India - U.S. Higher Education Dialogue: My Five Minutes With John

This picture and a press release were sent to ALL of Honeywell India! The same photo and a similar press release is located on the front page of UOP's internal website homepage too! 

Wow. I'm sitting here in my bed still trying to comprehend everything that happened to me this week...because honestly I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it. What kind of amazing opportunity have I stumbled into?

India Gate

Last Tuesday's awesomeness all started with an email. JP Das from the US Embassy in India emailed myself, Marisa, and Melanie informing us that the US Secretary of State was coming to India and had 'a keen interest in meeting the Passport to India Interns.' It's not every day you get an email basically telling you that the US Secretary of State wants to meet you. The three of us were floored. We had no idea what was happening, and at the time didn't fully understand why he wanted to meet us.

As it turns out, John Kerry along with Hilary Clinton basically created the whole Passport to India program. It was their brain child if you will. For those who don't know, Passport to India is a program endorsed by the US Department of State. The premise is to send American students to India for internships completely through the private sector. Myself, Marisa, and Melanie are all in the Passport to India program but are being completely funded through Honeywell. Why India you ask? Over 100,000 Indian students come to the US every year to study and work compared to the 4,000 American students who come to Indian to study and work. Normalizing these numbers based on differences in population between the two countries, India sends 6.5 times as many students to the US than the US sends to India. The Passport to India program hopes to lessen this gap, so that the percentage of American students being exchanged with India becomes equal.

Official Name Badge!

Secretary Kerry was coming to India for the fourth annual India-US Strategic Dialogue. This dialogue is composed of several parts. At the strategic dialogue, the overall arching themes of all these parts are presented and discussed. Each part then has its own separate dialogue. The only dialogue that takes place at the same time as the overall strategic dialogue is the India-US Higher Education Dialogue which is what the three of us attended.

The night before we met with many employees from the Department of State who organized the program in order to get a run down of what was to occur the next day. We also met three other Passport to India interns! Three students from Columbia University who are working in Mumbai were also attending the dialogue as representatives of the Passport to India program. At the meeting we heard the disappointing news that only two Passport to India interns would get to meet John Kerry while those whom did not meet John Kerry would be expected to speak for 1-2 minutes during one of the dialogue's break out sessions about their experiences in India. Myself and Ben Harris (Columbia Passport to India intern) were chosen to meet John Kerry.

It's blocked off so this is the closest we
could get to it!

After the meeting, the Columbia interns and the three Honeywell interns headed off to get some dinner at good ol' Bikanervala, a very popular Indian food chain that we've eaten at quite a bit. On the way we did a small bit of sight seeing! We stopped by the India Gate. It was so great to talk with other Americans and share our experiences. Mumbai and Delhi are VERY different cities, so it was interesting to hear each other's stories. We offered for them to come back to Delhi for a weekend and stay with us so they could sight see some more! They also offered to house us in Mumbai. We are actually taking them up on that offer this weekend =) Which is super super exciting!

Marisa, David, Melanie, Myself, Doreen, and Ben at
the India Gate!

Tuesday Marisa, Melanie, and I headed to the ITC Maurya Hotel in New Delhi to participate in the India-US Higher Education Dialogue. Words can't even begin to describe this crazy amazing day, but I'm going to go ahead and give it a shot. We arrived at the hotel and took the elevator to the top floor where the dialogue would be held. We had to stop and get some good pictures next to the fancy sign. In my last blog post I mentioned how the three of us went shopping for Indian suits. The three of us wore them at this awesome event! So comfortable and so pretty! I absolutely love the clothes Indian women wear.

Full Suit!

I loved the detailing at the top!

New Friends! So excited to see them in Mumbai
this weekend!

While we 'clicked' pictures (no one ever says snap a picture here. They always use the term 'click.') the largest man I have ever seen in my life (seriously, this guy was body builder status) came out of the elevator with a dog. It was a bomb dog! The dog went through all the rooms Secretary Kerry would be in to make sure the coast was clear. I had never seen anything like that before. I wanted to take a picture of the huge man with his dog, but I figured that might look a little fishy. The other Passport to India interns soon arrived so we again clicked some pictures. Ben and I were pulled aside and given official instructions on how our meeting with the Secretary would proceed.

Hanging out with Under Secretary Kanter!

