Of the countries that I have visited India has to be one of
the most difficult to understand. It is a country that is home to over 1.2
billion people, hailing from 28 different states, with nearly 70% of these
people living on less than $2 per day. As a country India is incredibly
diverse. Many states have their own language, traditions, culture, and standard
of living. In many ways it appears as if India is a grouping of independent
states under the country title of “India”. My most recent trip to this country
spanned only 6 days and only covered a very small piece of its soil. But in my
short time there I had an incredible wealth of experiences and learned quite a
bit about the country and of myself.
The first thing I wanted to know in India was “how do you
not get ripped off in India?!”. I arrived in Delhi airport at 4am on a Thursday
morning. Considering it is a city 22 million people (almost 3 times the size of
New York City) I figured I would be welcomed by an onslaught of sights and
sounds. Well if New York is the city that never sleeps, Delhi is the city that…well…sleeps.
When I arrived there was hardly a car on the road, hardly a sound in the air. I
proceeded to have a sketchy arrival where I was brought to an information
center, told over the phone my hotel reservation had been canceled, and was
brought to a hotel I did not have a reservation for to sleep for a few hours
until the rest of the city woke up. After I woke up I went to the hotel I had
originally booked and they said they had been waiting for me and received no
call the night before. So not the best of starts but from there it was all
downhill!
I had the first day to sight see by myself before Brennan
arrived that night around 6pm. In addition to sight seeing I did some research
on what we would exactly do in India. We knew we wanted to go to Delhi, Jaipur,
and Agra but weren’t sure if it would be by bus, train, or driver. After a LOT
of conversations, negotiations, and research it was clear that a driver was our
best option. For a mere $250 each Brennan and I had a personal driver for 4
days and 3 nights including some meals and accommodation!!! The driver we were
given was a God send. A man by the name of Anu. He was funny, caring,
responsible, sarcastic, welcoming, and most of all he put up with Brennan and I
for 4 days. After the first day it simply became Evan and Brennan visiting Anu
and he would just show us around. We went out with his friends, put our lives
in his hands, and exclusively took his advice. He could do no wrong in our eyes
and he led us to SO many great stories.
The trip as a whole only had good days, but the best day
from start to finish was our full day in Jaipur. This day started like any
other travel day, with some sightseeing but then spiraled out of control. Once
we finished sightseeing we proceeded to a carpet factory where Brennan and I
bargained the shop owned down nearly 50% and even got a bag of Lays thrown in
for free (even though we wanted pringles). Then came the big question from Anu,
“Do you want to go to a gem shop with a Guru?”…YES!!! Of course we do!!! Pause.
What’s a guru? A guru is a glorified fortune teller that can tell you what your
lucky gem stone is as well as things about your family and personality. So we
head straight to the Gem shop and are greeted by a man, speaking perfect
English. After a few minutes Brennan asks if
someone can tell him his luck gem stone and he replies, “Yes. That would
be me. But only if you’re brave enough!”
We were sold. We end up in a back room with just the three
of us. The guru proceeds to read Brennan and I. In summary…Brennan is crazy.
Evan is 4 years older than Brandon. Patsy (Brennan’s mom) allegedly has been
pregnant 3 times. Evan is balanced. Brennan will be a great father. Evan will
be a great husband. Evan has healing powers. Needless to say Brennan ends up
buying an Emerald (his “lucky” stone) from this guru which also came with an
invitation to an Indian wedding that night. This wedding crashing was the first
of back to back wedding nights. At this first wedding with the guru Brennan and
I were a HIT with the age 8-12 demographic!!!
The final shout out I will give is to the Taj Mahal. Better
than advertised and sunrise was a great call. We were accompanied by a guide
named Ricki who ended up being our personal photographer and teacher. I pulled
a Will Nestor and read up on the Taj and watched a documentary before going so
I tried to go fact for fact with Ricki. He won…Being at the Taj was a humbling
and breath taking experience. It is incredible to think that this building was
only completed in approximately 1654. To see this kind of achievement compared
to the current state of the country is just remarkable. If the Taj isn’t on
anyone’s bucket list for some reason, please go add it now before reading
further.
To wrap up this rant, India left me very reflective. It is a
country that is so much different than anywhere else I have been. They have
such a strong culture not only in history and tradition but also in music,
film, and food. Many other countries I visit seem overtaken by western
influences but India seemed to lack that for me. Speaking to an Indian
colleague today she disagreed and said India does have a lot of western influence
perhaps just not what I saw. Either way, India’s massive population and
incredible history left my mind spinning. With the current low standard of
life, how do you change that for so many people? How does that standard become
acceptable by the people? Where has democracy failed in the country? What does
the future hold for a country with so much human potential? I definitely have
plans to go back to India to see other parts of the country but for now I am
content with my first experience.
As you can imagine there are MANY more stories and details
from the trip. December is another busy month as I head to Oman to plan a
student trip, then get to see the beautiful Kristal Sawatzke in Bali
(Indonesia) for Christmas, and round it out with New Years in Dubai with
Brennan. Happy holidays to everyone and hope to catch up with many of you this
next week!
