Stepping off the boat in India, I was ready for my life to be changed. I didn’t know exactly how, where, or when, but I was open for anything that could possibly happen to me. We were forewarned about India being very dirty, impoverished, and simply shocking but for some reason I didn’t have those ideas in my head once I stepped off the ship. And it is a good thing I didn’t, because I didn’t find it to be any of the three. Yes, it was fairly dirty but then again I live in Berkeley and worked in Oakland – a little dirt and grime every now and then doesn’t get to me. Yes there was significant poverty, but I feel like after traveling through Africa in such a short amount of time I am desensitized to culture shock. As soon as I got to India, I felt confident in finding a taxi driver and trying to explain in very simple English through a significant language barrier where exactly we would like to do. So with that preface, my time in India was possibly the most life changing week, and went as follows:
Day 1: Stepped off the boat after clearing a very intense customs process, and we don’t have too many plans so a few of us decide to go shopping in Chennai (also known as Madras) where our boat docked. In every country we are warned that women should not travel without a guy in their group, but I have traveled sans man in a few countries and have never had a problem thus far. If I can fend off a 30 year old man trying to steal my camera in a township in South Africa I think I can figure out how to catch a cab to some markets in India (yes, I actually did stop someone from stealing my stuff with some very loud yelling and potentially an elbow to the nose. Hey, at least I am one of the lucky few who has not been robbed while in port and it sure makes for a good story!) So back to India, there are 4 girls – myself included – who want to go shopping in Chennai and buy some sarees. We are immediately swarmed with drivers who are trying to get us to take their trishaws (Google image a trishaw… trust me you will love it). One man says that he can take us around for $4 USD all day and we were sold. So we hop in and immediately take off to the market that we are trying to go to. Once we go about 5 minutes out of the port, our driver tells us that he wants to take us to some temples and show us around Chennai – all through very broken English. We agree, but tell him that we want to go to the market and get sarees. So the first location he takes us to is actually incredible, I literally can’t believe that I just hopped in the back of a trishaw in India and got to see this place. We were at a Christian church, but it was not just any old church.
This church is called St. Thomas’ Basilica, and is a church built over the burial cite of the Apostle Thomas. As the very first thing I did in India – I was literally in a surreal whirlwind and could barely process just exactly what my reality was at the time. We went into the church and saw the most gorgeous stained glass depicting the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and the Apostles positioned directly above an ornate gold and stone alter. There were a few people in the church praying but because we were there on a Monday around 11am, there weren’t too many people there. Then we walked to another part of the building where we had to immediately take off our shoes and cover our hair, shoulders, and legs. Keep in mind that while all of this is going on, our driver is walking and telling us to follow him with absolutely no explanation of what exactly we are doing or where we are going. We rush down stairs and once we get to the basement we see what looks like a mass taking place as communion was being handed out. However, this seemed much different than any mass that I ever remember. It was almost like a Pentecostal ceremony mixed with Catholic mass. After about 5 minutes of feeling like I was interrupting a very private and sacred space, we went back upstairs to what was called the ‘museum’ at the Basilica. There held a very random assortment of extremely old religious and colonial artifacts including religious sculptures, engravings, and murals from all over India and the Middle East. There was also the story of St. Thomas as an apostle, and how this is one of three churches in the entire world that is built over the site of an Apostle’s tomb. After about 30 minutes and sheer awe mixed with a bit of confusion, we were back in the trishaw and onto the next cite that our driver decided he wanted to take us to. When we finally stop after about 10 minutes of driving, we see that we are outside a truly magnificent Hindu temple in the middle of a chaotic city. The temple is constructed entirely from statues of colorful Hindu gods and goddesses. Like almost all other ports, the juxtaposition between this magnificent holy space and the surrounding chaos and poverty was mind blowing. We stop for about 5 minutes to relish in its beauty, take a few pictures, and then head out to go to the market that we thought we were going to go to. As we attempted to navigate our way to a market to buy sarees, the only words our driver actually understood were “shop” and “saree”. He said that he could take us to a store to buy a saree, and even though we protested he took us there anyways. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely loved India but the most frustrating part was that once we got in a rickshaw we had absolutely no control over where we went. So we end up at this saree shop and once we walk in, we see about 3 other groups of SAS groups. When we asked them where they were trying to go, they told us they tried to get to a different saree market but ended up at this one. It was pretty obvious that the rickshaw drivers get a commission based on how many people they bring into stores, so once a ship with 500 Americans rolls into town they are thrilled. After about an hour of shopping and looking around, we all buy sarees and are excited to go to the market we had been looking forward to. When we try to explain to our driver that we went to the store so he could get commission and now wanted to go to the market, he totally ignored us and took us to more of “his friend’s shops”. Too bad all of these stores were fancy artisan and jewelry markets because once we walked in and saw the prices, we walked right back out. An hour of frustration passes and we decide that we probably aren’t going to make it to the market. So instead we ask to go get some food. Well we knew that we didn’t want to go to one of “his friend’s restaurants”, so as soon as we saw a place that looked good, we yelled at him to stop the rickshaw and we hopped out before he could say no – which he did quite often when we asked to stop somewhere. Once we got in and sat down, the frustrations of the day washed away with the air conditioning and paneer tikka masala. If there is one food that I had to eat for the rest of my life it would be paneer tikka masala, rice, and naan hands down. So of course that was the very first meal that I ordered and it was one of the best meals I have ever had in my entire life. **Harmeet – this cant even compare to all of our House of Curry runs (and we do have a lot) and if its ok with Mama Singh we will be hitting up the Rich for some homemade Indian food every weekend!**
We spent about an hour and a half in the restaurant eating non-stop, then decided to head back to the ship to shower and get ready for the SAS welcome reception. Once we get back into our rickshaw, the driver keeps trying to take us to more and more shops but as we were cutting it pretty close on time, we had to keep yelling and protesting that we simply didn’t have enough time. Finally, he decided that it wasn’t worth it and to just take us back. Once we were about a mile away from the port, he pulled over and asked us to pay him then because according to him, the port officials are very corrupt and he would have to bribe them if they see how much we pay him. Originally, we agreed on $4 USD for the entire day but once it came time to pay we tried to hand him a $5 dollar bill but he just looked at us like we were crazy. He didn’t think that $5 was enough and tried to charge us $10. I’m sure we looked ridiculous as 4 white girls (half in sarees) arguing with an Indian rickshaw driver on the side of the road over $6, but it was the principle of the matter that got to us. After traveling for 2 months through some of the poorest areas in the world, we were used to being ripped off because we are white Americans and I know it may sound crazy, but I completely understand why locals do it. However, we weren’t about to have it this time. After taking us to so many stores, none of which we wanted to go into let alone actually purchase something, and then trying to charge us more than double of what we had originally agreed upon, there was no way we were about to pay him what he was asking. Normally in every group that you end up with, there is always one or two people who give in and decide to pay whatever inflated prices the locals are charging, but this time was different. I was so proud that none of us gave in and after about 15 minutes of arguing, we pay him $5 USD and get back to the ship. Despite the frustrations and irksome moments throughout the day, it was the perfect way to start off India. I know this perspective is not shared by all SASers, but for me at least there are no “bad” moments here. Everything is an experience that shapes how you interact with the country and how you grow; today was no different. I had the best time and I knew that, especially after today, I was in India.
Day 2 - 4: I woke up 3:47 to catch a 4:00am trip to Agra and Delhi. I literally threw on clothes, grabbed my bag, and ran upstairs. This trip was the one I was looking most forward to, and wasn’t about to miss it for anything so in the 3 minutes it took me to get out of bed and to the bus where our group was meeting, I saw that I had made it! Luckily, I was not the only one had literally rolled out of bed in a hurry. After a short bus ride to the airport and a very long flight, I had made it to Delhi. There were 15 of us in my tour group, which I found to be the absolutely perfect group size. Once we got off the plane we hopped onto a bus with our local guide who proceeded to show us around Delhi for the next few hours. Delhi is extremely different than Chennai in the sense that it is less of an industrial city, but there is an extremely rich culture visible wherever you go. Small shops selling everything from goat heads to used car parts line the streets as massive crowds gather around to view the goods. As we toured in our rather ridiculously large tour bus, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. I almost felt like we were in a zoo looking out at the city safe from any danger as we were shielded from the real India. But I wanted the real India – I wanted to see it, experience it, immerse myself in it, and actually understand life from a different perspective. So once we were able to get off the bus at the Jama Masjid Mosque (the largest mosque in India) I was excited to say the least. Right away, we had to take off our shoes and get scarves to cover our shoulders and legs (even though we had sleeves on, women cant show their arms or any part of their legs). I was able to look around the mosque and really take everything in. The architecture was so intricate and simply beautiful. There was a tower that we were able to climb up and Wendy, Joel, Eric, and myself decided to venture on up to the top. From the top of the tower, we really could see the entire city of Delhi. Houses and tin roofs stretched for miles to the horizon, the call to prayer rang throughout the city, horns constantly honked to mark just exactly how much traffic raged below us, yet it was one of the most peaceful moments I have had. At the top of the tower, the 4 of us bonded as we took in India. We had made it halfway across the world together, and were ready to live.
