Last day in India!

After finally getting a full night’s sleep, we were ready for our last day in India. We hired a taxi driver to take us to an elephant park, located about an hour and half outside of Cochin. Riding an elephant in India was imperative to me. Our driver was named Thomas (I’m going to venture to say that was not his real name) and was a really friendly and considerate guy. We got to the elephant park a few minutes late and unfortunately missed being able to wash them in the river. My friends who had gotten there before us said you took giant brushes and scrubbed every inch of them while they wallowed in the water. The park had a small zoo with tons of monkeys and deer-like animals. It was definitely no San Diego, but it was cool. After about an hour it was finally time for us to ride the elephants! They came sauntering up, and we climbed up a ladder to board them. We went completely bare back, and let me tell you they have porcupine hair covering their whole body. Besides the fact I was in fear for my life because I thought I would fall off at any moment, it was awesome! Their ears were so soft and were a nice massager for my feet.





I was too scared to touch the baby elephant.


I just thought this guy's face was funny.


After saying a sad goodbye to the elephants, we were off once more to go on a sight seeing tour with Thomas. He would stop periodically to show us the local crops, including pineapple fields, cashew trees, rubber trees, and papaya trees. We stopped by a local beach and visited a local Catholic Church that houses the remains of Vasco da Gama. We went to Fort Cochin, which is home to the famous Chinese fishing nets. They are huge nets that are dropped in the water and then lifted up after a few minutes. The catch is then sold at vendors right up the dock. They are quite beautiful contraptions.







To end the day we did random souvenir shopping, where I bought some gorgeous Indian jewelry. As we took the long ride back where our boat was ported, I reflected on the last six days. Besides being livid at Semester at Sea and the tour company for having us sit on a bus for hours on end and then seeing the Taj Mahal for only forty-five minutes (I’m not bitter or anything), I had really mixed feelings on my experience. I found myself for the first time at a port wanting to get back on the boat. I was tired of side stepping over the mounds of trash, I was tired of only tasting dirt every time I ate, and most of all I was tired of constantly being surrounded by absolute desolate conditions. I tried really hard not to feel this way by thinking about all of the amazing experiences I had, but my yearn to leave continued to overshadow them. For me I could escape. I could go back to the sterile conditions on the boat, I could stop worrying about malaria and coating my body in bug spray, and I could trust that the water I drank at dinner wasn’t carrying a disease that would force me in the bathroom for hours. For all those people I left behind, these worries and many, many more would not end. This thought haunted me.

Since I left India I have struggled to end this post, not knowing my final thoughts. Tonight I think I found it. I went to a seminar on “Finding your bliss”, where a couple discussed their journey through life and, by disregarding pressures from culture, society, family, and stigma, how they came to find what really made them happy. At the end of the session, we were asked to close our eyes and ask ourselves if we could do anything in life what would it be. The answer that immediately popped in my head was that I would want to go back to India and help those beggar children that followed me in the streets lead a better life. I don’t know at what point in my life I will be able to go back, but it is a goal I want to achieve in the future.

Annecdote
3/15/2010: Sorry Mom and Dad for the short notice, but you should probably start preparing my dowry, I think I accidentally committed to marriage to an Indian stranger. We asked our taxi driver about his family, and he said he had two sons. I asked if they had families and he said his son who was an engineer was single. He then proceeded to ask if I wanted to marry him, and jokingly I said of course. This was a bad idea. Thomas immediately got out his cell phone, called his son, and put me on the phone. It was quite an awkward conversation, telling a complete stranger that his father wanted us to get married. Upon hearing this the son responded in a completely serious tone, “Ok, yes!”….oops.