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The Indian flag is deep saffron (goldish-yellow) on the top, white in the middle and dark green at the bottom. In the center of the white band there is a wheel in navy blue to indicate the Dharma Chakra, the wheel of the law. This center symbol, or the ‘CHAKRA' is a Buddhist symbol dating back to 200th century BC.
The ‘CHAKRA' has 24 spokes which intends to show that there is life in movement and death in stagnation. The saffron stands for courage, sacrifice and the spirit of renunciation; the white for purity and truth; the green for faith and fertility.
Saturday, November 7th – Today the ship docked in the first of our three ports in India. This was Mumbai (formally known as Bombay). I was a little nervous when Bill warned me that I would not be impressed with the beauty or cleanliness of this country. It was dirty, overpopulated, impoverished, and in general – filthy. but he was sure I would also
find it one of the most interesting places on this trip.
I was intimidated even more by the warnings from the ship not to eat or drink anything at any of the ports in India unless it was packaged or bottled by a company we recognized. We were told not to even drink a familiar soft drink in a glass because we could get sick, and don't even think about pouring it over ice! Sealed containers only.
Well, Bill was right. It was both awful and fascinating!
As soon as we left the port the beggars descended on us. Men, women, children – a mob of them. Bill sheltered me as we worked our way through the mob with Marc and Linda and found a taxi with an English-speaking driver. At least he spoke some English.
Whenever we stopped at a red light the beggars surrounded our cab and banged on the windows for our attention. If windows were not all the way up they reached their hands in the open windows. Women would put their hands to their mouths, indicating that they were hungry and wanted money for food. Some were holding babies and they put their hands to their baby's mouths indicating they needed money to feed them.
I later learned that there are professional beggars in India just like the professional beggars in the USA who stand next to exit ramps collecting money and stroll over to their BMWs at the end of the day. Also, parents have the option of sending their children to an academic school or to a school for program to learn to be a beggar. Some of them make a very nice living from the tourists, others are sincerely poor. It is impossible to tell the difference. I was shocked that they would use children like that but you could see the parents off to the side coaxing the children to beg for money. It was very pathetic. If you gave them their own country's currency they quickly said, “No – American dollars!”
Our first stop was to the open fruit and vegetable market. Cows are literally everywhere. Some people walk their cows on leashes like we walk our dogs! Any of the ones with leashes are collars are owned by someone. The cows with nothing around their necks are not owned by anyone are fed and cared for by the churches.
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