On the streets of India

From Charlie Lordo ‘09…

We have done so much since we landed in India - everything from visiting the infamous Taj Mahal to dancing with the locals at night. We have been here for three days now, and each day brings something new and exciting that shocks all of us.

On our way to Agra to see the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal, the locals displayed their pet monkeys and played with venomous cobra snakes, all for a price, of course. Here in India, many of the locals love to help with anything and everything, but they always expect to get paid for what they do.

For instance, as soon as we got off the bus that took us to the airport for our flight to Chennai, people swarmed the back of the bus where we were unloading the luggage to help put it on carts for us. We tried as hard as we could to get them NOT to help us because we knew that we would have to pay them. After about 10 minutes of putting the luggage together, they followed us all the way to the entrance of the building, trying to push the carts for us. It is sad seeing the poverty in this country and the ways people try to earn money.

It was a great honor to tour the IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade), one of the top 10 graduate universities in India.  We have packed schedules for the rest of the time, and I will keep the blog going as we continue the trip.