Things Nebraskans Flock to, Love and the Ajanta Caves

My contribution to the trip blog…

CEHS 2014 India Study Tour

Today was a great day; despite starting it by locking my self out of my room…

Our main activity for today was visiting the Ajanta Caves. But in the course our day, three themes stood out above all the rest.

Reminders of Home:

On the way to the caves, we discovered the first of two things that we Nebraskans will flock to. While traveling, we stopped at a rural Indian truck stop for a break. As we pulled into the parking lot in this farming community, we sat in awe as we saw…

A tractor.

I can only imagine what the locals thought about a group of tourist piling out of a bus and toward an old dirty tractor. While industrializing rapidly, India still has an agrarian economy. Approximately 65% of India remains rural and reliant on agriculture. Nebraska being an agricultural state, the tractor was a welcome reminder of…

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India: Arrival and Day 1

Holy crap I am in India…

I don’t have a lot of time to type today, but India has been a very interesting expire nice so far. Mumbai exists in both splendor and squalor side by side. When you first look at the streets, you are almost overcome with the amount of dirtiness, poverty, and run down looking buildings. It made me guilty to think that minutes earlier I had been complaining of being cramped on an airplane, when you see people sleeping in the gutters and medians of the highway; all within blocks of the most beautiful airport I have ever been in.

After a while in the city though, you start to feel as of the land is a dirty wild place, and that despite thousands of years of civilization this land has yet to be tamed.
In fact, you start to feel Mumbai is lucky that they can keep any small areas clean at all.

Mumbai lives at an exciting pace, a ride down the road proves that. Yesterday we had an Indian supper with a family in their home, and learned about what God means to Hindus.

I wonder what I will learn today…

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India: Day 0

Eric-ism: n An event or action that could only happen to Eric; Usually a highly unlikely or annoying event. Never a critical or life threatening problem, but extremely annoying.

Those of you who know me know this phenomenon very well…

I left work early to spend some time with Little E before I left. Friday afternoon we went to an indoor gym, Lost In Fun.

A coworker emailed me to tell me I forgot my lunch box a work. No problem, I think. I will get it tomorrow…

Saturday morning… Getting an plan to spend the whole day with Little E. A trip to the zoo, complete with pony and train rides. But first, I just need to stop by my office and pick up my lunch box…

We drive all the way to campus, only to release that I had packed my ID that serves as my door key in my luggage…

So sorry about that stinky lunchbox in the fridge AnnMarie. Have my wife stop by and pick it up.

Undaunted, Little E and I head off to the zoo. Ten minutes in, I squat down to help Little E feed some goats, and this happens…

Awesome.

Little E’s solution: she grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled it down.

“It covered daddy.”

It was not.

An only fitting way to start a trip for me.

At least I made it through security and onto the first plane. And I am not on the no fly list! At least not until I post this…

And I made it to Atlanta okay.

More to come…

E

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Flies Over India

Yep, you read that right. India. Not Indiana…

Starting this Sunday morning, bright and early at 3:30 AM, I leave for 2 1/2 weeks in India. Thank god I am a fisherman and have gotten up even earlier to chase fish…

I will be accompanying a University of Nebraska – Lincoln study abroad program to Mumbai and Dehli India, as we explore the issues of Human and Sex Trafficking, as well as culture immersion at various landmarks of India.

Let me start by answering what has been my most common question so far:

No, I am not taking a fishing pole.

Even if my TenkaraUSA pole would pack nicely…

Our trip’s itinerary has been packed to the brim with all sorts of exciting opportunities. A trip to the Taj Mahal, an elephant ride, visits to Buddhist and Hindu temples… but no trout streams.

In fact, Google returned very few results of any fly fishing opportunities in India, and I could not seem to find any such thing as an India Fly Fishing Shop.

Yes, I looked.

Never the less, I am very excited to begin my trip. I will be using Flies Over as one of the main platforms to communicate with my friends, family, colleagues, and what readers remain after Flies Over’s moratorium.

I have been known to live tweet events in my life; and I don’t expect to have reliable internet access while abroad, so consider this my main platform for communication.

So follow along, and enjoy my trip to India with me!

And while I am gone, all my fishing spots will be undistributed… so I guess I should say…

STAY AWAY BECAUSE I WILL REALLY NEED SOME FISHING TIME WHEN I GET BACK!!!

Three weeks without fishing might be a record for me…

See you on the other side of the world!!!

E

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The Most Important Part Of Fishing…

The solitude…

Before my hectic summer begins.

More to come…

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