15 November 2015: My Enjoyable Experience at Stanford University

I wish I brought my camera because the Stanford campus was so beautiful! Tall, shady trees with golden and purple colored leaves adorned the field. The weather was lovely as the sun was out, but the air was breezy... It was actually raining heavily, early morning. I visited the Stanford campus today, Sunday, November 15, 2015 for an engineering class field trip. It was an engineering event for only girls. The purpose of this field trip was to promote engineering for girls in what would otherwise be a male-dominated career choice, and I must say I learned quite a lot from the experience. We received information about college and STEM jobs from successful Stanford grad and undergraduate students. Most of them were dressed very professional and businesslike, and one woman even started several start-ups in the Silicon Valley. To be honest, before attending this field trip, like many other common people, I thought that engineering was boring. However, after talking with educated female engineers, my outlook on engineering changed completely. I am still not completely sure if I want to pursue the engineering career pathway, but I found engineering to be interesting. I mean, there are so many diverse fields to explore: biomedical, mechanical, civil, computer science, etc. These fields impact the world positively. Approximately a decade ago, Columbia Business School performed a research study, in which they requested students to assess the feats listed on the resume of a fake "Howard Roizen (male)." At the end, the students called Heidi Roizen "more selfish and less desirable" than Howard. Nevertheless, Heidi and "Howard's" resume were exactly the same. Sexism is a major conflict in the Silicon Valley itself. Also, studies have shown that women in engineering make a third less than men. Women engineers are very courageous and diligent; they have overcome many biased stereotypes saying what women should and should not be. Also, they have probably been one of the only women in their engineering college classes. For that, I applaud these women for bringing a new face to the future of engineering, and for doing their own thing, despite outside barriers or stereotypes. The women engineers that talked to our group of high school freshman told us that they were remembered as the only female in the class, and they obviously deserve to be remembered, because of their open, highly enriched minds.

A Tour of Udaipur

Just yesterday early morning, I came back from a sleeping train, in which I had an extremely peaceful sleep. Everything in this good night sleep was perfect, except my dream about middle school. And it was filled with BAD neverending worries. Anyways, we were were coming back from Udaipur (also known as the City of Lakes), a scenic city in the state of Rajasthan, India. As our family is a family full of excitement and talk, we reached to a train station before the one that we intended to go to. Thankfully, this station was located in Udaipur, our destination, and the drive to the hotel only took about five minutes. We thought that this trip would be ordinary and somewhat spectacular; what we didn't know was that we entered a city that would stay in our memories forever and ever.

That very day, our large family of nine explored Udaipur's major places, including Monsoons Palace, City Palace, Pichola Lake, and Jag Mandir. We comfortably sat in a Tempo Traveller. Our first stop was Monsoon Palace, a beautiful palace which belonged to Maharana Udai Singh. His original palace and home was City Palace. However, as Monsoon Palace had beautiful, lush green sceneries, the raja went there during monsoon season, when it was most beautiful.                                                                  

                                                                                           

A message to the visitors about the Raja's graciousness. 

A beautiful view with wet green plains and sloping
mountains. 

A birdhouse peeking out from the view, telling me
         that the beautiful scenery is genuinely
                               a reality. 

                   

Our second stop was to Shilpgram, a traditional Rajasthani town. Immediately, when I spotted a camel, I had a sudden wash of urge to ride it. My wish was fulfilled, as I got an opportunity to ride on Prabhu's (the man taking care of it told us the camel's name) big body. After that, almost all the members of my enthusiastic family (I am not really enthusiastic) (I admit it, I a serious and I should talk and laugh), including me, got dressed in traditional Rajasthani costumes. We all had a sort of crop, and photos of us were taken by the photographer who dressed us. I was having metal plastic bangles in my hand, a colorful dress, and jewelry. My granddad was wearing a turban, a men's costume, and holding a sword; he looked the best of all.

          Prabhu! I personally find him looking like a curious camel. 

                                       Rajasthani girls dancing in a traditional dress. Then, after exploring Shilpgram Village, we headed down for lunch at around 2:00 P.M. Man, was the place so crowded! We went to the wrong "restaurant" that we intended to go to. Instead, we ended up in an overly crowded snack shop. However, the good thing was that I got to eat four of my favorite Indian sweet, made of only milk, sugar, and cashew. ;D After devouring snacks, my family and I reached City Palace, the original home of Maharana Udai Singh, as mentioned earlier. There was a museum tour; therefore, I learned numerous amounts of information regarding Maharana Udai Singh and his wife Rani such as their belongings and wars fought in their kingdom. City palace had many beautiful and intricate windows, similar to the ones in Islamic art. Lying in the river bordering the mansion, Lake Pichola, their laid a beautiful white palace called Jag Niwas, also owned by Maharana. I got amazing shots, as it was on an island in a beautiful lake. 

                      Parts of the large structure in City Palace.

Observe the windows carefully. They have extremely         well-handcrafted and skilled designs.

                                           

The white palace on cool Lake Pichola.

We then went boat riding at Pichola Lake; the cool water soothed my senses sensationally. During the ride, we took a stop at Jag Mandir, which included beautiful gardens. Udaipur's natural features really stand out from other cities in India. India is well-known for its copious amounts of pollution, but Udaipur is at least a little maintained by preserving its landforms and sceneries. The government is most probably encouraged by its picturesque and vivid beauty.  

