Long Overdue Post about India

            Sorry this is so late.  India was less than two weeks ago, though it feels like it’s been years.  Time passes really strangely on this ship.  Everything goes by so fast, but then things that happened yesterday feel like months ago.  We’re currently in the Mekong River approaching Vietnam, and I’m just now writing about India.

            On March 6, we pulled into Chennai (formally, Madras), India for six days.  Pre-port was really intense.  They told us how crowded, dirty, poor, smelly, and simply how different India was from the United States, and virtually anywhere else we would be visiting on our voyage. I had no idea what to expect.  By the time we all passed through immigration, and the ship was cleared, we headed out.  Once I got off the pier, I instantly noticed the heat, which was hot, but not as bad as I was expecting, but also the incredible amount of traffic in the city.  There are cars on the roads, but there are a lot more auto-rickshaws (or tuck tucks), which are pretty much like fast golf carts that go on highways.  There are also a lot of people on motorcycles, and a lot of them, even the women who hold sleeping babies while they ride, are not wearing helmets.  There are lanes in the road, but they are not followed at all.  A driver told us that they are mainly formalities and there are no rules for driving.  There must be some informal rules though, or everyone would be dead by now. 

            Chennai is one of the largest cities in India, and is mainly a business city.  My friend, Steven’s dad happened to be in the city that day so he took us all out to lunch.  He had a SUV and driver, but there were too many of us so some of us followed in the tuck tucks.  That is what I always used because they are more fun.  Riding around them is like being in a game of MarioKart.  There are really no rules.  The driver just weaves in and out of other cars, going fast whenever they can get some empty space.  I constantly stuck my head outside the open car to see what was going on, and always felt like it was going to be cut off.  Those things are amazing and I want to bring one home and drive it back in the U.S.

            To show us around Chennai, we stopped at the fish market to walk around.  It was cool to see people out and about, but it was pretty similar to other markets I’ve been to in other countries.  We also stopped at a Catholic Church, where St. Thomas, the Apostle is buried.  There are only three churches like that in the world, Spain, Italy, and India.  We walked through the church’s exhibit and saw what were supposed to be his bones.  It was kind of touristy. 

            We then went to a really nice hotel for a feast of Indian food, which we ate with our hands.  I cannot explain how nice it is to not eat ship food once you get into port.  India was my favorite port, food wise, and it was kind of comforting to see other Americans again.  After eating way too much, we split into groups.   While one group took the SUV to take Steven’s father back and go shopping, the rest of us took the rickshaws back into town and went shopping.  At pre-port, they told us that the rickshaws are a good way to get around, but that you may end up “at the driver’s brothers shop first.”  This means that the driers will take you where you want to go, eventually, but they will usually first take you to some other store, where they get a kickback from whatever people purchase.  Emily, Cas, Stephen, Ross, and I went souvenir shopping, and had this exact experience.  Drivers stop and tell you to get out for a little while.  While the girls were shopping for dresses and saris, all of us guys were pretty bored and eventually each bought Indian shirts.  We went to the beach to walk around for a little while, and played a carnival game where you got to shoot a gun at balloons.  Stephen and I had to head back early for another activity so we had the driver take us back to the ship.  Our original deal was fifty rupees a person, but when we got back to the ship, our driver tried to make us each pay 500.  I was willing to pay up to seventy, but once he started to yell at us, I changed my mind.  I tried to just get out of the car once he started yelling, but I wasn’t sure what Stephen was going to do or if he was going to follow me so I got back in.  After a lot of arguing and yelling and him saying something about the cost of petrol, I needed up paying my fifty and Stephen paid 150. Fifty rupees is only about a dollar, and our driver did about ten dollars worth of work for us, but I don’t like it when drivers change their minds at the end.  He made the deal and should stick to it. Agreeing to pay more only encourages drivers to try and rip off more tourists in the future, which is not OK.  Also, he started yelling at us, which really turned us off to paying more. After we finally got back to the ship, it was immediately time to go to the Welcome Reception.  I didn’t even have time to go back on the ship before I headed off to a hotel where we were greeted by drummers, dancers, and women who put flowers around our necks. Once inside, we were welcomed by people from the universities in the area with speeches, food, dancing, and vendors.  It was pretty relaxing just to eat and talk with local Indians.  I even got a henna tattoo on my wrist.  I now know I wouldn’t like a real tattoo because by the second day, I was already sick of it on my hand.  Every time I looked down, I wondered why I was bleeding, but then remembered it was just ink.  Luckily, it’s gone.  It faded after about a week.