While we waited for the event to officially start, we all did a lot of mingling. There were refreshments and many people entering the dialogue room (including press from all over India and the US). It was during this mingling that I was introduced to the Under Secretary of Education Martha Kanter. She was a very short lively woman whom I grew to admire throughout the course of the day as I got to know her and her history. She's absolutely hilarious and knows when and where to crack a joke. She acted very mom like to all of the Passport interns. When the Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Tara Sonenshine, walked in the room she got very excited and immediately ushered the Passport interns over to her for an introduction. She even whipped out her iPhone and insisted we all group together with Tara for a photo (I haven't yet received this photo, but I'll be sure to post it when I do!). We discussed with the Under Secretaries about our schooling and work experiences thus far in India. Shortly after this, everyone was ushered to their seats while Ben and I were held back.

Tara Sonenshine speaking during the dialogue
sessions. This was her last diplomatic meeting
ever! 

My first thought when I saw Secretary Kerry was 'Whoah. He is so tall!' He walked out of the Humble House restaurant in the ITC Maurya with the India's Minister of Human Resource Development, Dr. M. Mangapati Pallam Raju (he goes by Pallam Raju for short) where the two had been discussing the upcoming higher education dialogue and the India-US Strategic Dialogue from the day before. His first words were
"Anyone know the score of the Bruins game?"
Staff Member: "They uh.."
Another Staff Member: "Um, they, uh...lost sir."
 "WHAT?! Last I checked they were up 2-1! Oh no..oh no!" exclaimed the extremely disappointed Secretary as he waved his hands and hung his head. After a brief moment of mourning, he let out a sigh and looked straight at me as if slightly amused by my native attire. He scanned myself, Ben, and two other students from India who came to the US to study through the Community College exchange program. He started to walk towards us and say hello, but his publicist quickly ushered him away to the fancy sign (the same one the above pictures are in front of) for an official photo shoot with university and college presidents from both the US and India who had signed MoU's (memorandum of understanding) for their partnerships with one another. After a few pictures were clicked, the four students (including me!) were ushered over to Secretary Kerry and Minister Raju. I was right next to Secretary Kerry for the picture. His publicist kept waving me to get closer and closer to him. We all flashed our pearly whites and stood. A man began to speak to Secretary Kerry and explained that the Passport to India interns were on his left. In the middle of the pictures he looked down at me. I felt really awkward and wasn't quite sure what to do. The cameras were still flashing! Eventually I looked back up at him and said "Hi! I'm Sequoia Murray." He replied with, "Hello Sequoia, I'm John Kerry." 

Funny Introduction with John Kerry

Speaking with the Community College exchange
students. I'm peaking in the background per usual.
This photo was in several Indian newspapers!

He then slide right in front of Ben and I and began asking us questions. Where were we from? Where do we go to school? What are our majors and why? Why did we choose to participate in Passport to India? Who do we work for and what do we do? Do we enjoy what we are doing? He was so friendly and sincere; he was genuinely interested and cared about what we had to say. He even quoted Ben in his opening remarks! After speaking with us, the Secretary conversed with the Community College exchange program interns, joked with Minister Raju, and then entered into the dialogue room for his opening remarks. We were suppose to leave and enter before the Secretary and Minister did, but that didn't go exactly as planned.  I sort of got the feeling that during most of these planned photo ops the Secretary sor t of just did whatever he  wanted regardless of the 'plan.' That's how his speeches are too! Almost all of this opening remarks were done extemporaneously. In case you are curious about what he had to say, here is  a link to what he said! http://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2013/06/211118.htm

US Secretary of State John Kerry giving opening remarks at the India-US Higher Education Dialogue.

 After the opening remarks, there were three breakout sessions on student exchange programs and research collaborations, community colleges, and technology enabled education. At the first session, Marisa and Melanie each got to speak for approximately a minute and a half regarding their experiences here in India. Ideas were thrown around about what is needed to increase the amount of American students who study/work abroad in India. In the second session prestigious community colleges in the US were represented and spoke about how their schools are successful. Currently India has a huge need for educating their middle class and not enough schools to do it. India is working on modeling a community college system in order to fill this need. The US is helping construct this model since community colleges have been successful in our country for over 100 years. The third session really focused on making education as available as possible through technology. Students from all over the world could take classes in different countries and participate in 'online' study abroad programs where the majority of the class is taken online with a short portion of the class taking place in the actual country being studied. The idea is to make education as available as possible to as many people as possible while keeping costs at a minimum.

