“There exists no politician in India daring enough to attempt to explain to the masses that cows can be eaten” – Indira Gandhi
Whatever you say about India, the exact opposite is also true. The magnificent image of the Taj Mahal is not enough to erase the memory of poverty and filth. These are some common sights in the parts of India that we saw: cows on the streets, people sleeping on the road dividers, men urinating openly, hard hats worn with flip flops, women in colorful saris working in the fields and at industrial sites, no doors on the trains, 70 people packed on a bus, three to five people on a moped with no helmets and one on a cell phone, very young and dirty children begging, people sweeping dust with handmade brooms at their small stands, crushing traffic slowed by cows, horses, camels, elephants, and goats, several people squatting and conversing. It is hard to stop the list; there is so much more to tell.
India is the oldest surviving civilization in the world. The population is 1.2 billion. After traveling there for 5 days it feels as if we saw all of them but we only traveled in the North. Crowds are everywhere. It seems that rush hour never slows down. Driving in India is something I have to tell you about. Drivers honk constantly. The horn is a button on the dashboard. They drive on the left and pass on the right. When they pass they honk to gain the right of way. The honking is incessant. When more than one truck is trying to pass at the same time the driver who honks most and is the most aggressive goes first. I told our guide that I can go weeks without using the horn but here a driver does not go for two minutes without honking. It was wild for us. There are pedestrians on the larger highways as well as the animals. In the cities they use bicycles, pedaled rickshaws and three wheeled tuk tuks, similar to a golf cart but not as substantial. Drivers pull right up to each other, within inches, to prevent someone else from cutting in. Traffic lanes are just suggestions, not followed. Our guide told us that to be a good driver in India, you need 3 things: good brakes, good horn & good luck.
The diversity of India is its most impressive trait. In 1991 it was estimated that there were 1576 languages in India, including dialects. A current estimate is over 300 languages, leaving out the dialects. 29 languages have over a million speakers. In 1968 a law was passed declaring that all people receiving secondary education must speak three languages, English, Hindi and the state (local) language. This proved idealistic and unworkable. Religious diversity is remarkable and harmonious: 42% Hindu, 37% Muslim, 13% Christian, 2% Sikh, less than 1% Jainism, Buddhism and others. The Hindu religion accepts one god but that god’s traits are displayed in its many different images, including the familiar Krishna and Ganesha. The goal in Hindu life is to reunite the soul, the atman, with Brahman. The soul is reincarnated until mokshe is achieved. Only those who have not reached the goal are still on earth. Sikh is a derivative of the Hindu faith that does not worship statues and has no caste system. Our driver was a Sikh; he wears a turban and in his turban are a comb, a knife for protection and a bangle to keep evil spirits away.
We arrived in the port of Chennai and participants in our excursion were immediately taken to the airport to fly to Delhi, the second largest city in India, after Kolkata. We met our guide and bus there and were given garlands of marigolds. Our first stop was the Qutub Minaret and Muslim Mosque. Next we traveled to a rug shop and then on to the LaLit Hotel that was extraordinary, maybe 4-5 star. After a lovely dinner, night and breakfast there we had bus tours with stops of Old and New Delhi and then traveled to Jaipur, the capital of the state of Rajahstan. We checked into our next hotel and then went to the City Palace and Observatory. The Observatory fit in perfectly with Hóg’s two classes on calendars and physics. On the third day we went to Amber Fort. Hóg and I rode an elephant to this walled Mughal city. On the way sellers tried to engage us by throwing things up to us. I bought a t-shirt and threw down the rupee note to pay. The bill blew all around, almost over the wall and finally landed on elephant dung. Next I was thrown a wooden Ganesha which I threw back down immediately. The vendor threw it back at least four times, lowering the price each time! It was a funny scene. Amber Fort was beautiful inside, especially the mirrored section. After taking many pictures we rode jeeps down and then bussed on to Fatehpur Sikri, a favorite for me. This was a petrified sandstone city and palace that were built but abandoned due to difficulties with the water supply. It is now a beautiful tourist stop. You have to be careful in the palaces as unauthorized guides try to engage you and then push to be paid. (I, Hóg, got suckered in by 1 of these guides here but he did take me to an area that we weren’t scheduled to see and I delayed our group by 10 minutes or so.) We were also approached constantly by people asking for money, children begging for food, money, and shampoo, disabled and badly crippled people with a hand out, and by vendors asking us to come to their stores. This was the most oppressive part of the trip for us. It was difficult to respond in the beginning and after several days it just became frustrating. Later we drove on to Agra and our third hotel for one night.
