Last Day in Baroda

Five Things I Will Miss the Most about Baroda

1.      1.The other AIESEC Interns: During my five weeks In Baroda, I got to meet AIESEC interns from all around the world. These interns came from countries such as New Zealand, Brazil, Italy, Ivory Coast, Ghana, China, Canada, and Peru. I got to know some of these interns pretty well, as we often ate with one another, and went on the Delhi/Agra trip together. All in all, I had some great experiences and some great nights with these guys, and will definitely miss them. 

      

      2. The AIESECers in Baroda: The AIESECers in Baroda helped me out a great deal during my stay here. They picked me up from the train station upon my arrival, and have taken great care of me since. They’ve let me stay at their houses, showed me around Baroda, and have guided me whenever I had questions. They’ve been kind, patient, and very helpful in making my transition to Baroda extremely smooth. I’ve gotten to know a few of them pretty well, and hope to stay in touch in the future.

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      3. The basketball students I worked with at Bal Bhavan Society: I spent the brunt of my five weeks in Baroda coaching basketball to the kids at Bal Bhavan Society. The first three weeks I taught five hour-long classes, two in the morning from 7:30 to 9:30, and three in the evening from 5 to 8. The past two weeks I have taught just two hour-long classes, from 5 to 7, as the schools reopened and thus, many of the kids opted not to continue. Overall, the kids were a blast to teach; they ranged from 6 to 18 in age, and referred to me as Sir. At the beginning of each session, many of them would come up to me and say ‘Hi Sir’, or ‘Good Evening, Sir’. These kids ranged widely in terms of skill level, but they were all willing to listen to me, learn the drills I taught them, and improve their game. I taught them games such as Knockout (which they loved), and played with them on the last day, which was a great deal of fun for me. I had a great experience with my job here in Baroda, and a good relationship with the head basketball coach and the kids, all of which I will miss when I leave Baroda tonight.

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      4. My family here in Baroda: I have family in Baroda, much of which I had never met in my entire life. I ate lunch with them early during my stay in Baroda, and they insisted from then on that I live with them for the rest of my stay in Baroda. I took them up on their offer, and they have been extremely kind to me. They have fed me here in Baroda, and taken great care of me and Andy when we were sick. They have taken us around the city, and provided us with everything we needed. I am extremely grateful to them for welcoming me and Andy so warmly, and hope they can visit me back in the US sometime.

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      5. Knowing the language: Baroda is part of the state of Gujurat in India. Gujurat is the state my entire family is from originally. Thus, we speak Gujurati, the state language, in my house all the time. I grew up speaking Gujurati, and am very fluent in it. I was extremely happy to be going to Baroda because I knew communication would not be an issue for me. However, after today, I will be visiting Udaipur, Jaipur, Delhi, and Goa, before I return to Mumbai on the first of July. There, my knowledge of Gujurati will be rendered useless, as other state languages and Hindi, the national language will be the only way to communicate. I know a bit of Hindi, but not enough to make the transition smooth. Nonetheless, I look forward to the experience, and am certain that the next two weeks in India will go by just as fast as the first five have.

Seven Seas Mall

With just four days left in Baroda, I thought I’d blog about one of my favorite places here, Seven Seas Mall. The mall has helped make my transition from Raleigh to Baroda significantly smoother. For one, it is extremely close to the AIESEC office, which is my only source for Internet access in Baroda. As a result, whenever I want to get on the Internet, I can just tell the rickshaw drivers to take me near Seven Seas Mall, a location which they all know, rather than providing them with the AIESEC office address, which many of them do not recognize.

Secondly, Seven Seas Mall has air-conditioning in each of its stores. So, whenever I feel unbearably hot in Baroda, I can just walk around the mall and relax in the A/C. There are a wide range of stores in this mall, so it is not too boring, and a pleasant use of my free time. I have gotten everyday items such as snack foods and shower slippers from this mall, as well as good quality inexpensive clothes.

Seven Seas Mall also has a movie theater, although most movies shown here are in Hindi, including the American ones. It has a food court with a McDonalds as well. I have eaten here a couple of times, and the food is pretty good, especially the 20 rupee chocolate dipped ice cream cones.

