017 Of Muskaan and McDonald's

We started the morning early, heading to IDSA to attend some lectures that had already been arranged. The first was by a company that focused its efforts on creating sustainable efforts for bettering the lives of the less fortunate in India, and that was a truly interesting talk that we had the opportunity to listen to.

One of the day's speakers.

The company provides multitudes of resources for villages, such as basic amenities, and even helps to teach illiterate women how to read Hindi which to me is an incredible effort. Rather than providing a handout, the company provides a hand up, essentially embodying the lesson, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a life time.” The fact that this company (obvious yet that I can't remember its name?) is providing the means for those from less fortunate backgrounds to be successful is commendable, and I love that such continued and devoted efforts are being emphasized in India.

After the lecture, the group had the wonderful opportunity to visit an NGO that is currently providing education for children and adults with special needs, called Muskaan.

Muskaan's founders.

The efforts that are being taken are inspiring and I was so glad that we had had the chance to listen to Muskaan’s founder speak, as well as tour the school’s facilities. Muskaan provides training for its students who are capable, to live independent lives, and provides an opportunity for other students to live at the very least, meaningful ones. It was so wonderful to hear about all the classes and training that Muskaan provides, not only to students with special needs, but also to their parents. Individuals who have special needs are still marginalized and oftentimes ostracized in India, and who can say the situation is any better back home? That some of these children have the chance to feel appreciated and loved to me, was amazing. During the talk at Muskaan, one issue that came up was that they hardly receive any government funding, which was heartbreaking. I feel like organizations such as Muskaan should be given as much help as they need within reason, especially when they’re turning people that would have originally been shunned into productive members of society. After the talk, we had the opportunity to purchase some of the products that the Muskaan students had made, and purchase we did!

Some of the products made by Muskaan students.

Business-savvy kids.

All in all, it was a fascinating and inspiring experience. And we later found out that Muskaan means “smile”! :)

After Muskaan, we returned to FIIB and were soon joined by the FIIB students. We had quick lunches (Subway! Boss!) and soon headed off to our market research project together. My team, consisting of Jarred and Aaron, was paired up with two FIIB students, Vinayak and Riddhi, who were tons of fun. We ended up choosing McDonald’s to survey and were sent to South Extension Market to get our research completed.

South Extension Market.

It was pretty cool.

Our research project choice: McDonald's. (read: LAZY FATTIES)

We camped out in McDonald’s and set up our game plan, choosing to talk to that McDonald’s customers, employees and manager.

Indians are just like us. Basically.

We took turns surveying the customers and essentially got great responses and learned a lot about the differences between McDonald’s India and McDonald’s America. Much like back in the States, McDonald’s in India are franchises as well. McDonald’s has done phenomenally well in India, beating out even the likes of KFC, which honestly surprised me as KFC’s primary product is chicken whereas McDonald’s is well-known for its beef products, which a majority of Indians cannot eat due to cultural/religious restrictions. One reason for this is because of McDonald’s adaptation of their menu to suit local tastes. Beef products have been eliminated completely from their menu in India. In fact, the company doesn’t even use “beef-based oil” to fry their products anymore after a scandal and a lawsuit that ended up with millions of Indian customers boycotting their products.Yikes. McDonald’s India offers cheap products that are considered by most of their customers to be of supremely high quality (versus in America, where McDonald’s is considered junk food by just about everybody).

Another interesting difference we observed was the function McDonald’s plays in India versus the function it plays in America. Back in the States, most people view food from McDonald’s as a cheap, easy and convenient meal that you grab on the go or if you’re in a hurry. In India, no one goes to McDonald’s alone – eating at the restaurant is a family/social affair. You go with your friends with the intention of hanging out and spending time together. Also, while McDonald’s in the United States relies heavily on its drive-thru, many of the Indian customers we talked to either had no concept of what a drive-thru was or simply laughed at the idea. One customer asked us, “Have you SEEN Indian traffic?” which was a point well made. After talking to some of the employees, we found that there are no negative perceptions to working in McDonald’s in India the way there are in the States. In fact, a lot of the workers were college students who were trying to make some extra spending money while studying to obtain their degrees. Unfortunately, the manager was too busy to set aside some time to talk with us about his role in the business, but he was kind enough to provide the number for the district office, so Jarred and Aaron will try to get a hold of him some time tomorrow.
After finishing up the project, we left South Ex with the rest of the group and headed back to IDSA. We had planned to grab some dinner with the FIIB students, but couldn’t coordinate transportation in time, so we ended up eating separately. Most of us walked to a restaurant right next to IDSA and had a pretty delicious meal before heading back to our rooms for bed.

