Day 8 (Mumbai)

This was our first day with the Global Youth Leadership Institute, a program from which we learnt quite a bit about multiculturalism, though not entirely in the way the program leaders had intended.

Gathered into a room with delegations from four other schools (two each from the U.S. and India), we began the day with introductory games, the College Prep group made a presentation on our trip so far and then a leadership-style quiz divided us up into groups to come up with an event to encourage awareness of, and activism against, hunger. The latter was probably the most interesting activity, with many different ideas being thrown around and everyone getting a chance to realize the positives and drawbacks of their leadership style.

Some people commented on a couple minor issues. First, the program was completely confined to the room within the hotel; the brief walk we took seemed solely for exercise, not for interest in the neighborhood. In addition, some of the other students were difficult to talk to; it was very difficult for College Prep girls to start a conversation with the Indian boys as cross-gender socializing was obviously something they were not very used to!

Day 7 (Mumbai)

After hearing him talked up by a proud cousin-in-law (Salil!) it was slightly jarring that Luke Kenney made such an informal entrance, hopping onto the bus with his girlfriend, Deviki (Salil's cousin), from the side of the road where we had appeared to have stopped for no reason. With fair skin and shaggy brown hair, Luke's European blood is obvious, but he speaks English with a Mumbai accent. Though he had a lot of interesting things to say, it was Luke's background that was maybe the most fascinating. Born to an Irish father and an Italian mother, he grew up in Mumbai without the typical expat crutches of international schools and foreign neighborhoods and thus, in upbringing, is a normal Indian guy, most comfortable in the local dialect and habits.

As Luke narrated this story, he directed the bus into what appeared to be a nature reserve on the outskirts of Mumbai, but actually turned out to be a Bollywood studios. We were shown a set under construction for an upcoming airline commercial, the village set for a soon-to-be aired tv show, and even got to see (from a distance) the filming of a temple scene for a movie. We weren't close enough to figure out what was going on, but Salil laughed heartily at us stumbling across the most stereotypical scene in the Indian film industry! Our Bollywood tour ended with a visit to a relatively new film academy, where we got a better sense of the different steps of movie-making (such as sound processing) and India's developing academies for this industry. To no one's surprise, as we stepped out of the building, the rain was coming down in sheets. Hello, monsoon!

Despite the rain, we stopped at the beach; unfortunately, without the sun to distract us, most of us came away with negative impressions after noticing the massive amount of garbage strewn everywhere. But we had a fairly amusing communication failure with a woman peddling henna. After holding a stamp to Sasha's nose and declaring, "10 rupees," she proceeded to cover Sasha and Grace's hands (including each individual finger) with the stamp at lightning speed. When she was done she demanded, to our horror, 150 rupees. We were much more careful about what we were getting ourselves into after that!

But the fun wasn't over. We paid a nighttime visit to a corner of the Mumbai slum to see a leather-working factory. It was a visit of contrasts, both of expectation and situation. Some of us were terrified, while others didn't notice anything scary. The entrance to the slum was a 20 ft. strip of garbage, but the tiny street was relatively uncluttered. We peered into single-room houses, but contrary to popular image the homes were real structures rather than makeshift shacks. Someone claimed to even have seen a laundry machine; there were definitely a few tvs. The leather-working factory in the middle of this slum produces material for top European designers, but in the corner there's a high stack of rejected strips. Less than a hundred yards further down what appeared to be a quiet alley, we burst onto a busy street crowded with bicycles and people. It was interesting to see more Muslims in this neighborhood, particularly women in burkhas, than we had seen in other parts of the city...more diversity in lower-income areas.

Day 6 (Mumbai)

In the morning we flew from scorching Rajasthan to rainy Mumbai. Though we were all relieved to escape the heat, we soon discovered that the monsoon season had its own drawbacks, most importantly the ever-present mildew and sense of dampness.

Our first impression of Mumbai was the swathe of slum that stretched across the city, with structures even between runways at the airport! We were amazed to learn that the entire mass is the largest slum in Asia, and has a GDP in the millions!

It was quite an ordeal getting our bus through the narrow alleys to our hostel, but finally we arrived at the Anjuli Inn. In contrast to our earlier residences, the A.I. is a large apartment, with bunkbed-filled rooms for both the boys and girls.