The only problem I’ve had with this mall has been the lines and baggage checks. There is no concept of a line in India I do not thing. There is no first come first serve; it is really just a shoving contest to get to the front and place your order. Ordering ice-cream at McDonalds has been a hassle to say the least. Everytime I want ice-cream, rather than standing in a civilized line, I have to have my hold my money up in the air and barge my way to the front counter. The guy making the ice-cream then has to notice me and take my money while I place my order. Absolutely ridiculous.

The baggage checks have been quite a hassle as well. Every time we walk into the mall, we come in with our laptops in our backpacks. They have to check these first upon our entrance; then, we have to get them re-checked at the baggage counter if we want to go into any store. At this check in, we get each of the zippers on our backpacks zip-tied, and a note saying that we are carrying only a laptop in our backpacks.

The escalators at Seven Seas Mall provide further entertainment for my friends and I, as many of the children and elderly are too scared to get on the escalator. For some, it takes minutes to gather the courage to finally get on one, and some are completely unable to. This creates unnecessary lines in front of each escalator, and although that is definitely annoying, it is quite funny to me as well.

Taj Mahal: Delhi/Agra Trip

Went to Agra and Delhi this weekend with eight other AIESEC interns. We definitely had a unique experience. We left Friday night, boarding an air-conditioned non-sleeper train to Agra. The train experience was not fantastic however, as the A/C was too cold, and the seats were too small. It did not help that I sat by two pretty large men. The one in the middle took up one of my arm rests and probably about a third of my seat, making it virtually impossible to sleep. When I did finally doze off, I was rudely awakened as one or both of them had to use the bathroom and they needed to get out.

I was excited to get off the train when we arrived in Agra. There were a lot fewer people here than in Baroda, and it was a great deal cleaner. This happiness lasted about ten minutes or so however, as even at eight in the morning, it was blistering hot outside. We took an air conditioned car to our hotel after a bite to eat. Although the temperature in this vehicle was phenomenal, the dreadful road conditions and the traffic until we got to the highway were adding to the stomach pain I was experiencing.

When we reached our hotel and saw our rooms, it was like paradise. The room was air conditioned, the beds and pillows were soft (for once), and we had a shower with hot water and a showerhead with proper water pressure. Additionally, we had a television with English channels and free Wi-Fi access. We relaxed here until mid-afternoon, sipping drinks, taking naps and the like. We then went and visited the Taj Mahal.

We arrived at the West Gate of the Taj Mahal, and waited in line to purchase tickets. One line was for foreigners, while the other was for native Indians and Indian tourists. The latter (and the one I was in), of course, was significantly cheaper, much to the regret of my peers. After acquiring, we were searched very thoroughly before being admitted in. The Taj Mahal was a site to see. I had been before, when in middle school, but I think I enjoyed this experience significantly more as I was able to better appreciate and understand its intrinsic beauty. We spent about three hours taking pictures and looking around one of the great Wonders of the World. We then returned to our hotel and enjoyed the rest of the night.

We left the next morning for Delhi, but stopped on the way to see Akbar’s Tomb. Akbar was, at least in the eyes of Hindus and Indians, the kindest and greatest emperors of the Mughal Dynasty, which ruled over India in the 17^th century. The Mughal monument made in his honor was also beautifully and intricately designed, and we spent a good hour here before leaving for Delhi. The ride to Delhi was about five hours long. Rather than spending the night in Delhi like some of the other interns, Rachel, Andy, and I decided to head back to Baroda that night. Since we left the hotel in Agra so late, we were unable to really see any of the tourist attractions in Delhi, much to our regret.

