and fasting. He realized that these practices just distract you from meditating. He believed that people should follow the middle way – not fasting or hurting yourself but also not eating too much or living a life of luxury.

He meditated under the Bodhi tree, a sacred fig tree, until he was enlightened. He learned how to end all pain and suffering and how to break the reincarnation cycle. He taught people the Four Noble Truths and how to follow the Eight-Fold Path. The four noble truths are 1) life means suffering 2) suffering comes from being attached to things in this world 3) it is possible to end suffering 4) you can end all suffering by following the Eight-Fold Path. The Eight-Fold Path is 1) right aspiration 2) right knowledge 3) right speech 4) right behavior 5) right livelihood 6) right efforts 7) right mindfulness and right concentration.

From The Big Field Trip – Thailand, February 2010

Buddhist monks travel from house to house asking for alms. They prefer vegetarian food because they believe in non violence, but they will eat whatever is given to them. Every man in Buddhist countries is supposed to become a monk for some amount of time in his life. My friend, Rolando, in Thailand, told me that sometimes his colleagues disappear for weeks or even months at a time. They become monks for a short time and then return to their normal lives. Buddhist monks are much respected in Buddhist countries. Thailand is the only place where I’ve seen metro for seats reserved for monks.

Many Buddhists live in Nepal, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, and Japan.  Buddhism is the 4^th largest religion in the world. It is hard to count the total number of Buddhists because 1) Buddhism is often practiced alongside other religions 2) There is no official church that keeps records 3) Vietnam and China are communist and have discouraged religion, but there are many Buddhists in these countries. It is hard to define a Buddhist. Buddhism is practiced in many different ways. Buddhists recognize Buddha as someone who was enlightened, and they try to follow his example. They may meditate, pray to Buddha, read Buddhist teachings, or learn the practice from Buddhist monks. They seek enlightenment by being mindful of the nature of reality.

Christianity is the world’s largest religion. Christians are all over the world. Christian countries range from Armenia to Zimbabwe. The reason Christianity has spread all over the world is because in the Christian faith, you have to be a Christian to go to heaven. When the Europeans, especially the Spanish went to the Americas, they forced the people there to be Christian, thinking they were helping them. The Europeans destroyed the native people’s (like the Incans) holy sites and temples and built Christian churches on top of them, which is sort of ironic because the Incans built their temples on top of the Chachapoya people’s temples when they conquered them. When we hiked the Inca trail, we explored the ruins of an Incan temple that was destroyed by the Spanish when they conquered Peru. I have seen Christians in every country, except for Turkey, handing out pamphlets to try to get new members for their church.

From The Big Field Trip – Istanbul, November 2009

The founder of Christianity was Jesus of Nazareth, or Christ. His parents were Mary and Joseph. The Christian holy book is called “The Holy Bible,” or just the Bible. When Christianity was born, it split off from Judaism, but the Old Testament of the Christian Bible has the same stories as the Jewish Torah. The New Testament of the Bible is about Jesus’ life and teachings. Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross to relieve all people of their sins. Jesus told about a loving God, but you can only go to heaven if you believe in God and love him. Some of Jesus’ quotes are:

“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” This means that Christians believe in charity and not in hoarding wealth.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” This means that Christians believe that you should love all people, including your enemies, and that you should not fight.

From The Big Field Trip – Spain, May, 2009

Christians worship God in churches. Christians go to church every Sunday. Christians believe that if you’re good in your life, love God and Jesus, and ask God for forgiveness when you sin, you will go to heaven when you die. If you’re not Christian, if you commit sins and don’t repent to God, you will go to hell.

I’ve been in a lot of churches; of the countries I’ve been to, Peru, Brazil, Spain, Portugal, England and Bulgaria have been mostly Christian. Bulgaria is Eastern Orthodox Christian. Eastern Orthodox Christians don’t believe that Mary (Jesus’ mother) was holy. During Eastern Orthodox Church services, priests ignore the worshipers as they conduct the service. When I went to a service, I felt weird because I was being ignored, and I felt like I was intruding. There are no pews in the Eastern Orthodox Churches; worshipers light candles and place them around paintings of saints and Jesus while praying to them. Saints are special holy people who performed miracles in God’s name.

