India Trip

India Trip 2008

2008-03-17T22:00:00.007-05:00

My dad and I and others from the university took a 5-hour bus ride from Fairfield to O'Hare Airport in Chicago on February 8 (Friday), and from there we flew to London. We ended up missing our plane to Delhi because the travel agent we used had booked the flights too close together. We spent about 4 hours in the London Heathrow airport trying to get a flight to India. The agent behind the desk told us that all the flights to Delhi had been booked — but finally he was able to get us a flight to Calcutta (Kolkata).

We had checked our luggage in Chicago all the way to Delhi, so our luggage ended up going to Delhi instead of Kalkata. When we got to Kalkata, we filed papers for our luggage. So my dad and I were without our luggage the whole time we were in India. We ended up buying some kurtas. Our luggage ended up being returned to us a few weeks after we got back to Fairfield. This actually made traveling easier for us in one way – we didn't have big bags to haul around. We learned that when you go to India, you really don't need to take much. Whatever few things you really need you can get there.

From Kolkata we flew to Patna (a city of about a million people). It took about 2 hours. From Patna we took an overnight train, packed with people, to Allahabad and got there in the morning. We checked in at our hotel, then took a little car from our hotel to Maharishi's Ashram and ended up getting there at 10:00 in the morning on Monday (the 11th), the day of the ceremony.

It was quite hot in Allahabad. We were there the whole day. At the end of the day, as we were leaving, a car pulled up alongside my dad and me. In the front seat was Bevan and in the he back was Maharaja Raam. Bevan introduced us to Maharaja Raam, who rolled down his window and we exchange a Jai Guru Dev. This was the closest I've gotten to Maharaja Raam.

The next day, the 12th, we went back to Maharishi's ashram in Allahabad where we spent most of the day and went down to the Sangam, a confluence of three rivers, the Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati, where the ceremony continued on boats out in the river.

On the 13th, we traveled to Veranasi, a 4-hour drive, where we spent the day for the continuation of the ceremony. Varanasi is one of India's holiest and most ancient cities. All the great saints and sages of India have walked its streets and bathed in the river there. In the evening, we traveled back to Allahabad, another 4 hours. This like driving from Fairfield to St. Louis and back.

We stayed at a hotel in Allahabad called the Hotel Prayag, about 30 minutes from Maharishi's ashram. My dad and I shared a room on the 3rd floor. Here is the view we saw every day on the way down to the first floor. With all the traffic outside, it was very noisy till quite late at night.

We had Thursday the 14th free, and on the 15th, Friday, we had the chance to go with Chris and Benji Jones to Agra to see the Taj Mahal and the Red Fort. Agra is on the way to Delhi, so this was a convenient trip to make during our last few days. We took a train from Allahabad to Agra, a 9-hour ride, also packed with people. Throughout the ride there were porters walking up and down the aisles carrying different kinds of Indian food, freshly made in the pantry car. It smelled delicious but we didn't buy any. We had left at about 1:00 in the afternoon and got to Agra at around 9:00 p.m., where we were met by a driver who took us to our hotel – a much nicer hotel than the one in Allahabad.

We had a great meal in the rotating restaurant at the top of the hotel, spent the night in a hotel, then had our first hot showers in a week and slept in nice clean and warm beds. The next day we visited the Taj Mahal and Red Fort and an amazing place where traditional crafts are sold – woolen Kashmir rugs and inlaid marble tables and silk clothing. We had our own car and driver and a personal tour guide. The guide even took us to a "rural" section of town where he had grown up (very poor) and then to the wedding ceremony of one of his cousins (a lavish, beautiful affair with lots of people and lots of food – the ceremony was nearing the end of the second day).

The Taj Mahal is the most beautiful building we had ever seen. No photograph can compare with standing in front of it. It looks like some kind of living thing that floated down from the heavens.

The Red Fort is the largest fort in India, an enormous network of buildings and palaces that encloses 300 acres. From here the Moguls controlled the whole country for several hundred years.

The driver took us to Delhi that night, another 4-hour ride that got us there after midnight. We spent the night in Delhi. On Sunday, the 17th, we visited the amazing Akshardam Temple, and ended the day with a delicious home-made dinner at the house of the travel agent who arranged our trip in Agra.

