To enlarge your map please click on the icon in the top right corner of the map
From October 21st to November 03rd 2024
Summary Itinerary
Clicking on the days of travel in the summary itinerary will take you to the detailed itinerary for that day and vice versa clicking on the day in the detailed itinerary will return you to the summary itinerary. In the detailed itinerary, in addition to the images and description of the days, we also have the day of the month and the week
Detailed Itinerary
Flights
Going to Galeão (GIG) and Guarulhos (GRU) in night of October 20, Sunday, for a flight in the early hours of October 21st. Very good flight!
Flight from Rio 21OCT Emirates EK0248 Rio De Janeiro 02h55 Dubai 23h55
Flight from Sao Paulo 21OCT Emirates EK0262 Sao Paulo 01h55 Dubai 22h55
Arrival
Welcome to India! Upon arrival, you will be assisted by our local partners who will be waiting with a sign with your name (or with 'Chörten' written on the sign) in the area we have agreed upon at the airport (as in the image above and on the Arrival in Delhi page). here). We accompany each Chörten Traveller upon their arrival, maintaining telephone contact with our airport representative team from before their plane lands until the moment we speak. This is so that they can be 100% sure that we are following them and making sure that their arrival is being well taken care of. Transfer to the hotel with assistance (approx. 35 to 45 min), located in a central area, with interesting possibilities for tours and cultural activities. You should arrive at the hotel around 11 am. As it will be before 14 pm, we will speak to the hotel in advance asking, if available, to be able to check in earlier than the hotel's formal check-in time. On our first day, we will be arriving, adjusting to the time zone and trying, despite the fatigue from the hours of flying, to sleep at the right time. Not during the day as we would like due to the time zone we are used to. For these reasons, the suggestion for the first tours is that they be quite light on the one hand, as we are still not processing the information very well but we want to stay awake.
That afternoon we'll have lunch and go to Khan Market to buy clothes for the meeting if necessary, take a walk and stay awake to get into the time zone.
Break.
Flight 22OUT Emirates EK0510 Dubai 03h55 Delhi 09h05
J-Pal South Asia
Embaixada
NITI Aayog
Breakfast between 7am and 9am. Meet at 9:20am in the hotel lobby.
Departure for the first meeting with J-Pal:
- From 10:11 to 30:XNUMX
- People present: Parikrama Chowdhry and Viji Iyer
- Poverty Action Lab Focal Point Associate Director – Policy (Scale-Ups)
- They gave us the invitation letter for the visa and arranged the visit to Bihar.
- Address: J-PAL South Asia JPal South Asia at IFMR, AADI, Gate, 02, Balbir Saxena Marg, Hauz Khas, New Delhi. Google Maps: here
Lunch at 12pm
Visit to the Brazilian Embassy in India:
- At 15pm (updated)
- We will meet: Hon. Ambassador of Brazil to India Mr. Knnneth da Nóbrega
- Address: Embassy Of Brazil, 8, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Rd, Aurangzeb Road, New Delhi. Google Maps: here
Visit to NITI Aayog:
- At 17pm (updated)
- We will meet: Mr. Jayant Singh, PD (RT/T&C/ Infra II)
- Address: Sansad Marg, Sansad Marg Area, New Delhi. Google Maps: here
BRAC International
Flight
Breakfast between 7am and 8:05am. Meet at 8:20am in the hotel lobby.
Departure for the first meeting with BRAC International:
- From 9:10 to 30:XNUMX
- We will meet: Jafreen Hussain, Program Analyst (PVTG and tribal livelihoods lead)
- They helped us organize the visit to Bihar and arrange the meeting with the people of Jeevika.
- Address: D-43, Second Floor, Block D, Defence Colony, New Delhi, Delhi 110024, India. Google Maps: here
Lunch and departure to the airport at 13:30 pm for the flight to Patna, Bihar.
Flight 24OCT IndiGo 6E5641 Delhi 16:05 Patna 17:45
BRAC International / Badhanan
Breakfast. Meet at 9:45 am (to be confirmed) at the hotel lobby. Full day meeting with Badhan and Jeevika
BRAC INTERNATIONAL/BADHANAN:
- People Present: Deepa Gupta (Bandhan) – Deputy Director (ILE) and Mahua Roy Chaudhary and Prashant Krishna (Bihar Government; Jeevika Programme) / Ms. Irina Sinha, Director – Strategic Partnerships, PCI India / Mr. Amit Kumar, Head, SJY Urban PMU / Ms. Koral, Technical Specialist – Gender, SJY Urban PMU / Mr. Samit Kumar, Technical Specialist – Coaching and Capacity Building, SJY Urban PMU / Selected programme beneficiaries and Graduate Coach (depending on their availability in the area)
- PCI India acts as the Project Management Unit (PMU) in partnership with BRAC to support JEEVIKA’s SJY (Urban) program.