In between each breakout session there were breaks where people would get refreshments and mingle with one another. These time periods were just as interesting as the breakout sessions! I met so many amazing people and had so many fascinating conversations with various presidents from Indian and American universities and community colleges. I met many people from the US Embassy in India, as well as from the US Departments of State and Education.

I spoke pretty extensively with Minister Raju during one of the breakout sessions.

Minister Raju and Myself

I also had the pleasure of conversing with the Indian Ambassador to the United States, Nirupama Rao. She invited Ben and I to the Indian Embassy in the United States when we returned! She was so great to speak with and even Tweeted a photo of her, the Passport to India interns, and Under Secretary Martha Kanter!

https://twitter.com/NMenonRao/status/349382080272146432/photo/1

We got a good one! It took a lot of attempts.

Laughing with Martha! She is seriously hilarious.

And now we are focused! 

Hanging out after the dialogue

Overall the day was really incredible. After a late lunch Undersecretary Kanter informed us that there might be an opportunity to meet with Vice President Joe Biden if his schedule allows when he visits in July. Words cannot describe how awesome it was to meet all of these people and discuss a topic so important to our nations and the entire world. Education is so powerful!

Us with the Community College Exchange Program Students!

I'm getting really behind on these blog posts. I'll try to have one up about this past weekend ASAP!

Love, 

Sequoia

P.S. A ton of pictures were clicked of me while I was with John Kerry. There are a lot floating around on the internet here in India because of the heavy newspaper coverage that was done for the dialogue. This link has a few more photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/usembassynewdelhi/9139498665/in/photostream/

The US Embassy is suppose to contact me and deliver me an official picture. I'll let you guys know when that comes!

Agra: Eternal Love Isn't Real

Bacon cheese buffalo burger with mushrooms =)

The weekend started on Friday after work when Marisa, Melanie, and I went to Ambience Mall in order to find a more formal Indian outfit to wear to the US Embassy on Tuesday. I wasn't feeling very confident that I would find anything, since I was the only one out of the three of us that hadn't been able to find any kurti's that fit properly. I was getting pretty frustrated! After looking at all the stores, we ended up back at Biba where all three of us ended up buying full salwar kameez sets. This is an Indian outfit that consists of a dress that falls mid calf, pajama-y pants that puff a little, and a matching scarf. They are so gorgeous! I'll be sure to post pictures of us all wearing them after we go to the embassy. We were all so excited about our outfits and ended up eating at Chili's in celebration. Let me just tell you...Chili's in India is IDENTICAL to America! It was crazy! All three of us ordered bacon cheeseburgers, and man o man were they absolutely delicious. Obviously the burger wasn't made from beef due to the cow being worshiped in Hinduism. It was made from buffalo. Holy cow was it tasty! It was definitely the best burger we had ever had..well, relative to our situation anyway. Next time we get a 

Yum! Paradise Pie!

      Aside: Hindu's actually view the cow as 'mother'. Cows 
                 give milk and symbolize mothers whom give milk to  
                 their children. This is why cows are worshiped as a 
                 God in Hinduism. Killing a cow would be like killing 
                  your mother.
craving for some more American style food we definitely know where to go! After dinner we shopped for kurtis! I was sooooooo excited because I had finally found two that fit me! I'm not even a little bit built like an Indian woman so finding kurtis for my proportions have proved to be challenging. Sure enough though, I found two! I was excited! I was very happy to know that I would get to wear some cute Indian clothes while in Agra.

One of the huts!

The next morning Tapish drove us to Agra! It was a fun car ride. Tapish was able to explain the lyrics for 'Balam Pichkari' which is Marisa, Melanie, and I's favorite Hindi song. It is from the Bollywood movie Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. The car ride was an interesting experience too because it was the first time we had really seen anything other than a city. While traveling we saw mostly farm fields. Sporadically throughout the fields were straw huts. The huts are constructed using manure and straw. Manure is the foundation and straw is placed on the outside. People who tend the fields live in these huts.