We left India on Monday the 18th. We flew to London and from there back to the Chicago. We stayed overnight with my grandparents in the Chicago area and the next day drove with a friend of ours back to Fairfield.

It took almost three days to get from Fairfield, Iowa, to Allahabad, India, and about about as long to get back, and we were there only about a week. So on one level it was an arduous trip. But it was also momentous and historic and I will never forget it.

Pictures:

Afghanistan mountains - On the way to London from Delhi

Trip Pictures

2006-04-15T21:00:00.001-05:00

Here are some pictures of my 2006 trip to India.

Do I have to go home?

2006-03-16T12:19:00.004-06:00

I just heard about a week ago that the parliaments will end March 23 which means that Aaron and I will be going back home to Iowa.

We will leave the campus on March 27, fly to Delhi, and stay 2 nights, so we can shop and buy Kurtas and such. We will be flying home on the 31st of March.

I really don't want to leave India!
I will see everyone soon
Jai Guru Dev

Greetings from India!

2006-03-05T12:18:00.003-06:00

I feel very blessed to be in India at this time and to have been invited by Bevan and Maharishi.

It was Bevans’s idea that I should come and join my dad. Bevan had to check with Maharishi first and the response was “of course he can come”.

The plane flight was 14 hours from Chicago straight to Delhi.

Aaron Hirshberg and I stayed in Delhi for two nights since there were no flights to Jabalpur until Thursday February 9th.

The next day Aaron and I went shopping for Kurtas and pajamas in the market near our hotel. The market was quite an experience, traffic didn't stop and horns honked constantly.

You have to be careful or you could get run over. Also, you shouldn’t put your arm out the window of any moving vehicle or you could risk loosing it.

The next day, we flew from Delhi to Jabalpur where a bus was waiting at the airport to take us to the Maharishi VidyaMandir (a Maharishi School). We stayed there for about 6 hours where we just relaxed after the flight.

They provided us food (chi, cookies, and Ruffles potato chips). The potato chips were great! In India, they don't make them with all the bad ingredients like they do in the US and they are not genetically engineered.

The kids at the Maharishi school were very sweet and even asked for our autographs (I felt like a famous person or rock star). While we were there we did some more shopping for Kurtas, ate at a vegetarian restaurant, and even played Frisbee with the Maharishi School kids.

In the afternoon a different school bus took us to the campus were we would be staying the next two months or maybe longer. The bus ride to the campus was quite long (about 2 hours or so). For some reason, it seemed longer to me. I think it's because we stopped a lot.

At one stop, I tried my first sip of Coca-Cola in India. It tasted great! Aaron purchased a big bottle of it to share with everyone (me, the bus driver and the Indian who came along with us) I noticed that every now and than, the bus driver would say "Coca-cola" so Aaron would have to get the bottle out and fill everyone's cup.

When we arrived at the campus, it was about 7:00 PM. The weather here (about 2 hours from Jabalpur) during the day is about 90 degrees and goes down to the low 60s at night.

The power here at the campus is quite unreliable. It can go off at just about anytime. We have Internet here. I just heard that our connection just got upgraded from our current one (512 mbps) to 2.7 mbps. It's quite fast now!

A typical day here includes long program in the morning in our rooms, lunch at 12:00, a parliament in the afternoon, then Rudra Bhishek yagya at around 3:00 PM which lasts for about 2-3 hours. After the yagya we do program again. The parliaments last for about 3 days and on the third day we get a day off.

I really enjoy the Indian food. The food is prepared in a kitchen under open flames. The chapattis and lassis here are excellent!

I spoke with my friend, Justin Cutter, who brought his Bansuri (bamboo) flute with him (I brought mine). Last week we got together and played a few Ragas. We played for about 45 minutes. The acoustics in his room were great! There was an echo in the room that made the flute sounds very full and made the experience incredible. When I walked out I felt as if I had been transformed.

This is all for now.

Wishing everyone all the best from the Brahmasthan of India.
Jai Guru Dev!