We headed out to see the sites of Mumbai, stopping first at the famous Taj Hotel, the site of the 2008 bombings. Though the building was immaculate, showing no trace of damage or repairs, the intensive security by the entrance confirmed we had the right place. The hotel was just as beautiful as its New Delhi counterpart, but as there is little to occupy oneself in an expensive hotel when one doesn't want to pay for anything, we soon headed out to the India Gate, 50 yards away. This large structure, which bears a certain resemblance to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, looks out at the main harbor of Mumbai, and was historically the ceremonial entrance for members of the British Raj.

Our final sight-seeing stop of the day was essentially a massive laundry lot: rows of massive cement tubs where all the laundrymen came to wash their clothes (though in this weather, simply hanging the clothes outside would have been sufficient to wash them!) The most exciting part of this visit was the man below (we were standing on a bridge above the lot), clad only in his underwear, who caught sight of us and started showing off, posing and smacking a shirt into the water. When he looked like he was trying to come over and say hi, we beat a hasty retreat.

After finishing the movie Rock On, starring Luke Kenney, whom we were scheduled to see tomorrow, the girls found their sleeping arrangements had not gone quite according to plan. First, we discovered that a strange man had already taken one of the bunks in our room. After he was relocated, we then realized that the kitchen staff's nighttime hangout, where they chatted and listened to the radio, was only accessible through our room. It was not a good night for light sleepers!

Day 5 (Rajasthan)

Jaipur is the stunning capital of Rajasthan, which used to be one of the strongest states in India. The big architectural theme seemed to be pink/orange buildings (we're guessing it was paint?) with beautiful carvings, and some painting, on the exterior walls. The old city is still contained within 50 ft. walls, with the 3-story structure for the marketplaces intact for over 300 years. Rajasthan is also a state with very little rainfall, so the color of the buildings blends with the dust in a rather picturesque way.

We began our day with a drive through the old city on our way out to see the Amber Fort. This fortress-cum-palace was the traditional home of the King of Rajasthan. The current king now lives in an adjacent fort, that looks less grand from the outside but probably has furniture and modern bathrooms!

To our delight, we rode up the path to the fort on elephants, whose trunks were beautifully painted with multicolored flowers. Alex even bargained for a hat while on top of the elephant, though on her first try she was given one that would comfortably fit a toddler. After dismounting in the outer courtyard, we entered the fort at the main receiving area. Within this courtyard, was a covered open-air pavilion, with richly carved columns. The other beautiful part of the receiving area was the stunning 70ft. tall gateway to get into the rest of the palace, whose inlay designs were still gorgeous and intact. The top part of the gateway was a carved wooden screen, from behind which the women of the harem could look down on the receiving area.

We entered what we assumed is part of the palace center, which was dominated by a large veranda, whose walls and ceiling were covered in carved glass designs embedded in the sand-colored stone. Though there was some colored glass, most of the designs were perfume-bottle shapes formed out of the mirror, which had a beautiful sparkle. Less beautiful were the red and gold "turbans" worn by the middle-aged Swedish men in an adjacent tour....

Most of the palace is a rabbit warren of branching hallways and small nooks, but we made our way onto the roof, which had more than one open-air chamber with the same carved screen...the site of illicit night-time activities (the room could hold more than two people...)! There was also a great view of the surrounding area, which was mostly parched, but rolling hills. The palace is surrounded by a massive pit, which in wetter days was a moat. That day, all we could see was a small figure in a bright orange sari walking around a fire. We also saw the courtyard where the king's wives would dance for him. The king's viewing area has secret passages to each of the wives' rooms, which were off this courtyard, so he could sneak off to his mate of choice after watching the dancing!

On our way out, Dean broke his own cardinal rule of the trip and bought something from a vendor, causing 10 others to surround him and follow us all the way back to the bus....

Returning from the palace, we stopped by a jewelry store and got to see how the workers polished the stones. We spent a long time in the store, browsing the beautiful, but expensive, jewelry. Thankfully for our wallets, we were loaded back onto the bus and taken to a (cheaper) marketplace! Today was one of our heaviest shopping days, haggling for brightly-colored scarves and genie pants (store-keepers are nice to the blondes!). We were all steered to take a look at the Palace of the Winds, which has an eye-popping four-story facade.

