Hanging Out

An aspect of our trip that has it's good and bad aspects is the extended stay at Madras Christian College. For me it's meant making friends here on the campus and getting to know a number of people that are not from Tamil Nadu. Other people have said they would have rather been able to do a homestay with a family so that they could better understand regular life in India. If anything though, MCC has provided many of us a great opportunity to get to know other people our age.

My friendships here at MCC have largely been made with guys from St Thomas Hall, one of the three men's hostels here on campus. The other two halls are Bishop Heber and Selaiyur. Much of the friendships I have made here however are thanks to an already existent friendship between Brian Orland of Davidson and Aiyappa KA of Thomas hall. The two became friends two years ago when Brian was here with Davidson, but really took off over the summer when Brian came back to Tambaram for the summer. So fulfilling our promise to Brian, early in September Ethan and I made our way over to Thomas hall to find Aiyappa. It took a little bit of effort but eventually we found him. An amicable guy we found him and the other guys friendly and welcoming.

After the breaking the ice I have continued to frequent Thomas hall. One of the pleasantries of living here on the campus is the prevalance of English speakers. While even rickshaw drivers know a few words of English it would difficult for me to ask them about the social significance of the lungi. The halls afford an opportunity to speak with educated people our own age, essentially, our peers. Now don't get the wrong impression. One of the more significant things we have been able to do here is talk with people that we no nothing of, and they know nothing of us, in particular those of the lower classes and castes. The students however have a common world view with us based on similar age and opportunity. This is important to me because among the halls you are treated as a guest, but not a foreigner. Conversation is casual but poignant. The halls offer the opportunity to enjoy the company of others as a person and not as a westerner. The comfort afforded here makes it feel more like home.

One thing I've learned is that students our age have similar interests across the world. We share music, movies, and a love for a good time. With the students I've gotten to play cricket and have been introduced to arrack. Recently all the Davidson came to Thomas hall for a barbecue. Aiyappa and Bala made us some chicken. Taking some wood from the campus and an improvised grill we had some chicken marinated in yoghurt, masala, chili pepper, salt, and lime. Pretty damn good stuff. We had the locally preferred Old Monk and Coke to wash it down.

I have no idea when I'll return to India. It's good to know, however, there will be some people here to welcome me back when I do.

The Queen of Hill Stations

Once a part of the kingdom of Sikkim, and later stategetically taken over by the British, Darjeeling now sits at the north end of West Bengal. Many people would like for it to rejoin Sikkim, the state just to the north of Bengal. Probably won't happen though. Famous for the "champagne of teas" Darjeeling pulls in a tidy income for the state, and it would be difficult to rest that from the West Bengal. Because people in the region only call it a mountain if it is covered in snow the year round Darjeeling technically sits in the hills. Hills is so misleading though. Boulder is in the mountains. So is Asheville. To call these hills is like calling the Appalachians speed bumps. Anywhere else these hills would be sizable mountains. Of course when you round the corner and see the mountains, you realize size is relative. Like when you stand in front of the Himalayas. Then these are hills.

After a long drive up towards the Himalayas, a winding route through the hills, we reached Darjeeling late in the evening. Well not really late, but when the sun sets at 5:30, 8:30 feels late. Since few of us had any warm clothes we went out into the town and bought some cool weather gear. 7000 feet can be cold no matter what time of year. It was easy to spot the Bengali tourists from the Darjeeling natives. Less accustomed to cool weather, even than us, they were bundled up in thick hats and heavy jackets. For 200 Rs (or a little more than four dollars) I bought a comfortable wool sweater. A number of other folks bought hats, gloves and shawls. Although the days are quite comfortable we were meeting at 3:30 the next morning to watch the sun rise and purchased clothes accordingly.