After leaving the mosque, we headed to a really classy restaurant to grab some lunch. The fabulous thing about India is that they have SO MANY veggie options. The even greater thing is that because most of the waiters are vegetarian, when I told them that I can’t have the chicken they were serving because I don’t eat meat they get really excited and make me a special (and EXTREMELY delicious) meal separate from the buffet that everyone was having. For many Indians, being veggie stems from their religious beliefs so even though I have different reasons for not eating meat, they automatically like me better than everyone else! So after another delicious lunch, we head back on the bus and tour around Delhi for a bit longer. We can’t stay for too long because we have to head to the train station and catch a train to Agra at 6:00pm. The train station was an experience in itself. Here there are more beggars and impoverished families asking for a rupee just to get by for the day than I could even imagine. Many people with defects are sent here to beg from tourists and travelers who tend to have more money. I also had one of the saddest realizations about myself here. There is so much poverty throughout the entire world and especially after living in Berkeley, working in Oakland, and traveling through Africa for 2 months, I realized that I am now desensitized to poverty. This doesn’t mean that I don’t care; it just means that I am no longer shocked to see 5-year-old emaciated children missing limbs begging for spare change and food. Honestly, I don’t know if I want to be desensitized to it but I have accepted that especially after the nature of this voyage I can’t help it. But India is different. Here, many children are either kidnapped or orphaned into a life on the streets where they are taken by adults who deform them in order to evoke more sympathy from tourists, which then results in more money for the adults who take it at the end of the day. It is almost like a new form of slavery that is sweeping India, and as much as it hurts not to give children money, all of the guides tell us that if we do we are just perpetuating the system. I don’t know how much I agree with that, but Wendy, Eric, myself and some other kids found a way to give back (which I will get to in just a bit!).
So after a 5 hour train ride we arrive in Agra, home of the Taj Mahal! We have a very packed itinerary for the day, and after a night in a very luxurious hotel, we wake up at 5am to get ready to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise. Despite the total of 4 hours of sleep that I had gotten from the past 3 days, I was awake and ready to go have my mind blown. And I wasn’t let down at all. Walking through the eastern gate, I could see the Taj peak over the great brick wall that encloses it. As soon as I passed through the walls, the Taj was in my direct view front and center. The beauty and splendor of the gleaming white stone walls is forever seared into my mind. It was hands down on of the greatest sights I have ever seen in my life. We spent about an hour walking around the grounds, venturing through the tomb (not the real one, however, just one for show) on the inside, and taking copious amounts of pictures of everything in sight. Then it was back to the bus for breakfast at the hotel, and off to see Fatephur Sikri, a 16th century abandoned city.
As we arrived at Fatephur Sikri, I thought there was no way that there is anything in this world that can top the magnificence of the Taj. I was wrong. Immediately, I am taken aback by the stunning architectural design and splendor that the walls of the abandoned city held. Our guide through the city told us all about Akbar the Great, the Mughal ruler who built this city in the 1500s, his three wives, 800 concubines, and all the court staff who lived in this royal city. It was absolutely amazing to hear all about life in the court, especially their system of legal punishment. There was a massive elephant who lived in the city amongst the people and when someone was sentenced to death they were bound at the hands and feet, placed in front of the elephant, and stomped to death. Death by Elephant, that can’t be fun. Even though some atrocities occurred as they do in every medieval city, the palace itself was absolutely breathtaking. Temples were decorated with diamonds, gold, precious stones, Chinese turquoise tiles, rose petals, silks, and every other luxurious good that came to India through the Silk Road. Of all the places I went to in Agra, this was by far my favorite. Inside the mosque, there was a marble grated screen where I tied a string through and made a wish because according to legend, any wish that is made on the screen comes true. Somehow, I have a feeling mine will too.