Our day ended with a trip to see Raajneeti, a new political movie from the non-musical side of Bollywood. The theater experience itself was a trip; the giant inside resembled a giant cream puff and Indian movie-goers think nothing of answering their cell phones mid-movie. Strangest of all, half the cinema got up 15 minutes before the end and left to avoid the crush of people! Raajneeti, though quite a fascinating film, was "interesting" for a few reasons: one, there were no subtitles (the one English phrase in the film was the random, "19th century Victorian poetry"!), two, it was extremely violent, and three, there was much more sex than we'd expected (though very discreetly filmed). However, there was only 2 kisses in the whole film (compared to 15 violent deaths). The story was dominated by car bombs, assassins, bludgeonings, shootings, and love triangles. Apparently, the ideal Indian film!

Day 4 (Agra/Jaipur)

We all struggled out of bed at the crack of dawn to drive to the Taj Mahal. Unfortunately, the site didn't open early enough for us to see the sunrise, but it turned out that going early was a blessing as the day was a scorcher.

First drama of the day was getting past the overzealous security guards, who wouldn't let TJ take in his camera tripod, removed all food, and even tried to stop Alex bringing in books (none of which were even related to the Taj Mahal).

The approach to the Taj Mahal is beautifully set up. You first have to walk along a path perpendicular to the entry, then go through a massive set of intricately carved gates. As you walk through the Taj appears before you at the other end of the gardens, filled with trees and a massive reflecting pool.

As Dean and Salil were sorting out some kinks, the group was left to enjoy the scenery. We were interrupted by a man who approached us, claiming he had been sent by Salil and trying to drag us off on a tour. After 10 minutes of back-and-forth and finally locating Dean (who had no idea who this man was), Salil finally returned after his trek back to the lockers to confirm that this man was indeed our tour guide.

During this wait period, we were all thoroughly amused by the antics of a dramatic European woman. Swathed in bright purple material (we assumed it had been a sari at some point, but she had taken a lot of artistic license...), with a massive ohm pendant and a leather band hippie-style around her forehead. She picked up three different would-be tour guides, but only used them to carry her bags and take pictures of her making stupid poses (holding up the Taj, anyone?)

Before entering the Taj, we walked around the deck that forms its base, admiring the temples on either side, watching the communal bath in the river below and examining the intricate carvings around the outside of the building. We finally entered a small room and passed into the shadowy, echoing central chamber. The actual tomb, housed below, is closed to visitors, but is replicated in full (though with semi-precious stones rather than jewels) in this ground floor hall. The walls were beautifully decorated but the fake tomb was the centerpiece, with the coffin surrounded by intricately-carved marble studded with "jewels". It turned out that the small room we had entered was one of 6 that wrapped around the central chamber. Walking through these rooms, we discovered that the wooden door blocking off the last room was covered in English graffiti. Though this was disappointing, it was a relief that the actual stone had not been defiled.

Like many historical places of beauty, it would have been nice to have seen the Taj in its original splendor. Though the white structure was beautiful, we got the impression that originally it also sparkled in the sunlight with countless jewels/stones that have since been removed. Nevertheless, it was very special to see in person such a beautiful site.

On our way out, we were all lured into a store selling beautiful but heavily overpriced inlaid carvings, boxes and plates. As this was our earliest shopping experience, a few of us spent a bit more money than we should have and regretted it later! On the bright side, we learned our lesson.

By the time we had returned to the hotel and loaded up the bus, the sun was in full force. The heat was so scorching that we ended up having to scrap our plans to visit the Agra Fort. Though the fort is a stunning structure and is tied in to the Taj Mahal, its size meant that we would have to have spent 2 hours walking around in temperatures that reached 120 degrees! To compensate, we pulled over at the side of the road and got some distant, but clear photographs. As soon as we climbed out of the bus, we understood why the tour had been cancelled. The heat was so oppressive it felt like we were walking around in an oven. Forget frying an egg on the sidewalk, we could have done it in the air!

On the bright side, the four-hour bus ride was a rare stretch of down-time after the first few hectic days. Thus we were all a bit more awake when we arrived at the beautiful city of Jaipur. We ended our day with a night-time roof-top dinner. It turned out that Monday is the most popular day for weddings in Jaipur, so our dinner was decorated by a steady stream of fireworks and we ran into multiple brightly-colored wedding parties on the streets, with the groom astride a red-decorated horse surrounded by gold-swathed attendants.