India

March 18 (finished April 14)

Even though we left India a week ago and I have been slacking in my blogging responsibilities, as promised I will talk about the things I did in India.  A couple of warnings about the following post:
1)      I did a whole lot of stuff in India, so this post might be a little long.
2)      I blogged earlier about some of my insights about India, so this post will be more descriptive than reflective in nature. 
3)      We are arriving in Vietnam in less than a day, and have already been to Singapore since India, so some of my memories aren’t the freshest in my mind, but ill try my best.

With the requisite warnings in place, I guess I’ll start my stories with our first day in India:

Sunday:  I was signed up to attend the Theru Kootu street theatre as a field trip for one of my classes.  Like most of the SAS trips I have been on (and the greater portion of my independent travels as well) I had no idea what to expect as we boarded the bus in the morning.  After about an hour drive, we arrived at what was essentially a large compound of traditional Indian building and open-air shops called Dakshina Chitra.  The place was basically an outdoor museum featuring traditional Indian craftspeople, architecture, music, food etc… It reminded me a lot of the Renaissance Festival back home.  When we arrived everyone was “dotted” with a Hindu talika, which I managed to keep on my forehead for the better part of the day before accidentally wiping it off.  After a boxed lunch from the ship, we had some free time to walk around the compound and browse the different merchants.  It was really cool to see the merchandise being created right in front of us, and since we were at a private museum, all of the merchants were very respectful and not pushy.  For the theatre performance aspect of our trip we had the pleasure of what was essentially a private showing of a portion of the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata.  
        The performers literally had tens of pounds of makeup and costumes on, and essentially yelled all of their lines and songs in Hindi.  Since we sat just feet from the stage, I was honestly frightened by these crazy costumed actors yelling at me in a language I didn’t understand.  It was a pretty intense experience and I couldn’t even start to tell you what the plot of the 90 min play was.  A band accompanied the actors with traditional Indian instruments that were also loud and kinda intimidating.   I took some video of the show, which is really the only way to explain the seemingly chaotic performance.  After the show we walked around the shops so more, saw a glass blower make some amazing art, and got free Henna tattoos. 
        After the drive back to the ship, some friends and I piled into a taxi and drove off in search of an internet bar.  The interesting (read: annoying) thing about taxi drivers in India, is that their “family” owns a whole lot of shops, and that all of their “family’s” shops are on the way to whatever destination we happen to be going to.  In actuality, the shop owners pay the taxi drivers to bring tourists to their shops.  We weren’t aware of this fact the first night and so ended up going out of our way to visit this clothing store.  After that experience, we were always certain to negotiate beforehand with the cabbies and rickshaw drivers to not take us to any stops other than the ones we wanted.
       
Monday: Today was my only free day to explore India, so I met up with a few friends, hopped into a rickshaw and headed to T. Nagar market.  I think I mentioned in a prior post how crazy rickshaw rides were so I’ll spare you a repeat, but this ride was definitely one that will be hard to forget.  We were the only SAS kids (SASholes as some people call them) in the market at the time, which is always a rarity and very enjoyable. The market was basically like a strip mall with a lot of different stores.  Nothing was fancy or high class Indian, and it was fun to buy DVDs for less than a buck, look at fake sunglasses and Rolexes, and try to find clothes that actually fit me.  At the end of the day I picked up a few traditional Indian shirts (size 5XL) some silk scarves, Elephant statues, DVDs, key chains, and some other stuff I’m forgetting all for about 20 US dollars.  I went back to the ship for dinner and decided to stay in for the night and pack since I had a 3am wake up the next day. 