After we got back on the bus, we headed back to the hotel for yet another delicious lunch and more paneer tikka masala than I could ever dream of. Then it was back on the bus because we were headed to Agra Fort and then the Taj once again. Agra Fort took my by surprise and it turned out to be my second favorite place that I saw in Agra, surpassing the Taj. This fort is hundreds of years old and was built by the same Mughal family that build the Taj and Fatephur Sikri – they had some pretty good genes to say the least. Saying that Agra Fort is massive is putting it lightly. It is comprised of many courts, palaces, mosques, gardens, and of course a massive moat that surrounds the entire complex. Back in the day, they took their castles pretty seriously: if invaders were able to make it past the moat, the buckets of boiling water and boiling oil, the swarm of archers, the boulder that rolled down the hill crushing anything in its path (think: Indiana Jones), the army that stood guard, and the lions and tigers, then an invader would have to face the entire royal court comprised of over 1000 armed members. That’s what I call home security! It took a massive British army with cannons and guns to break this empire down, those damn Brits ruin everything.
The palace itself was magnificently adorned with intricate architecture, marble stones, diamonds, gardens, silk tapestries, and many other precious decorations. While it is all gone now, there are still outlines engraved in the stone walls where the decorations used to be. The palace was absolutely incredible and rich with hundreds of years of history. If anything has made me grateful to be a history major, it has been Semester at Sea. There is nothing else in the entire world where I am able to learn about an empire or an event and then go see the cite where everything took place. There is a certain aura I can feel in the air when I stand where one man conquered a peoples or where thousands have died: it is the strangest sense of connectivity I have ever felt to the past and I absolutely love it.
After touring Agra Fort for about an hour and a half, we head back to the Taj to see it at sunset. I thought that seeing it at dawn was magical, but it held a totally different energy at dusk. The second time I returned, it felt like years since I had last been there instead of the hours that it actually had been. To enter the tomb, there was a line that wrapped around the entire complex so with the little time we had left, Joel, Wendy and I just sat on a bench overlooking the river that ran through the back and gazed out towards the sun setting over the hills. This was the best sunset I have experienced in my entire life. Before we left, Wendy and I had a mission we had to complete as a favor for Mr. Alex Kurnow: we had to shuffle in front of the Taj. And boy did we shuffle. Harmeet, lets just say we made Nor Cal proud. One You Tube worthy video later, we were ready to leave the sacred city that stole our hearts.
One two hour train ride later, we were back in Delhi for the last day to explore a bit more. Here, we stopped at Gandhi’s memorial where he was cremated and learned just how much of a difference Gandhi made for India. Think Martin Luther King Jr. on steroids for an entire country. That’s Gandhi. His memorial is in prestine condition and is comprised of a garden with a black marble memorial in the center. Everything in his memorial is centered around his Hindu philosophy; it is very open, minimal, and controlled. When we were there, we saw an all boys’ school on a field trip, all of who were so enthralled by all the white American tourists they kept asking to take pictures with us. We took a few pictures and then headed out to move on to our next stop.
We soon after arrived at a Hindu Temple that was unlike any building I have ever seen. The building itself was this ornate red and gold shrine with idols of Hindu gods and goddesses positioned throughout the hall. The level of detail on every wall and in every idol was absolutely incredible and unlike any other church or place of worship that I have ever seen. Our guide for the trip was Hindu, and so he was able to tell us more about the religion and the customs. After what felt like a day (it actually was pretty close to an hour) of preaching his Hindu beliefs, our guide led us back to the bus to our next stop – the Lotus Temple.
Now I wouldn’t consider myself a religious person in any sense of the word, but going to the Lotus Temple was almost like a spiritual awakening for me. Still not religious at all, but the Baha’i Faith that the Lotus Temple houses is the closest religion I have ever found to my own personal beliefs. From the outside, this temple dominates the horizon and is shaped in the form of a lotus flower. It’s massive white structure and reflecting pools are nothing short of awesome. However, I didn’t feel spiritually moved until I went inside. I was expecting to see the normal assets of any church, but I was drastically mistaken. The interior is simply a circle of benches. There was no alter, no space for a priest, just a personal space for anyone of any faith to come meditate. This is the first religious space I have ever seen in my entire life that was truly personal; it was really quite amazing to see that despite all the bad and negative in the religious realm, there is one that actually practices what it preaches.
