The Blogging Recommences on my Personal Blog!

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

~Martin Luther King Jr.

For those of you who have enjoyed my blogging during my internship at Innopark in India, thank you for inspiring me to keep going now that I'm back in America. It is my hope that you will enjoy reading my personal blog from here on out, which I hope to continue in a similar style which I fell in love with while I was in India. I am just as proud of my experience and what I accomplished in India, if not more so, than any design project I've ever done. It was an experience that tested me, challenged me, and helped me grow into a more open minded and stronger person.

In some ways it's been very difficult to reacclimatize in US, although in different ways than was difficult in India, as I have explained briefly before, and life in suburban America never seemed so tame. Now that I've been back in America for a couple of weeks, things have settled down, I'm adjusting again, but still everything seems different. It's like life here has stayed the same, but I'm different, I see it through a different perspective. Since it's winter, even the sky is grayer and the scenery is duller, which is why every year I look forward to the spring and the new green growth it rejuvenates. The thing about coming back home is that home isn't the same, because I'm not the same, and I don't really know how to describe it any other way than that. Anyone who has gone through a transformative process of self will understand what I'm talking about, and won't need any further explanation.

And for the first time in my life, now that I'm back from India, I have no certain plans for the future. I don't have college courses starting next semester, no campus clubs and organizations I'm volunteering for, I'm graduated from college, and I've never had more freedom. I'm working on my portfolio so I can get a job, and quite frankly not having concrete plans for the first time ever scares the shi* out of me. Then there are those "expectations" to live up to and all that jazz about getting job and being successful.   It's something no one seems to want to say, but freedom can be intimidating. What I want most is to find a job that I will be happy in, and you know, make enough money to live off of and pay bills. Everyone wants to be positive and have a can do attitude, and trust me, I'm all about being positive and optimistic as much as possible, because if you don't your thoughts will eat up any enjoyment of life you may have, but it can still be hard at times.

In school, everyone wants to be out in the real world, but in the real world, sometimes you want to be back in school where reality doesn't really exist yet. Where, in my case, you regularly spend nights with your college classmates making midnight coffee runs and working on design projects until 3 am until you nearly fall asleep at your computer. Then, suddenly, upon graduation, the familiarity of life and routine disappears, and the people you've seen around the Applied Arts building for the last 4 years you wonder if you'll ever see again. What follows is generally moving in back home and job searching, true on both accounts in my case, praying to God for a job, and a good job at that, to use that expensive degree. With the economy being what it is, and the design industry always competitive, it's hard not to judge the value of our work by comparing it to others. A designer's work is our blood, sweat, and tears, literally that's what it takes, some people may think I'm being dramatic, and in a way I wish this was an exaggeration (exacto blade injuries anyone?). It is like a part of the soul visualized in colors, and shapes, and typography. It is our perspective of the world, it is a rendition of thought, it is a sort of abstract autobiography, and it's hard not to want a positive acceptance of our work, nay, dare I say it, acceptance of our soul??? And if I've learned anything as a person, as an artist, as a designer, nothing is such a hindrance or so dangerous to our well-being, to our creative livelihood, to our confidence, as doubt. If you don't believe in yourself, how can you expect others to? By this, I don't mean you should be cocky, overly cocky designers are just annoying, but retain a quiet confidence, and part of that confidence is learning how to take constructive criticism and grow from that. The best designers are the ones able to look at their work critically, humbly, and unbiased so they can make it the best it can be, and encourage others in their pursuits as well. If I could change one thing about how I designed in college, it would be to focus on being the best designer I myself could be, not compared to anyone else, focused on developing my own design style and artistic personality, and I feel like this is difficult for a lot of design students. I feel like the competitive tendencies in the classrooms sometimes stop people from helping each other out and helping each other grow, and you'll never be a good designer if you don't listen to input or give input to your fellow students, you learn so much that way.

After my experience in India, I hope I'm one step ahead in getting what I want out of life. I have never been able to write such honest thoughts for a public audience before, but something about being in India gave me the confidence I needed to do so. I hope at least somewhere out there, it has inspired someone. If you are so inclined, please feel free to peruse the blog I will be writing in from here on out, The Blog of Kelli Fox, at your leisure, and I will attempt to keep it lively and interesting, and most importantly, honest. It will also be filled with design updates and projects I'm working on or have recently finished, as well as other random things I deem blog worthy.

