Wild and Crazy

Though we are quite sure that anyone reading this blog is sick of posts about monkeys by now, we wanted to share a series of pictures showing langur monkeys (the lesser of the two evils) having fun. While Dave's sister, Beth, was still visiting us in Mussoorie, we noticed a large group of langurs sitting on the water tank outside the front door. We took some pictures through the screen door and enjoyed watching them play king of the mountain.

They also had a fun time jumping on and knocking over the furniture on our terrace.

There were even some sweet maternal moments that the monkeys shared with us.

As the langurs worked their way off the terrace and farther away from the house, we got more couragous and left the safety of the house (well...Beth and Beth did).

The best part of the monkey visit was when they climbed back up into the trees they came from.

It was amazing to see them climb to the top and jump. They were not jumping to get anywhere...they were simply having fun. They would make their way to the highest branch and propel themselves as far into the air as possible. When it looked they were about to clear all the weight-bearing branches, they would reach out at the last moment and catch a tiny twig that would keep them from crashing to the ground. This same exercise was repeated over and over again for nearly an hour, with quite a few skateboard moves thrown in to impress their observers.

This move was quite impressive:

But the best was probably this sweet flip:

Its always nice to enjoy the antics of our primate neighbors from the safety of our home, but it is really great to enjoy their wonderful aerial acrobatics.

Dave and Beth

Happy Losar

For those that may not have been aware, today marks the start of the year 2136. Today is the start of Losar--the New Year's celebration in Tibet. Ordinarily, this is a very festive occasion, but this year it was more restrained. Some may remember the crackdown on Tibetan protesters prior to this summers Olympic games in Beijing. In solidarity with those protestors and others in Tibet who are not allowed to practice their cultural traditions the way that they would like, many in our community decided to skip their usual Losar celebrations. Most of our Tibetan, Bhutanese, and Nepali students wore traditional clothing (all three countries celebrate Losar to some extent), and we had a traditional Tibetan dish (shaptak) included in our lunch menu today. Other than that, there was very little fuss made about Losar. The next time that we trek up to Flag Hill, there will probably be some more prayer flags--it would be nice to have peace in Tibet by then, as well.

Dave and Beth

...and Kite Kighting

After seeing flocks of pigeons commanding the skies in Agra, we saw flocks of kites in Jaipur. Those that have read "The Kite Runner" will likely appreciate this post even more. We arrived in Jaipur shortly after the beginning of उत्तरायन (Uttarayana) which is the period of the year when the sun moves northward in the sky. It is celebrated by in Rajasthan by flying and fighting kites. This first picture shows several kites flying in the sky.

The goal, of course, is to cut other kites out of the sky. The lines that are used are coated in glass powder that allows them to slice other lines if they are pulled just right.

Of course, there are dangers involved. Most of the kite flying is done from the roof. If one is attentatively pulling and releasing one's line, there is a definite chance of falling. There is also concern of birds and other animals being harmed by the abrasive lines.

Our close encounter with kite fighting came on the rooftop of our hotel. Shortly before we left, we were enjoying some time on yet another rooftop restaurant. It would seem that a kite-fighter downwind from us lost and their kite drifted our way before getting tangled on the railing that can be seen to the left of Dave.

Naturally, we took hold of the kite and let out as much line as possible. It did not take long before another kite approached and started making threatening motions in our direction. In about 5 seconds, our line went limp and our kite started floating away. So our first attempt at kite-fighting was utterly unsuccessful. Should the opportunity arise again, we're relatively sure that we could last for 10 seconds.

Dave and Beth

Of Pigeons...

Though it has been more than a month since we left Agra during our vacation with Dave's sister, Beth, we wanted to make one more post about our experience there. While we were eating dinner on our hotel's rooftop restaurant, we noticed an unusual flock of birds. At first they just looked like a standard group that was flying around doing "birdish" things. Then we noticed that the same group was not breaking up and was flying back and forth from the Taj Mahal to the other side of our hotel.

After watching the birds curiously for a while, it became clear that there were several other flocks just like the first that were doing the same thing--flying around as a unit back and forth around our hotel. Eventually, we saw one of the groups fly over to one of the taller buildings in the area where a man was standing. It was this man that was directing this flock of kabootar, or pigeons, with high-pitched whistles.

It would seem that the practice of training flocks of pigeons to fly and follow commands is popular in some of the Muslim neighborhoods of India. The area around the Taj Mahal is predominately Muslim, so we saw many different flocks out getting their nightly exercise. Some were quite small, but still did a great job of staying together.

Others were quite large and successfully navigated the many obstacles in their way around Agra's rooftops.

It was a great chance to see an interesting part of Indian culture. Tune in next time for a bit of kite flying instead of pigeon flying.

Dave and Beth

Our Second Vacation - Delhi Again

It has been about two weeks since last we posted on the blog. School has now started back up and we are busy with something just about every evening (Bible studies, basketball, play practice, faculty choir, etc., etc.). Having successfully navigated the first two weeks of the semester, we decided to turn our attentions back to the BoveNet blog. We thought it would be fitting to finish up our account of our vacation with Dave's sister, Beth. After a couple days in Mussoorie relaxing and hiking around, we went back to Delhi. We had a day to kill in the capital before Beth's plane left for Chicago, so we decided to see some of the things we missed on our first visit.

First on the list was the Qutb Minar. This is the world's tallest brick minaret and was built between about 1200 and 1400 by India's first Muslim rulers. The site is also the home of the ruins of the first mosque in India. Naturally, any time there is a large tower around, it is important to take a picture of it coming out of someone's head.

The complex was also home to a large number of parakeets, of which it is always fun to take pictures.

After the monument to Muslim faith, we took a taxi over to the temple of a more recent religion. The Bahá'í faith has temples all over the world. Most of them (from the pictures provided at this one) look to be fairly plain. The really pretty ones seem to be the lotus-shaped one in Delhi and the one in Wilmette, Illinois. So we've now got the top two checked off our list.

From the Bahá'í temple, we went to visit India gate. This is in the center of New Delhi, which the British built as their capital a decade before they got kicked out of the country. The India Gate is a war memorial for the dead of World Wars One and Two and a couple of other wars that the British made the Indians fight. That empty canopy behind Beth and Beth used to house a statue of the King, but it was removed when the British finally left.

After a day of seeing the sights in Delhi, Beth had to had to the airport to catch her plane. It was wonderful to have a visitor here, and we definitely look forward to more. We'll definitely do a better job of updating our blog now that we are back in the swing of things here at school.

Dave and Beth

Our Second Vacation - Rishikesh

The last stop on our tour of India with Dave's sister Beth was the holy city of Rishikesh. The city is well-known as the center of hippy culture in India and a stopping point for the Beatles in the 1960s. It is also situated on the holy Ganges River.

We stopped for breakfast at a restaurant with an...interesting mascot. This choti wallah (which means "little seller man") sat outside the restaurant and just looked creepy. Interestingly, there is another restaurant next door which is also called Chotiwallah's and has a similarly dressed man sitting front.

Most of our time in Rishikesh was spent walking around the markets and shoping while taking pictures and being offered "good hashish" (or gouda cheese). In these pictures, Beth and Beth are sitting at a German bakery which had a good view of the temple across the river and one of the suspension bridges across the Ganges. If you look closely, you can see the monkeys preparing to snatch things from passersby. We didn't particularly like crossing this bridge.

Our cultural event in Rishikesh was the aarti ceremony. We had gone to this same one during activity week, but wanted Beth to be able to experience it, too. We still only saw a couple of people drop their fires into the river, but it was a nice chance to see a Hindu ceremony.

As we said, most of our time in Rishikesh was spent wandering. It was nice to not have so many sights to see. It was more relaxing and we were able to just experience India. This would, of course, be felt the next day when we proceeded home to Mussoorie.

Dave and Beth

Our Second Vacation - Rajaji

Welcome to Rajaji National Park! After Jaipur, we headed back to Delhi and took the early morning train North toward Mussoorie. Our destination was a small village named Chilla - home to Rajaji National Park. We reached the park just in time to take our afternoon safari - a two hour ride through the jungle in the back of our jeep.

Our first catch of the day was a herd of spotted deer, known as Cheetal in Hindi. These deer are small, but plentiful! We probably saw a total of 100 Cheetal throughout the course of our two hour tour! (We know, Dad Francis...you've told us a million times not to exaggerate...but it's true!)

One of the strangest animals that we saw was a wild cow, known as Blue Bull or Nilgai. It's technically an antelope...so really you can call it whatever you want to and you'll probably be right.

Speaking of cows, we saw another species of deer that are close to the size of cows! Sambar are India's largest deer and we were privileged to see an entire family - 2 bucks, a doe, and a fawn. These are definitely not the kind of deer you want to run into driving down I-94 at night...we're lucky they haven't made it to the Midwest US.

This next creature may look familiar...it's not just any old rooster, though...it's Jungle Fowl!

Twice along the journey we spotted these beauties along the path - Wild Boar!

We even had a little taste of the garden of Eden. Here's another Cheetal grazing with the wild Peacocks. Fact of the day...Peacocks are the national bird of India!

Toward the end of our journey, we were trying to be content with all of our findings, but we still hadn't found the jewel of the park...the Asian Elephants. You'd think they'd be the easiest thing to see, being at least ten times as big as anything else in the park! As our jeep drove back toward the park's entrance, we found the elusive elephants! There was a family group of about 7 or 8. The big mama in the background seems to have all those pesky little males with the tusks under control.

After we finished our safari, we headed down to our hotel for the night. While planning out this trip, we signed up for our accommodations in Chilla online. When we clicked on "G.H." we thought we were signing up for the Guest House...but when we arrived at the hotel, we found out that we were staying out back in a Garhwal Hut!!! Luckily, each hut came loaded with a bathroom, electricity, and even a TV. Forrest Gump could have been talking about India when he said, "You never know what you're gonna get!"

Our day in Chilla was the day after President Obama's inauguration and it made all the front page headlines in Indian newspapers- both Hindi and English. We celebrated the big event in our own way...in a hut...in the jungle...in India!

Dave and Beth