India: The Colorful Country

Considering how Seema taking me to get my eyebrows threaded was the extent of my exposure to Indian culture, I was really unsure of what to expect from this massive country. The library flooding with requests for Slumdog Millionaire and Bollywood films definitely didn’t help either. The Indian inter-port students kept referring to India as the “colorful country” and I couldn’t put it any better.
The first day I had a field lab for my intro to Anthropology class, so I stayed in Kochin while the rest of my friends started their trip to Delhi. Our field lab was a “cultural immersion” trip that started with a cooking class and museum visit and ended at the SAS welcome reception. On the way to the cooking class, our bus driver (who was a history teacher) gave us a brief run-down of Kerala. Kerala is the southern most state of India and is often considered a “model-state” for the country as it is the only state with 100% literacy and 0 beggars. What I found most admirable about Kerala however is how the different religions and cultures live side by side with very little conflict. Our cooking instructor even said “there is unity in our diversity” Everyone celebrates each others holidays, regardless of their traditions. The cooking class was hot and long, but the food was delicious. Following the class we went to a folklore museum. Although I’m sure it was very cool, I spent little time outside of the air-conditioned souvenir shop, sorry mom. After the museum we went to the welcome ceremony put on by SAS. It featured a variety of Indian dances, an opportunity to talk with local university students, and free henna and saree wrapping. After being fully decorated in Indian garb and feeling “culturally immersed” we headed back to the ship for the night. I packed my bags and went to bed early so I could be ready for my 7 am flight.

Day two we woke up at 4:30 to meet our cab driver. This was the first country I decided to sign up for a huge organized trip so we didn’t have to make any of our own travel arrangements, which was super nice. We traveled all morning and landed to Delhi around noon. In Delhi we were greeted by our tour guide’s son Vinay with flowered necklaces and were taken to meet the rest of our group. Delhi was so developed and clean. It was unbelievably different from the rest of the India we saw. The parliament building and presidents house were enormous and so nice. We met at the Gandhi exhibit. Again, I’m sure this place was really cool but I was super excited to see my friends and didn’t spend much time engaged, sorry mom. We went to dinner at a “traditional” Indian restaurant (full of Westerners), where our guide (thankfully) ordered for us. I hate spicy food and everything on the menu looked the same, but he hooked us up. Thanks Chaman. Chaman then told us that we were going to a “hand-made craft market”, so naturally we all got excited to buy cheap souvenirs. Wrong. This “market” was a handmade carpet shop, and after a two-hour demonstration of carpet making, we were each individually confronted to purchase a thousand dollar carpet. I’m sorry, but did this man really think a group of 28 college kids wanted to buy carpets??? How would we even get these home?? We all died laughing as he rolled out hundreds of options trying to persuade us to purchase one. Although we didn’t get carpets, we did get some stuff form the handmade textiles. Many of us bought scarves and a few got traditional sarees. After this stop, we boarded the bus and departed on a five-hour ride to Agra. It took approximately 30 minutes before we had convinced the bus driver to stop for snacks… This happened several times.

We woke up at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise over the Taj Mahal from a garden across the river. As we rode to the garden we were all shocked by how different Agra was from Delhi. The buildings were smaller and falling apart, and there were animals everywhere! Monkeys roamed freely across the tops of the buildings, and cows, pigs, and chickens hungout in the greenery beside the road. The garden was a foggy maze of eerie leaf-less trees. It was really cool. The Taj Mahal looked unbelievable across the river, and the sunrise over top of it was magical. We headed back to the hotel for breakfast before we reloaded the bus to actually visit the Taj. Side note: two people stepped in cow poop loading the bus… that’s how common street cows are. Since we arrived in a large tour bus, we had to park in a far away lot and take shuttles to the entrance. As we pulled into the lot, sales men patiently waited holding all of their goods. It was nearly impossible to get off the bus as they bombarded you with their “good deals”. These people were relentless as they followed us on our walk to the shuttles begging to bargain. One man in particular wouldn’t leave me alone. I made it VERY clear that I wasn’t interested in his stupid elephant key-chain, but he just wouldn’t leave me alone. I kept turning my back and walking away, but he kept reappearing. He ever CHASED our van after me… creepy. On the way back I made sure to recruit one of my tall guy friends to shield us. Anyway, we escaped and made is safely to one of the gates. THIS WAS THE MOMENT WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. I was surprised by how short of a line there was to get in, but I later learned that Chaman arranged for us to go in the VIP gate (thanks Chaman, you’re the man). We all stood in front of the monument in complete awe. WOW. The building was more beautiful and extraordinary than I had ever imagined. We all learned about the Taj in school, but very few of us knew it’s actual significance… The building was built by a King for his second wife, and now serves as a mortuary for both their ashes. It took 20,000 people 22 years to hand lay all the marble. We spent a few hours here taking pictures and exploring, and I was a legit celebrity. I think over 40 people stopped me asking to take my picture, and even when I was done being objectified and tried to walk away people would chase after me with their selfie sticks. People even handed me their kids… this was a lot. My friends and I all came to terms with the fact that no man would ever love any of us enough to erect a Wonder of the World for us and headed back to our bus on horse drawn carriages.

