India: 5 days of Pepto-Bismol, bottled water, 3 hrs of sleep, 1 shower, bug bites, and me sweating like a man; the most incredible 5 days of my life

My alarm went off at 5:45 am on the morning of arrival in Chennai, India. I dragged my butt outta bed and grabbed my camera and headed for the door after getting 2 hours of sleep. As I slowly made my way down the long, narrow hallway to the back of the ship, I was overcome by this feeling that my life was going to change with the opening of the door at the end of the hallway. I was right.

The first several hours were spent like every other port. Packs of SASers, wandering around aimlessly while slowly taking over a country. Apparently, they had announced our arrival on Indian prime time. We were warned in advance about bargaining and it actually came in handy. Almost immediately after disembarking from the ship we were bombarded by rickshaw drivers wanting to take us around. A wee bit overwhelming. They tried to rip us off but eventually we found our man. He was the quiet one that was just sitting there. I was excited for my first rickshaw experience… and I was not disappointed. I felt like I was about to die a vast majority of the ride and I loved every moment of it. I’m not really sure why they have lines painted on the road because they certainly don’t follow them. As far as I can tell, it seemed as though once you are the biggest vehicle/animal/person, it is your turn to go…but I could be wrong. They also LOVE to honk their horns. Basically, it was a real life racing video game and I wanted to play. Our diver somehow managed not to crash and kill us as he took us from shop to shop, although he came close a couple of times. We stopped at 4 or 5 shops that we didn’t ask to go to but where he gets paid commission for bringing us. As he said, “quick look, no buy.” Eventually, he took us to a temple near a market. It was a more touristy area, so the beggars were everywhere. Even while in the rickshaw, we had people come up to the windows begging for money. Sometimes they had mutilated themselves to get money. Another man came over to our rickshaw while carrying one guy because his foot was all mutilated. After getting out of the rickshaw, I had one woman tap me and motion to her baby. When I turned the other way, there was another woman who asked, “feed my baby.” However, there was no baby... it was a small monkey. Small children would tug at your shirt trying to sell you something or to ask for money. All you can do is say no and it’s so hard because the only thing that wants to come out of your mouth is yes. The temple itself was beautiful. No shoes and no pictures were allowed, although I did managed to seek a few pictures in before I got yelled at. Oops. In all fairness, I didn’t know it at the time. After the temple, we decided to take our driver out to lunch. We asked him to take us to his favorite restaurant. It happened to be, surprise, Chinese food. (I have a feeling that he got commission for taking us here too). It was actually very good. It took us awhile to convince him to eat with us, but eventually he gave in. After, he bought us each a piece of gum. Even the smallest gesture, like buying a piece of gum, means so much since they have so little. We then proceeded to go cloths shopping. It was just myself, Anna, and our friend James. Luckily for James, most of the stores were closed because it was Sunday. I did manage to find two Indian shirts that fit. Afterwards, it was time to head back to the ship to get ready for my home stay.