Looks 'shopped.

Dinner + Friends!

Amazing Race tomorrow! Super excited!

016 Chandni Chowk

So, we finally arrived in Delhi today at around 10:00 and went back to the place we stayed the first time, IDSA. After unloading all of our luggage again and having it brought upstairs, we basically had to regroup and meet in the lobby as we would be having yet another excursion. Whee. Yeah. Not really.

This time to a market area called Chandni Chowk, a loud, bustling market that has existed in some form for decades, maybe even centuries. We met our tour guide and his assistant at the IDSA cafeteria, and soon we were off, not really knowing what to expect. When we first arrived, it was chaotic, to say the least. I suppose it’s hard to keep a group as large as ours coordinated while trying to provide information, especially in a place like Chandni Chowk.

 

To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t that impressed, and I wasn’t having a lot of fun, initially…it was warm, we were tired and we had no idea what we were doing or where we were going.

But I warmed up to Chandni Chowk quickly as we made our way through the crowded and noisy stores! There are so many random alley ways at Chandni Chowk that it’s remarkably easy to get lost, but each alley way serves a different function, and it was so much fun to see.

We went through the “spice district” of the market, and got to see workers and laborers hauling spices and seeds in large gunny sacks while sellers marketed and distributed their wares in such unique ways.

 

We went into a shop where one shopkeeper essentially only kept samples of his goods and conducted all of his business over the phone! It was so interesting to see the dichotomy of how Chandni Chowk functioned – most store keepers kept track of inventory or made sales pitches the way their fathers had and their fathers before them – many still had pictures of their ancestors on the wall as a sign of respect, perhaps even to garner their blessings. And yet, you would see shopkeepers sealing deals on cellphones or keeping track of accounting records on Microsoft Excel. I loved it!

We had the chance to walk down an alley where shops only sold materials for saris, and needless to say, I was blown away. I’ve basically decided that I’m going to get married in a traditional wedding sari and have an Indian wedding...it looks like too much fun not to. We were told that traditional wedding saris oftentimes have gold embroidered onto them and that bright colors are encouraged and enjoyed and I love this.

We also had the chance to try an Indian version of lemonade with spices. Not everyone enjoyed it and I can’t say it was my cup of tea, but what is life without experience, right?

Being adventurous! Pree, Afshar, Me, Senad.

We went to a traditional flower market within Chandni Chowk towards the end, where people can still go and purchase fresh flowers for the day – how wonderful is that? To get to the flower market though, we had to climb a flight of very steep stairs where apparently an important figure had slipped and fell and died, so that was not particularly encouraging…but once we got to the market, it was such an eye opening experience. The space for the market was tiny, and yet, it has been a steady provider of flowers for longer than anyone can remember and is a trade that is passed down from generation to generation…an aspect of culture I hope that India never loses.

We climbed even further up and got to the roof of the flower market and the view took my breath away. No beautiful scenery like that of Kabini or Corbett, but to have a bird’s eye view of Chandni Chowk and the thousands of people walking or driving or cycling around to get their business taken care of was incredible.

View from the top.

Being up there reminded me of how much I absolutely love this country! I enjoy so much that Indians have found ways to make their lives work regardless of how inefficient or ineffective outsiders may think it is. It’s so refreshing.

After leaving the flower market, we headed to get some food at a fast food restaurant called Haldiram’s.

The way you order food there is so different than a typical restaurant in America – you order your food at a counter and pay for it there, then you take it to a certain part of the restaurant, hand in your receipt and wait for your number to be called. Indians aren’t too fond of lines though, so you have to be willing to fight your way to your food! Scary! It was awesome though – I feel most alive when there’s a lot of noise and hustle and bustle around me. A lack of personal space is not a problem for me at all.

