India Days 6-9: Mumbai Farewell, Goa, First Night in Bangalore

I'm so sorry for the delay in getting these up...wifi has been entirely unavailable for multiple days.  I finally have unlimited access in the evenings to use email and post blogs, so I'm trying to get everything caught up.  My poor family thought I'd been kidnapped and I was being held for ransom.  Anyhow, I'm working on it.

Day 6:  Last Evening in Mumbai & Farewell      
Today was our last day in our first city in India.  Not one of us can believe we’ve already been here a week!  It’s gone so fast and we’ve done and learned so much!  We spent the morning in a lecture, another by Professor Ambulkar and I enjoyed it just as much as the previous.  Again, it was on entrepreneurship in India.  It’s fascinating what can be done with a little ingenuity!  We saw short videos; one was of a young woman living in a rural community who created a clothes washer that consumes no energy.  It is a bicycle with a large box attached to the front.  The user pedals the bike which turns a cage inside the box, after tossing in water and detergent.  So in rural areas where there is limited or no electricity, or where there simply isn’t extra money to have a clothes washer, this is a viable option!  

We then each gave a dreaded “presentation” about our reflections on our trip thus far, our ideas as to whether or not we’d consider doing business in India and where we fit in, and opportunities within our majors here in India.  I discussed the fact that it’s been an incredible journey so far, and that the students who’ve been with us have been very kind.  Professor Dembla asked what I haven’t liked, so I told her (and Professors Navin and Shamira and the students present) that the lack of schedule and subsequent chaos has been quite overwhelming for me.  I explained that at home we have very set schedules:  We’re up at 7, at work by 9, leaving by 5, in bed by 11…Professor Navin whispered to Professor Dembla, “is that really how it is?”  She responded, “Yes, it’s true.”  I thought that was a bit funny.  I also discussed that I don’t see a place for myself in business here, mostly because Erik and I know we want to own a retail store and I haven’t seen any interest in the sort of business we want to go into.  I told him I’d come back to visit, though, that we really want to see the north of India and Nepal.  I think he found that interesting.

We spent the afternoon shopping for “traditionals” (traditional Indian attire) to wear at our farewell dinner.  We didn’t know we needed these on our shopping day, so none of us purchased them.  It was interesting seeing as none of us knew what to look for or what is acceptable.  I chose a white outfit with a pale aqua-esque paisley print.  It’s so pretty and there are pictures to follow.  After shopping we joined our new friends and classmates at a party in our honor.  It was nice to interact with the Indian students in such a laid back setting.  They showed us traditional and modern Indian dances, helped us make wishes in the Hindi spirit, and we laughed and ate until it was time to leave.

It’s a bit overwhelming that it’s time to leave our new friends already.  They were asking us to find ourselves on their Facebook accounts on day one—literally!  I can’t say, though, that I’m not excited to see what the rest of India holds.  Mumbai, while a very interesting city, is not my love.  I don’t care for the noise, the hustle/slug pace all at once…I learned that I’m surely not a city girl.  I will miss the experience, though.  I was so overwhelmed before, and now, after the farewell, I’m glad I came.  I enjoyed myself and was happy to have the opportunity to say goodbye to everyone.  They gave us each a very nice gift, a wooden box with a photo of the whole group in the lid.  Inside is a beautiful blown glass bird which we can keep and remember our time here.  We felt badly that we had nothing to give to them.  We intended to exchange gifts, but in all honesty, time simply got away.  I will send gifts after we return home to some of them, the people I felt I connected with.  And we’ll have to do much better in the future!  

And I should add one note:  The drama that was spoken about from the other night and the club and such was apparently a very big misunderstanding.  I have apologized and the apology has been accepted, and it’s behind me.

Tomorrow is yet to be written…until then, keep on burning!

India Day 7 & 8:  Goa

After rushing to the airport on Friday morning (we really can’t seem to get anywhere on time), we boarded a plane to Goa where we spent the weekend.  We touched down and found our bus to our resort, “Baywatch Resort Goa.”  It was beautiful!  The rooms were nice and clean, the service was ok though no hustle was found at any time, there were American food options which our stomachs were in need of, and the Beach!! 

We each had something to eat and went about planning our following day.  There was interest in massage, para-sailing, banana boat rides, and jet skis.  We had a tour planned for 1 o’clock, so we tried to plan accordingly. 

