Now that my IFE through TGC is complete, I have extended my travel with a tour group with the purpose of gaining the full Indian experience, an IFE enrichment! I’m going to blog as much I can to capture my days throighout Delhi, Varanasi, Agra, Tordi Garh, Jaipur, and back to Delhi on my tour. My first full day of exploration on my tour was filled with a bunch of firsts. I had my first experience on the Indian Metro system; very nice, clean, and efficient, with the first few cabins of each train reserved for women only. It serves over 1 billion riders per year! We then went on a walking tour of Old Delhi; from the sights of people working in crammed spaces, the old infrastructure with tangled wires, the stares and harassment, the variety of scents, the dogs and monkeys, the chaotic traffic, the poor air quality, and the non-stop noise, it was intimidating, to say the least. Plus, it’s extremely hot, requiring lots of water consumption that has to be balanced by the lack of available bathrooms, few having toilet paper and most squatting. Through our tour, I saw the largest mosque in Delhi, required to wear an overgarment on top of our clothes, observing while others were in prayer. I then hopped on my first rickshaw and made my way to a beautiful Sikh temple, through which I was able to see a prayer service in action, this time required to cover my head, and was able to escape the chaos of Old Delhi with peace created in this inclusive, service-oriented temple that serves four full free meals to anyone of any creed, race, or caste every single day. After a huge, delicious lunch/dinner near our hotel in a neighborhood called Karol Bagh, also intimidating and different than anything I’ve ever known, my group and I packed up for our overnight train to Varanasi, my last of firsts for the day. It’s definitely not the route of travel for the claustrophobic, LOL, but definitely an authentic Indian experience. So much of being here has been beyond what I expected, forcing me to put my fears, germophobia, comforts, and judgements to the side, and to just keep confidently moving forward, learning and soaking it all in like a sponge. I’m with another great group, our tour leader an Indian native with 12 years of experience, and 11 other travelers, four of which from the U.S., and the others from Australia and the U.K. I write this post formerly on the top bunk of the sleeper train, now sitting with my co-travelers, thirsty but trying to avoid attempting the bathroom again until our stop in Varanasi in two hours. In the meantime, we are gazing out the window, observing the impact of poor sanitation infrastructure along the countryside of India which forces individuals to excrete their wastes in the open fields; there’s no where else to go. With the amount of people who live in these areas, their fecal matter doesn’t decompose quick enough, unsanitary for the individual, the community, and all the other organisms in the area, contaminating the water and soil. Just unreal and very sad. I’m trying hard to not be a grouchy, high maintenance American throughout my travels, but it’s not easy. But I didn’t come here expecting anything to be easy, and so the adventure continues! We will be arriving in Varanasi soon; I can’t wait (to see it, of course, and to get off this train! LOL)! More to come!
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Mary Patricia PavicicAurora High School Science Teacher and IREX Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellow 2017-2018. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |