Incredible !ndia (part 4): Grass and Sand

Another early morning for my trip called “Rural India and Heritage Village.”

Our program for the “rural India” portion of the trip was twofold. The first village we stopped in was a little more urban than a completely rural village, with some business and small buildings. We were there during a festival, and people were shaving their heads and painting them in celebration. Everyone was happy to see us, introducing themselves and saying hello. We saw some abandoned houses that were built in 1931 and other long-ago dates. Our guide told us that those houses will most likely be knocked down in favor of business, as the economy grows.

The next part of the rural India trip was a village. This village was a great experience, meeting men and women of all ages living there. We saw where they get their water, where they worship, and someone even let us all into his house so we could see bedrooms, the kitchen, and the worship room. Letting us into the worship room was unheard of. After the tour, he gave us tea.

Then they put us on cow-drawn carts and drove us around the village, children coming out of orange and lime-green houses and straw huts to see us. They smiled, laughed, ran with the cows and asked for our names in the very little English that they knew. They were in awe at us, maybe because of our skin and maybe because of our very presence. An old man just sat and stared at us.

They took us to where the coconut trees are, and there were droves of them, all lined up perfectly. They demonstrated how they climb with and without ropes, and I tried it. I didn't get very far, and they spotted me, but it was a lot of fun. They also cracked open some and let us drink out of them.

The sheer happiness of these people to see us was one of the greatest things so far on this trip. I feel like I have a better understanding of rural life in India.

Following this was the Heritage Village, which is more like a museum, showing off different types of houses from all over south India. The entire day was exhausting, but there's more.

Remember the Indian guys we met the night before? And how we scheduled to see a movie? Well, we decided not to see a movie but just to go out and get some food. So all 7 of us from the night before took a taxi ride out to Elliot's Beach (yeah, Dad, I got a picture) to a place called Planet Yumm, which was a food court and arcade. As silly as it sounds, it's a really popular place. Shiva wasn't there because his mom wanted him home to do homework (some things are the same no matter where you are in the world. But in his defense- college students in India are not as independent as US college students), and another friend named Mahon came too.

Tejas said not to feel bad if I don't eat Indian food because I must have had enough by now. I ate a chicken burger and smiley french fries. We got ice cream and hung out on the beach, sharing stories and laughs, then they called us a taxi. Upon leaving, they gave us little gifts: each person got a scarf and a little card! It was an unbelievable treat that made me really appreciate the power of welcoming people. We had an emotional goodbye as we got in the cab and went back to the ship the long way because the cab driver made a mistake.

I have decided that in each port, when I can, I need to find the University and walk around the campus and meet students. The best part of this trip was meeting people our age and having them take us around and show us what India is for them. I have friends in India now, and they have friends in the US. If I continue this, I will have friends all over the world. These guys made our trip infinitely, so thank you Tejas, Tarun, Shiva, and Mahon. Thank you for your generosity, hospitality, and friendship. Thank you.

Incredible !ndia (part 3): A Day in Chennai, A Night at the Movies

We rolled out of bed moderately late (like 10 AM) to grab breakfast and head out to Spencer's Plaza. We caught rickshaws, once again, and it was so much fun!

Spencer's was nothing like I thought it was going to be. They described it to us as a mall, which, technically, it was. But it was more like a giant bazaar with three stories all under one roof. Store after store after store of anything you could possibly want, from traditional Indian décor to CDs to cell phones to Zippo lighters. Food, drinks, ice cream, and lots and lots of people. Isaiah mentioned how culture kind of seeps into everything here. This place was a wonderful example. The smells and sights really still were India, not like the mall in Cape Town which was really western.

I bought my sister a scarf (yes, stephanie, I had a girl help me out, I hope it's good), and some books, including a book about Hinduism, and some CDs. I got a CD (Actually, a 3 disc set) for 160 rupees which is around $3.20. The artist—A.R. Rahman, the man who did the Slumdog music. The guy is one of the most prolific composers in India, and they call him “The Mozart of Madras” Madras being the former name of Chennai. He was the sole breadwinner of his family when he was 5 years old and always had a talent for music. He studied in the UK and has written music for many films. Every Indian I have met said that Slumdog is amazing work but he is more famous for other things here. So, I bought three discs worth of his music.

After Spencer's we walked around and asked directions for the post office to buy stamps. We found a nice man who asked us where we were from. We told his SAS, and he took us to the post office and got us stamps (with our money, not his, he just talked for us). When I tried to give him some money for taking us around he said “I am not a guide, I'm a cab driver.”

He took us to a shop where I bought two pieces of Indian handmade sculptures of Hindu gods while this guy brought us his rickshaws. He must get some sort of commission from the shop, but we all got 10% discount on anything, and 20% if we bought a bed sheet set. Some girls bought the bed sheet, but I stuck with my two things. The people working gave us all drinks for free and were very hospitable.

Hospitality seems to be the theme of this entire India experience.

When the man came back (I forgot his name and it was hard to remember) he gave us a deal on the rickshaws and showed us a bag full of postcards from other SAS students, dating really far back, at least to 1993. He was so proud to have been a part of so many people's lives and I feel lucky to have been able to meet him.

After a short break, a group of seven of us including Isaiah and Ari (you may remember Ari from our Table Mountain experience) met up with three Indian students named Shiva, Tejas, and Tarun. I had met Shiva at the welcome reception but our friend Holly had stayed in touch with Tejas who brought these guys along.

We met up at the movies (which had 8 screens...HUGE for India) and the only one available was “Thee,” a movie that we saw on the share and learn board not to go see. We went. And left at intermission. But you must understand—it is supposed to be bad. No one expects it to be good. Here's the scoop on this movie:

India is divided up into many states, each state with it's own language. Where we are in Chennai is in Tamil Nadu, and everything around here is in the local language Tamil, including this film. Tamil Nadu releases at least three Tamil movies a week, and this “Thee” was one of them. It only gets viewed, basically, in this city. It is shot on crappy stuff (it looked like a home video or some kind of porno) had ridiculous sound effects and music, and a silly plot that (though I could follow it) really didn't make any sense. They just pump it out, put a hot girl in it (Shiva said the actress is like a Jessica Simpson type) make a bunch of money and then disappear.

It is so funny because they said “buy us tickets we will meet you there” so we bought tickets and told them “hey, we're seeing Thee” and they were like “grrrrreeat.” Isaiah and I decided it is the equivalent of us meeting Indian tourists in the US and telling them to get us tickets and then they say “yay! We got tickets to Epic Movie!”

But we would go and enjoy ourselves. And here, we did, and the experience was a lot of fun. The spices on the popcorn were great! In fact, the popcorn was only $2. They told us that that was really expensive for popcorn, but we told them that it's like $5 dollars where we come from.

After the movie (leaving at intermission) we walked to a restaurant, and while we were waiting for the table, some workers in the back were staring at us, wide-eyed. They stared just like everyone else. Not as if they want us to leave, or that they are scared or upset. The way they look at us is like “wow. We are graced with the presence of Americans. Oh, and check out that white skin.” Chennai doesn't get much tourism, so it's special.

Dinner was awesome. Our new Indian friends helped us pick out food, and I tried everything. EVERYTHING. It's so good. I tried this chutney, this bread, this cheese, this veggie, it was great. We took pictures and traded e-mails, wrote names in Hindi, English, Tamil, and I wrote their names in Hebrew. And then all three of them said they would pay for us, and we declined. It was tough, but we managed to get them to let us pay for ourselves. Then we tried to sneak in money for them but they paid too quickly.

If you guys are reading this, I can't thank you enough for how much you made me and everyone else feel so welcome and comfortable. I felt less like a tourist and more like a traveler because of your helpfulness and hospitality.

There's that word again.

We made plans to get together again the following night, to see a real Indian film. They called a taxi but it was going to take too long, so they regretfully put us on the rickshaws.

The students really made our night, and meeting people is by far the best thing ever. Especially students. More on this later.

I've included a photo, I hope you can see it. From left to right: Isaiah, Tarun, Tejas, Me, and Shiva.

Incredible !ndia : Temples and Mario Kart

This morning we got an early start, waking up at 6 AM to grab breakfast and get on a bus at 7 AM for our giant day trip of visiting two cities called Kancheeparum and Mamalaparum.

The two-hour westward drive from Chennai to Kancheeparum consisted of taking a nap in the back of the bus and swatting small mosquitoes. We arrived in Kancheeparum around 9:30. It is a more rural town, with some dirt roads and lots of cows and goats. It is known as “the land of a thousand temples.” It's pretty much true. Everywhere you look there was another Hindu temple.

