Incredible India

They told us India would be like no other country we’ve visited, and they were right. Totally sensory overload, emotionally draining, and a physically exhausting itinerary made for an experience I have yet to fully digest. I’m going to format this blog a little differently than my past ones so you can get an idea of just how much I did in so little time. Each day felt like three days.

Day One -
0800: Arrive in Chennai. I didn’t get off the ship before my SAS trip because not knowing the city or what getting around would be like, I didn’t want to take any chances, especially considering the big bucks spent on this trip.
1430: Leave for the airport. We had an hour long bus ride to the airport, and my eyes actually hurt from trying to take everything in. The streets are crowded with rickshaws, cars, buses, trucks, people walking, and, of course, cows. And everyone is honking; it’s not a defensive thing like in the U.S., more like a rearview mirror –it says “Hey, I’m here so don’t merge!”But it’s an adjustment to hear horns going off and not automatically feel tense. The women in their bright colorful saris are such a stark contrast to the grey, worn-down, dirty city around them.
1700: Fly to Delhi. It amazes me that these small, local airlines who charge next to nothing for tickets provide better service than any major airline in the U.S. We received a full meal on every flight, no matter how long it was or what time it was. Our first flight had in-seat TV screens and everything, from movies to TV shows, was free.
2100: Arrive at hotel. We were greeted with flower garlands and red paste dots on our foreheads, and there was an incredible buffet dinner waiting for us. Naan is basically my favorite thing ever; I’m really going to miss having it with every meal. Our room had full cable, and we caught an episode of Indian Idol –it was kind of eerie, so similar yet so different because everyone was singing Indian folk songs (it was an audition episode).
2400: Bed!

Day Two –
0415: Wake-up.
0530: Arrive at train station. We hustled through the station to our train, the Shatabdi Express –we were running late because a couple people slept through their wake-up calls. The station was full of families and people sleeping or cooking breakfast. We quickly got sanctuary from the beggars in our train car and started observing. There were signs that said “Please do not spit,”yet it was okay to pee or squat off the sides onto the tracks. The trip was two and a half hours, most of which was not surprisingly spent napping.
0830: Arrive in Agra.
0930: Arrive at Fatehpur Sikri, the Red Fort. This was a beautiful palace made out of red sandstone in a deserted city outside of Agra built by Emperor Akbar. He built it to honor a Muslim saint who prophesized the birth of his heir. He had three wives –one Muslim, one Christian, and one Hindu (he himself was Hindu) –and the largest harem, some 468 I believe. Each wife had a different section of the complex and the architecture included signs to each of their religions. For awhile it was the capital city along with Agra because it meant so much to Akbar as the birthplace of his son, but it was eventually abandoned because it had no water supply.
1215: Arrive in Agra for shopping tour. We went to a higher end store that had gorgeous rugs, marble items, and silk items. It was more expensive than most of us were hoping for, but as our guide told us when you buy something on the streets you have no way to verify whether or not it’s real silk, but here you could be sure. I ended up buying a fabulous gorgeous silk bedspread for only $150. It ended up being quite the steal, because at our second shopping tour later in the week people bought them for $450! I’m in love with it –it’s already on my bed and makes me so happy with its bright colors and Indian designs.
1300: Lunch at Hotel Mansingh. This trip ended up being the trip of buffets. It was nice because we tried a lot of things, but it also meant we had absolutely no idea what we were eating. Meals at hotels also meant that I survived India without any form of traveler’s sickness! The hotel had some shops where I went on a scarf shopping spree. They also had shirts screen-printed that said “Welcome Semester at Sea!”Too funny.
1415: Arrive at Agra Fort. It was also built by Akbar, and also out of red sandstone! I guess he had a thing for it. All the Mughal emperors lived there. When Akbar’s son Shah Jahan took over, he rebuilt portions of the palace in white marble –can you guess what other building he built? Yep, the Taj Mahal; you know those Mughal emperors and their particularities about stone. Shah Jahan was later imprisoned there by his son; his portion of the palace fortunately overlooked the Taj Mahal, and he spent the rest of his life on the marble balcony staring at the building, supposedly. It’s a shame it’s so overshadowed by the Taj Mahal, because it’s a beautiful complex. Plus jealousy of the Taj Mahal is the reason Shah Jahan’s son locked him up.
1515: Arrive at the Taj Mahal. It’s hard to describe my experience at the Taj Mahal. You see so many pictures of it, yet seeing it in person is so different. Now, it was incredible to see, don’t get me wrong, but I’m glad we only had an hour there because really all there is to do is to look at it and take some pictures –it’s not a cultural immersion like other parts of this trip. We went inside to look around, but it was dark and so rushed because there was such a long line to get in. For your brief history lesson, the Taj Mahal was built in honor of Shah Jahan’s wife who died giving birth to his 14th child. She asked three things of him –to never remarry, to take care of the children, and to build a unique building to honor her. He certainly succeeded. She is entombed in the center of the building, and his son later entombed him with her as well. The reason all pictures of the Taj Mahal look the same is because the building is identical on all four sides. Another interesting fact is that the four towers surrounding it all lean slightly outwards, so that in case of an earthquake they would not damage the tomb. The walls of the tomb are inlaid in precious stones such as jade in floral and vine designs as well as calligraphy of passages from the Quran. The white marble of the building has been stained by pollution, so now cars are banned from within a certain perimeter of it, but it doesn’t make it any less stunning. Oh, but I should tell you, I totally outshown the Taj Mahal. So much so that an Indian family stopped me and asked to take their picture with me.
1900: Arrive at Hotel Mansingh for dinner.
2030: Leave on the Shatabdi Express.
2330: Arrive in New Delhi.