At an hour looking no different to me than the one I went to bed at we all jumped into some cars and sped up Tiger Hill. Since Darjeeling is fairly old, and the streets are winding and narrow, buses are not an option here. You get around in jeeps, but even then there is plenty of three-point turns as you navigate through the town. One turn was so tight it required the driver to back down till the next turn. It was easy to see that the sunrise at Tiger Hill was very popular; while the whole town slept quietly we and about a hundred other jeeps bolted through the town and up the hill in the dark. Upon arrival we jockeyed for position among the throngs of tourists that had also made the trip, elbowing our way through the crowd to get a good view of the sunrise. I won't lie; most people here are a head shorter than me, so I had less trouble finding a good spot than others. When we arrived light had begun to show on the horizon, moving from a deep orange and red to yellow, blue, indigo and then black. As we stood and waited I happened to look over to my left. Just barely becoming visible in the darkness stood the most incredible things I've ever seen. Kanchenjunga. At 28,169 feet it is the largest peak in India and the third largest in the world. Jagged and white it formidably dominates the landscape dwarfing everything around, and easily validating why this was only Tiger Hill. After about my 13th picture of the mountain (which probably consitutes only the first third I took that morning) I realized that at 8000 feet or so, I was 20k feet below the summit. Humbled, I can only dream of reaching that height.

While sunrise and Kanchenjunga is perhaps the highlight of the entire semester so far, here's a few other cool things I'd like to mention: I had my first experience with a coal fire (it's more difficult to light than I anticipated); the monasteries are inspiring sanctuaries of faith; tourist toy trains are pointless, but I can't say I have fun on them; momos are perhaps my new favorite food; monkeys are terrifying; a stray dog with long shaggy hair and floppy ears can be quite cute; tea ain't so bad; tigers really are beautiful; I want to go back to Philmont; and I want to become better trained in mountaineering.

With a combination of soaring peaks, beautiful monasteries, good food, cheap beer, great tea, and some appropriately shaggy but very cute stray dogs, Darjeeling is my favorite place to have visited in India. I really hate to say somethine like that, but so far its true. It's just a gorgeous place. There's no two ways around it.

Better Than a Black Hole

Despite what supposed atrocities occurred against the British here, Calcutta/Kolkata really is a wonderful place. I must first say that it has the best street food I've yet had. Kati rolls are basically fried flat bread with veggies, onions, and egg, meat or both. It was probably the best food I had in Calcutta. And cost 22 Rs. or about 50 cents. By the way 22 Rs. was on the high end. But all street food aside, even though there is little coffee, Calcutta is a surprisingly cosmopolitan city. It has street cars, and a subway, lots of good restaurants, and plenty of museums. It also boasts the largest stray dogs so far in India.

After a tour of the local flower market and a visit to the landmark bridge, supposedly the busiest bridge in the world, we struck a path to the Missionaries of Charity, Mother Teresa's order. The building does little to attract your attention. The sign is quite inconspicuous, and a number of tourists clearly walked past it. When we walked in the first thing to attract my attention was the cleanliness. Each sister wears a white and blue habit that was first shown to Mother Teresa in a dream. Although Calcutta is cleaner than other places we have visited, it still has the regular amounts of grime and dirt that a city of six million develops. But here among the sisters it was clean and quiet, a very strange thing to find. Mother Teresa's room was simple, with a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk. On the wardrobe a flyer read "My Vocation is Love." While in Calcutta the suggestion was made that the city's poor are less plagued by the horrors of poverty because Missionaries of Charity's efforts.

After a morning tour of the city, our group volunteered for the afternoon at three different parts of the organization. I was feeling ill and stayed at the hotel. Some people went to an orphanage, while a few of us went to the home for the dying and destitute. In the latter many people were simply told to help feed or massage the patients. Sometimes we asked ourselves, "What am I doing?" particularly when someone is talking to you in Bengali and all you can do is smile at her. At some point you realize that smile is all that you can give back, but that doesn't mean it was not appreciated or felt. Maybe it was the best part of her day.

Calcutta is considered the cultural capital of India. Defying Bollywood conventions the films here lack the dance sequences and ridiculous situations that are so popular in Mumbai. Tagore, the father of the national anthem and Calcutta native, is arguably the most celebrated writer of India. Calcutta has also benefited from being the seat of the British Raj, with plenty of parks, museums and a great infrastructure. In the botanical garden is India's largest banyan tree.

I'll just say this: Calcutta is a phenomenal place, a must see. And the kati rolls really are amazing.