Arrival in Jaipur

I arrived in Jaipur, India last Wednesday. I am here for a two-month intensive Hindi language program at the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS). After the program ends in mid-August I will have a month to travel for preliminary dissertation research.

View of Jaipur from the top of a hotel

There are about 20 students in my language program. About two-thirds are graduate students. Most of us are doing home stays with host families. My host family consists of an older couple, whose two sons are grown and live in other cities. They live in a very nice house, not far from a large park where I can go jogging in the morning. I have a large room with attached bathroom to myself. They don’t have air conditioning, but fortunately I’ll be at AIIS (which does have air conditioning!) during the heat of the day.

My host family's house

Today was our first day of class. I tested into the highest level class. That was a pleasant surprise. I tend to focus on how much I still have to learn, instead of seeing how much progress I have made over the years. I think the way they’ve structured our classes and assignments is really smart and will be effective. We have three different one-hour classes each day (things like conversation, grammar review, listening comprehension, pronunciation and dictation, newspaper and magazine reading, oral presentations, vocabulary, interviews with guests, films, etc.) and two individual hour-long tutorials per week. We have to prepare for all of these classes in advance, keep a daily journal, write reviews of films, and do a final project (paper and presentation). It will keep me busy!

Over the weekend I had a little time for sightseeing. Jaipur, aka the Pink City, is a popular tourist destination. Here I am at one of the gates of the Old City.

Me in front of a gate to the Pink City

A lot has changed since I was last in India, three years ago. Smart phones have revolutionized things! Google Maps can show me exactly where I am and give me local transportation directions. They have Uber too, which makes life (for those with smart phones) so much easier. No haggling with auto-rickshaw drivers who triple the price for foreigners. The cars are air-conditioned and a typical 10-minute ride costs less than $1. No confusion with the language when giving directions: you just type in your destination and google maps tells the driver (in Hindi) how to get there.

But even Google Maps isn’t perfect. On Sunday I tried to go to St. Andrew’s Church (CNI, i.e., Church of North India), but Google Maps took me to Calvary Bible Church instead. The pastor preached on Job 1:1-5. I couldn’t follow everything, but his main point was that Job was a good father. (Sunday was Father's Day.) Here’s a picture of the fathers in the congregation.

Celebrating the fathers at Calvary Bible Church

I'm excited to be back in India again!