From The Big Field Trip – Bulgaria, October – November 2009

Peru, Brazil, Spain, and Portugal are Catholic countries. Catholics often pray to Mary and the saints as well as to Jesus. In Catholic churches, I feel much more welcome because the priests are addressing the people. The religious leaders of the Catholic Church are called priests. The head of the Catholic Religion is the Pope, who lives in the Vatican City, the smallest country in the world, which is in Rome. The largest cathedral in the world is St. Peter’s, which is in the Vatican City. I have been to St. Peters. I remember there was bullet proof glass everywhere to protect the sculptures. I think that Catholic cathedrals are built to impress people and give them the idea that the Church and God are very powerful.

From The Big Field Trip – Portugal, July 2009

Catholicism split into lots of different religions when the printing press was invented because many people wanted a personal relationship with god, not one through the priests.  When the printing press was invented, everyone could have a Bible. Many people started interpreting the Bible differently. New Christian religions were formed. We call them Protestant because they were formed by people protesting against the Catholic faith. The majority of American Christians are Protestant. Protestants don’t believe in worshiping saints or icons. Protestant church services are more casual than Catholic church services because they don’t have as many rituals. All Christians are united in the belief that Jesus was God’s son and that he was sent to Earth to forgive our sins.

From The Big Field Trip – Bulgaria, October – November 2009

Jainism is a very small religion. It started in India but Jains have moved all over the world as Jains have moved from India. Jains believe in 24 prophets, called Tirthankaras. They believe that these prophets conquered their inner enemies to become supreme beings, or Jina. Jains believe that any person can become a Jina through self control. Jains believe in reincarnation, but to break the cycle and become a Jina, you have to destroy the eight karmas of life.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

Jains believe in non-violence, not stealing, speaking the truth, not being attached to material things, and not getting pleasure out of the senses. Because of their belief in non-violence, or Ahimsa, Jains don’t harm any living creatures and are vegetarian. A Jain quote is “Don’t kill any living beings. Don’t try to rule them.” They don’t eat eggs or root vegetables like potatoes, onions, and garlic, so when you go to restaurants in India, the waiters serve the onions on the side. Every packaged food product in India has a square with either a red dot or a green dot. The red dot means it’s “veg.” and the red dot means it’s “non veg.” In India, eggs are not considered vegetarian, so cakes have a red dot on them.

Some Jain priests wear masks on their faces, so they don’t breathe in any insects. Jain monks don’t stay in one place; they move around. Some Jain monks go around naked. They eat less and less and less until they stop eating and they die of starvation. Their only possessions are bowls to collect their alms and brooms to sweep in front of them so they don’t step on any living creatures. Most Jains do not become priests, but they do believe in self-sacrifice.

There is often conflict between religions. Many people believe that they are following the right religion, and everyone else is wrong. However, this is not always the case. In India, there once was a Mogul ruler named Akbar. He had three wives; one was Christian, one Muslim and one Hindu. We went to his palace in Fatehpur Sikri; it was magnificent. He had a palace built for all three of his queens. The first one was huge, built from red sandstone, for his Hindu queen. The second was smaller, but was by a beautiful pond and had some of the most intricate carvings I’ve ever seen; it was for the Muslim queen. The third was medium sized, and had mirrors and glass (which were very expensive) all over it. It was for Akbar’s Christian queen. In Akbar’s throne room there were intricately carved symbols from all three of three of the religions. He tried to create an empire where everyone could practice their religion freely.

However, Akbar’s grandson, Aurangzeb, was a very religious Muslim who was intolerant of other faiths, the opposite of his grand father. He destroyed religious Hindu sites and temples all over India, and built mosques over them. There was a recent bombing of a mosque south of Delhi; the Hindus who bombed the mosque claimed it was built over a religious Hindu sight, destroyed by Aurangzeb. When we visited important Hindu and Muslim sites around India, there were always many police to protect the monuments and visitors religious violence.

I’ve met people from many religions on this trip. None of those people were mean to me, and they didn’t judge me on my religion. They shared their religions with me, but didn’t force me to convert. Some practices seemed bizarre at first, and some seemed natural. However, I didn’t tell someone that their religion was wrong; I respected their beliefs. I don’t think any religion is better than another. This trip has taught me to respect all the religions. I think this is because I’ve met people I respect from all the religions, from my Brahmin friends in India who treated me like an old friend, to Alper in Turkey who taught us Turkish for free. Religions can be good when they give people hope and inspire them to show compassion to people. They can be bad when they make people fear or hate people of other religions. People should go out and meet people of different faiths. They’ll find that there is nothing bad about those people. They are a lot more like you than you think. If everybody did this then there would be less violence and more peace in the world.

