Category: India 2022-23
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Conservation
By Lucia Rodriguez Conservation, the protection of something, an attempt to make it last longer. In the case of Corbett national park, it’s the conservation of the tiger, who received big amounts of land for him to live freely. Land for him move, for him to eat, for him to sleep. But who else needs…
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Morning in Agora
Yesterday, we drove over 400 kilometers from Marchula to Agora. The drive transected some essential realities of modern India – the realities of eking out a livelihood in rural India as seen in Uttar Pradesh (a small state home to 250 million people), the spiritual power of Haridwar and Rishikesh as portals to the Ganges,…
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Valleys of Death & Mountains of Life
By Hali Valadez We gather as a group in the late evening, under the cover of a big white tent. The warm wind blows through the air as i play with the soft, dusty sand at my feet. Mr. Alter is reading blog posts and poems from previous years and I listen with wavering attention,…
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Two Days in Tiger Country
We’re halfway through our second day on the northern periphery of Corbett National Park and I thought it would be good to share more or less what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. This is our shortest main stop of the trip but it’s also a very dynamic one. And many of the issues…
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Foreign Comfort
By Kean McLaurin In preparation for this trip, I tried to get a better understanding of the place I was going to be in for three weeks. I did this by reading a book on Shiva, watching YouTube videos trying to explain the intricacies of Hinduism, and getting more general knowledge of the religion as…
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Lessons & Lifestyles
By Reed Grim When I first got to this trip, I really wasn’t thinking much. I knew that it would be a challenge for me to go through this trip but it has not been what I expected. It has been way more impactful. The day I was leader, I met a man, he was…
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Differences & Similarities – What I Took Away so Far
By Ignacio “Nacho” Rodriguez Two months ago, I never thought I was going to live this experience. When Mr. Alter convinced me to jump down to India, I had a lot of questions. Some of them were my own questions and some were from other people – like, I’m going to die? I’m going to…
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Experiencing What Comes & Togetherness
By Milly Branflick Staring at the sunrise, I reflect on our time in Pancheshwar. I’ve experienced a lot of highs and lows here – saying that figuratively and quite literally. From hiking 2,500 ft. on my first ever hike to swimming in the beautiful Saryu River, I’ve come to really enjoy my time here in…
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Observing Humanity
Our annual trips to India are many things. For those of us who come often, they’re a chance to reconnect with friends and places we love. For students leaving the US for the first time, they’re an expansive opening of the mind to new ideas and perspectives and connections. For CCS as a whole, they’re…
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Cleaning the Confluence
On our last full day in the Pancheshwar area, we partnered with an association of local angling guides, village representatives, and government officials to clean the banks of the confluence. We spent the morning collecting a wide variety of trash into large piles – bamboo washed down from upstream construction during the monsoon floods, plastic…
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Connections
By Lucia Rodriguez As I sit on the sand, I think about how a week ago I knew none of the people I’ve been lucky to meet on this trip so far. I listen to the sound of the river and feel thankful to have made so many amazing connections. None of these are the…
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A Motivating Model
By Davis Bugg If I’m being honest, when arriving in India, I had no clue what to expect. I thought I knew some things – that India is beautiful and different and all but I still wasn’t sure what to expect. I had some vague ideas of what we’d be doing but I was honestly…
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A Confident Comfort
By Blake Berry When I look out at the Saryu River and think about everything we have done together, the idea that this is my first experience out of the country is mind-blowing. India is different in unique ways you can’t imagine if you haven’t seen it for yourself. But it’s also a place where…
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An Overdue Update
We have been wringing out our hours on the subcontinent so far. Truly, between many hours of travel on windy, breathtaking (in a few senses), and busy roads and all of the things we’ve done to explore and understand the places we’ve visited so far, there has been almost no time to share with those…
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Lunch with a view!
We’re just wrapping up our first real Thali from a dhaba on the way up the first ridge of the Himalayas. Just wanted to share a pic!