Shopping

Today was quite a relaxing and fun day.  In the morning a bunch of girls went to a salon to see what they offered.  We ended up staying there most of the morning getting facials, massages, haircuts, manicures, pedicures, etc.  I got my hair cut - layered and bangs thanks to the suggestions of the other girls, and a manicure. It was a lot of fun!  The hair dresser was extremely precise, which was good. I have never had a hair dresser who has paid so much attention while cutting hair.  The manicure also took longer than in the United States and included massaging the arms.  I was also offered coffee and tea multiple times. The hospitality here is increadible.

The entire afternoon we went shopping.  We were taken into the city to a mall-like shopping area with 5 floors and also had the option of going across the street to shop and barter IF we were with a group that had a cell phone and a boy...

The mall was quite interesting.  Instead of buying everythin in a store the mall was organized by floors.  We "checked out" on each floor but instead of paying we were given reciepts.  When we were done shopping we went to the ground floor to buy everything we had picked out then went to another section to pick up our bags.  It was convenient because we didn't have to carry our bags around but you also didn't realize how many things you had already purchased! 

Luckily, when some of us were done shopping, Kishore took us across the street to the shops.  We picked out jewelry and pashmina's for gifts.  He said he was going to blame me if the people didn't like them because I picked them out, so hopefully the gifts are good! We got to see Kishore barter in Hindi which was a fun experience.  When we were in the pashmina store we got to see all of the different ones and try them on.  I also learned about cashmere, which is one of the things Kishore was buying.  It comes from a special goat that only lives in Kashmir (he said if we took one home it would have to live in the refrigerator).  The material is supposed to be very warm and you can't find it in most places.  One day there will be no cashmere left.  Kishore bouought the cashmere pashminas for about $100 each by bargaining.  We also got to meet the owner of the store and his sons who are from Kashmir.  We drank amazing chai and talked about India. The owner gave us his number and told us to come back so he could tell us about Kashmir and why Pakistan wants it (Kishore said it would be very accurate, unbiased and anti-American).  I hope we get the chance to take that opportunity.

On the bus ride home our professors were talking about poverty and  flaws with government policy.  They were talking about how it is the fault of the government because people should not have to beg. In India there is a surplus of food and it rots from sitting in storage and yet there are people starving.

Happy last day of 2010... in India!

We will be celebrating the new year ahead of everyone in the United States!  We are 10.5 hours ahead all of you friends on the East coast and 11.5 hours ahead of Texas friends.  I guess you could say I am writing to you from the future :)  Kishore has rented out a club for us so that is how we will be bringing in the new year.  Everyone is still tired from flying here and some are worried we will not make it until 3 or 4 am, the predicted hour of sleep.

Today we are not doing anything major, maybe because it is new year's eve.  We are going to a massage parlor (maybe...... last night I also heard only boys can go and that the girls have to go to a salon, which would probably mean we can get our nails done. Everywhere in the world men are favored, just a little more in some countries). After that we are going shoppping. We have to rent cars for the day but it should only be about $20 for the day, split by 5-6 people.

I missed a few things because I got here a day late but apparently we are not supposed to go anywhere without one of the boys on the program.  Kishore is afraid of us women travelling alone - even in groups. It is hard because the majority of us are women and there are only a few males!  We are also supposed to say we are from Canada so we do not attract unwanted attention to ourselves as a large group of Americans. It is different because I am not used to travelling with large groups of people. Often I travel alone.  I am also lucky to be able to blend in in a lot of places. It is definitely a different experience travelling in a group, especially a clearly foreign group of tourists.

So far all is well. Indians do not start their days early, which is nice.  The earliest start on our syllabus looked like 10am.  However, this also means it is hard to find coffee in the morning! There is one place that opens around 8 or so but the other is closed until 10:30 am. Rough for addicted Americans who drink coffee at 7am or earlier every day. There seems to always be a group wanting to get coffee from that little shop in the morning, they will be making quite a bit of money from us this month!

Of course everywhere we go there are beggars and small children trying to get money from us or sell us things. It is no different than almost any other country I have been to (I have travelled mostly in the developing world), which is unfortunate.  Still, I can't imagine living life waiting for someone to buy something from me.  There are people who wait around every day by the side of the road waiting for someone like us to give them a small sum of money.

