January 5 was our second full day in India and it began with a bus ride to the south campus of New Delhi University. The morning was foggy and along the route we encountered the typical sight of crazy traffic and lane-bobbing auto-rickshaws and meandering cows and something a bit more unusual – a procession of men on camels. Dr. Vibha informed us they were a police force practicing for an upcoming parade. There were two separate groups on camelback, the first was a delegation of officers and the second was a mounted marching band! Being on camels, I guess they weren’t a marching band. They were crossing the street ahead of us so we were able to look long and hard at them and we noticed every single one of them had moustaches – for some regiments it’s a part of the uniform.

  

When we arrived at New Delhi University we were greeted by a peacock who posed on the sign for us. Next we met up with Professor M. V. Rajam who told us more about the university and that particular campus. The south campus is made up of only graduate students, mainly in the sciences but some programs are also there for humanities, business, and language. Something that stuck out as very different from the U of A is the fact that the students come to campus six days a week, though there is usually no teaching on Saturdays. Another difference is that the positions of chancellor or vice-chancellor are filled by research or teaching professors, and that they perform both of these roles at the same time. Dr. Rajam then led us on a short tour and brought us to a lecture hall where we met many of the graduate students working with him as well as a recently retired professor who had also held the role of vice chancellor.

Dr. Deepak Pental gave a fantastic lecture on comparisons and differences between agriculture in India and the US. He spoke of similar challenges faced by Indian and American farmers and how the prevalence of small land holdings exacerbate these challenges in India. The US has been able to greatly increase yields and efficiency with new technologies and wide use of GM crops but their large-scale long term monocultures make the problem of pest and disease control much more difficult. Indian farmers often try to buy the new technologically advanced seed and they intensively cultivate two or three crops annually which helps with pest control. For Indian farmers there often has to be a choice between biological technology in seeds or chemical inputs to control pests, weeds, and fungus. Because of small land holdings and small scale of operation Indian farmers may not be able to spend as much on inputs to increase their yields.

Dr. Pental closed out his lecture by sharing his thoughts on how these problems can be solved through research and development at open-source and academic levels, which he believes the best and only way to spur change enough to feed the global growing population. I liked how he put it when he challenged us students: “young people from my country and my guests, we are together inheritors of this planet and we need to loosen the noose on technology patents and work together.”

Students at NDU

After his lecture Dr. Savin showed an introductory slide on the U of A and then all of our delegation introduced ourselves with our hometowns, majors, interests, and the reason we were in India. This was followed by introduction from each of the graduate students telling us the areas of research they were specializing in. After a time to ask each other questions – I was excited to learn about black rice, a species of aromatic rice! – a couple students led us on a tour of some of the research labs. After this we had lunch with all of the graduate students and got to ask questions and chat about perceptions and culture and experiences some of them had had in America.

From New Delhi University we set out to explore an old old part of Old Delhi – the Chandni Chowk Market is over 300 years old. We met up with our guide Aman who had picked us up from the airport and crossed the bridge from New Delhi to Old Delhi where, if it’s possible, the traffic was even more congested. We saw the arches and the wall that used to contain all of Old Delhi and we drove past the Red Fort. On the bus Aman told us more about how old the market was and how it operated – the people were mainly wholesalers and they were arranged by section. The scale of how many goods pass through this area and the rent these sellers pay to occupy their small spaces is astronomical!

Shortly after disembarking from the bus we engaged a small fleet of bicycle rickshaws to get closer to where we wanted to go. We visited three sections – silver jewelry, the wedding row, and the spices. There were so many beautiful things in the wedding section and I was amazed at how many shops there were that just sold ribbons. So many kinds of ribbons. Walking through the market was a test of mental dexterity: you tried to window shop and admire and take in as much as you could while being careful not to step in potholes or puddles or cowpies. We tried to keep single file and move quickly but sometimes you would get behind and have to make up lost ground. Other times a motorcycle would come roaring through the narrow walkway and we’d all have to hit the sides. Slowly we made our way to the spice part. Sellers had a small sample of their product out that you could buy by the kilogram, but they also had 50kg sacks to deliver to restaurants or industries. There were whole spices and ground spices and dried peppers and a big variety of nuts. Aman ushered us inside a shop that pretty well catered to tourists – they had different varieties of teas and spice mixes all ground up and apportioned according to the recipe. The shop owner explained that his mother uses almost 20 different spices in her curry in their various proportions. Many other students and I got a selection of these and they sealed them up for us so we could take them home no issue. Then we got back on our bicycle rickshaws.

It’s one thing to be up in a bus in city traffic but it’s different entirely to be in the open air and in one of the little vehicles who tries to bob and weave through the lanes. It also makes a big difference when your vehicle is being propelled manually by your driver. Riding in the bicycle rickshaw was quite an adventure! The fleet deposited us neatly by the bus and we climbed aboard. Though the traffic was noisy and there was so much to see, it was getting darker and darker outside and our jetlagged selves couldn’t take any more of it – we had all dropped asleep by the time we arrived back at the hotel.