Saturday, April 3, 2010

India


From the moment we arrived in India things were hectic. We had to disembark, yet I had a paper due before people had to leave the ship. So here was I in the computer lab typing away on a Philosophy of Lit paper, hearing my sea (Each area of the ship is broken down by sea, mine being Caribbean) called, saving my work, I rushed to get my passport and visa stamped at the pursers desk and instead of going to customs immediately as recommended I finished my paper. A clear mind leads to a good experience. The paper was finished and there I stood at the printer, waiting for my essay to spool as I gazed out of the window onto Chennai.

My first reaction: There aren’t as many beggars as I thought, it’s hot and everyone looks like me, is this India? But of course as I ventured the almost half kilometer form the ship to customs I was ravaged by dust clouds and saried women asking me for money to feed themselves. Now I’d like to illustrate that if you are ever in India, do not give money to the beggars. No I am not a cold-hearted and selfish American but these “beggars” 9times out of 10 are a part of a seamy underworld of organized crime designed to take advantage of tourists. So save your rupees for a 501!

Anyway customs was a headache, my Tamil (language spoken in south India) was nonexistent but a couple of broken English commands made me on the right track. To declare my backup camera and laptop was all of 15 minutes. I was ready to see India. Unfortunately my Field trip was cancelled and I was confined to the ship. Not because I was afraid to venture but frustrated that my first 4 hours in the country was so busy. Sitting down to the onboard lunch, Amira told me her FDP consisted of meeting with some Indian psychologists and their students and they had agreed to show us around Chennai, Cha-Ching! Jackpot!! It’s great to have proactive friends when you’re discouraged. Amira didn’t know my strife and I was thankful for her diligence. She only requested that I help give the guests a boat tour. So we did, I asked questions about the education system, future dreams and successes they’d had. This was by far one of the best conversations I’d had. The pressure Indian parents put on their children is immense, a reason for the high suicide rate of high school students in India who don’t get into the IIT or vocational equivalent. After showing them brig to bow, the professor drove us around Chennai, showing us the beaches and stores. It was interesting, yet brief, and before long we were beck to the ship to meet up with my friend Neha and her family. They had planned a fantastic 5 days trip for us that would take us from to Delhi, Agra, and Hyderabad (her home town). Neha is on SAS and she’s from Northville MI only about 25 min away. We met her grandmother Soroj. Sweetest lady, she didn’t know a lot of English but she knew enough for me to feel like she was my grandmother. We flew from Chennai to Delhi. I was pissed because my sky miles card was lost before SAS and Kingfisher was definitely a client airline SMH. Amira would continue to rub it in. We had a smooth flight to Delhi and on the flight we had some spicy Indian food on the flight, which sure beats peanuts. We arrived at night, we had a van pick us up and take us to our hotel. We were all so tired. I skyped some friends and a couple of us went out to get some traditional Indian food, we found a small hotel down the street which opened up just for us. The next morning we were up at 4AM, as we would for the rest of our time in India. We ventured to Jama Masjid a huge mosque, one of Asia’s largest. We listened to our guide and then learned about the mosque, we ventured to the observation tower with a guide for 100 rupees, and he led us to the high overlooking domain which seemed like one of the highest points in Delhi. We took pictures with the little man and after leading us half way down he requested a tip. Jordan, Amira and I looked at one another like we’d been duped but realized that a dollar would suffice. Outside the mosque stood a gang of rickshaw drivers. Our group which by the way consisted of Tess, Nuvia, Chi-Chi, Shannon, Amira, Jordan and Me. I sat with Amira, Tess with Nuvia, Shannon with Chi-Chi and Jordan by himself. We rode around the block surrounding Jama Masjid which when toured we saw the back alleys of local people who grew and sold a lot of vegetables, owned shops, the highlight was probably the monkey we saw that stole a man’s bag of peas. The monkey snatched the bag climbed to the top of a telephone pole, tore the bag open and began to eat from the pod. From the rickshaw ride we went to Raj Ghat, a memorial of Mahatma Gandhi. We had to remove our shoes, as we did in the mosque except I’d forgotten my socks in the bus, so when we entered Gandhi’s memorial I already felt that I was intimately paying tribute the Gandhi. This was the first time we experienced Indians taking pictures of us tourists. I felt it was rude and I decided that every person who wanted to take a picture of me, I’d take a picture with, switched it up for the sake of milking my newfound celebrity. We later visited the Delhi Red Fort, which over looked the river Jamuna during the Mughul Empire (1638-1648) and India Gate. All magnificent sites. We also went to Lotus Temple and Qutab Minar. The Lotus Temple was a beautifully crafted monument built for the Baha’I Faith. A religion that my friend Michel subscribes to at Morehouse. It was exciting to me to realize this faith first hand. The beautiful part about the Baha’i faith is, to simplify, they believe in the golden rule (a guideline in every religion) and comingles every faith. Qutab Minar on the other hand was a crude ruin of ancient history. We then retreated back to the Hotel Star Grand Villa because it was so late in the day, we showered and ate dinner. During dinner and through the early of the night we heard a lot of music coming from the basement of the hotel, following Amira and Shannon we discovered an all men’s party in the basement, which was the norm in India. We learned it was very uncommon for men and women to party together outside of a family function. Two businessmen were celebrating a birthday so Amira and I acted as Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, in a wedding crasher style and had everyone sing an English version of happy birthday. The put celebratory flowers around our necks and it became quite the shindig. The rest of the girls in the group came and went as soon as they noticed the men to become a bit drunk and touchy but the original 3 of us stayed and I could tell the men were not sure if either one of the girl was with me some they became less touchy as the party progressed. We had a lot of fun and did a lot of dancing. They were very hospitable; the owner of the hotel was there with his brother, the CFO. They gave us food, business cards and gifts. Needless to say after to 2 hours of partying I was out like a light.

