Leaving Delhi

We have checked out of le Meridien hotel in New Delhi and are now on the bus traveling on the nice, wide fairly new toll road to Agra. There has been a lot of development along the road in the past few years, including a lot of high-rise buildings currently under construction. It reminds me of China (similar to Suzhou) except the developments are more spread out, and the countryside and infrastructure still looks like Inda with the occasional cow or herd of water buffalo roaming about. We just passed a huge and very nice looking raceway.

The bus is pretty noisy, as at least half of the students are loudly engaged in playing some word games in which people have to figure out the rules to participate. Obviously they got too much sleep last night. I might nap in a while, but I've decided to use the time for blogging, while charging my phone in the bus's only electrical plug. I look up occasionally to see the rice fields, farmers, grass huts, and odd chimney-like structured dotting the flat green landscape.

I didn't get enough sleep last night. Once we finally got back to the hotel around 10 pm, feeling sweaty and miserable, I planned to work on a task that was due yesterday. But I got a GroupMe message from Nandini inviting the other facilitators to decompress over a drink. Realizing it was needed, I joined her and Karleigh in the upstairs hotel bar for a Tom Collins. We re-hashed the evenings adventure and what we might have done differently before I went back to my room right around Midnight. I got up at 5 am to complete my task - taking advantage of the fact it was still yesterday in the U.S. I finished in time to shower and pack, and was disappointed that I had to leave the room for breakfast and check-out just as Hillary Clinton arrived on stage for her acceptance speech. I'll have to find that online later.

Arriving in Gurgaon. Typical traffic scene.

So... yesterday was quite an adventure. It took us about an hour and 45 minutes to get to our visit at the IU Gateway, as noted in yesterday's post. Traffic was bad, of course, but I felt like we drove around New Delhi unnecessarily before ever making it to the highway (as if I know Delhi that well). Anyway, that threw us behind. Then, for some reason (probably because our Parliament visit fell through and we thought we ought to add something), we headed to a temple for an unplanned cultural stop. The woman at the Gateway recommended it, assured us it was only 15 minutes from our hotel, and that all of the visitors from Bloomington love it.

As it turns out, it was through Delhi, past our hotel, across the river in a different state. Close to the hotel on a map, kind of, but not close in reality. Considering the Gateway is in Gurgoan, we ended up in three states in one day. The temple was Akshar Dham, and we facilitators regretted our decision even before we got there. It was a bizarre place! It was a huge cultural complex, complete with dancing fountains (not while we were there), a theater, gift shops, and a food court. The temple itself was beautiful, if a bit gaudy, kind of museum-like, and crazy hot. The grounds were pretty, but it all seemed a bit commercial. Nandini later dubbed it a peasant's amusement park or something along those lines. Not far off. The students seemed to enjoy it, though.

It was an interesting, very Indian experience. There was a huge parking lot and the infrastructure to accommodate huge crowds, much like the lines for a roller coaster. The restrooms were large but not well maintained, and some locals were using the sinks to wash up quite thoroughly. Absolutely nothing was allowed inside - no cameras, phones, umbrellas, swords, bags, guns, etc. We sent everything we had back to the bus and headed to the security checkpoint, but right when I got there I realized the tiny cell phone I had been given by the travel agent was still in my pocket. I knew I couldn't take it in, so in an effort to ask what I should do I showed it to the guard who immediately shouted "NO!" and pointed to the bag check - even though there was no direct path to get there. I finally figured out how to get there, and I began the odd process to check the phone. I got in a short line to get past the guy letting people into the bag check area. He gave me a form to fill out. Then I took it to a table where a man was handing out small bins and stamping the forms, but he waived me off and sent me to the window where I exchanged the phone for a numbered token. Then I got back in the security line where I finally went through the metal detector and enjoyed a VERY thorough pat-down from the nice guard. Once in, an employee flagged me down to let me know where I could find my group, and I found them just in time to join them for the walk through the stifling, ornate, bejeweled, and likely not even very old temple. (Confirmed: Opened in 2005.)

Akshar Dham as seen from the highway... considering cameras are not allowed inside.

Needless to say, after all of that we were very far behind schedule, and we should have changed our plans to fit just one more thing in for the day. Unfortunately, we didn't. (On our way back to New Delhi, we crossed the river again and everyone was thrilled to see four elephants and three camels by a little settlement next to the river. One of the elephants was in the river with a boy on its back.) Our next stop was some type of government-supported craft emporium. We shopped happily for about an hour (the guys got Kurtas, of course) and then walked (through the rain, unfortunately) to Cannaught Place for dinner. It was crowded, and by this point dark, and as planned we split into three groups for dinner. I ate at Johnny Rockets, which was fine. By the end of dinner, Nandini was understandably anxious to leave. We walked quickly to the Metro and went through the uniquely Indian security process to get in. The Metro itself was easy and nice, and we took it two stops to Central Secretariat near Parliament. That's when things got really interesting.

The students led us out the wrong exit onto the street. We soon found the street we needed and took off walking for the hotel - in the wrong direction. After a block or so, we reversed course and headed toward the hotel around the rotary. Unfortunately, we didn't go 180 degrees around the rotary and headed about a block and a half in the wrong direction again - through puddles, past sleeping homeless people, dodging traffic, in the dark. After considerable discussion, we reversed course again, going back past the sleepers and crossing at the rotary to get to the correct street. We rounded the corner and we're confronted with an odd parking lot where people were hanging out. We forged through, and in the next block met a group of stray dogs which, unlike all the others in Delhi, decided to bark excitedly at the group of foreign tourists walking by in the dark. Fortunately a local helped scare them off and we made in the final block or so back to the hotel.

Pilgrims walking to collect water from the Ganges to take back home to their local temples. These guys lined the highway.

OH MY GOD THESE STUDENTS ARE SO LOUD! Now they are playing some story-telling game involving mafia, cops, IU students and a murder. Everyone gets a chance to loudly tell a story, and I guess the rules dictate who was killed or who did it. All I know is that it's super exciting and very loud. A bus nap might not be possible.