I lived with the Ranawat family for 2 months, and I learned a lot about Indian family life. The Ranawat family lives in Udaipur, which is in the state of Rajasthan in North West India. They are Rajput people from the warrior caste, and they practice the Hindu religion. By living with them, I have learned about life in an Indian extended family: about marriage, about religion, about cooking and chores, about education and work, and about what they do in their free time. In a lot of ways the Ranawat family is different from my family, but in some ways they are similar.

The Ranawat family is an extended family. All seven of them live all together in one home with four bedrooms, two kitchens, two living rooms and the rooftop, where the family spends a lot of time working and playing. Raja is the youngest; he is 6 ¼ years old. Prachi is 16 years old, and she is in 10th grade. Yuvraj is Raja’s dad, and Pinky is Raja’s mom. Lala is Raja and Prachi’s aunt and Yuvraj’s sister. Chandkanwer (Chand) is Prachi and Raja’s grandma and Yuvraj and Lala’s mom. Sawant Singhji is Chand’s husband, and he is the head of the family. He makes all of the important decisions for the family.

From The Big Field Trip – India, January, 2010

Pinky had to leave her mother and father when she was married to go to Yuvraj’s house. Pinky is not allowed to show her face to or to speak to Sawant (only on the phone). Every time Sawant walks by, Pinky puts her veil over her face. In India, the bride always moves to the groom’s house. Lala is an exception. When she was married, she moved to her husband’s house. She had a child, but the child died when she was 1 ½ years old, because she had a hole in her heart. Then Lala’s husband died because he was sick. Her in-laws said you can choose to live with us or to go back home to your parents. Lala lives part of the year with her in-laws and part of the time with her parents.

In India most marriages are arranged. When Sawant was looking for a bride for Yuvraj, he selected Pinky because of her photo, because she had gone to university, because her parents were well respected and have money, because her horoscope was a good match for Yuvraj, and most of all because she came from a good Rajput family, which means that her family follows the same traditions. For the wedding Yuvraj and the other men from his family travelled on a bus for five hours to Pinky’s village. I saw a video of their marriage. The wedding lasted for five days. Pinky’s family paid for the wedding. There was a ceremony where Pinky followed Yuvraj four times around a flame and Yuvraj followed Pinky three times around the flame. They were making seven promises. Yuvraj returned to his home with Pinky. Her family was shrieking and crying because she was leaving. Pinky spends one month with her real mother and father and the other part of the year with Yuvraj’s family.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

The Ranawat family is Hindu. They worship all of the gods, but the main family god is Eklinji (which is Shiva). They have a shrine upstairs, and they have pictures of some of the gods, like Eklinji, Ganesh, and Shrinathji, and a picture of Lala’s husband. In the morning, after Yuvraj takes a shower, he lights incense sticks in front of the shrine and prays to the gods. In the evening Pinky or Chand (Grandma), twists a cotton ball into a wick and puts it into a bowl on a stand. Then they pour ghee, clarified butter, into the bowl and light the cotton wick. It makes a candle that lasts about a half an hour. It is an offering to the gods. Once a year, on the anniversary of Lala’s husband’s death, the family prepares a plate of food and offers it to Lala’s husband’s picture at the shrine. Only Raja can eat it.

Because the Ranawats are Rajput, they can eat meat like chicken and mutton, but if they do so, they can’t touch the shrine or enter a Shiva or Ganesh temple before they bathe. On holidays that honor gods, the Ranawat family does not eat meat, but on holidays that honor goddesses they eat meat. There are many fasting days. On Navratri , Prachi has taken a vow to not eat meat for those nine days (for nine years). Everyone (except Raja) fasts on the holidays Shivratri and Janmastmi. Dewali is the biggest Hindu festival of the year. For Dewali people clean up their houses, decorate and paint their houses, and light firecrackers. A large ghee lamp, called a depak, is lit all night to honor Lakshmi. Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

