My Last Week in India

I'm now sitting on the airplane to Kathmandu (well I was when I started this but then it took a while to get internet to post this) reflecting on my time in Delhi and India as a whole. Overall, I enjoyed my time Delhi and it was probably my favorite city to visit.

Saturday
Saturday at 6:30 AM the six of us left for our 2.5 hour flight to Chennai from Kathmandu. I had to send my big backpack through a security thing before I checked it at the counter and this whole process took a very long time. The plane ride then felt quick because I was asleep for the majority of it although I was very cold the whole time.

Once we landed I was very happy to realize that I would never be in Chennai again and was looking forward to the rest of my travels. We then took a taxi to our hotel and were all welcomed by a beer. This was a very nice surprise and the staff was very welcoming so I felt quite comfortable. After eating some tasty cheese parata (kind if like a thick tortilla) we took a nap and decided to roam around Delhi a bit.

Tim left without us right away because that's just what he does and Evan stayed back so Mike, Bon, Morgan and I then went out to first see a sight a friend recommended to me and then was thinking about seeing some shops. We first had to figure out the Delhi metro and quickly became masters. Rides on the metro were very cheap with the average ride costing 15 Rs. or so (~25 cents).

Our first sight was cool to see because it was a place where they stored water a long time ago and had some nice architecture to it. I especially found it nice because it was located in somewhat modern neighborhood but the community still kept this old landmark. Once Mike got pooped on by a bird we then decided to move somewhere else.

We then found an auto to take us to a shop recommended to us that had some classic India stuff for tourists and such to buy. I knew I couldn't buy any more stuff because I still had to buy stuff in Nepal but my friends ended up buying scarves as gifts...but then I couldn't resist and I bought a plain scarf I liked for the equivalent of $3.30 USD.

Later we got a text from Tim sayings he was at an American diner so we went there right away desperate for American food. Of course it wasn't the greatest but my spinach, feta and mushroom omelet was incredibly satisfying. The food I miss the most here by far is spinach because I'm kind of a spinach addict.

Then we decided to head back and we had another drink with the friendly hotel staff.

Sunday
Sunday we did a hop-on hop-off bus tour to see the sites around Delhi and the highlight was Red Fort. The other places we went to were cool to see but I've already forgotten what they use to be and whatnot. Here's pictures though.

Red Fort

Red Fort

The Mosque we didn't like so much

Market

Market

The toy in my Happy Meal

The night ended by going to a famous restaurant called Karims. It's famous because the  cooks are the great great grand kids of the cooks of the kings at the time. It was especially cool because it's a Muslim restaurant so no one ate until sun set. Once the suns did set though the waiters first had to eat and they ate so much food in ten minutes. Then they quickly got up and took orders without writing anything down. The food was of course delicious and I had a few kebab pieces that were as good (if not better) than what I had in Turkey.

Monday
We left at 6:00 AM to leave for our tour to Agra. Our first stop after a quite bumpy ride was at the site where Lord Krishnan, a Hindu god, was supposedly born. I didn't really get the place because I'm very unfamiliar with the Hindu religion. There were no pictures allowed and the place was nice on the inside but I also thought it was a bit gaudy, especially the shops selling plastic toys and guns.

After being stuck in Agra traffic for a very long time our next stop was Agra Fort which was really nice on the inside and you could also see the Taj Mahal in the distance.

Red Fort

Tour guide explaining the game kings would play by having a life-size board with beautiful women as the moving pieces

Agra Fort

Agra Fort

The grand finale was the Taj Mahal and costed us 750 Rs. This was a ton compared to the previous 100 or 250 Rs. tickets we had to pay for other attractions but it was still equivalent to only $12.50.

I was nervous that it wouldn't live up to the hype that so many people have created about it but it truly was a great piece of art. I don't know how to explain it but all of the marble and the intricate designs was just awesome. The tour guide told us it took 22 years to build and 20,000 artists to construct it all.
 weren't allowed to take pictures on the inside but if you ask me, the inside wan't as cool as the outside. Maybe I'm saying this though because it was pretty dark in there with inly natural light so I didn't see a ton.

Gate outside the Taj Mahal

The men and their mustaches...

Boy band imitation picture

It was my dad's birthday that day so I tried to show I was thinking of him

I was sitting on this bench and then these people kind of pushed me off

And then they wanted a picture with me

After about 97,364 pictures hour two hours were then up and we headed back to the bus, avoided the many people trying to sell us crap and got back to Delhi by 10 PM.