Early in the morning we headed out for the Taj Mahal. It was truly a breathtaking sight that gave me chills. It took 22 years to build in the 15th century. Shahjahan had it built for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth with their 14th child. She is buried there and he is also, arranged by his son who betrayed him. We took endless pictures and loved the memorial as well as its gardens, pools and surrounding buildings. Even here people try to show you exactly where to take photos and then request payment. It will be hard to limit the blog to five pictures.
On our last day in India I went shopping in Chennai with some students. We rode the tuk tuks and went to a silk shop and to a mall. I enjoyed the students and had fun making purchases. Again, it was a challenge to get the drivers to only go where we wanted to go and not to stop at shops where they were receiving commissions. Back in the port three children had their hands in the vehicle, begging for money, before we paid the driver.
One more lesson on India: AIDS was discovered in 1981 and since then 25 million people have died from it. By 1984 there was no AIDS in India. In 1986 AIDS was first found in Chennai in the commercial sex workers. By the 1990s AIDS had spread through every population in India. Now 2.4 million people of India have HIV. Education efforts have been largely unsuccessful as the subject is not discussed openly and because there is no common language to use for educational tools. India is one of the biggest producers of Antiretrovirals which have been very effective in slowing the progression of the disease but the drugs are largely unaffordable and inaccessible to its own citizens who are infected.
Hóg’s addendum: On the bus ride to the Taj Mahal, all of us on the bus were like a bunch of excited school children going to the zoo for the first time. Our first glimpse of it (well before we arrived) brought on squeals of delight. I can’t imagine seeing a more beautiful human monument than the Taj Mahal. Pictures certainly show how pretty it is but you have to be there to feel the grandeur of it. The grounds, pools and monuments surrounding it also contribute to its glory. It is truly spectacular.
When Lisa went shopping in Chennai, I stayed on board. I couldn’t take another day of the constant press of so many people and the detritus that comes from them. The air pollution got to me by the 2nd day, bringing watery eyes and a constant cough. Rumor has it that just breathing in the cities is equivalent to smoking 6 cigarettes a day. The ship itself was covered in black soot after the 5 days in port.
Whatever you say about India, the exact opposite is also true. The magnificent image of the Taj Mahal is not enough to erase the memory of poverty and filth. These are some common sights in the parts of India that we saw: cows on the streets, people sleeping on the road dividers, men urinating openly, hard hats worn with flip flops, women in colorful saris working in the fields and at industrial sites, no doors on the trains, 70 people packed on a bus, three to five people on a moped with no helmets and one on a cell phone, very young and dirty children begging, people sweeping dust with handmade brooms at their small stands, crushing traffic slowed by cows, horses, camels, elephants, and goats, several people squatting and conversing. It is hard to stop the list; there is so much more to tell.
India is the oldest surviving civilization in the world. The population is 1.2 billion. After traveling there for 5 days it feels as if we saw all of them but we only traveled in the North. Crowds are everywhere. It seems that rush hour never slows down. Driving in India is something I have to tell you about. Drivers honk constantly. The horn is a button on the dashboard. They drive on the left and pass on the right. When they pass they honk to gain the right of way. The honking is incessant. When more than one truck is trying to pass at the same time the driver who honks most and is the most aggressive goes first. I told our guide that I can go weeks without using the horn but here a driver does not go for two minutes without honking. It was wild for us. There are pedestrians on the larger highways as well as the animals. In the cities they use bicycles, pedaled rickshaws and three wheeled tuk tuks, similar to a golf cart but not as substantial. Drivers pull right up to each other, within inches, to prevent someone else from cutting in. Traffic lanes are just suggestions, not followed. Our guide told us that to be a good driver in India, you need 3 things: good brakes, good horn & good luck.
The diversity of India is its most impressive trait. In 1991 it was estimated that there were 1576 languages in India, including dialects. A current estimate is over 300 languages, leaving out the dialects. 29 languages have over a million speakers. In 1968 a law was passed declaring that all people receiving secondary education must speak three languages, English, Hindi and the state (local) language. This proved idealistic and unworkable. Religious diversity is remarkable and harmonious: 42% Hindu, 37% Muslim, 13% Christian, 2% Sikh, less than 1% Jainism, Buddhism and others. The Hindu religion accepts one god but that god’s traits are displayed in its many different images, including the familiar Krishna and Ganesha. The goal in Hindu life is to reunite the soul, the atman, with Brahman. The soul is reincarnated until mokshe is achieved. Only those who have not reached the goal are still on earth. Sikh is a derivative of the Hindu faith that does not worship statues and has no caste system. Our driver was a Sikh; he wears a turban and in his turban are a comb, a knife for protection and a bangle to keep evil spirits away.