The Ranawat family does a lot of cooking and chores, and they do most of the chores by hand, without the use of a machine. Pinky, Lala and Chand (grandma) wash most of the laundry by hand. I’ve often seen Chand or Lala scrubbing sudsy clothes against the cement floor of the rooftop patio. They also wash dishes by hand. They don’t buy flour at the store. They buy huge bags of whole wheat grains. The women of the Ranawat family squat on roof tossing the wheat out of a bowl so that the chaff will blow away. They pour the wheat on the ground to take rocks out. When the wheat is clean, they take it to the miller in town to have it ground into whole wheat flour. They make chapatti, circular flat bread like tortillas, with the flour for every meal. Their everyday meal includes chapattis and vegetables or daal, which is lentils or beans. Yuvraj makes a good mutton curry and steamed rice. He took professional cooking classes, but he doesn’t cook at home very often; most men in India don’t.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

Every day the milk farmer comes on his motorcycle to deliver milk to the Ranawat family. When they get the milk they pasteurize it by boiling it. If they want to make yogurt, they put some milk in a bowl with a spoonful of their last batch of yogurt. They leave it covered on the counter, and it is ready the next day. They strain it to make it thick. Sometimes they put sugar in it and sometimes they add the yogurt to curries.

Raja and Prachi go to school at private schools. Prachi is in 10th grade and Raja is in 1st grade. Prachi goes to school on her motorbike and Raja goes to school in a small private bus. They go to school from Monday to Saturday. They only have Sunday off. One evening I went to Raja’s school for a prize distribution. The teachers gave out prizes for sports and academics. I thought it was pretty cool because they did traditional dances from Rajasthan. A little kid was dressed as Ganesh, which is the elephant headed god. Little Ganesh stood on a man’s palms, and the man held him high so that everyone could see him.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

Prachi has to study hard for board exams this year because the tests she takes in 10th grade determine what college she’ll be in and what job she’ll have when she grows up. On normal schooldays Prachi studies only for 2 or 4 hours, but at the time of exams she studies for 7 or 8 hours. She studies all night and sleeps during the day because in the night time it is quiet, and she can study without interruption. Raja and Prachi do schoolwork in both English and Hindi. Raja does his homework for 1 to 2 hours a day. Pinky makes Raja to do his homework, but Prachi doesn’t need to be told to do her studies.

Yuvraj is the only one who earns money for the whole family. He is a tour guide for foreign tourists. He speaks English and Italian, as well as Hindi. He is a good tour guide because he knows a lot about Hinduism and the history of Udaipur. Sawant also gets money from his pension. He has been retired for 11 years. He worked at a hospital. He was the boss of the nursing staff. Pinky and Lala are taking exams so they can be primary school teachers. They may teach school or they may not.

The members of the Ranawat family spend most of their time working, but they have leisure time too. Sawant reads the newspaper, listens to the radio, or watches television. Every day he walks for one hour on the roof for exercise. When Chand has time, she sits on the roof talking to Sawant, or she takes a nap. Yuvraj works most days of the year, but has the summer off because there are fewer tourists due to the heat. When he doesn’t have work, Yuvraj takes naps, goes to his office to chat with his buddies, or does the family errands. Lala and Pinky are mostly working all of the day, but when they have the time they sit on the roof and talk to one another or take naps.

From The Big Field Trip – India, January, 2010

On Saturday evenings or Sundays, Prachi and Raja try to talk Lala or Pinky into bringing them to Sukharia Circle where go on paddle boats, ride camels, and ride on horses. Raja goes on all of the swings, and then they eat at a fast food restaurant. Sometimes Prachi tries to talk Pinky into going to the movies. They go to Bollywood movies. We went to a Bollywood movie called Veer. Every time Veer killed somebody, the crowd cheered. The crowd cheered even when Veer got killed. Bollywood movies are like musical films, because the actors sing and dance. Those songs are played on the radios before the movies even come out, and they become very famous; everyone, all my friends and people on the streets, starts singing them. Prachi goes to internet café to download the songs.

Raja is the skating champion for his age in the state of Rajasthan. He races around the rink with his roller skates. He beat the other kids in his age group (six years) at a completion in Udaipur when we were living with them. When we were living with the Ranawat family, Cruz practiced skating with Raja once a day.

From The Big Field Trip – India, January, 2010

Prachi likes to chat and roam around Udaipur with her girl friends from school. She goes to parties. Her five closest friends are from different religions. One is Jain, two are Muslim, one is Christian, one is a Brahmin (Hindu), and Prachi is Rajput (Hindu). They scoot around town on three scooters, two to a scooter.

