In the Vancouver airport. Last leg home. See you soon!

The India Trip Travelers

Last day in India

From Charlotte:

Today we are heading back to Portland. Last night we couldn't believe we were already leaving India. During our trip, each day felt like a week but as out trip came to a close the days felt shorter and shorter. Though we are all happy to come home and meet up with our family and friends again, we are already missing being with the whole group and the daily adventure thatIndia has provided us for the past two weeks. 

Personally, my favorite moment was when we were rafting down the Ganges and my whole raft all jumped out and body surfed one of the last few rapids. We all jumped mid rapid and held hands as the water took us for a ride. We got a lot of Holy Ganga water in our mouths, all our sins were washed away, and we had a great exhilarating time.

Religion, Belief, Spirituality —by Elliott

Religion, Belief, Spirituality —by Elliott

For my blog, and for the lack of my creativity, I will be writing on some “conclusions” on religion that I have come to from my time in India. Now, I put conclusions in parentheses because they aren’t so much conclusions as they are thoughts that have popped into my head and stuck around until now. As fair warning, most of them, if not all, will be woefully inaccurate, but hopefully they are somewhat interesting. The first week of this trip, traveling around visiting Mosques, Temples, Shrines, etc. was where my speculation began. As we traveled from place to place, I could not help but notice that at some of them, as breathtaking as they were, had lost their original aura, the real sense that you were in a truly sacred space. I say some of them because there were still so many that absolutely astounded me and I could truly feel that sense of awe that, to many people, their lives were centered around the belief of whatever place we were visiting. However, when we visited places like the Taj Mahal and Akshardham and various other places of worship, they felt corrupted, and almost broken. Some of these once truly sacred places, in my eyes, had turned into tourist traps and places to collect money. Luckily, occasions where I felt those feelings were much rarer then the times that I was blown away with the information and dedication of people to the religions and places of religion that we visited.  

Ok, really poor transition but I want to talk a little about spirituality and religion in a different sense/ something that I am very glad I realized while on this trip and then I’ll be done. I have often felt like religion is so fixed and that it can never be what you truly want it to be. Turns out, that’s not true. The place I felt the most “spiritual” the most “connected with some greater power” I suppose you could say, wasn’t in any temple and it wasn’t connected to any particular religion. It was sitting on a rock at the top of a hike overlooking the Himalayas. This might not be the same for any other person on the trip but for me it was a profound realization that religion or belief or whatever you would like to refer to it as, can be whatever you want it to be. It’s a pretty hippie dippie thing to say but it’s what I found to be true. Anyway, thanks for tuning in. —Elliott

Scenes from Amritsar

Note the green sign...

In the memorial for the 1919 massacre by the British.  Note the shapes of the topiary.

Sent from my iPhone

Scenes from Rishikesh March 23 & 24

Scenes from Rishikesh March 23 & 24

Here are some scenes from our brief stay in Rishikesh.

Monkeys on the roadside as we left Rishikesh. Notice the baby monkey being held by the monkey on the right.

Golden Temple — Nina

Golden Temple — by Nina

During our last stretch the whole group is touring around Amristar. Upon our arrival to the new city, it was clear how different the city was to previous destinations on the trip. From a religious perspective, the Punjab region is around 60% Sikh, and the base of the Sikh religion. There is also a strong sense of Islamic influence around the city.

Today, we visited the Golden Temple. The Golden Temple is the most important Sikh location of worship around the world. Dave emphasized the relevance of the Temple today. The visitors at the temple ranged from locals, tourists and Sikhs from around the globe visiting on pilgrimage. Part of our sight seeing included a visit to the kitchen at the temple. For all of the pilgrims, the Temple provided free masala chai as well as food. We all tried our hand stirring curry and making food, but I frankly wasn’t too great at it. It was quite astonishing to see the mere number of people who flooded into the dining area. Babbu, our tour guide spoke of the community aspect surrounding the Temple. His family owned 12 buffalos and 4 cows, and to serve the community, they donated around 12 liters of milk on a daily basis to the temple. He also mentioned the thousands of volunteers who come to volunteer in their spare time. This to me reinforced the community values that surrounded the Sikh community as well as the greater Punjab region. —Nina

A Tale of Two Nations —by Ibrahim

(Written post-Wagah)

A Tale of Two Nations

Sunday, March 25^th, Wagah Border Ceremony:

Cheers, drums, and music filled our ears as we approached what seemed to be a cauldron of passion at the border between India and Pakistan just west of Amritsar. As we entered, the sun was picturesquely glistening over the twin stadiums at the border. Each arena seemed to be designed specifically to upstage the other, with intense militaristic imagery on both sides. On the road leading to the border, I couldn't help but feel that the event was almost treated as an advertisement for India’s BSF (Border Security Force). In the stadium itself a massive poster, showcasing the BSF’s top general and reading “India’s first line of defense,” was angled directly at the seating of Pakistan’s border. Of course, Pakistan had its own military recruitment imagery framed in an incredibly similar way, showing off the Pakistan Rangers in English and Urdu. It was incredible how every single aspect of the retreat ceremony was done with incredible cooperation from both sides, yet with the goal of outdoing the other in displays of fervent nationalism. This ran as deep as the angling of the speakers that projected chants, with Indian viewers only able to hear “Vande Mataram!” and Pakistani viewers confined to “Pakistan Zindabad!”. Even in the rare moments where one side’s chant would briefly fall silent, the sound of a roaring crowd would be blasted over the speakers simply to block sound from the opposing side. 

In many ways, the border ceremonyt reflected the nature of the two nations interestingly. On the Pakistani side, the non-secular nature of the nation was displayed very clearly, with religious chants being accepted as the norm and even verses of the Quran being recited before the ceremony. This contrast was very prominent for me personally as half of my family is Indian, and the other half is Pakistani. I joked with some friends beforehand that I had better keep my mouth shut during the chanting for fear of “choosing a side.” In a way it was almost sad, because it was a physical manifestation of my identity displayed before me, but in the context of rivalry and borderline hatred. 

As I watched the ceremony unfold, I felt very much caught in the crossfire. Although I have immense pride for both my Indian and Pakistani heritage, I couldn’t participate in any of it as it was almost explicitly deemed mutually exclusive. The only brief moment of unity between the two nations was a firm handshake between two of the guards as the gate was opened. Otherwise, the ceremony consisted of intense posturing, with guards on both sides quite literally flexing their muscles at each other to the roars of their compatriots. 

Personally, I believe that this narrative of eternal competition and otherness between is inherently false. Even in the chaos and violence of partition, compassion shined through the mobs of religious fanatics roving from village to village and contributing to the slaughter of millions. My own grandmother for example, exchanged her home in Amritsar, India with a Sikh family living in Faisalabad, Pakistan to ensure the safety of both families. I believe this legacy of unity still shines through the generations after partition in the everyday lives of Indian’s and Pakistanis (my parents did marry each other for Pete’s sakes). 

I don’t think enough people realize how close the two nations really are in terms of history and culture. If you ask a Pakistani who their favorite actor or actress is, I could almost guarantee they would name a Bollywood star. However, many of these Bollywood stars vibrantly dance to songs sung by Pakistani musicians. While there are minor differences in Pakistani and India culture, these differences are caused by isolation from the other nation. This isolation has only deepened the animosity between the two countries and unfortunately cost too many lives. Despite this hatred, I truly believe that both countries are far more alike than they care to admit. —Ibrahim A.