Day 3 (New Delhi/Agra)

Our final tourist stop in Delhi was a large mosque in the center of the city. Getting in proved to be a bit of a hassle as we had to remove our shoes, thus exposing our feet to baking hot stone, and anyone who wasn't covered to ankles and wrists had to don a "beautiful" luridly patterned poncho-like circus tent. Our mixed-gender multi-colored group proved to be the main attraction at the mosque (some boys even got a little "handsy" with Sasha during a photo shoot). The best part of the mosque visit was climbing up to the top of the minaret (where the imam calls everyone to prayer). The men relaxing at the top were quite surprised to find 15 Westerners charging into the small space....From this vantage point we could see the whole of Delhi, even though a 360 degree view required edging along a narrow ledge above the stairwell! This excursion finally enabled us to understand how large Delhi is (it was also interesting to see how few tall buildings there were). We even spotted a funeral procession entering the mosque before we descended down the very narrow and dark stairs. Though Dean (temporarily) left his shoes behind, we otherwise made a smooth getaway (and even took some very attractive slipper souvenirs).

The rest of our day was dominated by the four-hour slog to Agra, the town near the Taj Mahal. The most exciting moment of the drive was when we all realized a desperate Nick Spears had peed into a water bottle while no one was looking and left it on the back seat (Salil was particularly delighted).

The entire group was overjoyed to discover that our hotel rooms in Agra housed marble floors and beautiful bedsteads...which almost made up for the near-useless air conditioning! We didn't have long to enjoy our spacious rooms as we quickly went to bed to prepare for our early start the next day.

Day 2 (New Delhi) - Part 2

After our palace excursion we headed to a Delhi public school (private, for us Americans) to have a discussion with the students. We were paired off in groups of 5-6 with some of the top students from the school and compared notes on music, school, dating, politics, etc (the sex discussion was pretty hilarious, and also toured part of the school. Some other students also put on a varied and very entertaining dance display. The students were very friendly and willing to compare perspectives. We had an extremely good time chatting with our new friends and were very reluctant to leave!

We got an opportunity to hit the market, where a few of us purchased some gorgeous salwar kameez sets (and were very late for the bus...)

Our final excursion of the day was to the Live India news station headquarters, where our contact, Kumar, is a journalist. We toured the studios, watched a show being recorded, and discussed the television news industry with Kumar, who was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. For many of us, this was the first time seeing how a broadcast is put together. One method combines live presenters with a green screen (in this case, resulting in a background of bananas and a floating skull...) The conventional "big-desk-studio" set-up requires a very fancy articulated camera. It was very interesting to discuss with Kumar the history of broadcast media in India and the government's hand in the news.

Our day finished off with dinner at Salil's parents' house, where we also met his cousin and her two daughters. The food was delicious and we had a good time talking to the girls, who were our age, even though most of us found it impossible to stay awake!

Day 2 (New Delhi) - Part 1

Indian democracy sat upon the British Raj at the Presidential Palace, our destination Saturday morning. We instantly branded ourselves as stupid tourists when we arrived at the gates at the same time as the guard of soldiers arriving to take their defense shift at the palace. Only when we noticed that an irate be-turbaned man brandishing spear atop a horse was impatiently waiting behind our bus did we realize that we were blocking the entrance! As we let the guard pass by, we all pressed up against the windows to take pictures of the soldiers who couldn't decide whether to ignore us or laugh their heads off. We watched the Changing of the Guard ceremony in the full sun, baking at 7 am (today was one of the hottest days of the year!) The splendor was interesting but the procedure was long and opaque. This ceremony combined with the gallery filled with portraits of the British aristocracy created a much stronger British presence than we had expected. The paintings were beautiful, but didn't seem very Indian. However, the palace was absolutely stunning. The state dining room seats 104, while the swearing in chamber is a converted ballroom with a massive Persian carpet and an ornate Persian ceiling painting. We briefly considered trying to sneak into the President's apartments (she had just returned the day before), but decided that might be a bad idea....As we left, more than one person commented on the strong contrast between the palace and the situation we had glimpsed at Prayas.

Media update

We are writing these posts from Rajasthan "International" Airport, so are thus unable to upload pictures and video. They will come later!

Day 1 (New Delhi)

After 36 hours of traveling and a 1:00 am arrival, we kicked off our India tour with a visit to the Red Fort. We got there by driving through Delhi in a 50-seater tour bus (air conditioning!) with dangerously unhinged seats. This was our first experience with Indian weather...and Indian tourists, who followed our group around the entire fort. The fort was also our introduction to Mughal architecture, which our guide declared "simple" but actually seemed very intricate. Also, the harem building had a stream running through it and once served as barracks for the British army...who trashed it (pat on the back for Western culture).

Onto another phase of Indian history, with a visit to the site of Gandhi's cremation and the house where he spent his final days. We had to take our shoes off to visit the cremation site and thus lost the first five layers of skin thanks to the burning hot stone! The house is now a museum and memorial to Gandhi, with his bedroom intact and biographical billboards throughout the house. Upstairs houses interactive artwork. A path of bronze footprints leads from Gandhi's bedroom door through the garden to the site where he was shot (a path apparently captured well in the movie).

For lunch we stopped at a massive mall that, to our dismay, was actually more Western and up-market than the shopping centers we have at home (Sasha sadly forced herself not to go into Dior as she was not properly dressed). However, the food court had some amazing Indian food (even though we were all a little daunted by the spice level...lassis are very useful!)

We finished this jam-packed day with a visit to Prayas, a rehabilitation center for abandoned, runaway and abused children (which now has branches throughout the country). The administrators work with the police to rescue children (mostly ages 6-8) in terrible situations such as working in the sex trade or forced to beg. These children then live at Prayas up to 18 years of age, where they are educated and taught useful trades (such as sewing and printing). The children put on an adorable dance display, even coercing some of us to join (videos to come later!) Though few spoke any English, many were excited to interact with us. We also got to stick our heads into the dorms, each room of which houses 35 children in bunk beds. We finished on a tenser note with a slightly heated discussion with the head of the Prayas center, who claimed that America did not have these levels of poverty and exploitation, which we found difficult to both accept or contradict. We were defended by our contact Kumar, a TV journalist and family friend of Salil's, who urged this man to take more pride in India and not to seek pity. All in all, this visit was one of our most powerful experiences.

Blog for the trip...

Hey everyone,

I thought it would be fun to set up a blog for our trip to India. It would be a fun way to record what we do and to share pictures and stories with everyone back home. I'm still trying to figure out how to add everyone...more on that later.

-Alexandra