The Colors of Rajasthan-Day 14 & 15 (Overnight train back to Delhi)

Monday & Tuesday January 27-28 —Day 14 & 15 (Overnight train back to Delhi)

Today was the last full day of our trip. I went out to breakfast with the group and had a delicious pineapple lassi (with fresh pineapple) and a Nutella banana pancake. The pancake was rolled around a warm banana then drizzled with Nutella. Not a bad way to start the day!

After doing some last minute shopping and browsing through the markets, we headed back to the hotel, played some cards and relaxed in the sun.

The night before, our tour guide surprised us and told us that we’d be going to an Indian wedding reception on our last night here! So after packing up the last of our bags (and I swear, my bags gained at least 10 pounds on the trip!), we hopped in our mini-bus and headed for the reception. As awkward as it was to be the white foreigners coming into a person’s wedding reception, it was a great way to end our trip. As soon as we walked in, we were surrounded with food. A popcorn machine on one table, a cotton candy machine on another….waiters coming around with tomato soup. And the women in their beautiful saris and salwar kameezes were another sight to be seen! Beautiful pink and gold saris, high high heels, and all the gold jewelry you could imagine! If I have a few million dollars lying around when I get married, I definitely choose to do an Indian one!

After saying goodbye to one of the Australian couples on our trip, who were going to do some more traveling around before heading home, we headed to the train station and prepared ourselves for a long overnight train experience back to New Delhi.

We ended up getting seats/beds in a 3-tiered, overnight train. Not the most comfortable sleep I’ve had, trying to scrounge up to the top tier but managed to sleep a few hours. When we got back to Delhi, I took a nice hot shower in the hotel, had some breakfast then said my goodbyes to the group. Since I had accumulated so many gifts and bags on my trip, I decided to take a car back to my flat. I thought I would have an easy car ride back, but I’m in New Delhi after all! The driver had me stop at two shops, not for a commission but apparently for petrol (gas) coupons. I was too tired to care or to argue with him at that point, so I just went along with it. By the time I got home, I tried watching a movie, but only got 30 minutes into it before I fell asleep for the next 8 hours!

This trip was exhausting but one of the best trips I’ve had. Travel always makes for a bonding experience and this was no exception. As a solo traveler, I could’ve gotten stuck with some not so nice people on my trip, but I lucked out and was able to share my two week trip around Rajasthan with some remarkable people. We all had gotten close over the past two weeks and it was sad to see everyone go. I’m going to miss them!

Hearing about everyone’s experiences and stories has really made me think about life, but in particular, my bucket list. Being surrounded with world travelers certainly helps when you’re trying to plan your next trip! As for my next trip, I’m thinking a trip around Europe for a few weeks :)

The Colors of Rajasthan--Day 1 (New Delhi)

Tuesday January 14, 2014 – Day 1 (New Delhi)

Today was the first day of my Rajasthan trip (Classic Rajasthan trip) through Intrepid Travel. I decided to go through a tour organizer/company because frankly I didn’t want to travel alone. I’ve done enough of the alone thing to know that I am not a happy camper when I’m travelling alone. I’ve wanted to visit Rajasthan for years now and between full-time work and grad school work, the only way I was going to have the time to travel was if someone did all the planning for me.

The first day of the tour just gave us time to get acclimated and settled. We could check into the hotel at noon but we didn’t meet as a group until 6pm. Since I took the day off work, I used the day to just relax. I figured I was going to do enough sightseeing over the next two weeks anyway. So a little after 11am, I was still contemplating if I felt like hauling my bag and sleeping bag through the metro or just take an auto rickshaw and have no worries. I took the stress free route, plugged in my headphones and just sat back in the auto and listened to some country music for the next half hour, while the driver drove to the hotel where I’d be staying. I thought it was going to be an average, Days Inn kind of motel, but it actually turned out to be pretty nice. So I dropped my stuff in my room, and tried to think of what I wanted to do for the next 6 hours. I honestly felt like just lounging in bed and watching tv, but instead I decided to get outside and grab some lunch.

I grabbed an auto rickshaw and told him to go to Connaught Place (an outdoor shopping center) so I could get some lunch at Saravana Bhavan, a delicious restaurant I went to in Chennai back in 2008 and have been dreaming about since. He quickly told me though that it was a holiday and since everyone was off of work, Connaught Place was going to be crowded to say the least. So instead he brought me to another Saravana Bahavan which was right down the street from the hotel.

