The very first official activity of the OU Adventure to India took place at the airport even before we got on the El Al plane headed to Mumbai. Each of us, in a very informal type of ceremony, received an enormous folder of information about Jewish India – which we could read at our leisure – and a daily itinerary, every day’s activities printed on a separate 4×11.5 inch card, all of which were fastened together with a ring. So, looking ahead (or back), what was scheduled for Fri. Feb. 12 (otherwise known as 3 Adar I)?

Enjoy a boat ride on the backwaters of Cochin, where ocean salt water mixes with fresh inland water. See the spectacular forest, water birds, wild flowers, and lush greenery. Along the way see small villages, rubber trees, and an area of water where no fish can live. Continue reading →

There were only two dubious moments on our OU Adventure, when the outcome unquestionably failed to meet the expectation. One of these you already know about (assuming you have been reading these articles all along), the decision to do our morning prayers on the top deck of a small boat in the Arabian Sea. The second one also seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turned out to be the absolute low point of our trip. Unfortunately it came the day after the high point, our visit to the former-Christian community in Erode, sort of like going from the sublime to the abysmal.

The original plan had been to drive to the Coimbatore airport and take a charter flight to Cochin, one hour away. But… by the time we would ride to the airport, go through security, wait to board the plane, disembark at the other end, find our luggage, get back on another bus, and ride to our hotel, we might as well just stay on the first bus and head up the new highway to Cochin – about a four hour journey. If we were to do that, we could stop along the way at a place with elephants. As I said, sounded like a reasonable plan, better than going through the rigmarole at the airport any more than was absolutely necessary. Plus, elephants being such a big feature of the Indian landscape, it sort of fit into the scheme of things. Continue reading →

Imagine this happening to you: You’re standing in a throng of people, and suddenly they are all giving you a Standing “O.” “Wait a cotton-picking minute,” you think, “What have I done deserve this? The guy on my left, and the lady on my right, maybe they’ve done something special. But me, I haven’t done diddley-squat.” Continue reading →

When Barbara first started thinking about signing up for the OU Israel Adventure to India and was more than hinting that she’d like me to join her, I figured that I at least ought to take a gander at the itinerary. If nothing else, I would have an idea what it was I wasn’t interested in seeing and where it was I wasn’t interested in going. So I started making comments in the margins of the pages she gave me: very interested, somewhat interested, or not at all interested. The activity that got my lowest interest rating was going to a village to meet a congregation of men and women who had collectively abandoned Christianity and were attempting as best they could to live as Jews. All well and good, but the thought of interacting with them in small groups interested me not a whit. What was I to say to them beyond, “What, are you nuts?” Converting to Judaism is difficult enough under normal circumstances, but sooner or later they would most likely have to deal with the Israeli Rabbinate, and that is a fate I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

Proverbial spoiler alert: By unanimous consent (that means including me), our visit to Erode was the absolute highlight of our trip. Here’s what went on. Continue reading →

I think most of us have had moments like this, when you feel kind of small, when you realize you’ve been complaining over nothing very important. It was Monday morning, and some of us were standing by a large picture window with a view of Imphal and the surrounding mountains. It was obvious that the brand new, almost completed Grand Hotel were staying in was not in the same league as the super deluxe President Hotel in Bombay. What was irking most of our companions, who felt the need to be “connected” round the clock, was the spotty Internet service. Apparently each floor had its own network, and that was driving people batty. What perplexed me was the one toothbrush the hotel gave us. Some of the hotels we stayed at gave their guests complimentary toothbrushes in addition to the usual soaps and shampoos; some didn’t. We of course had our own toothbrushes, which we assiduously kept clean with bottled water, so we didn’t feel the need to use the hotel freebies. But if the hotel was going to give them out, why put out only one if there are two people in the room? Continue reading →

Four o’clock in the morning. There is almost no reason to have to wake up at this ungodly hour – unless you have to catch a flight. Which is what we had to do, get to the Mumbai airport to board a plane to New Delhi, to catch another one to Manipour. While I’m sure all of us in the group felt it was too early at 4:30 Sunday morning, the hotel lobby was filled with young people for whom it was still Saturday night. They were still PARTYING big time, not a care in the world. I even noticed one Indian young lady in a mini-skirt, the only one I saw the two weeks were in India. Whatever else you want to say about the Indians, they do dress modestly. Continue reading →

There we were, back in the President Hotel, getting ready for Shabbat. But how does that work in Mumbai? It’s not an issue in any hotel in Israel. You go to the front desk and ask for an old-fashioned key, which you use on Shabbat instead of the normal swipe card to unlock the door to your room. There’s invariably a handy staircase to go up and down. Some of them even have a Shabbat elevator! That’s because hotels in Israel expect that some of their guests are shomer Shabbat. But what do you do in Indian hotels, where Shabbat is less of a priority? They don’t have room keys, and they only have “emergency” exits for staircases. Ralphy, as always, to the rescue. Continue reading →

As our excursion to India was a genuine, authentic OU “adventure,” it goes without saying that every morsel of food we ate was kosher and that we as a group prayed three times a day. Most of the time, the davening was standard – nothing to write home about. However, the morning minyan the second day was a little out of the ordinary. The plan was for us to board a boat and head down to an island south of Mumbai, where we would get on a bus and drive to a small village to visit a Bene Israel synagogue. Someone had this bright idea: Why don’t we daven shacharit on the boat? Then we can have a pre-packaged breakfast while we’re traveling. We can save time that way. There’s a large box somewhere out there to put all the plans that “seemed like a good idea at the time,” and this doozy certainly would qualify! Continue reading →