More random photos

Going Home

I'm chillin at JFK on the way home: 36 hours down, 8.5 to go. Sarah and I left New Delhi after a very relaxing 'day of beauty' at the Taj Palace and her Nagpur host, Sati Khanna, met her at the Mumbai airport while I continued on to Amsterdam later that night. Raychael is probably boarding her flight to Paris as I type. She met her friend in Hyderabad on the 23rd. As Ryan warned, getting through security is a beating. Before you can check your bags, they have to be scanned and passengers go through the full-on body search. Then through the same security procedure to get to the gate and a final body search and bag search just prior to boarding. They have a woman guard check female passengers, which is a good thing because they really search. I heard that the security was at high alert because of Independence Day festivities this week. Even after all that, a batty old lady a few rows ahead of me in coach tried to open the outside hatch while we were mid-Atlantic and continued to keep the flight attendants and air marshalls entertained for the rest of the trip. FYI, the marshalls don't wear uniforms - just khaki pants and navy sweatshirts, but they were carrying tazers and were all business.

The team and I will consolidate photos and get a presentation together for the GSE committee and for the District conference. All of us look forward to getting together soon to recap our fantastic experience and to try our indian recipes on each other.

Thanks once more to our wonderful District 3030 hosts. We look forward to a reunion with the inbound team on April 16.

I couldn't have imagined a better or more productive exchange. Thank you Ryan, Sarah, Raychael and Tyler for sharing a month with me. It is an experience I will always cherish and I love each of you dearly.

Mumbai Recap

Tyler and I spent a short time in Mumbai at the end of the trip.  Everything that we had experienced so far in India was amplified to the max in Mumbai.  Mumbai is the most populous city in India and the second most populous city in the world (according to Wiki: 14 million in city, 19.2 million in greater metro area). The traffic was horrendous, it was hot and humid and the city was unbelievably huge. In addition to the size is the density which is estimated at 60,000 people per square mile.

We spent the majority of the time in the touristy areas of Churchgate and Colaba and also had a sidetrip to the Crawford market and few last minute gifts were picked up.  The standard tourist drinking hole Leopolds was a bit underwhelming but the cold beer was still welcome.  A highlight of the day was a delicious gin and tonic at the Taj Mahal Hotel with a great view of the gateway to India.  Marine Drive was beautiful at sunset as well.

Marine Drive in Mumbai

Happy Sankranti

Hi everyone, I am back in Seattle now. Internet access in Nasik was hit and miss.  Even though I am back I will finish this post from last weekend...

Today is Makar Sankranti which celebrates the changing of the seasons. Winter is now over here and we are moving into hotter times.  Fittingly it is quite warm today (for us) at 30C (86F). The festival is celebrated with exchanges of a sesame covered sweet called tilgul, music and lots of kite flying.  The skies around us are filled with kites being flown by kids. The kids use the string reinforced with glass so that they can have kite battles with each other.

Rooftops lined with kids flying kites

Busy day at the ghat

Typical crowded street here

Even the cows join in for the festivals

We went to some temples this morning and down to the Godavari River which is considered a holy river.  Many people come here to bath and wash away their sins.  Every 12 years there is a pilgrimage to the river and 2-4 million people make the journey.  It was crowded today with only thousands of people and I can't imagine it with millions of people.

In the evening we went to a beautiful farm and flew kites with the kids.  We lost most of the  battles but I had one victory over an 8-year old that was very satisfying. After the kite battles we headed to a party with some people that are from Punjab.  The crowd was mostly Sikh people and they impressed us with their passion for dancing.  We ended the night dancing to the popular Bollywood songs with the Sikhs.  It was a great moment for all of us.

Daulatabad Fort

While we were visiting the Ellora and Ajanta caves near Aurangabad we had a side trip to the 14th century fort at Daulatabad. The fort was built by Muhammad bin Tughluq who ruled India from 1325 until his death in 1351.  Early in his reign he decided to move the capital of India to Daulatabad.

Instead of moving just his government offices there, he forcibly moved the entire population (including the cattles, horses, dogs, cats!) of Delhi to the new capital. Since this happened in summer, many people died because of inadequate water supply arrangements in Daulatabad; after only two years, the capital had to be shifted back again to Delhi, again at great loss, and it was said that Delhi was a ghost town for years after the move back.

The fort is very impressive in its design and it is said that no one has ever conquered the fort by force (it has only been taken by bribing the guards). The fort was designed to confuse the attackers with a series of 3 walls to be conquered, multiple pathways (some leading to dead ends), a crocodile filled moat, and most importantly a maze through a series of bat infested caves.  The fort sits on top of a conical hill that is about 200m tall.  Vertical walls have been cut, 50m tall, around most of the hill.  The only way across the moat was by a very narrow bridge that could be retracted.  If you did make it over the moat you entered the caves which are designed to further confuse the enemy and give the protectors ample opportunity to kill the attackers in great numbers.  After the caves a long steep climb remains to the top with more walls, cannon, etc. More specifics on the fort can be found here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daulatabad

Between the first and second walls

The temple inside the second wall, fort is on the hill in background

The bridges were added recently for tourists

This moat was full of hungry crocodiles

Styler and our guide, the entrance to caves is in the background

Guided by torch through the caves, hearing hundreds of bats overhead

Out of the caves, looking back at the village that is inside the outer walls
(also shown is the second tallest medina in India)

Great views on the top after a nice hike

Tyler's Indian Alter-Ego

The trip coordinator here in India kept calling him Styler and the name has stuck.

Looking tough in the mirror of an auto-rickshaw

Styler is seen here autographing the hands of his adoring fans

Biscuits

One of our favorite visits this trip was to a biscuit factory in Akola.  Indians love their biscuits.  They are always put out for guests and everyone usually has a few with their chai (which they take several times daily). Indian biscuit consumption is estimated at 3 million metric tons per year.
We visited a Wonder biscuit manufacturing facility in Akola owned by local Rotarian Rajesh Agrawal.  He gave us a great tour of the production process including everything from the raw ingredients to the packaging and shipping.  We even got to enjoy warm biscuits fresh off the belt. The entire factory had a great smell as they were making coconut biscuits at the time. Here are some pics of the biscuit production...