The trip to India was certainly incredible and it will have a lasting impact on me for the rest of my life.
XIME was great, they were extremely hospitable and the lectures were very informative. We had the opportunity to have discussions with the other students about India, China, and the US economies. We also had lots of tea breaks between lectures, the tea tasted great and helped to reenergize us.
The company visits were also great, they were very hospitable to us and let us in to almost every part of their facilities. Of my favorite were the visits to Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital and Infosys. Both had huge facilities located on huge plots of land. They were like mini towns.
My favorite sightseeing was the jungle in Coorg at the coffee plantation and white water rafting. The road leading to Coorg was the bumpiest, windiest, and longest road I have ever driven on. It was impossible to sleep because every new bump would jar me awake. The scenery was lush and green with trees and plants indigenous to India.We saw a little bit of wild life on the way there like an elephant and its baby and some white spotted deer. We had chicken biryani- a blend of spices, chicken, sauce and rice. Apparently it is quite labor intensive to make, it cooks for like half a day, and that is what makes the chicken so tender. It was delicious. White water rafting was one of the most fun things I’ve done and the scenery of tea plants surrounding our river was truly a beautiful sight. As Jessica mentioned, we all worked as a team very well to overtake the rapids.
The Taj Mahal in Agra was my second favorite sight. Agra was hotter than Bangalore and there seemed to be more poverty there on the streets than in Bangalore. It is also home to the Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri fort built by the Great Mughal Emperor Akbar, and the Agra Fort later finished by his successors. The Taj Mahal is truly a sight worth seeing. We went on a morning visit around 6:30am and the marble of the palace appeared normally white. When we finished the tour, the marble looked a little more white, this is because the marble is translucent and appears different depending on the exposure from the sun. It was built by Emperor Shah Jahan for his wife Mumtaz. The building has no paint, the decoration on the walls are made of in-laid semi-precious stones, creating a pattern. It is almost like a mosaic, but instead of grout between each piece, it is the marble itself. The entire structure is symmetric, except for the tomb of the deceased emperor next to the tomb of his wife inside. The emperor did not have plans for himself to be buried there, he built it out of love for his wife. However, his son had him buried there when Shah Jahan died. After our tour, we were taken to the place where the marble and semi-precious stone inlay is still made by the ancestors of the artists who worked on the Taj itself. A couple of us bought some octagonal-shaped slabs of marble with designs on them constructed of the semi-precious stones, and we were each given a complementary marble elephant.
Most of the food was delicious in India, I think I prefer the southern Indian food over the Northern, but there are some dishes that are the same for both areas like dal makhana, paneer, and naan. I really enjoyed tandoori chicken, the naan, chinese noodles, dal makhana, paneer, and a sweet called jalabi. Surprisingly, I didn’t get sick at all while on the trip, but after I returned home, that is a different story…
Adjusting to the culture I did not find an extremely hard challenge. However, we had guides and Dr. Vijay right alongside us advising us what to do and what not to. We attracted many stares, but it didn’t bother me very much. I knew they were curious, and I was staring around at them too. Most educated Indians were also unaffected by our differences, they have been exposed to so much American culture that it doesn’t surprise them to see us in their country.
One thing that really stuck out to me about India was the coexistence of life. Cars, bikes, people, cows, elephants, camels, and dogs all share the road together, with hardly any rules governing traffic. Everyone looks out for each other and all life forms are respected. There also didn’t seem to be any hostility, anger, or violence any place that we visited and everyone was very welcoming and happy. This was definitely a great experience and taught me to have more patience and gave me a different perspective on my life, the US, and our place in the world.