India Blog

Arrival
I have finally arrived in India! The flight was not too bad, better than expected. The air is pretty foggy and I find it hard to see. What was interesting was to find a bunch of Indians accompanying us to help with our luggage. At first, I thought they were just being friendly but it turned out they just wanted some tips. This scenario was very similar to Todd Andersen in the movie when he landed and was surrounded by a bunch of Indians haggling him.
Day 1
What a tiring yet eventful day. In the morning we had breakfast at 6:45 and then headed off to roam around the streets of New Delhi until it was time to go to the American Counsel. We walked around and truly saw how Indians lived at the heart of New Delhi.
There were many things that surprised me. First, there are barely any lights for traffic. Cars just zoom by as they go and honking as they go. This was quite scary especially when people and cars walk on the same road. Second, the air is really foggy and difficult to breathe. I felt as if I were breathing in dust the whole day. Third, it was very interesting to see some really poor parts of New Delhi and then down the road, there are really nice stores for shopping. The economy and way of life is so diverse that you can see one that is really poor to really rich in just one block. Lastly, there was a LOT of haggling while trying to walk down the local shops. Every store I turned to was trying to sell me something. There seems to be a paradox in coming up to me and offering their product. Say I want to buy something from them, I may not want to because once everyone sees that I have interest in buying something, then everyone will crowd around and get me to buy something else. Plus, the insecurity of showing my money in public also adds to the factor. I feel that if people kept it professional and let their products sell themselves, these local vendors will have a chance to get more sales.
One interesting thing that happened to me was this poor little boy about 6 years old begging me for my box of nuggets. I kept saying no but he was really relentless. He even grabbed my box and trying to steal it from me. I resisted and tried to fend him off but he still kept asking me for food. I felt pity for him because I saw how poor he was but at the same time, there needs to be respect. No simply means no. At that point, I didn’t even want the nuggets anymore but I still didn’t feel like he deserved it. After about 5 minutes of constant begging, he backed off, only to come back 10 minutes later. At that point, I just gave up.
Besides the street culture, we visited the American Counsel, which gave an interesting presentation on India and its relation to the US. After, we have our first real Indian cuisine at a restaurant. The food was interesting and quite good. There was bread with a lot of choices of dip so it was fun to play around with. Afterwards, we exchanged our dollars to rupees. Then we walked to the Parliament museum. The security to go into these buildings are very tight. We were subject to two metal dectectors and not allowed to bring our bags in. The museum was cool in the sense that it gave a timeline of India’s dependence and how it got to where it is today. The tour was kind of hard to follow and hard to understand all the Indian names.
After a short visit to a temple, we went back to the hotels and had our dinner reception. I had the red mark put on my forehead, which meant that I am accepted in India and how this is the way Indians show their welcoming and appreciation to foreigners. The rice shows the willingness to offer up food for us to eat, which indeed was quite delicious and plentiful.
Day 2
Day 2 and I feel like I have been in India for a week! This morning we took the bus to see the India Gate, and got to witness the soldiers practicing for the parade coming up later this month. It was very cultural because we got to see their different uniforms and marches. Afterwards, we headed to the auto expo where we saw all different kinds of cars from many brands. It was interesting to see what kind of cars are coming into India and the advancements they are trying to implement. A lot of cars are going for more gas efficiency, which is great because with the amount of traffic in New Delhi, pollution is a great concern. At the expo, I tried my first Indian’s version of Chinese food. It was some spicy chowmin. That did not sit well with my stomach but thank God I didn’t have Delhi belly. I also tried this popsicle called Kulfi. It basically tasted like a caramel popsicle stick but less sweet and more creamy.

After the expo, we headed to Bahai House of Worship (Lotus temple). The temple was beautiful from the outside, but too bad it was quite foggy. There are pools surrounding the temple along with a wide landscape along the entrance. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and some of us went shopping at the Bazar. I did not get anything but I am more use to the haggling on the streets. Finally, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant which was also very tasty. With so much variety in taste, I am starting to see why and how Indians can just live and eat vegetarian food their whole lives. The variety of food seems endless and yet tasty. Tomorrow will be a rest day because we will head over to LPU which takes 8 hours to get to!
1/15/10
Shopping, HCL, Reception at the Guptas.
This morning I went to the Palika Bazar and did some shopping. The environment at first seemed a lot better than the Bazar near the hotel because it was less people and somewhat more accessible. However, the haggling remained unchanged. There was a wide variety of things and I got myself a watch, several scarves, and a hookah. One thing I noticed is that even though these small business people want you to go into their store and shop so bad that they nag you, it draws and even repels me from going into their stores even if something caught my eye. I just did not want to be bothered with all the people hassling me to buy their stuff. I found myself shop more in stores where they remained more professional and did not approach me. Seems counterintuitive but that is how I feel the market for these kind of shops work.
Afterwards, we went to HCL to learn more about the IT industry and how they treat their employees with the 360 degree evaluation. I like that program because you get feedback and get to see what goes on with high executives’ performances. Finally, we went to have dinner at Professor Gupta’s relatives’ house and had a very delicious dinner. Their house was simply amazing. Everything was so nice and so friendly. Then his aunt (I think) gave a talk on diamonds and it was interesting to be able to tell which diamonds are good. The four Cs in which to tell are: Carat, Clarity, Color, and Cut. Hopefully I can put it to use for the future!
1/16/10
After breakfast and an 8 hour bus ride, we finally arrived at the Taj Mahal! The structure of the mausoleum and the view of the scenery was just simply magnificent. The tour guides were very helpful in giving us a background and information of the Taj. However, we did not know that we were all part of a large scheme. I found it very sketchy when they told us that we couldn’t go to the small shops after the exit and forced us to go to the marble shop and the cottage store. Even though they had some nice stuff, the prices were quite expensive. I was suckered in so I bought one of the coasters for 1,600 rupees. However, up the block there were these marble coasters that looked remarkably similar for 250 rupees (pre bargain). I got it down to 125 rupees and was upset that I had spent so much on the nicer one. Now that I look back on it, there must have been a deal with the tour guides to collect a commission on the sales the store got from us. If they were genuinely nice to us, they would have known that there were much cheaper ones just up the block. But what can I say, we were tourists and needed guidance. Money drives everything. This will be good information to know if I ever come back next time.
PS – I still very much enjoyed my time at the Taj!
1/17/10
Today was a bit relaxed yet eventful. We went to Akshardham’s temple / museum and the architecture was amazing. The detail of the whole place seemed like it was done by one person because everything was so unified in style and precision. Afterwards, we finally got to ride an elephant and camel. It was just awesome to see an actual elephant and being able to see it swallow almost anything and also being able to touch the skin. The ride itself was not that exciting after the first few seconds, but it is probably a once in a lifetime experience. At last, we did some more shopping and got more gifts and souvenirs for ourselves and friends. At first this whole trip seemed really long but now that it is concluding, the trip seems like it is ending all too quickly. Oh the irony.