Our final day in India was spent observing local cultural sites and customs- and trying to make everything fit back into the suitcases for the airplane ride home.
Several class members visited the Aga Khan Palace. Ghandi was imprisoned there from 1942 to 1944 after announcing his “Quit India” movement. His wife and personal secretary died there, and Ghandi’s remains are interred there after he went on to secure freedom from British rule.
Today is the Indian holiday “holi” – a festival if colors celebrating the change of seasons. The tradition is to color your body with bright, festive paint. Some class members observed the tradition and hoped the paint would wash off before the we make it to the airport.
At 4:30 Thursday afternoon, we left for the Pune airport to begin a 25 and a half hour trek home. With extremely tight airport security, we’re moving as a group to Delhi, then boarding an Air India flight to land at O’Hare. We have seen and learned so much about how agribusiness is conducted with these two large trading partners, and we’ve come to understand a little more about the people and cultures that make up one third of the world’s population.
It has been an extremely productive and exhausting two weeks!
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