I think the best way to describe India is an attack of the senses. From the smells, to the people, to the beautiful and breathtaking sights, it was an incredible place like I have never experienced before.

Day 1:
My first encounter with the “Indian head nod” was trying to leave the ship. I showed the guard my passport and he nodded his head sideways like he was saying “no.” I took this as something was wrong. I tried to ask him about it, but he just kept moving his head from side to side. I finally got frustrated and walked away, but he didn’t stop me. Well come to find out in India this means “o.k.” or “yes.” All week I found myself confused by this gesture!

I spent most of the day at a mentally retarded home in the outskirts of Chennai. This institution housed 45 people ranging in ages from 3 to 65. I played cricket with the boys for the first hour or so and then I colored and drew with the older women for the last couple of hours.  Although there were several communication barriers, a smile and a hug went a long way. As we asked questions and learned more from the owners I was so glad we were able to provide them with some relief for a few hours. Most of the residents get up around 4a.m. every day because they sleep on straw mats on concrete floors and cannot sleep for very long. Then they feed them three meals a day and plan activities for them throughout the day every day. All of the residents are full-time and very few, maybe one or two, have family who come and visit.
The drive to the home and back was also eye-opening. We would see a shack, then a three story concrete home right next door with a car in the driveway. The unequal distribution of wealth was very apparent.
Later that evening I went to a welcome reception with students from the local university in Chennai. We were greeted with a red bindhi (a dot on the forehead between the eyes) and a beautiful lei. We got henna beginning at our fingertips up our arms(an Indian wedding tradition) and got to try on sarees. Later we meet some of the students and my friend Sally and I became friends with Roshni Ganesan, a 1st year female student in engineering. We were asking her lots of questions about the culture and weddings and she mentioned there was a wedding going on in the next building over and that we should go check it out. So once Roshni left, Sally and I went to see if we could at least look and observe the wedding. Well, the actual wedding part was over but we found the reception. We walked into the reception and we instantly became the honored guests. We had our picture made with the bride and the groom and then they invited us to dinner upstairs. Of course we went! While walking up the stairs we met one of the bride's friends who showed us to a seat and then explained the food to us. Then he proceeded to tell me I looked like an Indian and started asking what my plans were while I was in Chennai. I told him I was leaving in the morning and was heading to northern India. He said well I work tomorrow, but if you will stay until the weekend I can show you the city. I explained to him I couldn’t and just kinda laughed it off. We knew we didn’t have much time before we had to be back to catch the bus, so we tried some of the food and then told him we had to go. As we walked out we got presents from the wedding party and we checked to make sure our bus was there before we said goodbye. We saw a semester at sea bus and were relieved we hadn’t been left, so we decided to stay and talk to the friend a bit longer. This new "friend" became speechless and just stared at me. He said "I will never forget you, what is your address?" He then repeated that I looked Indian and that I was beautiful. I seriously thought he was going to propose to me right there. I gave him my email address and he said he would email me tomorrow! We shook hands and said goodbye and he waved to Sally. So Sally and I walked away cracking up about what had just happened, but only to find that the bus we had seen was not our bus! We had been left. Luckily, a man who spoke English and knew we were from Semester at Sea stopped us and asked us what we were doing. We told him we thought that was our bus but he said ours had just left!. He called someone and Sally and I got a private bus ride back to the port. I don’t know if our tour didn’t take role or no one really missed us, but somehow we didn’t get in trouble.
I received an email the next day from Hariharman Ramakrishnan asking me to keep in touch. I have not responded….

Day 2:
We left the ship around 3:30a.m. for our flight to Varanasi. We arrived in Varanasi, the longest inhabited city in the world, and as we stepped out of the plane I felt like I had gone back 50 years in time- dirt roads, old cars, and very little development. Our first stop was a Buddhist temple and then the sight of Buddha’s first sermon. Later we all loaded up on rickshaws to ride down to the Ganges River. Graham and I were on ours and we concluded they were not made for American-sized people! It was a crazy ride with motorbikes, cars, bicycles, tuk tuks, and people everywhere! I have never heard so many horns in all my life. I don’t know how we made it to the river alive! On the riverbanks a traditional Hindu ceremony was taking place honoring those who had died that day. There were thousands of people watching as 6 Hindu leaders performed a dance and candlelight ceremony to music. People were also observing from boats on the river. It was a beautiful sight as there was a floating candle arrangement lit and put into the water to honor each person that had passed away that day. We were able to spend about an hour on the steps of the bank and it was amazing to observe and watch the people around us. Their culture is so vastly different from ours that every way I turned I was surprised by what I saw. Once the ceremony ended we wandered the streets in search of our rickshaw and finally found ours down a dark alley. The one time my phone worked in India was when we were on the rickshaw ride back to the bus. My dad called and it was a very funny conversation because we would be talking and then all of a sudden I would scream and then I wouldn’t talk for a few seconds. All he could hear was horns and my scream- I think half of our conversation was him asking me if I was ok!  We finally made it back safely to the bus and then to the hotel where we had a late dinner and then hit the sack.