- Address: PCI India, D-63, Rajesh Kumar Path, Sri Krishna Puri, Patna. Google Maps: here
- From 10h30 to 13h00
- Project presentation
- Interaction with BRAC PMU team members including Director Strategic Partnerships, PCI India
Lunch
- From 14h00 to 16h00
- Visit to a nearby municipal ward
- Exposure to a daycare center run by one of BRAC's partners for SJY beneficiaries (Urban)
- Interaction with selected beneficiaries and an undergraduate coach
- From 16h30 to 17h00
- Debriefing at the PCI office
Dinner
nalanda
Shanti Stupa
Vultures Peak
We will travel for approximately 3 hours to Rajgir. This region is one of the places where Buddha and his monastic sangha lived during many monsoons. Since Buddha and his students lived on foot (throughout the places we are visiting), due to the dangers of such a journey during the rainy season, during these months of each year they stayed in places offered by the kings.
40 minutes before Ragjir, we will visit the archaeological site of the very important Nalanda University. For centuries, Nalanda was one of the most important centers of Buddhist studies, attracting students from many parts of the world, especially between the 10.000th and 2.000th centuries. There were around XNUMX students and XNUMX teachers there, and there was a library larger than that of Alexandria, for example. Among the many great masters of Nalanda, known as the Indian panditas, some of them were: Nagarjuna, Aryadeva, Buddhapalita, Bhavaviveka, Chandrakirti and Shantideva. For centuries, many of these scholars and yogis were invited by Tibetan kings to cross the Himalayas and bring Buddhist studies to Tibet. Thus, the Nalanda tradition lives on to this day, studied and practiced in traditional Tibetan shedras (universities) and monasteries in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet, as well as in important universities in Europe and North America, where there is an important modern exchange with neuroscientists, physicists and educators. We will visit the Nalanda monasteries, as well as temples and important stupas.
In Rajgir we will visit the Peace Stupa, or Shanti Stupa, a beautiful mountaintop location built as part of a Japanese Buddhist project for world peace, in many places around the world. From the stupa we will walk to Vulture Peak, where Buddha had a hut. This is the site of the important text and teaching called the Heart Sutra. Very peaceful, also on a nearby mountain. We can do a meditation practice, including reading the Heart Sutra itself and commentaries by modern masters on this sutra.
Return to Patna.
Flight
Relaxed breakfast. Departure to the airport at 11:45 am. Arrival in Mumbai at a time with traffic, so we will arrive at the hotel in time for dinner.
Flight 27OUT Air India AI732 Patna 14:05 Mumbai 16:55
TATA Group
Flight
Breakfast between 7:8 and 15:8. Meet at 30:XNUMX in the hotel lobby. We will leave the hotel with our bags because after the meeting we will go straight to the airport.
TATA GROUP:
- 9am to 10:30am: Bombay House Site / Tata Group Head Qtr
- 11am to 12pm: Ms. Ropp Purusottam, Tata Group, who is the Chief Economist and Head of Policy Advocacy at the Tata Group. She is the co-author of the book Bridgital Nation: Solving Technology's People Problem
- Address: Homi Modi St, Kala Ghoda, Fort, Mumbai. Google Maps: here
- Visit TBD
- From 12:12 to 40:XNUMX: Transfer to TCS Banyan Park
Lunch
- 13:30 PM to 14:30 PM: Mr. Viswajit Datta, Head of National Digital Entrepreneurship Programme, TCS CSR is leading a mission to upskill youth from marginalized and underprivileged communities and build digital entrepreneurs with sustainable livelihoods. A TCS veteran since 1997, he led the Water Utilities business for 20 years before joining the social transformation mission in 2020.
- Address: GBanyan Park, Suren Rd, Gundavali, Andheri East, Mumbai. Google Maps: here)
- From 14:30 pm to 15:XNUMX pm: Transfer to Viday NGO College
- Address to be confirmed: Gurukrupa, Room No. 10, Hare Krishna Road, Opp. Konark Bldg, IIT Market, Powai. Google Maps: here
We will go straight to the airport. Flight, dinner and sleep.
