Hello to all! My name is Chris Rendall, and in December of 2010 I went to India for 2 weeks with my friend Anup and his family.
The purpose of my visit was to see as much of India as possible, and to learn as much about its culture and people. It had been a dream of mine to visit India for quite some time before the opportunity to go actually came up. I had become quite obsessed with Indian music, and once my wife began cooking Indian food, I was hooked! When Anup, a friend of mine since childhood, told me in mid 2010 he was going to India in December (he is Indian so he and his family make regular visits to India), I jumped at the chance when asked to tag along.
Of course I had some initial reservations (despite the fact that not even a year before I had practically begged Anup to bring me along if the opportunity ever arose), such as the financial cost, medical and hygienic concerns, concern for person safety and wellbeing, and also the hardship of being away from my wife for 2 weeks. But in the end my desire to see India overwhelmed all my concerns.
This blog is a collection of my daily writing while in India, from the time of my arrival to departure. Knowing how bad I am at remembering details of things that I have experienced, I decided to keep a journal of my thoughts and experiences. I kept a paper journal, and then typed up my writings when I returned home (I didn’t want to carry my laptop to India). Because of this, this blog is not being updated real time, but was rather posted all at once after I had finished editing my writings. The purpose of these writings are threefold. First, for my own recollection. Second, to share with my family, friends, and others the things that I experienced and felt while in India. Third, to give information, advice, and inspiration to any who would consider venturing to India.
While the trip to India was an amazing experience, no trip is ever without its hardships or difficulties. I did a bit of editing, but I also tried not to censor times that I was feeling particularly upset or down. I think it will help those who have unrealistic expectations about India, and also those who want an authentic experience from the point of view of an American who has grown up in a somewhat sheltered life in comparison with the rest of the world.
I hope you enjoy this blog, and feel free to leave comments!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Saturday, December 18, 2010
I went to an STD phone booth first thing after breakfast and called home. Then I went to an internet café and talked to Rachel on gmail chat for awhile.
Anup and I walked around downtown Jaipur for a few hours to check out the markets and to kill time, since our flight to Mumbai was not going to be until 9:30 pm. We had a tour guide who took us to the various attractions in Jaipur yesterday, and apparently he took us to all of them. Anup’s dad told him to spread it out between the 2 days we were here, but he did not get the message I guess.
On the streets of Jaipur
Walking through an archway
After walking around and going into various stores and walking through neighborhood alleyways to see what people were up to, we went into another internet café. I hadn’t had enough time earlier in the morning to properly respond to all the emails from Rachel and from my family.
One of the better internet cafes I've been to here
We next went to Seema’s apartment. Seema is Anup’s aunt whom he had never met until today. She lives here in Jaipur with her husband and son, and Anup’s dad had called her up and asked if we could stop by. Her husband works as a salesman for Heinz ketchup. I had no idea ketchup required salesmen, I thought it was one of those products where if you need it, you order it. We were with her for about an hour, had some tea and food, and then left for the airport.
Seema's house
Unfortunately we had really lost track of time and not noticed how little time had actually passed. When we got to the airport we realized it was only 2:30 and we still had 7 hours before our flight. Anup was pretty distraught over having to wait so long in one place, but I needed the time to write since I hadn’t been keeping my journal up to date in the last couple days, so I was happy to have the time.
We arrived in Mumbai at 11:30 pm, and were taken to our hotel.
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