For lunch I had a very yummy paneer masala dosa with coconut chutney and some other sauces and a sweet lassi. It was pretty good! I haven’t been able to find good south Indian food near me so it was nice to finally have some. After not really having the mental energy to figure out where to go next, I decided to just head to a coffee shop about 1 km away from the hotel, grab a coffee and read my Kindle.

At 6pm, I met up with my group. We had a variety of ages and backgrounds and it was great to get to know everyone. There were four people from Australia, two from Wales and four from the UK. For my trip, I roomed with a woman from the UK who’s been living in Tamil Nadu for the past 4 months.

After our informational meeting, we went out to dinner together, where I had butter chicken with naan. It wasn’t the best but good comfort food. But it was okay, because I had a feeling I was going to have some amazing food over the next two weeks. 

Ringing in the New Year in New Delhi

Whenever I'm living in a foreign country for any time longer than a few weeks, I realize that I usually try to immerse myself so much into the culture and every day life that I sometimes forget I'm a tourist. This isn't always a bad thing, but halfway through my time there, I realize why I have chosen to live in that country....to explore! It's great to attempt to live like a local and go on about my every day life but it's also important not to wrap up in too much of the every day so that I don't see the sights that I came there to see. 

During my time in New Delhi so far I've been so wrapped up in work during the week and school work during the weekend, that I haven't had the time or energy to visit some of the temples and other attractions. This first weekend of the new year though, I vowed to myself that I would see some of the sights in New Delhi. 

I decided to see three temples that weren't far away from each other, and one of them being the Lotus Temple, one of only seven Baha'i Houses of Worship in the World!

From the Metro station I was able to see a bit of the Lotus Temple and it was gorgeous! The Lotus Temple is made up of white marble and has 27 petals, with 9 main points of the lotus flower. Jutting from each point is a pool. Then inside and kind of underneath the lotus structure is the actual house of worship and sanctuary. The sanctuary is actually quite simple with barely any altar or decorations. It reminded me almost of an outside amphitheater. Inside the sanctuary, we were asked to take no pictures and remain completely silent so that others could meditate and reflect. For me, it was difficult to be at peace when a new group of people came into the sanctuary practically every 10-15 minutes, but it was still worthwhile.

Despite the fog and cloudiness of the day, I was glad I still went. There are so many things that I want to see in New Delhi before I go back to the US and I only have so much time to do it all. With it being the first weekend of the new year, I really wanted to visit somewhere where I could just meditate and channel my inner spiritual being. The Lotus Temple seemed like the perfect place to be. 

The central theme of the Baha'i faith is that humanity is one single race. The founder of the Baha'i faith, Baha'u'llah, said that the day has come for humanity to unify into one global society. 

After visiting the Lotus Temple, I became really interested in this faith and decided to check it out more on their website. 

They list the Baha'i Beliefs as:

• All humanity is one family
• Women and men are equal
• All prejudice--racial, religious, national or economic--is destructive and must be overcome.
• We must investigate truth for ourselves, without preconceptions.
• World peace is the crying need of our time. 
• All major religions come from God.
• There is one God.
• The family and its unity are very important.
• Our economic problems are linked to spiritual problems.
• Science and religion are in harmony.

Once I left the Lotus Temple, I decided to head to a Hindu temple dedicated to goddess Kali, which I found was right across the street from the Lotus Temple. 

A vendor selling fresh flowers and other gifts that people can give to the deity

So I wandered through the street and turned into alleyways and found myself at the back of a very long line of people waiting to enter the temple. I really wasn't in the mood to wait at least 45 minutes to even get to the temple.So instead I decided to grab a quick bite to eat on the side of the road and venture off to the ISKCON Temple.

The ISKCON Temple stands for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and is considered a spiritual institution. Besides housing a temple, the center also has an education center, a yoga vedic center and an entertainment center, among others. 

A Hindu god in a pool outside of the temple

Once I got to the ISKCON Temple, I found out that the temple itself was closed for another hours. So instead I decided to go to a fog and lights show about the Bhagavad Gita, the holy book for Hinduism. The fog and lights show was strange to say the least. It reminded me of a cross between a Halloween haunted house and natural history museum. I wouldn't recommend seeing the lights show, but I'm sure the temple would be worthwhile. If I have another free weekend before I leave, I might head back to see the actual temple. 

Some deities in the education center

Living in New Delhi has really made me reflect on my life and goals. After this weekend's excursions, I've decided to make one of my new year's resolutions a meditative one. I want to be able to find inner calm and a place of reflection no matter where I am--whether it's the crowded streets of New Delhi or a quiet church sanctuary. 