Tuesday
We decided to sleep in for a bit on Tuesday and really didn't do much that day. We eventually went to a shopping place similar to where I was in Hyderabad that sold Indian stuff from all different states and was a good place for the other people in my group to get last minute gifts. I only got a few small things even though there was a ton if stuff I wanted to buy. It was also nice though because we found a different market nearby where I was able to buy some stuff I needed for Nepal like scissors, a pocket knife, and a lighter. It then started to downpour so we waited out the storm in a shop and then decided to relax at the hotel for pretty much the rest of the day.

Oh, and most of our meals was from this small Chinese restaurant around the corner from our place that made a ton of food for only 50 Rs which is less than one dollar. And it was quite tasty so that was a plus.

Wednesday
We saw India Gate which was okay but we could go in to walk around because it was closed. We then went to Lotus Temple in seemingly the most round about way possible and enjoyed the calmness of this place. Last stop was the Akshardam which was a Hindu temple that opened in 2005 and was giant and very intricate. It was nice but I also didn't get it because I don't understand the religion.

After a long, very hot and humid day we went back to the hotel to rest, have one more free beer and were on our way. I separated from the group at the metro station when they had to go to the airport back to Chennai and I went on a different route to IIT Delhi campus.

India Gate

Lotus Temple

Lotus Temple

My time with the Srivastavas
My friend from high school, Jay Srivastava and his dad offered me to stay with his relatives who live on IIT's campus when they found out I would be alone in Delhi for two days. This ended up being very nice because the campus is very safe and the family was also very nice to be with.

Jay's uncle greeted me once I got to their apartment and then met the mom and two daughters, Mitali and Matisha. I then had a delicious dinner with this awesome chicken, some paratha and something else but I forgot. I then learned that they planned to feed me all of my meals and I was so happy for this because homemade Indian food is way better than the stuff I've had at the restaurants.

IIT Delhi Campus

IIT Delhi Campus

Matisha and Me

Mitali and Me

Mrs. and Mr. Srivatava

The girls

Overall, I enjoyed my time in Delhi and especially enjoyed my time with the Srivastavas. They were incredibly helpful and nice and even gave me a gift which I kind of felt terrible about because I didn't have a gift to give them...but it'll be sent in the mail once I get home. I also learned a lot about school in in India from the girls and I think they also learned a bit from me about a few things about American culture and whatnot.

Reflection On My India Experience
India is a very unique country with an incredibly rich history. With this the culture is a lot to handle for someone who grew up in America and I cannot say by any means that I understand the culture. I think someone has to stay there for at least six months or one year to maybe say "I get it" but even this may not be enough time. Some systems don't work very systematically but also seem to work (not sure if that makes sense) and I'm not sure if I'll ever understand it but it sure is interesting and respectable. I definitely feel like I've grown as a person because of this experience and have a learned a new way of find beauty in things I see. Although my group saw "Cranky Caroline" when talking to auto and taxi drivers more often than I would have liked or I would get frustrated with the way things went in the lab and at restaurants, I'm still very glad I came to India because it's been an incredible experience.

I know my perspective or outlook will change a lot when I come home and I'm kind of nervous about being bitter about how selfish or ungrateful I'll see Americans at home. We have so much stuff and have a huge mentality that buying more stuff will make us happier but this is such a twisted mentality. I'm also guilty of this because if you know me, you know I have too many clothes and knick-knacks but I have this urge to go back home and minimize the amount of stuff I have that kind of clutters my life. This really hit home when I was staying with the Srivastavas and seeing how few things the girls have compared to me. They only have  one third of a closet of clothes, share a room and did not have too many decorations or toys and also lived in an apartment smaller than the apartment I just moved out of at school. And with all of this, they seem just as happy (maybe more) without so much stuff and have a special appreciation for the simple things like the nice weather or the successes of their family.

I will remember my night at the nice nightclub with the MTV DJ in Hyderabad and I will also remember seeing many people sleep on the sidewalks and sleep with just their clothes while walking Delhi at night. This range in sights I saw was a very eye-opening experience and has made me reflect a lot about my life in America and also what life is about in general. I am very appreciative of my experience in India and have realized yet again how lucky I am that I happened to be born in America and have never really had a real worry in my lifetime compared to so many others in the world.

Thanks for reading my blog about India and I'm incredibly excited to tell you about my time in Nepal. I've been here for four days now and have loved everything so far...but I'll tell you more later! Can't wait to share!!! Here's a sneak peak to the view I have every morning with the Himilayas in the distance.

