assault on the senses, this is India, au natural

(this was taken out of an email i just sent a friend-- thought it'd work OK as a post since i'm exhausted yet still want to update whoever might be reading this...)

well, just as you might have suspected, i've already met another young world traveler who's staying in the same place as me, gender=male, tall, handsome, good-looking, and speaks a bit of spanish (which of course has been helpful in my first day here), and so naturally you can see that things are going wonderfully for me.

ok, enough of the crap. so, what i'm up to-- yes, we (finally) made it to india last night at about 11pm, took a taxi to the hotel, checked in just fine, and got a good night of sleep (all 5 hours of it). actually, i first got online really quick (there's internet in the basement of this little "hotel") to let me parents know i made it safely, and the young man from the reception desk was at the other computer. he thought he'd chat me up a bit-- not at all uncommon according to what i've read-- and the subject actually happened to be religion-- first, about how all major religions share the same God but different prophets, then, about how in every religion there is separation (prime example, christianity --> catholic/protestant). then, the question of why people use the pronoun HE for God instead of She. it was fascinating, and i had to laugh because these were all questions and comments that would be perfectly suitable for swasti, being the professor of the major religions that she is (i told him he should engage this dialogue with swasti the next time he saw her). so anyway, that lasted until about 1 am when i finally got a few words written to the parents and headed upstairs to get some sleep, completely floored that i was, in fact, in INDIA.

today was a big ole' lesson in driver's ed, india style, with an intermission of a couple of hours at the Taj Mahal. to think that we survived the insanity, the pure LOCURA of these indian roads, is amazing. people back home refer to mexico as being a crazy, unsafe place to drive-- it's too bad they have no idea what india is like (or at least the delhi/agra region, i can't speak for the rest of india yet). mexico now seems more to me like storm lake traffic than anything else, in comparison to these parts. the drive to agra was about 4 hours each way, and we'd more or less "hired" a guy for the day from the hotel. we ate at a south indian restaurant on the way-- i had a madula dosa (maybe that's the name of it?), which was basically the world's LARGEST vegetarian crepe thingajig. holy cow (seriously, the cows here-- wow!!!, and not only that, but i've seen camels and bears and monkeys and water buffaloes, too). the Taj was pretty cool to see, but i must admit, all i really wanted to do was get the infamous photograph with the Taj and the water in the forefront. while a tour guide might have been a good idea to hear all about what we knew next to nothing about (surprising, considering swasti has been able to tell me literally EVERYTHING about everything else!!!! i've learned more today w/ her than i have in an entire semester class with her), we turned down the "official government tour guides" who requested 200 rupees for the tour at first, and as we continued turning him down, it quickly went down to 10 rupees. the system remains, the less interest you show, the lower the price goes; however, we still said no. so we got the typical hi-i'm-at-the-Taj-Mahal pics, about died of heat stroke (it's frickin' HOT here!!!!!!!!), and then headed back for delhi. lots of near-death moments in the little car, enough to keep me awake amidst tiredness and enough to keep me laughing inwardly at the fact that any single move of the car could mean impending doom (death), yet the ever-so-unstructured system here seems to work a lot better than the structured system back home. incredible.
india is definitely an assault on the senses, leaving nothing hidden to the traveler who's got his or her eyes (and other senses) open. it's like Real World India minus all the MTV crap, there it is, right in front of you, au natural. it's exhausting, it's confusing, it's annoying, it's in-your-face. i'm not completely sure yet, but i think i like it. and if i survive it all, i might like it a LOT. love it, even, maybe...

tomorrow we check out of the hotel, HOPEFULLY go to Raj Ghat which is the memorial to Gandhiji where he was assassinated, and then we have a flight from delhi to nagpur. then, we'll be having our khadi clothing made (not enough time here, w/ losing a day) in the area and heading to the ashram. i've no idea what to expect for internet access once i'm there, and swasti doesn't know, either. there might be access closer to the town, and there might not be. i'm hoping for the former, but we'll see.

alright, time to do some journaling if i can keep my eyes open, and then get some shut-eye. the sun took its toll on me today, as did the heat, and everything else that comes with that in india, and i think a good night of sleep sounds wonderful. i can't believe i've only been here for a day........ it feels like a lifetime. not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation.