Independent India??

Last full day in India tomorrow - yep, time flies.... Did something a litte unusual on this trip and hired a driver to do the outside of Delhi excursion to the "Golden Triangle" - Agra (Taj Mahal), Jaipur, Delhi. Usually I do my backpacker thing - take public transportation, stay in local family run hotels, eat at local restaurants and try to absorb into the place as much as I can. What I didn't know is that this is a big holiday weekend in India, so all the transport was booked months ago. Our hotel in Delhi offered to arrange a driver, hotels and everything in between for us. A 'package' trip. Didn't have much choice and figured why not....

Ironically a writer friend of mine recently wrote a piece on the pros of cons of independent vs. group travel. I helped with the critique and struggled to remember what organized travel was like.... now I remember.
We have a great driver, Rakesh, and nice car with a/c. Huge benefit as everyday had been mid 90s/30s and humid - and women need to be covered shoulder to toe. The downside is I feel like I'm experiencing the country through a vaccuum sealed viewing pod. Every restaurant, hotel, shop has been pre-determined by a highly elaborate ring of commission and kickbacks to both Rakesh and the hotel in Delhi who organzed the trip.

The restaurants are purpose built for tourists - not a scrap of Hindi on the menu, but plenty of club sandwiches. The shops are designed to accomodate buses full of Euro-Yankee travellers, complete with inflated prices and limited room for negotiation. We're corralled and lead through room after room of mass produced products unable to escape. Each stop commands an hour of our time. Rakesh gets paid $4 for bringing us there and 2% commission on whatever we buy. How do I know this? He told me.

I like the guy and understand he has a family to feed, but I feel like a puppet to the king pin of India's tourism trade. They are controlling most of our moves and watching where Rakesh's car travels to ensure he takes us to assigned stores and does not cheat the king pin. It's twisted - we are 6 hours from Delhi, but Rakesh recieved a call this morning asking why we missed a stop yesterday that was in the middle of nowhere. Yes, we missed it. Yes, we had a flat tire. Yes, Rakesh was questioned. The network is vast.

It appears that tourism in India is about controlling where the money is spent and ensuring your network is the one benefitting - something that sucks when you're here to learn about the country and experience the life. Marketing and consumerism are wiping out India's abilty to showcase is history, culture, people with a sense of passion an ethnic pride. Instead I am held captive by an invisile man who wants my dollars and nothing more. I guess that how the word works today, but form now on I'll stick to ackpacking.

Don't worry though, I've found ways round the system and my independence is still intact. Just this morning I hired a rickshaw, hit an outdoor market (with no room for tour buses), bought a painting directly from the artist and, dog-forbid, ate tandoori chicken from a man who spoke no english. Mmmmm delicious.

Taj Mahal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- speechless.

Subway Vindaloo

So there's not much night life here in India.... just in case you're wondering why I'm spending every night on the blog!

Visited the volunteer agency this morning which was really impressive. They've partnered with a bunch of NGOs in the area and really have their stuff together. They've set up volunteers to do everything from a three hour project teaching street kids how to brush their teeth to a year long internship helping women sell their handmade crafts. They're also doing a bunch of stuff that I never even considered, but could definitely develop into. I was buzzing when I left the place thinking of the possibilites. Plus the staff is very efficient and exactly the type of program I want to be working with. Best of all I felt like I was able to capitalize on the BA gift. The woman even said to me, as if cued, "How lovely to see a face and not be on the phone." Ha!

the rest of the day was an adventure in eating. We landed in a place featuring South Indian cuisine and had to share a table with a local guy. Wasn't too happy at first - I mean I already felt self-conscious enough not knowing what the heck I was ordering or how to pronounce it. But when he ordered before us, I just followed his lead and said I'd have the same - a little food roulette. Turned out it was some Thali thing that came with 10 pots of sauces on a banana leaf tray, a bowl of rice, 3 puffed bread and pompadon... yeah, right? What the heck?? Luckily this guy, Jaipal, saw my confusion and showed me how to eat it like a local. Next thing I knew I had chucked my cutlery and was mixing sauces and rice by hand on the banana leaf . (The leaf has some property that helps sooth the stomach, so he says.) Then he showed me how to properly pack the rice mixture in my hand and eat it. India's one of those countries where you onlyeat with your right hand and save your left hand for 'dirty' work. Dig it. Anyway, loved the whole processa nd the food was AMAZING - felt like a kid making mud pies... and so tasty! Just not so sure about the yellow fingernails....