If you read my blog, you will know the real me, the real me that I am in real life. I would hate for someone to say, "Wow, you're a totally different person in real life than in your blog." So here's to keeping it real, folks.

Cheers,
Kelli

"And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt."
~Sylvia Plath

And Then I Saw A Sindhi Wedding...

"Nitwit, blubber, oddment, tweak."
~Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling

"I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying."
~Oscar Wilde

 This wedding was a Sindhi Wedding, very different from the South Indian Wedding I attended earlier. It was a very classy wedding, very posh. I didn't see the actual ceremony, the couple was already married, but I came with a few coworkers for an afterwards sort of celebration. In India, weddings last several days with lots of food served.

Food tables - so nice to see ONLY vegetarian food options! Hehe, this would never happen in America...

Warm Milk - very tasty. Weddings are popular for the food served, and a great way to try a lot of new foods. Let's just say I came away stuffed, after tasting quite a few new foods and desserts... My coworkers tease me about being health conscious, and they were joking about how many calories everything had, I told them I would just rather not know for the night, the food was much more enjoyable that way. Tried naan and jilebe for the first time, as well as a few other things I can't remember the names of.

I was surprised to find a little American touch! (the caterer had Liberty in the name)

Mandrap - this is where the wedding ceremony takes place.

Pretty lady!

"A day without sunshine is like, you know, night."
~Steve Martin

Sixty Days

"I can't go back to yesterday because I was a different person then."
~Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Before I came to India, I did my research. I read travel information online, went to a travel doctor, I watched a couple Indian movies, and I talked to anyone I knew who had been to India. But nothing I read, or saw, or heard second-hand can ever fully describe what I have experienced first-hand. Because there are intangible things that I have only been able to understand by being here, things that you can't possibly understand until you are in the situation. Nothing you learn beforehand can fully prepare you for the way your entire previous knowledge of life suddenly is flung out the window and your world is turned upside down. And then you realize that you have to view this world from upside down. It's like when a baby opens it's eyes for the first time, and at first there is so much that is new the baby doesn't really see anything at all, it is blinded by the light, but gradually it picks up more and more details, and the blinding factor wears away. This is how I feel adjusting has been, the blinding light of shock has slowly dimmed so that I can really see with new eyes this place I've been inhabiting the past two months.

When I first arrived in India, I remember being frightened to the core of my being, mostly worried about the many unknowns of this new place. What water is safe to drink? How will I get to work? What will I eat? What food is too spicy for me to eat yet that will just make me sick? What foods are even offered, I don't know the names or how they are eaten? How can I get a phone? What will I wear to work? How do the autos work? How do people learn streets when there are no street signs? What will be my new routine? etc.... My foreign experience consisted of Canada and the Bahamas, which, in my opinion, don't count. I've grown up in the Midwest where the people are "Minnesota Nice," and in the suburbs where keeping a finely manicured lawn is next to godliness and is mandatory to fit in with the neighbors (I have yet to see a lawn like that here even in the most posh areas). I remember everyone telling me I looked scared when I first arrived here and showed up for my first day of work, and I can't argue with that, it was impossible to hide the visible panic on my face as it hit me like a rock that I'm "not in Kansas anymore" (quote from the Wizard of Oz). And I remember the feeling of utter helplessness as I soon realized how very, very little I knew about the true reality of surviving in India, the land of chaos, where rules are made to be broken (such as when an auto driver just today took a "short-cut" going the wrong way on a one-way street to take me home).

One of the hardest aspects to face at times is a feeling of loneliness and homesickness when I am by myself. I have some great friends here, but still this can be hard to deal with at times. Sometimes I miss seeing familiar faces from America, and I miss American food, general cleanliness, being able to communicate with everyone without language barriers, being able to go virtually anywhere on my own without a second thought, and miss a general familiarity of life (although I'm not missing the snow). But I also know it's very natural to feel homesick in one way or another for anyone traveling for extended periods of time anywhere, and really to be expected. And then I know that there will be many things and people and experiences and food from India that I will surely miss when I go back to America, and I'm expecting to undergo some sort of reverse culture adaptation as well. And will I remember how to drive? On the right side of the road stopping at stop signs and stop lights??!