The following morning (Saturday), Dr. Dembla, Ria, Rebeca, Zaheer, Connor, and myself walked on the beach.  A few of us para-sailed (all 10 minutes were amazing!  Don’t worry, we only paid 700 rupees/about $10) and then joined a couple of others at a beachside shack.  We sat, ordered a couple of drinks, a snack, and before we knew it, it was noon.  We were relaxing in over sized beach chairs under a sun shade with a beautiful breeze and a view of the Arabian Sea.  When the suggestion was made that we skip our 1 PM tour, we all quickly agreed!  We had such a nice, relaxing day with too many drinks, a couple of snacks, and a really nice employee who helped us with questions and our orders.  His name is Deep, and he is entirely awesome!  He gave us discounts on our drinks “because we ordered more than 10 mojitos.”  At some point or another we said goodbye and wandered back to our hotel to take showers, have dinner, and go out for a bit…Which wound up leading us back to the little shack on the beach (called Rendezvous).  We each had a couple of drinks and said goodbye, explaining that we wouldn’t be back tomorrow because we were leaving.  Deep was, again, gracious and kind, wishing us well on our journey and asking us to return another time.

We went back to the hotel and I got ready to leave in the morning.  Most everything was packed so all I had left to do was get up for my Massage!!  It wasn’t nearly the best massage I’ve had, but it was relaxing and enjoyable.  Relaxing and enjoyable just in time to run to the airport again:  We’re on our way to Bangalore!  

Keep on burning….

Day 9:  Settling in Bangalore; the Prison

So...What can I say?  We arrived in Bangalore to an impressively pretty airport after an airplane ride that can only be described as a bus ride by air.  We made 2 stops during which we all stayed on board while the plane was quickly cleaned and re-boarded by more different passengers than the previous leg (45 minutes tops to turn it around).  The drive to Alliance University in Bangalore started beautifully with pretty roads, plants and trees, and an exciting teaser of what was to come.  As we continued to drive, the roads soon became reminders of Mumbai with kamikaze “scootie” drivers and crazed bus drivers.  Following a nail biter of a drive (we all had to cover our eyes multiple times as the driver accelerated before hitting the breaks mere centimeters behind the car, truck, or scooter in front of us), we arrived to a beautiful campus full of trees and grass and we were pleased to arrive to a warm dinner which included a non-veg dish (read:  Meat!).  After our tasty meal in a nice dining hall, we were shown our rooms.  They are decent as far as dorm rooms go, but we were shocked to find that the boys and girls would stay in different buildings.  We were also quite shocked and not too terribly happy about this, as we’d expected an experience similar to those we’ve already had.  We’ve become a close knit group and we were bummed to be so far apart. 

After our room assignments, we went for a short tour of the campus with Suchey.  We talked to her and her friend Ashwan about life in America, MBA programs, and other topics.  On our way back, part of the group stopped and was looking at something on the ground.  As we approached I asked what they were looking at.  It was a scorpion, and though some were a bit freaked, I thought, “oh, no big deal, we have those at home.”  Oh my goodness, we don’t have these at home!  It was HUGE!  Like the big, black, venomous, actually-do-damage type of scorpion.  Oh. My. Goodness!  Suchey told the security guard posted outside our dorm (across the street).  He came over and started blowing a whistle.  I’m not sure what that was meant to do, but eventually he found a broom handle like stick and smashed the tar out of the big, black, venomous, actually-do-damage scorpion.  It’s still there, dead on the street.

Little did we know after all of this excitement, that being housed in separate buildings was the least of our worries.  We were informed that we would be subject to an 11 PM curfew, and we would not have wifi access as we were told we’d have.  A few minutes later at 11 PM, the doors to the building were locked from the outside, and the common area lights turned off.  Apparently, we are to not only be in at 11, but also in our rooms.  And it doesn’t end there!  The girls were all chit chatting in our rooms (connected by a jack-n-jill bathroom) when we heard Ria screeching.  When she came hopping in and told us that there were bugs in hers and Rebeca’s room, I thought she was just being dramatic.  And then I went into their room to check it out.  She was NOT being dramatic!  There were a hundred big mosquito/mothy looking things flopping and flying around their room.  Long story short, The “Warden” (literally what she is called) came and turned off all the lights telling us that they would be gone in a minute.  After about 30 minutes, we finally convinced her that the window was broken and sitting in the pitch black would not fix the problem.  She killed the bugs put paper in the window, and swept the room.  It was quite an event.  We’re all exhausted, we’re worried about our group-mate, Alex, who made a visit to the hospital tonight due to food poisoning, and we are trying not to freak out about our current conditions.  Poor Ria wound up half crying/half laughing at the debacle in which we found ourselves. 

