India was an intense country. I cannot think of one specific word to describe it. The best part of India was spending time with the people on my trip. Many of my close girlfriends from the ship were on my trip, which made India an amazing time. I was with Gillian from NY, Ashley from Fairfield, CT, Kat, Heather from CA, Alli from GA, Nell from PA, all of which I have traveled with before, and I also met new people on the trip too.
We spent a lot of time traveling on a tour bus. Our itinerary was packed with sight seeing, and we saw 5 towns in 5 days. Highlights of the trip include the city of New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra (where the Taj Mahal is) and two cities in between. Jaipur is a city that was painted pink during the 17th century to welcome the Prince of Norway (I think). They kept the salmon color of the city, and we saw the King’s palace and other touristy sights. We also did an elephant ride up to a deserted castle...I love elephants. Along the way we saw many Hindu temples and ruins and took a crazy jeep ride back to home base.
Unfortunately the heckling and begging is overwhelming in India. As soon as they see white people, children and adults rush to you begging for money. Even when our buses drove through towns the kids came to wave to the bus and beg for money. Once you give one child some money, more appear. The time I gave a little boy money, he brought it back to his mother and she was off on a scooter with the money. Other mothers and children came to the site disappointed and angry they didn’t receive anything.
Generally there is lots of contempt for Americans in India. Maybe my own ignorance of the culture contributed to that. One day we went to an Astrology museum where there were huge sundial structures everywhere. There was also a cute little pyramid structure that I wanted to take a picture in. Without realizing what it was, I jumped inside of it and posed to take a picture. An Indian woman comes running over screaming at me in broken English, “You are stepping on our God! Take your shoes off! You cannot go inside there, and you cannot wear your shoes!” This was sooooo embarrassing because her entire posse (30+ ladies) were just chillin on the grass next to the Hindu shrine where they pray and I was stepping all over it with my sneakers. They made me terribly uncomfortable, and that’s when I booked it and ran away…barefoot after all.
One night at the night market I also got my first Henna tattoo which has lasted 3 weeks on my hand…I really wanted to wash it off once we got back to the ship. Oh well. At night there was not much to do. No one felt compelled to go out and and check the party scene, so I put the tv on and watched Bollywood movies, but mostly danced to Indian music videos with Gillian in our room.
The Taj Mahal is the most beautiful tomb in the world. It didn’t seem real that a King could build such a vast tomb for the love of his life. I found a local “professional photographer” who took Gillian and me around the Taj Mahal to capture the best photos from the best angles. He also taught us some yoga along the way, so Gillian and I were striking scorpion poses and meditating all over the Taj Mahal premises. I am convinced I have the best photos of the Taj.
Our tour guide, Taj, wanted us to experience and realize that not all of India is like the movie Slumdog Millionaire. From my experience, we only saw villages and cities that looked like the slums in the film. I would have liked to go to Mumbai to visit Bollywood, and see what the economic contrast is like. India is unlike anything I ever imagined. People went to the bathroom at any time, anywhere in the street. The people also live among cows (which they let loose after they can no longer produce milk…too sacred to kill and eat also), dogs, goats, monkeys, whatever other creatures roamed through the streets. They use their left hand for wiping/gross things, and their right hand for eating.
The last day I also did a service visit to a school grades Pre-K-12 grade. All of the students speak Hindi, but their textbooks and classes are supposed to be conducted in English. I was surprised to find that they still didn’t speak English. Every morning they pray in Hindi, and report Global Current Events in English. I wonder if any of the students understand them. We spent a few hours playing with the kids, singing, and they put on a dance performance for us as well. They were so excited to have us there, and we were the 4th U.S.A. visitors to come to the school. It was also a private school, tuition is $350 a year and only 10% are on scholarship. Regardless, this school was still extremely poor, and sad to visit, but it felt good to make them smile for the day and exchange stories. They put so much time and preparation to host us for the day, that for once I felt like Indians were happy to see Americans for purposes other than begging.
I am glad that I went to India, but as of right now, I do not have a desire to return anytime soon.
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