2 American women backpacking through India: CHECK!
I can write a whole book about everything that I did in India, and I probably will! I am going to break down the posts day by day to make sure that I get everything, and still keep your attention. So India. One of the main reasons why I chose Semester at Sea. While the entire itinerary was appealing, Ghana, India, and Cambodia were all tied for first place! Here we go.
The MV Explorer arrived to Cochin, in Southern India, on March 12th. Leading up to this day, as you read, I was absolutely terrified. Much time and planning had gone in to my independent travel up to Northern India. I prayed, talked about it, and was constantly reassured that nothing would go wrong. Looking back, I would not change a thing! After face-to-face immigration, and a peak at how cool my passport is looking, the ship was cleared to disembark in to a whole new world. As we exited down the 5 story gangway, we were greeted by traditional Indian dancers, and women putting bindies on everyone. For the first day, I had an FDP (faculty-directed practicum). The field trip was titled “Highlights of Cochin” and was for my Language and Globalization class. On the trip, we visited a synagogue, a palace, fisherman port, and a spice market. The purpose of all the sightseeing was to interact with locals and become accustomed to the culture. The state of Kerala where Cochin is, is the most developed region in all of India. It has development rates of those in the 1st world. With a 93+% literacy rate, and women equality, it was not what I expected I would see in India. Good thing I traveled, to get to the “India” I was expecting. Anyways...(another “seriously SAS?” moment).
That evening we were headed to a Welcome Reception. The reception was held at a fancy resort, which was secluded from the rest of the city. Here, we were welcomed by students from a local university. At the reception, we had the chance to buy hand-crafts, get henna (which was horrible), eat Indian snacks (which was delicious), and saw performances of Indian dancing, and singing. As the night grew old, the clouds opened up and we were greeted with a rainstorm. We headed back to the ship to pack my bag for a 3am departure to the airport.
The previous day, we had arranged for a cab driver to meet us to take us to the airport which was an hour from where we were. There was a group of 4 girls, 2 of us were on different flights there and back. My friend Ashley has been by my side since day 1, when we realized that the partying in Dominica was ridiculous. She is 25 and is not only a good friend, but also a mentor to me during my breakdowns. The airport was relatively small and there were not many people there at 4am. We went , through security, which was an experience in itself. I immediately knew I was in for a culture difference when the men and women had to be in different lines for anything. During the frisking, the women went in to a private booth and we were searched by a women officer. This was the same with every public transportation situation. Even in the train station while in line to buy tickets, the women had 1 line and the men had 9. When we arrived to New Delhi, it was like we were in a whole different country. There is obviously money here with it being the capital of India. The airport was nicer than some airports that we have back home. In the airport we stopped by a store to get some snacks for the road. I couldn't pack much because we were backpacking, so we didn't have much room. I did however manage to get a box of honey bunches of oats packed.
Once in New Delhi, we had to find our way to the train station to catch our overnight train to Varanasi. We took a subway to the station, and when we got outside, I saw “India”. There were horns honking, there were people EVERYWHERE, there were beggers, there was trash, there was dirt. Not knowing where we were supposed to go, we finally found someone who directed us to the platform where our train was waiting. It was hot and smelled really bad. Oh man, the smell of India. It is not a pleasant one, but one that I will never forget. We found our seats on the train, in the sleeper car, and settled in. First things first, we broke out the baby wipes and got to business. On one bed, we went through 3 wipes, and it was still coming up brown. The smell inside of the car was harsh, but we had to get used to it, we had 15 hours until Varanasi.
The start of the train began interesting, and only grew more and more sketchy as the night went on. First, there were very few women and children on the train...and in India all together, but our sleeping quarters were very close to strangers. The other 2 girls that we were traveling with joined us, and we claimed our beds. My supervisor at work warned me that when you want to sleep, you have to be straight up and tell them because they will want to talk to us all through the night. Boy was she right! Up to this point of the voyage, I have felt like we have been the ones putting the locals on display with staring and picture taking, well, we got a taste of our own medicine in India! People would walk by, glance, and then take a double take. When they came back, they would stay and stare and listen to us. The men even took turns coming in to our “room”. The cameras were flashing, they were 2 inches from our faces, and just had a sincere interest in who we were. What made us even more interesting is the group that we were. I am Hispanic, Ashley is black, Tess is Asian, and Dea is white. They were confused at where we were from and how we were able to speak to each other. At one point early in the trip Tess said “wouldn't that be funny if one of them could actually speak English and understands everything we're saying?” Because no one said anything, we assumed that they did not understand us, not that we were saying anything bad, but we were still talking. As the evening continued, we all started getting comfortable with each other. The truth came out! One of the guys spoke English a little bit, and one of the guys in the corner is a student as is fluent! All we could do is laugh and learn who these people were. It became much less awkward when we could communicate with them. We talked and talked for many many hours! Dinner time came, and the men convinced us to try the train food. We ordered “chicken biryani” which is like chicken fried rice. 2 hours later, our food came. The main guy that we were talking to asked us if we have tried a couple of dishes, when we said no, he went over to his room and came back with a bag full of food. “My mom made me dinner!” He said, and started scooping food on to our plates to share with us! Ok, so at the time, I didn't think anything of it, but looking back...what was I thinking!!?? The food was a meat dish in a container that looked like it had been through the trash a couple of times, and had probably had been sitting out for a couple days. The other dish was Tomato Chutney. It was the spiciest thing in the world!! We ate it. All of it. It was delicious! Later when I returned to the ship, my supervisor said she forgot to tell us not to accept any food from people because they drug the food so that they can steal from us..THANK GOD that didn't happen, and we didn't even get diarrhea! Speaking of, let's talk toilets. Holes is the more appropriate term for India. The toilets on the train were the worst! They smell from the toilets lingered for 3-4 rooms past where they are. There is no toilet paper, sinks, or windows. There is literally a whole in the ground that led to the outside. I stalled for as long as I could, but after 5 cups of chai tea, I had to go! I was waiting in line for 15 minutes. As every minute passed, I was getting more and more scared of who and what was going to come out. Finally, a man in a robe emerged soaking wet and dripping sweat. Yup. Enough said there..
The early morning rolled around and we decided that we should try and get some sleep. With no blankets, no pillows, and people still sitting at the ends of our beds, we tried and rest a little. One of the guys that we were talking to was a drug lord, and he was there with his servant. The servant slept under my bed, and the other slept sitting up between our beds. Thankfully, I was able to get a couple of hours of sleep in. Not everyone on the train had a ticket, so they had to share beds. Men were sleeping sitting up, 2-3 to a bed, and in all of the hallways, including blocking the toilets. From time to time an officer with a rifle as big as him would walk up and down the hallways, which made me feel a little better, not really.
All throughout the night, the train would stop and we would wake up to lots of noise outside. There seemed to be thousands of people outside at every station. The morning FINALLY rolled around and we were in Varanasi! TO BE CONTINUED..
