A Chance to Exhale in India

Now, I have done my fair share of traveling. I've ridden for hours and hours in the back of an old rickety truck filled with people, bags, chickens and smelly fruit while the monsoon poured down and turned the usual bumpy dirt road into a soaked, sticky mess. I have forcefully pulled myself, my bags and my sister out of a crowd of pushing, pulling taxi trivers (as she has done for me). But even with all this preperation, I must admit that visiting India has been a bit overwhelming. There are just so many people, and it seems that most of them are rick-shaw drivers! The roads are crazier than in Vietnam (the former "most challenging" place). There are precious few stop lights and it doesn't really matter because nobody follows the rules anyway. The only rule that seems to be universally obeyed is: the bigger vehicle gets the right of way! Drivers consitently go the wrong way around the round-abouts to save a few seconds. There are cows wandering down all the streets-not just in the country but in the big cities too, so you have to dodge them too. The bicycles, rick-shaws, busses and trucks and pedestrians all jockey for space on the skinny streets. Completing the simplest tasks here is completely exhausting. Eating lunch or finding a place to check email leaves you feeling haggard, sweaty and agrivated. So, after three days of trains and cities and traffic I was starting to wonder if I really was prepared (let alone excited) to be here for a month.

Luckily life has gotten much better. Before we left Agra we took a ride to see the Taj Mahal from the back. There is a little park across the river which gives you an amazing view at sunset. There weren't many people there, only a few goat herders and a couple of indian people who came to see the view (you dont have to pay from that side). We sat down on the grass and looked around at the views. There were water buffalo bathing in the river, a hindu temple on the far side where thick streams of smoke billowed up into the sky (a funeral), and then we saw the silhouette of a camel being ridden by a little boy. I scrambled to get my camera, because I didn't want to miss this picture; a boy and his camel with the Taj Mahal in the background! Awsome! As he got closer he called out, "You want to ride? Fifty rupees." "No thanks, I replied, I'm afraid of camels" (which was partially true), "Can I take your picture?" I asked. "No problem, twenty ruppees" he replied. Well, its not much for such an awsome picture, but I couldn't pay it. I have to say here that I am opposed to paying young children in general, I feel it give their parents more incentive to send them out to work (or to beg - a little girl in the train station last night just broke my heart, she was so cute, coppying everything I did, then putting her little hand out. She couldn't have been more than four. I've found that if you play with them they forget that they are there to collect money very quickly. The moms dont forget though, they watch from a far off corner waiting to see how much the child will come back with. It is tragic, the whole thing, its hard not to give a little. But I know it would be a temporary fix and my money is more useful if I invest in programs that really promote solutions). Ok, I've taken a tangent. Back to the camel boy. It was about this time that he noticed Dodge (For those of you who dont know Dodge, he is a plastic sheep who baaahs when you press his tummy. He was given to us by Ry's cousin Laurie and her husband Chris). As you can immagine our young camel friend was immencely interested in Dodge and wanted to look at him and show him to his friends. Even his dad was called over to have a look. I asked the boy his name and he told us it was Ana, he was 10 years old and he and his brother came out to the river every evening to see if tourists wanted their picture taken on the camel. We talked for a long time, his English was excellent. He told us about his family and his camel (who's name was Raja and was also a boy). We ended up getting some amazing pictures of him and his camel. He was very sweet. I promise to add a photo of the encounter.

That night we took an over-night train to Lucknow. We are doing an internship with an environmental organization here. Its a big organization, they have offices all over the country and work on very diverse projects, from the earth-quake in Kashmir to the tiger refuges to sanitation projects. We will be developing an ocean education program for them. I am extremely excited to be here. The people are all friendly and speak great english. They have provided us with our own room (which will really help our budget) and we now have evening access to the computers! The house is near a forest so it is quiet at night and we get to do something useful. I am very excited. Looking at the upcomming month now, I know it will go too quickly. But I'm going to make the best of it!