First Impressions of India

Pictures: Cow approaching my car while waiting for the driver to have lunch.

I had bought a small notebook while at the RDU airport to use while in India at times when I didn't have immediate access to a computer and wanted to write my thoughts down. As the driver moved out of Nagpur, I took out my little notebook and a pen and began to write. The following is exactly as I have written it in the notebook. (Side note: it took some patience because the car was moving very fast and my hand was not steady.)

(Also, disclaimer: this is what I saw on my trip from the Nagpur Airport to SEARCH. It is not reflective of all of India, far from it. It is also from my perspective, which is undoubtedly biased.)

My first morning in India (Nagpur) is one of the most amazing mornings of my life. I feel so alive!

Immediately I witness everything that is India. Within seconds [of being on the road] I see cows on the street, women in saris sitting sideways on the backs of men's scooters, stray dogs- adorable, but I was told [at UNC] not to touch- crazy driving, horns honking, weaving in and out, inches from vehicles, mopeds, and pedestrians, girls linking pinkies as they move down the main road in the shopping district.

As my driver (never caught his name) takes me towards Shodhgram I see more cows and dogs. I see the cutest children, some being led to school by their parents, others begging on the side of the highway. I see the slums intermingled with what can only be described as dilapidated housing at best. I see a teenage boy soaping up and washing in a pool of water outside his home.

There are so many cows!

The further we drive the more rural its gets. I see men and women working side by side on small pieces of farm land. They are laboring in the heat, pushing plows pulled by cows. The ground looks so arid. I don't know what they are farming. I do not see any actual plants.

I see so many women riding carts led by cows. It seems to be the young women's job to steer these cows to their next location of work. We pass a residential area. It is a village of tents and small cement structures. These are people's homes.

There is some industry in the area. I keep seeing large metal structures. I assume they are meant for mining [or milling] or collecting something. There are several smoke stacks in the distance- part of a larger plant [I see] as we get closer. Dark smoke drifts up into the air.

I keep seeing billboards that say things like "Planned Site for the Star Hotel," and "Future Home of the New York City Skyline Apartments." I get the sense these billboards promise hope if not actual structures.

I fear for my life the whole car ride, yet know I am in good hands. The driver seems experienced. Still, it is the most sustained bout of maniacal driving I have ever seen. I can't seem to figure out what reason these people have to tempt death. We come head to head with several trucks. Please just let me get to SEARCH in one piece.

Eventually I stopped writing. What I first thought were novel sights, just repeated over and over and over. I saw more men urinating in the field, more cows walking down the middle of the road, more women leaning over and dragging tools through the dirt, more homes made of earth and red tile, than I had ever seen in my entire life. Although I did not fancy the way the driver was driving, the behavior seems to be ubiquitous. The last thing Josh told me when I was saying goodbye to him and Kayla was "Aliza, don't be afraid with the way they drive." I try very hard to just trust the driver.

I was so tired, yet anxious and excited to get to SEARCH. After the first hour in the car, when I decided I could trust the driver, I tried to close my eyes, but I kept thinking about what SEARCH would be like. Who would meet me when I got there, who else would be there, what would my room look like, would I have a roommate, what would the food be like and would I have enough to eat, would Dr. Abhay and Rani Bang be there? The sensation of the unknown was incredible. I wanted that car to get there so bad, but the 3.5 hour car ride felt like forever.

At one point the driver stopped to get some lunch at a roadside stand (we kept passing through little commercial areas, stands and huts that would go for about 100 yards, until there was nothing but fields again). He left me in the car without asking if I wanted anything, but that was ok because I had some snacks from the airplane and he left the air conditioning on. And frankly, I felt safer in the car with my things. I took the opportunity to finally grab a picture of a cow that walked up to the car. (My other attempts at photos were ruined by the fast-moving car).

Around 2:45pm we finally finally finally arrived at SEARCH.