We all couldn’t stop laughing at the fact that we haven’t spoken our loved ones in days, we feel as though we’re in prison (“warden” and all) and we are stuck here for a week and a half.  Like Connor said, though, these 9 days will be only what we make them, so we better make them great!  I like the attitude and tried to remind the girls of this fact through our hysterical, tear-stained laughter.  A plus; Suchey told us that we don’t have lecture as we’ll only attend site visits while here, and we don’t have to be at breakfast tomorrow until 10:30 AM!  A late morning for us is a nice surprise!

Until Tomorrow…Keep on Burning!

India Day 5: Hindu Temple and Islamic Mosque

Today was a difficult day for me.  This morning we went to a temple and a mosque.  It was interesting...the mosque is built out over the sea.  To get there, you have to walk on a jetty of sorts.  Tide wasn't all the way out when we arrived, so we went and had a juice.  We went back a little later and we got very wet.  I have no real way of describing the smell that is this place.  It was a mix of sea water, garbage, sweat/BO, food....not very nice.  It’s pretty gross actually.  The mosque itself was pretty and an interesting experience.  A couple of our group members, both American and Indian are Muslim, so it was nice to talk to them about their customs and what I saw.  

I had a bit of a breakdown in the middle of the day.  There is absolutely no organization among our group.  Plans get made, they get changed before we leave to go to them, they change again before we make it into cabs, and at least twice more before we actually arrive at our destination.  I'm so over it.  I just got very overwhelmed by the chaos.  I want structure.  So I was going to go with Ria, Zaheer, and Ria’s friend Ridi to see a nearby town and do a little shopping, and decided at the last minute that I should go to the Bollywood dancing workshop (out of a feeling of obligation more than anything) that had been set up for us.  I did, but I was acting a bit sluggish as I/we are all very tired and quite exhausted.  Dr. Dembla asked what was wrong and I couldn’t help but cry.  I try to explain that crying is my stress reaction, but most people don’t understand.  She insisted that I go back to the hotel to rest instead of taking part in the workshop.  I agreed, came back to my room, and sobbed for a minute while taking out a favorite picture of my Erik and Stitch. 

After a few minutes, I calmed down and took a nap.  I woke feeling alright and was getting excited when everyone arrived back and we all started getting ready to go out to a club here in Mumbai.  Ria, Zaheer, Ridi, and I were all going to go for a bit, and then share a taxi back to the hotel:  Only to find out that we Ria and I are not on the list.  Apparently the student who was arranging our entry into the club preferred us not to be there tonight as she asked the whole group twice yesterday who was going, and Ria and I both said we were attending.  Ria even asked about Ridi joining us.  It was a bit hurtful, and a very ugly thing to do on her part.  But we enjoyed a short cap ride to Marine Walk which is a shopping area near the sea overlooking “The Queen’s Necklace.”  We had pizza (chicken tikka masala) at a nice restaurant, and went for a walk and chatted a bit.  It was nice to slow down some and enjoy.  Ria bought us these strings of flowers which have a name that I can’t remember.  They’re jasmine flowers that go in your hair.  It’s sitting on the shelf above my head now and I can smell its sweet fragrance reminding me of my tea at home.  It was strange to be out at midnight and see families talking as their children run wild on the walkway.  A whole family slept on the sidewalk; 3 adults and 3 young children.  My heart broke.  A little boy was playing with some sort of light-up spinner toy which flew into the street.  He nearly walked in front of a car to go get it, which is bad here because drivers just go.

I also had a very interesting encounter today.  I’ve mentioned that Indians are very curious about us.  Some have posed with my classmates for photos on their phones and cameras.  I was asked for my first photo today.  A woman and her two children stood around me and she was so excited for me to know that these are her children.  As if that wasn’t enough, she held her infant out to me expectantly to hold for a picture:  Very strange!  Another woman asked for a photo as well and was also holding a small boy.  I felt awful when she pushed her young daughter away so that she wouldn’t be in the picture.  I’m told that Indians think we are “exotic.”  It’s all quite Bazaar, if you ask me.  

