We crossed back into the northern hemisphere yesterday. I believe we’re roughly 100 miles off the southern tip of Sri Lanka. Whoop. Only 1 more day to go.
It’s midterm season, and just in time. From March 25th to April 29th will be a non-stop frenzy of disembarkations in five asian countries with 2 or 3 days of classes in-between. With the alternating A/B day schedule, that’s 1 session per class between each country. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out both from the students and instructors POV. It would seem inefficient to conduct classes in such a manner, but we’ll see.
Anywhos, India. We’ll be pulling into Chennai on Sunday, March 25 where from 1200 to 1800 I’ll be visiting an Indian village to observe village life, visit village homes and interact with the residents. Then we’ll be checking out a small working farm to observe the difference between the village and farm life, and also enjoy a traditional Indian lunch prepared and served by the owner of the farm. Yes, this is a SAS trip and no, it’s not an FDP, so it’ll be interesting to see who else is going on this trip as it has more of an academic appeal than most.
The very next morning at 0430 begins the part we’ve all been anticipating – Delhi/Agra/Taj Mahal! A 2.5 hour flight to New Delhi starts us off, followed by an early lunch and a train ride to Agra, where we check into the hotel for the night (and possibly do some shopping).
On March 27, we’ll be going to the Taj Mahal at dawn, coming back to the hotel for breakfast, and checking out the deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri and it’s sandstone palaces. Then afternoon visits to Agra Fort and the Taj Mahal again, and then we take the train back to New Delhi and check into our hotel.
The next day brings us to a city tour of Delhi, where we drive past the War Memorial, Parliament House, Secretariat Buildings, and the official residence of the president of India. We’ll also be viewing the most famous New Delhi landmark, the Qutub Minar. Finally, we stop at the Gandhi Museum, get lunch, and fly back to Chennai.
I have the 29th free in Chennai, where I’ll most likely be checking out the local market (part of my Field Research class is to observe interactions between people at markets), taking advantage of the internet cafes, do some shopping, and getting liquored up before we leave in the evening (a classic SAS tradition).
March 30th, the day after India, is a very special day for more than one reason – I’ll be starting a new chapter of my life. I’ll write more about that later.