Especially when you see beautiful people everywhere.

It would appear the lack of personal space apparently was a problem for a few people though, who ended up crying because they were so overwhelmed. I felt bad for them…different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Oh, and we lost a few of our students somewhere along the way, which sent everyone into panic mode. We lost them when we went down an alleyway away from the main road…but what I didn’t understand was why we didn’t just go back to the main road. I mean, if I’m lost, I’m not going to go down alleyways looking for my group – I’m going to stay on the main road where there’s the most visibility, or I’m going to go back to a point where we had already been and wait there. But we weren’t allowed to do either…so we just stayed in the alleyway until we found the lost people.

The alleyway was super badass though.

Our tour guide was a little overzealous though, methinks – even after making people cry AND having to deal with the lost people fiasco, he still wanted to continue on the tour, which resulted in even more people crying. It was simultaneously sad and comical. So, a few people ended up staying right where they were, while the rest of us followed our tour guide down yet another random alleyway before we finally made our way back to IDSA.

Bye, Chandni Chowk!

After getting to IDSA, we had 15 minutes to get ready to head to FIIB for our reception. Out of control. We showed up and listened to a few speeches, and watched some performances by the FIIB students which were wonderful. We soon ate dinner and did our best to talk with some of the FIIB students without coming off as too weird, and eventually we went back to IDSA completely exhausted. 

015 Elephant Attack!

So today was a long day, to say the least, filled a whole bunch of random activities that were both fun and exhausting. We started the morning – you guess it! – before the crack of dawn, and went on a safari at close to 6 in the morning. It was still dark when we left our rooms to get to the jeeps and not everyone was a happy camper. I don’t think any of us were expecting it be so cold, and it was absolutely freezing. Subzero temperatures, basically. Not really, but still.

Still dark when we left. NOT COOL.

We left the resort area and headed to another tourist-y looking place where I believe we had to pick up our driver and/or guide. At this point, there was a guy who approached our jeep with binoculars asking us if we wanted to rent them for some exorbitant price, but Jarred, who has no patience for hawkers, shot him down reeeeaaaal quick. It was one of the most simultaneously hilarious and painful situations I've ever seen. Jarred is already a funny person, but tired, annoyed Jarred with hawkers is even funnier. We debated about whether this stop was actually a ploy to get tourists to rent binoculars from the hawkers who collaborated with the jeep drivers, but we couldn’t be sure. It wouldn’t have surprised me though. I feel like I’ve been overly naïve about India. I came in believing everyone was super nice and friendly, and most of them are – just for different reasons. A little scary if you think about it. I absolutely hate having to second guess my every move and wonder if every kind gesture is genuine or made in a bid for tips/profit/something in return. It’s frustrating.

Anyway, the safari was a lot of fun. We didn’t see many animals unfortunately, and that might have been because we were being too noisy. Hah! It’s hard to stay focused in an open-topped jeep in 40 degree weather at 6:30 in the morning.

Here is a monkey we saw.

Pretty, but altogether useless scenery. Where were the sharks?

More of the above.

It took a lot longer than any of us expected so by the time we got back, we were tired and ready for some breakfast. After breakfast, most of us wandered back to our bungalows for (much needed) naps, Kaleah and I included. We just leave the heater on in our room, so it’s always absolutely delightful once we return. And it certainly was! We were told that some villagers had caught a wild tiger that had killed and eaten some people from the nearby village (what!) and that we would be able to see it in a cage if we went to the village quickly, so naturally the thought of the nap evaporated quickly and soon we were off to see a real live wild tiger – up close! Unfortunately, when we had gotten there, the tiger was nowhere to be seen, and we were told we would have had to wait another half hour or so to see it, but everyone was too tired to care/wait at that point, so we left with half-hearted promises of returning to see it later. The tiger had to be put down because it had killed humans and therefore recognized how easily attainable we are as prey (so true!) and would mostly likely kill humans again. Scary. This isn’t something that even enters the periphery of my mind in Fayetteville, Arkansas so imagining having to deal with the possibility of getting MAULED BY A TIGER on a daily basis is just crazy to me.