We took an over night sleeper car for about 8 hours. It was an experience to say the least. I hugged my camera all night long and got very little sleep. There had been thefts in the past, but no one experienced it during our ride. In the morning, we took two vans to our new home for the next 2 days. It was called a farm but I think it was more of an estate than a farm and it was absolutely gorgeous. Most of the rooms had no walls or few of them, so we were “outside.” In addition, the colors of the walls were so calming which made everyone feel like they could sleep at any moment. We sat and had tea and coffee (the best tea and coffee in my life mind you) and chatted with our host family. This voyage has been non-stop since we left the Bahamas so it was SO nice to relax for once. After many cups of tea, we got a tour of the estate. They grow and sell banana and mango plants. We also drank fresh coconut milk and had a chance to climb a coconut tree. After walking around, we went to a local school to visit with the children. They were so cute and all wanted to have their picture taken. They knew how to ask what is your name, and what is your fathers name and mothers name. They also wanted your autograph… as if I didn’t feel like I was treated like a celebrity enough. When it was time to leave, we left to go observe a local “factory” where people were making brown sugar from the sugar cane. It was a fairly simple process but the conditions that they worked in were incredibly hot. In addition to working outside in the heat, they sat next to the fire to feed it in order to boil the sugarcane juice. They let it cool for a couple of hours and then would roll it in to balls. It was interesting to watch even in spite of the heat. I don’t think I’ve sweated that much in a LONG time. We then went to a local rope making factory where they made rope from coconut husks. We then headed back to the estate for a traditional lunch and then to take a much-needed afternoon nap. I wasn’t able to sleep because as people like to say, there are three temperatures in India this time of year: “hot, hotter, and more hot.” Later, we went to a night market. The host parents were unable to come with us however, because they are too prestigious in the town and it wouldn’t be acceptable for them to be at the local market. The mother hadn’t been to the market for about 50 years or so. Later, I found out that the town was named after them. The night market was nuts. I couldn’t stop coughing which wasn’t fun. They were selling mostly food, which we were not allowed to buy or eat any due to health concerns. It was extremely interesting just walking around and observing how people reacted to you. Since we were far away from Chennai and other tourist areas, they probably don’t see many tourists. I found a few things to buy, surprise surprise. My favorite purchase was my 80 cent bollywood t-shit. This you just have to see. Hilarious. While we were waiting for other SASers to come back to the vans, I waved at a large truck full of people. They all waved back and a few minutes later about 5 of them came over to talk. It was really funny. Of course they all asked me my name and how old I was. Another girl was 21 also and everyone laughed at me when I got really excited that we were the same age. It was fun. We headed home and had more tea and ate a homemade Indian meal on huge leaves while sitting on the floor. Some of the foods were spicy, but I seemed to have built up a little bit of a tolerance. J You are also only suppose to eat with your right hand due to Indian bathroom practices which I do not want to describe… At first it was hard to remember not to use your left hand but by the end of the first day in India I was doing it without even knowing it. The food at the estate was really good. I was glad that I was finally eating a country’s traditional food during the voyage since most countries thus far have not had too much non-western food. The bananas were some of the best I had ever eaten. Later that night the local drummers came to perform for us. We danced, or attempted to dance with them. I’m sure they were laughing. I was so exhausted by the end and was happy that it was time to sleep… but for some reason it took me forever to fall asleep. My mind was racing from the day’s experience. It was emotionally overwhelming… and it was only the beginning.

We woke up early on the second day because it was jammed pack of things to do. We had more tea and coffee and said goodbye to our host family as we headed to Erode to visit a local school where we ate breakfast. We didn’t get to interact a lot with the students now since it was their final test days. We went to visit a temple. They had an elephant that blesses you by tapping you on the head. We also proceeded to a carpet-weaving factory where we got to try it ourselves… and it’s incredibly difficult! They were kind enough to let me have a try. Apparently you can’t mess it up, but I’m pretty sure I did. I dropped the string holder twice when I tried to slide it to the other side and they just laughed at me. Later, we got to buy things from their little store. I bought a lot. After getting back in the van, I figure out that I only spent $25. It made me both happy and sad at the same time. If I had bought the stuff in the states, I know it would have been at the very least $150. After lunch, we drove to ARIMA center for the physically disabled. They put on a wonderful performance for us. It look me a while to even notice they were disabled. Several of the girls did a dance for us. Two of them had 1 leg that only grew half way. They were adorable. We had to perform for them too, so we did the hokey-pokey. I haven’t done that in a LONG time. We then went back to the school and the young girls did a dance performance. It was awesome. We asked them how long it took them to learn it and they said only two days. We were stunned. All of us went on stage and did the entire dance with them… or at least attempted. I don’t think that we did all that bad. It was a hard dance… I laughed a lot. It was a pretty funny sight to see I’m sure. I’m surprised they weren’t laughing more. We said good bye and went to a medicine factory. I honestly did not pay that much attention because I was SO tried. It was only 7pm and I felt like falling over right there and taking a nap. Everyone was feeling it and you could tell. After the tour of the herbal medicine factory we were told we were going to meditate when suddenly we were surrounded by bunch of yelling kids. (Apparently we were going to another classroom first) ahhh. Lol. It was just unexpected and we were all so tired and we were like, “what, where did they come from?” So, I gave some more autographs and took more pictures and we finally went to meditate. There was an awful lot of snoring going on too. Afterwards we ate cake and cookies. I was so tired and I could hardly keep my head up and it looked like my face was about to fall into my plate and someone took a picture of it. Lol. That’s how tired I was.

