April 17, 2010

April 17, 2010
I am currently on the bus to Jaipur to actually start my ISP. I have the AC blowing on my face and I couldn’t be happier.
This past week was sort of a whirlwind. I was crashing in a flat in Lajpat Nagar with Amanda, Francesca, Kat, Kyle, Katie, Kenzie, and Joan. It was so much fun living with them but I’m glad I left when I did… it was starting to turn into a sorority house.
A few days ago I met with an elephant owner and his driver in Delhi for my project. It was truly the most depressing sight ever. The elephants were illegally tied up to cement pillars under a high way where they stay when they are not being used in religious or wedding ceremonies. They were bathed in a near by marsh field flooded by leaking pipes and soiled water. I saw the elephant driver (age 25 and half my size) punch one of the elephants in the eye repeatedly when she was moving “too slow.” When I got closer I saw that her eye was discolored and looked almost as if it was a blind eye. It was so painful that I only stayed for two hours when I was supposed to stay for three days. I saw what I needed to see.
I’m excited to be traveling on my own now. I feel like so many things have been happening to other students on ISP and its finally time for me to experience India on my own. I’m truly a free bird right now with everything in a backpack on my back.