Agra itself was like no other town we had seen before. We so so many monkeys climbing on buildings and trees. There were more street vendors selling food and various trinkets also. Normally wherever we go we see cows roaming about (and blocking traffic..it's pretty funny to see cars weaving in and out between cows in an effort to keep the traffic moving) and Agra was no different. This was the first time we had seen buffalo though! There were so many cows and buffalo. I felt like there were also more horse or camel drawn carriages and buggies than we had previously seen as well. It was strange to see and a little hard for me to handle all the people in their makeshift homes on the side of the road. We were definitely exposed to poverty this weekend.

Displaying our room! Also, this is my first ever Indian out

We stayed at the Radisson Hotel Blu. The hotel was gorgeous. Breakfast and dinner were also included in the price, so it was nice to know we wouldn't have to search too far to get food in an unfamiliar area. After checking into the hotel we headed to the Taj Mahal.

At the entrance

A little info on the Taj Mahal: In Hindi, the Taj Mahal means 'crown palace' (the top dome being shaped like a crown) It is done in Mughal style architecture completely constructed from white marble. This type of construction combines Islamic, Persian, Turkish, and Indian architectural elements. It is a mausoleum that King Shah Jahan had built for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal who died birthing the couples 14th child. Construction of the Taj Mahal begam in 1632 and was completed in 1653. It is known to be the greatest symbol of eternal love. The love story of Shah Jahan and Mumtax Mahal was recorded by the courts of his kingdom. Beautiful calligraphy is present throughout the building quoting verses from the Quran and chants that were to provide guidance for their souls to reach heaven and be prosperous in their after life (similar to what the ancient Egyptians did). The Taj has 4 pillars, each one pointing to the cardinal directions north, south, east, and west. Like most of the architecture we have seen here everything is completely symmetrical. Mumtaz Mahal's tomb is in the direct center. There is a chandelier that reaches down and ends just before touching the tomb. Shah Jahan's brother had plans to build a second Taj Mahal directly across the river. This one was to be constructed completely from black marble. Only the gardens of this structure were made and are completely identical and symmetrical to the Taj Mahal.

First Peek!

So excited to see our second world wonder!

The detailing was incredible.

In all its glory!

Sunglasses are a MUST at the Taj Mahal or you can't see anything!

Just me picking up the Taj Mahal

My purse makes my kurti ride up! #IndiaProblems

Hilarious group photo of us...

You can't see Mumtaz's tomb in this picture (here's is right
underneath the light), but you can see Shah Jahan's tomb

I can't say enough about its beauty. As corny as it sounds, it really was breathe taking. The designs were so detailed and intricate. Shoes were not allowed to be worn on the white marble, so those with expensive tickets (aka all foreigners) were given shoe covers. All others were required to remove their shoes in order to step on the white marble. Tapish was our tour guide while we were there. He explained that the Taj Mahal used to be covered in precious gems and jewels of all colors. I could only imagine how it must have sparkled back when these stones were still attached. British soldiers and government officials removed them during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. There are two mosques on the sides of the Taj Mahal as well where people can pray and worship. The myth goes that after the construction of the Taj Mahal was complete, Shah Jahan ordered that the hands of all the workers who had constructed the Taj Mahal (and there were thousands) be cut off in order to prevent another Taj Mahal from ever being constructed. In return, Jahan provided for their families the rest of their lives. On Fridays the Taj Mahal is closed and only family members of the workers who constructed the Taj Mahal can come and see the world wonder and worship in the mosques. The family's were issued cards that are passed down from generation to generation. This is what allows them access on Fridays (In the BBC World Documentary Series In The Shadow of the Taj, descendants of some of the workers who built the Taj Mahal all say the 'hands cut off' story is a myth).


Throughout our time there Marisa, Melanie, and I would get all mushy gushy about love and eternal love. Tapish would make sure to interject that 'eternal love isn't real.' Then we would ask ourselves, what does eternal love even mean? Haha even though we never came up with a great answer the thought was still nice. Tapish always made sure to rain on our romantic thoughts of love. He often said things like 'yeah it's cool but it was ridiculously expensive and what did the guy even accomplish.' To which we would respond with 'the greatest symbol of eternal love.' He would again say that 'eternal love isn't real.' This humorous repertoire continued throughout our entire Agra visit.