I’m hoping that tomorrow will be better.  I’ll be excited to hear about everyone else’s adventures on the town tonight.  I’ll try to post tomorrow before we leave for Goa on Friday morning.

Keep on Burning…

India Day 4: Bombay Stock Exchange, Dinner & Desserts On The Town

Today was a packed day.  We began with three hours of lecture.  I will have to ask how lecture works for our Indian friends, but I know for us as American students, we don’t do well sitting and paying attention for 3 consecutive hours.  So this was a bit difficult.  It was, however, very interesting for the most part.  Professor Ambulkar discussed small and medium enterprises, which basically translates to entrepreneurship in India.  Being that my major is management with an interest in entrepreneurship, it was right up my alley!  We viewed a short video about Mirakle Couriers:  This is an Indian courier service which employs deaf people.  From what I understand, those who are handicapped in India are nearly unemployable, and when they do receive jobs it is usually menial work which earns very little and does very little to boost the individual personally.  The young man who pioneered this business is a graduate of The H.R. College of Commerce here in Mumbai.  This is the college which is hosting us while we’re here.  He is brilliant in my book for doing something so forward in a country that is set so strongly in tradition and customs.  I thoroughly enjoyed the lecture and would love to hear another!

This was followed by lunch at the college.  Every day we find more to talk about with our student hosts.  I know it will be hard to leave them on Friday.  They have helped make our first days in India wonderful and we are all very grateful!  

After lunch, we visited the Bombay Stock Exchange which is the largest exchange in Asia.  There, we listened to a lecture about the exchange, its importance, and how it interacts with the economy here.  We walked through our first actual metal detectors to get in.  There are many metal detectors around town, though none of them ever function (at all—as in, they aren’t even powered on).  Once inside, we went straight to the 18^th floor which is the only floor we had clearance to be on.  We listened to the lecture and then went to see the view from the cafeteria.  It was a nice view of the surrounding area and we took a few pictures.

Following the view, it was time to leave.  Well, this became and adventure.  About half of us got into an elevator which was sent on its way, without one of the officials (of which there were two) in it with us.  We didn’t get out when we were supposed to, and did get out when we weren’t supposed to…On The Wrong Floor!  Remember, we don’t have clearance to be anywhere except the 18^th floor.  After much deliberation and finger pointing, we got ourselves back into the elevator and to the correct floor, where our guides/officials still had not arrived.  A couple of minutes later, they joined us and led us down some stairs, through a renovation area of the building, and down a very long corridor.  Now, normally, this wouldn’t be too big a deal, except that the entire journey was led by a couple of our students who had no idea where to go.  One would think that it might make sense with two guides, for one to lead and the other to follow.  I guess that isn’t done here?  I was not alone in my irritation in the lack of guidance on this particular outing.  I feel like, despite our lack of clearance, we could have found ourselves into anywhere in the building.  The security clearly isn’t very secure.  Additionally, I snapped at Divya (one of our host students) when she called us all stupid for not getting off the elevator.  I felt badly later for being rude to her, though I was truly irritated and I tend to show my feelings.

After this, we walked to Starbucks (I know, Starbucks in a foreign country?).  Everyone was excited for the free wifi, which didn’t work for us.  But the coffees and drinks were a touch of home after a few days of nothing home-like at all.  It was nice, actually.  And a bit funny as a couple of people have been asking for Starbucks since the plane touched down.  So, we finally got our Starbucks, and in the first Starbucks constructed in India.  We visited with our hosts and gave them some good laughs at our banter and excitement over silly things.  We were behaving entirely as typical Americans in a coffee house, and I think they were quite amused by it.  At one point a few of us from each group (Indian and American) were waiting to use the ladies room.  Ria and I were just cracking up and being our very loud selves.  When I returned from my turn in the restroom, I made a typical American comment:  “Whoever designed that bathroom should be shot!”  The girls thought that was just so funny!!  All kidding aside, it’s entirely true.  The Starbucks is the largest I’ve ever seen.  It’s something like 4500 square feet.  Yet somehow, the bathroom has one door which opens all the way to the wall of the next door, which opens to just clear the toilet.  Through the first door is a space large enough only for the sink.  Very poorly designed, Starbucks!

