India

This is going to be a difficult entry for me to write. Before we arrived in India and after we left everyone said “you either love India or you hate India” and I’m not sure which stance I have. Some people could not wait to leave almost as soon as we arrived but I feel like my time there was positive overall. The weather was absolutely atrocious. As soon as any of us stepped foot off the ship we were already sweating bullets but the locals were so used to the disgusting humidity that they didn’t even seem to sweat. We had men that couldn’t have weighed more than 130 pounds pulling up to three people, with bags, in their little bicycle carriers in 100 degree weather. It was amazing.
My first three days were spent doing a program called the Art of Living. It’s a program where you learn certain types of yoga, breathing techniques, and meditation. I can’t pronounce anything that we did so I’m saying yoga, breathing techniques, and meditation out of ignorance but that is my way of explaining what we did in simple English. My group stayed in a small village dedicated to the program. It was kind of like an Art of Living gated community or something. I don’t understand the word ashram but it would be so nice to be able to use it right now. I don’t know if it is a word to be used for the actual place that we did the things we did or if the word is supposed to be used for the doing of the things we were doing. If that makes any sense then please educate me on that matter. So yeah… ashram. Ashram! I love the word I just don’t understand it! My room was the worst room there. There were only 5 guys that signed up to do the Art of Living, including myself, and we all got put in one scorching room with tiny windows (which had to be closed to avoid mosquitos) and thin metal beds. I’m not sure if any of the guys showered for the entire time there. Not to sound gross or anything… but I don’t even think I changed my clothes once. Every day we woke up at around 6am to start the program and there were multiple sessions throughout the day. They served cocoa in the morning, breakfast after session one, lunch after session two, snack sometime later on and then dinner after the last session. Every meal was traditional Indian food meaning most people were making multiple trips to the bathroom every day. It’s probably sharing too much to say that my roommate is still trying to get his stomach back to normal and we left India like three days ago… poor Kurt. I want to add that the other rooms for our group had air conditioners and adjacent bathrooms with regular toilets. The bathroom in the building I was in didn’t have a “toilet” as I would call it. It was more like a hole in the floor that had a powerful flusher. There were tiny authentic shops throughout the village and one nice gift shop that had really nice crafts and linens. I bought myself a hammock for some reason. I figure when I get my own place someday I’ll have a hammock from India. I know you’re probably thinking that everyone who has a hammock technically has a hammock from India but I will have one that I actually purchased in India and saw the place where it was hand woven. So HA! Anyways, I bought all kinds of gifts for people back home there. The sessions were great. I learned all kinds of techniques and exercises that I hope to use as often as possible. My favorite thing that happened to me was one time when I opened my eyes after a meditation I looked around and everyone was laying down sleeping. After you do this certain breathing technique and meditation the instructor always had people lay down because you usually get really nauseous and lightheaded and when I opened my eyes they were just getting done with that part and everyone was getting up already. If it isn’t a good story than it was at least self fulfilling. One thing that we did was this exercise where everyone in the entire room sat in two rows and you had to sit facing someone in the opposite row, hold hand with them, and convey to them how much they meant to you by using your eyes and nothing else. It probably sounds corny but it was earnest and I enjoyed it. I have a tendency of appreciating people by watching them which might sound kind of awkward but it ended up being a purpose of that exercise so good for me. There were a lot of school children around the village and they were always so fun to talk to. They loved taking pictures and getting there pictures taken. I love these two pictures I have with some of the students I met on the last day there. At one point we saw some kind of Indian puppet show that was interesting. The best part of the puppet show was meeting the guy who was doing the show before and after the show. He was SO quiet and gave off almost an unpleasant vibe but his puppet show was so vibrant. I have a video of the puppet show but I’m not sure it’s very interesting to put on here so I’m just not going to. There were two people doing fortune readings. One woman read palms and another guy across from her did “Parrot Readings.” It was really neat, he had two parrots in a cage and he would let one out and it would look at the person and than choose a card. I wanted to do it so bad but the translator was doing the palm readings with the girls for such a long time that I never got the chance. I don’t really believe in that stuff but the parrots were so intriguing. Other fun things were a glass blower that made little glass figures as we watched him work and almost everyone except me got henna done. Some people got it all up their arms and on their hands and down their leg. The woman that was doing it was super talented. I had a great time at the ashram.
The night I got back to the ship I just watched a movie and went to sleep. The next day I hung out with a girl for most of the morning and afternoon. She knew this rickshaw driver from the day before named Madu. A rickshaw is basically a three wheeled taxi thing. It’s bigger than a bike but smaller than a car. They are everywhere in India. They are crazy drivers. There were times when I honestly thought we were simply not going to make it through intersections alive. Madu was the best. He took us everywhere we wanted to go even though we didn’t know where we wanted to go. All the other rickshaw drivers are paid to take you to shops that are overpriced and they overcharge you and sometimes won’t take you back unless you pay them a lot more but Madu was the man. He bargained for us and when we were being bothered by vendors or beggars he would get them to leave us alone. He took us to this place that had all kinds of jewelry and artwork and I got this black tapestry with gold and silver thread. The thread is metal, too. It’s so nice I can’t wait to put it over my bed or something when I get home. I also bought a bunch of gifts for home. That night my roommate got back from his trip to the Taj Mahaal right as I was going out for the night so I waited for him and got inside a cab that honestly might have shortened my life or something. There were nine of us total. Five people got into a van taxi and then four of us got into this little cab with this insane cab driver blasting Indian techno music. He drove on the wrong side of the road for fun and there was this maneuver he did where he drove between the van and a bus. I should mention the van and the bus were parallel in their lanes. I don’t know how it happened it was unbelievable. He also drove on the other side of the road while a bus was coming towards us and swerved back into traffic just as there was an opening before the bus got to us. His brakes just barely prevented him from smashing into 2 other cars, a motorcycle, and a whole bunch of rickshaws. The girl sitting next to me was digging her nails into my knee because she was so scared of his driving. When we got to the restaurant a guy we went with bought the techno CD. That night was fun. We went from the restaurant to a bar and then a club for a little while. The girl I was hanging out with earlier in the day got me into the club without having to pay the cover charge. She gets in free everywhere she goes, it’s incredible. One guy was dancing with us and kept calling me Brad Pitt. Most of the people at the club were way older, including that guy. The music was all Indian techno. The next day I went on my own to go find Madu but I was unsuccessful. I bought a silk bed set for myself and a few more gifts for back home. When I was walking back to the ship a guy in a huge truck offered me a ride back to the ship. I thought he was just being nice but then he asked me for 100 rupees, which is only about 2 dollars, but the guys who drive you that far on the back of a bicycle don’t even ask for that much so I was kind of annoyed. Whatever. India was fun and overall I enjoyed it. If you are incapable of withstanding excessive odors and terrible heat then I would avoid going there altogether. Malaysia is next. I am actually in Malaysia for the first day right now and I can’t wait to find out what it’s like.
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