We went into two temples. The first was was outside, not covered, and we took off our shoes and walked around. Though it was mostly stone-colored, everything used to be painted but over the hundreds of years that it had been there the color wore off. Chiseled into the rocks were inscriptions in Sanskrit as well as sculptures of the various Hindu gods. Each carving had a story behind it. For instance, one of them showed a god whose leg was bent way up by his head, smiling, and dancing. The story goes that he was challenged by a dancer and showed off his skill. In the middle of the temple was a room we were not allowed to go into, but we saw the idol inside.

The second temple, which was a Shiva temple, was much bigger. It was covered and wasn't directly exposed to the sun so it was a little darker and a little more dank. On the way to it, we saw a painting representing how that particular temple was made: the story goes that Parvati, Shiva's wife, covered his eyes, and darkness fell over the world. In order to make up for the darkness she caused, Shiva sent her down to earth to plant a mango tree and build a temple. We saw that mango tree, which is supposedly 3500 years old.

Once again, within the middle of the temple was a room only Hindus could enter, so we went around it. We saw a small cage with 9 idols, each representing a planet in the solar system. There were also lines of an idol that represents Shiva and Parvati, and very abstractly represents the male/female genitalia.

I am fascinated by the Hindu religion. The imagery is stunning and powerful and the legends and history are strong and rich. I hope to educate myself more on Hindu during this trip and when I get back to the US. The trip to the temples helped to take away a lot of the mystery of Hinduism, but opened up many more doors for understanding.

After the temples we went to a silk shop and then got on the bus and drove to the next city, Mamalaparum. The first thing we did was stop for lunch and I tried a lot of new Indian food and it was all very good. I was told they dumbed down the spices for us, for which I was thankful, but I could have taken a little bit more of a punch.

They brought us to what we thought was a playground because it was swarming with children. We greeted them all Namaste and they loved it. We took lots of pictures. One kid went around asking “what is name? What is name?”and didn't even give us a chance to answer. The kids were all climbing over this stuff so we did too and when we left an Indian woman seemed mad at us and told us that they are very old monuments and we need to set a better example. I felt horrible, because the impression I wanted to leave was not one of disgracing holy monuments.

Then they took us to a natural body of water, clean (they said), where we could swim if we wanted. Of course we wanted to wade, it was so hot and we were all sweaty. Some people splashed their faces and some went in a little more. There was a cliff that was pretty high, probably around 30 feet, straight up on one side and a staircase on the other side to walk up and jump. Isaiah and I jumped off of the cliff and into the water! It was one of the most exhilarating things we have ever done. I'm totally kidding, mom and Joan. None of that happened. this entire paragraph is fiction.

Before leaving, we visited the shore temple, a temple that is literally on the shore of a beach, separated only by some trees and rocks. The part where we could walk was outside, and the room in the middle was closed (not that we would be able to go in anyway).

The annoying guys on the street trying to sell you stuff here seem much more desperate than any other street vendors I have seen. It seems as if they really NEED this stuff to survive, not just trying to make a quick buck. I ended up buying an Om necklace for 30 rupees (like 60 cents) and a really cool elephant sculpture for $2. We bought from this particular vendor because we saw the people actually making these things by hand, right in front of us.

The bus drove us back to the ship, where we had a quick dinner, and then I went out for a friend's birthday.

There were 8 of us for Julia's birthday, and we were going to the Park Hotel for a nice dinner. Our transportation of choice were the auto-rickshaws. They are the cheapest form on transportation available, and for good reason. They are a three-wheeled automobile, it can fit three people in the back, one in the front next the driver, whose steering wheel is more like a motorcycle's handlebars.

The driving in India is crazy. It is more of a give-and-take system where when you can scoot by someone, you just go. People drive against traffic all the time. The best way I can describe it is ordered chaos. It seems like everyone is doing their own thing but there is a sense of organization about it. It is Mario Kart.

So there were four of us in each rickshaw. They try to charge you way too much; we were told that it shouldn't be more than 50 rupees for the ENTIRE car, but we say 50 rupees per person. They try to rip us off but we eventually get it our way. 200 rupees for a trip is a great deal.

So we got two rickshaws. A quarter of the way through our drive, we make a daring left turn and pull over. One of their buddy rickshaws needed some help because he was out of gas. So, the other rickshaw full of our friends drove behind the broken one and the driver put his foot out and pushed the other one. That's right, PUSHED him down the streets. We were driving behind this one too, so we are sort of in a triangle formation and creeping into the lane of oncoming traffic. Then we split up because they took him to a gas station.

So we turn down a sidestreet to wait for the other rickshaw, and the driver asks our friend next to him, Spencer, if he wanted to drive. At first he was terrified, but he gave it a try. The driver gave him some pointed and he drove a little bit.

They don't really stop at stop signs and as soon as a traffic light turns green everybody starts honking. The honking! Everyone honks, and I feel like when I get back to the US I won't hear honking which is dangerous.

We made it to the restaurant safely, and had a great dinner. They gave us a free cake for Julia's birthday. This restaurant and the hotel was known for their chocolate devil's food cake, and it was REALLY REALLY good. I also had a garlic type of bread called garlic naan which was also really good.

Our rickshaw drive back was not nearly as heart-racing as our ride there, but it felt even more like a video game. On the way to the port, there was a giant line of trucks trying to get into the gate, with enough room to their left for a rickshaw, so our driver decided to drive in this little strip of road. It was like an X-Wing in the Death Star. But it turns out we couldn't get in that gate so we went AGAINST TRAFFIC to backtrack to a place we could turn around.

They dropped us off a ways from the port and we had to walk quite a ways. We passed a few beggars and it is very difficult to ignore them, but that is the only thing to do. Some child beggars work for people, and we are told that if we want to help there poor there are a number or reputable charities to which we can donate.

We made it back safe and sound, another great day in India.

Incredible !ndia

On the side of the tourism buses here, they say "Incredible !ndia"and then underneath it says "The Mantra to Woo Tourist"

That's hilarious, and had to use it to title my blog.

So.

Before every port we have a cultural pre-port, where we learn about the culture and customs of the country, and a logistical pre-port, where we learn about the logistics of the port like security, food, safety, which side of the ship the gangway is, et cetera.

At the logistical pre-port before India, Les McCabe, the executive dean, told us that of all the countries SAS students go, they say India changes them the most. He told us to be prepared to be changed, because India is something special.

Today I went to see the MICE (Mobile Interactive Computer Ensemble, a group/class of electronic music on the ship) performance. I had no idea that it was a performance at SRM, a University in Chennai. What I was expecting was a small MICE concert, but what I got was a chance to meet many Indian university students.

When we got there they gave us bindi, which is the mark in between the eyes that you see on many Indian people, as well as a flower. We walked into the auditorium where MICE was to perform, and it was filled with Indian students. They said “Please give a hearty welcome to our American friends!” And every head turned our direction and we were given a huge round of applause. They had saved us front row seats and I sat in front of some Indian students with whom I had some great conversations.

After the performance, we went back up to a conference room where we signed a visitors notebook and had refreshments. They passed a microphone around and I said that their hospitality was incredible. I also said something that astounded me. We showed up, and we're treated like celebrities; we are foreign and new to them. But to us, THEY are the celebrities! So we are each seeing each other as something special.

Though it was short, these students were not unlike me and friends that I have, except they are all majoring in engineering, technology, or computer science. More often than not, they want to pursue their graduate education somewhere in the United States. Why? Because it's the land of opportunity. Not all of them wanted to stay in the US though, but a lot of them did.

They came from different places in the country, which is divided up into states kind of like the US. Each state has a different language, so most students speak English (or other western language) Hindi, and then an assortment of native languages or state-specific languages.

But the main event was the welcome reception. Not an hour after getting back from the MICE show we hopped on another bus and went to a courtyard somewhere in the city where we were greeted with drums, flowers, and another bindi. Mine got put a little up and left from where it was supposed to be, but that's not a big deal. In the courtyard was dancing, shopping, and lots of food. But more importantly, we were greeted “namaste” by droves of excited, friendly, and happy Indian college students.