So, you might think that after all of this in one day, we’d be finished, no?  Nope, not even close!  We followed our coffee break by desserts in a small patisserie.  I’ll have to find out the name of the dessert we tried.  All of the students have been talking about it since we got here.  In a small fried shell were little beadlike somethings (they sort of resembled cous cous in appearance) in a sweet and spicy liquid.  It was interesting.  I didn’t love it, and didn’t really care to eat another, but it wasn’t bad.

Finished yet?  Nope.  A couple of the guys have talked about nothing but wanting to eat MEAT for like a day and a half!  Meat, please give me meat!  Much of the country here is vegetarian, and nearly all of our meals have been either largely or entirely vegetarian.  The best way to describe it is that we are used to very substantial meals:  Big burgers, sandwiches, burritos, things we can hold in our hands and take big juicy bites out of.  Here, people eat small bites, often with a piece of bread in their hand.  We have eaten a lot of rice with various sauces, some with a tofu-like protein source, often with beans of some sort.  While most everything we’ve had has been tasty, it’s just not quite satisfying after multiple meals in a row.  Well, our hosts were obliged to appease the gents that were so adamantly requesting Meat.  Dinner was very good.  I had butter chicken which is entirely unlike the butter chicken one might find at an Indian restaurant in the US.  Our table received its food, the next table received its food, and the third table (which included one of the boys who so desperately needed some “bland meat”) waited and waited for their food.  They eventually left and went to McDonald’s nearby in order to get chicken sandwiches.  I actually felt very badly for them.  It was very late, and they were hungry.  We were all tired and simply ready to eat.

All in all, it was an interesting day.  One of the students asked me today how I like India and Mumbai.  I wasn’t very sure how to answer her as I don’t really know.  Despite the fact that people are people over all and have in common basic needs and wants, the city is so very different in almost every way from home.  It’s big and loud!  I took some videos to try to capture the sights and sounds, though I don’t feel as though you will get the picture as I had hoped you might.  I’ll have to post those later as I don’t have enough wifi access to do it now.  I’ll try to see if I can get one, maybe during our walk in the morning, which better captures the craziness and uniqueness of this place.  I think my response will still take a couple of days to figure out.

My feet are still swollen.  A friend of Ria's lives here in India and happens to be a doctor.  I asked her about it and she said to elevate them as much as possible.  I'll keep doing that and hope it gets better.  They didn't get bad today until this evening after a long day of walking.  One day at a time, though I sure would like to know why this is happening.

Until next time, keep on burning…

 The Gateway to India built when the British left India

 Ferries

 This monkey on Elephanta Island had the soda, then opened the bag of chips and started chowing down

 Zohra is one of our student hosts, and she's such a sweetheart!  We're both Harry Potter fans!

 One of the carvings at The Elephanta Caves

 Selfies with the bull--in the middle of the sidewalk

The slums from the outside.  We weren't permitted to take photos from inside.

 My terribly swollen feet :(

India Day 3: Dharavi (Slums)

Today was a bit alarming for most of us.  We started the morning with two lectures (we are here for class, after all).  We then had lunch, and boarded the bus for a 30 minute drive.  Thirty minutes turned into an hour (Mumbai traffic is 2 times worse than Atlanta!), and we arrived at Dharavi (“The Slums”) for a tour.  I, as many Americans would, expected dirty chaos in a residence called a slum:  Well, it was dirty.  In fact, I consider the living conditions atrocious and entirely appalling.  What we found, though, in addition to terribly unappealing conditions, were people who work very hard, who are unashamed of what they do and where they live, and who, according to our professors here, are entrepreneurs.  I guess by the definition of the word that it’s true.  There are businesses run and money made by way of recycling the abundant garbage and aluminum here, making leather, soap, clay pots, and numerous other jobs.  I wish I could have taken pictures as attempting to describe this place simply won’t give you a realistic impression.  I’ll try to describe it, though, as best I can:

We walked over the train tracks on a bridge, where we stopped and our guide asked us questions about our thoughts and impressions of the word “slum.”  We each gave our thoughts, typical responses were voiced:  Dirty, messy, disorganized…And then we walked down the stairs into another world.  There were flies in the air about halfway down the stairs.  Immediately we saw stray animals, mud, and garbage in a heap on the street, and people going about their business in dirty, dusty clothes.  There were many people and little sanitation.  At first it looked much like the streets we’d come off of.  Quickly though, we turned onto a side street, and saw what we were there to see.  Two story shacks with steep ladders from the first floor to the second, siding made of corrugated aluminum sheets:  The first floor was a work space.  They were little factories amongst a million people, and they were only as big as about a large room in one of our houses in The US.  Above the work spaces are what I can only assume to be living spaces.  We didn’t see inside, but the footprint is only as big as the shop below; and families with children living there in these cramped quarters.  There was garbage everywhere:  In piles and in pieces, around small dumpsters or trash cans, and in the middle of nowhere.  Children played in it or looked for items among the trash; for what I can’t imagine.

