Hmm. India.
· Smelly: When we arrived in port, the smell permeated into our rooms on ship immediately.
· Dirty: Like our dean said, you couldn't pay him to wear flip flops in India. They essentially saran wrapped the ship. The outside decks were closed and the carpets were covered with cardboard and plastic wrap. We heard that Chennai, the city we docked at, is probably the dirtiest city in India.
· Entrepreneurial: They are always thinking of ways to make money, which can be a good and a bad thing. Everywhere we went, we were hassled to buy this knick-knack or that. At tourist sites, if we took pictures of some of the workers, they expected money out of it. Immediately, when we got off the ship, there was a little booth set up where we could use the cell phones to call home.
· Colorful: Sarees and silk and pashminas and jewels abound.
· Loud: Horns seem to be the only way of communication around the city. Traffic is very dangerous. They most definitely won't stop for pedestrians in the way. One of our lecturers said that cows in the road (which there were plenty of) are more important than pedestrians.
· Delicious: I love Indian food and it definitely proved to be just as good as what I have had in the U.S, if not better. Luckily, I didn't get sick. I certainly have heard stories. Our doctor recommended to take pepto four times a day in order to avoid the possibility of getting sick.
What did I do? I traveled too much. Looking back on it, I wouldn't have chosen the same trip that I did. We arrived in Chennai on Tuesday. I flew to Delhi that afternoon on a two-and-a-half hour flight. That night, we stayed at a great hotel in Delhi. We got an early morning wake-up call and took a two-hour train to Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, which we saw that morning. In the afternoon, we went to a marble place. Funny story: they told us how people from the U.S. and Europe buy their products and then ship them to their homes. They then passed around some books for us to look at. The books were invoices which included the names, addresses, credit card numbers and expirations dates of those customers from the U.S. And sometimes we wonder how identity theft occurs… On a side note, I have noticed in a lot of these countries, the entire credit card number is on the vendor's copy of the receipt. Although they get mad, I make sure to cross off the number so they don't have an easy way to making some other charges on my card. That is one of my biggest worries on the trip: getting my credit card or ATM card numbers stolen. It is a huge hassle, especially when you are traveling around the world and you need a way to spend money in the next ports.
Anyways, back to my India adventures. The afternoon in Agra, we went to Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri, another fort, and then we began our six-hour bus ride to Jaipur. And this is no normal bus ride. It is a bus ride on a bus with no shocks, crazy drivers, and lots of honking. If I actually thought about it and looked out the window, my life would be flashing before me. We arrived to Jaipur late that night. The following morning was another early wake-up call. We headed to the Amber City. People had the opportunity to go up on a elephant. A few years ago, some tourists were killed by the elephants after using a flash camera. After an investigation, they determined that the elephants were overworked. As a result, the officials mandated that the elephants only go up 3 or 4 times per day, when they were previously going up over 10 times per day. However, after seeing the number of people that want a ride, we highly doubted that they only go up 3 or 4 times per day. I did not go up on the elephant, seeing that I already had my fill of elephant riding in Thailand. Instead, Anabel and I took a jeep up to the city, which we bet was more dangerous than the elephant. Nevertheless, we survived.
After exploring this fortress, we went to a jewelry store. India polishes 80% of the diamonds in the world. In the afternoon, we went to a carpet-making place. At both of these places, it was quite a depressing contrast to see the conditions in which the workers labored and the store, with its free Pepsi and classy accommodations. That afternoon, we also went to the City Palace, where the King of Jaipur lives. In fact, he was doing a little shopping in the market, so we got our picture with him. That night, we returned to the hotel and had another early morning (2am) awakening to return on a six-hour bus ride to Delhi. Oh joy. We then had a two-hour flight back to Chennai. We returned to the ship, twelve hours after we woke up that morning, at 2 pm.
Although I was exhausted (in addition to being sick), I felt obligated to venture out and do some shopping. We first had to venture down the port area, where the dirt coated our bodies, to the gate. Then, we had to bargain for a rickshaw ride to a local plaza. One of the things that is really getting annoying in all of the countries is being ripped off by the transportation, such as taxis and rickshaws. The worst thing about it is, generally, we have no other way to travel and we essentially need to pay what they quote. Over time, we are mastering the art of bargaining, but I am not a fan. One key phrase is "when I was here last time…" However, when we are bargaining with the rickshaw drivers, it is necessary to put it into perspective. We were told not to pay more than 50 rupees. We got him down to 100 or 150 rupees. Horrendous, one would think. But, to convert that, 50 rupees is $1.25. Although it is the principle of paying twice or three times what we should, that extra couple dollars means a lot more to the rickshaw drivers than it does to us. The other thing in India with the rickshaw drivers is that they want to take you to their "friend's shop." In other words, they get commission for bringing gullible tourists to a shop.
The last day in India, Saturday, I went to a disabled children's home. This place has been in existence for 40 years. They are 25% government funded and the rest comes from private donations. There are 103 kids that live there, from 5 to 21 years old. It costs 1000 rupees, or $25 to care for each child each month. For the older children (over 12 years old), the cause of their disabilities is polio. A lot of them get around using crutches or by sitting on a piece of wood on wheels. More recently though, polio has been eradicated and the causes of the disabilities are cerebral palsy and mental retardation. The goal of the home is to teach them skills for daily life such as buttoning their shirt, walking normally, and eating. They also teach them a trade. The home has a lot of industries, such as sewing, printing, and making paper cups. They sell their services to businesses and can, as a result, earn some extra money.
One story is about Narashimhalu. He has cerebal palsy. As a child, he was found in a dumpster by one of the workers at the home. She brought him back and he has thrived. He does all his daily activities using just one of his feet. Not only that, but he is an incredible painter. A painter with his foot.
It was a lot of fun playing with the kids at the home. They loved the stickers and the bubbles and other things that we brought them. They also really liked playing with the digital cameras and seeing themselves on the screen. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera there but I will get some of the pictures for a future post.
Another interesting story at the home: we were doing some weeding and some of the children were watching. They told the director that they were surprised that we could do such hard work, yet we were so fair-skinned. This sort of alludes to the idea of a correlation between skin color and class.
I also thought that I would share some of the human rights issues. Female infanticide is a huge problem. Some causes behind it are the dowry and caste systems, although both are illegal. The family of the bride is expected to grant the wishes of the husband whenever he requests money or material items. Oftentimes, this puts the bride's family into debt and sometimes, the parents will even sell their kidneys to get cash to give to the groom. As a result, it is a huge financial undertaking to have a girl rather than a boy. It is also expected that the boy take care of the parents. When a family has many girls and no boys, they are destined for trouble. Sex selection abortion is illegal in India, but it is very easy to find out the sex of the child and abort it. Consequently, there is quite discrepancy in the male to female ratio. For every 1,000 males, there are only about 900 females, depending on the city and region.
Although, I have mentioned some negative things of India, it is an incredible and up-and-coming country. Its descendants have certainly had a lot of success in the United States. They are the richest immigrant class in the United States. Forty percent of the Silicon Valley startups are by Indian entrepreneurs. The book, The World is Flat, also talks about the growing influence that India has.
There is so much more that I could talk about, but I don't want to overwhelm you with India. In two days, I will be in Malaysia. This is our intense period of traveling. We only have 9 class days in the next month.