We headed to the train station, boarded, and were ready to sleep when we realized that we had gotten on the wrong car and couldn’t get to ours. We were also missing two of our people. We played the telephone game up and down the line of us standing awkwardly in the isle. It went something like, “Is Gary up there? No, he’s not, he must be back there. No, he’s not back here, is he up there? Did Gary not get on the train? Gary’s not on the train?!” Later we found out they had gotten on the correct car while the rest of us were stuck standing for an hour until the next stop. Luckily, a couple said I could sit with them on their bed. We talked and exchanged addresses. They were so kind and I felt bad because I’m sure we were keeping them awake. When the next stop came, we were told to run to the left… we didn’t know how far down our car was though. The trouble was that by the time 4 of us had gotten off, we didn’t know where the others had gone. So, we were literally running up and down the platform (carrying ALL of our purchases) trying to figure out where we were going. We knew that the train wasn’t going to stay stopped for very long. It was pretty intense since we still thought that the train had left with out Gary at this point. We did not want the same to happen to us, but for a few minutes it looked like it might be the case. Finally, we did find our car. Once my heart stopped racing, I was finally able to sleep… well kind of.

We got back at 6 am and I had to leave for another home stay at 7:30 am. I had just enough time to shower and re-pack. My second home stay was in a Dalit Village with the untouchables. I was really, really excited for this trip. In India, the people in this caste system are called “the Untouchables” and they are not considered to be human. Upon arrival in the village, the nursing students greeted us with flowers and dots on our foreheads. They then did several performances for us and we learned about what it is like to be an untouchable and what it means. It was unbelievable to think that these beautiful, incredibly talented, intelligent, kind people weren’t even considered to be people. It was heartbreaking and I had to keep reminding myself of their status throughout my stay. After the performances, we were able to talk and interact with the students for a while. I met 3 nursing students. They taught me some words in Tammil (their language). The only one I could seem to remember was pronounced “mama” and it meant uncle. They laughed every time I said it. We also played a lot of hand games… most of which I haven’t played since I was in second grade. The language barrier was a bit difficult at times. They wanted my address and my birthday so we exchanged them. One of the girls gave me her bangle and taught me the word friend. I didn’t know what to say. I’ve been buying bracelets in every port, and it just so happens that this is the only one I was able to get from India. I haven’t taken the one she gave me off yet and I don’t plan on it. We had lunch and then played two games of “throw-ball” with them. It’s like volleyball with throwing… and damn, those girls can chuck that ball hard. It was a lot of fun. It took us the first 5 minutes to figure out how to actually play the game. I wasn’t too bad if I may say so myself. Once during the game, I just paused and couldn’t believe that I was in India, playing throw ball with the untouchables at sunset. I just took it all in. At dusk, we went to walk through the village. It was like a parade and complete chaos. Little children and animals were running around everywhere. It was great. I met back up with the three girls from earlier in the day. Later that night we had a special performance put on for us. I got to see people blow fire! They chugged gasoline and then blew it out where it caught on fire. It was great. Half the time I was wondering where the their mothers were lol. The whole village was there to watch. After, we slept on the concrete floor of the schoolroom. Once again, a night of little sleep.

In the morning, I woke up to bug bites all over my body. Apparently I had company with me in my sleeping bag. Luckily they didn’t itch but they looked awful. We headed out early to walk around the village at sunrise. When we arrived, children were walking around brushing their teeth as they followed us through the village. I went up to this mother and her little daughter who were standing at the door of their hut to say hi etc… and when I finally turned to leave I realized that the camera man had been there the whole time… so I just may be on the voyage DVD. J We were there for about two hours before it was time to head back to the ship.

I’ve done my best to describe the indescribable. I hope you got at least a little sense how amazing India and its people are. Personally, the sights, the smells, the conversations, and the beautiful people of India have touched me and changed me and I have a special place in my heart for them and I will never forget it.

-Laura