By Kaeli Van Cott

STAFF WRITER

For a long time, I’ve dreamed of visiting India and seeing the Taj Mahal and I am so grateful to have had the chance to do that this semester. The Taj is as amazing and as spectacular as people describe it and no picture could do it justice. The only thing is, the Taj Mahal is not all of India. Although any person visiting India should go see it, there is so much more that the culture and people have to offer, and so much more to learn than a photo-op at the Taj could provide.

The way we learn about India in the United States is misconstrued and at times, outdated. For the longest time, I learned about the caste system throughout school and how the untouchables were outcasts in society. When speaking with the Mahatma Gandhi Trust during a class field lab, my class very quickly learned how outdated the untouchable caste is in Kerala, the state within India where we were visiting. People are actually born into a caste for life, but have social mobility and can change their social class. Members of the lowest caste in Indian society have the ability to work their way up to being in the upper class, provided they have the right opportunities and resources.

Food in India was absolutely fantastic and worth trying. Naan bread became a staple during every meal for me, as well as urad sweet bonda, which are sweeter Indian zeppoles. Tons of Americans that visit India tend to be apprehensive about the food because of the possibility of being sick, but travelers’ sicknesses can happen anywhere, not exclusively in India. I ate ice cream and all of the things doctors advise people not to have while traveling and I was completely fine. The different spices like turmeric, thyme and others are worth trying.

More than anything, the people I met in India were funny and thoughtful. During my travels, I met other college students who were curious about the United States just as much as I was curious about India. I met people within the Pulaya caste in a fishing village that let me try some coconuts and sang traditional songs for us and asked us to do the same for them. These kind of exchanges made my experiences in India even better than what I had imagined, and I had imagined really great things from India from the start.