A Day of Religion

Today we visited lots of religious venues.  Out of respect we had to take our shoes off for all three of them and cover our heads for the last one.  Professor Gawande said by wearing your hair free it symbolizes being liberated.  We are not allowed to wear shoes in because they are made of leather, which comes from cows who are sacred. The sacredness of the cows had something to do with milk and it relating to the mother.  Soemone asked if goats were sacred and Kishore said no, goats are tasty.  He also said American cows are not sacred so it is ok to eat them!

Lucky for me we went to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner.  We had a burrito like greasy pork filled thing for lunch (there was some forgetting about the vegetarian) so we got to eat vegetarian for dinner.

The Baha'i House of Worship:
this faith is supposed to unite all races and people of the world.  The lotus temple we went to houses one of the places of worship and is in the shape of the lotus flower, which is supposed to represent purit associated with worship and religion in India.

We were allowed to go into the temple after removing our shoes and waited in line as information about the temple was given in English and Hindi.  We were allowed in the temple to say a prayer and could stay as long as we wanted but needed to be silent and were not allowed to take pictures inside of the temple.

Akshardham:

This is a modern Hindu temple and opened in 2005.  We were not allowed to take cameras, cell phones, etc in.  There was a HUGE list of items that had to be left out of the temple and there was a mandatory security check (the sign said "frisking mandatory") and a metal detector, then another detector. It was pretty high security.  Inside was absolutely gorgeous. There was such intricate detail of everything.   It must have taken a long time to finish. Inside there were statues of gods and animals in marble, rock and golden paint.

Bangal Sahib:

This was the last place we visited where we had to take our shoes off and cover our head.  We had to get instructions on what to do before we entered (there was a foreigner's room so we could be briefed), and to stay with our hands in prayer form and to not take pictures when we were inside.

After dinner we came home, but not before stopping for a mint leaf with tobacco in it (not me). The guy filled it with lots of candies and honey and tobacco among other things. Then he rolled it and you are supposed to put it in your mouth inside your lip and suck on it then spit out the juice.

India Goverment: class

Ok, so the goals for this trip are mostly academic with a twist of tourism.  As this trip is being taken for class credit, we have to write a paper, read a few books and keep a blog (for the class, this is my own!). 

For my paper: I was thjinking about writing about the two extremes for business models.  There is such a huge gap in classes and many extremely wealthy people as well as extremely poor. I would like to write about microfinance and how this option can help lift people out of poverty by allowing them access to credit and the ability to start their own businesses.  I also want to research multnatinational enterprises in India to see how this is affecting the country.  I think it is very interesting that India is a BRIC country and it's economy is growing rapidly but it appears as though a majority of the population is still being left behind in poverty.  I would also like to look at the human development index to see other factors that are present in determining the well-being of Indians (they are rated pretty low on this list: 119/169).

Some books I read to get more information:

Banker for the Poor by Mohammed Yunnis
India Condesed: 5000 years of history and culture by Anjana Motihar Chandra
In Spite of the Gods: The Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce

The books are really interesting so far.  I finished reading the first one but am still making progress on the other two.  If there is time I will write more on the content of the readings later.

I hope to update more on the academic side as well as the tourist side!

Safe in India

So I have arrived in India! I spent about 24 hours traveling and am finally here.  I only slept for about 3 or 4 hours when I got here so hopefully the jetlag does not catch up with me!  I have gone to a coffee shop and have eaten breakfast but that is about it so far.

The trip over was definitely interesting.  On the first flight someone threw up in front of the row I was sitting in so that was fun!  The flights did go fast though, so that was good. I flew from Washington, D.C. to Paris and then to Delhi!

Here are some pics from the brief stop in France:

There were pictures in the bathroom!
I also met someone on the plane to Delhi that owns a business - one branch operates out of China and another one out of NY.  He was flying to India to try to purchase a factory so he can expand his business here.  He said that there is a lot of investment in China and especially with the economy people are looking to buy really cheap, and they get this through producing in China. However, this is short term investment - he said that he is very skeptical of China and how they will do in the long run.  The political and economic stability is not guaranteed and his business partners agree that it looks like India will be a good investment for the future because it appears that the country has a long way to go and it is predicted there will be a lot of growth in the future.  I was lucky enough to get his email and will be asking him for further questions on his business!

I guess I will write more when there is more to be written!