India

Again, we were given the worst case scenario. One of the features of the voyage is what are referred to as Interport Lecturers – academics from the next country we will visit. So a couple of Indian scholars joined us in Mauritius and sailed with us to India, teaching about the country, answering questions, etc. As well, there are usually a couple of students from the next country who fill a similar role. I began to wonder what these folks think about us describing their country as filthy, with odors that will sicken you, foods that do the same, disease, primitive sanitation, etc. Somehow I think there is more to it.

Perhaps this is geared toward folks who don’t get out much, or students from such wealth and privilege that anything different qualifies as culture shock. Human waste and the smell of urine? Go downtown in any major city, including Seattle, and you can find that, given our homeless populations. Odors and filth are relative, and apparently a lot of that owes to the fact that India still burns a lot of coal. Our carpets in entry and public areas have been covered with plastic and cardboard to keep the soot and whatever else off and out. Food? First, who hasn’t sampled some form of Indian cuisine? It’s not as if we are visiting another planet, for heaven’s (!) sake. And I bet the food in the US sickens a great number of people around the world, and in our own country, for a variety of reasons.

OK, enough of that, because that said, I did not spend any time in the city of Chennai (formerly Madras). What I did was to go out to a “heritage village,” Dakshina Chitra, for two nights to do a workshop, “The Art of Living.” The bus ride out was interesting. We passed mile upon mile of small shops, businesses, some dwellings, just crammed in together surrounded by hordes of people. That is probably the salient feature of India, and calls for a little deeper discussion than “the country smells.” India itself has passed the BILLION mark in population, and Chennai itself is a city of 7 million. And it’s only the fourth largest in the country. You want to see people crammed in, try Mumbai (formerly Bombay) or especially Kolkata (Calcutta – I think they are trying to rid themselves of vestiges of colonialism by renaming). In all, there are 4 times the number of people in the US in one-third the space. One of the great contradictions is that the poorer some people are, the more children they have….a seemingly endless cycle of despair. One thing I had been prepared for, that I did not see much of, was pervasive physical disability. We did, however, see plenty of homelessness and poverty. At the same time, everyone has a cell phone. Even if you live in a cardboard shack, you have a cell phone. Seemingly another contradiction, but certainly there is more to it than meets the eye.

The image is accurate – there are cows everywhere. Kind of neat, actually. Definitely different and interesting. Lots of dogs also, more on that in a minute. There was a lot to see in our ride, both directions, actually, as street life did not seem to diminish much at 10 or 11 at night. In some cases it picked up as we saw a few little festivals as we returned to the ship. On the way we stopped at some notable landmarks in the area and got some history and such. The village we stayed at is a non-profit which preserves examples of ways of life of the people of the region, so has examples of houses, crafts, temples, and so on. It was enclosed and housed some of the artisans as well as being open as a kind of living history museum.

We were hosted by a lovely woman and her husband who oversaw the accommodations and food. We were in a region, Tamil Nadu, of the darker-skinned Indians. Northerly Indians are much lighter skinned; another great commonality, that skin darkens closer to the equator in all sorts of nations and regions (and mysteriously translates into lower social status…). Indians are very beautiful as well, at least before poverty takes its toll. I was reminded of how I also find folks from Afghanistan and nearby areas to be exceptionally fine looking; I then was not surprised to find that there has been a significant influx of people from those same regions into India in centuries past. Everything is connected.

We had very serviceable accommodations; the bed was a little firm, but then I find most beds to be that way. I was lucky to be in a double room with a faculty member, and we had a private bath. Students were put 6 to a room, more dormitory-style. Joy of joys, there was a western toilet. A large part of the briefing was for the traditional pit toilet, and how to organize and arrange yourself to keep from falling over, falling in, messing up your clothes, and so on. At the same time, you can find western toilets and avoid the issue entirely, my preferred solution. No shower, but a system of running water into a bucket and kind of ladling it over yourself. Not bad! It worked for a couple of days. I sprayed so much bug spray into my hair that it became a helmet anyway…..

We had good vegetarian meals. Some of the students were just going ape over the food; again I wondered, had they never had any Indian food before? There were some new things, but a lot of familiar things as well. Just no tandoori; what’s the point with no meat? Only one person seemed to have any reaction to the food. I think by this time I can generally eat anything, though I do keep up with the precautions just in case. We even had ice cream one night! I thought that might not happen in India.

I also got to pet a dog in India, really didn’t think that would happen as the Doc cautioned that up to a third of the dogs, or some awful number, in India contract rabies. We were admonished, don’t pet the dogs. Like Mauritius. However, there was a dog in this compound, and I thought that this sort of museum would probably not keep a rabid dog around, what with tourists, children, and all. So I petted the dog. She was a mom, so on one of my walks around, I spotted her pups, and petted them also. The dogs are ubiquitous and in various states of care and nutrition. They also look a bit generic, as they have probably been interbreeding for generations. One thing I have found in virtually every country so far is that there is a MONUMENTAL need for spay/neuter and vaccination programs. I could spend the rest of my life doing this work in a single country or several (are you with me, Julia?) In fact, who knows. I did not see any cats, and that’s OK, because they would have been dicier in a rabies-prone area.

I won’t say much about the Art of Living course, as it was at least as much an excuse to get out of the city as anything. I was hoping for some insights from the traditional methods and techniques, including meditation, which I can never seem to catch on to; it tended toward to contemporary, and a bit too much chit-chat for my taste. First, if I never hear the word “like” ever again, it will be too soon. The speaking patterns of some of these students cause me to lose my mind. And differences in life experiences were greatly apparent. But it was OK, gave me a break, some good food without worry, and a dog and pups. What more could I hope for?

So my experience of India probably will not qualify as deep or cultural, but it worked for me. I certainly would have no aversion to returning, and I’m sure my experience would be different if I did.

We will have several ports in rapid succession, with little sailing time in between. Next stop is Malaysia, and I’m on my way to Borneo (who could pass that up?) to visit an orangutan rehabilitation center and do a 100-foot high forest canopy walk, among other things. After that is Vietnam.