Hello, my curious fellows,

You know the feel when you're in bed and in a very cold room, and you don’t want to get out of bed, especially when you’re very cozy. This is exactly how we felt this morning, but we’re ready to explore Indore today. We got up at around 8am to get ready for the day. We are waiting for our breakfast, which has taken too long. The breakfast was supposed to be ready by 9am, but it wasn't ready until 10. While waiting, all of us are chill in my room, talking about which part we are excited for today, this trip, and our lives. The breakfast was delivered, and it was a grilled sandwich with potato, onion, and something else. We weren’t sure, but it was very spicy. Most of us didn’t eat it because we still felt full.

We hopped on the bus and were ready to go to the deaf school, Indore Deaf Bilingual Academy (IDBA). IDBA is a very big deaf school, they have 600 students. More students than TSD, imagine that. IDBA is a bilingual school, they practice two languages, English and Hindi. IDBA was established 50 years ago. This October 2nd will be their 51st anniversary. We arrived and were really excited to see the students, learn about their system, teachers, buildings, and everything else. When we entered the gate, all the students lined up and watched us. They give a dot on our forehead and a Kanthi Mala (a beaded necklace). We walked down, and they threw the flower petals on us to represent “Welcome”. I was shocked by how big this school is compared to the others we visited, and by how many students there are. The principal, Monica, greeted us and guided us to the platform for us to stand on so the students could see us. Monica explained to the students why we are here, what the point is, and introduced our staff. A boy student came up on the stage and did some movements, and all the students followed him. I think it’s their traditional movement. Then, they do chant, sing, and meditate. After that, we met their founders, Rajkumar and Usha, who are deaf too, which is really nice. All students go back to their classes. Monica brought us to the 2nd floor, and there was a room full of students sitting waiting for us to enter. The first group we gave a presentation to was grades 1-6. In the presentation, we introduced our names, ages, grades, what American culture is, what America’s food is, what our school’s system looks like, our classes, our hobbies, explained how we are able to communicate with our families, what our schedule looks like, and explained about our school. We were very open with the students, and they asked many good questions about our struggles as deaf people, who we want to be in the future, and more. Each other took turns to answer the questions. It was very overwhelming and stressful because who do I pick next for the question? Everyone is raising their hands. Eventually, we really enjoyed being with them. Not only do they learn from us, but we also learn about them. It was almost three hours of questioning, conversations, and presentations. After that, we must take some pictures with the students for the memories. The students were very sweet and looked so excited to see us.

All students went to lunch, and we also went to a place for lunch. Literally, it’s a minute away from the school, so we walked there, and we ate Thali for lunch again.  We were really full from it and ready to go back to the deaf school for the second group. The second group is 7- college and ISL class. The ISL class is for students who practice ISL, almost like ASL 1 or ASL 2. We presented the same thing we did with the first group. The second group asked interesting questions like life after school, jobs, homes, and living independently or dependently. All students asked very good questions, which made us pause and think. Luckily, we have 9 students to help each other. After 3 hours with the older group, we went downstairs to socialize a little more with students before we left. During that, Monica suggests we try a pure sugarcane drink. We weren’t sure because we had never seen it before. Jennifer brought one full cup of it for us to try. We took turns trying, and surprisingly, it tasted so good. I’m not a fan of sweet, and I think this one is a little much, but still good. We had to admit that we were impressed by the flavor. The people who made it have a food cart with a machine that shreds sugarcane, and then it becomes juice. We spent a day at a deaf school, and then we went to Pitra Parvat, a Hanuman temple.

We arrived, and we didn’t expect the statue of Hanuman to be very big, like huge. Hanuman is sitting on top of the temple with orange flags around and colors lighting toward Hanuman. Hanuman is a god of strength. People come here to pray for any problems they have, like health, education, family, food, etc.  Pitra Parvat opened in 2022. It took 7 years to complete the temple with only 125 people working. Our tour guide, Gourav, showed us the trees outside the temple. He explained that those trees are spiritual trees. People buy the tree to honor the death of a family member. The person who brought it will take care of that tree and pray to the tree. It was very interesting for us to see many trees around, and they are so meaningful to someone. We walked to take our shoes off, then entered the temple. Gourav explained that every day has their own god, and on Tuesday it is Hanuman. If we come on Tuesday, it will be very crowded. Inside the temple, we see a human-sized Hanuman sitting; Hanuman’s skin color is orange. We noticed everywhere is orange, like the rug, the candles, the flags, and many more. Gourav explained that orange has a meaning behind it, it means strength, health, and peace. Also, Hanuman never married, so only men and married women can touch Hanuman; the rest of the others can’t. It was really beautiful, and it was a night with wind. Nice to feel calm after a long day.

After that, we get our shoes and then go to the Saviji Hotel for dinner. It’s an Indian buffet place. We arrived at the buffet, and it was kind of fancy. They served us different food like chicken, pork, salad, vegetables, and dessert. We want more, so we walked around the buffet and got what we wanted. The buffet has so many different kinds of food, and they're all so fresh. We ate till our tummies couldn’t eat anymore. Of course, we had to get some dessert in the end. I’m obsessed with their baked yogurt topped with fruit. The taste can’t be described, and tasted really good. I wish I had taken more, but it's too late. We also got ice cream. Gourav introduced a deaf chef who works there, and he is a former student at IDBA. We took pictures together, then chatted a little. That buffet was really relaxed and nice. We laughed so much, chatted about many things, and it was the perfect place to spend our last dinner in Indore. We were ready to go back to the hotel, but something stopped us. The wedding was outside, and it was so beautiful and grand. A fancy holder on a horse, the groom sits on it. In America, we always have a big welcome for the bride, but here, they welcome the groom.  Many people are dancing, with loud drums, and they look very happy. We dropped our jaws, then the groom saw us. He said hi, we said hi back, and cheered him for his wedding. A woman came up to us and said they were very lucky to have all of us here. We were confused because why was it lucky? We just went along; some people wanted to take pictures with us. We smiled so big that at this point they INVITED us to their wedding. We didn’t even expect that at all. We were not sure if we should say yes or no, because it was very late and we would have a long day tomorrow too. Honestly, it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so we went for it. In Indore, they tend to have a 7-day wedding, and it’s their last day. They said feel free to eat, stay here all night, and hang out with others. We can’t do that because we just ate and have a plan tomorrow. We just wanted to look around, and it was really very fancy. I wondered how all of this cost, probably millions. They gave us money and a box of Indian desserts. We were so overwhelmed. We went upstairs, and it's so huge, it feels like half of a football field. Plus, they have downstairs for the actual wedding with chairs and a stage. Upstairs, they have different food, and I know for sure none of those will be out. They have different categories, such as Italian, bread, meat, salad, and more. After that, we really need to go back to the hotel to rest up. We hopped the bus, said bye to our tour guides because we will meet tomorrow. We go straight to the hotel and finally rest after what a day. It was the most unexpected thing we ever had on this trip. Who would have thought we would go to a wedding in India? None of us! Anyway, we really enjoyed our day today and are excited about what we will do tomorrow. Goodnight, sleep well!

Stay curious, fellows!

Malinda