I ate some food. The names are hard to remember, but it was all very good. I took a big hunk of some chutney that was spicy and the guy I was sitting with, Nabil, thought it was funny because to him it's not spicy at all. I didn't use silverware, just my hands, to scoop up the food and put it in my mouth. I didn't even have a table, just the plate, and the plate was generous; the tradition is to eat off of a banana leaf on the floor. (what's with me and the semi-colons? That's like the second one I've used).

I spoke to guys and girls alike, but after a while I had gotten deep in conversation with a few guys. One of the most fascinating things was the difference in marriage. In India, marriages are arranged. They told us that at the pre-port and all that stuff but it was interested to hear the process:

The parents can present a possible bride to their son, who then goes to the bride's house as she speaks for a while. If there is a mutual feeling of possibility, they will get married. If not, then it is nothing rude, the families will politely decline.

They were surprised by how we date and have relationships before marriage. To us, marriage is the last step. To them, it's the first. But there is a lot less pressure on it when your family plays a large role in deciding who you marry. They really trust their parents to find someone good, and if the son or daughter doesn't like the other person, then it's a no-go. Every family in India is huge and the parental/familial support is a major part of every Indian's life.

In the US, marriage is much easier to come by. Two people who can decide to get married, and if it doesn't work out or they run into problems, divorce. The end. Many more broken families in the US. In India, divorce is very rare. If there are familial problems with a new marriage, the families will work together to make it work.

I always found that the children who were more successful in school were the ones who had a much more solid family life. This may explain why so many more careers, such as doctors, are Indians. In fact, as I have been watching sitcoms that span over the last 20 years, the doctors on shows like Seinfeld and Friends (largely 90s shows) were obviously old Jewish guys. But now, on more modern shows like How I Met Your Mother, the doctors are Indians or other east-Asians.

Are Americans lazy? Maybe. But the emphasis on family that I have seen in the Indian culture really made me thing about my future as a husband and a father. I like to think that my family is pretty strong, and that is a value I will pass on.

Another thing our friends Nabil, DJ (short for a D name and a J name that I cannot remember and if I could I wouldn't be able to type them out), and Hari spoke to us about was how everyone is so friendly. They want to meet us just as we want to meet them. Someone at a post-port reflections after South Africa mentioned how in SA everyone was so friendly, accepting us as tourists and helping us, and how sometimes in the US we scoff at them and watch them as they get lost instead of helping them. I brought this up with these guys and I told them that their hospitality has inspired me to, when I see tourists, really reach out a helping hand.

Nabil told us to take India back home by remembering their culture and their customs, and being friendly to all we meet, just as they are. I told him I wish I could pick up India and take it back into my home. But he said something different.

“Pick up India and put it in your heart.”

On the first day of India, I am already in love with it, and I already know I am going to be sad to leave.

Slumblog Millionaire

After the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, they showed Slumdog Millionare. For those of you who live under a rock, it won Best Picture this year.

I watched it and loved it. I thought it was much better than No Country for Old Men (last year's best picture). In fact, I thought it was better than a lot of the movies that have been recently nominated for Best Picture in the last few years. Finally, a beautiful, simple, love story wins the Academy Award, not something that breaks the mold. I'm not saying breaking the mold is bad, I enjoyed No Country and other films that don't stick to a typical formula, but it's nice to see the classical Hollywood structure win an Academy Award.

This is only in terms of the structure of the script. The film was beautifully shot and acted and everything that Best Picture deserves. And I loved the film. Not only because it engaged me and all that stuff, but as a screenwriter I found that the script was really good, and incredibly well structured, and that's kind of what I want to talk about in this blog.

STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT.

I would not describe this movie as “a story about a child from the slums of India who wins a million dollars on the millionaire show in India and why he knew the answer to each question” This is how it was originally described to me, and my original reaction was “whoopty do” I already read that story. It's called “The View From Saturday”and won a Newberry Award.

I would describe this film as “a story about a child from the slums of India who chases the girl of his destiny, framed by his appearance on the millionaire show”

Jamal only went on the millionaire show to get Latika's attention, to find her. He didn't go on the show to win the money. It was purely destiny, i.e. “It is written”that he knew the answer to each question. The way it was originally described to me made it seem like the kid goes on the show to win the money, he's smart, yay, and that's the end. The way it really is is that he never cared about the money, he was just in love.

