A little birdy told me that there will be some Kunkler
children reading our blog, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to
do some geography! (Kunklers, can you find all of the places I talk about on the map?)
India is in the southeast part of Asia, and Chennai—our port
of entry-- is about 8,383 miles from New York City.
We will land in Chennai
and spend a few days there before the 3 hour
drive to Vellore.
Both of these places are in the state of Tamil
Nadu, which is in southern India. There are many differences between southern India
and northern India, one of which being the language. Most people who think of Indian
language think of Hindi, which is the main language other than English that is
spoken in the North. However in the South, they do not speak Hindi, and this is
due to the different histories of the regions. The main language in the South
other than English is called Tamil (tuh-ml).
This is what Tamil sounds like
(and this phrase of course means “my hovercraft is
full of eels”).
A lot of the sounds used in the language are hard
to pronounce, so we will just have to do our best. Luckily almost everyone will
speak English!
We will be spending most of our time in the South. Our hospital rotation lasts four weeks. In this time, we will be able to
do traveling and exploring on the weekends, but will stay put for the most part.
We are really looking forward to seeing some of the beautiful Hindu temples of
the south, and there are some beautiful ones right in Vellore! One of the
newest temples, Sripuram, is also called the “Golden temple” because its entire
façade is plated in gold. This temple is semi controversial; there is some
argument among Hindus that the 65 million USD it cost to build the temple could
have been better used elsewhere. Makes sense, though I am looking forward to
seeing it. We also hope to visit some of the surrounding cities, especially
Pondicherry. Pondicherry was a French
colony, so many of the names in the town are French and French is still widely
spoken. I hear there are also some lovely patisseries, which we will have to
try! I have never been known to turn down a croissant. 
After our four weeks in Vellore, we will travel
for two weeks. First we will fly to Delhi. This will be our only time in the
North, and unfortunately we can only be there for a few days. One of our days
there will be spent on a day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal
(I feel like you can’t go to India and NOT see
the Taj Mahal). From Delhi we will fly back South to the state of Kerala to
spend some time in Kochi (as a side note, the capital of Kerala is Trivandrum,
which used to be called Thiruvananthapuram. Say THAT three times fast). Kochi
was a center of trade for a very long time as it is situated on the water. One
of the things we are most excited about doing is spending three days on a houseboat
in the backwaters
in Kerala! We will definitely have to be good about mosquito
protection while we are there. We are also looking forward to our accommodation
on land, which is a small homestay in Kochi. This is sort of like a B&B,
except you can also have lunch and dinner. Our hosts pride themselves on their
south Indian cuisine and offer cooking classes to all their guests. I’m game!--
and will hopefully be making delicious dosa for all of you upon our return.
After Kochi we will fly to the state of Goa, which is the old Portuguese
colony. Now it is famous for its beaches and resorts. We will be recharging
there for five days before our long journey home (and back to reality!).
Looking forward to sharing our adventures with you!
Moriah
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