- Having my first mango lassie in India
- Utterly failing when I tried to flirt with the grumpy guy who ran the Salvation Army internet cafe and liked to yell at us. He continued yelling and glaring almost constantly. We saw the humor in it.
- Finding Tang at a store in Colaba
- Smiling at the guard who took our room payments every day (we liked him because he was the only staff member who ever smiled back)
- Danielle's birthday (see other post)
- Being taken in and protected by our sleeper train roommates, including several who didn't speak English, but stood by protectively whenever we went off the train to get snacks and warded off suspicious intruders in our car
- Stepping off the train late and unsure we were even at the right stop, and hearing Pooja calling my name and knowing we were saved
- Falling asleep the first night at Pooja's house feeling safe and taken care of
- The first time we watched a Bollywood movie with Sandeep, and he suddenly dropped all pretense of shyness and began gesturing animatedly, making ridiculous faces and, eventually, performing a very funny dance for us, which we caught on camera
- Danielle asking Pooja if she could be her "India mom"
- Saree dress-up parties with the girls
- Hearing all the students at Pooja's school chant, "Good morning, ma'am!" when they saw us
- The day I went back to the school to paint after lunch and Sandeep saw me walking and followed me so he could sit and hold my paint for me. After a few minutes Patima called to him so he ran upstairs, then back downstairs as fast as he could and resumed holding my paint can. Patima called him back a second time, so he put down the paint with an exasperated sigh and went back upstairs. The next time I saw him, he was dejectedly holding Patima's bag and following her down the path to visit her friend. A little while later I heard my name echoing through the valley and saw Sandeep's tiny figuring waving at me frantically from a window halfway up the mountain across the fields.
- Jitender literally running to help us every time we asked for paint, chai, etc.
- Jitender picking lice off of Alex's scalp while Tamuz, Danielle and I brainstormed home remedies (i.e. paint-thinner...)
- Very briefly playing cricket with Sandeep and nearly killing everyone who was trying to paint with my bad aim
- Pooja telling me I couldn't pay her back for calling my mom long distance because we were her babies and she had to look after us
- Pooja calling me from 60 km away to say, "Tell Alex to stop painting bare-chested." That woman is psychic.
- Watching Pooja half-massage half-assault Alex's scalp and shoulders
- Dancing around the fire
- Continuing to dance inside while eating dinner after the fire died
- Walking past Alex's English class and hearing him scream, "EVERYONE BE QUIET!!!"
- Hike-fishing along the streams and terraces with Alex, Tamuz and Sandeep, and ending up entertaining the locals with our bizarre line and bait fishing technique and our inexplicable adoration for goats
- Looking at the house lights across the valley at night and realizing we were living in "Fairy Land"
- Tamuz dragging us on stage after the play so we could dance for the baffled locals
- Running up the road in our sarees after the play, pausing briefly when we realized the villagers were all staring and laughing at us, then running again after we had passed the crowd
- Giving Sandeep my favorite necklace and watching him kiss it before proudly putting it around his neck and hugging me and Danielle
- Watching the kids getting into their adorable costumes for the play
- The stone-faced focus of the girl who played the evil step-mother in "Snow White"
- Watching Alex make banana lassies
- Drinking banana lassies
- Practicing my Hindi by learning to say "Mujhe chocolate chahiye" (give me chocolate) and the next day finding two chocolate bars waiting for me that Pooja had sent up from Dehradun. The day after that, Pooja herself delivered 2 larger chocolate bars because she knew I preferred dark chocolate and she said the other two milk chocolate bars had been too small anyway. My love for Pooja knows no bounds.
- THE FOOD!!!! (Made spice-less just for us)
- Planning the room-painting project with Tamuz and Alex ("Let's paint a purple stegosaurus! And a T-Rex! And the T-Rex will be green with pink spots and orange spikes! And there will be an EXPLODING VOLCANO!!! And....and...")
- Listening to music, chatting and painting with our peeps
- Watching Shashonk's dancing face during the play
- All the kids singing and dancing to "Jaiho"
- Alex's hilarious and surprisingly soothing voice-over narration of "Snow White"
- Watching Danielle braid Tamuz's amazing curly hair
- Watching Chakori dance Bollywood style with Alex during our impromptu stage performance
- Going out to dinner at a nice restaurant with Pooja and Manish
- Chai. Every day. Morning and night. Sometimes brought to me in bed.
- Pooja's cousin driving us home and buying us ice cream to cheer us up after our sad goodbyes with our village family
- Playing charades with Patima everyday (she could understand our English, but without Alex we were helpless with her Hindi)
- Looking at Chakori for clues about when to clap while pretending to follow a cricket match between India and Pakistan
- Listening to cannon-like fireworks in Chakori's room with Tamuz after India won the cricket world cup
- Being serenaded and entertained by a very chatty little boy and his shy cousin on the train to Agra
- Seeing the Taj Mahal just after sunrise
- Staying at the amazing hotel Pooja arranged for us in Agra
- Serendipitously being seated next to Christa and Jai on the train to Mumbai from Agra
- Getting off the train with Jai to buy lots of soda, chips and chocolate for the trip, jokingly planning to wait until the last minute before running to catch the moving train Indiana Jones style, and then freaking out and almost pulling the emergency break when the train started moving and the three of us girls thought Jai was still on the platform
Least favorite random memories:
- Being stared at a lot (Danielle already covered this subject thoroughly, but it was pretty intense)
- ATMs not working most of the time
- Driving the long, winding, motion-sickness inducing roads between Dehradun and the mountain school
- Accidentally being locked in our room one morning after Danielle forgot that locking the door from the outside in India is a no-no
- Having to say goodbye to Alex, Tamuz, Pooja, Manish, Chakori, Patima, and Jitender, and watching Sandeep leaning against a van wiping his eyes after we hugged him goodbye and piled into the car
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