India is a place unlike any other. If you have ever met anyone who's been there, ask them for stories. With over a billion people living there, you'll have quite a few unique and humorous experiences. Here are some of mine...
Delhi -
Our first full day in India, we did some exploring. We traveled to this small park in the city and were approached by young Indian guy. He came up to Zach and showed him a paper that was a testimony of some kid from Canada that had his ears cleaned and now they "felt better than ever". Next he showed a picture of him with that kid and asked Zach if he knew what he did. Zach said, "You're an ear cleaner?". The guy agreed and then asked Zach if he could check his ear. Zach said no. Then he asked again only to get the same response from Zach and this went on and on until finally Zach gave in to just let him check. The Indian checked and then before we knew it, he was shoving a big metal pin in Zach's ear. Totally caught by surprise, Zach tried to free himself and was completely freaked out and disgusted. It was one of the funniest sights I've ever seen. A street ear cleaner? That's a first! (We were too surprised and laughing to much to stop and take a picture)
There is an intense and easily visible smog over the whole the whole city. Some say breathing the air here for a day is equivalent to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes. Wow. Another interesting thing I noticed was that everyone we talked to didn't like living there. When we would share our travel plans (8 days in Delhi then on to Lucknow and Varanasi) with all of the locals, they all said that 2 days was even too long to be in Delhi. They were shocked to hear we were spending over 1 week. I don't think I've been to a place where everyone wanted to leave...
(Here, I'm walking beside the city traffic with noticeable smog in the air)
One thing you will see everywhere is droppings. Never take your eye off the road. It takes a pro to avoid both the droppings, all the people, and the many cars and rickshaws which constantly zoom by unannounced. One day, shortly after having some random green goop (possibly poop) fall on my jacket, we had another funny experience. Zach put more emphasis on avoiding the two rickshaws that were coming straight for him and found himself sliding through a big pile of human feces. To his dismay, it was the day he decided to wear sandals...
Our first week in India, I had a real difficult time getting sleep. This was due to a few reasons: two of them being random shouts in Hindi and pigeons. Street vendors and salesman will shout a repeated phrase at the top of their lungs continuously and ear piercing levels. This goes on all night 2-6am or so. If you want to hear sometime, I'll be glad to emulate. Pigeons were also conveniently nestled right outside our 5th story window. Their squawks and purrs and pecking never seemed to stop. The same thing happened while I was in Kenya on our tin roof. I always thought someone was trying to break in...This was one annoyance that I thought i left them in Kenya.
(chasing [or flying with?] the pigeons)
One of the main modes for travel is the metro. They recently built a nice railway to get most anywhere in the city for an affordable price. There are constantly people riding from morning to evening. Most times it's standing room only. One memorable night we hit the metro at peak time. There were people everywhere. The railway car was already full before any of us in the long line even stepped on. Grayson, Zach and I followed the trend and grabbed the person in front of us and ran straight ahead. When we finally made it on, an old Indian man just looked at me and said, "This is India". How right he was. I then leaned over to Grayson and said, "I think I'm touching 15 people right now", as I was stretched out nearly horizontal with both legs separated. Right this, we realized we were going the wrong way and had to get back off. Since we were stuck in the back, we all forced our way out and some of the guys cheered for us and commented on our strength.
On another metro ride, Grayson got stopped by the police. He broke the city rule for taking pics in the metro. It was entertaining to see him getting questioned by the officer. Interesting fact: approximately 1.5 million people ride the Delhi Metro every day! (and because Grayson was stopped, we have no pictures of us on the metro. He was forced to delete them)
Lucknow -
Traveling to Lucknow on a very limited budget proved very memorable. We decided to take the overnight train. If you thought American airports and bus stations can be confusing then you'll be in for a rude awakening here! Security is minimal and you aren't required to have a ticket to enter the station. Vendors and beggars are all over. Most signs are in Hindi making it difficult for foreigners and there aren't really service people around to meet newcomers' needs. When we got to our platform and the train pulled up empty, people all around us just went crazy. The ran up to the train, beating on it and pushing each other out of the way and trying to get in the locked train. We all just stayed towards the back, confused, and let them duke it out. Once we were on, we had people in our seats and we just kind of stood there with our bags clueless (not knowing enough Hindi to communicate). Thankfully there was one guy who knew English and helped move people out of our spots. It is difficult to sleep at night on the train with constant vendors coming in and shouting at each stop, lots of airflow from open windows, and being cramped up in such a small space with your bag.
