Final projects and a video/photo montage

Hello all,

We write to you from Delhi, but will take a moment to recount some of our experiences in Ladakh...

Our group welcomed Ladakh's magical landscape and cooler temperatures after Rajasthan's heat. While here, we lived at the Student's Education & Cultural Movement of Ladakh (SECMOL) campus, an educational institute for Ladakhi students. The campus was built using local materials, runs entirely on passive solar energy, and is surrounded by beautiful views of Himalayan glacier-topped peaks and of the Indus River below. There are thirty Ladakhi SECMOL students living here who are enrolled in a year long program; they are the same age as our students. The SECMOL campus is fully run and maintained by the students (they run the passive solar system, tend to gardens, care for cows, host visitors, etc). Our stay here was enlightening for both NGSE students and their SECMOL counterparts.

While in Ladakh, we headed out on an amazing three day trek. Our students soaked up the beautiful views, visits to monasteries, and stays in high mountain villages where they had many opportunities to understand the lives of local people. In the late afternoons, the brown mountains shadowed over turning brilliant hues of purple and deep green.

We have since traveled back to Delhi, where we will end our journey. Tonight is our last night here and nostalgia abounds! The group's final presentation is on the link below, which outlines each student's theme and final thoughts. With feelings of accomplishment, our students are getting ready to say goodbye to India and reunite with family and friends back at home. We hope you enjoy listening to the stories of this expedition as much as we enjoyed helping to create them!

Julay from India,
Himali, Alex and Jordan

Link to final projects:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jordangantz/NationalGeographicStudentExpeditionsIndiaFinalPhotographyProjects

In addition, we hope you enjoy the video below created by National Geographic expert Kris LeBoutillier using photos he took during his stay with our group.

Greetings from Ladakh!

The gentle light of the camels at sunset, the desert dunes, singing and dancing with local Jaisalmeri women and many thoughts about our place in the world and our contributions towards the international community have created a sense of community within our group and deepened our students' understanding of this fascinating country.

We are now in the high altitude mountain desert of Ladakh, acclimatizing, and living in a community run, sustainable, solar heated school for Ladakhi children. The group is enjoying every moment of interacting with the locals, visiting villages and monasteries, and strengthening their understanding of Buddhism.

A river runs through these mountains, and in water is change: who knows what will lie ahead…

Until next time,
Jordan, Himali, and Alex

Overheard recently. . .

In the village: “Three boys approach me, laughing nervously but with smiles apparent in their bright eyes. We converse awkwardly, each side smiling and nodding. Through an absurd mixture of Hindi, English and broken sign language we make a modicum of understanding between ourselves.”

At the Taj Mahal: “Those same dark hands covered in adornments and ink are the same hands that convert touch into feeling and feeling into emotion.”

About the heat: “It was an absolute heat that no giant invisible hand could lift away. The inescapable blanket. And then it rained.”

At the train station: “I’ve come to not be able to differentiate between the people who are homeless and not. So I just decide most of them are not so I don’t have to ruin my piece of mind.”

At the Hindu temple in Jaipur: “His endless strand of beads slips slowly through his patient fingers.”

At the Hindu temple in Jaipur: “Eternally bloody and loving, the baleful face of murti glares at me.”

A conversation:
"Have you been to America?"
"For us it is a dream."
"It's so beautiful here."
"But it's not developed. In America, it might not be beautiful, but at least it's developed."

At Agra Fort: “It helps you to see what you really want to see and what you really want to say."

Things we’ve done thus far:
Seen the Taj Mahal
Visited Agra Fort
Checked out a Bird Sanctuary
Taken auto rickshaws and cycle rickshaws and safari jeeps
Visited many forts and palaces
Roamed the streets and taken old photographs
Lived in a palace
Visited a Hindu temple
Taken an overnight train!

All is well here.

Namaste from Jordan, Himali, Alex, and the NGSE India team

Group unaffected by bombings

We spoke with the expedition leaders late yesterday in Jaipur and the group was completely unaffected by the recent bombings in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, both of which are hundreds of miles away.

Delhi Days

After an awe inspiring, ambitious first day in Delhi spent site seeing, assimilating, and battling jet lag, the group is currently en route to Agra. When we arrive this afternoon we will see the Taj Mahal and break into the first formal meetings of our Photography and Culture & Arts On Assignment teams.

