India-GCP-Introduction

GCP is Global Citizenship Project sponsored by Shenandoah University. It is a university funded week long trip during spring break to anywhere in the world for a select group of undergraduates, graduates and faculty/staff members. All expenses are covered by the university so this really is the best experience for any person.  I was lucky enough to have been chosen as the faculty leader for this project in the year 2008.  I was selected because they needed a faculty leader for India. Why? Because they found a sponsor for India. This turned out to be all very opportune. 

This week long trip to India was memorable for many reasons. Most of all it was because I was showing my country to people, some of whom had never even sat on an airplane before! I wanted to make sure that they see all the good and maybe some of the bad of India. Each country has its own good and bad, and India has a lot of both. So I wanted to show that India is as progressive and rich as it can be poverty ridden and challenging.

 The other reason I wanted this trip to go well was because I was responsible for planning out the itinerary. Bipin (the board of trustee sponsor of the trip) was the most important link between me and the trip. We talked in detail about how we wanted the trip to go and what places to visit. I was very lucky because Bipin had really good connections in India. We were very well taken care of in Bombay and Surat. It was like a dream come true. Everything went exactly as planned, in some cases even better.

 So read ahead for the day by day adventures of this wonderful journey.
 Day 1: Reaching India, Mumbai, Elephanta Caves
 Day 2: Lonavala and Karla Caves
 Day 3: Mumbai/Mumbai University, Glucose Biscuit factory, Shopping and Prithvi Theater
 Day 4: Mumbai/Mc Donald’s, Inorbit Mall, Haji Ali, Siddhivinaayak and Millenium Mall
 Day 5: To Surat/Textile Mill, Diamond Industry, Local Food.
 Day 6: Road Trip/Narmada Dam, Kabir Waad
 Day 7: To Mumbai/Sugar factory, mango orchard, Mumbai and then to US

  And finally my views about this trip,