(The station filled with people)
(crammed in my small bunk)
By now we all were mastering the art of the Indian head bobble. Zach wins the award for most violent/intense head bobble. Grayson wins for bets head bobble and smile combo.
(he pulled well over 500 lbs with our packs...plus his weight!!)
Varanasi -
Our final stop in India was what's considered the holy city, Varansi. One night we were able take a boat ride along the Ganges river. It was a very active night with lots of Hindu's celebrating a festival and throwing one of their gods or "murti's" in the river. Also we got to see the famous burning vats.
(The three of us with a local worker and our Indian tour guide)
On our second visit to one local restaurant, the waiter suggested that we order a drink that he said was "very refreshing". However, he wouldn't tell us what was in the drink. He said we wouldn't want it if we knew the ingredients. He insisted, so we all hesitantly gave in and ordered one. Awhile later, he comes out with a smile on his face and three green drinks! "Uh oh", I thought. The fact that we were in India made my mind go so many places with what could have been in there. After we all took a sip, he told us it was simply a lime based drink with water and sugar, etc. It was actually really good and we ordered a second one!
One thing people use for fuel in India is manure. There are people who's job is to knead the manure (they do it bare-handed!) and then form it into a patty and put it on the wall to dry. What a sight and smell...
(all along the wall you'll see manure patties)
I hope you enjoyed these stories as much as we did. I look forward to going back someday.
Delhi -
Our first full day in India, we did some exploring. We traveled to this small park in the city and were approached by young Indian guy. He came up to Zach and showed him a paper that was a testimony of some kid from Canada that had his ears cleaned and now they "felt better than ever". Next he showed a picture of him with that kid and asked Zach if he knew what he did. Zach said, "You're an ear cleaner?". The guy agreed and then asked Zach if he could check his ear. Zach said no. Then he asked again only to get the same response from Zach and this went on and on until finally Zach gave in to just let him check. The Indian checked and then before we knew it, he was shoving a big metal pin in Zach's ear. Totally caught by surprise, Zach tried to free himself and was completely freaked out and disgusted. It was one of the funniest sights I've ever seen. A street ear cleaner? That's a first! (We were too surprised and laughing to much to stop and take a picture)
There is an intense and easily visible smog over the whole the whole city. Some say breathing the air here for a day is equivalent to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes. Wow. Another interesting thing I noticed was that everyone we talked to didn't like living there. When we would share our travel plans (8 days in Delhi then on to Lucknow and Varanasi) with all of the locals, they all said that 2 days was even too long to be in Delhi. They were shocked to hear we were spending over 1 week. I don't think I've been to a place where everyone wanted to leave...
One thing you will see everywhere is droppings. Never take your eye off the road. It takes a pro to avoid both the droppings, all the people, and the many cars and rickshaws which constantly zoom by unannounced. One day, shortly after having some random green goop (possibly poop) fall on my jacket, we had another funny experience. Zach put more emphasis on avoiding the two rickshaws that were coming straight for him and found himself sliding through a big pile of human feces. To his dismay, it was the day he decided to wear sandals...
Our first week in India, I had a real difficult time getting sleep. This was due to a few reasons: two of them being random shouts in Hindi and pigeons. Street vendors and salesman will shout a repeated phrase at the top of their lungs continuously and ear piercing levels. This goes on all night 2-6am or so. If you want to hear sometime, I'll be glad to emulate. Pigeons were also conveniently nestled right outside our 5th story window. Their squawks and purrs and pecking never seemed to stop. The same thing happened while I was in Kenya on our tin roof. I always thought someone was trying to break in...This was one annoyance that I thought i left them in Kenya.
One of the main modes for travel is the metro. They recently built a nice railway to get most anywhere in the city for an affordable price. There are constantly people riding from morning to evening. Most times it's standing room only. One memorable night we hit the metro at peak time. There were people everywhere. The railway car was already full before any of us in the long line even stepped on. Grayson, Zach and I followed the trend and grabbed the person in front of us and ran straight ahead. When we finally made it on, an old Indian man just looked at me and said, "This is India". How right he was. I then leaned over to Grayson and said, "I think I'm touching 15 people right now", as I was stretched out nearly horizontal with both legs separated. Right this, we realized we were going the wrong way and had to get back off. Since we were stuck in the back, we all forced our way out and some of the guys cheered for us and commented on our strength.
On another metro ride, Grayson got stopped by the police. He broke the city rule for taking pics in the metro. It was entertaining to see him getting questioned by the officer. Interesting fact: approximately 1.5 million people ride the Delhi Metro every day! (and because Grayson was stopped, we have no pictures of us on the metro. He was forced to delete them)
Lucknow -
Traveling to Lucknow on a very limited budget proved very memorable. We decided to take the overnight train. If you thought American airports and bus stations can be confusing then you'll be in for a rude awakening here! Security is minimal and you aren't required to have a ticket to enter the station. Vendors and beggars are all over. Most signs are in Hindi making it difficult for foreigners and there aren't really service people around to meet newcomers' needs. When we got to our platform and the train pulled up empty, people all around us just went crazy. The ran up to the train, beating on it and pushing each other out of the way and trying to get in the locked train. We all just stayed towards the back, confused, and let them duke it out. Once we were on, we had people in our seats and we just kind of stood there with our bags clueless (not knowing enough Hindi to communicate). Thankfully there was one guy who knew English and helped move people out of our spots. It is difficult to sleep at night on the train with constant vendors coming in and shouting at each stop, lots of airflow from open windows, and being cramped up in such a small space with your bag.
By now we all were mastering the art of the Indian head bobble. Zach wins the award for most violent/intense head bobble. Grayson wins for bets head bobble and smile combo.
We decided to use a bicycle rickshaw to get to one of our meetings in Lucknow. Rather than split up, we all decided to hope on one rickshaw with a very elderly driver. He looked to be at least 60, standing at just over 5 feet and maybe 125 lbs. Let's just say it was tough time for him to take all of us but he insisted that he could handle it. During the 2 mile ride, he really struggled to get us up and down the hills and through the busy streets. He shouted loudly anytime someone would get in front of us and did his best never to lose momentum. One cocky teenage drive came up with an auto rickshaw and made jokes at him and offered to take us. Our driver shooed him and finally made it to our destination. Don't worry, we gave him a good tip and I'm sure he'll never forget us.
Varanasi -
Our final stop in India was what's considered the holy city, Varansi. One night we were able take a boat ride along the Ganges river. It was a very active night with lots of Hindu's celebrating a festival and throwing one of their gods or "murti's" in the river. Also we got to see the famous burning vats.
On our second visit to one local restaurant, the waiter suggested that we order a drink that he said was "very refreshing". However, he wouldn't tell us what was in the drink. He said we wouldn't want it if we knew the ingredients. He insisted, so we all hesitantly gave in and ordered one. Awhile later, he comes out with a smile on his face and three green drinks! "Uh oh", I thought. The fact that we were in India made my mind go so many places with what could have been in there. After we all took a sip, he told us it was simply a lime based drink with water and sugar, etc. It was actually really good and we ordered a second one!
One thing people use for fuel in India is manure. There are people who's job is to knead the manure (they do it bare-handed!) and then form it into a patty and put it on the wall to dry. What a sight and smell...
I hope you enjoyed these stories as much as we did. I look forward to going back someday.
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