One of the greatest privileges of a long trip to a country as big as India is being able to travel around the country. In fact, one of the main elements of this journalism course in India was visiting key Indian tourist, economic and cultural sites and writing about them. These tours, although they were sometimes challenging for me and added more burdens to an already hectic trip, enabled me to fill in the small but important details of the mosaic picture I was trying to create of this country. Our site visits started with the famous Islamic monument of Qutb Minar in Delhi that was built by the first three Muslim emperors in the 12th century. The 72.5 metre tower is the world's tallest brick minaret, and it is the earliest and most prominent example of Indo-Islamic architecture in the country. Another landmark Islamic monument that I visited was the Red Fort, built in Old Delhi in the 17th century by the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan, who also built the famous Taj Mahal. One interesting tour was to Delhi's downtown shopping district. Another area that was fascinating for its contrasts was the district that houses important governmental and parliamentary buildings. I found that the strong Hindu respect for animal life was still reflected on these elegant streets, as it was not surprising to see a vast number of monkeys swinging on the branches of the huge trees that line it. Another thing that astonished me was the Indians' pride in the local industry, especially the automotive industry. Actually the Indian government sets the best example for its people by utilising Indian-made cars for all governmental officials, up to the prime minister and the president. India has truly developed its auto industry and started exporting to many world markets, including Egypt. Visiting India would not be complete without seeing the Taj Mahal, one the wonders of the world and a symbol of love and loyalty from a man to his wife. Some people come to India just to visit this unique and elegant tomb. Although I knew the story of the Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan and his wife Momtaz Mahal (who died while giving birth to their 11th child), on my tour I decided to listen carefully to our guide to learn more about the structure. I learned about its designer, the marble that was imported specially from Iraq for decorating the tomb, and the Qur'anic verses chosen for its walls. During a two-day visit to the city of Agra, I visited some of the cottage-industry shops that have spread to every part of the country and proven a great success in marketing the hand-made products of Indian women from different states. In these shops were marvellous hand-embroidered pieces woven by women living in poor cottages in very remote region. This project of supporting Indian cottage industries has been a great success and an added tourist attraction. It is just another example of the type of project the Egyptian Government should consider when talking about social and economic development for women. During the five-month course, the Indian Institute for Mass Communication also organised numerous visits to important commercial and cultural places such as Jaipur, commonly known as the Pink City. Such visits gave insight into the kind of efforts that India has been exerting to become a world economic power, which have recently begun to bear fruit. Visiting Goa, on the far southwestern coast of India, was a perfect conclusion to the five-month journalism course. To tell the truth, I had looked forward to that trip since the start of the course, since it was a place for entertainment not for study or work. However, I did not realise the long distance of the trip to this special place that was once a Portuguese colony and had become the richest state in India. In addition to the giant Cathedral that indicates the domination of Christian Indians in this southern state, most of the buildings are in the Portuguese style of architecture. Unfortunately, the scenery did not arouse our interest, because we were so exhausted and looking forward to reaching the hotel to catch up on our sleep after the two-day journey. To reduce cost of the trip, the institute decided that we would travel by train to Bombay and take a bus from there to Goa, rather than flying directly from Delhi to Goa. The trip was supposed to take a night and a day, but it coincided with a national holiday "Sister Day" and so it took us a day longer to find a bus to Goa. Spending a long, horrible night on a train that turned off all its lights at 10pm, we reached the Bombay railway station in the morning only to be faced with a huge crowd, all on their way to visit their sisters to celebrate "Sister Day". Leaving our professor to search for a bus all day, we took the opportunity to tour the nearby streets of Bombay and have a nice meal at the Muslim restaurants that served halal lamb meat. One of the main lessons I learned in Bombay was to inform the waiter that I wanted the food not to be spicy; otherwise any meal would be full of hot pepper! Returning to the biggest train station I have ever seen in my life, we found our professor totally exhausted and hopeless over his inability to find a bus to Goa. We had to spend the night at the train station, and on this unforgettable night I started really learning how to "enjoy my problems" as the institute's dean had advised us to do on our first day in Delhi. With the help of an African colleague, I managed to turn the night from a real inconvenience into a kind of entertainment. This intelligent journalist from Cameroon advised me to look on the bright side of this experience, told me about his long motorcycle trips between towns and countries of Africa to cover certain events. As a journalist, he had learned how to face hard times and turn them to a kind of entertainment. So instead of spending the night on the floor of the lady's hall in the station, I stood on the balcony of the second floor, watching the passengers coming and going and waiting for the trains that would take them far and wide to visit their sisters, most of whom had married and moved to a different state or town, in keeping with the Hindu tradition of banning marriage within a village. Contemplating the great patience of these passengers and the trouble they took to spend a day with their sisters gave me a deeper knowledge of this great nation and their strong respect for social traditions and family bonds. This trip, and indeed the entire five-month journey to India, added so much to my experience as a journalist and a human being and enabled me make the best out of any experience, no matter how difficult. Eighteen years later, the hardships of the trip have faded away, and all that is left are the great memories of my stay in this very special country. I hope one day to visit again, and to see the great changes that must have taken place in India since I was there. If this chance does not come, we can all still look forward to hearing about today's India from my colleague Ihab Shaarawy, who departed 10 days ago to attend the same journalism course that I did.