Tuesday:  Tuesday was a long day.  It started around 3am when I woke up, showered tried to eat a little for breakfast and met my tour group to leave the ship.  After about an hour bus ride, we were at Chennai Airport, which was actually pretty small, dirty and unimpressive.  Of course the toilets at the airport were just holes in the ground, with gripped foot pads on which you were expected to squat over I guess.  The airport in Delhi, however, was massive, clean, modern and most importantly had Western style toilets.  We arrived in Delhi and then took a connector flight to Varanasi, arriving there around 1200.  The 3.5 hours of flights allowed all the kids in my group, about 60 total, a nice nap, and would be turn one of the longer uninterrupted periods of sleep I would get over the next few days.  Our hotel in Varanasi was the Ramada Plaza JHV.  It was probably one of the nicer hotels I have ever stayed in and the dichotomy between having a bellboy constantly bring our group complimentary sodas and the street beggars just outside of the hotel gates was striking. 
        After some traditional Indian food at one of the hotel’s restaurants, we left on bus for the city of Sarnath.  Sarnath is an ancient city where Buddha was said to preach his first sermon to his followers.  We stopped at the archaeological museum, visited the ancient ruins of an old Buddhist temple compound, walked around a large stupa with hundreds of Buddhist monks, took our shoes off and meditated in a Buddhist temple, and walked around a sacred Bodhi tree from which Buddha gets his name.  Each one of these experiences deserves a lengthy response and reflection, but there simply isn’t time or space to do so.  I did take a lot of pictures, which I have looked at a few times to remind myself or where I visited, so I’m optimistic those memories will stick with me.  Next we travelled back into Varanasi and visited a silk factory where we had the pleasure or watching the artists on their elaborate looms.  Varanasi and some other northern areas of India/Pakistan are famous for their silks, pashminas, and other wools.  The silk artists we watched would spend up to three years on a single tapestry or blanket adding each thread by hand for months and months.  The patterns are memorized by the artists and passed down from generation to generation.  Therefore, each family has a unique and specific pattern or style that all of their woven pieces share.  After being mesmerized by the entire process, and resisting the urge to buy a whole bed set of hand woven silk sheets, we returned to the hotel around 2100 for dinner.  I was pretty tired from the days travels and activities, and with a 430am wake up call looming, I decided it would be best to fall asleep as quickly as possible, which really wasn’t that hard.

Wednesday:
The 4:30am wake up call came earlier than expected (well actually it came at 4:30 but you get the point) and we were on the bus a little before five to head to the banks of the River Ganges.  The River Ganges isn’t like anything I have seen before in my life.  I had to write about it for my World Religions class so I think I’ll just include my response in my blog:
        “We arrived at the banks of the river around 5:30am.  All the students in my group were a little bewildered by the shear unfamiliarity of the mass of canoes, tourists, half naked Hindu pilgrims bathing in the water, and the fact that we were all sleep deprived.  I probably was wide-eyed in amazement for most of our trip on the River Ganges, but I wanted to take in as much sensory information as I could and not forget a single moment.  I think that having some knowledge of the significance of what was occurring heightened my senses and really made me appreciate how fortunate I was to be able to have this experience.  We made our way down to the flotilla of large canoes, boarded one and started to float down the river about a hundred yards from shore.  At this point the sun was just creeping up into the sky, providing an incredible backdrop with which to border the temples, staircases and pilgrims.  Describing the actual practice of bathing in the river is rather simple.  Hindus would climb down the staircase, strip down to their underwear, enter the water and then completely immerse themselves several times. At least a few individuals appeared to lather up with soap and actually bathe in the river, but I am not sure if this was more religiously meaningful than a simple bath.  As we floated down the shore, we passed several dozen temples and their adjoining staircases.  Our guide stated that there were 84 of these temples in Varanasi, each perhaps catering to a specific deity or type of worshipper. 
