India

Hello all,

It’s been a while hasn’t it.  I haven’t written in here since Mauritius and that seems like a year ago now.  Since then a lot of things have been happening on and off the ship.  I’ve been to India where I saw some of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen while around the corner, there were the saddest things I’ve ever seen.  The place is really hard to understand.  On the one hand, they have some amazing feats of engineering and architecture like the Taj Mahal, but yet they have some of the dirtiest streets and the most disgusting environmental pollution.  They have some of the best handiwork I’ve ever seen, such as handmade carpets, of which one I bought, block printing, marble work, silk painting, etc.  Then there is some of the most striking and sad poverty you could ever imagine.  Yet as we drove by in our bus emblazoned with “TOURIST,” the poorest of the poor would raise a single hand, wave, and smile.  All you can do is love them in return.  You can’t describe the feeling of being there.  You fall in love with the country because of the beauty it contains as well as the sadness that it holds.  That’s enough about that, there are better writers then me out there who have written about the dichotomy of India and how you fall for it when you are there.  It isn’t time for me to wax eloquent about it, because I just don’t know enough about it and I feel like I need to learn more.

Upon arriving in India, I was actually the first student off the ship.  My trip, to the Taj Mahal and the city of Jaipur, was going to miss our flight if we didn’t get off first, I was just the quickest.  As we got off the ship I could see and smell pollution right from the get go.  It was dirty.  There was dirt in the air, on the ground, and in the ocean, yet there was no unpaved area to be seen.  Everything I could see was paved, not a sliver of land was open to the air, yet there was dirt EVERYWHERE.  We got onto our bus and, though I shouldn’t have been, I was surprised to see that there were mosquitoes and other bugs flying around the inside of the bus.  THERE WAS DIRT IN THE BUS TOO!  How did that much dirt get places, I couldn’t imagine it.

The ride to the airport was about an hour.  I don’t know about the rest of you, but I truly think that the craziest drivers in the world rest in India.  There really are no lanes, no laws, etc.  This is not to say that there are no traffic cops, it’s just to say that there is an ordered madness to it that you would have to grow up in India to understand.  We flew on IndiGo airlines.  They had nice new planes and some really good food on board.  The flight was one of the best I’ve ever had. 

Upon arriving in Delhi, we did a quick driving tour through the city.  There really wasn’t a lot to see besides the buildings where the president and parliament meet.  These places were pretty, but they weren’t distinctly Indian.  They were built by the British many many years ago and thus are not all that impressive, not that the British can’t build, but I think if I could post pictures I think you would get it.  We then made our way to the oldest Muslim mosque in India.  It also had the tallest minaret in India.  It was really pretty, but since I had to check my camera battery in my luggage, I couldn’t take any pictures!  Once again though, you could see the beauty and the sadness that is India.  There was a doorway to the mosque grounds, and inside it was a gorgeous mosque, with ruins of old mosques around it.  Beautiful beyond imagination, yet the second we left the grounds again, there were 100 beggars and hauckers trying to get money from us.  It would have been fine if they did not have the saddest faces I have ever seen.  I didn’t have enough money to help them all, so how could I justify helping one.  If I gave one money, did that mean that he was more important than the others, that he should eat and the rest shouldn’t?  It broke my heart and I’m still wrestling with these feelings, these sights.

We then spent the night at one of the most beautiful hotels I have ever seen called the Lalit.  Look it up on hotels.com or something.  It was amazing.  I never knew Indian food could be that good!

The next morning we made our way to Jaipur.  It was a brutal 5 hour drive away, but it was worth it.  Upon arriving we made our way to the City Palace.  The City Palace is where the current Maharaja, or king for some of you, of Jaipur lives.  We also made our way to the astronomical observatory.  This is a bit different than the ones you’re used to.  It is a large field with big concrete and stone structures that are meant to read time, stars, dates, etc.  It was interesting that a person would think to build such things.  They worked though, to a level of about 4 seconds accuracy.  That is pretty good if you ask me.  Jaipur is the “pink city.”  Almost all their buildings are a bright shade of pink.  Don’t ask me why, read Wikipedia.  The palace, the city, etc. were all very pretty, but you can never escape the poverty and sadness as well.  I can’t really stress this enough.  You really don’t go to India to enjoy yourself; you go to India to see things that you can never see in the United States.  The place gives you a perspective on life that you will never have if you don’t.

Jaipur is also known for their jewelry.  They cut precious and semiprecious stones into some of the most beautiful rings, bracelets, necklaces, etc. that I have ever seen.  We went to a demonstration of how they make the stones.  It was all very pretty, but I was not really in the mood to buy jewelry even though the prices were ridiculously good.  I did though buy a handmade rug from Jaipur Mahal, a store along our route.  It’s really well made.  I hope my mother likes it.

In the morning, we made our way to Fort Amber where we rode big smelly elephants.  The fort itself was beautiful, but the elephants were the main attraction!  We then made our way to take pictures of the summer palace.  We couldn’t go to it because IT’S IN THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE.  Let me repeat this, THE MIDDLE OF THE LAKE.  Apparently within the next year or so it will be a hotel…

After leaving Jaipur, we had another really long drive to the City of Agra.  It was about 5 hours in the bus again, holding on to my life.  We did stop at this old palace/fort that was very pretty.  I forget its name, but it started with an “f” and had a really long name.  We did a quick tour of Agra and then called it a night. 

In the morning, it was time for the main event, the TAJ MAHAL.  I can’t really describe the beauty of it.  If you haven’t been there, you need to go there.  It is just that simple.  Going early in the morning or late at night is the best time because there are less haukers and beggars out.  They know tourists go there and take advantage of it.  That’s all I really need to say about the Taj.  It is amazing, better then the pictures.

We then made our way to the airport and flew back to Chennai.  I decided to spend the rest of the night on the ship as I was really really tired.  That trip was amazing, but hard. 

The next morning I met up with some friends, Kate and Erika, who both happen to go to UVa with me, as well as Megan.  We went to the local Mall.  We rode an auto-rickshaw.  If you have never seen an auto-rickshaw, I suggest you look it up on google.  They are these hilariously dangerous little cab things.  They were really cheap though, so we used them.  The mall reminded me a lot of the Souks in Morocco, but with nicer shopkeepers.  I got my brother and myself some cricket jerseys as that is the game of choice out here.  We then made our way back to the ship.  It was a fairly uneventful drive, until we ran into a women’s protest.  There were more then 1000+ Indian women marching with signs and we got scared.  We had our driver take the long way around. 

That was India.  It was amazing and if you ever get a chance to travel there, you should.

Since getting back on the ship there has been a lot going on.  I have been leading a shipwide game of Assassins.  If you have ever played the game, then you know how hard it is to organize.  I have 243 people on my list of players.  It has gone along very smoothly so far. 

Last night was a good night.  The programming and events committee put on a karaoke night.  The original MC got sick, so I was drafted into the position of MC.  I feel like I did a decent job and it was a LOT of fun.  We had some pretty good acts and some pretty bad acts.  That’s karaoke though. 

I have a test later today, so I should probably stop writing and get to work on that studying.  I just toped 1,600 words on this post, so I think that’s enough for now.

From just off the coast of Singapore, with love,

-SAS

P.S.  I’m going to try to get some pictures up for you all, just give me time.