            The next day, I went on a three day long home stay to stay with local families in Chennai.  It was organized by the Rotary Club, which I realized before I got there, would mean that everyone would be petty rich and a lot better off than most people in India.  Michael and I met our host family, one man named Varun, who was probably in his sixties.  I later found out he was divorced (a big scandal in India), his children lived in the United States, and he worked in the glass industry.  He took us to his office, then out to lunch at a country club with his friend Varcia.  She was a doctor specializing in nutrition that has spent time in the US, and even spoke on the MV Explorer one year.  You had to wear collared shirts to get into the club and neither Michal nor I looked the part so Varun bought us each polo shirts with the club’s name on it.  After lunch, Varcia took us on a walk around the downtown section of Chennai.  This was more of what I expected from India.  It was absolutely packed and had so many smells I could not identify each one.  Varcia walked into oncoming traffic like it was no big deal, and we had no choice but to follow her.  At one point, I was walking in the street and had a car in front of me, an auto rickshaw behind me, a motorcycle on my right and a cow on my left.  I was boxed in, but still had to keep walking.  We saw some temples, and Michael was really into shopping so we did a lot of that.  At dusk, we headed to a hotel, where the Rotary Club put on a reception for us.  Everyone from the home stay was there, as well as people who were on a service project through the Rotary Club.  Dean Dan spoke, which was awesome, and then my professor, Jeffrey Kottler spoke, which was not awesome.  He spoke about nothing, but somehow tried to make himself sound so important.  It was a horrible surprise to find him there.  After a lot of speeches and dancing, we hung out, had dinner, and went back home.  Varun lived about an hour away from Chennai, in an apartment with three bedrooms, though he lived alone.  We all had our own rooms, but after we talked for a little while, I went straight to bed. 

            The next morning, we woke up, to some delicious chai tea.  I don’t even like tea, but there were so many fresh spices in it, plus it was basically all milk and sugar, it was amazing.  We went out to breakfast, and then SAS had a bus tour for us to Mahabalipuram (spelling, courtesy of Jack), an ancient site with rock carvings of Hindi history.  There was also a giant boulder called the Butterball.  People tried to sell us stuff, and some people still let themselves get suckered into buying their overpriced gifts.  We went to lunch, and then tried to go to Crocodile Park, but apparently that day, one of the employees died of natural causes so we couldn’t go.  We visited an art museum instead.  Varcia picked us up around five and dropped us off at Varun’s office.  Michael wanted to go shopping again, and Varun didn’t know anything else to do with us so he took us to some stores.  I think I was tired, dehydrated, and bored of shopping so I was in a pretty bad mood, which I think made my stomach start to hurt.  We finally finished and Varun took us out to dinner, which put me in a lot better of a mood.  The three of us had a good conversation about the caste system in India, which was not as overt as I had expected it to be.  Varun described it as a system that had worn out its utility.  However, he says it is no longer as difficult for people to have jobs or associate with other people who are outside their caste.  Young people are mostly against it and the system may only really be a problem in more rural or traditional areas of India.  He isn’t sure if it will ever die out though.  The caste system didn’t seem very different from our class system in the U.S. though. While India may have de jure segregation, we still have de facto segregation.  People still tend to stick with others from their class and look down on the people below them.  CEOs will stick together and look down on their employees, who will in turn stick together and not really associate with garbage men.  He tried to take us to a Bollywood movie, but the theater wasn’t showing one that night so we went back to his place, which was really nice, and I pretty much went straight to bed again. 

