IndiGo

The title of this post is also the name of the Indian airline I'll be flying tomorrow! The group is headed to Delhi and Agra (the site of the Taj Mahal) for a five-day jaunt, so check back then for a sweet update and maybe even some pictures :)

IndiGo might also accurately reflect the national mood of India, which is jarringly nationalistic and quite determined to seize superpower status as soon as humanly possible. It is exceedingly common, in bookstores and street conversations, to read or hear how unstoppable India is, a new superpower for a new century. Though I have my doubts about how soon it may happen, I have no doubt that India will grow to a prominent position on the world stage. What may limit the timeline of this already-assumed-in-the-minds-of-all-Indians takeover is the oceanic gap between the rich and poor and the infrastructural and livelihood problems everywhere. Even in my upper-class neighborhood, there are daily power and water outages. More than once I have been covered in soap when the water goes out while I take a shower, making me a not-too-happy camper! And yet a great strength of India, a thing that I really admire and wish for America too, if only for America to remain competitive in the globally competitive sense, is the singular, almost extreme focus on education. Young people here face enormous educational pressure (umm, hello IB!) that translates into high-performing tech and engineering jobs for the hardworking. Yet very high-stakes testing leads to numerous suicides in exam season, and the results of those tests really do determine futures - biomedical engineering is the most presitigious occupation, because only the top 10% of any graduating class may enter it. I have often thought to myself that I'd give anything to revisit these places in 10 years just to see how they have changed... the pace of development is absolutely breakneck. And the immersive education I'm getting in these two months will surely come in handy in the future - the world is indeed flat.

There is so much to write about in these posts that my mind simply goes blank trying to come up with a topic, so instead I'll go with a series of lists for today...

Things That Drive Me Nuts: taxi drivers (they will be getting an entire post sometime later), the inability to walk on any sidewalk, humidity, power outages, the apparent ineptitude of the postal service (Mom sent me a package that I have yet to receive :( ), the uncertainty of how to behave in temples of different religions

Things I Should Have Brought More Of: antibacterial wipes, protein bars, clothes, Febreeze, books, Pepto Bismol, toilet paper (no toilet paper in any restroom in the whole dang country, you have to bring your own or improvise)

Things That I'm Really Grateful For: antibacterial wipes, Op and Saraj (my amazing house parents), international cell phones, the fun of haggling, the opportunity to be here and experience something so wild, foreign and CRAZY, how safe I feel in this country (violent crime is very rare), the amazing hospitality and helpfulness of nearly everyone I've encountered, an Italian restaurant (I can't tell you how much I appreciate a little bland food every now and then)

Love to you all...Daron