We arrived in the port of Chennai and participants in our excursion were immediately taken to the airport to fly to Delhi, the second largest city in India, after Kolkata. We met our guide and bus there and were given garlands of marigolds. Our first stop was the Qutub Minaret and Muslim Mosque. Next we traveled to a rug shop and then on to the LaLit Hotel that was extraordinary, maybe 4-5 star. After a lovely dinner, night and breakfast there we had bus tours with stops of Old and New Delhi and then traveled to Jaipur, the capital of the state of Rajahstan. We checked into our next hotel and then went to the City Palace and Observatory. The Observatory fit in perfectly with Hóg’s two classes on calendars and physics. On the third day we went to Amber Fort. Hóg and I rode an elephant to this walled Mughal city. On the way sellers tried to engage us by throwing things up to us. I bought a t-shirt and threw down the rupee note to pay. The bill blew all around, almost over the wall and finally landed on elephant dung. Next I was thrown a wooden Ganesha which I threw back down immediately. The vendor threw it back at least four times, lowering the price each time! It was a funny scene. Amber Fort was beautiful inside, especially the mirrored section. After taking many pictures we rode jeeps down and then bussed on to Fatehpur Sikri, a favorite for me. This was a petrified sandstone city and palace that were built but abandoned due to difficulties with the water supply. It is now a beautiful tourist stop. You have to be careful in the palaces as unauthorized guides try to engage you and then push to be paid. (I, Hóg, got suckered in by 1 of these guides here but he did take me to an area that we weren’t scheduled to see and I delayed our group by 10 minutes or so.) We were also approached constantly by people asking for money, children begging for food, money, and shampoo, disabled and badly crippled people with a hand out, and by vendors asking us to come to their stores. This was the most oppressive part of the trip for us. It was difficult to respond in the beginning and after several days it just became frustrating. Later we drove on to Agra and our third hotel for one night.
Early in the morning we headed out for the Taj Mahal. It was truly a breathtaking sight that gave me chills. It took 22 years to build in the 15th century. Shahjahan had it built for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth with their 14th child. She is buried there and he is also, arranged by his son who betrayed him. We took endless pictures and loved the memorial as well as its gardens, pools and surrounding buildings. Even here people try to show you exactly where to take photos and then request payment. It will be hard to limit the blog to five pictures.
On our last day in India I went shopping in Chennai with some students. We rode the tuk tuks and went to a silk shop and to a mall. I enjoyed the students and had fun making purchases. Again, it was a challenge to get the drivers to only go where we wanted to go and not to stop at shops where they were receiving commissions. Back in the port three children had their hands in the vehicle, begging for money, before we paid the driver.
One more lesson on India: AIDS was discovered in 1981 and since then 25 million people have died from it. By 1984 there was no AIDS in India. In 1986 AIDS was first found in Chennai in the commercial sex workers. By the 1990s AIDS had spread through every population in India. Now 2.4 million people of India have HIV. Education efforts have been largely unsuccessful as the subject is not discussed openly and because there is no common language to use for educational tools. India is one of the biggest producers of Antiretrovirals which have been very effective in slowing the progression of the disease but the drugs are largely unaffordable and inaccessible to its own citizens who are infected.
Hóg’s addendum: On the bus ride to the Taj Mahal, all of us on the bus were like a bunch of excited school children going to the zoo for the first time. Our first glimpse of it (well before we arrived) brought on squeals of delight. I can’t imagine seeing a more beautiful human monument than the Taj Mahal. Pictures certainly show how pretty it is but you have to be there to feel the grandeur of it. The grounds, pools and monuments surrounding it also contribute to its glory. It is truly spectacular.
When Lisa went shopping in Chennai, I stayed on board. I couldn’t take another day of the constant press of so many people and the detritus that comes from them. The air pollution got to me by the 2nd day, bringing watery eyes and a constant cough. Rumor has it that just breathing in the cities is equivalent to smoking 6 cigarettes a day. The ship itself was covered in black soot after the 5 days in port.
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