 

 

My Birthday Weekend in Bangalore

Last week began in an odd way in that four of our group of six went to the IIT hospital. Three were due to food poisoning (although they all got different treatments) and one was to check out an injury he got over the weekend. I luckily didn't have to go but still managed to get food poisoning sometime Tuesday night but felt fine in the morning.

Morgan and I celebrated July 4th by doing a tensile test of our first sample but unfortunately we didn't like the results. We eventually got home and decided to go out with everyone to a restaurant called the Flying Elephant at the Hyatt hotel because we heard good things about it. We also met some friends of friends of Morgan so it was nice to talk to them because they just got to Chennai and we gave them a bunch of advice.

The travel arrangements to get there were frustrating though because I called a taxi to pick us up at a certain time but they didn't get there for almost another 45 minutes because they didn't know where our building was. It took much time, a local security guard giving him directions on the phone and us calling to have a few back up options before he finally showed up. This wasn't too surprising though because going anywhere via taxi or auto is usually frustrating to some degree but that night I was over it. To his defense, I don't think our building is well known but still, if a customer tells the exact location it shouldn't take that long to get there. I think the problem with nearly all of the drivers here though is that they never say "I don't know how to get there." I wouldn't mind if they just said that up front and we give them directions but this just never happens.

Friday I then went to T-Nagar, a shopping district of Chennai, for the first time with Morgan and our new friends we met the night prior, Julia and Greg. This was cool and we went in a giant store equivalent to Meijer and then had food at a Chinese place. Oh, and I took my sari to a tailor and am going to pick it up today!

Bangalore

I slept for about 2.5 hours before waking up to take a train from Chennai to Bangalore. The train station smelled bad but the train itself wasn't that bad. I was able to sleep for about half of it and then read my book for the rest of it. We had a bit of a confusion once we got there because the person who was suppose to pick us up went to the wrong train station but eventually we met him.

The guy picking us up is a brother-in-law of one of the advisors of this trip and it was really nice of him to pick us up from the train station and arrange our hotel. We paid a bit more than we wanted for the hotel but it was worth the money because it had a nice bed, shower, lobby, internet, and also a really good continental breakfast with even baked beans, pasta, and French toast.

On our way to the hotel though we saw a Taco Bell not far away so that's where we chose to have lunch. The food wasn't too bad but after we ate we were a little nervous that it wouldn't settle well. But I think everyone was fine from it. Oh, and my mom gave me these obnoxious "Happy Birthday" glasses so nearly everywhere I went that day I got a picture with them on, including Taco Bell.

Tim, Morgan and I then decided to go out but the other guys were lame and stayed at the hotel. We first went to the Bangalore Turf Club not knowing if there'd be a horse race or not because it was on the way to our desired destination and there ended up being a race when we got there! We paid 20 Rs. to get in (~40 cents) and found it was packed on the inside. I was surprised by this because the only other horse race I went to was in Florida and wasn't too packed and just had old people smoking. I also didn't expect in general for Indians to be so interested in horse racing. But we sat to watch one race and then left because we felt we got the whole experience by just watching one.

We then wanted to get to the science museum because it got good reviews and were trying to have auto drivers take us but they were charging us way too much. Soon enough this guy came to us and offered us a fair price. He only understood "museum" though and took us to the modern art museum. It was kind of funny that this happened because Evan wanted to go to this museum, not the other, but decided to stay back because we weren't planning to go there.

Once we got there we found we only had a half hour to see the museum because it was closing soon and would have to pay the foreigner 150 Rs price which is a lot to only see the museum for a short time. We tried to get a discount and I even pulled the "it's my birthday" card but nothing worked. So then we decided to just walk around the museum to kill time. As we were walking around the back though we saw we could enter through the back without being asked for tickets and the security even guided us through where we had to go in the museum. So we got to see the art museum for free which was actually pretty cool, I really enjoyed it.

Then our auto driver insisted on taking us to the Parliament Building, a shopping place, and the Bangalore Palace for a good price so we went with it. The Parliament Building was really cool with its architecture but it was kind of a bummer that we couldn't see much of it because we couldn't go inside the gate and then there was construction outside the gate.

He then took us to a shopping place which really was the last place I needed to go because I already have too much stuff. But I was able to bargain a bag I wanted and also one other thing that I paid 750 Rs. in Hyderabad but got it for 300 there. Oh, and I was able to throw in two small elephant figures for free. It took a while to bargain but me insisting that I really didn't need the stuff and also saying that it was my birthday helped drive the price down. Even when I went back to the auto the driver asked how much I paid for my stuff and he was impressed.

