First Few Days in India

On January 8^th, we arrived in the New Delhi airport and when we walked out of the airport, porters tried to take our bags and put them in the bus for us. One of them wouldn’t let go of my bag and I didn’t realize at first that he was trying to put it on the bus, so I thought he was going to run with it. This was the first culture shock from India and I knew I was in for a crazy 11 days. The guy stood there saying, “money, money.” After about a thirty minute bus ride, we got to the hotel and I thought the key for the room was really cool because in order to use any electricity in the room, the key needs to be placed into this thing on the wall that runs the power for the room.

The next day we woke up at about 6:20 A.M. and went downstairs for a breakfast consisting of hard boiled eggs, toast with butter and jam, and corn flakes with hot milk and sugar in it. After breakfast we walked around the block and got our first look of India in the daylight. We saw a school “bus” dropping girls off at their school. Seeing the streets of India for the first time was extremely shocking because I had no idea what to expect. I thought it would be somewhat like how it was but it is impossible to actually know what a place is like through the imagination. After going back to the hotel we went to the main part of the city and walked around Rajiv Chowk park. During this walk, we saw many stray dogs for the first time, not realizing how many we would actually end up seeing throughout the trip. We went to the American Center and two ladies spoke to us about America’s relations with India and other political issues dealing with India. In order to enter the American Center we had to walk through metal detectors. Wherever we went in this city people stared at us because we obviously are tourists. The main and many times the only means of communication with a lot of the people in India were to simply nod, say hello, and smile. We went to lunch at a traditional restaurant and had a great meal there. The hummus in this place was the best hummus I’ve ever had, but I also had the worst thing I’ve ever had, buttermilk. This was honestly the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted but the terrible taste only made me want to try it over and over, possibly hoping that it would be better the next.

When we left this restaurant we were hounded by a few begging children for the first time. I gave him ten rupees thinking that he’d go away but my donation only made him expect that everyone would give. Professor Gupta asked if anyone wanted to try this food on the street and I decided that I’m only here once so I’ll try it. It was a leaf rolled around fennel, coconut, and this red jelly type food. I took one bite of it and it literally took me five minutes to swallow that one bite. After attempting to eat that food, I went to McDonalds just to try an Indian McDonalds. The chicken sandwich is basically the same as the chicken sandwich here. We walked down a block of stores with a ridiculous amount of shops and people trying their hardest to sell you something at all costs. The crowdedness at first felt a little uncomfortable because I felt like someone was going to open my backpack and try to take something out but after a little bit, I got used to it. We walked around for some more time after this and it was so chaotic because not everybody was together on that street so some people were already down the block and some people were way back. As we headed to the Parliament museum I noticed the lack of tourists in the area we were in. Basically everybody we saw looked native to India. I thought a lot more people were going to speak English and we would see a lot more tourists.

We arrived at the Parliament museum and again had to be thoroughly searched by security guards. I found it interesting here that the metal detectors were separated by gender. In this museum I felt as if the tour guides were just repeating the same old thing that they are already bored of talking about. I didn’t get that much out of the museum but I did think it was really cool that we saw Gandhi’s ashes. After the museum some people went to a Sikh temple across the street but all the walking was hurting my back so I went back on the bus. Upon arrival at the hotel, we had a traditional Indian welcome reception. He all got red dots on our foreheads and lays around our necks. We ate fried tofu and vegetable spring rolls. The tofu was a lot better than it is here because it is milk based. After dinner a bunch of us went to Rodeo, a bar in Delhi and had a few drinks with each other. This was really fun because we got to know each other better and talking with new people is always very interesting. On the subway heading back to the hotel we noticed the lack of women on the metro. The only girls on the metro were the girls in our group, potentially because it was 11:30 P.M. Crossing the street and walking on the sidewalk is an adventure in this country because you really have to watch every step you take to make sure you don’t step in anything you don’t want to step in. Professor Gupta seemed to have some higher power where he is able to hold his hand out at cars and make them stop for all of us. Cars literally will not stop for you and will without hesitation run you over. The traffic in India was absolutely hectic and was pretty hard to get used to. There are vehicles or people coming from every single direction and angle. There were a few signs saying stay in your lane but there were no lanes for people to stay in. I also found the lack of street lights very fascinating.

We woke up the next morning to go to the India Gate, a war memorial. This was a beautiful monument and was near a long street that we walked down. As we walked down the street we saw guards marching and practicing for a parade that was to occur in two weeks. I was shocked at how tall every guard was and how similar in height all of them were. On the sides of the roads were school children who we spoke to and learned their names. Melissa danced with them for a while and we spoke to a bunch of the kids about India and told them where we were from. These kids seemed very happy that we were there and were excited to dance with us and take pictures with us. Taking pictures with the guards was fun as well because you don’t want to approach a man with a double barrel shotgun too quickly so you sort of slowly walk over and pretend to click a picture of him.

After the India Gate we went to the Auto Show. This was not what I was expecting an auto show to be like because I have been to a few others in my life at the Javitz Center in New York City. The cars in New York City are mostly concept cars that are a lot more appealing to look at and photograph than most of the cars we saw at this show. I was amazed at how crazy people went and how much they pushed through other people just to take a look at some cars. At the auto show I had a chicken roll which could have been my favorite food item in India. I also had mango ice cream pop which was amazing as well. The auto show did not get my attention that much because I do not know anything about cars for the most part and therefore was not able to understand what all of the booths set up were selling. Cars in India are built with a different goal in mind, as they are not built for speed but are rather built for day to day travelling just to get from here to there. The cars do not need to be fast at all because there are no roads in India that could support high speed cars. I was amazed at the cheap prices of the motorcycles in India and I was tempted to purchase one. Shipping was the only problem in this case. I think we stayed at the car show a little bit too long because by the end I was just hot and tired and not interested in seeing any cars anymore. I did notice that Audi gathered the most attention from the Indian people and the lines to see those cars were tremendous. I was extremely lucky that I did not have to use the bathroom during the Auto Expo because I looked in the bathroom and the toilets were holes in the ground, as they are in many other places, but these were especially foul. After leaving the expo at around three or four we stood out on the sidewalk for about 20 minutes waiting for our bus to make its way through the insanity of the Indian roads. During this time I felt my zipper jingle and realized someone was trying to open my backpack and pickpocket me. I swung my backpack around, we made eye contact and I took two steps towards him to make him scurry away.

We got on the bus finally and went to the Lotus Temple, which is of the Baha’i faith. The temple itself was truly remarkable and it was a beautiful sight. We had to take our shoes off before entering the temple and upon entering past the calm pools of waters I was taken aback by the peacefulness inside. The concrete walls and decorations and vastness of the room was beautiful and although I do not follow the Baha’i religion, I took some time in there to think about my life and what is really important to me. I was very at peace in this temple and it was relaxing being in there. The temple was so quiet because you were not allowed to talk and this silent atmosphere made me feel as if I was alone in this vast building. At night we ate at a restaurant called Suruchi and had an option of Rajasthani or Gujarati food. I chose the Gujarati because it was supposed to be less spicy, but nonetheless I kept having to ask for more cucumbers to calm my mouth down.