            The next morning, he took us back to the ship around 11 because I was supposed to meet people in the afternoon, and I hate bailing out on my plans.  Our hosts were allowed to go on a tour of the ship, but Varun didn’t have his passport, and therefore couldn’t get past the tough Indian security.  I don’t think he really wanted to go though.  After lunch, I traveled with a few friends to a zoo, which turned out to be an hour and a half away from the pier.  The zoo was the worst zoo I’ve ever seen.  There were only a couple of ducks and apparently some white tigers.  While some people went on a bike ride around the zoo, I hung out with Stephen and JD.  There were elephants to ride, but they never showed up.  After the zoo failure, we tried to visit a temple, but we got there too late and it was closed.  We just went to an amazing Indian dinner for really cheap and headed back to the ship.

            The next morning, I took a cooking class on Indian vegetarian cooking.  70% of India is vegetarian so a lot of the food is vegetarian.  Our host was an Indian chef who has written several cookbooks and has hosted several Indian cooking shows on Indian TV.  We watched her cook a lot of dishes, tried our hands at coking a few dishes, learned about some of the food customs in India as well as the medicinal purposes behind the foods, and finally ate a delicious Indian lunch.  After getting back to the ship in the afternoon, I went souvenir shopping with Kim for a few hours, went back to the ship for dinner, and finally went to a Bollywood movie late at night.  The movie was about an Indian man trying to play cricket.  As usual, I fell asleep for most of the movie, even though there was a lot of singing, dancing, great music in the background, and unique cinematography.   The movie didn’t start until 10:30 and I can never see a movie in the States without falling asleep anyways so I wasn’t surprised.  The parts I saw were really cool though. 

            Friday, we went to the mall in the morning because we had nothing else really to do.  We had to argue with the rickshaw drivers again, and Elizabeth, Kristin, Matt, and I went to an orphanage in the afternoon.  The Bala Mandir orphanage houses orphans and kids whose parents cannot take care of them.  It houses kids of all ages.  It was started in 1949 by disciples of Gandhi.  These freedom fighters talked to Gandhi while he was in jail.  They asked him what they should do and he suggested they start an orphanage.  We brought a bunch of toys for the kids and we just played with them for a couple of hours.  I tried to teach some of the kids Tick Tack Toe because it is pretty easy, but they didn’t really get it.  They got the concept I think, but every time I put an X in a spot, they would just put another X in a different spot in the grid.  Matt had been giving piggyback rides for a couple of hours and was out of breath so I tried to take over for him. Ultimately, I had one kid on my shoulders and one kid who climbed onto my chest.  I ran around with them for a while and they seemed to enjoy it.  I’m not the best with kids but apparently I can be around them for a little while at least.  We made a donation of the toys, toothbrushes, our spare rupees to the orphanage, took a group picture, and headed back to the ship just in time to not get dock time.

            India was cool because I had a pretty good, non touristy experience.  I spent a good amount of time in Chennai and was always busy.  I also got to know Ajay and Ashoke (I’m not sure of the spelling), the two interport students form India.  My friends and I hung out with them pretty much all week and really got to know them.  They really liked the ship and were sad to leave.  Ashoke said he was going to fly to San Diego to see us when we’re finished, which would be awesome.  India was also pretty tiring.  There are so many people and you constantly have to argue and yell with the drivers.  The traffic is horrible, and the whole port was amazing, but pretty stressful.  I want to go back to every port we’ve visited so far, but I really want to go to North India and see all the sites there, like the Taj.  Next time I go back, I’m giving myself a long time, so I don’t have to rush and I can really take in everything the country has to offer.  Plus, the food was amazing.  This port is my favorite, food wise.