pet monkeys and chai.

rickshaw ridin'!

The first morning in India, a group of about 11 of us decided we wanted to find the backwaters of Cochin. Apparently, if you asked a rickshaw to take you to Alleppy, they would take you to a riverboat that you could rent for a few hours and cruise down a beautiful river with quaint villages along the way. The problems started immediately. Rickshaws, which are basically motorcycles with a small car on the top, only hold, at most, four people. So, our group had to split up. I ended up in a rickshaw with two other people and our driver said he would charge us 50 rupees, which is about 1 dollar, to take us to the backwaters.

We were off. However, we were confused, when we stopped at maybe three Hindu temples and our driver implored to get out and take pictures at each, rather than taking us straight to the backwaters. After the third temple, we explained to our driver, who spoke fairly good English, once again, that we wanted to go the backwaters. He nodded in agreement, obviously understanding what we were asking him, and even agreed to stop at an ATM along the way so we could get some money. At this point, it seemed clear that we would not see the rest of our group again for the rest of the day. We cut our losses and got back in the rickshaw.
Yet, the next place he brought us to was a high-end shopping store. It had three levels, tile floors, a guard, and prices that were comparable to, if not, higher than prices in the United States. They sold everything from saris to scarves to small Buddhas carved out of wood to large metal statues of horses (which was high on my list of things to buy during my time in India, obviously). We reminded him of our conversation not 5 minutes before and he remembered but promised that if we just took a look at this one shop quickly, he would take us directly to an ATM.

He did as he promised and took us to an ATM right away, right after we walked through the store. We had enough money to go to the backwaters now and told him, for a final time, to take us straight there. He understood and, so, logically, took us to his house where we meet his two children and one of his nephews. I wasn't disappointed in this. His children were so excited to meet us and by the end of our visit were nearly in shock just from the excitement. Afterwards, some the kids who lived on his block let us play cricket with them! I'm not going to be a professional cricket player any time soon.

me, at the rickshaw driver's house!

We were in much higher spirits after this but still determined to get to the backwaters. Our driver assured us, once we left his house, that we were going straight to the backwaters. Apparently, though, “straight there” meant we were stopping at about ten more shops like the first one we had stopped at. After about the 5th shop, we were getting extremely frustrated and disappointed. It was apparent that our driver was receiving some sort of stipend for bringing us to each of these places, even if we did not buy anything, because all of the other rickshaw drivers seemed to be doing the same thing with the foreign tourists they picked up. After all was said and done, it was nearly two o’clock and we had wasted most of our day. It was only after we threatened to pay him is 50 rupees and find our own way to the backwaters that he agreed to take us there.

We met a man at the banks of the river who said he would take us out in his canoe for two hours. After the fact, I think we all realized that this probably was not even the backwaters we had been looking for and more of a small inlet that we just rowed back and forth on for the entire two hours. Regardless, the man who took us around told me all about his family, how arranged marriages work, how he feels about what he sees as western culture seeping into Indian society and what his life has been like living in his quiet village just outside of Cochin for his entire life. Afterwards, he invited us into his home and gave us some chai and biscuits. As much as I enjoyed talking to him, I was still somewhat skeptical of the situation since our driver had taken us there and it was pretty evidently not the most legitimate river boat business.

Our driver headed back towards Cochin and finally did exactly as we requested in taking us to an authentic local restaurant. For once, we were the only foreign people somewhere and the food ended up being amazing. We all were starving since we had not eaten all day. We each ordered two meals and our waiter kept misunderstanding us and bringing us cups of chai. Yet, when we got the bill, it ended up being less than three dollars for our meals all together.

one of the temples we were brought to.

After dinner, we were determined to find a baby monkey. We had heard that, in India, people buy and keep as pets monkeys that are small enough to fit in your pocket. Semester at Sea specifically told us that we were not allowed to bring these back on the boat. So, for all you SAS administrators out there, I swear my intention was not at all to buy one. Come on? Who would really want a baby monkey to play with and take care of and dress in baby monkey clothes when you are bored on the ship for those long stretches at sea? We simply wanted to see if these infamous monkeys actually exist.

We were skeptical but thought it was worth trying to see if our cab driver knew where to find these little guys. He assured us he knew exactly where to find them. Yet again, we were brought to a number of these government-owned shops, all like the first ten or so we had been to and all of which did not sell or even have baby monkeys. We finally went to “one last shop” in our quest to find baby monkeys. The shop was closing for the day but the owner kept it open for a couple more minutes to show us his “baby monkeys.” We were led through a maize of the same paraphernalia we had seen all day to a back room…filled with tiny wooden statues of monkeys. We had finally reached the supposed grail of baby monkeys and realized we had been completely misunderstood.

At the end of the day, we were brought back to the boat.  And our driver let us know that it would be twenty dollars for the entire day. Amongst the three of us this price was a pittance in comparison to what it would have been to do the same thing in the United States. However, the fact that he had not been up front about the price from the beginning and considering we had offered to pay him numerous times throughout the day and he refused, insisting on taking us to just one more place, was unsettling. We paid him but made it obvious that we had felt misled.

It ended up being a good day but we learned a number of lessons. I think all of us had seen, behind the storefronts and lines of rickshaws, an India we had wanted to see but were shielded from for one reason or another. I wanted to run behind those storefronts and have the real, true, gritty India. Unfortunately, the rest of my trip would also be marked by my suppression of this urge, as well.