In any case, we returned to our resort, grabbed lunch and short naps, and before we knew it, we were up again for yet another safari…yeah. Like before, it was a lot of fun, but we were so tired that we weren’t really paying much attention anymore. We got to see some gorgeous scenery, etc. But yeah. It was tough to care.

I will say though – our jeep managed to find a wild elephant which was super awesome. Until it started charging at us wtfffff! Then it wasn’t so fun anymore.

AHHH! ANGRY WILD ELEPHANT!!!

Mind you I use the terms “charging” and “at us” very loosely. The elephant more like “sauntered towards us in our general direction”.

Clearly tried to kill us. Blurry picture is proof.

But at the time, we were convinced we were going to die if we didn't make a Matrix-level escape. This was made even more so by the fact that our jeep had to cross a river in reverse to get away, and pick up a couple who apparently had no concept of “if you don’t get out of the way of giant elephant, you will die”. The whole experience was very Indiana Jones-esque, and we were proud to show the other jeeps our footage and pictures. After seeing the elephant, we headed back to the resort. The sun had set at this point though, so it was back to subzero temperatures and of course, none of us were prepared. So we got back chilled to the bone and everyone ran to Kaleah and my room because as mentioned previously, we were geniuses and kept our heaters on the entire time.

After taking quick showers, Kaleah and I started packing as we were leaving Corbett later that night – except this time, we’d be SO PREPARED for the frozen bus. I left out layers and layers of clothing as well as my blanket and after handing our luggage off to be loaded onto the bus, we headed for the bonfire near our resort’s dining area and right by the river which was wonderful, again.

Happy thoughts.

There was a wildlife documentary playing once we got there and after watching a couple of minutes of it, we went to join our group for dinner. After dinner, it was back on the bus for another long, cold trip to Delhi. Whee. Except not really.

014 A Rest Day at Last

So after arriving in Corbett, we finally had the chance to lie down on real beds! Cannot stress how important this was to us. Kaleah, Kevin, Alan and I stay in a bungalow, with the girls downstairs and the boys upstairs and we share a common living area and kitchen.

View from the outside. Already IN LOVE.

Shared bedroom with Kaleah.

Common living room. Bamf.

Pretty bathroom too!

With a few improvements here and there, I’d honestly have no problem transplanting our little bungalow back to Arkansas and living in it! Also – the heater in our room has been a Godsend! I know that we were warned about the cold weather in Corbett, but I never imagined it would actually sit anywhere between 30 – 40 degrees every day. In any case, after we finished unpacking and had some time to take a breather, we headed for the resort’s dining area for a buffet breakfast.

Main office.

Another bungalow! The boys got a badass balcony!

The food was wonderful and a welcome treat and we all ate plenty! After breakfast, we took a little more time to hang around the room and then headed straight for an elephant ride safari, which ended up being more like an elephant ride. All of us were clearly dead tired, but didn’t want to give up the opportunity to ride elephants yet again.

ELEPHAAHHNNTTSS!!!

The ride was slow and the scenery was pretty, but we didn’t see many wild animals.

We saw trees.

Lots and lots of trees.

And medicine. Wut.

And elephant booty.

Semi-random village.

And more trees. Yay!

Nevertheless, it was a fun experience and we all had a good time soaking it in and talking to our fellow riders. At one point, I dropped my water bottle and felt horrible because I didn’t want to litter in such a beautiful jungle, but I couldn’t exactly hop off my elephant to retrieve it. But before I knew it the elephant behind mine quickly and deftly picked the bottle up with its trunk and handed it back to me safe and sound, which was amazing! It definitely made my day!

Elephant, Senad, Me, Elephant Guide, Elephant

We returned to our resort and ate a wonderful lunch. After learning we needn’t be involved in anything till 7:00 that night, I quickly retreated to my room and passed out. I enjoyed a very long nap, and woke up later that evening to head for dinner. We had the chance to sit by a bonfire which was glorious (!) and watch an entertaining traditional dance by some local performers.

Too much fun.

We ate dinner after that and most of us retreated to Kaleah, Kevin, Alan and my bungalow to play cards and talk, which was a lot of fun!

Hanging out with my new BFFs.

:D