I was careful not to let my long, conservative skirt touch the ground most of the day as the ground was covered in dust, dirt, and liquids of unknown origin.  There were holes in walks, piles two stories high of items from plastic to trash.  People made their way through the already narrow sidewalks, made narrower still by the piles of debris.  Among all of this were goats, usually tied to something, which would be used for food.  I just wanted to pet them all and milk some which were badly in need.  It seems that while there is a verbal respect for life here, the animals we’ve seen are extremely ill-kept.

We eventually walked through the residential area of the slum.  A man sat outside his home on the dirty, broken sidewalk washing himself.  We turned a corner to a dark and dank narrow ally-like walk with low overhead and hanging wires.  Cracked paths led us by curtain doors, all closed, which led to tiny living spaces.  Above, by way of narrow ladders, were more living quarters.  Again, trash floated about, children played, and people went about their business.  Though, interestingly enough, the locals here love foreigners.  They are fascinated by us and often stop what they’re doing to watch us walk by.  This happened often in The Slum. 

We are told that the residents, who also work in Dharavi, are there of their own free will.  That they choose this work.  One reason is that many of them have families in the rural areas and the members in the slum make more money there than they can where they come from.  For this reason, they work here and send money home to their families.  Another reason is that they often don’t have the skills to work in some other areas of the city.  Some people would have us believe that despite these reasons, that it’s still a choice.  Apparently some of the people who live here are very wealthy, and it costs very much to stay in a space.  I believe it as I have no reason to doubt it, and the people giving us the information live here…what do I know?  However, as an American with so many people living in poor conditions, and knowing that there are so many social programs available to them (admittedly nearly all of them are sorely flawed—but they do exist), many of us had a very hard time understanding why anyone would choose to live in those conditions.  The response when any of us asked about this is that they are entrepreneurs, that this life is a choice, and that if you have no other options, it works just fine.  A bit ironic, I agree.  We were also told to look at the people and to see if we saw anyone unhappy.  While I didn’t see anyone particularly unhappy, I also didn’t see anyone who looked thrilled or excited about their situation either.  They work hard, long days, in extraordinarily horrid conditions, for little pay.

Despite all that we saw, I do have to say that not once, even for a second, did anyone ask for even one handout.  This is quite impressive as the begging in Mumbai has been absolutely overwhelming.  Never have most, if not any, of us seen anything quite like the beggars here.  There was a woman just tonight holding an infant who simply followed me around for 5+ minutes.  I couldn’t believe it.  She just assumed because I/we are foreigners we will give her handouts.

I concluded this overwhelming day with dinner at the hotel followed by a walk around the block with two group-mates (Ria and Zaheer).  We visited a dress shop around the block from our hotel.  Let me tell you, Indian wedding attire is BEAUTIFUL!!  It was so worth going.  Z is trying to surprise his sister with a gift for her wedding.  Ria modeled the styles he liked for him to see what the might look like.  Oh my goodness are they just exquisite!  

My feet are still very bad at the end of the day.  Elevation tends to help, though.  I just have to do the best I can.

‘Til tomorrow….

India Day 2: Elephanta Caves and Shopping

We started our day early today trying to avoid the heat and the crowds.  I'm so glad we did!  Most of us are sunburned, and the crowds were unbearable on the island as we left.

Elephanta Caves are on a small island about 45 minutes, by ferry, from Mumbai (Bombay).  We passed by The Gate of Bombay constructed when the British left India (very beautiful!) and got on to the ferry.  The breeze on the water was nice, very cooling.  I was completely shocked when I saw a man finish a juice box and simply chuck it over the side of the boat.  It took everything I had not to gawk at him.  I asked about this and I was told that there are not enough waste baskets and since people can't just carry their trash, the must just drop it where they are.  I found this unbelievable and tried to explain "Leave No Trace" to the kind girls hosting us-it wasn't well understood.  We even explained that when you go scuba diving, you don't touch the turtles because it's illegal.  The remark was that no one will know because you're under the sea.

