Ahmedabad, Delhi

On our first day in Ahmedabad, 6/17, we had an academic session in the morning. Lunch was paratha, pancakes filled with various vegetables and spices, served with lassi. In the afternoon, we visited the Natinal Institute of Design. I had dinner at a delicious thali restaurant serving traditional Gujarati food.

                                              

6/18 was the most exciting day of the trip! The morning began with a visit to a temple in Ahmedabad, lunch at Aditi, the delicious thali place from the previous day, and a few minutes to pack our stuff before leaving for the train station for our 14-hour overnight journey to Delhi. The plan was to visit Ghandi’s ashram on the way to the train station, but due to some complications with the group check-out we did not have time so instead set off for the station directly. On the way to the station we stopped at a lake and had some coconut water. My coconut was cold—a lifesaver in the 104 degree F weather. The water tasted especially good today, possibly because I was a bit dehydrated. After 15 minutes or so by the lake and after all the students had had a chance to buy ice cream, we got back on the bus to continue on to the station. Our train was to depart at 5:40pm.

At around 4:45, our bus encountered the worst traffic jam I have ever witnessed. We were approximately 1.5 kilometers from the train station when our bus stopped moving, stuck behind hundreds of cars, bikes, rickshaws, trucks, and other buses. The cause of the mayhem seemed to be construction ahead on the road. There were no warning signs denoting the construction and there were no police officers in the area to help guide traffic. Manoj, our travel provider in India, jumped off the bus with Udit to try and figure out (a) what was going on and (b) how we could possibly make it to the station on time given the present circumstances. There was no sidewalk and it was 104F outside, so walking was not a viable option, lest anyone pass out or otherwise get injured by the multitude of vehicles honking and attempting to move.

We decided to walk past the traffic jam then take rickshaws the last kilometer to the rail station. The streets were incredibly crowded, so crossing the streets was even more hectic that usual. Drivers in northern India are more aggressive than in other areas of the country. Cars stop close enough together that you cannot walk between them; the only way to cross is to be confident and step in front of speeding rickshaws, knowing that they will stop for you. Manoj sped ahead through the crowd, across a huge street to start hailing rickshaws. Most were either full or passed us by, though I’m not sure why because he was offering lots of money for the short ride, yelling at the drivers in Hindi. After much coercion, rickshaws began to pull over on the busy street—we piled as many people with their bags as could fit in a rickshaw. The ride is generally tight with 3-4 people in one vehicle; we consistently put 3-4 with their luggage in one rickshaw. Some students piled into rickshaws that already had a couple people in them, the drivers directed by Manoj to go to the train station before dropping off the existing passengers.

Udit, Dr. Iacono and I were the last rickshaw to leave the intersection. In total, we had two suitcases, three backpacks, a tote bag, and one duffel bag. Somehow we fit and made it to the train station, Udit covered in luggage and me sitting on Dr. Iacono’s lap, leaning forward so I could hold her bag next to the driver. We got out of the rickshaw at the train station, the driver asked Udit for 60 rupees, but we paid him 100 because it didn’t matter at that point. A porter put the two suitcases and the duffel bag on his head as we ran to platform number 10. At 5:38, we boarded the train, hoping that everyone had made it on. A few minutes into the ride, we were finally able to get a count (our group was sitting in two different cars on the train) and confirmed that everyone had made it. It was a miracle that we made the train—it is very unlikely that there would have been any room on the next morning’s flight from Ahmedabad to Delhi and there was no train to Delhi later in the day. Although a bit stressful, this was an experience one could only have in India, and spirits were high during our race to the station.

The train ride was relatively uneventful compared to our frantic dash to the train station. Once we arrived and everyone was accounted for, I relaxed in my 1^st class seat with Rose, Dr. Iacono, and Mike (a student). Dinner was served: snacks, soup, a large plate of main courses, tea, and ice cream. I slept really well and woke up to sweet masala tea in the morning.

On 6/19 in Delhi, we rested for the morning then had an academic session in the afternoon. The academic session consisted of group presentations about different aspects of Indian culture. For dinner, Rose, Lindsey, Dr. Iacono and I tried to go to a recommended restaurant but ended up in a sketchy area of town. We ended up taking a rickshaw back to a better area of Delhi and having a nice meal.

On 6/20, we began the day with individual student presentations. After the presentations were over, I went to Khan market to buy a couple shirts at my favorite store, Fabindia. I again had dinner with Dr. Iacono, Rose, and Lindsey; this time, we stuck to the area of town near our hotel that we were familiar with.

Our penultimate day in India, 6/21, consisted mostly of the second War Game. This exercise was a mock policy negotiation between India, US, China, SAARC, and the UN regarding climate change and the effects that it will have on important sectors including food, water, transportation, and health. After the war game was over, we celebrated by visiting the Kingdom of Dreams, a Disneyland-esque place where you can find food and souvenirs from many different regions in India. As one member of the trip put it, the Kingdom of Dreams was “India without the India.” It was beautiful and had things from all over the country, but had no busy streets, poverty, crowds, or people imploring me to buy anything. After walking around and eating dinner, we saw a show called Abhimanu: the fastest feet. The show, a musical with a copious amount of inspired dancing and lip-synced singing (almost all in Hindi—some plot points were lost) was incredible! The dancing was well-choreographed and the costumes were magnificent. The few scenes in English, where the characters are in America, had really enjoyable cheesy dialogue. The highlight of the show was when, during a fake Halloween battle, fire shot out of holes lining the front of the stage. We all came down off of our collective adrenaline rush when the show ended, feeling like we had “stood in front of a blow dryer,” as one member of the group aptly noted.

Our last day in India, 6/22, began with a visit to the Indian startup SkyCandle and a visit to the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises. The startup was nice to visit, as some of its founding members had come to our War Game 1 recap day earlier in the trip. The ministry was also interesting, though the visit was a little longer than expected. In the afternoon we did some final shopping, had a buffet lunch with some delicious skewers of meat, and went back to the hotel to pack. We had dinner as a group at the Spice Route at the Imperial Hotel. This restaurant is rated one of the top 10 restaurants in the world for décor and ambiance. It was beautiful on the inside and the food was great. A great way to end the trip! After dinner we finished our packing, said some goodbyes, and headed to the airport. Rose and I left for Prague in the early morning.

Thank you to everyone who has continued to read about my adventures. I look forward to seeing you when I am home in August! Iceland Ho!