Flight 28OCT IndiGo 6E5074 Mumbai 19:15 Bangalore 21:00
The Nudge Institute
Breakfast between 7am and 8:30am. Meet at 9am in the hotel lobby.
All-day meeting with The Nudge Institute:
- People present: National Partnerships Senior Director
- They have an important articulation in relation to all actors in the fight against extreme poverty and technology
- Address: Ground Floor, Aswath Nagar Service Road, 15-19, NH 44, Dodda Nekkundi Extension, Marathahalli. Google Maps: here
- 10.00 am to 10.15 am: introduction to the Vale Foundation Project
- 10.15 am to 10.30 am: introduction to The/Nudge
- 10.30 am to 11.15 am: The Poverty Graduation Model
- 11.30 am to 1.00 pm: The/Nudge's work across states and the work with the government
Lunch
- 2.00 pm to 2.45 pm: Building Products for Scale
- 2.45 pm to 3.30 pm: Using Technology for scaling Poverty Graduation
- 3.30 pm to 4.00 pm: Our Ecosystem Work on Economic Inclusion
Dinner
Flight
Breakfast between 7am and 7:45am. Meet at the hotel lobby at 8am for transfer to the airport. Lunch in the late afternoon in Agra.
Tips on starting tomorrow:
– Suggestion to rest well that day, not finishing too late, and visit the Taj very early tomorrow. In addition to the possibility of beautiful light, it is also calmer than during the day. There may be a fog, which will almost always open at some point (and then return). But even if it doesn't open, quite rare, it's still quite beautiful. All Travellers to this day are grateful for going so early.
– To calculate the departure time from our hotel, we use two main pieces of information: time when the Taj gates are opening (varies from month to month so we asked the guide and at the hotel) and time of sunrise in Agra on that day (here 6:28). It's approx. 10 min by car from the hotel to the parking lot, then another approx. 5 min by electric cart to the gate where there may be a line and we'll have to wait for it to open (we suggest arriving a little before opening time to avoid a line even though there is a specific line for foreigners). So, without a line, another 10-15 min for the search and walk to the platform from where we see the Taj. Suggestion: leave the hotel at 5:30 am.
– Leave food at the hotel, creams, travel knife, nail trimmer, practically everything except a camera, cell phone for photos, temple kit and, depending on the time of year, warm clothing. Talk to your guide about what you can and cannot take with you as this also varies greatly from season to season.
– Confirming the time breakfast ends with the hotel can also be a good help in calculating the time to return from the tour tomorrow: from the Taj to the gate and then to the car.. 30-40min, plus 10-15min from the car to the hotel.
Flight 30OUT IndiGo 6E941 Bangalore 11:15 Agra 13:50
Taj Mahal
Agra Fort
Car trip
Today we will wake up very early for our visit to the Taj Mahal (see suggestions above at the end of the day before). Built by Shah Jahan for his wife, Muntaz Mahal, in the 20th century. XVII, thousands of workers and architects from different regions of the world, for XNUMX years, used the famous white marble of India and precious stones. Early in the morning, in addition to the possibility of beautiful light, it is also quieter than during the day. Our local guide will tell you many stories about this monument. Return to the hotel for a good breakfast.
After breakfast, it's worth checking out, we'll visit Agra Fort. This Red Fort in Agra, more beautiful and with more history than the one in Delhi. It was first used by Babur, the first Mughal emperor, in the 17th century. XVI, and built in its current form by Akbar. We will visit its gardens, public and private audience halls, mosque and quarters, including where Shah Jahan was imprisoned by his son and what Akbar built for his son, with symbols of all the main religious and philosophical traditions of the time.
After visiting Agra Fort, we continued our journey on a very good road back to Delhi (approx. 4 to 5 hours).
Old Delhi.
Raj Ghat
Kartavya Path (Rajpath)
Gurudwara bangla sahib
Lodi Garden
We will begin our tours with what is actually one of several Delhis, which existed at different times and under different empires in a succession of neighboring cities. The last and eighth Delhi is where we stayed, built by the British, called New Delhi. The seventh was built by Shah Jahan, one of the great Mughal emperors, the same one who built the Taj Mahal, then known as Shajahanabad. Today we call it Old Delhi or Old Delhi. We will visit the Emperor's great mosque, the Jama Masjid. There, for those who want, there is the possibility of a walk up the minaret! From where we have a view of the city and the Red Fort from above. Talk to your guide. He doesn't need to go up and can keep his backpack (which can't go up the minaret, so it's always a good idea to have a padlock for it or not leave money in it). Just be very careful on the platform up there, please.
