India Day 1

I first became aware of India when I was a Junior at Central Catholic High School. Mr. Shultz showed Gandhi to his religion class. I remember being very moved by the movie and the man that was Gandhi. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would find myself in India. Late Monday evening after a grueling 14 hour flight, I took my first steps on Indian soil. I had tried to do my research about the country. Obviously I knew a little more than I did all those years ago. Unfortunately, I still felt unprepared for what I experienced today. Delhi really is a complete contradiction. There is a booming economy in India, but the poverty is unbelievable. It is also very weird to be staying in a 5 star hotel and walk around the corner and be slapped in the face with a homeless family sleeping in the middle of the road. Despite this poverty, I witnessed some beautiful moments of humanity.

The morning started with a nice breakfast on the hotel patio. As always, I have been trying to expand my tastes. I tried some crazy fruit that looked like it had poppy seeds in it, though I had to pass on the baked beans? I never really thought of that as a morning snack. A driver has been arranged for me to tour the city. I had a schedule as well, but due to the traffic in Delhi, any sort of time management gets thrown out the window. I have been to a lot of countries and been in various forms of transportation, but India gets the prize for the craziest motorists. There is absolutely no law. I am totally surprised that Mr. Sanjay (driver) did not kill anyone. We did come close to an elderly man on a bike. My lofty goal of seeing 6 monuments today fell pretty short.

My first destination was the Lotus Temple. It is a beautiful Bahai temple located just down the road from our hotel. I was shocked when I heard someone yelling my name in the distance. The only person I knew in the country was in an office doing interviews. It turned out that the woman I sat next to on the flight was leaving the Temple. Looking back on the day, I should have taken this as a sign. There are thousands of people everywhere, and I run into the one person that vaguely knows me. What are the chances? The temple was absolutely gorgeous and the brief introduction to the Bahai faith has definitely intrigued me. It makes me proud to say that we have a temple over on the Westside of Cincinnati. I was a little nervous when I had to give up my shoes before entering the Temple. I trust people, but I never know how much I should trust them.

After a quick prayer, I made my way to Humayun’s Tomb (see picture below). I spent a while walking around the expansive complex. I really started to find my photographic eye at the Tomb. I took my time walking around and didn’t rush anything. I would sit in an area with heavy foot traffic and wait for the shot. I decided that this would be the smartest way to spend my time once I reached my next destination, Akshar Dham Temple. Imagine a few mega-churches and you might begin to come close to how large this facility is. I am told that it is the largest Temple in Asia? I wouldn’t be able to tell you much about the place due to my lack of faith with leaving expensive equipment with complete strangers. Instead I decided to sit under a lamp and let the pictures come to me. My energy was beginning to drag by this point and I was totally overcome by the scene that presented itself. There was a young man who looked to have some sort of mental disability. He was playing with what appeared to be his niece. She would run around and he would clap. Then he would chase after her and scoop her into his arms. Both would scream with laughter. Yes, this is extremely cheesy and sappy, but in a town that shows you the worst of what humanity has to offer, it is always nice to see that there is still beauty in it.

The day just got better from there. I met a few members of a marching band who wanted to shake my hand and have their picture taken. Again, where in the world do you just see a marching band walking down the street? I ended the evening with my friend Jon and I having a nice dinner in the Club Lounge. It was a long day, but one that was very productive from a photographic standpoint.

Now for a few random thoughts and observations:

1. The weirdest thing that I saw today was the ivory toothpick/ear cleaner that Gandhi used. I would have never put those two items together?
2. India marketing strategy is very odd. They keep showing a commercial with people seductively dancing and making innuendo’s about having sex. The commercial is for golf products.
3. My computer is running an old system of Mac OSX. Plus it needs some more memory. Plus we are having internet issues. Therefore I have had to keep the number of photos small and unedited. I hope you like them anyway.
4. Dumbledore is gay! At least this is what Yahoo news tells me. Wow the things I miss out on when I leave the country.

Tomorrow, we go to the Indian suburbs. I am told that it is the West Chester of Delhi. I hope they have an Ikea! (West Chester is a suburb of Cincinnati in case you didn’t know that)