India recap and mega-reduced slide show
So, I know that many have been awaiting my pictures of india, and thanks to Janet's constant reminding, I actually got around to it.
First things first, where I lived while in India: The Spastic Society of India. The building itself is actually a school, a hostel and apartments. What the Spastic does for the children and people of india is phenominal, education and knowledge is everything out there, and this organization gives education to slum children, disabled children and teaches others to teach the children (tear).
The above image is the immediate view outside my room door on the third floor. Quite pretty.
This another version of the view from where we lived. The Spastic has two inner courtyards, one of which features the very large tree that you see here. Most of us agreed that if you looked really closely to the top of it, it kinda looked like a lego tree. The other courtyard had a basketball court, which was never really used while we were there, so it made a lovely home for some kittens.
I fell in love with the Spastic really quickly, and after various incidents and excursions, it became a comfort zone for us away from home. Also, most people don't bother the Spastic when riots happen, so the Spastic was a safe place to hang out in too.
One of the inherent problems of trying to go to India is convincing your parents it's safe. In this case, we were ridiculously close to the major hospital in the area. What you see is Lilavati Hospital, where some of our students spent far too much time in. However, it is really close, since this image was taken from my teacher's balcony.
This is the view of Linking Road from the McDonald's Balcony. Yes, there are McDonald's in India and this one has a balcony that looks out directly unto the KFC. Yeah. Anyways, MickyDee's in india are kinda kewl since you can't have any beef. Their version of the Big Mac is called the McAloo Tikki and is basically a potato patty with tomatos, red onions and a semi-spicy sauce. They also serve potato wedges (along with the traditional fires) which taste great. The really weird thing is how cheap it is. McDonald's is cheap in Canada, but here a McAloo Tikki is 20 Rs. the wedges were 20 Rs.! That's a dollar Canadian in total. The water was 40, but still! EEK! We had ice cream and sundaes once, a medium strawberry sundae costs 35 Rs.= less than a dollar.
Yes, it rains quite a bit in India.
And more rain.
Hey, check it out! It's the Arabian Sea! This is out at Neriman Point (the image isn't, I'm standing on it.), which is essentially the southern most point of Mumbai.
Clockwise: Me, Jess, Tania, Shalini, Bhavika, Kate, Olivia, Andrew and Gord. (we're missing five girls from this shot)
So you won't beleive what we did for Canada Day. So we land up on the 24th ish of June, and we were musing about what we should do to celebrate the birth of our great nation. Our teacher informs us that we've been invited to a formal celebration at the Hilton Towers Mumbai with the Consulate General of Canada.
Uh?
So we all had to make a few shopping trips to get stuff to wear, since we weren't really planning for a formal bash at any time. Most of us went traditional and it was kewl. I can't remember what the pants are called, but the shirt I am wearing is called a Kurta and the scarf thing is a dupatta. So we had a big buffet dinner, open bar, chatted with the consulate and many business people and generally looked out of place since we were a bunch of kids from York. It was fun though. Soccer was on that night too, so once the main eating was done, the service men set up some T.V.'s so we could watch the match.
This is the walk up to Haji Ali, a Mosque out in the sea, and by out I mean you can't get to it in high tide! The part of the walk where i took the picture is covered in street merchants selling offerings and toys. The walk that you see in the image is lined with beggars and people who have lost limbs to various diseases (mostly leprosy which is still rampant in India).
Another place that we visted was the place formerly known as the Prince of Whales Museum. It's new name is something long, Indian and completely unpronouncable to the untrained linguist. Either way, it's interesting to see a museum that's mostly indoors but has outside parts too, such as this.
This was one of the highlights of the trip, visiting the Elephanta Caves. You take an hour boat ride to the island and then trek up the hill for about 20-30 minutes to then get hosed at the ticket booth (15 Rs. for Indians, 250 for 'American people'. I showed the guy my Canadian passport, but no dice). The caves were carved by devotees to Shiva who created stautes, frescos and the colums that can still be seen 1000 years later. It's quite breathtaking.
And this is Bhavika in one of the Caves.
As I took my last rick ride 5 hours before myself and Andrew have to leave for the airport with our Consulate escort (this was around the time of the train bombings, so they offered to drive us to the airport), I reflect back on my trip to India. Despite everything that's happened, I don't want to leave. I want to spend more time with the other people living in the hostel, I want to do things again with more time, I want to explore. I want to stay. I want so much to further understand India.
But it was about the right time to come back. My Malaria pills were running out and I was starting to miss my family and friends. I was longing for tap water that wouldn't kill me and Canadian air. Seatbelts were a nice reminder of home too. After a tearful goodbye and a gift of a blessed copper ring for safety, the next 24 hours of my life would be spent in the airport or in airplanes. But it was worth it. And I wouldn't have traded anything in the world for that trip.