George and Carol in India: Catching Up: A Few Thoughts, A Few Shots

A few thoughts;

1. We're not being paid nearly enough to do this.

2. We'd probably do it for free.

3. To anyone who's said India is intense: you are guilty of gross understatement. After 26 of us crossed a main road in the old city last night with no crosswalks, no lights and no way of knowing which way vehicles were coming (or what kind of vehicles they were) Carol said (just loud enough for me to hear) "India is not for the faint hearted." Fortunately, Indian drivers don't get bonus points for hitting foreigners and hitting us would slow them down so I think we're OK--so far.

4. We left last weekend for a three day trip. First to Agra (Taj Mahal--built by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; Agra (Red) Fort, courtesy of Akbar; at night, the Tomb of Itimad-ud Daulah; and in the morning a group to the river to watch the sunrise over the Taj). Then to Fatehpur Sikri (Akbar, again). Finally to Vrindavan to meet with Katie Walter, tour the city and visit the Food For Life where her NGO VKG is housed.

I simply cannot (I have neither the time nor the skills) record our impressions. I'll include a few pictures but they can't do justice either. The Taj brings one to one's metaphorical knees. I am not a man of faith, but if I were, I could only salivate in anticipation of heaven because if humans are capable of creating such beauty, what is God capable of?

Cliches come to mind when trying to say anything about Fatehpur Sikri. Again, if minds could in fact be boggled, then they were. One is lost trying to grok the enormity of the construction challenges and the success achieved in meeting those challenges. If Akbar meant to announce to the world that he was the "man", he succeeded here as well. I had this thought in the midst of one of our tours of the trophy sites of the various Mughal rulers that here we see the result of machismo in regal display. A giant pissing match between father and son and grandson and on and on. How many slaves died? How much wealth was spent? How many people went without? And, where is their plaque? I had a very similar feeling once some years ago in China at the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Kind of like the Bridge to Nowhere.

Vrindavan seems to have been a big hit. Despite the beauty of the Taj and the grandeur of Fatehpur Sikri, the students loved the street scene and activity of Vrindavan. Katie and Sunil put together a very action-filled and interesting day concluding with a visit to Katie's NGO. Four highlights: 1) Cycle rickshaw races (our 14 biker walas rose to the occasion and made a friendly competition out of winning the race to our various destinations--much to the delight of everyone). 2) Miscreant monkeys. There are countless monkeys in Vrindavan. They have developed the ability to steal glasses (even while you're wearing them) and demanding food. Of course, once you give them food they refuse to return your glasses--not fair right? Kinda like trying to negotiate with certain political monkeys in the US. Anjali had hers stolen while she was sitting in a temple and Helen had hers ripped from her while walking on a street. Carol and I were forced to take off our glasses and put them in our pocket--saved the glasses but we kept bumping into monkeys. 3) Visiting VKG--Katie's NGO. The students fell in love with Katie, the staff and the products, bought a bunch and were reluctant to leave. Good on Katie. 4) Lunch at the Vrinda Kunj ashram. Peaceful, loving, filling. Good on Gopini. 5) an extra: we were running late and had to be on the train at Mathura at 9 sharp. Got to Mathura just a bit before 8 and had reservations at a hotel for dinner. Raced to the hotel, got seated around 8 and figured we had to leave no later than 8:30. Staff not quite ready, Katie urges them to work quickly, water is brought (8:10), a few dishes arrive (8:15) lights out (8:16), more dishes (8:20) lights go out (8:20), students continue to eat in the dark, I panic, find head guy and plead for bill, (lights out again), students are now shoveling down great food at record setting pace, bill arrives (8:28), Carol pays bill (8:29), lights go out, I urge everyone up and out the door (8:30), much grumbling (8:30), I respond by urging again (8:31), people leave grabbing food and eating while speeding down the stairway (8:33), outside and on bus (8:40), arrive at train station (8:55), walk briskly to platform 2 (9:00) announcement, train running late (9:01), many evil stares at me (9:01-11:30)

5. We're leaving Delhi in less than a week. How can we have done so much in such a short time? The students are maintaining field journals as a key assignment and I'll collect them for my first reading next Monday. I can't wait to read them (Peter, it's not that bad).

