Indian Experience

India keeps amazing me every day.  The people are extremely friendly and seem to be happy all the time.  If you saw a group of students taking pictures of you walking down the street I don’t think people back home would be smiling and waving.  Also, they are so deeply rooted in their culture and values.  One of the most important aspects of the Indian culture is religion.  It has only been 4 days here in India, but we see prayer and temples and icons scattered around the city that we don’t even notice any more.  Spirituality is so important , they don’t just go to the temple or say a prayer before bed, it is incorporated into daily everyday activities.  Also, they are so eager to share they religion with you, not to convert you or prove that they are better but simply because they want to share themselves and their culture with us.  As we were pushed around the busy streets, 2 people in a group quickly stopped at a Sikh temple.  Not all of us went in because we skeptical about leaving our shoes with a man on a cart in the busy streets, but while waiting and taking pictures of the outside I noticed people not just looking at us (like every single other person we have ever crossed paths with here in India) but also signaling us to go inside take a look around.

Poverty here is very in your face. It is not so much beggars, but rather the tarps and makeshift homes that line the city streets and along the road.  They seem to just prop up anywhere; you could see a family camped out in the middle of a traffic circle.  I get seem to get over how contrasting India is as a whole.  As we travel away from the business though, most of the surroundings are very run down and littered.  Waste is everywhere and piles of garbage accumulate along the streets.  You also can’t escape how many people live here.  There is never an area without someone about ten feet away from you.  People are out in the streets, working on construction or their land, or most commonly just sitting in chairs in front of their tiny shacks.  I think it has become so common, that we don’t actually realize how many people there are constantly surrounding us at all times, and all these people without a doubt stare at us like they have never seen an actually white person in their lives.

The food here is actually pretty good.  We are now remembering taste and smells and can look at dish and know that it is cheese or has chicken or whatnot.  I wouldn’t say that the food is terribly spicy, but each dish has a very distinct spice or flavor to it.  One night after a play we walked around getting food, and I remember looking for a half hour for something “plain”.  At 10pm I don’t think I could handle a heavy dish of heavily spiced food. I finally found momos, which are chicken dumplings, which of course came with a spicy sauce on the side!

Hagglers

We began our day with a business visit to DSCL which introduced us to the benefits and opportunities of agriculture in the rural areas of India.  Unlike reliance food stores, DSCL believes that the future is with the poor on the farms.  They set up hubs which sell basic products to the rural population.  I am a little skeptical about their approach, especially with India’s vision of an urbanized and modern country by 2020.  It seems that the country as a whole is trying to reduce the number of rural farmers and build up cities, so basing your business around these areas does not seem to lay on solid foundation. We concluded our visit with their favorite chicken salad or tomato and cucumbers crust-less sandwiches.

 

Our next stop was the crowded and hectic streets of Chandni Chowk.  I would compare it to America’s China town, times India’s population of over a billion people.  We split into small group and began our journey through the streets congested with people, dogs, cars, bikes, handcarts and motorcycles.  Needless to say, the honking did not stop just because you were walking by foot or were in an ally way.  This was one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.  We got a hands on experience with the Indian culture and the typical shopping experience of the people who live here.  Everyone young and old would stare at us as we walked and tried to get us into their shops.  My group went into a scarf store which they sat us on cushions and pull out hundreds of silk scarves.  We sat there for almost 45 minutes thinking they were only 200 rupees each, turns out they were 1200 rupees per scarf so we each haggled and bought them at a lower price.  Haggling is definitely a sport here in the streets and you could go back and forth until you got the price you wanted, either way they were making a profit.  Eventually my little group caught up with Professor Gupta who was going to take a few of us to what he called an adventurous eating experience.  We got a tiny table in what was a small store front in the middle of an ally way and we ordered dinner for 50 rupees each, that is about two bucks! It was definitely an experience just sitting down at the place.

We eventually made our way back to the beginning of the road which was the Red Fort.  It was where the king and queen lived years ago and ruled the city.  We walked through the large estate, saw where the king used to sit and watched a sound and light show which took us through the history of the kingdom which controlled India many years ago.

