Sarah MacDonald Summarizes My Thoughts on India

As I read Holy Cow, by Sarah MacDonald, I came across this paragraph that really resonate with my feelings towards India. Here it is:

"India is beyond statement, for anything you say, the opposite is also true. It's rich and poor, spiritual and material, cruel and kind, angry but peaceful, ugly and beautiful, and smart but stupid. It's all the extremes. India defied understanding, and for once, for me, that's okay. ..... I kind of like being confused, wrestling with contradictions, and not having to wrap up issues in a minute before a newsbreak."

I definitely felt like I was no longer in as much control in India as I did back home but I got used to it. Being out of control was mainly due to being in a foreign place. But I think the culture is inherently filled with inconsistent information. However, I suppose knowing the local language would help reduce some of this inconsistent information I was bombarded with on a daily basis. The rule of thumb is to not believe it until you see it. This was not all bad.... it really kept me on my toes and made into a more adaptable person. I'm really glad I got to experience this part of India.

Sick of Having to Fight to Get Anything

I'm beginning to get really fed up with having to haggle for some of the very basic things one would need living in this country. I can recall an incident recently about getting a cab when I was in Delhi. So we were traveling from Dharmasala, which is at the very northern (west) tip of India, to Delhi and the trip took 5 hours on the bus followed by 14 hours (overnight) on the train. Needless to say, we were all very very grumpy when we arrived at the Delhi Train Station. We get out of the station, right away there were about 5 rickshaw/cab drivers offering up their services. We had to get to the airport to catch our flight to Hyderabad (back to ISB!) and since we had spent 5 days in Delhi the week previously, we knew the ride would not cost anymore than 300 Rs. (~$8 cdn) for a 15 km ride. So the first cab driver says "750 rupees"...... I didn't even look at him and I just kept walking. Next guy goes "500 rupees"..... so I kept walking. As we were walking to the pre-paid taxi booth, which was about 100 m away, we came across this one guy who was very serious about getting our business but he was offering 350 Rs so we continue walking to the pre-paid booth thinking we could do better. As we fish for better deals among the sea of rickshaw drivers and I noticed all of them were hesitatant to even negotiate with us. Then I noticed the same dude was shouting something in Hindi everytime we would try to talk to a driver. It hit me that this guy has been calling everyone else off because apparently we were "his". We finally get to the pre-paid booth and my friend Bram asked for a taxi to the airport. For some reason, the man behind the booth told us "no taxi, no taxi"... and this was about 10 o'clock on a busy Sunday morning. We looked at the price list posted just above the counter and it clearly said "10-20 km.... 98 Rs." So we were like what's the deal? After a few more minutes of communication with broken English and no results, we gave up. So with no other options, we turn to the same punk who has been calling the other drivers off and finally settled on a ride for 250 Rs.

It was especially frustrating because EVERYONE, including the "official" Delhi Station pre-paid taxi, around the station was in on ripping us foreigners off. It's not unusual to go through something like this 4-5 times a day, especially when you travel through India like we did. This is just the reality when you're a foreigner in a country like India. Maybe I'm a little burnt out from all the traveling in the past two weeks but I'm pretty fed up with it. Talking to a few of my exchange friends, I found out many of them feel the same way.

~ Hoping to have more patience for this nonsense,

WaLLy

More Delhi!

On the second day of Delhi we visited Old Delhi. We took our first ride in the Delhi Metro to Chandi Chowk. The Metro is new and fairly well kept. The city is overhauling its public transportation system for, I suppose, the Commonwealth Games in 2010. Most of the city should be connected by then.

Above: Axel studying the Delhi Metro.

The first monument we visited is the Red Fort (Lal Qila). Completed in 1648, this massive fort extend for 2 km and vary in height from 18m on the river ride to 33 m on the city side. The Red Fort dates back during the peak of Mughal power. However, the Mughal reign did not last very long as Aurangzeb was the first and last Mughal emperor to rule from here.

Above: Lahore Gate is the entryway into the fort.

Above: Joeri (newly arrived from Netherland) and I being silly.

Next we visited the Jama Masjid, India's largest mosque and the final architectural piece of Shah Jahan. The mosque is so large that it can hold 25,000 prayers! The square has three entrances and 2 towers standing 40m high. We went during a less busy time and it was about 2 hours away from the next prayer, which is too bad because it would've been quite the sight. There were countless pigeons feeding in the square and with a loud bang, they all flew away.... I managed to caught a decent picture of it.