Once we left the Lotus Temple, we headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Chennai where our boat was docked. The trip to Agra and Delhi truly changed my life. I saw the greatest wonders of India and of the world, and cant believe at times that I actually saw so much of India in such a little time. Between no sleep, lots of paneer tikka masala, some serious shopping time at a local market, the Taj, Forts, Palaces, great friends, and one spiritual awakening, its safe to say that India has been the most transformative country for me thus far. The great part is that I still had two more days in this magical country,
Day 5: I wake up after about 2 hours of sleep and head to Mahabalipuram with Wendy, Michael, and Ace. Mahabilipuram is a series of ancient temples from the 6th century made entirely from stone. Oh my god they were amazing. We get to explore about 3 temples and when we get to the 4th, we see a bunch of kids on a field trip. Immediately, they swarm the 4 white people and ask to take pictures with us and play with us. This made my day. We spent about 45 minutes playing with the kids who we found out were in middle school, taught them American songs, learned Hindu songs, took more pictures than I had taken of the Taj, and getting to experience a whole different side to India. It was simply amazing. There are some things in life that I can never truly explain, and this day was one of them. If there is one day that I can look back on and say “this day changed my life entirely”, it was today and here is why:
So after we left the temples we stop at a restaurant to grab some lunch with our cap drivers Mutu and Gru. We are talking, and Wendy tells Mutu that she has narcolepsy. Mutu, being Hindu, tells Wendy that it is not because of her genes but because she has bad karma somewhere in her family. Then he offers to take us to an energy reader to see where her bad karma comes from and how she can fix it. We are all a bit curious, and agree to go. The person he takes us to is his friend who runs a souvenir–type store. At first, we are looking around and then Ajay, the energy reader/ storeowner, offers to read our energies. There is this whole process where we have to lay down on a special rug as he places Singing Bowls filled with water by our heads to read our energy. Wendy and Ace both go, and say it is the coolest thing they have ever felt. So then I decide that I would try and as soon as I walk up to Ajay, he tells me that he can tell I am “a spiritual person.” Weird. Especially right after my experience at Lotus Temple, I was a bit caught off guard to say the least. So then I lay down, and he says that he can tell I meditate. Weird again. So he proceeds to use the singing bowls to read my karma and oh my god it was scary. Ajay looked taken aback at first when I wake up, and tells me that my chakras are in line and have positive energy radiating. He had said something to Wendy, Michael, and Ace, but at the time I was in a meditative state unlike any I have ever experienced before and couldn’t not hear anything that was going on around me. I could hear that something was being said, but couldn’t distinguish what it was or mentally process it at the time. Ajay told me that from my chakras, he could tell that I have a good relationship with my parents (hi mom and dad!) but that my throat chakra is off and once it is in line I will have a uniquely powerful energy. Everything he was saying was so accurate there was absolutely no way he could know, which is the scariest part about it. After hearing all this, I started crying. It wasn’t happy or sad, but more freeing and liberating. It takes a lot to get me to cry, but for some reason it felt so free and cleansing. Later, I found out that Ajay told my friends that they were lucky to have me with them in India because I am a daughter of India and was Indian in my past life. In this life, apparently I am an Indian spiritual healer and if I lived in India, would be a revered member of society as a spiritual leader. After hearing I was in India for only one more day, he tried to convince me to stay so that he could teach me how to read karmic energies. As much as I wanted to stay, I had to tell him that I couldn’t stay but I will return as soon as I can. What I experienced in the store was nothing short of mystical and there are truly no words to adequately describe just how I was transformed. Most of my life consists of moments I reflect back upon and think “wow, that was pretty incredible”. This was an entire day filled with those moments. There are so many things that I hope to never forget, but this is one of those that I know I will never forget.
Day 6: After the greatest 5 days in my life, I ventured out into the city one last time for some shopping, some food, and a Bollywood movie! We had to be back on the ship relatively early, so we didn’t spend too much time in the city. The Bollywood movie, despite being in Tamil with no English subtitles, was really cool to go watch. We sat up in the balcony and for less than $3 were able to enjoy popcorn and a movie in India. We didn’t really know what was going on, so by making up our own dialogue to go along with the film, we made a great movie!
India is the country that has shaped me moreso than any other. Every port has meant something different to me and while I love them all and can’t pick a favorite, India is the most transformative. I know that after this voyage I will return to America an entirely different person. India will be a major reason why that it is true. These six days have made a lasting impression on my heart, my mind, and my soul. No matter how much I try, there are truly no words to describe just exactly how moved I am by India. I will carry India with me wherever I go, and hopefully one day soon will be able to return to the land that stole my heart.