I am glad that I lived with the Ranawat family. They were very nice and they embraced me as a member of the family. They took me out with them like I was one of their children: to school events, to meet friends and family, to Sukharia Circle, to Chand’s village, to the movies, and to go shopping. They invited me into their kitchen to eat and cook with them. We played and talked to each other (and Yuvraj teased me). They taught me Hindi and how to eat with my hands. I learned a lot about family life by living with them. When we left, it was very sad. Lala, Pinky, my mom, and I cried at the bus station as we were leaving, but Raja thought we were coming back in a few days, so he didn’t cry. Now he knows we aren’t coming back soon, so he’s crying. I hope that the Ranawat family can come to the USA to live with us for a while. I would teach them about American traditions.

From The Big Field Trip – India, 2010

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

When I walk down the streets of India, I see a lot of roadside businesses. On the sidewalks next to traffic-filled streets people are pressing sarees with big irons full of charcoal, and others are sewing mattresses. People sell interesting things: papaya and carrots from wooden push-carts, incense that smells like roses, cotton socks, buffalo leather journals with hand-made flower paper, and sparkling, polished jewelry. Old men make and fix shoes; sheets of brown leather and black gooey shoe polish lay in front of them on blankets. A man in a white shirt sits on a chair while the barber cuts his hair with shiny scissors that reflect the sun. Black hair falls to the pavement.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

In India, animals share the streets with people. Men in turbans kick smelly dogs, buffalos wander the streets with their calves, women in sarees feed leftover lentils and rice to street dogs, and carrots and chapatti to the holy cows. Elephants with gray, wrinkly skin take their time walking down the streets, camels pull carts full of cow dung, holy cows roam the streets, peddlers whack the holy cows to get away from their fruit stand, and dogs steal food. I’ve only seen 3 pet dogs the entire time I have been in India (2½ months). The rest of the dogs are stray. A toddler throws a stone at a dog. The dog barks and the child runs away.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

People in India wear colorful clothes and shiny jewelry, bindis, sarees, anklets, and bangles. Men wear turbans, or Muslim prayer caps. Sarees are decorative cloth that married women wrap around themselves. My mom bought a beautiful rusty-red saree. Last night was the first time she has ever worn it. She hired a tailor to sew a petticoat and blouse to wear under it. Women wear beautiful sarees even when they are shaping cow dung or spreading tar on the streets. Women also put red paint where their hair parts to show they are married. They also wear bindis, a dot of red or pink or a dot of jewelry, on their forehead. In the countryside, many women wear huge nose rings attached to their earring by a golden chain. Some men wear turbans. Turbans are long strips of cloth that men wind around their heads. Some are 9 meters long – that’s about 30 feet! Our driver, Bupinder Sing, wore a brown turban one day, a purple turban the next day, and a pink turban the day after that. When I walk down the streets of India, it reminds me of walking through a butterfly garden with splashes of color all around.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

There are lots of dirty and smelly things on the streets of India; you’ve got to watch out where you step. There are a lot of trash-covered streets with dogs, cows, and beggars eating out of the trash or looking for something valuable. People throw their litter on the street. Shop owners are always sweeping in front of their shops with brooms made of dried grass that look like dog tails. The trash sometimes gets picked up, but is often swept into a pile and burned, even the plastic. The smell makes me feel sick. There are also a lot of open sewers full of milky-white water. Once I stepped in the sewer, and I had to take a shower. I had to shower my shoes too. There is cow dung everywhere on the streets. It’s good for many Indian people because they pick it up off the streets, shape it into discs, dry it, and burn it with firewood in a small oven for cooking. It’s bad for me because I step in it so often, even though Indian people say that it is good luck.