        As we floated along in our canoe, merchant canoes would tender along side and attempt to sell various beads, statues and mini-shrines.  Some merchants were selling floating prayer candles, which several students bought, lit and then sent floating down the river.  The rising sun, elaborate temples, wide river and floating candles provided an incredibly visually pleasing experience.  As we made our way to the end of our tour, we passed the cremation area of the river, where bodies were being cremated during a four-day process.  It was certainly challenging and uncomfortable to see the stacks of logs and smoke rising indicating that a human corpse was burning just several feet in front of us, but it reminded me that almost any religion is sure to make certain groups of people uncomfortable.”
        After leaving the canoes we walked up the banks and unto the shore where we were told by our guide to stick close together and not get separated from the group.  This was good advice considering we were going to walk through the narrow and convoluting side streets and alleys in Varanasi.  The paths were so narrow that I could touch the sides of either wall by stretching out my arms.  This caused a lot of mini pedestrian jams whenever we had to pass a group of school children, an overly aggressive storeowners, cows, piles of cow poop (possibly other animal’s poop too) and a snake charmer with a few cobras in a basket.  The snake charmer was a particularly “Indian experience” and the entire width of the path seemed to be within striking range of the cobras.  Needless to say it was really fun to walk by the baskets of snakes.  After making it out of the side streets alive (I should mention that the police in India carry Ak-47s that look really old and kinda haplessly bounce around on the side of their bodies, making me wonder as we shuffled passed them how frequently misfires occurred) we headed off to the Hindu University and temple.  We drove pass the academic/religious buildings and dorms and then had about 35 min to walk around the main temple, barefoot of course.  We made it back to the hotel for breakfast and then were given the option of taking an hour nap or walking to a silk market before we had to leave for our flight.  Although I was ridiculously tired, I recognized that I probably would never have the opportunity to visit a silk market in Varanasi India, and with most of the kids in the group, we walked a few blocks to a relatively upscale two-story store.  When I say relatively upscale I mean that the store was air-conditioned and had cash registers, a huge difference from the street vendors and merchants we were constantly harassed by.  I bought a scarf or two, made of the world famous silk, and enjoyed trying to play some of the Indian instruments they had for sale.  Soon we were back on the buses and headed to the airport.  Varanasi is the world’s oldest continually inhabited city and saturated with unique culture.  As unfamiliar and uncomfortable as the city had been, it was an absolute blast and I was definitely sad to leave.
The flight was delayed for a bit and we didn’t arrive at the airport in Delhi until just before the sun went down, which gave me some time to buy a book and read for a bit while waiting in Varanasi.  The airport in Delhi was literally ten times the size of the Varanasi airport and certainly a lot more clean, modern and efficient.  I think the original plan was to have some time to drive around Delhi and look at the various government compounds, monuments and statues and then visit a temple, but since it was already dark out and traffic was bad we headed to the temple instead.  The temple was the Sikh Gurdwara and required us to cover our heads (the scarf a bought earlier in the day came in handy as I was much more fashionable than the SAS kids wearing the generic orange cap) and of course walk around barefoot.  Once inside the temple we were supposed to shuffle clockwise around this central altar/holy book holder (I honestly have no idea what it was).  There was a group of about 4 musicians blasting out the traditional Indian tunes and then a fancy looking guy sitting at the front of the altar who collected flowers from the worshippers and then waved this feather/fur fan thing around while muttering some religiously important stuff.  Once we circled the altar I found a spot in the back to sit and soak everything in.  I think this was supposed to be the area where Sikhs knelt and prayed, and after some scary looking guys with long swords sat next time, I didn’t want to press my luck and decided it would be best to leave. 
On our drive to the hotel we did pass a few important buildings, but it was too dark out to really get a good sense of their grandeur.  Our hotel for the night was once again incredibly upscale, and included a number a restaurants night clubs and banquet halls with traditional Indian weddings being held.  I explored for a little bit but once again, the next morning started at 4:15am and I wanted to be mostly awake and conscious when we visited the Taj Mahal. 