                                            Amazing and unbelievable view from Jag Mandir.

For the night, we stayed at a hotel called Padmini Palace, and in comparison to other Indian hotels, this was the best. However, the bathroom was VERY dirty, and I was not a bit surprised... The very next day, we went to Mount Abu, a mountainous region near Udaipur. The ride in the car was 8 hours going and coming; I didn't realize how long it was because I was deeply sleeping with my mouth open. Mount Abu wasn't as interesting as Udaipur but the Jain temple Ranakpur was a highlight from the rest. It was beautiful decorated and carved with marble stone, The ceilings were intricately designed with domes, and the temple was filled with images of Adinath, the traditional founder of Jainism. The beautiful temple is dedicated to him. Because of Jain beliefs, photography was prohibited;consequently, I was unable to take any pictures. That very day, we left for Noida at 6:15 in the sleeping train, having a wonderful night's rest.

My trip to Udaipur was fantastic. The ability for me to treasure nature's beauty may have changed me as a person, by God's grace. I have so many memories, and right now it feels so good to type it on my blog, to share it with everyone. This was by far one of my best trips; I enjoyed views, took photos, gained interesting knowledge, and most importantly, I spent time with family. If you ever visit India, be sure to check out Udaipur, and the gifts it offer as a city.     

A Beautiful State: Some Amazing Shots of Uttarakhand and Details of my Trip

On the 26th, my family and I departed from Noida on a night sleeping train. We were all comfortably sleeping, with someone deeply snoring at night. Even then we enjoyed our journey greatly because it was the first time each and every member of the family went on a trip together. We were going to Uttarakhand, a scenic state in India filled with mountainous areas such as the Kumaon  Hills and parts of the Himalayas. This state has lush green nature and important landmarks all the way, which made our trip shine out from the rest. Moreover, Uttarakhand is full of thriving Kumaoni culture.

First, my large family and I reached the city of Haldwani, a busy city in Uttarakhand. After this city, natural areas and small towns start to arrive up north. From Haldwani, we went on two comfortable cabs to a very small village called Dhalonga (pronounced Da-lon-jaa.) Dhalonga is my grandfather's (nanu's) ancient hometown, and he wanted to show the whole family how life was like when he was really young. We made this trip for my grandfather's elder son and daughter because unlike my grandfather's youngest son, they have still not seen his hometown at the age of 41 and 38 respectively. My grandfather lived there for fifteen years, right from his birth. His traditional Kumaoni house wasn't remodeled or improved for over 150 years, but it still remains special to him and all of us because it treasures his childhood memories. 

Beautiful Mountains near a cool river..

 Kumaon Hills.. So many shades of green.

And so many shades of blue .. If you look carefully, you

can see spots of houses lying across the plains.

My grandfather's traditional Kumaoni house. A lot of
intricate woodwork is done, especially near the windows
and outer doors. 

After arriving to my grandfather's old house, we headed to a temple named Devi Dhura honoring a goddess called Barahee Devi, which held great significance because it was one where my grandfather often went to pray. There is an old legend in this temple that in every year, men throw stones at each other. Long ago, it is believed that boys were sacrificed and one by one, from each family, they died. One woman, in particular didn't want to leave her only son;therefore, she prayed to the goddess. The goddess then declared that every year she would receive the blood of one man. That is why this stone fight is still held today, and blood is sacrificed. Numerous amounts of people get severely injured. I was shocked and surprised by this tradition. My family and I received blessings at the temple, and then we drove to Almora, a breathtaking city near the Kumaon Hills. In Almora, I got amazing shots even from the hotel's balcony.

Beauty in the sky..

Sunset.. you can see a bit of the porch.... hehe.. I had to

reach out the camera to get this pic.

That very night, we slept at the hotel, and the very next day we head to another famous temple near Almora called Golu Devata. This such temple was filled with bells, and it certainly was very fun ringing them.

People also put requests in paper, and tied a bell to their request. They believed that God would fulfill their wishes. No offense to these people, but some of these requests were really funny and ridiculous. For example, one letter said "Please give me 93% marks because I will work harder." :)

 

Then, after visiting this temple, we proceeded to the train station at Haldwani, and we boarded  the train at 9:00 P.M.. We only stayed for one night exploring Uttarakhand, but due to my grandfather's happiness and the desire of his children visiting his hometown, we covered so many places. The most significant fact was that my grandfather always had a smile on his face throughout the trip; he was so joyful standing on the soil where he and his ancestors grew up.

:)

Citation for Images of Bells:

 Web log post. Http://4.bp.blogspot.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2013. <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ChFtdNgYz4fwsLHI0ByMKLW3Av-dWl73-hDifofu0Sp-AkKudJLNvOg3pZqeRzTtOiNiTxsNL_Tk5Jm16wWSucuaOkPeumgabZhlletbiJCdo3sCpiovAfuDmQNeKbvrQvVqUxcsXCA/s400/chitai+temple+bells+Almora.jpg>.

 Flickr.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 July 2013. <http://farm1.staticflickr.com/55/144629202_35d1b48050_z.jpg?zz=1>.