India…Where to begin??? Let me start by saying that India has been the most different and most unique of the countries we have visited so far. Every single aspect of everything is different in India. From the ever-present “smell” that can change from disgustingly bad to worse in just a few steps, to the general dirtiness of the streets and the air, to the loudness and insanity of the traffic at every street corner, India is a place unlike anywhere I have ever been. However, despite these “differences”, there are two things that make India an absolutely extraordinary place, one which I would go back to in a heartbeat. The first is just a cool observation. India is an incredibly colorful place. Everywhere you look you see women wearing saris in dozens of different colors. It’s impossible to find two women with the same color and styled sari. The second, and more important, aspect that makes India such a wonderful place is the people. The Indians that we met and talked to are some of the nicest and friendliest people that I have ever met. As I’ll talk about later, they will bend over backwards to help you (not necessarily the rickshaw drivers whose sole purpose in life is to rip you off) and are generally just as curious to learn about you as you are to learn about them. With this said, let me begin to tell about my experience in India…
We docked in the southern city of Chennai on Thursday March 5 and were there until Monday March 9. Chennai is the fourth largest city in India, with an official population of 8 million, but in reality one of about 13 million. It is the capital of the southern state of Tamil Nadu and is also home to the second longest beach in the world (although not one that I would ever want to swim in), stretching over 14 km. It is unbearably hot and sunny (mid 80’s) during the day and since it rained twice while we were there was very humid at times. Also, I think its worth mentioning that leading up to India, the ship’s medical staff sent out countless emails, notes, and gave several presentations about TD (Travelers Diarrhea) and how to avoid it. I’ll say now that I did not have any problems at any point and I don’t think that anyone I’m friends with did either. During my stay I spent my time primarily with two great guys that I have met on the ship, Jonathan and Isaiah, both who go to Champan University in California.
Thursday
On Thursday, after docking at around 8am, we had a diplomatic briefing by three young guys from the US Consulate in Chennai. They told us that India would be one of the relatively safer ports we’d be visiting and spent a lot of time expressing jealousy of what we’re doing and comparing it to their college experiences. After the briefing, I spent the day doing a Dalit Work Project. This consisted of us going to an “untouchable” village and helping out. About 20 students took about an hour bus ride from the ship to an extremely poor village. As we got off the bus we were greeted by probably the entire community, given freshly made leis, and formed a procession (including musical instruments) and walked to their village’s school. Once altogether and having each received a “bindi” (red dots on foreheads) several groups of kids sang and danced for us, a man sang a song, and another read a prayer. Soon after we had the opportunity to paint the inside and outside of their school, which was more of brick building than anything else; no rooms, desks, supplies, tables, whiteboards, (a/c), or anything that would resemble a school environment. We painted for nearly two hours and got covered in what was probably toxic blue paint, in addition to sweating more in the oven of a school than I have ever sweat before. Afterwards we had the chance to play with the kids. They love getting their pictures taken and being able to see the image of themselves immediately on the backs of everyone’s cameras. Another thing I hadn’t experienced before was dozens of kids running up to us with pads of paper, unable to speak English, but able to say, “Hello, autograph…” I signed probably 50 different pads of paper and for whatever reason it seemed like things that these kids will be treasuring and showing to all of their friends. We also spent a while playing duck-duck-goose with the kids, which was a lot of fun. Soon after, the Semester at Sea students had the chance to sit with the director of whatever program we were on, an American educated Indian man, and discuss life in the slums. He (and as we’d soon see everyone in India) was very quick to bring up the movie Slumdog Millionaire and was extremely surprised and pleased to see that all of us had seen it. (The ship looped someone’s pirated copy on the TVs for a few days before we got to India).