We decided to take a manual rick-shaw and I have to tell you, I'm impressed with our driver. He was able to pull 4 good-size guys up the street for about 1-2 km. He starts off slow but once he kicks into 4th or 5th gear.... we actually at a decent speed. But you know... red light is a b**** :) Check out the video below.

The Lotus Temple is probably the most simple, yet pure, monument I've seen so far in India. As the name suggests, this temple, in a shape of a lotus flower, invites people of all religions to pray. Similar to its exterior, the temple's white marbles inside gives a sense of peacefulness and purity. This is a really nice and quiet sanctuary in a busy city like Delhi.

Halfway Around the World and Back

Wow... What a week it has been!

First, call me crazy but I decided to fly back from India to Canada to surprise Namika. I had to orchestrate the whole thing with her sister, Shikha, and one of her best friends, Flavia (Thanks, guys). In the end, I think we executed it perfectly.... Namika had no idea. :)

Namika surprise caught on tape.

I miss being at home where you can get to places without cabs/rick-shaws. After spending 5 days back home (much needed), I flew into Delhi where I took another flight to Udaipur to meet Bram and Axel (my India travel buddies) to begin my North India mini-tour. At this point, I had flown over 50 hours in just 5 days..... severely jetlagged to say the least. But I continue to press on anyways.

Udaipur is a 400+ year told city with some of the most unique views I've ever seen. The center piece of the city is the floating Lake Palace (part of the Bond film Octopussy was filmed here) in Lake Pichola .

The Lake Palace during the day.



Fatech Prakash Palace Hotel by Lake Pichola.

Lake Palace at night. What a view!

From Udaipur, we headed to this town about 100km away called Chittorgarh to attend a Rajasthani wedding. We didn't have anything proper to wear so we spent a day in Udaipur shopping for kurtas (Indian night suit). The highlight of the night must be when we were dragged onto the stage at the sangeet to dance in front of everyone! Sangeet is a Hindu/Sikh event typically held 2-3 days before the wedding where ladies will sing and dance to celebrate the newly weds. It was particularly embarrassing because we were preceded by many beautiful Rajasthani dances. Nonetheless, we all had a good time.

Boys in our kurtas (Left to Right: Axel, Wally, Bram)

All the female relatives waiting for the groom to "bring" home the bride.

One of the performances at the Sangeet. Notice the flashing dance floor, very 80's.

The next morning, Granlent, Shirley, and I flew to Delhi (a 1.5 hour flight). Axel and Bram took the overnight (14 hours) train to Delhi as well. We spent the day site-seeing the city. I find Delhi much more crowded and busy than Mumbai. We are scheduled to be here for the weekend so I will write more about Delhi once I have a chance to explore it a bit more.

Gate of India (India Gate)


Delhi National Museum. I learnt a lot about some of the more famous Hindu Gods/Goddesses (Krishna, Shiva, Ganoush, Ganga, etc.).

Humayun's Tomb. Built in mid 16th century. Those Mughals sure like their tombs.

Hopefully you enjoyed a sliver of what's been happening to me in the past few days. In the next 5-7 days, we plan to visit Agra (Taj Mahal), Amritsar (Golden Temple), and maybe Dharamsala (where the Dalai Lama resides). I'll keep you posted!

ISB Moves to #15 in the World!

I love ISB's school spirit. The 2009 Financial Times MBA ranking came out two days ago and it ranked ISB #15, moving up 5 spots from #20 the previous year. We had a celebration at noon today with opening remarks from the ex-dean, Professor Mendu Rammohan Rao, followed by a lunch buffet at the atrium. I'm really impressed with the school spirit the student community shows. I'm also really loving the campus life because I never did coming from a city school (University of Toronto). It's such a tight community and all the ISB students have been so warm and welcoming. I just came back from celebrating this milestone from the 2008 Student Lounge, an outdoor dance floor with a kickass sound system donated by the 2008 class. I'm not much of a dancer but I really enjoyed being on the dance floor with everyone dancing to Indian music. Nothing beats partying with everyone and then walking about 100 yards back to my room. Back home, I would to hang out with my friends and then drive 40 minutes back to home.

It's been tough juggling between school, work, and traveling but I'm loving it!

WaLLy :)

So Sonu is a bit confused... it's #15, not #51.