India: An Architectural Point of View

Bradon Loya
Day 1 – Really Long Day
I started the day in Houston. I moved up here because I got an internship to NASA next semester. Our flight did not leave until 7pm which I found to be a very good thing since I was not ready and packed yet. I thought it would be laid back because we had all day but the unexpected happened. My brother broke a bottle of red hot sauce on the floor of the apartment. We spent several hours cleaning it off the white carpet. We were then in a rush to get to the airport. I was a little mad that my brother could not be more careful.

We still got to the airport early and had to wait in the check in line for a super long time. I noticed right off the bat that we were the only American looking people in line. This did not make me feel uncomfortable in any way. I was actually excited to see new things! I do wish I would have packed more. I took a carry-on bag and a small check in bag. Before getting on the plane I eat one last American hamburger at a restraint in the airport. It was one of the best hamburgers I have ever eaten. I am definitely eating there again when I return.

I have been on several planes in the recent past but this one was different. They had a screen in the back of each seat that you could watch movies, play games, and listen to music. It was pretty sophisticated and made me wonder if India was really not that underdeveloped. The flight was long, 14 hours to be precise. I was confused of if it was day or night, Monday or Tuesday.

When we arrived I felt scared. This was my first glimpse of India! It turned out that India was actually another 3 hours flight away but I was still not in American. I quickly noticed that the airport was very rundown compared to the US but I was amazed that they still had everything they needed to function. I, for some reason, thought that they would do without and not just be more used. It was still an okay place! I was seeing more and more people looking at me and I felt as though we all stuck out. Nonetheless, I felt safe. No one invaded our space and gave us our room and respect. We got on the got on the second flight and headed to India.

When I got off in India I noticed a cloud in the airport. Dr. Arana said that this was normal. It was from all the pollution and we all stated calling it smog. I felt sick that this was where and what I would be breathing for this entire trip. This feeling continued when I saw our bus. The bus was not in bad shape but it was not as nice as I thought it would be. I knew India was dirty and poor but for some reason thought we would be excused from this.

The real surprise came when we started driving (on the left side!). The poverty was more than I could imagine. I guess I thought it would be bad in places of India but we drove for an hour and it was all terrible. Trash in piles everywhere, people in manmade tents, curb stained black from the filth. It was a true awakening experience and I did not like it. I felt sick, I wasn’t to go back home. Again, thinking we were an exception, I thought we were going to stay in some really nice place. We pulled up to a rundown entrance that is so packed close and filthy. I was very scared at this point. However, like a disguise the inside was fairly nice. Like the airport it had everything you would need just more rundown (still nice to India standards). I was then 5am and we stayed up all night talking about our tourney.

At 8am we eat a really good meal. We were soon off to see Mr. Ria, the billionaire that paid for much of our trip. He gave us all a talk about religion and India which I found to be very interesting. We then eat and were off to Humayn’s Tomb (an ancient king).
We had not slept by this time and were all very tired. The tomb was large and a very neat site to see. However, being really tired, the smog, and all the trash made it very hard to enjoy. We finally made it home and I was able to email my family and friends to let them know I was alive. It was a long day full of fear, excitement, exhaustion, and shock.