We then went to Bangalore Palace which we didn't really want to go to because we heard it was a tourist trap and would cost 450 Rs. for a foreigner which is a ridiculous price. We just got to the gate though, found that it was closed, took a picture outside the gate (which we should've paid for), and left.

Morgan, Tim and I then went to a restaurant that Tim's guide book recommended to have a steak dinner and a pitcher of beer. We got both but the steak dinner was of quality from Bob Evans or something I think. Nonetheless, it was still nice to sit down, have my first legal beer, and relax for a bit.

After we wanted to get to the Biere (French for beer) Club because I read it was a good and unique brewery. Bob and Evan eventually met up with us and I had a mango beer that didn't have any mango taste but was still good. It was nice to hang out with everyone and this Indian guy was insisting that we had to go to a club and then his place after but did not want to go.

Over all, my birthday was really nice because we didn't have any big issues and it was over all a relaxing and enjoyable day.

Sunday at the zoo

After stuffing ourselves at breakfast we left for the zoo in the morning in a taxi we had for 8 hours. Our goal was to see a safari and then ride an elephant and we got to do one of those two things. This "safari" was cool but I felt weird about it because they really weren't in the actual wild, it was like a glorified zoo. It was nice though because we could see lions and tigers and bears (oh, my) up close. We later went to the actual zoo which had some cool animals and I saw a peacock with all of it's feathers out for the first time. I also petted an elephant but it felt way more weird than I expected because it had coarse black hair coming out of it about an inch long and the skin itself was like a dry, leathery feeling. The vibe there was weird though because the elephants seemed really sad with their living conditions.

Our next thing on the agenda was to get food and we decided to go the Hard Rock Café. It was expensive but well worth it. I had a had a drink, a salad, and shared a dessert with Morgan. Over all satisfying. We then went back to the hotel to relax for a bit, I took a nap, and then eventually went out to another brewery place that was better than the night before with good music.

Waiting outside Hard Rock Cafe

The guy who picked us up from the train station also went with and it was handy because he was able to insist on using the meter with the auto driver which kept the price way down and it was also cool to talk to him. It was funny when somehow we started talking about his girlfriend and found out that he's been dating her for ten months but has only seen her in person once on their first date. It was because his friend was going on a date with a girl and he was nervous so asked for him to also go where he met his friend's date's sister, now his girlfriend. She lives in Punjab, a northern state, which has been the reason why he hasn't seen her since. They Skype, text and call constantly though and its cute because his eyes lit up whenever he talked about her. The tricky part though is that he hasn't told his parents because she's a Hindu and he's Muslim so he knows it will be an issue with them. He'll only tell them if he's sure he wants to marry her and then will just go with it whether they like it or not.

Monday at GE campus

It took us a while to find the GE place where we were suppose to take a tour at but we finally got there. We went through the most serious security we've gone through since landing in India and went to about six different labs throughout the day. It was really interesting to see the research they were doing and how diverse GE is as a company but was a bit long by the end of it. At lunch we were able to meet an MSU alum which was cool and the campus was beautiful with its landscaping and whatnot which gave reason to why the employees seemed to be happy there.

Eventually we took a taxi back to the city center, met up with the guy who picked us up from the train station, Junaid (I'm not sure why I didn't say his name from the beginning) at the mall to hopefully see a movie but found we were slightly too late for any of the movies. We ended up just eating at the food court where I had a good potato and mushroom crepe and just sat and talked. I later was able to finish my book and then felt accomplished.

Soon enough it was time to go to the bus station and Junaid waited with us until the bus got there which was really nice of him. The bus was actually comfortable because it was a semi-sleeper so it had an extended seat that could lean kind of far back. About seven hours later we got to Chennai in the morning, we took a nap and then went to work.


Now I only have two days left in Chennai and honestly, I'm happy about it. South India really was awesome to experience the culture but I'm ready to move on from our project that kept getting delayed at IIT and leaving Ginger Hotel. Getting cooped up in a hotel for five weeks can get annoying. Although, when I do have that thought I do try to remember that it could be way worse and they could've had us in a dorm on campus so over all it really wasn't that bad.

I'm really excited to go to New Delhi for a week on Saturday, see the Taj Mahal on Monday, and then go to Nepal the following Saturday. I'm really looking forward to my program in Nepal mostly to meet all the new people in the program but also because I think the Nepal will be a beautiful country and the program will give me a consistent schedule with stuff to do. And yes, I'm also looking forward to coming home on August 18. I miss my family and friends and am looking forward to seeing them soonish!