I have slowly begun to understand the chaos, though it can still be difficult as a born and raised rule follower, and the ever moving city better and it's constant flow of street traffic. India is sort of like the bloodstream of the human body. The red blood cells are constantly moving, flowing around each other in a sort of chaotic harmony. Sometimes there are issues when a blockage occurs, but for the most part, the cells, though crowded in the veins, keep flowing around each other. The trick is learning how to enter this bloodstream without causing a collision, seamlessly joining and moving and weaving in sync with the people and the traffic. Even crossing the street requires an agile weave around cars and mopeds (called bikes). I remember in elementary school learning how to jump rope. If there were two girls swinging the rope for you, it took great skill to merge into the swinging rope without getting tripped up, and jumping at exactly the right moment whenever the rope touched the ground. But once you learn the trick, that there was always a certain height the rope had to be at when you quickly jumped in, it became much easier. The main thing is to keep "Constant vigilance!" as Mad-Eye Moody would say (Harry Potter reference). I can't stress this enough for future travelers, take extreme caution on the streets, because people drive like maniacs, better safe than sorry.

I can also add, that someone mentioned I didn't include buttermilk in my list of foods I've tried, and I did forget about it, but I also really don't like buttermilk, probably one of the foods I dislike the most here. It might have something to do with the fact that the first time I tried it, I thought it was like regular cow's milk in America, and instead to my surprise it was so bitter and salty! Milk is also often served warm here if it is regular milk. Cold cereal and milk isn't common. 

Below are images of clothes that I wear to work or out and about. I feel a little weird posting this many pictures of me, but, people from back home want to see what kind of Indian clothes I'm wearing, so, here it is. I am loving my new wardrobe, but will have to be careful with what I buy or could have trouble packing for the way home....

Kurtie/Kurta and leggings. A Salwar Suit is similar, but the pants would be made of cloth instead of stretchy fabric (although I'm told you aren't really supposed to call them "pants" because they have a different name). 

 Patiala Suit (baggy pants are patiala, also called Punjabi Suit). I pieced this outfit together myself, I'm getting the hang of Indian dressing, I think, quite fun.  This is the absolute most comfortable and chic outfit I've worn so far, although leggings and kurtie is also very comfortable. Definitely going to be wearing this back home, along with the rest of the clothes I've bought here. The patiala remind me of Jasmine in Aladdin.

The scarf is called a dupatta. This is one of the "right" ways to wear it.

Because being an art student means an inability to take all normal photos. I think just for the heck of it I'll call this "Girl with a Pearl Earring Goes to India."

Original "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by Vermeer

Since jeans and a t-shirt are also very commonplace, I thought I would include a picture of typical Western Wear in India. For girls, skinny jeans and a t-shirt is common. Men wear Western wear over traditional wear more than women I think, either jeans and t-shirt or dress shirt and dress pants for work. Skinny jeans are much more practical than anything else because they don't drag on the ground, which is good because the streets are so dirty. They are also commonly worn with a kurtie/kurta top. Also, this is technically the "wrong" way to wear a scarf, because no women tie their scarfs, but for an unskilled dupatta wearer like me, I like it because it stays put better and doesn't fall off. I have also learned chappals are a type of sandal with a strap over the big toe, and sandals are called slippers.

It also occurred to me over the weekend that since all of the Indian languages have different alphabets and lettering systems, you would need a different kind of keyboard if you didn't know English. So I asked someone about it, and he said that they don't make computers with any of the Indian alphabets, so if you don't know English characters, you can't use a computer. The only option is to type something in another language using English characters, then use Google translate to translate the text to a different alphabet's characters. See how lucky native English speakers are? We don't have to learn another language just to use a computer.

I went with a friend to the Birla Mandir Temple on Sunday. It is a Hindu temple for the Lord Venkateshwara, but is named after the person who built the temple. Different statues of gods fill the temple, but unfortunately no cameras were allowed inside, so I couldn't take any close up shots of the temple itself. Before going in, it is necessary to check your shoes, mobile, and camera to enter the temple. It is a gorgeous building, made entirely of white marble, and extremely intricate and beautfiful hand carving of the stone on the facade, arches, ceilings, and on every surface of the building. Took something like 10 years to construct in the 20th century. Definitely a great place to go. The largest deity featured in the temple is Lord Venkateshwara, who people bow to as you proceed through the temple in a line. From the balcony of the temple, there is a wonderful view of Hyderabad and south side of the prominent lake Hussein Sagar. Around Hussein Sagar is the well-known Necklace Road, so named I believe because the lights around the lake form the shape of a necklace. Night is a good time to go because the temple is lit up and the weather is nice.

