till we meet again, Adios India!!



reflections on the India trip

In so many ways, India is a challenge to even the most seasoned of travellers, particularly those who meet it for the very first time. Most of us come from places that are so much less crowded, where something such as privacy and a certain measure of personal space exists, and where animals and people live in existence quite apart from each other. For us, a "no" usually means a "no", a nod means "yes", and toilet business is carried out, as much as possible, in obscure places.

Hence, India is most definitely shocking! No, it is more than that.. India culture and society is also infuriatingly hard to understand and penetrate, difficult to conquer and almost impossible to truly love, especially if you have only seen it for a short while (yes, even 45 days isn't long.. believe me..).. nonetheless, no one who has experienced India can deny that this country is fascinating...

For those willing to be shaken and shocked, to scratch beneath the surface of grime, smog, dried up spit on the walls and pavements, and weeks of uncleared garbage, to look past the outstretched hands of the hordes of beggars, the moth-bitten skins of sacred cows standing in the middle of busy road junctions, the bloodily exposed scalps of emaciated stray dogs, and the devious scams of autorickshaw drivers and mendacious tour guides, and to set aside any biasness that may have built up from listening to one too many horror stories in the past, something special always emerges..

At the end of my 45 days in India, one thing that I can say for sure is.. I can never say anything for sure - not about people, about situations, or whatever.. Indians are both the most highly developed (they almost never ever get angry - read: zero road rage) as well as the least civilised (they spit, pee, poo, puke and drop litter on the street without care) people I've ever met. They are (or appear) highly religious and spiritual (most are vegetarians, throng temples, and amulets and statues of their thousands of deities can be seen everywhere - on themselves, their vehicles, street corners, under trees), yet find absolutely nothing wrong with scamming foreigners on a regular basis (we are walking Rupee signs). They scrub and clean themselves and their own little tiny domains obsessively, yet have no qualms stepping on dung and others' fresh puke and spit on the streets. They are meticulous about money (they never ever miscalculate - we were charged for a dollop of butter on our plates.. grr..) yet spend much of their waking hours sitting around drinking chai and chewing tobacco sold in little silvery packets. They devise the most elaborate scams, yet look at us with naive and innocent big black eyes..

I've only touched the surface of this culture even after more than a month of travelling in this country.. but I?m definitely entranced.. haha.. I guess I'll be back then.. this time speaking Hindi, definitely!