India: A New Journey
Greetings from New Delhi,
Today we write from the very busy city of New Delhi, India. Our IES peer leaders have given us a tour around this wonderful city, and allowed us to have our first taste of Indian culture. As our BRIC experience enters its last month, India is starting to become a great close for our BRIC experience!
After having a crash course on all the “do’s and don’ts” regarding eating Indian cuisine, many of us in the have started to try a wide variety of Indian dishes. On our second day in Delhi, we were treated to an Indian restaurant where 8 different dishes where served all on one plate! This mix of Indian curry with white rice, bread, and sauces left us with a deep love of India’s delicious cuisine. Many of us have become Indian cuisine enthusiasts, and look forward to eating more of these extremely tasty foods!
With our peer guides, several of us have visited monuments and tourist areas in the Delhi area. About five of us visited The Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, one of the most prominent Sikh houses of worship. Sikh followers and visitors are asked to take off their shoes before entering this sacred place, and are asked to remain in a state of solidarity when entering the temple. A large pool stands right next to the temple, where Sikh followers can reflect, pray, and bless themselves or others with the scared water. Overall, this was a great experience for our members and allowed us to appreciate the various faiths in India.
Several of us have also experienced the thrill of riding an Indian Rickshaw, a small three wheeled automobile that serves as a one of the primary means of transportation in India. Although some of us have become somewhat overwhelmed by the transportation vehicles in Delhi, many of us have come to appreciate India’s “organized chaos” when traveling from place to place. As the world’s largest democracy and an emerging economy, the concept of “organized chaos” is a theme we all look forward to seeing more and more during our stay in India.
More to come soon!
– Guy, Andrew A, Marissa