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
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Today is the last day in Delhi. I woke up late this morning, around 8 AM. I pigged out at breakfast. You really never know when your next safe meal will be in India.
Below is a video tour of our hotel room here in Delhi:
Our first destination today was the Qutub Minar tower, the tallest tower in India. It was really awesome. The whole place reminded me of Greek ruins.
Our second stop was Humayun’s tomb, a tourist destination created from the tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun. Again the Mughals really outdid themselves architecturally, just like with the Taj Mahal. Like the ancient Egyptians, the Mughal’s burial sites receive the attention from their best and brightest, producing some of the most amazing structures in India, and in the world. As I have done and will continue to do in this journal, rather than butcher the history, I’ll give you links straight to the source.
The best part about Humayun’s tomb was the kids I ran into here. There were thousands of kids out and about all over Delhi today, with their backpacks and school uniforms. Apparently it was some city wide field trip day, although Anup says this is just a typical day in India. There had been tons of kids at the Qutub Minar tower, and the tomb was the same story. All the kids who walked by me wanted to talk to me, shake my hand, and ask me questions. A lot of them requested to take pictures with me, which I obliged as often as I could while still experiencing the place for myself. On our way out of the tomb, Anup and I found this large open field, and there were a ton of school kids eating their lunches and playing. When I walked into the field, I was instantly mobbed by about 20 kids. I picked up a ball that they were playing catch with and starting throwing it to them, and once other kids saw this they also came and joined in, and soon there was a whole army of them. Then they started to ask me questions: where was I from, was I married, did I have children, etc. One of the boys, a Sikh, was surprised when I said that I had “only one wife.” It was hilarious. Anup caught most of our time with the kids on video, it is my most cherished moment during my time in India.
Our third stop of the day was Raj Ghat, the memorial site where Gandhi was cremated. It is to Ghandi what the Eternal Flame is to JFK, and it also actually has a permanent burning flame in a glass encasement. It was an extremely peaceful place. The actual stone memorial is quite simple yet beautiful, and is adorned with arrangements of flowers of all different colors. When the flowers start to fade and die, they are replaced by new flowers in a new arrangement. The patterns are constantly changing every few days. According to the New York Times, Raj Ghat sees about 10,000 visitors per day. It did not seem like enough people were coming and going to equal 10,000 in a day, but perhaps that is because my brain has already become accustomed to huge groups of people as the norm.
Kneeling for photo in front of Raj Ghat
Close-up of the memorial, draped in flowers which are replaced weekly
Our last tourist destination in Delhi was the India Gate, the national monument of India which commemorates the 90,000 Indian soldiers who died while fighting for the British Empire during World War I. I will not go into much detail for this site due to the fact that, besides its size, I did not find India Gate all that impressive. Perhaps Indians are impressed by large monuments because for the most part, nothing is built very big here due to the need for space. I did hear that India Gate is quite impressive at night when it is all lit up, and have seen pictures as evidence of this.
We ran into a French college student at India Gate who we had already seen earlier at Humayun’s tomb. Here Anup and I sparked up a conversation with him. He told us he was traveling through India doing research for his masters thesis for graduate school. The thesis was on India’s infrastructure and traffic problems, and possible solutions. He was quite hilarious and suave, as would be expected of any true Frenchman.
I found a street vendor at India Gate selling bamboo flutes, one of the items on my list to buy as a present. Normally you do not find quality items from street vendors, so I was hesitant to approach him. But luckily there was already another person speaking with him and testing out his flutes. She was a music professor from Florida, an Indian from America with absolutely no accent, just like Anup. She was testing out the flutes to see which one she wanted to buy. After talking with her my confidence in the quality of the flutes led me to start bargaining with the vendor for the best price on the full size bamboo flutes. I bargained down from 750 rupees to 350 rupees, meaning I paid less than $10 for a flute worth much more than that in the states.
Me bargaining for the bamboo flute
I accomplished this drastic price decrease with a technique I had begun to master called “bundling.” I may have already touched on this technique, but essentially you conditionally attach your purchase to someone else’s purchase, meaning that if the price is not accepted, the salesperson will lose the business of 2 people rather than 1. Since I knew the woman from Florida already intended on buying a flute, I told the vendor that we would both buy flutes if he reduced the price to 350 rupees each. Of course he initially laughed, but once she got on board with the idea and he saw we were serious, he began counting his way back from 750 to 350 over the course of about 20 minutes. Something along the lines of “750…no…..675?....no, 300….500, best price……no, 300…..475?…..(walking away)…..ok ok my friend, how about 450? This is the best I can do…..no 300…..sir this is impossible….(walking away again)…….ok ok, 400….350 and it’s a deal….done.” It is very effective.
After we left the India Gate, we went to the airport to leave Delhi and head to Jaipur. The flight to Jaipur was only 40 minutes. Flying sure beats driving when you are in India.
Awesome
Jaipur is a city in the state of Rajasthan, founded on 18 November 1727. In 1853, when the Prince of Wales visited Jaipur, the whole city was painted pink to welcome him during the regime of Sawai Ram Singh. After the prince left, the city kept the pink color, and it became known as the Pink City. Even today, it still remains painted in pink, providing a distinctive appearance to the city. Jaipur was also the first planned city in India, and it definitely shows. Let me tell you, Jaipur was a breath of fresh air for me. It was so beautiful and organized, traffic flowed logically, storefronts were lined up in rows rather than haphazardly, and the pink color made everything seem very peaceful.
We landed in Jaipur at about 7:30 pm. We headed for our hotel, the Taj, which turned out to be even more amazing than our hotel in Delhi. When we arrived the hotel staff put a garland around each of our necks, which is similar to a Hawaiian lei, and the traditional Indian bindi, or forehead dot. Then they brought us iced tea while we were waiting for our hotel keys, which were not the modern hotel card key, but large medieval looking metal keys. Here we met up with Anup’s family for the first time since leaving Vadodara. I was very happy to see them again, I really enjoy their company and it was nice to talk with someone other than Anup (no offense Anup). Anup and I ate dinner at the hotel and his family sat and talked with us while we were waiting for our food. It was really refreshing because I had been in a really depressed mood since I arrived in Jaipur. I called Rachel from an STD booth on the way to the hotel from the airport, and hearing her voice for the first time in a few days made me feel more homesick than I have ever felt in my life. I wanted to be home so badly, even though the trip has been an amazing experience. In that moment I felt stupid for making the trip last 2 weeks. After eating dinner, I went to bed.
It's astonishing to see the disparity in wealth you saw from the markets / towns to the gigantic statues and buildings for one person.
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