There are millions of gods in the Hindu religion, but there are a few that are much more common to pray to than others. Ganesh, Shiva, Venkateshwara were all featured here, and are more common. While walking through the temple, a long prayer was being read through the speakers in a rhythmic voice, which I was told was being read in Sanskrit. Sanskrit isn't actually spoken anymore, it's like Latin, so this kind of reminded me of how Catholic Mass used to be held only in Latin until the 1960s even though no one speaks the language. It was kind of funny because there was one wall with some scripture featuring a few different world religions, and my friend asked me if it was in English, and I just had to laugh because it was English from the 1600s, from the King James version of the Bible. "As ye doest..." etc, which I'm fairly certain a large majority of native English speakers don't understand, so a fairly reasonable question.

Front entrance of the Birla Temple (unfortunately hard to get a good shot of temple itself because of no camera rule to enter)

Full View of Birla Mandir Temple. What is lit up is the temple behind with a greenish tint.

Once again, thanks for reading.

"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default." ~J.K. Rowling

Haikus - Or - Brevity and Banality

"Don't use seven words when four will do."
~Ocean's Eleven

"Brevity is the soul of wit."
~William Shakespeare

I have been getting numerous complaints that I haven't been blogging enough lately. But I only have so many earth shattering, ground breaking epiphanies to share you know! I really do enjoy blogging, but it does take a good deal of thought and time to actually create a post of substance, interest, and moderately well chosen language. Hopefully I have succeeded with my readers on at least one of these levels. Please consider this my plea of quality over quantity. And at this point you're probably thinking, "Wow, does she have anything to say today? Hurry up, you quoted brevity and this is the longest rant about nothing I've ever read! I think she keeps filling up space just for the heck of it! Oh my gosh, I think I'm right...I think I'm right."

Anyway....poor jokes aside now, as much as I can manage anyway, no guarantees....

To change up my post for today a bit, I have written a bit of poetry here I will divulge. I have a few other poems that I will try to upload later, but they are not public worthy yet, so stay tuned for those at a later date. Below are some Haikus I have written about various personal experiences in India thus far. Haikus generally have a 5-7-5 syllable line system, which is what I followed, and don't usually rhyme. They're meant to be short and, hopefully, sweet. I'm learning how to praise myself from some expert self-praisers in the office, so I will say these are unprecedentedly ingenious (HA, okay, that's a joke for those who know what I'm talking about, don't want to set expectations too high for these). At any rate, enjoy!


India Haikus

I played a new game
Called Caroms at the office
Think I 'hit it' off

Aaj, I hear "Issko!"
"Ye!" and "Kyon?!" being shouted
Caroms is intense

If I say a phrase
In Hindi to my colleagues
They go into shock

When I hear Hindi
Now I can respond wisely
"Mai samjhi naheen"

Take care on the street
And be sure to watch your feet
- Or you'll be smashed

One night a lizard
Was crawling on my wall and
It is not my pet

If you think my jokes
Are bad - they are nothing to
PJ's here - I swear

One day it was wet
I wore yellow leggings out
That was a mistake

Are you tired of my
Haikus yet? Are you? Are you?
This is the last one

*For non-Hindi speakers, any of the words that you don't recognize are Hindi. If you're curious look 'em up! :)


Simply a list of all the foods and sweets (mithai) I can name at the moment that I've tried:
Chapati (home made tortillas), Rice, Dhal, Aloo Paratha (Potato Paratha), Gobhi Paratha (Cauliflower Paratha), Samosa, Curd (sort of like yogurt), Curry, Kadai Paneer, Dosa, Idli, Lassie (dairy yogurt like sweet drink), Gulab Jamoon (sort of like doughnuts in syrup), Lady's Fingers (actually a vegetable used in a lot of dishes). I will definitely have to figure out how to cook some of this food when I go home!

Places I've tried that are also in America:
McDonalds (called McD's casually here), Subway, Pizza Hut, Quiznos. All have many more vegetarian options that the scanty 1 or 2 options in the US, I'm very jealous of the wide variety of veg options at all restaurants in India.