I am willing to bet that all the major turning points in the film (and my turning points I mean when we got from Act I into Act II and from Act II into Act III) have to do with Jamal's pursuit of Latika, rather than any tension in the millionaire show. If you take out all of the millionaire show footage, you would see a love story, where boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back, while overcoming immense hardship in his own life.

What I'm really trying to say is that the structure of this film was impeccable, and I learned a lot from it. I was thoroughly impressed with the film and am very, very glad that it won Best Picture. It reminded me why I love to write, and has furthered my inspiration to pursue it as a career.

Can't Torch This

After we were all back on the ship after our various Mauritius adventures, the Sea Olympics began. We lit the sea olympics torch in our opening ceremonies, where each sea-

Hold on. Back up. Some background info.

The cabins on the ship are divided into seas, much like halls in a regular dorm. They are named after seas, such as the Mediterranean Sea, Bearing Sea, and my personal sea, the Yellow Sea. Each sea as an LLC, aka a “learning-living coordinator” who is usually a professional in some kind of working-with-people field and range in all ages. They are really awesome people. Mine is named Laurie, which is weird to call her Laurie because my mom's name is Lori which is a name I almost never say.

Ok, back to story.

-presents a flag, cheer, and mascot. Our theme was Yellow Fever, like the disease. I was a co-captain for our sea, and I was also the mascot. I went shirtless, and had post-its all over me. Our catch-phrase “no cure no hope”was written on larger post-its on my chest and the countless symptoms of the disease were written on smaller ones all over my body. I had band-aids here and there, a bloody nose, black vomit collecting in the corner of my mouth, and a bandage on my head. We presented our cheer and flag and it was awesome.

The next day was full of events like volleyball, work-out relay, pictionary, sudoku, everything for athletic people and brainy people. The seas were really into it and it was a whole lot of fun. My sea ended up taking third place, tied with two other seas out of the 10 seas there were total. The faculty and staff, some kids and lifelong learners (people who have paid to go on this voyage and continue their lifelong quest for knowledge) were in a sea called the “Oddies-C” which is a really cute pun. The professors beat me and my team mate at sudoku by a millisecond. I was sad. Oh well.

For the first time during the whole trip, I had a moment where I actually thought about home and friends and things I've left behind. I have learned that I don't really miss things when I am away, but during the synchronized swimming competition, I remembered Newsies and the Goofy Movie performances and during the Olympics as a whole I remembered camp and Maccabiah. And I thought about them both. So for everyone back at Chapman, Newsies, and Camp people, I officially say hello and thanks for some wonderful memories.

Delicious Mauritius

For those of you who don't know what or where Mauritius is (as I didn't prior to this voyage) it is a small island not too far from the east coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It was colonized by Dutch, French, and English people but now currently has mostly Indians living there.

We stopped in Port Louis, Mauritius for one day only. It was basically a day off of school. After the diplomatic meeting, Isaiah, Butters, Taylor, and I headed off for our catamaran and snorkeling adventure. The bus ride took about an hour and at around 10 or 10 30 we got on one of four catamarans full of students from SAS.

This was one of the most relaxing experiences ever. We hovered out in the Indian Ocean, with the clearest blue water I have ever seen, snorkeling, jumping, swimming, socializing, tanning, and hanging out with professors. That's right, some professors came, including the academic dean Reg Garrett (with whom I got a few pictures) who took a pretty daring jump off of the side of a catamaran, and my personal marine biology teacher John Kastendiek, who helped me identify some creatures we found in the ocean.

Never would I have ever had an experience to go snorkel with a professor, who could tell me what I am seeing right then and there, and remind me that we did, in fact, learn about them. I think it was a good call on our part to take a marine biology class while we're out on the ocean. It just seemed like a cool thing to do, and after seeing things in the ocean that I had learned about, I felt more knowledgeable about the marine world.

We were on the catamaran from 10 until 4-ish. The lunch they gave us consisted of garlic bread, potatoes and onions, rice, skewered beef and some kind of fish. I ate it all. Yes mom, fish too.

After the catamaran we went quickly into town by way of water taxi to buy patches and flags and various other souvenirs, and retreated back to the ship for a BBQ by the pool.

We weren't in Mauritius very long, but I really enjoyed it. I got a small taste of the culture but a larger taste of the tropical marine life, and I don't feel bad about taking some time away from learning about the people of nation in favor of learning about the marine life of a nation.