Day 3:
We left the hotel at 4:30a.m. to return to the Ganges River for sunrise. But this time we witnessed the ceremonies from a boat on the river. Indians come to the river every morning to bathe in the “holy water” and worship the sun god. It was an absolutely beautiful scene. The sun was rising on the east side of the river and on the west side of the river there were gorgeous old buildings lining the whole side. The way the sun shined on the buildings and the Indian people was stunning. While on the boat, we passed an actual cremation sight. The bodies would come in on bamboo ladders and then were burned right there on the banks and then the ashes were dumped into the river. Many Hindus travel to Varanasi to die because it is believed that if you die there you will immediately go to Heaven. That is the reason for so much concentration and attention paid to death in this city.  After our boat ride we explored the back streets of Varanasi. Winding through alleys and dodging cows and motorbikes gave us a first hand look into what life was really like there.
Later in the morning we flew to New Delhi. We didn’t get to see much there because our plane was delayed, but we did do a driving tour through the parliamentary district. We saw the United States consulate and several other major buildings of the Indian government. Even with just the little time we had to see Delhi, I noticed a drastic change from Varanasi. There were paved roads, manicured lawns, and a lot more development, but even with all of this modernity, the poverty was still visible.

Day 4:
Another early morning….We went to the train station in Delhi around 6:30 and caught a train to Agra. It was a two hour ride through rural India with more interesting sights to see. Our first stop in Agra was the prince’s palace and then we went to Agra Fort. Agra Fort was the final resting place of the King who built the Taj Mahal. It was huge and beautiful with views of the Taj in the distance. While at the fort we were stopped by many Indians asking to have their picture made with us. At first it seemed strange, but the more it happened it made me realize I do the same thing. I take pictures of them in their traditional clothing and they just want to do the same in return. It took forever to actually leave the palace because of all the photo shoots, but at last we headed toward the much-awaited Taj Mahal. Once we finally made it inside the gate and had the first glimpse of it, my jaw dropped. I have never seen a more beautiful building. I had expectations for it, but they were far exceeded. It was gorgeous and the detail was exquisite. Every part was completely thought out. For example, the four towers on the corners are each tilted one-degree outward so that if something ever happened they would not collapse inward, but rather outward and away from the tomb. We had to wait awhile to actually get inside, but the wait was not bad because the line wrapped around the building and we were able to admire the whole structure. As we were walking away from the Taj Mahal and back towards the entrance, I found myself turning around and staring in awe. I would have really enjoyed another hour there to sit on a bench and just take it all in. But we had a train to catch! We had to get back to Delhi that night for our early flight the next morning, As we waited for our train in Agra, I saw some rough things. I had done pretty well all week controlling my emotions when I saw some of these situations, but I finally broke down that night. While we were waiting for our train a young boy, who couldn’t walk because of a deformed leg, crawled up to us and started grabbing at our legs asking for money. When we didn’t give him anything he started to make conversation with us.  Well, while he was talking to us another boy came up to him and started to yell at him for something. I guess he had done something to make him mad because the boy who was yelling pulled out a broken glass bottle with jagged edges and began to hit the disabled boy with it. I couldn’t stand to watch what was happening and I had to walk away. It struck my heart and I started to cry. All I wanted to do was take them home with me and give them a better life. This incident and a few others that night in the train station really made me struggle with the question of why and how was I so fortunate to be born into the blessed life that I have.

Day 5:
We spent a good part of the day traveling from Delhi to Cochin and arrived back at the ship around 4:30. As soon as I got on the ship I found Sally and Becca who were about to head out to explore Cochin. Although I was exhausted from the week, I decided I could sleep when I wasn’t in India, so I set down my bags and headed back out again. We grabbed a taxi and tried to find a market for some souvenirs. But we ran into the same tourist trap most people had encountered all week. Every Indian seemed to have a “friend” in the business. For example, even though we didn’t want nice rugs we were made to stop and get out of the taxi to check out his “friend’s” rug store. After we finally made it to the kind of shop we wanted to go to, we were made to tell our taxi driver how much we had spent so that his “friend” could give him a cut. As frustrating as the situation was, we had to be careful because he was our only form of transportation. It was beginning to get dark and we were not about to be stuck in the middle of Cochin! Luckily, we made it back to the ship safely and called it an early night after a long week of travels.

Day 6:
One more day to see India! Sally, Becca, and I caught the ferry from our wharf and took a $0.01 (yes, one cent) ride to Ernakulum across the harbor.  We really had no plan for the day except to shop and enjoy a day without having to be somewhere at a certain time. That is exactly what we did! We wandered the streets and markets and found several great souvenirs. We had lunch at a nice hotel and then enjoyed ice cream at Baskin Robbins! I think one of the best parts about our day was that even though we weren’t too far from the ship, we didn’t see one Semester at Sea person or tourist except for when we went to the hotel. Usually we see at least one if not several fellow shipmates, but it was really cool to feel like we were discovering the city on our own. We went back to the ship early afternoon and like usual, wrote postcards and shared pictures and stories with each other!


Six days in India was not enough. Out of the 5 countries I have been to so far, it is the one I most definitely want to return to. I want to learn more about the people and about their culture. I found it to be a truly amazing and intriguing country.

As I ate dinner and then showered off the dirt, put on clean clothes, and laid down in my warm bed, I could not help but think about those women sleeping on the cold concrete floor in the train station, the men selling beads for money for their family and the hungry children begging for food I had encountered throughout the week. I know for a fact none of them went home that night to any of the simple things I take for granite each and every day. I am so fortunate and blessed to have all that I do and I hope when I look back on this week in India I don’t just remember the Taj Mahal or beautiful sights at the Ganges River, but I hope I remember the people and the impression they left on me.