We booked a bus from Delhi to Ahmedabad, a city about an hour away from Baroda, as there was no transportation directly to Baroda from Delhi. The bus was an air-conditioned sleeper of 18 hours, and what an experience it was. Andy  and I thought we had booked beds next to one another, but instead they were attached and a combined 6 feet long by 4 feet wide by 3 feet high. Sharing practically a twin sized bed between two people was quite something. Nonetheless, we were tired enough, and would doze off for about hour long chunks. The bus had no bathroom aboard, and as a result stopped every two hours for anyone who needed to go.  When it did stop, as did the air-conditioning until everyone was back on board, making it too hot to remain asleep if you had been before the stop. At about seven in the morning, we unknowingly stopped in Udaipur, where we were told we had to switch buses. About an hour later we boarded an air-conditioned non-sleeper and continued our journey.

When we finally reached Ahmedabad a little after noon, we were all in a bit of a funk, and we still had to get to Baroda. We stopped for food, and then ended up taking a rickshaw to Baroda, quite stupid on our part the more and more I think about it. Instead of the 90 minute ride we would have experienced in a car, we were crammed into a small, uncomfortable vehicle for three straight hours after having been on the road since 10:30 am the previous day. After 30 hours of constant travelling, I couldn’t be happier to be back in Baroda, and was about ready to pass out. 

City Market

I went to the City Market of Baroda the other day to do some shopping. The place was nothing as I envisioned. About a kilometer long square in the middle of the city, the market probably had hundreds of stores selling all kinds of clothes, jewelry, food, and the like. Small streets within the kilometer square served as dividers, separating one row of stores from the next, and providing pedestrians with a walkway from one store to the next. The streets were filthy and crowded with what seemed like thousands of people. As is the norm in India, people were shoving their way along the crowd trying to find what they had come here for.  I do not know why, but motorcyclists and bikers were also trying to make their ways past all the foot traffic (it would have been significantly quicker and simpler to just drive around the market). Shop owners and their employees, meanwhile, were on the streets trying to do anything to attract customers. The scene was loud and chaotic.

We walked into a couple of stores and were heckled from the start. In India, the employees come to you Irregardless of whether you need help. If you tell them that you are just looking and that you do not need help, they start telling you about every which item they have, and how it all would look so great on you or make a good gift for your family or friends. If you tell them again very nicely that you don’t need their help, they shut up but follow you around the store, keeping a close eye on you or looking very annoyingly over your shoulder.

We spent about three hours at the market, and bought clothes, jewelry, and two toy Rickshaws after some serious price bartering. When making a purchase in India, especially at a place like the City Market with hundreds of small stores, there are no price tags on purchasable items. If you want to buy something you have to ask the merchant how much. Seeing that you are a foreigner (not so much me but all the white people I was with), they’ll try to royally screw you. The only way to get a fair price is to act like a jerk, and try and screw them. When we were purchasing the toy Rickshaws for example, the guy tried to sell them to us for a hundred rupees (like two dollars). We said, “I’ll buy one from you for 30 rupees” (essentially like 70% off, and about 60 cents in value), and we compromised on 50 rupees. Then, instead of buying from this guy, we went and told a nearby vendor that this guy would sell us a Rickshaw for 50 rupees, and that we’d buy from him if he’d sell it for 30 rupees. He immediately agreed. Then we asked him if he’d sell two toy Rickshaws for 40 rupees, and we eventually agreed to purchasing two toy Rickshaws for 50 rupees (1 dollar). So, essentially, we acted like jerks, but this was required to get a fair price. In fact, that they were willing to sell us an item at 25% of the price they initially asked for also showed that they were trying to rip us off, so I didn’t feel bad doing the same to them.

Bartering is the way almost everything goes in India, from rickshaw rides to purchases at all small stores. So, simply put, if you are not willing to be a jerk, India is not the place for you. Unless you are okay with getting ripped off and taken advantage of everywhere you go.

First Rains

With the dust storm quickly subsiding, we grabbed all the mangoes we could find, and headed indoors. The rains began just a few moments later. The skies turned from a sandy color to dark blue. As it began raining harder and harder, Andy and I decided to go out on the terrace in the rain. Without power, it was sweltering hot and humid indoors; it was much cooler out in the rain. The rains came in waves. At times, it was raining so hard that it felt like we were being pelted by the rain. Other times it felt like the rain would stop for good. Meanwhile, Andy and I were having a blast in the rain. Running around the terrace dancing in the rain was a good deal of fun. I started doing push-ups I was so excited. The drainage systems being pretty poor, water piled up quick, and Andy and I were running around splashing one another, and lying down in it. Many others were out on their rooftops and nearby streets, waving at us and dancing like fools too.

Only the monkeys weren't happy for the rains. They were jumping from rooftop to rooftop, from tree to tree, trying to find shelter. A family of monkeys found the shelter they were looking for on the second story of our neighbors’ house. An overhang was protecting them from the rain, and they were content to stay there until the rain subsided, much to the regret of our neighbors. Angered that the monkeys were taking shelter in her house, our neighbor got onto the terrace of her neighbor, and started throwing bricks and mangoes at the monkeys trying to shoo them away. Andy and I found this hugely entertaining as we were running around trying to take pictures of her trying to do all she could to make the monkeys leave. Her efforts were futile of course, the monkeys too agile and too many in number (this made it infinitely funnier).

Drenched after a half hour of pure enjoyment in the rain, we dried off inside, and waited for the power to come on. The rains finally stopped as the sun set. My uncle took us around town to help pass the time, but unfortunately, even when returned, the power was not back. Instead, it was dark, and hot, and humid. Unable to read a book or get on the computer as the battery in mine needed to be charged, I tried to go to sleep. This, however, was not possible as all was doing was sweating profusely. I decided to bring a sheet up to the terrace, in hopes of falling asleep there, as it was much cooler. I awoke the next morning around 5 am to a plane taking off from the nearby Baroda airport, and luckily the power had returned.  

Dust Storm of the Century

At 4 pm yesterday, it was sweltering hot. At 115 degrees Fahrenheit, it was probably the hottest day here. Not only was it hot, but it was also humid, as it had rained briefly yesterday. The AIESEC office being locked, we decided to walk to a nearby temple, eager for something to do on our day off. As we headed over there, the sky went from being white and cloudless to a sandy color with clouds beginning to appear. After seeing what looked like the Apocalypse to us, we decided to reschedule the temple visit, and head home quick. Meanwhile, it began. Winds picked up, and dust and sand began collecting in the air. The sky, still looking sandy, had quite a few clouds now. Slightly scared, and definitely awe-struck by the series of events of the past fifteen minutes, Andy and I started walking briskly, trying to catch a rickshaw as fast as possible. We finally did, and were on our way back.

As we drove towards home, the dust storm seemed to gain strength. Powerful gusts of wind were followed collections of sand and dust, lightly pelting our legs through the open rickshaw. I had dust in my eyes, ears, and mouth, as I observed what was going on around me. Cows, usually relaxed and casually walking around, were now running as fast as the could, much to my amusement, across main roads, trying I assume to find areas of shelter. Branches were falling from trees, as dust and sand continued to spiral around Baroda, wreaking havoc in Baroda. It was truly a sight to see. We reached home at last, and saw the remaining mangoes fall from the tree nearby. The power went out shortly after.

And then the rains began. 

Rickshaws and the Weather

Just yesterday, I was in a rickshaw on the way to work, and my rickshaw bumped into a motorcycle. The two were each probably only going around 15 kph when they hit. Despite the collision nothing happened. The two drivers looked at one another briefly, then screamed obscenities at one another (I think) for like 10 seconds and then continued going along their merry way. No information was exchanged between drivers, and no police came by to give citations or access fees/court dates.

I have yet to see a speed limit sign in Baroda, or a policeman do anything. Nothing on the road is enforced, as people at times drive on whichever side of road they please, the poor sleep on the medians, and drivers always honk and sometimes even bump into one another. Chaos and disorder are two good words to describe the streets of India.

It has been blistering hot over here. Not one day has it rained. The lack of A/C units means the best there is to offer are fans. Spend a minute away from one, and you will start sweating profusely. Applying sunscreen is a must to avoid sunburns, but it seems to attract sweat, or at least collect it on my arms and legs. I feel like the sun is piercing my skin if I am outside anytime from noon until 4. Definitely the hottest weather I've ever experienced in my life.

I have gotten significantly tanner.