Soon I'll also post some clothing photos of what I've been wearing here. So, "Keep a weather eye on the horizon." ~Pirates of the Caribbean


Here are photos of a few food labels:

Nutrition labels in India are pretty scanty for a thoroughly nit-picky, scrutinizing American label reader like myself. This peanut butter jar is actually a fairly comprehensive Nutrition label for India. Vitamins and minerals are rarely listed, which always are on American food items, along with calories, fat, sodium, cholesterol, fiber, protein, and more. People don't really care about reading Nutrition Facts here, and don't count calories the way some Americans do, which fits with the whole "Que Sera Sera" attitude (Spanish for "Whatever Will Be Will Be" from a song). It also took me a bit to figure out the calories label, because on some foods it's not listed at all or it will be listed only as "Energy." Ohhhh, it's energy (or kcal as it can also be labeled, the same unit as the Calories that are tracked on American labels), it's good for you, it's not calories to be avoided, okay, I can dig that. 

Thums Up, a popular soda in India.

Here's a little "Where's Waldo." Can you find the nutrition facts? 

Oh, here it is! This tiny little box.

Some chocolate cookies, or cream biscuits as I believe they are called here.

And, fancy that! Chocolate is energy, too! I can get used to this (although my waistline might differ).

"There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate."
~Charles Dickens

My First Diwali - Festival of Lights

Diwali in India is like Christmas in America. It is the largest Hindu festival celebration of the year, and largest celebration in India. Called Diwali, or Deepawali, it is the Festival of Lights, and the name translates to "row of lamps." It celebrates the return of Lord Rama, and celebrates the victory of good over evil.

"Rangoli" artwork in colored powder is typically at the end of a home's driveway, I saw many displays in front of the gate. It is created as a sacred welcome for deities into a home. Hanging yellow and orange flowers on houses, cars, doorways, and gates is also very common as an offering to the gods, as is the powder. Hindus have millions of gods, I was quoted 38 million, but people only worship a few of their own choice. I have also been told that Hindu gods are like one god in various forms. 

Even Harley-Davidson dressed up for Diwali.

Many houses and buildings will put up strings of lights for Diwali as Americans do for Christmas (in America we would call these lights "Christmas Lights"). 

Crackers (or Fireworks in America) are a big part of Diwali at night. From about 7-11 pm these were going off constantly all over, made quite a racket, too. People light off crackers outside their homes, and there is a continuous display going on from everyone participating, pretty cool to watch from the roof of the hostel. In the US, we have fireworks, but I would usually just see a 15-20 minute public display when there is a community showing. Here, it is an all night affair, the sky was ablaze with light, and much more common for people to light off their own, so they were being lit off from every direction. Some guys from the hostel picked up some crackers and were lighting them off, but, I decided a couple sparklers were enough for me on the participation end...

This is a Lakshmi-Pooja offering, a form of worship. This particular offering is praying for Lakshmi, Goddess of Money, pictured in the center of the tri-figure image. All of these things are offered so that a person will become prosperous in the future. Diwali is considered a good day to bless certain items so that they may prosper, it is also considered somewhat of a New Year. Many families will set-up offerings like this in their homes, and they will pray to it as a form of worship, and it is also customary for families to go to Temple on Diwali, as Christians would go to Church on Christmas Day or Eve. 

Small clay lamps like this are filled with oil and lit to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. 

Traditional Indian men's wear, worn by a hostel mate. I believe it is called a sherwani, but a simpler version is kurta pajamas if it is a plainer garment. Many offices also had employees wear traditional clothing before Diwali, and people will often wear new clothes and jewelry, and buy quite lavish clothing. The sharing of sweets also is a big part of Diwali.

The office seemed a bit quieter today with some people taking a holiday day or two around this time before and after Diwali.

Well, maybe that was kind of boring for my Indian friends, as they already know about Diwali, but hopefully it was interesting from a newbie Diwali celebrator's point of view. On a side note, I first heard about Diwali on the American TV show "The Office," an absolutely hilarious show for those that haven't seen it, I know most people I've met in India haven't heard of it because it isn't aired here.

Happy Diwali!


"There is a force in the universe, which, if we permit it, will flow through us and produce miraculous results." ~Mahatma Gandhi

P.S. Please inform me if you notice a detail of my blog might not be right on this post or future posts, I try to fact check everything, but, wouldn't want to get anything important wrong! Thanks to those that already have! I love getting feedback from my viewers.