INDIA – Four cities in six days. The best way to describe India was craziness with a lot going on in a short amount of time and a lot of people. Reflecting now as we travel to Singapore it has just started to sink in just how much of the country I covered in six days. Once we docked in Cochin, I immediately flew up to Delhi, and then continued to Agra and Varanasi on consecutive days after that. Currently, I’m pretty much as far away from home as you can get, half way around the world. It’s hard to believe I’m already at this point on the voyage as we move into Asia.
On day one, I was first off the ship because our group had to be to the airport quickly in order to make our flight to Delhi. Somehow this is the third time I’ve been the first group off the ship so I have been really lucky so far (As you will find out later, I know for a fact I will be the first group off in San Diego too!). I knew that our flight to Delhi would be a few hours but it was odd when the plane started to land just over an hour into the flight. I guess it’s quite popular in Indian air travel to have layovers in cities to let passengers off and come on. So it was quite bizarre wondering what city we were in and why we had landed in this place. Delhi was not what I was expecting for the capital city of India. I was expecting a city similar to what I saw in Ghana. A city that was dirty and not too pleasing to the eye. To my surprise, Delhi is one of the greener cites that I have seen with tree lined streets along with open grass fields and parks. Not many large skyscrapers dominate the scene but instead diverse government buildings, monuments, and historical structures all with various architectures fill the skyline. Delhi is the second largest city in India behind Mumbai and that was immediately apparent when I arrived as we drove through the city to our hotel because of just how many cars were on the road and by the actual size of the city.
The second day was a long action packed day trip to Agra, a former capital city of India. The day began at 4:30 a.m. in order to be able to make the train to Agra aboard the Shatabdi Express. You could write a whole book on Indian train travel itself. It truly is a unique Indian experience. So I was very intrigued to see the stations and environment. Outside the station vendors scramble to sell breakfast items to travelers and packs of cars pull in front of the station to drop off passengers honking their horns. A lot of action before the sun is even up yet. Inside the Delhi station is bustling with activity even at 5:45 a.m. Thousands of people moving to find their platforms is an overwhelming environment along with a confusing system to locate the correct spot to be. Aboard the train was probably not the most typical Indian experience as our car was air conditioned and served chai but it still was very interesting people watching. I sat next to an Indian who tried to speak with me a little bit about where I’m from and my travels. I tried to glance at the Indian newspaper to get an idea of India’s current events but the sunrise over the countryside was another good distractor for the two-hour trip to Agra. Sleep wasn’t an option because I know I didn’t want to miss anything on the train ride. The itinerary for Agra was filled with visiting various historic sites of the area including Fatehpur Sikri, the Agra Fort, and of course, the Taj Mahal. The Agra Fort was where the capital of India once was located and then it moved to Fatehpur Sikri and then back to the Agra Fort again during the Mughal reign. Both of these spots provide unique sites of historical Indianarchitecture and are World Heritage Sites. The sandstone of the structures has a red colored tint to it along with white marble lined areas. The highlight of the day though had to be the Taj Mahal, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It truly is an amazing site. I was there in the late afternoon for a couple hours as the sun set in the distance. I never realized that you could actually go inside of the Taj, which you are able to do. The massive size of the structure along with the exquisite detail of the marble is beautiful. From the distance it’s easy to get mesmerized from this perfect symmetrical object in front my eyes. I was amazed just how complex the design was yet it just looked perfect in every way. As the sun sets, the Taj changes colors from a white to a pinkish to a darker grey color. Once finished at the Taj, we headed to thetrain station for the trip back to Delhi aboard a similar train we took in the morning.
Day three I was awake pretty early again to see more of Delhi before heading to Varanasi. Probably the most notable place that I saw in the morning was the location where Gandhi was cremated. There is an entire park area that is dedicated to the location. Also there is an area similar to the National Mall in D.C. where there is a massive arch dedicated to fallen soldiers that is a pretty interesting monument to see. In the afternoon, I took a flight to Varanasi landing there just before the sun began to set. Immediately the bus took us to the city center area to get our first taste of Varanasi. Varanasi known as “the holy city of India” is one of the oldest cities in the world built B.C. and older than cities like Jerusalem. It’s hard to fathom just how old the city actually is. Inside the city there gets a point where it’s extremely hard to move cars through. So there I hoped on a cycle rickshaw to get further inside. From the cycle rickshaw it was a lot easier to see how nuts traffic in India is. The double yellow line is non-existent. The middle of the road is pretty much for the taking for whoever wants to take it and pass the other traffic. Cars pass traffic then dodge out of the way at the last minute in order to avoid the car down the road coming straight at you. On the cycle rickshaw, it’s amazing being up close to the traffic craziness as people on motor bikes zoom by along with bigger cars honking their horn wanting people on bikes to get out of the way. Once through the madness, it gets to a point where only foot traffic can survive. Here large stairs cascade down to the Ganges River called Ghats. Each evening after the sunset there is a ceremony that I watched with music, fire, and incense. People gather around the steps and come up on boats to view the seven platforms in which they perform the Hindus ritual. The next day we were headed back to the same place to see the contrast in the rituals that go on during the morning and evening at the Ganges.
