India

Chaos, overwhelming, crowded, dirty, hot and humid are a few words to describe the mayhem and complete over stimulation of southern India- cars, buses, ric shaws, bikes, people walking- all sharing the same road. It is crazy!
I was petrified to leave the ship. It took all the courage I had to force myself into a taxi to leave the safety of my air conditioned home for the next few days.

On the up side, the people are very friendly and it is a colorful place, always a lot to see in an “in your face” kind of way. The people are very resourceful to live in this kind of chaos and I admire that they can. For me, this was the most challenging country so far but stepping out of our normal way of living is what this trip is about and India was by far the most transforming for most of the people on the ship who have never been here.

Stepped off the boat into the hot humid air and a strong stench wafted up from the ground. Filth, sewage, water, people, not sure what it was …..already I’m finding it difficult to continue to venture away from my “home”. My idea of hell is being stuck in a hot humid climate unable to cool off with no help and here I am in a poor, hot, humid country- traveling.

Our first journey is down the coast to what we think is a quaint small town called Mallampuram, 2 hours away from Chennai, our port. Finding a taxi with air conditioning was a major accomplishment. The first guy we met said “yes, yes I have air conditioning”, once we got in he started winding down the windows, that was his idea of AC, hmmmm, jumped out at the next road and kept looking, the taxi driver follows me and says “oh, my brother has a car wait, wait, he is coming, I am calling him” He does this head bobble thing where you have no idea what that means- yes, no, what? Frustrated, my friends and I continue on walking, sweating and finally find a car with both AC and seat belts on our way out of the city.

Next we have to battle with the traffic to make our way to the coast. This is amazing how it works. There seems to be a pecking order of size to see who is allowed to squeeze through the road. No one pays attention to lanes, just inch up and push your way through- buses have priority, then trucks, cars, ricshaws, bikes and pedestrians. If a bigger vehicle wants to get through you better make room or they will knock you out of the way. Once out of the city it gets even more scary. We are on the road and this pecking order is now in effect going 70 mph. We are a car and can pass the motorized ric shaws easily but when the taxi wants to pass a truck or oxen pulling crops we head down the middle of the lane with oncoming traffic and seriously miss being hit by inches at the last second over and over for the next two hours. I am a wreck, many times squeezing the thighs of my friends as we near miss buses and trucks many times, talking out loud to Alex and Chris to always know how much I love them.
Finally arrive in Mallampuram to what we imagine to be a calm quaint town- I could use it at this point but arrive in another destitute town with merchants and beggers on both sides of the street. All I can think of is I want to get back to the ship. Finally make it to the hotel where again I am disappointed. The rooms are awful with old soft beds, hot, with loud fans and an old leaky AC unit near the ceiling. This is by far the best hotel in town but had no idea at the time, it is all relative and I am feeling like a spoiled American princess. OK, I am going to stick it out and explore the town once it cools off from 95 to 88 in a few hours. The journey continues with more of the same, we travel further south the next day to Pondicherry to meet 3 more friends who love to shop. I can’t take it anymore and end up at the hotel pool and in my room reading while my friends spend hours bargaining with the silk weavers and marble sculpture merchants.

One thing that is wonderful is the food! We do make it to some great meals with interesting spices of cardamom, turmeric and many others that I am not sure about. Delicious.
India is a conservative country, more so in the southern area where we are. For women, most skin is covered. It is hot and humid and all the women are dressed in long colorful saris that are beautiful against the ugly muddy streets of the city.
Drinking is frowned upon and when we order beer we are told that the preservative is formaldehyde so don’t drink more than two or you will have a horrible headache. I don’t realize it but women do not go into bars. In the hotel three of us decide to have a drink at the bar, two guy friends and I walk into a very dark bar hidden in the back of the hotel. As we walk in there is not one woman, the place is packed full of dark Indian men drinking, eating, smoking and talking. As I walk by they all stare and wave at me, I am happy to have two men friends around me as I am feeling they think I am a prostitute. A very strange feeling and so happy not to be a woman in India.
After another day of the same we turn around and head back for the ship, YEAH!

Processing all the events takes time and we all cope differently to the experiences. Amazing when there are 700 of us all sharing different experiences in the same country, all coping differently- some shaken to the core, some hardly affected. Some experiences more harrowing than others; a bus driver being beat up and left on the street, maimed children begging, young boys groping and feeling the breasts of the students, young Indian guys and girls meeting students and welcoming them into their families, other Indian people spending the entire day with the students taking no money for their time or excursions, stating that you are insulting me by offering money, friendship is more important.
Having this community on board with so many perspectives makes it easier. We all need each other at different times to process the events, vent and sometimes share a tear or two, young, old, men and women…everyone has a story or experience that wants to be told. Everyone has stepped out of his or her comfort zone many times and this is where the real learning is taking place.
There is much more poverty here than the last ports but I couldn’t deal with seeing more. I realize how important family and community are and appreciate my lifestyle more than ever.
Personally, am glad to see India, happier to leave it, proud of myself for sticking through it- no interest in returning.

On our way to Malaysia, this time I am spending a few days at a beach on an island. Sounds like the infrastructure of the city is better and looking forward to more wonderful meals and a quieter, calmer experience while learning about the people and culture!

How are things going with you? Am always happy to hear about your life, some normalcy is so welcomed!
xox
Margareta