The only problem with the food here is that it's all Indian. (That's meant to be funny.) Seriously though, breakfast, lunch and dinner is all curried something.... though not the holy cow. I love Indian, but once a twice a week is usually my limit - I know my dad and brother would say I'm looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I caved and went to Subway tonight. I tried to stay cultural and got a chicken tikka sub, but they didn't warn me it was more like a hot, fiery vindaloo. The only Subway in the world that needs to add heat ratings to its food. We did stop in to look at the McDonalds menu too - not a beef burger in sight.... just chicken and veggies.

The other event of the day was my encounter with a palm reading fortune teller. He gave me some interesting info and told me I'd die in my sleep at age 85. Seriously? Are they allowed to do that? So with this new found confidence, I stepped off the curb directly into traffic....

So tomorrow we leave Delhi and head to Agra, home of the Taj Mahal and then spend two nights in Jaipur. Excited to get out of the city and see what the rest of the country is like. Keep you posted....

Delhi Dolly

I realized today that the time difference from here to the US is 9.5 hrs. Don't usually get the .5 hour, so decided to celebrate it... just not sure how yet... or why.... just feels like it deserves it. Maybe I should drink a mango lassi every 30 minutes? Or throw down some Bollywood style dance moves?
The only other time I encountered something like it was in Nepal, where Kathmandu is Xhrs and 45 mins ahead. Now that really throws off the time/space thingy, but anyway....

So one of the 'extras' that Fed negotiated for our upgraded room was a divine view of a show that was taking place next door. There's a mini outdoor amphitheatre (located in the middle of the surrounding slum), microphones, loud music and lots of kids. What a treat! Except it started at 8 and didn't finish until 2am. I really have no idea what it is or why people send their kids to it so late... it's kind of a British pantomime type thing, but on a school night. At one point there were four grown men pretending to paddle an oversized canoe though dry ice across the stage while singing in Hindi. I enjoyed the first 4 1/4 hours, but got bored around midnight and developed a migrane by dawn. I've only had about a half dozen migraine's in my life, but the show plus a hot day in a black t-shirt and jeans knocked me out. Lucky me just learned the 'show' is a regular nightly feature and we'll be treated to a sequel tonight. Maybe I'll record it for you.

I also got to play dress up today. The morning was a waste thanks to my head, but made it out to go sari shopping after lunch. We walked into a shop and it was like stepping into a rainbow. The colors are just unreal and all the glittery little beads... it's hard to say no... so I didn't. I tried on a million combinations - trying to find one stylish and modern enough to transition to the streets of NYC. The greatest thing is that you buy a giant dress and then the onsite tailor takes your measurements and custom fits it for you. The guy sits outside of the stall with an old-school hand operated sewing machine resting on a table with only three original legs. The Singer looks identical to the ones in a museum my aunt once took me to and is probably a leftover from the British Raj. Even so,I came back an hour later and my clothes were a perfect fit. Yes, clothes. I couldn't decide which outfit to get..... so I bought three (my trademark manuever when faced with indecision), complete with leggings and scarves to match. All for the price of a single pair of mid-range jeans back home. BARGAIN!

I also bought a new pair of shoes - and the FUGLIEST shoes I have ever put on my feet. I swear they will not make it home with me. Bought them out of necessity after my flipflops tore a hole in my foot yesterday. Nothing like walking through India with an open wound just inches from the filth and pestilence smelting below your feet. Potentially I'm doomed to one nasty infection, please pray the new kicks save me.

So yeah, this trip is taking on a absurd vibe. For one I'm not really a pantomime viewing shopper when I travel, but then I don't usually have company either. The first thing Fed said he wanted to do while we stood waiting for his bags at the airport was get a manicure. His hotel requirements demand WiFi and he was really excited about finding a store last night that sold Lindts, Doritos and Ben & Jerry's. In fact, he's so excited he's taking his camera back tomorrow to film it - no joke. Usually, I'm just excited to find a foreign bed that doesn't contain fleas - brand names optional.

