India

You kind of forget how to relax after it’s been awhile. As the days got closer to Tuesday I become increasingly excited for my day off. On Monday I still felt sick and was thinking about taking a sick day. Luckily I opted to suck it up and go. This was the best day of work yet. The number of students was at least triple the amount of even the most busy day. All the children where there to celebrate Republic Day. As happy as I was to see all these children I also realized how many children don’t go to school. More children stay home or work then go to school. It is said that 50% of girls don’t go to school just because of chores at home. See in India girls are suppose to finish their chores before they can go to school. There are also other reasons girls don’t go to school as well.

So when I got to class the children started to line up for their Republic Day parade! They were all so precious and friendly.  Older children from other classes led the parade and adults looked out their houses to see the parade pass. You could tell these children were proud and excited to be a part of something. They really do look for something to show off or for people to see, the problem is more times then not, people just aren’t looking. Today was an exception.

On the drive home I remember about my trip this weekend and remembered that offices would be closed Tuesday so I had to get to the travel office that day. I took a rickshaw to the market and hunted for a proper travel agency, when I finally found one I entered. As I walked in a saw a young man on Facebook. He would be my travel agent. It turns out he 20 years old and that he would be spending his time with me on messenger talking to his girlfriend from California that he has never met. Needless to say this account was dreadful. I asked for train tickets, he tried to sell me an over priced package. I tried to ask him for cheap tickets he refused. Each conversation was delayed as he shifted his concentration from the computer to business. When I was finally ready to buy I told him I only had money for the train tickets, but he still tried to sell me a hotel package. After fighting for a good amount of time I finally I pretended to give up. “Okay, fine I’ll get the package, but I have to pay with credit because I only have enough for the train tickets in cash.”

“Okay great sir! Give me your card” I gladly handed it over knowing I needed to enter my pin number. “Pin number sir?”

“Oh, its just the last four digits of my card” I lied

After countless amounts of trying he finally agreed that it wasn’t working. “The problem is sir, I already sent someone to get your train tickets.”

“No problem, I’ll pick that up on Wednesday and pay for it with cash. Don’t worry about the package. I’ll just take the tickets.” I smiled as I walked out the door.

This is how you get things done in India I have learned. Everything is a fight and you need to let them know you aren’t going to let them push you over. When you’ve had enough fighting or you’ve had time to think, simply act like they have won. If your plan works you should be ale to leave with the belt.

This aspect of India has so far been what I have grown the most in. I came here a shy easygoing guy who could care less about what happens. Before this I would hand over a few dollars to avoid conflict, but now I have become a barter machine! You can often find me in the street bartering for 10 rupees, which is equivalent to less, then 20 cents. When a 30 minute rickshaw drive cost somewhere between what would be 80 cents- $1.60 you have to fight for every cent.

Through all this bartering though I have found comfort in non- barter market where prices are set. This is nice because for once I get the same price as locals and the prices are always good. Yesterday, I bought a hand made dress shirt for what would be $5 dollars. As you can see everything is cheap here, everything but food, which makes India a heaven for shoppers, but a hell for locals buying groceries. Since many groceries are international they are set at the same prices that they would be in the States. What this means is that you can buy a hand made dress shirt for the same price as a jar of Kalamata Olives. I first noticed this when I saw the beggars in semi decent clothes. Although the women wear dirty old clothes they are still colorful and you can tell they were nice at one point.

On my ride home I noticed all the preparation going into this big parade for Republic Day. Gunmen were behind sand bags; bleachers were all along the road, military everywhere. It was absolutely insane. It is times like these that you realize you are not in the safest part of the world. With apparent missiles being launched from Amritsar, India towards, Lahore, Pakistan last weekend terrorist watch has increased.

On Republic Day people come from all over the country to Delhi for a giant parade. During this parade they have a talent show between each state. The states do things like traditional dancing in order to sufficiently represent their people. The most amazing thing I saw was the motorcyclist. They were doing pyramids of men while driving. It turns out that there were 157 men on only 34 motorcycles during that display. Sadly that was about the only thing I saw of the parade on TV due to the fog. In the end though I would say it was a much needed relaxing, Indian day off. Thank God for independence! Happy 60^th anniversary India!

I am sorry for this jumpy unorganized blog. I just wanted to get my day out there. I focused more on my other entry I put up today. I hope you enjoy!

A boy outside my class.