Now to recap the first days of our expedition. . . After a 13-hour direct flight from Newark to Delhi, Himali greeted nineteen groggy students and co-leaders, Alex and Jordan, with marigold flower necklaces and an air conditioned bus. We were whisked from the airport to the hotel where we caught up on much needed sleep.

The next day students awoke eager to hit the streets and explore some of Delhi’s sites. After an authentic Indian breakfast of naan, dahl, eggs, toast, and chai, we visited India Gate, President’s Palace, and the ruins of Humayun’s Tomb. We ate lunch at the Intercontinental Hotel where students had the opportunity to enjoy some fine Indian cuisine, as well as practice the art of eating with their hands. The late afternoon was spent outfitting the group in colorful Indian attire at Fabindia (www.fabindia.com), a cooperative which is committed to the employment of traditional artisans in rural India.

The challenge of distinguishing oneself as a traveler (rather than a tourist) is at the forefront of each student's mind. We confront humidity, traffic, and new experiences together, and morale and enthusiasm remain high as we steer towards new places, new ideas and new friendships.

Bye for now,
Alex, Himali, and Jordan

The group has arrived

We've received word from the expedition leaders that the group has arrived in Delhi.

Meet the Expedition Leaders

2008 India Expedition Leaders, left to right: Jordan Gantz, Himali Singh Soin, Alex Verron

Arts & Culture
Himali Singh Soin. Middlebury College, B.A. Himali grew up in north India and has explored many corners of her native country. Throughout her childhood she participated in expeditions to Rajahstan, South India, and the Himalaya, and at the age of fifteen she underwent a three-week adventure course at the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering in Uttarkashi. Himali attended secondary school in Delhi and went on to the Mahindra United World College in Pune. At Middlebury, where she majored in English and Theater, she was a UWC Davis Scholar and a member of the Middlebury College Choir. She hosted a weekly radio show, helped create art for awareness about the war in Iraq, and is an active trustee of the Spirit in Nature Trails in Vermont, which unite spirituality and nature. Himali undertook an expedition to India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, where she studied local performing arts in relation to Buddhism and landscape, and went to Malaysia to explore Buddhist and Taoist temples and climb the country’s highest mountain. She volunteered for an NGO dedicated to tiger conservation in the Indian Himalaya, taught English to Hurricane refugees after Katrina and worked in orphanages in the USA, Ethiopia and Nepal. Himali is an accomplished writer, actor, dramaturge, pianist and dancer. She enjoys hiking, cooking and yoga.

Photography
Alex Verron. St. Lawrence University, B.A. Alex majored in Fine Arts and Asian Studies at St. Lawrence, where he was the recipient of the Jean Scribner Cashin Endowment for Fine Art Students. He spent a semester of his junior year at Rajasthan University in Jaipur, India, where he studied Hindi language and the Devinagri script. His six-month photo documentary on textile production in India was a featured exhibition in the Brush Art Gallery. Alex has worked as an events coordinator for Save the Whales in Connecticut, as a corporate photographer shooting conditions in textile mills for the Nissho Iwai Corporation in Shanghai, China, and in New York City as a studio assistant for the Coastal Group, a Manhattan/Hong Kong based advertising agency. He is currently based in Aspen, Colorado where he works as a photographer and commercial digital artist. His most recent work has been published by several international outdoor magazines and companies including Freeskier, Relix, NZSkier, Charter, and Burton Snowboards. Alex spent two summers teaching Intro and Advanced Photography at Putney Student Travel’s Excel at Amherst College Program. His interests include travel, snowboarding, and competitive swimming.

Jordan Gantz. University of Wisconsin, B.A. Jordan is an accomplished photographer, filmmaker, and strategic communications specialist. He majored in Psychology at the University of Wisconsin and spent his junior year in Seville, Spain. He has travelled extensively in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Jordan spent two and half years as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer El Salvador where he worked with local communities on health, environment, and information technology projects. Jordan currently works for Chemonics International, a Washington, D.C.-based international development organization, where he uses photography and film to promote the work of the company throughout the developing world. With Chemonics he has led numerous photography, film and communications assignments in El Salvador, Jordan, Egypt, Nigeria, and the West Bank. Jordan led a Putney Student Travel community service program to the Dominican Republic in 2005.