Thursday, December 5, 2013

India: In Anu We Trusts Leads to the Guru and the Emerald



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!

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