The alleyways of New Delhi

This whole week I’ve been going to some of SPYM’s program sites in order to get a better feel for the vast amount of work the organization does. On this particular day, it was planned that I was going to work on some things in the office in the morning and head out to visit a homeless shelter after lunch. And this morning like every other morning and afternoon, there’s chai time. There’s nothing like chai interrupting you doing your work :) 

The morning came and went with random tasks to get done and soon it was lunch time. SPYM is an organization unlike one I’ve seen before. They provide three meals a day to their staff. Usually though the staff just eat lunch there and eat at home for breakfast and dinner. Today’s menu was palak paneer, rice and dal....yum! 

After lunch, I came back to the office and waited for one of the staff to bring me to the homeless shelter. In true Indian fashion, after a little over an hour it was decided who was going to bring me and then we decided to leave. 

Side note: I should mention that yes, Indian time is not exactly American time, but my organization is currently short-staffed so everyone is running around doing the job of two people. So I can completely understand people being late because they’ve been tied up with other things going on. When I’ve asked some staff how they like working for the organization though, they keep saying how happy they are to have a job, especially in the social services. It just goes to show you that money doesn’t buy happiness!

It was a little after 3pm and the shelter was about 40 minutes away. I think it was safe to say that I definitely wasn’t finishing work at 5pm. Once we got on the road, we had to make a detour to drop off some paperwork to a training center near by. A half hour later we were back on the road and ready to head to the homeless shelter. After getting lost a few times and getting caught up in the New Delhi rush hour traffic, we finally found the right area. The homeless shelter ended up being in a neighborhood where the only way to get to it was to drive through an alleyway, the width of a driveway. So we drove through motorcycles coming at us, guys pushing carts of flowers and fruit, kids playing in the roads....classic India. I only wish I had captured the moment on my camera! We had finally made it. 

This is one of those times when the journey outweighs the end. And this is one of the reasons why I decided to come to India. Sure every so often I get frustrated by the auto rickshaw drivers trying to rip you off or the different pace of time, but after learning to take it in as part of the journey, I’ve started to actually enjoy it! It’s part of India’s culture and I wouldn’t want to ever change that. 

To India I Go Again

Sunday September 29, 2013

After much delay, the day has finally arrived. I am headed to New Delhi, India to start the second half of my Master’s degree and my five month practicum. I’ll be working with the Society for Promotion of Youth and Masses (SPYM), based in New Delhi. They have many different programs that they have but I will primarily focus on working with their HIV/AIDS program. 

The words “much delay” couldn’t be farther from the truth though. Originally I was supposed to leave for India at the end of August for six months. With life though, it seems like nothing always happens the way you want it to. Since international flight costs can skyrocket after a certain time, I chose to book my flight earlier rather than later and figured I would get my visa after my flight was definitely secured since I saw no issue with a visa taking more than a few weeks to obtain. But boy was I wrong! At the beginning of August, India changed the company that they were going to outsource their visa processing to. And with transitions come delays. With this came aggravation and a few breakdowns knowing that I would have to cancel and rebook my flight since I wouldn’t have my visa in time for my flight. After a few hundred dollars on top of my original flight cost, I finally got my visa and was able to book my flight again. This time though I’m only able to be there for five months rather than six due to the visa timeframe. 

I think I can now say that I have a better understanding of how to be patient and grateful for my family and friends that have been able to support me in so many different ways. If anything, this whole ordeal has prepared me for the busy and crazy life in India that awaits me! My practicum with SPYM sounds like an amazing opportunity and I know that all of this is worth it. 

As an intern with SPYM, I hope to be working with people living with HIV/AIDS, then participating and later organizing HIV awareness/prevention workshops in New Delhi and other areas in India where SPYM already works. I’m really excited to be getting out of the classroom and to be able to apply what I’ve learned during my first year of grad school into a real world setting. And what better setting than India???

Ever since I studied abroad in Mumbai in college and interned at an all-girls orphanage where some of the children had HIV/AIDS, I have been interested in how this health issue affects a culture and how a culture affects the health issue. With my social work and public health experiences and my interest in policies that advocate for this population, I believe that this practicum is right up my alley! With anything new, I have an idea of what I’ll be doing over the course of the next 5 months but really, I won’t have a real sense of my role and responsibilities until I get there. A few years ago, it would have driven me crazy not knowing every little detail of this new experience, but now it’s kind of fun not knowing and being surprised by the unknown. 

Well, I think that’s about it for now! I’m currently sitting at the airport and will be boarding for New Delhi in just a few short hours!