Syracuse University Interns Head to India

DAY 1
On Thursday, the SU interns landed in Delhi, India. We met our tour guide, Karan, at the airport and got on a tourist bus to begin our 6-hour drive to Agra. It’s safe to say that we experienced some culture shock from we what saw on the first day. The traffic in Delhi was complete chaos, and it seemed as if no one was following traffic laws. Over the next six hours, we witnessed a large amount of poverty. It was depressing to see people living in these conditions and the extent to which they were lacking basic human necessities. We saw many places where people lived in shacks made of whatever they could find, and they had no clean drinking water. It was truly an eye-opening experience to see the differences between a developed place like Dubai and an underdeveloped one like India. Although many of the things we saw were difficult to witness, it was a great cultural experience to have in our lives. We all spent much of the ride sleeping, but once we arrived in Agra, we checked-in at the Gateway Hotel.

Our main reason for visiting Agra was to see the Taj Mahal. Upon entering the gates to one of the Seven Wonders of the World, we saw one of the most beautiful buildings ever built. Our tour guide continued to recite facts about the history and construction of the Taj Mahal. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died while giving birth to their 14th child. The construction of this mausoleum employed thousands of workers and took 22 years to complete. As studying civil engineers, we were all impressed with the perfection and detail of this engineering feat that was built with 15th-century technology. We picked a good time to visit because we were there as the sun was setting.

Afterwards, we returned to the hotel to go dinner at an Indian Restaurant. We all ate until we were full. We spent the rest of our evening bartering at shops in the lobby of the hotel and relaxing in our rooms to prepare for our trip back to Delhi in the morning.


DAY 2
In the morning, we had a breakfast buffet at the Gateway Hotel and boarded the bus for our long drive from Agra to Delhi. After arriving in Delhi, we went to the Qutab Minar Complex. This complex includes several of monuments and buildings that initially served as ancient Hindu temples. The main tower on the complex, Qutab Minar, is the tallest brick minaret in the world, and has five distinct levels with balconies. Looking up the tower, each level tapers off, starting with a diameter of 15 meters at the base, but ending at 3 meters diameter. Our tour guide showed us up the steps outside of the Qutab Minar, but we could not continue any further because there was a precautionary drill taking place. As tourists, we were ushered down the steps, outside of the Qutab Minar. We waited outside the tower for a few minutes and took a few group pictures with the minaret in the background, but quickly split up because the locals were also taking pictures of us.

After getting lunch at the Rendezvous Café nearby, we went to Humayun’s Tomb. This site holds the remains of Mogul Emperor Humayun and members of his family. We walked through a set of buildings before reaching the main tomb of Emperor Humayun. This building strikingly resembles the Taj Mahal, and was built before it. The Taj Mahal included changes that were needed in Humayun’s Tomb to improve the structure of the Taj Mahal.

After Humayun’s Tomb, we traveled to the downtown area of Delhi to take photos of the government buildings of India. We saw the Parliament building that includes the upper and lower house, as well as the Indian Air Force building, and the President’s Palace in the distance. It was interesting to see members of the Indian military roaming the area with rifles, at locations still relatively far from the major government buildings. Also, the tour guide told us that the President of India just serves as a face for the world and does not have any authoritative power. However, this protection is probably similar to what we have in the United States, even though we may have been intimidated in India.

To conclude our tour for the day, we visited a Hindu temple, Shri Lakshmi Narain Temple. We had to take off our shoes and were not allowed to bring in our cameras or cell phones, unless we paid the fee. We learned about the different Hindu gods, including Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma, among others. The different gods are regarded in different respects based on importance and power.

Once the tour of the Temple concluded, we boarded the bus for the Shangri La Hotel in New Delhi. This five-star hotel had a magnificent entryway, different restaurants on the upper floors, and a pool on the ground level with a green landscape background. We went to dinner at a restaurant the served Asian cuisine. We selected the Chinese menú for the entire table, and we were able to sample various appetizers, meals, and desserts off of the prepared menu. After dinner, we all relaxed for the rest of the night and tried to get some sleep for our third and final day in India.

DAY3
Saturday was our last day in India. We awoke early in order to make the most of the day. We ate breakfast at the buffet provided by the hotel. We left the hotel around 8:30am and headed to Rajghat, the final resting place of Gandhi’s remains. The grounds had a large amount of grassland and vegetation. Shoes were not allowed as a sign of respect.

We made our way across town to Old Delhi and the Islamic Mosque. This mosque was a local prayer center. The men had to cover their legs and females had to cover all skin. This provided a good opportunity for a picture. Instead of white marble of the Taj Mahal the mosque was constructed from red sandstone. It had an open courtyard which would fill up during prayer hours. The courtyard stone got quite hot in the Indian sun, burning our feet as we walked around. Once again as we lined up the take pictures, locals quickly snapped pictures of our group.