After getting back to the ship, showering, and having a quick dinner, I and about 150 other SAS students were bused to a Welcome Reception hosted at a local university by about 100 Indian college students. This was one of the coolest experiences I have had so far. We were essentially placed in a large courtyard with dozens of our Indian counterparts for several hours. I had the chance to sit down and talk to a handful of Indian students (all spoke English fluently and Im pretty sure every guy there was either an engineering or computer science major). Here was where I began to understand how nice and wonderful Indian people are. Everyone I talked to was as interested in asking me questions about like in America as I was in them. Some things we talked about were politics, music, and most interestingly, marriage. Everyone I talked to would soon (in the next several years) be getting married to someone they don’t know, someone they’ll likely not know for more than a couple hours. While all the SAS students listening to them discuss this were unable to comprehend how they could do that, all of them were absolutely okay with it and are not the slightest bit anxious or apprehensive about their parents picking out wives for them, as its part of their culture. By the end of the night, I had exchanged probably a dozen emails, yet had learned so much more about India, Indians, and Indian culture than I could have in any other way.
Friday
On Friday morning, I woke up at 6am for an SAS trip to Kancheepuram and Mamallapuram, two cities a couple hours away from Chennai. Kancheepuram, the “Golden City,” is one of the most sacred places of pilgrimage for Hindus. Mamallapuram is an ancient port city of the Pallava kings as well as a popular beach resort in Southern India. Throughout the day, we visited five or six very different temples, saw several sites of immense and intricate stone carvings, and went to a silk factory. There, we learned that it takes them 15 days to make a single sari by hand (probably why they are incredibly expensive). For me, the highlight of the day was our lunch, a gigantic Indian food buffet at a very nice beach resort/hotel. There were no less than 20 different items that we tried. We started with a terrific mawligatawny soup (yes, like from Seinfeld) and went on to eating rice, noodles, several different curry things, calamari, a lamb stir fry, spring rolls, AMAZING garlic naan, and some awesome crunchy chip-kind-of things. For dessert they had a huge table of different kinds of fruit, all of which were fresh, delicious, and a great change from the rotten bananas and funky peaches and plums we get on the ship. We were all very tired and sweaty when the day trip ended and were back on the ship, ready to shower, at 7ish.
By 7:30, me, Jonathan, Isaiah, another guy named Spencer, and several girls were ready to go out to a nice dinner for one of the girls’ birthday. To get around in Chennai, its easiest to take what they call auto-rickshaws, small and completely open 3 passenger taxis, that weave in and out of traffic and between cars honking constantly, in some of the scariest and most intense driving I’ve ever seen. I finally understand what it may have been like for dad to learn to drive in Iran and why he drives so poorly now (just kidding). The seven of crammed in two of these rickshaws for the 20 minute ride to the very nice Park Hotel. As we were driving there, in the middle of night traffic, our driver, who we had been talking to and joking with, joking tells Spencer (who’s sharing the small bench in the front with him), “Ok, now you drive.” WTF we all say. Then the driver grabs his hands and places it on the handles (the cart is driven like a motorcycle with handle bars that you twist to accelerate and with brakes like on a bicycle). “Your turn,” he keeps saying. (THIS IS ALL ABSOLUTELY, 100% TRUE) Soon Spencer is driving our rickshaw, in the middle of this insane traffic, getting honked at, for at least five minutes. In his time as our driver, he changed lanes, shifted from first to third gear, and made a turn in a intersection. And yes, the whole time, we’re sitting in the back holding on for dear life while the driver is sitting back, kind of paying attention to Spencer driving, and enjoying making our night, and possibly stay in India. After safely getting to the hotel, which we knew was very nice by the Maserati and Aston Martin parked outside, we went in to their restaurant for a very nice dinner. I had a delicious take on a fancy version tandoori chicken and for dessert they brought the birthday girl, Julia, an enormous and rich chocolate cake (on the house). The seven of us couldn’t even finish it. After dinner and hanging out at the hotel for a little, we took rickshaws back to the ship, and when we looked at our driver and asked if we could drive, he looked at us like we were absolutely crazy.
…..To Be Continued…
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