 

Indian Celebration

We began at Akshardham Temple Complex.  It was a shame we couldn’t take our cameras inside because the temple’s architecture was out of this world.  Each and every wall was covered with carvings, the detail work was outstanding, and not an inch was left out.  The complex was enormous, and was located near the river which is unique because the land tends to flood during monsoon season.  Professor Gupta said that they believe since this is the house of God it is ultimately protected.  Again, what I find so interesting that there is this multi-million dollar complex on land neighboring slum communities. If I have learned anything about India so far is its ability to coexist across various platforms of differences.  The temple was devoted to the story about the young boy who left his family and took on a life focused on spirituality and peace with the world was very interesting.  It is unlike other stories because this was said to have happened about 300 years ago (1700s) and they continue his journey and mission today.  Most miracle stories preached in churches have said to have happened thousands of years ago making it difficult for people to believe.  Of course the day I wear a skirt for the business meetings we go to the temple which prohibits you to enter the complex with your knees showing, so I was walking around with a sheet around my legs for the entire day. I did end up keeping it so it was a great souvenir of our day at the complex.

The meeting with the CEO of HCL was very inspirational.  He guided our question and answer session into more of a captivating speech.  His ability to understand and listen to his employees while admitted that he himself is not perfect proved to be a recipe for success for himself as a leader, but also for the company as a whole.

My favorite part of the day, as well as the whole trip was our face to face experience with the Indian culture tonight.  I was impressed with the way the artists applied the henna so quickly and effortlessly, yet left beautiful art on our hands, and it lasts for 15 days so we get to go to class with henna tattoos!! Everyone dressed up and enjoying the night together was a great way for our group to bond.  Professor Gupta’s friends and family took us in with open arms and shared their home with us.  It was amazing how everyone, young and old enjoyed the celebration of the Lahore.  All the neighbors were invited and we had a bon fire and danced around, while throwing peanut into the fire for good luck.  There was red and gold extravagant tent with food and dessert, and then a DJ and dance floor on the patio!

India Day 1

Our first stop was the India gate.  It is a memorial for the soldiers who died fighting for their freedom.  There are thousands of names inscribed onto the walls and an eternal flame is kept burning to represent the ‘unknown’ soldier.  January 26^th is their independence day and there were various groups marching down the road practicing for the official parade in a few weeks.  It was amazing to see the soldiers so up close and personal.  They were all unusually tall and had on these interesting hats.   As we walked down the road, taking pictures I was amazed to see how interested the people were in us as we were in them.  Towards the end of our walk more and more soldiers had their phones out and were taking pictures of us!

Our next stop was the American Embassy. They spoke to us about bridging the political gap between the USA and India and how they attempt to control their relationship.  Apparently, people to people relationships are very good, yet the governments are falling behind.  They described their career path as more of a lifestyle and a calling.  They were on tour and could be moved from place to place at any moment.  One the woman, who seemed fairly young, was from queens and had been stationed around the world.  She mentioned her spouse was in the same field and they had been separated for months at a time because they were stationed in different locations.  I couldn’t imagine being away from my family, friends and especially husband for that long and being thrown into a completely foreign country on my own, although she said she loves her job and enjoys the ambiguity of her future, which I found very interesting.

We took a quick stop at a Sikh temple.  Sikhism is described as a very modern religion; they do not worship a specific idol and firmly observe equality among all men and women.  Men are not supposed to cut their hair; therefore they wear the turban to cover it up.   We took off our shoes and socks and walked barefoot across the cold marble into the temple.  Everyone had to cover their hair with a scarf, and we dipped our feet in water before entering and after leaving the temple.  What was most interesting was that everyone ‘working’ at the temples were volunteers and change from day to day.  For example, if there was a man sweeping the outside balcony, it was on his own time at his own free will.

We took a tour through the Parliamentary museum. We had to go through three different security checkpoints and then finally received a tour of the museum.  It was an interactive tour through India’s political history.

McDonalds delivers!  Finally, our lunch arrives around 2pm, we hadn’t eaten since 6:30 am.  Professor Gupta ordered us McDonalds because he said unlike America it is considered a luxury to eat McyD’s here in India. He said people even go there on dates!

We then take a walk around the area outside our hotel.  There were a lot of tiny shops and a garden at the center. I bought a traditional Indian shirt to wear to a celebration we’re going to later in the week.  Finally we get back to the hotel, take a quick shower and then head downstairs for a welcome ceremony.  They placed a necklace of flowers around our necks and dotted us with a red dust. For dinner we went to this nice restaurant known for their meat.   We sat around these couches and small tables and they came around and served us several types of chicken and other options.  We were ate our faces off and when we were finally stuffed, we found out that was only appetizers!