Hello everyone, I almost overslept, but thanks to my roommates for waking me up. I was almost late when we were ready to go. I am always ready to start the day with new and fresh information. We started our morning with some history knowledge. The government building itself was taken over by the British. Now, the government building is in the middle of renovation to start anew. The government building is called BMC for the offices and trains organization. The other building is for city needs, such as cleaning, electricity, water, and other services. The building itself is gorgeous and represents India well now. We visit the train for Indian people, to see what transportation they use to go to work. Everyone uses the train, you can imagine it's very crowded. The train itself has a women's car, a men's car, and a disability car. Our tour guide told us that experiencing the train itself is a huge part of Indian culture. Yes, we rode in a disabled car on the train.

When we arrived, we were in awe of the buildings we saw. The area is gorgeous. The design itself, you can see people put lots of work into the Gateway of India and the hotel. In the history, the British queen and king would cross the gateway by boat to visit the Indian people. The area has the Taj Hotel for celebrities and wealthy people to stay in. The Taj Hotel's history is that, in 2008, the attackers, who were from Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, killed 174 people and wounded 300. The people have to stay in their hotel rooms or homes for 2 nights and 3 days to find the suspect. Some staff sacrificed their life to help find the perpetrators. Ajmal Kasab was the only attacker caught in 2012. You can imagine, for four years, you will not know who destroyed so much significance to the community.  

The Gateway of India has boats for us to get on. You may wonder why we needed to get on a boat. We visit the Elephanta Caves, built to honor Shiva. Anyway, we rode 1 one-hour boat, we played a game you have never ever played. It was fun and kept us busy for an hour boat ride. When we arrived, we immediately saw so many monkeys, cows, and dogs. In India, the cow itself is considered holy, so if you disrespect the cow. If the cow is in the middle of the road, you wait until it decides to move; if not, wait. Anyway, the Elephanta caves are on top of a hill. So, we have to walk all the way up, so we used the stairs, obviously. The stairs on the way up have a beautiful market to look around. The market was lively because they were trying to show their work to sell. The Indian people will try to draw you in to buy. It almost worked for me, but if I didn’t have to leave. We arrived at the Elephanta caves on top of the hill. The history behind it is beautiful, the caves were dedicated to the Shiva god. Shiva, the god, is one of the main gods: the destroyer god. The caves were carved by Hindu people, they did by through the caves without any extra help. The caves are gorgeous, and you can see the details so clear. That represented the hard work that Hindu people did in the past. We explored the Elephanta caves, and we are satisfied with what we saw.

We came back to the bottom of the hill and rode the other one-hour boat back. We played the same games, but this time the staff was involved. When we arrived, we immediately went to the Ishaara restaurant managed by deaf workers. When we arrived, there were deaf workers: they are so respectful and sweet. We met the assistant manager; she is a hearing person but knows sign language. The deaf workers were in harmony to bring us food and make everything perfect. They are amazing, honestly, wow. Also, the restaurant has Indian sign language on the menu to show numbers and a card to show workers what you need. The food was on top, meaning out of this world. The food was savory and mixed with garlic because of the naan bread. Everyone emptied their plates. We got dessert as well; even worse, we loved it even more. Ishaara restaurant has amazing accessibility for everyone, plus the food is even better. What could you want more in a restaurant? I left with a full feeling from the food and know there are places for deaf people to be comfortable. The people were warmer than fire, they are good people to socialize and learn from, especially in India. That makes me so happy about the restaurant itself.

Bye, everyone

Ciara Svenningsen