After seeing the Taj Mahal, we went to visit Tapish's uncle. This was the first time we had ever been in an Indian family's home, so it was great to experience that dynamic. They were so welcoming, and their home was beautiful! They had just moved into it 15 days prior so it was so gracious of them to invite us over for lunch, and upon Tapish's warning even make food that wasn't spicy. It was seriously such a delicious meal. His aunt kept forcing food upon us, and even though we were full it was just too good to refuse! They also gave us a tour of their house. Their front room was a dedicated temple and was decorated with pictures of various Hindu Gods. We had such a great time meeting and visiting with them! Their daughter had just gotten engaged and will be married in November. We were able to see the proofs of the photos that were taken from their engagement ceremony. I had no idea that aside from the wedding there was a huge ceremony and party to celebrate the engagement. The pictures were absolutely stunning, but everyone kept commenting 'if you think this is a celebration, just wait for the wedding.' It was hard for me to imagine a grander party and celebration than that.

That evening we went back to the Taj Mahal to see it in the moonlight. It was just as beautiful at night, but in a different way. I felt completely at peace looking at it. Unfortunately the time of year wasn't right for the moon to be directly behind the Taj Mahal, but the light still illuminated the white marble structure. The light coming from the simple chandelier that is directly above Mumtaz Mahal's tomb shone so brightly in the dim moonlight. It again made the three of us get all mushy gushy romantic-y imagining what a love the two must have shared. Of course, Tapish chimed in on cue to remind us that eternal love was not real, but we didn't really care. All the jokes in the world couldn't ruin the gorgeous site and feeling of peace. I would love to visit India in the winter and witness the Taj Mahal with a full moon behind it.

Walking in! =)

The light in the center is always lit. Mumtaz Mahal's tomb rests
right beneath it. 

Marisa's camera got some really cool pictures!

Picking up the Taj Mahal

Me admiring the Taj Mahal at night.

On Sunday we went to the Agra Fort. Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal was one of the kings who lived in this fort. His son however made the most impact on it and expanded it quite extensively. His 4th son desired to be king so badly that he killed his three elder brothers and imprisoned his father (don't be alarmed...the jail was very fancy and nice and had a view of the Taj Mahal so he could gaze at his wife) so that he could rule. The Taj Mahal can be seen from many points of the fort. The fort was absolutely massive. We only saw about 25% of the fort because the public only has access to that much. The other 75% is utilized as a military base for the Indian army. The part we did see was absolutely massive, so it was hard to imagine there being even three times that much which we could not see. We had a guide for the fort since Tapish had only been once before when he was a small child. It was helpful having the guide because we were really able to get a lot of good history out of the experience.

Super sad we didn't get let in =(

But Super Happy When We Did!

In front of the first king's palace

King's bathtub! It used to be completely covered in gold!

The Dancing Square! The king and his two queens would watch from
the holes  in the upper right hand corner

The Taj Mahal is outside this window!

'Porch' for the lesser favorite daughter (her home was made from
plaster while the favorite daughter's was made from marble

Outside of the Shah Jahan's Prizon...Rough life...

Crown architectural styling-like the Taj Mahal! 

King and Queen's Palace

Similar detailing to the Taj Mahal

Where the king, queens, and prime minister
would sit to see the people

The people's court! This is where the common people would  lounge around and come to hear the king speak

Second Indian Outfit! Can't wait to buy more!

People's Court

Exploring with Tapish and Melanie!

It is amazing to me how hot the area is yet back in the 1600s people were able to build kingdoms and stay cool. It was a scorching hot day, yet every time we went in a building I was able to cool off due to how airy they were. These people were so intelligent in the way they designed buildings. One room was built specifically to significantly alter temperatures. The walls were hollow so cold water could be placed in them in the summer and hot water could be placed in them in the winter. The king had hundreds of concubine. The guide explained kings would simply marry as many women as they could with the single goal of expanding their kingdom and army. There were so many women that the king never tired to remember their names and simple assigned them all a number token. In the square of rooms where the concubine resided, there was also a jail. When the women would fight each other, they would be thrown in the jail for misbehaving. The guide told so many facts I couldn't possibly write them all down! If you want me to explain a particular picture to you let me know, and I'll tell you all about it =)

Love,

Sequoia

DISCLAIMER: I only posted a few of the photos on my blog! I'm just putting a select few of them on the blog. If you want to view all the photos you can check out this public Facebook album. You do NOT need a Facebook in order to look at the photos =)

Taj Mahal: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152982046630249.1073741834.509380248&type=3

Agra Fort: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152981997570249.1073741833.509380248&type=3