Travel to India - love-hate relationship
India is big; big in every sense. The area is vast, the population is vast too. The culture is vast(diverse). Religious beliefs are diverse too. Economic disparity is vast as well! Climate has a wide range. Almost whatever you can think of is found here with a wide ridge of disparity.
If you haven’t visited the country, then you’re really missing something. I’m not talking about just the natural beauty but about rest everything else as well. It is not a country but a continent in itself!
No one leaves the (Indian) subcontinent untouched (usually physically as well as metaphorically). No one jumps on the plane out, shoots people on the road, shrugs their shoulders and goes…
It’s a place that leeches into your bones, for good and bad reasons. I loved it. I hated it. I felt sheer joy, and frustrated anger. I saw sublime beauty, and indescribable filth. Everything that’s good, bad (and in between) about travelling, I found in India.
A trip to India is not really a holiday - not in the traditional “relaxing” sense, anyway. Each day you wake up, dress, then take a moment to steel yourself before flinging open the doors and letting India back into your life.
It seems like those attacks, the sight of all those slums, plus the worsening security situations in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh, will start to turn people off travelling to a country they’d probably be a little hesitant to visit in the first place.
The moment you step out of your secure den, the broad Indian culture welcomes you. All of a sudden it’s all honking horns, wandering cows, rickshaw wallahs, chai wallahs, smog, touts, open sewage, wafts of spices.
Look at any of the face, you’ll see fatigue, exhaustion, agression, confusion but all this with a smile. A passerby would love to say ‘hi’ to you.
Sometimes the things could drive you nuts. Nothing happens the way you’ve been brought up to expect it should. You soon find out that everything is negotiable! If you can haggle, you can get it at the apt price if not you’re ripped off.
There are people everywhere, left, right and top. Top!!! I mean on the top of passenger buses. The buses carrying people are dangerously over-occupied and tilted towards one side, mysteriously balancing the load of the bus, defying all laws of physics (Eiffel Tower will be ashamed with the tilt of the bus!). Top again!!! There are people on top of the trees just to get a (free) glimpse of the cricket players (read stars), when the stadium is already overflowing.
Scores of strangers will approach you. Some genuinely want to talk to you, and find out what the hell you’re doing in their town, and how the hell Indian cricket team is still not number one.
Some want to run up and touch you as a dare from their mates. Some, if you happen to be female, will go ahead and touch you anyway. Some want to be in a photo with you. Some want to know your entire social and financial history within five minutes, with the intention of perhaps offloading an excess daughter.
Some genuinely want to rob you, or talk you into a scam, or sell you a carpet. Your rickshaw driver will want to take you to his cousin’s marble emporium.
Men urinate in side alleys. It’s ok to pee anywhere as long as the ‘pee-source’ is disguised. Slum-dwellers take their morning dump beside the train tracks. Everyone cleans themselves with a jug of water and a left hand.
One of the seven wonders of the world, Taj Mahal, will bring a tear to your eyes so will the slums. The nouveau riche flout their money with abandon and the poor beg for a piece of it.
People laugh, cry, clap and cheer in movie cinemas. The stars dance ridiculously. Every man and woman feels like the movie actor and actress, once out of the cinema.
There is no limit to the variety of foods available. Some people are strict vegetarians - avoid meat, onions, garlic, tomatoes, turnip, carrot…! Some people are hard-core non-vegetarians, who eat everything (I really mean everything, like the natives of Nagaland). The foods in restaurants is often indescribable - mainly because you have no idea what you’re eating. Old men at street carts sell snacks that would rival any Michelin-starred chef’s creations.
You bury your right hand in the food to eat. You smear spice-laden gunk over your face as you attempt to wolf down a thali. You sip steaming fresh chai in rickety huts with men who’ve done so every day of their lives, and will do for the rest of them.
You talk about cricket. You talk about cricket. And you talk about cricket. And, if you’re evolved, you talk about politics and ridicule Indian government and United States. It’s impossible to get bored.
Fantastic place with the extremes of humanity completely in your face. I think because life can be so precarious there they grasp it with both hands and make the most of every opportunity, moment and resource - and that is completely infectious. I played cricket in a slum all day in 40 degree heat with old men and young boys you will be sick by mosquio bites, some food poisoning.
Some general experiences - worst bus experience ever, best new year’s eve ever, food poisoning, sleeping on a roof because couldn’t find a room, being surrounded by black-robed monks who wanted their photo taken with us, being surrounded by literally dozens of kids who just wanted to ask our names and where we were from, being moved to tears by the sheer numbers of people who live their life on the side-walks.
A rickshaw drivers will keep pedalling his rickshaw along with you, as you’re walking on the sidewalk, with the hope that you’ll change your mind and take a paid ride and bless him with 10 rupees.
Cows and dogs absolutely everywhere, people throwing scraps on the street for cows to eat. At every step a foreigner has to be extra careful of the scammers, beggars, filth, contamination (even food, air and water). There’s a lot more to India than the slums, where the vast majority of people don’t live.
Every town, every village of india is different. The one thing that remains the same is the smiling welcoming people. Yes, some might try and rip you off, most want to talk to you about cricket/politics, and some just want to practice their English!
A visit to India could be one that made the biggest impression on me. The country is a bucket of diamonds, buried in dirt. If your willing to push yourself through the dirt you will be well rewarded.
Basically, the country has the problem of over-population, and that’s the root of all evil. I heard that Muslims are brain-washed from their childhood that they should have as many children (and wives) as much they can have potentially, so that their religion is populous ASAP. I couldn’t verify the authenticity of this.
You must have already started hating India and dropped the idea to travel there, if you had any. Don’t do it. It’s not that bad. Think about all this poverty/richness, honesty/greed, business/laziness, rip-off/helping-hand… you’ll find it all over the world, from China to Germany to USA to Russia to Japan … This is the era of extreme good and bad, and India has taken its fair share.
Think about the 5000 years of rich cultural heritage and history of the country. Think about the religious diversity, the rich natural resources. The vast majority of intelligent technical working professional pool. More than 25% of the American high-tech industry involvement is directly or indirectly served by Indian-born cream professionals.
The country has the most (in world) English speaking populace, even though English is not the first language of anybody in the country.
Natural resources ranging from north (Kashmir, Himachal, Himalayas), to east (Shillong, Assam), to west (Rajasthan), south (Ajanta/Ellora, Goa, Pondicherry, Konkan) …
There are pristine beaches in Kerala, and corpse-ridden rivers in Varanasi. There are snow-capped Himalayas, and camel-riding-tourist-ridden deserts.
Indian defence power is immense. The combined army, navy and air force count is the largest of any nation.
It has the longest rail-road network in world. India is the 7th largest country in the world.
The shape of Indian-map is like a human being, with head, arms and legs. You don’t find any other country of that shape.
There are good and bad things in each and every nation. Everybody loves his country and that’s the prime duty of all of us.
Did I waste your time by making you to go through the entire post, just to infer in the end-
“India is a package of lot of things, it’s up to the visitor what to buy.”
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Loved the article!….very very good!!!