So, on to Elephanta we went.  There was a moderately steep walk up some very uneven stairs to get to the caves.  We saw our first "Indian Monkeys" on the way.  Actually monkeys which are quite comical--until they take your food and all but laugh at you while they eat it and stare you in the eye.  Photos are coming tomorrow of the animals.

We also saw a few goats, many dogs, and a very large cow.  They were all hits as we are animal loving Americans.  Though the real excursion was to the caves.  These are caves that have within them carved statues of the Hindu Gods.  Carved by the Portuguese, and then destroyed by the same, they are beautiful relics of the history of the nation.

We shopped this afternoon.  Oh my goodness, did we shop!  I'm not much of a shopper to start with, so when you had very hot heat, modest (read:  long) clothing, and very many people in very small spaces, you get a very tired Me.  I did buy a couple of items.  Most everything here is so cheap!  Clothing for a few dollars is just crazy to me.  And many people here wear these clothes.  Though they may be more expensive to locals than the seem to us.  I think Indians would be shocked at the clothing prices in America.  Actually, I think Indians would be shocked at the price of everything in America.  I bought 2 liters of water today for $1.

My feet were doing better this morning and most of the day.  Unfortunately, a beer and then extensive shopping led to them swelling again.  Not as sore as yesterday, but not very comfortable right now.  I think the water is helping.  For the first 18 hours or so that we were here, we kept being told to drink water, drink water, but we were only being given juice-size glasses of water at a time.  So I bought many liters and have had almost 3 today.  I feel like a new person!

I'm including a couple of photos from yesterday, today's will be posted tomorrow (hopefully).

Until then...Keep on Burning...

 Train Station in Mumbai

Train Station in Mumbai

 Coast line of Mumbai--The camera settings were off so you can't see all the trash

 Hanging Gardens--A park in the city

A street corner as we passed

India: Flight and 1st Day

After nearly 24 hours of travel time, we have arrived in India (Mumbai).  We breezed through customs and baggage claim as it was only 3 AM yet, only to be accosted by a bunch of squawking Indian men looking to help us with our bags for $1/$2/$20.  There was a delay among our group as our drivers attempted to figure out where our bags would fit, which, I'm told, is quite common here.  Nothing gets done quickly, I'm told.

My feet were extraordinarily swollen upon arrival.  An issue that was somewhat bettered by rest and elevation, but hindered today as we spent the whole day around town with our hosts.  They are a group of students from Mumbai College's HR College, and they are wonderful!  Kind, informative, eager to teach and learn:  We know that we'll enjoy spending our first week with them!

This morning, after breakfast, a couple of us went for a short walk with Professor Dembla around the block.  Our first glimpse of the city in the daylight, and WOW, is it dirty!  I can't even describe it.  Trash, rubble, stray animals, people sleeping smack in the middle of the sidewalk...not to mention the smell.  It comes and goes, stronger in some spaces than others, and a real adjustment.  The natives simply go about their business. Dr. Dembla told us just to ignore those sleeping in the streets, to just take it in as scenery.  I'll try to do so, but it's hard when you are raised believing that it's somehow your job to make things better.  It's such a vast issue here.  We're told that the government made apartments available to some of these people, and that they chose to stay on the street and rent their spaces out for income.

Divya and some of my classmates just arrived back at the hotel after an evening excursion to a market.  I'm excited to hear what the did and saw.  I came back to rest my feet.  Our hotel is in the middle of the city.  It's not in an area that I would consider "safe" at home, but it seems to be fine.  Our rooms are simple, but offer everything we require. 

The food has been wonderful so far!  flavors and experiences never before imagined.  We had a "chai" drink today.  Not like Starbucks Chai Tea (at All), it was curd with spices and tapioca. I did try it, I didn't care for it.  Otherwise, lunch was so tasty.  The service reminded me of The Druze Village as they just keep giving you more food.  But it's so good, you can't say no!

Tomorrow will undoubtedly be busy as well.  I'll try to remember to upload some pictures before posting.  Internet has proven to be difficult here as we have to pay so time is limited.  I haven't been able to talk to Erik which frustrates me because that was my one big worry aside from the flight, but I'm trying to take it in stride and enjoy the experiences as they come.  Hopefully one of my classmates can troubleshoot my wifi issue, and/or the next hotel (in Goa) will be a little more user friendly.

Until then, Keep On Burning!