The next morning began again at 4am and we were off to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. This is the first time the India food started to get to me. We stopped at a rest stop and it took us to realize that the rest stop would be were our breakfast would be. I drank 2 ginger ales and stayed in the bathroom for most of the time. After the 3 hours sleep en route to Agra, my stomach a less upset. We visited Fatehpur Sikri, there was a court where legend has it that an elephant, by foot, would judge the fate of a criminal. Also that the ruler, Akbar, who lived in the palace had 3 wives. One Christian, one Muslim and one Jewish, all the women had a different quarters on the palace grounds and from the rulers bedroom there were secret passages that would lead to each one of the wives rooms. Akbar actually abandoned this temporary capital because of a water shortage. We left there and within an hour we were at the beautiful Taj Mahal. The “Taj” was built by Mughul Emperor Shahjehan in 1639 in memorial of his wife Queen Mumtaz. The security of the Taj Mahal was pretty intense. Two lines, one for men and one for women. Our guide was pretty aggressive in getting us in the Taj; he even pushed other nationals around to ensure us a good spot in line 1) for entry into the gate of the Taj 2) for entry into the Taj Mahal. After the Taj we went to the Red Fort of Agra, which was a beautiful structure about 1 Km from the Taj. It was a beautiful structure and the view of the Taj was impressive. The red fort was built for Prince Ali. We returned to Delhi that night and the next morning we were up again at 4AM.

Jordan was very adamant on going to Hudmyums Tomb, who was the second emperor of India. As we pulled up to the premises I was a little cranky from getting up so early. Amira and I were heading to the tomb with the group when we saw about 3 fields of boys and men playing cricket. She and I had a history of always adventuring from what everyone else was doing, and the 3 days of sightseeing had us already a bit exhausted. We decided to sit and watch a couple games of cricket. We decided that we would find some kids and maybe learn to play. That’s exactly what we did, we played a small game of cricket with some kids and their mentor translated into Hindi. We had a blast and I truly have an understanding for the game. After the game Amira and I decided to buy popsicles for all the boys we played with we paid about $10 for 2 boxes of popsicles. Upon return to the field, the entire field of children descended on Amira, some tackled her to the ground and took 3 or 4 popsicles each, as I filmed. We thought it was hilarious and peculiar that no one said thanks, but it was fine we were happy to play and have the experience. We left and I headed to get passport photos for Togo and Benin. Thereafter we went to the airport. We were 4 hours early for our flight; I bought a new camera at the airport. Then Amira and I got massages and had dinner to kill sometime. About 2 hours into the meal a man rushed in requesting ticketholders for the flight to Hyderabad, turns out it was the last call. We rushed to the plane and learned that they had been calling us for 50 minutes. Apparently my watch was an hour slow. The kept the plane waiting for us and the group had been on pins and needles.

An hour flight brought us in Hyderabad, Neha and her grandmother met us at the airport with signs. We thought that we’d be staying with her grandmother, but she actually booked us a hotel. We ate at Neha grandmothers, and ten we ended the night. The next morning we got up early to eat amazing Dhosa at the Taj Mahal hotel. We drove through necklace road, Birla Mindir and went shopping in the Bazaar. We went to a bangle district where Jordan and I waited for hours for the girls to buy bangles. That afternoon, we visited Neha’s Grandmother’s women’s college for abandoned girls. We had a great lunch at the women’s college; the Indian food was foreign yet delicious.

Funny story: After dinner my upset stomach seemed to take rule. The commode actually malfunctioned and I had to fill up a bucket to raise the ball in the tank but it just wouldn’t work. I spent an extra 15 minutes trying to get it to work. The innerving part was that people were waiting; eventually it worked, after I’d dropped the bucket and the whole bathroom was wet.

We took a tour and as a surprise to us we were invited to speak to the whole women’s college. We sat on a dais and spoke to a group of 60 girls about the importance of education, it was very touching. We actually were featured in the Hyderabad newspaper for this event. We donated and sponsored a girl’s education. After the talk we gave out desserts. We went shopping the girls went to get saris’ and Jordan and I went and got our cricket jerseys. We all met at the mall and had dinner at Neha’s grandmother’s house for a fantastic dinner. The next morning it was off to Cochin, when we arrived in Cochin and we essentially walked around the city sightseeing, highlights were St Francis Church and Jew Town. In Jew town I bought some linen pants. Amira and I found a nice ginger themed restaurant and had a great dessert. We met up with the group and returned to the ship.

I never understood how much there was to see in India. Usually when one thinks of India they immediately think of the Taj Mahal, but there is so much more.

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