Then we'll walk through the alleys of its old bazaar. There is a very old shop, passed from father to son for a long time, selling essences (sandalwood, etc.) and incense called Gulab Singh Johri Mal, which in itself is a walk. You can buy an oil in a box along with one of the very typical bottles of this Muslim region of Delhi. Following the walk through the alleys of the bazaars, most guides like to do a bicycle rickshaw. We highly recommend that you do the walking tour, to have more contact and to be able to see the bazaar better. Possibility to visit a small Jain temple, very old, with beautiful paintings. There is more than one Jain temple in the region, this one is in the village called Naughara Gali, in the Kinari bazaar. We then continue until we reach the Red Fort, where the important Lahori Gate is. It was there that important talks about the history of India took place, such as the independence of this country, today the largest democracy in the world, in which millenary values and customs coexist at the same time with extremely modern knowledge and technologies.
As we have already visited the Agra Fort, which has more history, is more beautiful and better preserved, we suggest not visiting the inside of the Delhi Fort, using our time with other visits in the city.
On the way back to our hotel area, we will pay tribute to the memorial where Gandhi was cremated, Raj Ghat. We will see what was his last word, a sign of great accomplishment on his spiritual path. Those who like photographs, look for images made by Cartier-Bresson, one of the great photographers that ever existed, who was in Delhi that day.
Close to our hotel is the terrace built by the English in the 17th century. XX, called Kartavya Path (until recently called Rajpath). There is the India Gate, the city's landmark, built in honor of the combatants in the great war, where we can go down to take some photos. On the other side of Kartavya Path is the house of the current President of India.
A visit to the Sikh temple, a 16th century religion from the Punjab region of India, is certainly a good option. At the beautiful Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, we will hear their chants (see the translation on the monitors inside the temple), and we will observe how they say their prayers in the temple and around the sacred tank. We will also be able to visit the kitchen where volunteers provide meals for thousands of people every day, regardless of social class and religion.
A walk around one of the parks where locals go for their walks, very beautiful, with mausoleums of the various sultans of Delhi, the Lodi Garden, is a great option that combines history, nature and the opportunity to observe the daily lives of local residents .
Free day
lotus-temple
Gandhi Smriti
Flight
Today is the day to catch international flights, so a quiet day is recommended. We will have a vehicle with a driver and the room will be available until the time to go to the airport. Possible programs: Meditation and Yoga with Renata, museums, temples, a good lunch. Departure for the airport at 16:30 pm.
A first suggestion to end our experiences in India, further south of the city, is a visit to the beautiful Lotus Temple. Built in the shape of its name, it is part of the Bahá'í religion, founded in the 19th century in ancient Persia. When visiting it, everyone will be invited to remain silent for a moment. An interesting opportunity and experience in the middle of this large, busy city. After visiting the temple, which is sometimes open, further along the exit path (before turning right to the street gate), there are some stairs that lead to an exhibition about the history and work of this religion. It is interesting to take a look and get in touch with brief expositions about their thoughts.
Another special visit for our day is the last house where Gandhi lived, known as Birla House. We will learn a little about this important part of this nation's history, as well as about the life and final moment of this great leader, an example of the practice of Ahimsa (non-violence) and the culture of peace to this day throughout the world. The most important parts of the museum today are at the beginning of the visit. So, suggestion: go to the back of the house where Gandhi was assassinated, on the way to the place where he said his daily prayers. Come back and take a look at a presentation about Gandhi's life, with photos of where he was born, until he became the Gandhi we know. Then enter the house through Gandhi's room, where there are their belongings. In every place where Gandhi lived he had a simple room with belongings like these. These are the most important parts of the visit. I suggest following in a much more concise manner this same floor and the floor above. There are volunteers available to present the museum but it usually takes a lot of time. If you want their support, ask them to present just 2 or 3 parts of the museum, or give a 5-minute summary (which will probably end up being more). Suggestion: use a maximum of 10 to 15 minutes for these parts of the museum (after Gandhi's room) so that you can use your day with other visits in the city.
A good lunch, if you have time and want, there are certainly other possibilities for visits and tours that we can talk about that day.
Flight 2NOV Emirates 515 Delhi 21:25 Dubai 23:55
Flight
Flight 3NOV Emirates 247 Dubai 08:05 Rio De Janeiro 15:25