Thursday: Im not a big fan of waking up early, but I will say that it provides a lot more time in the day to get things done, and we certainly made the most of this attitude during our time in India.  Our room had a wake up call at 4:15am and by 5am we were at the station waiting to board our train to Agra.  The train station was very Slumdog Millionaire like; tons of people, a lot of dirtiness, little kids begging for money, older people begging for money, and the physically handicapped and disabled begging for money.  The actual train we were on wasn’t too bad though (at least our cars) and I slept most of the 2 hour trip.  I was actually kinda disappointed I slept during the ride since we passed some of the biggest slums in India, which would be hidden from sight when we returned later that night when it was dark.  When we arrived in Agra it was a relatively short ride to the Taj.  I’ll admit that the Taj Mahal has never been on my list of must see places in the world.  I ignorantly assumed that since so many people hyped the Taj up as the best thing in India it would be touristy and kinda like Disney World.  I’m glad to say that these notions were all proved wrong and the Taj was in fact one of the coolest places I have seen.  The entrance to the Taj doesn’t really allow you to see the mausoleum until you actually pass through the last gate and end up staring at the Taj in all its glory.  One of the more striking things about the Taj was how perfectly symmetrical and clean the architecture was.  Everything about it radiated magnificence and splendor.  Of course our only reaction to this type of site was too take tons of photos with us in them (Facebook profile picture photos, for those readers young enough to have Facebook, or at least young at heart).  The photos started off as simple stand and smile type, but quickly progressed into some more creative uses for the domes and towers of the Taj.  You’ll just have to wait till I post those photos to see what Im talking about. 
After the photo shoot we were able to walk through the main dome and see the casket of Queen Mumtaz Mahal.  I also was able to break off from the group for a little bit and explore some of the gardens and other buildings in the compound. 
        After the Taj we drove to Agra Fort, which was just in eyesight of the Taj.  Agra Fort had a ton of cool history and buildings. Some highlights for me were the immense marble throne, huge courtyards and massive wells.  It is definitely worth looking Agra Fort up on Google and learning about its history.  One thing I think I sometimes tend to forget in the states is our lack of ancient history and buildings.  Aside from some older Native American sites, nothing in America can compare to the humongous ancient temples, palaces and ruins we saw in India.
        After a quick lunch at a nearby hotel we drove for a bit to the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri.  This was unexpectedly (unexpected b/c I had never heard of it before) one of the coolest places we visited in India.  The compound was huge and only represented about 30% of the original size (the rest was still in ruins).  It was basically a maze of different temples, buildings stables etc… with elaborate red sandstone carvings on all the surfaces.  We were some of the only people there and took the liberty to climb on top of as many roofs and terraces as we could find.  Back in the day Indian people were a lot shorter than modern day Americans, and built a lot of the ceilings only 6 or 7 ft high, meaning it wasn’t too hard to climb up on.  It was a blast climbing until we found our way on the back side of the compound, trying to scale a wall while being yelled at by the police.  Since they were carrying Ak-47s that appeared to be made in 1951 we thought it would be best to try some more touristy things and keep our feet on the floor. 
        After our adventures in Fatehpur Sikri we drove back to Agra and stopped at a high-end rug and marble store.  It was kinda like hearing a pitch for a time-share condo.  The store owners let us in, served us tea and sodas, and did a well-rehearsed and scripted presentation on their one of a kind rugs and marble furniture.  The products really were incredible but a little too pricey for college students (No thanks, to a $40,000 rug the size of a coffee table.)  For dinner that night SAS had reserved us a very traditional Indian restaurant called Pizza Hut.  Maybe the only thing Indian about the Pizza Hut we were at is that the electricity would sporadically cut out every 10 minutes or so, but other than that it was a pretty American experience.  We took the train back to Agra and again had to deal with the reality of street beggars while we waited for around 30min at the station.  One particularly unforgettable instance of the horrors of children essentially be pimped out by adults involved a young boy no older than ten who was trying to shine shoes.  The boy kept following an SAS student relentlessly, trying to shine his shoes and make a couple dollars.  After about ten minutes of this unsuccessful haggling (the SAS kid had sneakers on anyways so he couldn’t even have his shoes shined if he wanted) the young boy went back to his “boss” a few feet away from us.  When the boss realized the boy didn’t have any money, he hit him in the face and shoved him back out to continue following the same SAS student.  I think the hopelessness of the situation really bothered me.  You couldn’t give the kid money because it would go right back to his boss and just reinforce the boss’ business, but denying him just made the boss physically abusive.  The look in the kids eyes and face was so desperate for rescuing; to be saved from the hellish life he was in.  I’m not sure why that instance was so memorable to me, because I have seen a bunch of really bad and evil things on this trip, but I really had the urge to just tackle the boss and beat the crap out of him.   I was actually awake for the train ride back to Delhi and had a great conversation with a friend about religion, philosophy and Jesus during the two-hour trip.  We made it back to the hotel late, and I was probably asleep before I hit the sheets.

Friday:  Nothing too eventful happened on Friday.  We got to sleep in a bit (6:45am!!) and then took a bus to the Delhi airport.  Due to traffic and some delays at the airport we didn’t make it back to the ship until 1530.  Originally I thought we would be back on the ship around 1300, and had planned to do a service visit to a YMCA, but with the delayed arrival and an early on ship time, I just stayed on the ship.  Also the port in Chennai was apparently “dangerous” either due to crime or industrial machines, and so we had to take a shuttle bus from the ship to the other side of the port where we would have to present out passports.  On the way back into the port we had to pass through three separate security checkpoints, present our passports and take a shuttle, so the whole process made leaving and getting on the ship very time consuming.

That’s India.  As I finish writing this, over a month has passed since we left.  On one hand it feels like I was there yesterday while on the other, it feels like years have passed. But that’s the sense I get for all the adventures on this voyage; time really doesn’t have much significance… which is why I don’t feel too bad about being late in my blog post.

Big Ups

-Ben