Day Three –
0600: Wake-up. It’s crazy to hear 70 college kids actually excited about waking up at 6 a.m., but it was a treat among the 4 a.m. wake-up calls.
0715: Leave for bus tour of Delhi. Among the things we saw was the India Gate, a war memorial for WWII. It was so eerily reminiscent of the lawn in D.C. –the monument on one end facing the government buildings on the other with a long lawn in between. We then drove past the Parliament house and the President’s house and all of the embassies. Outside of the embassies were dozens of red-faced monkeys. Monkeys are considered sacred, like cows, because of Hanuman, the monkey king in one of the Hindu holy books; the embassy workers even feed them every day!
1040: Fly to Varanasi.
1215: Arrive at hotel. We stayed at the Radisson –it was comforting American familiarity with an Indian twist. We checked in and had another buffet meal
1430: Arrive in Sarnath. This is the ancient city where Buddha preached his first sermon, and a required pilgrimage site for all Buddhists. We first visited a Buddhist temple that is a replica of one of the ancient temples destroyed by invaders. Outside was a statue of Buddha preaching to his five disciples. It was in front of a Boddhi tree –a tree from a cut of the original tree that Buddha sat under and achieved enlightenment –and plaques containing the text of his first sermon. Then we saw the ruins of the ancient monastery. The grounds were covered in ancient stupas. Most were stupas built as thanks for good things in their life, but there were two reliquary stupas that contained relics of the Buddha inside. No one really knows what relics are inside, but they could be anything from his robes to his hair to his fingernails. One of them was partially destroyed by invaders, but the other was a huge overwhelming dome building.
1700: Leave for the Ganges River. The streets leading down to the Ganges are so narrow and crowded that our bus would not have been able to fit. So our tour guide had 35 rickshaws lined up to take us down. There are two types of rickshaws –auto rickshaws and cycle rickshaws. We took cycle rickshaws. Two of us sat in the back and this scrawny Indian man hopped on to peddle. His looks were deceiving though, and he powered us along, cutting off other rickshaws left and right to bring us into the lead of the pack. The ride was terrifying but exciting. The edge of the rickshaw is only two inches or so. Meanwhile our driver is swerving into ongoing traffic and motorcycles and cars are honking and zig-zagging all around us. But as we went along children waved to us with huge smiles on their faces and the streets were lined with shops selling gorgeous saris that were incredible to look at. That night we witnessed an aarti –a worship ceremony –on the banks of the Ganges. I honestly couldn’t explain to you what I witnessed; I have no idea what any of it meant but it was beautiful to witness. There were raised platforms lining the river bank, each set up with a small table. There was a monk –or whatever the Hindu equivalent is –at each platform repeating the same motions. A chant was broadcasted over speakers, and the monks took incense and then tiers of flames and moved them around their body in a circular motion, stopping at the top of the circle to hold it up. Meanwhile they were ringing a bell with their other hand. I just Wiki-ed it, and apparently the aarti is an offering of lamps to the deities –makes sense now!
2000: Return to hotel. Dinner. Shower. Collapse.