We stopped by Agra where we all ran around like small children feeding Chipmunks. Chaman got our hopes up for another “market” that ended up being another demonstration shop, except this time it was thousand-dollar hand laid marble tables. Thanks, but no thanks. He made up for this by letting us have McDonalds for dinner. Note to self: the “spicy” McChicken at McDonalds actually means the “red-hot catch-your-mouth-on-fire” McChicken… At dinner Chaman started preparing us for our train ride to Varanasi. The inter-port students gave us strict instructions to avoid the Indian rail system, so we were all a little nervous. Chaman’s “be smart and don’t let go of your stuff” speech didn’t help with this either. The train station was the first time I’ve truly felt uncomfortable this semester. It was just wow. Rats were running through the dirty tunnels and thousands of birds sat overhead (three people got pooped on). We boarded into the narrow hallway of a rusty, paint-chipped train. We barely fit. The sides were lined with three levels of bunkbeds packed with families. My bed was, of course, double booked. So we awkwardly waited while Chaman argued with the family. I ended up getting a middle bed, and an Indian man across from me rearranged himself so that he could watch me sleep- comforting… (picture attached). Luckily I was below a friend that could drape her sheet over my head to hide me while I “slept” holding all my belongings. My roommate slept with cockroaches on her wall and a few of us heard rats. The toilet was a hole directly to the train tracks… this was an experience. After arriving to Varanasi safely at 3 in the morning, we hurried through the train station and weaved through the hundreds of homeless people sleeping on the ground. Upon exiting Chaman looked at us and said “now that, you guys, is the real Indian experience”. WHOA.

Varanasi is the city I was looking most forward to. Home of the Ganges, it is considered the holiest place in India as it was believed to be founded by the god Shiva. We boarded our bus around 3:30 am and were given the option to either sleep for 3 hours in the hotel or head straight to a sunrise over the Ganges. Excited to be in the city, we all chose the boat ride. As we drove into the city, I witnessed the most extreme poverty I have ever seen.  Part of the reason it has taken me so long to post this blog is because I am really struggling to express how we felt and what we saw in Varanasi, so I apologize for my loss of words here. The colorful streets were packed with beat-up buildings and shacks that were completely surrounded by piles of garbage in which people and cows rummaged for breakfast. We got off the bus to walk to the waters edge and were immediately overwhelmed. Traffic buzzed by as we faced the saddest beggars and weaved through cow manure. Our guide explained that “rush hour” starts around this time, when people come for their first prayer and for morning washing. I was completely astonished by how much this city revolved around religion. Once at the river, we all loaded into a boat. As the sun rose to our right, I sat in the boat at a complete loss of words. The Ganges river is some of the most dangerous water in the world filled with thousands of bacteria and parasites (SAS students have died previous years from getting in), yet hundreds of people were bathing in the water, completely submerging themselves, and even drinking it. How? Scientifically, this should be hurting the people. Up until about a decade ago, individuals were even allowed to float dead bodies in the river (because cremation can be expensive), and people are still drinking it? I was mind boggled. As we continued down the river we passed several of Varanasi’s famous ghats (stairs into the water) and came across a cremation ghat. It is here that there are public cremation ceremonies 24 hours a day. Again, my jaw dropped as I saw four men carry a wrapped body down the stairs and carefully build a fire around him. It was in this moment that I had to recognize how remarkably different cultures are from one another. The ideas and beliefs about death, privacy, health, and more were all being challenged in my head. I felt confused but fascinated. Overwhelmed.

We got back into the bus and all sat in a silent daze. This could very well be due to how little sleep we have had in the last 48 hours, but I think it had more to do with how completely speechless we all were. My one friend broke the silence: “wow…”. We all repeated and sat quiet and fazed. We were all ready to head back to the hotel to regroup and rest, but nope! We stopped at two temples. Both were probably very cool, but I was so tired, over-stimulated, and hungry that I couldn’t even focus. We finally got some rest before heading back out to some more site-seeing. We went to another temple, a museum, and an excavation site but found a greater interest in the souvenir stands on the side of the roads. It was heart-wrenching walking to and from the bus as young beggars with tattered clothes and dark eyes would come pulling on our clothes asking for money. Our guide told us not to give them money as they are often slaves to the cartel making a donation more harmful than helpful. I felt helpless in my ability to help their situation. As if being followed by sales men wasn’t bad enough.

We took the bus into Varanasi and took rickshaws back to the waters edge for a night cruise. The rickshaws were nuts. The roads are unbelievably packed, and people ran into each other casually. One of my friends’ rickshaw driver broke his bike hitting a cow.  Although relatively dangerous, this was another one of those “true India” moments. It was so fun being in the mix of traffic and passing all the local shops. Back at the waters edge, we re-boarded the boat for a night cruise. One of the young boys selling post-cards recognized me from the morning and of course begged me to buy his stuff. I agreed to maybe get something once we get back, hoping he would just go away. We went on our river cruise and had a henna party! Chaman arranged for a henna artist to come on the boat and freehand some designs for all of us. While this was happening we continued past the cremation ghats for a second time, except this time in the dark, making the light of the fire more obvious. There were 12 different cremations happening. I watched astonished but felt almost invasive at the same time. I was uncomfortable, but as my Anthropology teacher says, “with uncomfort comes development and growth of understanding and acceptance”. I kept this in mind. We headed back to the main ghat and our boat pulled into a sea of others to watch the nightly Aariti Ceremony (ceremony for the sun). The presentation was elaborate and beautiful. I was amazed by the production and even more amazed by the crowd. The stairs and street were flooded with individuals watching. This happens every single night… Again, wow.

Back on the shore waited my little sales man… of course. I agreed to buy his post cards if he would please leave me alone. He agreed and said he would “help” me. I wasn’t sure what this meant, but those post cards proved to be the best 2 dollars I spent the entire trip. My little friend yelled at other sales people as they approached me (hallelujah!) and told them to go away. He also walked with us back to the rickshaws giving us an explanation of each of the temples and religious sites. We had our own personal tour guide. It was awesome. On the walk back to the bus everyone was begging for KFC and Chaman agreed. As we “headed to KFC” we stopped at a hotel where Chaman told us all to get out. Confused we did and were instructed to the rooftop where Chaman had arranged a surprise rooftop dinner/dance party. AH! This was so fun and the perfect ending to our trip around India.

The next morning we woke up and traveled all day. Literally aallllll day. By 11pm Meryl and I got a hotel in Kerala so we could shop the following day. We woke up and took a tuk-tuk around the city getting a tour of the fishing village and surrounding areas. I, of course, stopped in a spice market to pick up some goodies for my mom. We shopped around the city and ate a delicious thali (traditional rice dish with a variety of different sides- pictured) before heading back to the ship to wrap up our trip.

As Meryl and I sat on the back deck and watched the boat pull out of port, we reflected on our time and debated jumping off and swimming back. I was not ready to leave and my 10-year visa pretty much guarantees my return. I was so fascinated by all the cultural differences. My first tour guide challenged everyone to think about Indian culture as “not better or worse, but instead different”. I found this hard as we witnessed some extreme examples of segregation and gender inequality, but it was truly valuable to analyze the country in the context of its history. The caste system is very much a part of the Indian social structure, as is arranged marriage. One of my guides explained how he lived in a home with his parents, his family, and his brother’s family and how each source of income is given to the father to manage. This was hard for me to understand considering how I was raised to strive for independence. I can’t imagine my dad EVER picking my husband for me… Similarly, I would have a problem with my father in law tried to control my income. I struggled accepting a world where individuals are limited by the capabilities of their caste, but I was forced to keep an open mind. With this open mind I was able to absorb as much as possible; immersing myself in areas with extreme poverty and trying to understand how for some, religious salvation takes precedent over all. This only reiterated to me how happiness and wealth are not determined by the amount of money in your bank account. So many people were happy with so little, and as my guide explained, “many of these people are rich in culture, family, and faith”.

In a country so different, I began to realize how similar we all were. India, you’ve left me completely speechless.

And now for my interesting facts and observations:

1. OKAY ANIMALS WOW. Here is a comprehensive list of all the animals I saw in the wild: goats, cows, pigs, chickens, monkeys, chipmunks, dogs, water buffalo, parrots, and donkeys

2. Everything in India is spicy. “No spice” means medium spice…

3. Indian sales people are PERSISTENT and relentless. It doesn’t matter if you don’t want it. You’re going to buy it.

4. Cows are sacred and can’t be killed so they roam the streets no differently than squirrels at home.

5. Kerala is one of the only self-elected communist governments

 

This blog post doesn’t give India enough justice. So much happened that I just can’t put it all into words. Like I said SPEECHLESS UGH

Next stop: AFRICA!!!