They are amazing. They instruct us as much, if not more, than we could ever instruct them. They have welcomed us into their fellowship and we couldn't be more pleased with them. That's the highlight of the trip so far, with nothing else remotely close. Yo Akbar--got that!

5. Parting shot. We were in the old city yesterday and are returning again today. At one point (around 4 p.m) Sunil led us up a street (about 8-10 feet wide at most) with shops on both sides. The train station is not far away and when trains come in, goods are unloaded and moved mostly on hand pulled/pushed carts to the various shops in the vicinity. One person had a cart filled with goods that was about 4-5 feet wide. He had gotten about half way down the street and then wasn't able to go any farther because of the crush of people. We likewise were trapped as people continued to try and enter the street from both ends and work their way past each other in different directions. We were (to use a Sunilian expression) cheek to jowl and (to use mine) butt to belly with hardly any room to move. The crowd shuffled, swayed, and inched to this side and that, and occasionally forward. The noise was deafening and the heat suffocating. Fortunately for the women, there wasn't sufficient room for any groping. We were strung out in a line (all 26 of us) about 25 yards from front to back--Sunil in front, Aukeem and I bringing up the rear. At one point Sunil and I made eye contact and gave each other a thumbs up sign and smiled (his saying, I think, "welcome to India"; mine, I know, saying "thanks for the memories").

A few shots:

Aukeem has this Dr. Seuss book (I think it's entitled "Oh, The Places You'll Go") He's been using it as a prop and taking a shot of him and another student holding it up at each stop. It was seized when we entered the Taj grounds. It caused quite a stir and Sunil tried in vain to reason with the guards who I guess thought we might use the pages to start a fire. They just couldn't get their brains around the idea of a grown man taking a cartoon book into the Taj (I sort of understand). At any rate, deprived of his book, he and Rosie do some kind of gangsta representation of the book:)

Sensing my understanding of homeland security, this ROTC troop welcomed me as the true anti-terrorist crime fighter I am

Helen, Rosie, Shandara and Richie

Carol's best shot. The sun rises over the Yamuna with what I think is a Mosque in the distance

Anjali and Keletso

True story. We're across the Yamuna River at sunrise to witness the sun come up and make love with the Taj (8 students, Carol, Sunil and moi). This kid comes up and asks if I'm the Big Cheese. I say, what's your name and I hear him say "Because". I say, "Why" and he says, "Because." (cue the laugh track). This kid is the smoothest talker I've ever met. It's the old foot in the door trick. First we fall in love with him, then he whips out a bag of trinkets. Carol, of course, can't resist and buys an elephant inside an elephant thingy. She says it's for Braylen (Judy's grandson) but I know it's just Because.

Sadhus: Indian holy men.

Your guess is as good as mine

At the Agra Fort Sunil expounds, Shandara kicks Alex and I ponder why I didn't get back in the stock market last January

Gopini explains the history of the Govind Dev Temple. Moments later a monkey steals Anjali's glasses and all hell breaks loose (think the Three Stooges meet the Keystone Cops). Proving again that India is one very strange place

We hold a slight lead as we round the club house turn.

Thomas and Richie don't seem too concerned.

Katie recently graduated from LC. She is a "non traditional student" (not directly out of high school and a "bit" older) who travelled on the 07 India trip and has a passion for India and social justice. She is currently on a grant to study Hindi and has also won an India-Fulbright grant to continue her work with the NGO (Non-Government Organization) next year. She developed her NGO as a result of winning one of the "100 Projects For Peace" awards. She has worked to set up a collective where widows and other women can produce and market their sewn handicrafts directly to retailers and/or on-line. This cuts out three or four layers of money grabbers and raises their incomes substantially. They make beautiful products and Katie is explaining the process in this shot. Note to alums and LC administration: Katie told me our contribution would make it possible for one of the widows to send her son to school for a year. Good on us!