Amravati

Hey All,
We've made it to Amravati! My new host's name is Sanjay who has 14 members in the house. Upon arrival I took a nap for 1 hour and then walked downstairs to sit with Sanjay's dad. He doesn't speak much english, so most of our communication results in confused looks. I'm currently sitting in Sanjay's motor oil business awaiting the new year, which should arrive in 5 hours!

Hardware and internet complications have made video updates difficult. I will say that I've taken over 8 hours of video!

Thank you Nagpur

We are just about to hop in the car to Amravati. Thank you to everyone in Nagpur that made our stay an unforgettable one.  We look forward to seeing you again soon.
Kat, Ryan, Tyler, Sarah and Raychael

My host in Nagpur

I have a wonderful host family here in Nagpur.  My host, Pramod, is a mechanical engineer and lives with his wife, who is a wonderful cook and his son and daughter who are both in their twenties and software engineers.  We are close to the city center but far enough from the major roads as to remain quiet and peaceful.  The 3-bedroom flat is on the lowest floor of a 6-story building and there are lovely gardens that wrap around three sides of the building, a nice patch of grass and a little pond with some small fish.  It is a perfect spot in the morning for a cup of chai and some biscuits.  There is a nice swing in the back on which I enjoy doing some reading in the evening.  I have been eating plenty of local dishes and some dishes that we never see in Seattle.  I especially love the puran puri, a flatbread stuffed with pulse and sugar syrup and cooked in plenty of butter. Indian hospitality is without equal but not so good for our waistlines.

Host family (daughter Shruti is taking picture)

My host and our morning chai spot

I am lucky to be in a house that has a son and daughter residing here so I can talk with them at length about growing up here along with Indian values, friendships, relationships, future plans, etc. The mornings are nice and relaxed.  We have chai and biscuits outside around 8am then a full breakfast around 9:45. The workdays get started around 10am and go until 6:30 or so in the evening.  Lunch is usually around 2 or 2:30 and dinner is not until 9 or 10pm. Nagpur is located in the geographic center of India and our house is not far from the "Zero Mile" monument.  All road mile markers start at zero from this spot.

Zero Mile Monument in Nagpur

Gandhi and Kipling

*Update: Photos added

The first meeting of the Quit India movement was held here

The last two days have been busy but amazing.  Both days have had events from 8am until well after 10pm. On Monday we spent the day about 2 hours outside of Nagpur in a district called Wardha.  We first stopped at an engineering college (AVBIT) and they had a spectacular cultural presentation for us.  There was a yoga presentation, dancing, singing, a fashion show of the authentic womens clothing styles of the different regions of India and a short question and answer period.  We were given great gifts and we even got to ride in a traditional Indian ox-driven cart.  Tyler captured some great footage of the rides and the cultural program.  After the college we spent the afternoon at Gandhi's ashram at Sevagram.  Accompanying us was an amazing and passionate political science professor from Nagpur University.  He provided us invaluable insight and inspiration.We also stopped on the way home at the ashram of Gandhi's first disciple Vidoba Bhave which is located at a beautiful riverside location. A perfect sunset provided an excellent close to an inspirational day.

Gandhi's Seven Social Sins

Today we went on a jungle safari at Pench National Park which is about 3 hours north of Nagpur.  It is the jungle that Kipling wrote "The Jungle Book" about and it is so beautiful.  We rode in open top and open sided jeeps they call gypsies. We saw a lot of wildlife but unfortunately not the elusive tigers that they have in the park. We saw lots of black and pink-faced monkeys, two types of deer, peacocks and quite a few birds.  The other group of local Rotarians that were with us were lucky enough to see a leopard.

Indian Spotted Deer

Black-faced monkeys near a Ghost Tree

First Video from Tyler

Our video produced by Tyler. It covers the trip to India and the first day in Mumbai.

Sati and Reeti- my wonderful hosts!

This trip is off to the most amazing start, thanks to my wonderful hosts Sati and Reeti. They are so warm and welcoming! I have been lucky enough to be paired with one of the few Indian families with pets! The couple has Commander (a golden retriever), Happy (a cocker spaniel), Ram-Ram (a 35+ year-old turtle that eats tomatoes), 2 ducks, 2 parrots, and lovebirds. This is my home away from home! Pictures to follow... :)

Safely to Nagpur

Baggage claim in Mumbai

We are safely in Nagpur after a long, tiring journey.  We had a some delays in Amsterdam due to the snow but made it to Mumbai at 2am local time (about 30 hours after leaving Seattle). Baggage claim was a chaotic two hour ordeal but all the bags were eventually found.  There was a nice reception outside the airport and we were given lovely garlands (that helped mask the smell of 30 hours of travel). Even better, we found out that they had secured us tickets on a flight from Mumbai to Nagpur at 11:30am.

We were taken to a small hotel to have the chance to rest, shower, etc.  Once the sun came up and the streets were getting busy we decided to head out and get our first taste of India. On our walk we saw numerous street vendors preparing breakfast foods, stray dogs aplenty, and the chaotic traffic that we would be a part on not long after.  After a delicious breakfast of items whose names I can't recall, we hoped into two cabs and made our way to the domestic airport in Mumbai.  The 20 minute cab ride is something I am sure none of use will ever forget.  Traffic here is something you need to see to believe. Cars, buses, auto-rickshaws, bikes, pedestrians, all going in seemingly separate directions following a pattern that defies logic.  Hopping in a cab here should come with the Disney-esque warning to keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle at all times. Personally I loved it but my heart did stop on a couple occasions. There are no lane markers and using your horn here is a way of life to signal any number of things.  They also drive on the opposite side from the US.

Mumbai traffic

We have arrived now in Nagpur and gone our separate ways to our host families.  My host is a mechanical engineering professor at the engineering university here in Nagpur. He lives is a 3-bedroom apartment near the center of the city with his wife and their two kids.  Families stay close here and even though the son has already graduated (mechanical engineering) and the daughter is finishing college in town (software engineering) the kids still live at home. My hosts prepared me a delicious lunch of vegetable paneer and a local dish made with pulses and a local leafy vegetable (similar to spinach).  It was pleasantly spicy (2.5 stars IMO). I told my host and his wife that I like spicy food so I think they are going to crank it up at dinner. After lunch we popped into town to see the and my host was eager to show me his university. In town we stopped and got some paan and I had my first experience crossing the road. Now I have climbed steep mountains, skied some of the toughest lines around and been skydiving, and crossing a busy Indian road for the first time is right up there with all of them. Paan is interesting, it is a mixture of a bunch of spices, sugars, and other things, wrapped in betel nut leaf then rolled up and eaten whole.  It is eaten after meals as a breath freshener and digestive.

Nagpur city center

Paan wala in Nagpur

One week from departure, hello everyone

Welcome blog readers. We are just one week away from leaving and everything is falling in place. Our visas just arrived from San Fransisco, items are being crossed off packing lists, and our blog is now up and running.  We are assuming that we will have sufficient internet access to upload pictures, videos and text updates during our month in India.

Our preliminary itinerary has us in five cities. We start in Nagpur then head to Amravati, Akola, Jalgaon and finally Nashik. The GSE portion of the trip ends in Nashik after which some of us will head to Mumbai and others will head north to Agra (Taj Mahal) and Dehli before returning home.

More information on the trip can be found here...
http://gse.rotary5030.org/gse_announcement.htm

This link will provide background on the team members...
http://gse.rotary5030.org/India2010.htm

Our next post will likely be after arriving in Nagpur. Have patience as it will take over 48 hours to get there including three flights, a 13 hour train ride and several layovers. The adventure begins Saturday, December 18th.