Day Four –
0430: Wake-up.
0500: Return to River Ganges. At this hour the streets were less crowded, so our bus could drive farther and we walked the rest of the way. All along the road dividers were people sleeping or waking up to beg from us. Most of them were old or crippled; many of the old come to Varanasi because if you die there you automatically achieve moksha –the liberation of the soul. Down at the river we boarded a boat and sailed down and back to witness all the different religious practices that take place there. The Ganges is considered sacred by the Hindus. It is a required pilgrimage, and washing in the river is supposed to release their souls from the rebirth cycle. There were different ghats –basically docks, but steps leading down to the river, not raised walkways) –for different people; there was one specifically for widows, and one where the Muslims washed. They don’t believe the river is sacred, but they just wash there; I don’t know why on earth they would think that was a good idea –the water is polluted with chemicals from factories and a dark, murky, oily brown with trash and corpses floating in it. I don’t really understand why the Hindus would not want to protect and clean the river if they consider it so sacred. The most shocking moment of the morning was seeing a bloated, grey corpse of a child floating just inches past our boat. I’m sorry if this image was hard for any of you to read, but it was even harder for me to see. Pregnant women and children under eight are not cremated; instead their bodies are simply disposed of in the river. At each end of the section of ghats are cremation ghats –one for the poor and one for the rich. The bodies are carried up on stretchers wrapped in gold paper (at least at the rich ghat). They are covered in sandalwood and the pyres are burned until the body is cremated. Part of the ashes is then thrown into the Ganges. This ceremony is also only attended by men. Afterwards we were supposed to see some of the major temples of Varanasi, but the recent terrorism has tightened security and so one we could not enter and the other we had extremely limited time.
0845: Breakfast.
0945: Shopping tour. We went to a silk shop where we saw the old and new methods of making silk. Both processes were extremely intricate, but the old way was so impressive. It takes two people to work the looms. One man sits above and selects different strings to separate and pull back that then dictate the pattern; this pattern he has completely memorized. Another man sits at the loom and throws spools of the silk through and then tightens the weave. Afterwards we had the option of going to a bead store. I bought some bangles that are so tiny –they barely fit over my hands, and I have to use lotion so they will slide over, but they’re so pretty. There were also women upstairs doing henna so I got a design from my wrist to two fingertips. It made packing very difficult though!
1200: Leave for airport. We had lunch at the airport –can you guess? That’s right, another buffet! So strange. We had 3 very long hours before our flight; travelling without an iPod sucks.
1700: Arrive in Delhi. Another 3 hours until our flight to Chennai. After our twenty hour days, this was pretty miserable.
2300: Arrive in Chennai.
2400: Arrive back at ship. There were five buses coming from the airport around the same time; this means 180 people waiting in line to have their bags checked and to go through security. AKA Hell. At the security check-point of the port, our bus was behind two others and we were all absolutely devastated at the thought of hours in line standing, holding our bags because the ground is too disgusting to set them down. Somehow, though, our driver knew a shortcut and we arrived to an empty pier. I’ve never been so excited in my life.

India is not just another country, it’s another world. A fascinating world, but one that I am content with my time spent there. I very much enjoyed experiencing it, but it will be nice to go to a country that is less overwhelming where I don’t feel so nervous travelling. I won’t miss having to hold my head up and walk past beggars, cripples, and vendors without saying a word, because even to smile is a sign to them that they can eventually break you down and get money. I won’t miss having to ignore children as they tap my arm and move their hand from their belly to their mouth, indicating hunger. And I can’t say I’ll miss the smell either. The dirt just seeps into you without you noticing; I washed the scarves I wore throughout the trip in the sink today, and the water turned brown. Our hallways of the ship are covered in cardboard, and the tables and bars on the outside deck are encased in plastic. I will, however, miss the food; the ship’s food is even more bland and boring than it was before after a week in India.

In just three short days I will be in Malaysia! I’ll be travelling entirely differently there, staying in the port city and doing almost everything on my own. I still have almost no plans there, but I’m assuming my time will include a lot of temples. Hopefully between classes and work I’ll have enough time to recover from my marathon sprint through India. As always, I send all my love to your side of the world. Do everything you can these next 18 days to ensure it’s a side of the world I’m happy to return to.