Thing is, I appreciate the different outlook. It's amusing ( I tease him openly, so don't think I'm being mean) and plus it distracts both of us from the poverty and unsettling sites we've seen. I worked at a homeless shelter for a while, so I'm not completely unaccustomed to people who are down and out, but India is bad. There was a guy today sleeping beneath an underpass (actually there were about six or seven men) - his clothes, hair and skin were all stained the same grimy color of the dirty ground where he made his home. He slept with his mouth wide open while a parade of flies camped out on his cheek. Maybe he was too far into slumber to feel them or maybe there comes a point when you no longer bother to wipe them away. Either way it's an image that hit me, but also why I'm here. Tomorrow I'm meeting with a volunteer placement agency and will learn the true depth of the needs here.... based on what I've seen it'll be a sobering day. Maybe Fed will have some Ben & Jerry's waiting for me when I get home.

India....?

I'm in India... don't ask how I got here. Or where I've been. I'm not sure I know myself. It's been about three months since my last entry and most of you just gave up following me. I get that, but here I am drunken with jet lag in the middle of India wondering how cows became a staple feature in the afternoon rush hour. Seriously.

I arrived this morning courtesy of a trip I won through British Airways. My business brought me here - it won the contest. Kind of a boring story, but BA was looking to help small business grow internationally by flying them out to have face to face meetings with their international partners. I applied, they liked my gig and now I'm eating curry for breakfast.

It's all good timing though and probably the push I needed. The Central American trip just kicked my butt - tougher than I thought and super exhausting. Travelling solo, being constantly on the move and covering hundreds of miles can be toxic. Throw in a few extra unexpected problems and that wristband beach resort doesn't sound so hideous after all. Truth is, it took me the rest of the summer to get back on my feet. Just need to get over the final hurdle now and what can be more therapuetic that landing in the chaos of Delhi?

Luckily, the terms of the prize allowed me a travel buddy, so I recruited my friend Federico. Known him for a few years and he's been helping me with some webstuff, so figured this was a good way to say thanks. Plus he's good fun and the only person out there who can actually take off for three weeks on short notice. See, I applied an hour before the deadline, was told I won the middle of last month and left a week ago. We spent seven in London and never really adjusted to UK time before getting here. Guess I'm now ten hours ahead of the US? The flight was nine hours, overnight, the city just lost power (thank dog this computer lab has a generator) and two plus two doesn't seem to equal four anymore.... my space time mathematical continuim is all kinds of screwed up.

So we landed this morning in a 92 degree soup of smoggy humidity. (I only brought jeans - whoops.) I can't even figure out how to describe this place either. Frantic chaos? I mean we took a cab from the airport to our hotel. The driver goes along a four lane highway at top speed, but nobody pays attention to the lane markers, so it becomes six or seven lanes as cars straddle the lines and lanesplit like motorcycles. We witness an accident and the tow truck pulling a car away. It looked like an old yellow tonka truck and it just dragged the wreck sparking and smoking down the highway by a single piece of rope. We get off the highway and enter morning rush hour, battling it out with buses, tuk-tuks, rickshaws, and carts pulled by bikes, manpower, cows or elephants all ramming each other without care. (And don't forget the holy cow who decides to take a nap in the middle of the vehicular mess.) It's scary when you realize you need to hire a taxi just to pick you up do a u-turn and drop you on the other side of the street.

Buildings, alleys and people are just as manic. Fed got freaked out by the original hotel we booked and insisted we go to a different place. Fine by me and he pulled great deal - something to be said for not going solo. The guy's got an advantage though. He's born and raised Connecticut, but his family is from Peru - over here he looks native. It's working both for and against us. People talk to him in Hindi and taxis give us local rates, but then people look at me like I'm some kind of Euro-Yankee Sugar Momma..... except I'm broke and bed sharing just isn't our thing.
The other thing is how much the locals are fascinated by white people. Kinda surprising when you remember India is a former British colony - I woulda thought they'd had enough of us. Either way, I've already posed with six random people who found me more interesting than the local tourist attractions.... ??? I always wanted to be popular.

Will try to get some pics posted tomorrow and promise to never complain about I-95 again..