How 'Bout That Ride In? I Guess That's Why They Call It Rampur City

First, we’re posting these now because out hotel does not have wifi, so we were unable to post until we hunted down an internet café. Second, we apologize for missing whoever’s parents called six times last night. Once again, that was Avesh’s fault.*

After our meetings and a quick lunch (and ice cream), we headed off to Rampur. We took two cars, with Sam, Avesh, Tejank, and Sabrina riding with the driver we rented for the week. Ken, Eva and I rode with one of the technical mentors, Suresh Soman. Suresh has been very helpful since we arrived in India. The drive started off well enough. Drivers in India are crazy and don’t seem to follow any sort of known traffic code. And cows are everywhere and get to do anywhere they want. Also, monkeys:

Like I said the drive started off well enough. We all stopped for a bit of Chai tea, got back in the car, and I briefly nodded off to sleep. When I awoke, it was night, and we were in the movie The Road Warrior. The road was filled with towering sugar cane trucks, and to go more than 20 mph, you had to leap frog them by passing in the oncoming traffic. I’ve never thought I was going to die so many times in such a brief time span.

Really, it wasn’t that bad (our mentors all insisted it was just because we’d never experienced anything like that before, but that Indian drivers are used to it). They were at least right about the fact that I’ve never experienced anything like that before. Oh, and our driver had a neat little trick where he turned on a siren and flashed his “Electronic Press” bumper sticker and got to blow tolls and pass people. Apparently the press are more important than police here.

We arrived in Rampur around 7:30 and met Mr. and Mrs. Azrar, the principal of the Symbiosis School, and his wife, a biology teacher. They kind of reminded me of my grandparents, who worked in education for many years. We had dinner with them in the dining room of the hotel and they seemed very exited to have us. Apparently their daughter, also a schoolteacher, came into Rampur from Delhi because she is so excited to meet us.

Halfway through dinner, Eva realizes she left her suitcase back in the hotel in Delhi. Luckily, we called Sam’s friend/brother-in-law Rishi** in Delhi, and he went back to he hotel and found it for her. We should get it in Rampur by tomorrow afternoon.

Crisis averted, we all finished dinner and said goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Asrar. Still in great spirits, we’re excited to check out the school tomorrow and see a bit of Rampur.a

Let the assessment begin!

*Avesh rebuttal: “I turned it on vibrate because we were having dinner with the principal of the school!”

**Rishi has been invaluable and helped us since we got off the plane in Delhi. He picked us up, showed us around, got us checked in at the hotel, and generally made sure we all stayed in one piece.