The main reason for a visit to Varanasi is to come to the Ganges at sunrise so I woke up at 4:30 a.m. once again on day four in order to make our way back to where we were the previous evening. Hindus people come to the river at sunrise to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges. This practice is unlike any religious practice I have ever witnessed before. TheGanges itself is heavily polluted however. Indians haven’t quite figured out the concept of disposing trash properly yet and much of it makes its way to the river. The river is also a place of body dumping because of its holiness toHindus. Someone who dies in Varanasi is cremated at the banks and granted instant salvation. Although I didn’t see any, sometimes bodies are just dumped into the river if they cannot be cremated. Surprisingly it wasn’t too stinky, the sight of the crematory at the banks was pretty surreal along with people bathing at the banks as the sun began to peak over the haze on the horizon. Inside the older parts of the city the walkways are very narrow. Not much is open in the early morning but with a group of Americans walking through the city it’s easy to draw people’s attention that want to sell things. Varanasi silk is a world famous item soclothing dominates the stalls that line the streets. Varanasi is also a holy area for Buddhists, something that I was not completely aware of. It’s in a city nearby called Sarnath. A very old memorial was built there to recognize where Buddha gave his first sermon after he achieved Enlightenment. There are also remnants of monasteries built there that were unfortunately destroyed when Muslims came through and found the city. It’s also considered one of the four places of pilgrimage in Buddhism. On premises, there is a museum housing a very amazing sculpture of Buddha withvery fine detail, which is seen as the best representation of the man himself in the entire world. After another whirlwind morning it was time to head back to the hotel and get ready to go to the airport. The rest of the day would be spent traveling back to Cochin on flights. This time we had only one stop in Delhi before heading straight to Cochin. It was an exhausting day getting back to the ship around midnight.
The last two days I spent exploring Cochin. It was great to be away from a large group and be able to do things at a slower pace. On the fifth day, I went to the Fort Cochin area of the city, which is the oldest part of Cochin. In this part of the city, there are old fort remnants, Chinese fishing nets, and a spice market. In Cochin, the area is very diverse so there is also a lot of a different religious influence. On the last day, I got a group together that wanted to go to the backwater region in the area. It was an hour and a half drive to get there. This region is very similar to Amazon lifestyle with people living right on the water. The area is verybeautiful lined with coconut trees and canal ways leading to homes along the waterways. The backwater region is a very popular vacation spot for Indian people. For my last few hours in India, we decided to throw a little St. Patrick’s Day celebration of our own at a nearby hotel but it wasn’t quite the same without all the green. I heard it was amazing weather in Cleveland with lots of people this year.
As you can probably see from the fast nature in trying to explain what happened while in India it only now is hitting me just how much I was able to accomplish in six days. Everything was really fast paced but it was an awesome time and well worth it. India is a very interesting country and it will be interesting to see how it compares with the rising powers in the world as India is currently achieving economic growth of 8-9% a year. India has a population of over 1.2 billion people on land size that is 1/3 of the size of the U.S.A. The U.S.A. has population of .3 billion. So that’s a lot of people in the country in a smaller region.
Food ~ There’s so much good food in India, where to begin. I don’t have specific names of dishes but I definitely had a lot of Dahl (Lentils). A lot of Curry dishes, and Indian bread is fantastic, a lot likepita bread but crispy. Pretty much all dishes are served with rice. Food in the north and south are very different. Northern food is more of what Americansconsider to be Indian food.
Malabar Tiger Prawn Curry – Malabar is a local spice mixed with coconut milk. A lot of the food was pretty spicy but I enjoyed it for the most part, it wasn’t too hot.
Drinks ~ Kingfisher beer. It’s available in the states…try it! Chai – Indian tea with milk-very good.
I know everything is going to start to get even more insane as the ship is heading down the Strait of Malacca toward the largest trading hub in the world, Singapore. Going down the Strait every so often you will see cargo ships pass by which is pretty cool to see. We arrive in Singapore tomorrow, Thursday, Mar. 22 where we get pretty much a full day to explore. Then it’s another quick turnaround to get to the rest of the ports through Asia.
The first day on ship after India we had the Sea Olympics, which is a Semester at Sea tradition. It’s a fun day filled with various competitive activities. I did things like trivia and the scavenger hunt. Each floor on the ship is split up into different seas and that is how we compete. I am in the Aegean Sea and we actually won! The prize is the right to be first off the ship in San Diego and our own private party in the Glazier Lounge (The Faculty/Staff Lounge), which is actually a really sought after prize.
Today, our final day before Singapore, we have been learning about Vietnam and the Vietnam War before we arrive there on Sunday. We have some very interesting people on the ship who are historians and veterans of the war so its been really interesting learning from them. Actually a pair of lifelong learners who joined the voyage recently was Sen. Chuck Robb and his wife Lynda Bird Johnson Robb. Lynda is actually the daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson. Chuck is a former senator and governor in Virginia. He also served in the Vietnam War. So it has been really amazing hearing from them first hand accounts of perspective of what was happening in the LBJ administration and on the ground as well.
