Arriving and Delhi

Well, after 20 hours of travel, I am finally in India. It is weird how you think about something for so long and then when you finally get here, it doesn’t really hit you that you are in a whole other world. We didn’t get to the airport in New Delhi until midnight and it took us an hour to get through customs and such. Luckily everyone in my group and the other India group had their luggage arrive safely. We were greeted by our academic directors, Pam and Manu, as well as the program assistants, Tenzin and Tinley, and were all draped with Khatas, traditional white Tibetan welcoming scarves (one of many to come, we are told). After a ride to the hotel and a quick introduction, it was off to bed, which wasn’t easy. I was beyond the tired point and my body was telling me that it was mid afternoon and not 2am. Eventually I did get to sleep, only to be awoken by our 7:30 alarm.

Breakfast at the hotel included some traditional Indian items as well as a sad attempt at French toast. Then came our first Delhi experience: navigating Connaught Circle to go from our hotel to the hotel that we were having our morning meeting in. Just try to imagine 26 white students being led by a Tibetan through morning Indian traffic. Now, a note on traffic in India: evidently no one follows any of the traffic laws. Lights and street lanes are only minor suggestions. It is impossible to get all of us across a street at once and we nearly lost 2 to traffic “accidents.” And the whole time, Tinley is up front, talking a mile a minute about who knows what and laughing, a lot.

After some orientation stuff, which I won’t bore you with, we headed to the Adhar Pradesh house. In Delhi, all the states and territories have houses, kind of like consulates. But even better, they have canteens, i.e. Indian fast food, that represents the food of the local state. Since Pradesh is a southern state, it has a vegetarian’s dream. You pay (70 rupees, so a little under $2 US), then sit down where you are given a metal cafeteria tray with rice, yogurt and dessert, along with four cups. Then people just start coming around and dumping food on your plate. Lentils, soup, potatoes, curried veggies, and lots on naan. And you start eating, with your right hand of course, no fork needed, and when it looks like you might be close to finishing off one of the items, a guy magically appears to give you more. It’s a little overwhelming as you constantly feel like you aren’t eating fast enough. But oh-so-good. Tinley sat with my table and I’m sure he ate 30 naan with all the toppings. “The Tibetans have a saying,” he says, “our stomachs

start at our knees and end at our chins.” And the way he ate, I believe him.

After our lunch, we headed to the SIT India Arts and Culture house (the other group) to hear a short lecture on India and have tea. The lecture was fine, we were all tired and so it appeared as though we were bored, but there was some interesting info. Then back to the hotel, to be on our own. We ventured out for a bit, but I think we were all too tired to really have any interest in anything.

Overall, my impressions of Delhi are very mixed. It is extremely polluted, extremely busy, extremely dirty, and way too large for my liking. I can’t wait to get to clean air and mountains. On the other hand, the Indians are extremely nice and always willing to help you out. You rarely have to approach someone to ask for directions, they are usually asking you if you need them. We did see an elephant and camels in one of the markets, which was fun, and the markets are exactly what you think of when you think of India. Bright colors, lots of fruit, saris and scarves. However, wild dogs and monkeys are rampant, almost as much as the begging children. 25% of India lives below the poverty line, but it feels like a lot more when walking the streets constantly being approached by tiny, dirty children.

Anyway, I am very excited to head out to Dharamsala. We take the night train to Pranktoth, then take jeeps up to Dharamsala and Mcleod Ganj, our home for the next 5 weeks. Tibetan New Year is right around the corner, which we will spend with our homestay families. So, much more to come!!