One of the unavoidable truths of having visited so many parts of India in such a short period of time was that we had a pretty embarrassing carbon footprint, taking planes instead of trains and drinking lots of bottled water instead of water out of the tap. India is particularly vulnerable to climate change, as melting glaciers in the Himalayas threaten much of the country’s water and food supply, so I’ve got a little San Francisco green guilt creeping in on my conscience.

Thanks to my folks for paying my airfare to India, Ramya’s family for their incredible hospitality and generosity while there, and a very favorable exchange rate, I actually spent a lot less money than I expected for such a big trip. Sooo, I just bought carbon offsets to mitigate my carbon footprint while flying to and from India, and domestic air, rail, and car travel.

At the recommendation of “In India” subscriber Michael Silberman (who first told me about carbon offsets a couple years ago), I visited BrighterPlanet.com to calculate my footprint, and purchase a little over $100 in credits — investments in new green energy and reforestation projects — to “offset” all of the carbon dioxide I was responsible for pumping into the atmosphere while traveling. Here is the very rough approximation of my impact:

18,601 miles AIR transport = 7,599 lbs of CO₂ emissions
500 miles AUTO transport = 754 lbs of CO₂ emissions
726 miles RAIL transport = 154 lbs of CO₂ emissions
TOTAL CARBON FOOTPRINT = 8,506 lbs of CO₂ emissions

Yikes, that’s about what the average American produces in 4 months! If you’d like to mitigate your footprint on your next trip, you can purchase credits at BrighterPlanet.com or TerraPass.com — or just Google “carbon offsets” — and Mother Earth (and granola-lovers everywhere) will love ya for it!

Its 3am and Ramya and I are sitting in Delhi’s airport before parting ways to head home (Ramya goes East through Beijing, and I go West through London). We’ve had an incredible trip, though I think we both wish we could have spent more time in every one of the places we visited!

Today we had the very special opportunity to witness judicial proceedings at the High Court and Supreme Court of India in Delhi. It turns out Ramya’s aunt Lataa and her uncle Ram are big shot lawyers with cases to argue before the courts, so we got a fascinating glimpse of the Indian legal system. Both courts were actually somewhat chaotic — sort of like traffic court with lots of lawyers (all in black robes) and a digital ticker indicating the current item before the bench. But the Supreme Court chambers were as grand and impressive as those of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the back-and-forth between the lawyers and justices was just as combative and impassioned.

We learned a lot about the Indian legal system from Ram’s staff. I’d say it rivals the American system in terms of the shear magnitude of procedural paper-pushing that takes place, but it also seems to provide the best hope for the preservation of the “fundamental rights” (as established by the Indian Constitution) and aspirations of the common man in a place where Parliament rarely seems to give much attention to those goals.

I’ll have to leave that thought unfinished, as it’s almost wheels up for Heathrow. Thanks for following along with our wonderful voyage through the Subcontinent, and look forward to final reflections and photos in the coming days!

Ramya and I are back in Delhi, our last hurrah before heading back home on Saturday. We hardly gave Southern India justice, spending just two nights with Ramya’s uncle Murali in Chennai, formerly Madras. But we made the most if it, sampling roadside coconuts and Southern Indian cuisine (a Thali, a sampler platter of various rices and curries), visiting Dakshina Chitra (sort of like the Indian village version of Colonial Williamsburg), and checking out Marina Beach (which Murali proclaimed to be the world’s second longest beach next to Miami, though there were no thongs and far more stray dogs).

  

But the highlight of our time in Chennai was getting to see Priya (Ramya’s aunt, Murali’s wife) perform in a traditional Bharatnatyam dance. It’s as much a pantomime as it is dance, in which detailed facial expressions and hand movements convey emotion and tell traditional Hindu stories along to a Carnatic orchestra. Those who know me may be surprised to see me getting so worked up about dance, but Bharatnatyam does more for me than what I usually associate with “dance,” and I really enjoyed Priya’s performance.

Video here:

Also of note: we stayed in the “Ecotel,” where low flow faucets and an in-room recycling bin helped us (marginally) reduce our footprint. There was even a green, tree-shaped button next to the bed which turned off the AC and illuminated a sign outside our room door boasting “Eco friendly guest.” If living sustainably actually was as easy as hitting a little green button I might be better at it, but that’s a topic for another post on another blog!

In the third act of the play that is our trip to India, the Krishnamurtis (my mom’s family) play a starring role. We had a brief (too brief) stay in Bombay (Mumbai I suppose now) where we hung out with Shyam Mama and Suresh Mama (my mom’s brothers), Shivani Auntie, and my cousin Tarun.

Though we didn’t get to live out our dream of becoming Bollywood extras, we did take a really awesome night tour of Bombay in a double-decker bus (apologies for the lack of inspiring photos — my camera doesn’t do night shots particularly well). Of all the places we’ve been thus far, Bombay architecture seems to be the most reminiscent of its former British overlords (Victoria Rail Station is a particularly striking example).

The other theme of the past two days has been the ingestion of mass quantities of food (I’m definitely realizing where I inherited my insatiable appetite from.) In Bombay we went to Soam, where we had truckloads of classic Gujurati food. Jamie remarked that he wasn’t yet tired of Indian food and I can see why. We’ve sampled a monumental array of different dishes from a variety of regions in India, so each meal is a new culinary journey (Padma, Tom and Gail would be proud).

The next morning we pushed off to Pune where the good times (and the binging) continued with Gowri Chitti (my aunt), Murali Chittapa and his folks, and cousins Madhuri, Tejas and Tara.

We ate dinner at a really nice restaurant with AMAZING food. The décor was modern Indian and beautiful, with the exception of a hideous Kingfisher beer statue complete with zinging lightning bolts. When the check came and we were all sufficiently stuffed, I filled out a comment card (these cards are very popular here — feedback seems to be of the utmost importance) noting the wonderful food and the possible removal of the tacky statue (I was half joking). As we were leaving, the waiter stopped me and asked me I would kindly clarify my comment card and point out exactly which statue did not meet my approval — I was busted. Gowri Chitti hastily choked out a far more polite response than I uttered under my breath (”that statue is hideous”).

I hope that the good food will continue for the remainder of our trip, but I think I can safely say that I will not be filling out any more comment cards…unlike the States, it appears they are actually read here.

Well, sort of. We’re finally leaving rainy San Francisco tomorrow (on separate flights, going opposite ways around the world), and should arrive in India in the wee hours of Thursday morning. That means all 75 minutes or so of my Christmas will be spent in Heathrow Terminal 5, while Ramya gets a little longer to enjoy the holiday during her layover in Beijing’s airport. Incidentally, all Ramya and I wanted for Christmas this year was ramen and over-cooked pubfood, so this is going to work out really well.

Enjoy our first video as we set off for India (and Ramya almost breaks her back before we even get there).

Jamie said I had to post something or I would lose my blogging privileges, so here is a short list of things I am excited for on our trip:

• Seeing my family!! (especially my cousin Bhargav whom I have yet to meet)
• Overnight train rides (umm, not really, but the stories should be good)
• Visiting the Taj Mahal and other touristy places I’ve never been
• Roadside carts, mango juice, Grand Sweets and Thumbs Up cola (the best soda in the world)
• The sweet smell of cow dung and auto exhaust
• Not having a cell phone or email for 2 weeks (I know you’ll miss me)