Our second day in Jaipur, which has quickly become one of my favorite major cities in India, began with a walking tour of the city. The weather in the morning was cool, relatively speaking of course, and so we had a nice time observing local life on the streets and in the markets, coming across camels and beautiful buildings, including the Wind Temple. The day quickly heated up, making our tour of an observatory a challenge, but it was nice to have the feeling of sunshine, which has not been visible in many of the places in India I’ve visited. After our walking tour, I made my way back to the hotel for a large lunch that doubled as dinner, and then took a walk to a local shopping mall to pass the time before our evening plans.
In the evening, we went to go see a Bollywood movie at the Raj Mandir, listed as one of the 10 World’s Most Enjoyable Movie Theaters. It was such an awesome experience! The movie was a love story, and although in Hindi, we could follow along to get the gist, although I was more intrigued by the overall experience than the movie itself. The movie was quite long, so we left after the intermission so the rest of the group could get dinner, and I made my way back to the hotel via rickshaw, which was an interesting experience in and of itself, alongside my tour leader, Gajraj, who offered to take the rickshaw back with me to make sure I was safe; he is native to Jaipur, and has been truly outstanding this entire experience, constantly going above and beyond his duties with his high level of professionalism, confidence, expertise, organization, and kindness. Before taking off with me, he went to get our group situated in the restaurant, leaving me with time in the rickshaw. The rickshaw driver asked where I was from, and when I said the U.S. he informed me that he did not go to college, humbly following up with “no college, no knowledge” with a huge grin, further informing me that he also did not go to high school. I told him his English was great and how life experience has clearly taught him much, letting him know I was a teacher to hopefully validate my claims. He proudly asked if I’d seen the Amber Fort, letting me know that he’s never left Rajasthan and that he has a large family, with 5 brothers and sisters, just like me! I made sure to let him know our commonality, and he smiled asking if I was married. He told me that he lives with his entire family, working 7 days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on the rickshaw. I was in complete shock. Wowed. As my tour leader returned to the rickshaw and we were wrapping up our conversation, he told me I’ll have to come back to Jaipur someday, but with my husband. Just so sweet! I made sure to give him my blessing after he dropped me off at my hotel, having made my time in Jaipur extra special through his kindness. Once I got back to the hotel, I took a nice warm shower, but after drying off with smelly, stained towels, I’m not sure it was purposeful. We got up early the next morning to board our 6:00 a.m. day train back to Delhi, during this time I decided to book a new hotel near the airport; I’ve had my lot of quaint, family run Indian hotels at this point, and need a clean shower and good night’s sleep before heading back to the States. Others in my group feel similarly, and have also booked a night at the same hotel, and so we will continue on with the remainder of our Indian adventure together! We plan to do some extra touring of New Delhi, and then will hang out at the hotel until it’s time to depart for the airport. Jaipur is a city that intrigues me; I’d love to dive deeper by exploring the schools and communities to get a richer perspective of the heart of the city, although my tour leader being native to the area has already done a great job. I love how much pride Indians have for where they come from; I have yet to experience one individual in this country who complains or speaks negatively of where they live. Even in their honest admissions of the imperfections, they always paint them with hope for improvements, an optimism that permeates through generations. Although I’d love to spend time passively observing here, it is not possible for me in India; it is fair to say that I have not done well at keeping a low-profile despite dressing similar to custom. I stand out everywhere I go, even when tucked in a group or hidden in the back of a rickshaw, so the more actively connected I am to people who live here when I travel, the safer and more valuable the experience will be. I can’t believe I have just one day left in India. This has been by far the most rapid four weeks of my entire life, which simultaneously feel like the longest, as if a year has passed since arriving here. Not much more to come, perhaps just one more blog post before my journey concludes!
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Mary Patricia PavicicAurora High School Science Teacher and IREX Teachers for Global Classrooms Fellow 2017-2018. ArchivesNo Archives Categories |