From The Big Field Trip – India, January, 2010

Most of the streets are full of traffic. The engines roar and horns beep. Gray smoke comes out of tailpipes. People cover their faces with shirts, sarees, or handkerchiefs. In India there are a lot of auto rickshaws. They are called took-tooks because they make the sound “took-took”. Took-tooks have three wheels. The larger public took-tooks can seat seven passengers comfortably, or twenty-two with people shoved in, sitting on laps, sitting on the floor, and hanging off the sides. On the city busses I have seen people sitting with the luggage on the roof. Took-tooks, busses, cars, and trucks are zooming through the streets, dodging cows. People dodge the vehicles. Watch-out, you may get hit! Vehicles never stop for people – only for cows. If you have to cross a busy street, I suggest that you have an Indian person or a holy cow cross with you.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

In India the poorest people are worse off than poor people in the USA, especially the children. Many poor kids have no homes and some are so dirty that they are sick all the time. Poor children don’t grow as tall as healthy children because they don’t eat enough nutritious food. Some also use drugs like alcohol and white-out to make them feel better. This also keeps them from growing tall and healthy. Many kids have to work to earn money for their families. Poor children work in the fields, sweep the streets, look in the garbage for something valuable or food, work in factories, or beg for money. Sometimes the father is drunk so he uses all the money on alcohol. Some poor kids run away from home to escape poverty and make money for themselves.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

On the streets of India I see a child with brown dust in his knotty, black hair. He is begging with a short old woman with gray hair, who puts her hand to her toothless mouth repeatedly to show that she needs money for food. A naked girl with wood chips in her hair stands in front of the tent where her family lives. The tent is on the sidewalk of a busy road; it is made of sheets of thick plastic and bamboo sticks. Beside the tent, a man carves a cricket bat to sell to passersby. A cricket field is full of boys playing cricket. A boy hurls a red ball into the dusty ground. The ball bounces. The batter hits the ball with a cricket bat. The boys tell their mothers that they go to school, but they play cricket instead. An old woman prays to an orange god at a shrine on the side of the street. Her hands are together and she is on her knees. She ignores the sounds of the street; her eyes are closed and she doesn’t stir. A small baby at her side sleeps in a torn blanket.

I’ve never been to another place like India. Just walking down any street in India makes my senses feel like they are going to burst. When I walk down the streets of India, I feel like home is half a world away.

Some things in the north and south of India are the same. The main staples in all of India are dal, lentlils, and rice. Indian food has lots of spices. Indian food uses turmeric, cardamom, cumin, ginger, red chili powder, black pepper, coriander, fresh green chilis, cloves, and garlic. Most of Indians are vegetarian, so almost every Indian dish has vegetables. It uses potatoes, cauliflower, chilis, spinach, peas, onions, carrots, squash, tomatoes, eggplant and okra. Pinkie, from our host family, made a really good dish from okra yesterday. It was fried okra seasoned with loads of spices – simple, yet tasty.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

In every culture, cuisine is influenced by the traditions of the people and the climate the food is grown in. For example, no Hindus eat beef as cows are sacred. In North India where it is cold and dry, wheat is the main grain. In South India, where it is hot and moist, rice is the main grain. Also, in the South, they use coconut oil to fry their food. In the North, they use mustard oil. When I leave a North Indian restaurant, I feel like I’ll never eat again, because the food is so rich. When I leave a South Indian restaurant, I feel like my mouth is on fire. South Indian food is less rich than in the North, but it’s much more simple. North and South Indian food are very different, even though they are the same country.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

I have had a lot more North Indian food than South Indian food because we live in Rajasthan, which is in the north. Gee is very popular in the North. Gee is clarified butter. It is added to Indian food to make it rich. Most Indians in the north eat food with their hands and/or chapatti. Chapati is a simple tortilla like bread, used as a spoon. Some popular North Indians foods are palak paneer (spinach cheese) and aloo gobi (potato cauliflower). Most people in India are vegetarians, but some eat meat. Since Hindus consider cows holy, and there are many Muslims in India, beef and pork is not eaten. Indian meat dishes have either chicken, mutton, or fish in them. My favorite meat dish is tandori chicken, which is baked in a special oven called a tandoor.

Indian food is delicious. From palak paneer to dal, Indian food is rich and spicy. Indian food can differ from north to south, but all of it makes my mouth water. I like Indian food, but I think I’ve had too much. When ever I go to a restaurant, I order fried chicken. I’m tired of rich food.

From The Big Field Trip – India, January, 2010

Chapati recipe (serves 5)

Ingredients:

3 c. Flour

2 t. Salt

2 c. Water

Directions:

1. Mix the flour and the salt in a large flat bottomed mixing bowl.
2. Slowly add the two cups of water to the mix kneading all the time.
3. Break the dough into small balls, about the size of golf balls.
4. With a rolling pin roll the balls one at a time into thin circles about 8 in. in diameter.
5. In a frying brown the chapattis on both sides, then put them over the direct flame until they puff up. Be careful not to burn them.
6. Serve hot with any North Indian dish.

India is crazy. There are stray dogs and holy cows (cows are sacred in the Hindu religion) roaming the streets, open sewers and trash everywhere. India is the country with the 2^nd most people, behind China. India’s population is about 1,198,000,000, so there are people everywhere. There isn’t a lot of privacy in India; people take baths on the street. Some people live in tents made from scavanged tarps and bamboo sticks, while others live in manisons. India is smelly, loud, religious, colorful, beat-up, delicious, crammed, friendly, and dirty; it is the wildest country I’ve been to so far.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

We took a two week tour of Rajasthan, a state in Western India. We started in Delhi, the capital of India. My family and I loaded up a huge silver van with our many bags. We climbed into the van and met Mr. Singh, our huge Sikh driver, and his assistant. There were 10 seats in the huge van, so with Cruz, Bella, my mom, my dad, my grandparents, and I there were seats to spare. We also met our travel agent’s mother. We where going to drop her off at Agra, our first destination.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

We drove over windy roads, dodging holy cows. Cows are everywhere, from laying in the middle of the road to digging in trash dumps. The cows don’t belong to anyone; it is against the Hindu religion to kill cows, so cows that stop producing milk are abandoned to the street. Stray dogs drink from the open sewers on the street. There where animals everywhere. I saw many animals on the road: donkeys, cows, antelope, monkeys, dogs, a cat, birds, etc. People were also on the roads. Kids played cricket, an English game like baseball, on the cracked roads. Poor people dug through the trash dumps, searching for things they can sell and/or eat. Farmers walked down the streets, selling their colorful produce. Tuk-tuks (auto rickshaws) full of people drove by. We hopped from town to town, seeing sites along the way.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

Most of the sites were amazing. We saw many forts; I was forted out by the end of the two week trip. About half-way through the trip I didn’t want to see any more forts – it was to much! The most spectacular fort was in Agra, called Agra Fort. It was built by a Mughal emperor. It had a moat, which was a river that was diverted to go around part of the castle, and two extra-thick walls, so if the enemy got over the moat and breached the first wall, they would be stuck between the two walls were elephants, tigers, wild boars, and other wild animals were kept. The wild animals were kept there to fight, entertaining the royal people. The stone carvings and inlayed stones in the Agra fort were astonishing; they were very intricate and flawless.

The Taj Mahal, also in Agra, was something else. It was huge and the 4 big reflecting pools around it made it seem bigger. The Taj Mahal’s 4 minarets almost touched the sky, and it’s the marble glimmered in the sun. The Taj Mahal was amazing, but the carvings weren’t too great. The baby Taj on the other hand, the carvings and inlays were incredible. The baby Taj was almost exactly like the Taj Mahal, but smaller (babyTaj). The carvings and inlays were a lot better in the Baby Taj than the Taj Mahal.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

We ate at many restaurants; the varieties of Indian food was staggering, from aloo gobi (potatoes and cauliflower) to palak paneer (spinach and cheese, also known as saag paneer). North Indian food is very rich and spicy. It is usually eaten with rice or chapati, a tortilla-like food that you use as a spoon. The Indian food was delicious, but now I’m sick of Indian food – it’s a little too rich.

From The Big Field Trip – India, December, 2009

When we were in a small town called Mandawa, I met a kid named Krishna. When I first met Krishna, he gave me string for a kite I had just bought, then he ran off. The next day Krishna was at my Hotel, waiting for me. I went to his house and met his extended family. After I finished saying “Namaste” (hello and goodbye in Hindi – Namaste means “I bow to the god within you”) to all his family members, I went on the roof with Krishna. He had loads of kites, and he taught me how to fly them. All the kids in the neighborhood were out flying their kites, practicing for the big kite festival, that was on January 14th (one month from then). Krishna showed me how “cut” other peoples kites. You made your kite-string rub against the other persons string; the person who broke the other persons string won. Krishna was very nice; I really enjoyed flying kites with him.

We went to a Jain temple, it was fabulous. It was made from marble and was two stories high. It had lots of carvings of Jain stories in the temple. There were also many statues of Jain gods and prophets. We went to many temples, but they were mostly Hindu. We ended our trip in Udaipur, the town we’re in now and we will stay in for 2 months. I really enjoyed our tour of West India, it was fun and educational.