Delhi Day Two

I'm taking advantage of my hour long break to catch up on some thoughts and recap the day. It is sad that my midday nap came nearly during a presentation 3 hours ago instead of now, but I guess that's jetlag for ya.

And I have some fun news... this blog will also serve as a vehicle for the MBA program catching up on a few students' spring breaks. That will be my 3rd official pr-ish blog for UT.

Also, I forgot to mention that we were in an earthquake yesterday. (My first one!) It occured while we were at IndiGo Airlines. We clearly were fine, but the walls were full of cracks once we left!

Anyway, I guess I should first explain what happened last night. After a wonderful group dinner at Q'ba in Chawndni Chowk, a few of us decided we wanted to see Old Delhi... aka "the real India." This required a trip on the metro, which was crazy. At about 9:50pm, my group (Rohit, Marian, Caroline x2, Robert, Kevin, Chris, Neka, Ryan, Amy and I) descended the steps into the Indian subway. The trip was 10 rupees ($.20) which first of all is crazy to me. Once we got to the platform, it was clear that we were 1) the only Americans, and 2) the only girls. We managed to all fit into a subway car, but we were so jam packed that I thought, "if this car breaks down we are toast. I will claustrophobically not be able to survive." It thinned out with a few stops, and then we were out. We ascended the stairs into a foreign world. It was dark out (clearly, because it was past 10pm) and the streets were covered in trash and liquid and stray dogs (both sleeping and scavaging) and homeless people in various states of sleep. Around us were a few open vendors/stores, and tons of traffic from motorcycles, pedicabs, and various small autos usually towering with something unfamiliar. When I say shops in India, I mean that you should imagine that public storage was street level, and every unit was its own store with stuff falling out from it.

Anyway, we first walked to the oldest Sikh temple in Delhi and saw the first high-rise, which was in shambles. Then we walked to a Hindu temple and Rohit explained how remarkable was that religions shared the same street. From there we kept going, and at about 10:40 we reached a dark alley that looked really shady. Rohit asked if wanted to keep going. While we probably should have said no, I think group-think set in and we figured we'd already gone this far so why not. We made our way through the alley and came across the steps of a huge mosque. While taking pictures, someone motioned to Rohit and they talked. Then Rohit came back and said, "okay guys. we need to go now." The urgency was obvious, so we headed out quickly. Between the scene I described earlier, the added fear, and the constant near misses of getting hit, I admit that all I could think about was getting back safely. We couldn't find any autorickshaws to take us, so we kept going. Finally we reached the metro at 11:05 in time for the second to last train at the station. I'll be honest, I was pretty damn happy to arrive back at the hotel. And I know Rohit was too... I felt so bad for him because he was entrusted with this group of Americans and he didn't quite expect it to be so scary. To make a long long long story short, I don't regret going at all. (Of course I'm safe and absolutely fine.) It was an experience I will never forget, though, and definitely was a side of India I never expected to see.

Anyway, this morning was a new day. After another huge breakfast, we headed out to Arkshardam and spent about 4 hours exploring the grounds, going through an exhibit that sadly reminded me of a Disneyland ride (think recorded voices, sound effects, and animatronics in at least 7 different rooms) and watching an Imax before hitting the food court. The place was beautiful, but having been built only in 2006, it didn't have the same feel as more historical building. It was neat to learn a different type of Hindu religion, though, and again - it was stunning. (Sorry, I will have pictures when I get back!) As for the food court, I tried something Rohit suggested and promptly spit it out in the trash while everyone watched me. I have no problems being adventurous food wise, but man it was horrible.

Next we went to Apollo Hospital Delhi, where we learned about healthcare in India and toured the hospital. It was really interesting, however I felt terrible that I kept nearly nodding off. Some takeaways were that traffic in India makes ambulances virtually worthless, so they send doctors on the ambulances to give patients a chance at survival. Also, attracting talent is a challenge and the government is working to change it. Lastly, the majority of hospital visits are paid for out of pocket. Insurance really isn't common except for corporate people and officials. From there, the whole group played a mean game of frogger crossing a crazy busy street to get to the bus.

Lastly we went to the Lotus Temple, which was a gift to India from the B'hai faith. It was beautiful, although the main attraction often seemed to be us, as people were taking our pictures all over the place!

The busride home was interesting too, and I'm anxious for dinner so I can continue a conversation with Rohit, Amit, and Angie about Indian expectations and culture clashes. We'll be heading to an alumni dinner soon, and then coming back to crash before our 5:00am wakeup call. We're taking the train to Agra to explore the city and then see the Taj Mahal at sunset.

Again, a few more thoughts about my experiences.
1) I am SO GLAD I am here with a McCombs Global Trip. And I'm not just saying that because they will be using this! I love going to these businesses and hearing their stories, expectations, challenges, and plans. I love sharing the experiences with so many of my friends. And I love that I didn't have to plan any of this myself. The fact that Rohit, who's pride is his homeland, gets to bring 20 of us back here with him... well that's just incredible. I can see how much he loves sharing his country, and I also can't say enough how thankful we all are for him.
2) I wonder how long it would take to be immune to all the chaos. Already I'm finding that I expect it or don't even notice at times. And that's just in two days.
3) It becomes increasingly easy to say "no" to beggers and vendors, but seeing the kids is heartbreaking.
4) I love getting served tea and cookies during meetings. It is the best. Why don't we do this in the US?!!
5) I am so dirty, I feel like I need to shower every time I come back to the hotel.
6) I so wish that Americans wore saris.
7) There is no way to capture into words the smells or the sounds here. But both are intense. (Maybe one day I will try.)
8) I am so very glad I am here.

Alright... I'm off to shower for the second time today and head to dinner in our big safe bus. No more adventures for tonight. :)