3 Weeks in India

On Dec. 7th I left Kathmandu for a 3 week journey in India. I flew from Kathmandu to Kolkata (on the map it is “Calcutta” and is in the east), in which just landing pushed me into a mild culture-shock. The city was huge! All along I felt like Kathmandu was this big city, but Kolkata made it seem like a small farm village! India is much more developed than Nepal. Here are the primary differences between India (Kolkata) and Nepal (Kathmandu):

• India has street-lights; therefore it’s safe to walk around after it gets dark
• Vehicles, buildings, street-width, everything… are much bigger
• The taxis are old-fashioned
• There are less dogs and cows than in Nepal
• Staring is even more acceptable and therefore done more often and for longer periods of time
• There are traffic lights! And people obey them!
• On the buses, ladies sit on one side and gents on the other
• Buses have numbers on them so you know where they’re going
• Northern India is not as friendly (people can be so rude, start arguments so quickly, are offended and offend you quite often, rip you off, set you up to be scammed, etc.)
• There is a metro, and it is a good metro
• People stay up later because they have lights at night
• There are more sweets
• The beggars are more insistent
• In Kolkata, they serve tea in clay cups

Some of my Kolkata activities included going to the zoo, getting a new pair of prescription glasses, touring around the city with Chase’s (a Nepal SALTer) friend who is there on a Fulbright scholarship, visiting Motherhouse (Mother Teresa’s home, grave, and where the sisters live), and attending Mass with the sisters. On the last night in Kolkata, the MCCers from Bangladesh arrived. We packed our things and on the next morning boarded our train that would take us to Goa.




The train journey from Kolkata to Goa took 2 days with a train change in Pune. This is a long time to be on and sleep on a train, but yet it is very cool. There are street-sellers always coming through selling chai (tea), food, socks, etc. They say what they’re selling in a very nasally extended tone, which we had fun mimicking. We kept ourselves busy playing Mafia and getting to know one another. And at other times were entertained by the transvestites that came through the trains.




2 days later we arrived in Baga, Goa (southwest on the map, by Panaji). Goa is the Hawaii of India and is SOO beautiful. We had our MCC Retreat for Nepal, Bangladesh, and India here. It was filled with great sessions in the morning (such as Christianity in an Asian context, Self-care, and Meditation), and the afternoons of relaxation/personal time… which often consisted of swimming in the Arabian Sea. One day we went out a tour of the Goan area… which was quite interesting. We stopped at a Catholic church started by St. Xavier. He is a very important saint to the Catholics because he spread Christianity around Asia. The church kept his 400+ yr old body right beside the sanctuary. It used to be an open casket so believers could touch and worship his body (uhhhhh...). One very devout follower was so inspired one day that she bit off 2 of his toes. GROSS. So even though I’m disgusted by this, the church was impressed by her devotion… so his toes are now framed beside his body. That afternoon we went through a couple of Sound and Light shows that should be renamed to Creepy Walking Tour with Unmoved Monotonous Guide (“This is the blood of Christ shed for you. Please step to the left….” That evening the group went on a River Cruise where people were invited to dance on the stage. Towards the end when no one else wanted to go up, several of our group went up and we just had fun dancing on stage. Afterwards so many people came up wanting pictures with us! Haha. The MCC Retreat was everything that I hoped it would be… thought-provoking, encouraging, healing, fun times with other MCCers, and relaxing.




I wanted to see more of India even after the retreat was done, so a group of 5 of us traveled up to Delhi (northern India) via a 2-day train again. We visited the Jama Masjid (mosque), ate at Karim’s (world famous restaurant), spent a day with Lynda Nyce and her husband, toured the Qtab Minar (ruins of ancient city and mosque/call tower), and went to Agra (on map, just south of Delhi) to hang out at the Taj Mahal.






On the 23rd, 2 of the groupees left and Lydia Nofziger, a good college friend, flew to Delhi! So the next 5 days I was spoiled with a wonderful group of friends: Lydia, Phil (college friend serving with MCC in Bangladesh), and Anielle (Indonesian serving with MCC in Nepal). In Delhi, we visited the Lotus Temple (of the Baha’i religion), the Red Fort, and couldn’t help but go to Karim’s again. For Christmas Eve and Day we went to Udaipur (on the map, southwest of Delhi), which is an absolutely beautiful place. A palace rests in the middle of the lake, with mountains surrounding the lake. We also managed to run across every animal possible there… cows, donkeys, chickens, monkeys, pigs, elephants, bulls…
We foud a Christian church to go to on Christmas Eve night. Even though it was nothing like the one I really enjoy going to at my home church, it was still nice to celebrate the birth of Jesus with other believers. We traveled back to Delhi via overnight bus because the train was cancelled and we had the most uncomfortable seats possible. The bad transportation luck continued as the next day our train was very delayed going to Agra (to see the Taj again, with Lydia this time!) and very very very delayed going back to Delhi. The next day I said my sad by grateful goodbyes to Lydia and Phil, Anielle and I flew back to Kathmandu, and that night I got some very much-needed rest.



I spent New Year’s Eve with my MCC friends here and am now embarking on some more travels. I will be going to Pokhara, Tansen, and Chitwan National Park (all in Nepal) with my good friend Tabea for some quality time before school starts back up on Jan. 17th and she moves to Australia on January 20th.

I hope that you all had happy holidays and were able to celebrate Jesus’ presence in our lives. Cheers to a great 2011!