Incessant. If I had to choose one word to sum up my experience of India it would be that. The smells and sounds. The dirt. The pollution. The colours. The hawkers. The beggars. The heat. The people don't stop; they are always so industrious. No chilling out in street cafes, watching the world go by, no leisurely drives to the shops. It's all honking horns, jostling and vying for your place on the road. Dodging cows and pigs and donkeys and people and tuk tuks and bikes and cars and buses. It's a country that assaults the senses.
Lonely Planet describes it thus:
Bamboozling. No other word better captures the enigma that is India. With its ability to inspire, frustrate, thrill and confound all at once, India presents an extraordinary spectrum of encounters for the traveller... India will jostle your entire being, and no matter where you go or what you do, it's a place that fires the imagination and stirs the soul like nowhere else on Earth.
India was an experience and it did jostle my entire being. I'm pleased I went and I enjoyed parts of it a lot but I was really pleased to get home last Saturday. More pleased than I've ever been to get back from a trip actually. Normally I'm wishing I was staying away a wee while longer. Admittedly, this was due in part to the fact that I was ill for the last week of the trip and still wasn't right when I arrived home. Being ill is never great. Being ill for a week in India was like a living hell, especially when you have to spend three days in Varanasi, a town on the Ganges where people go to (publicly) cremate their loved ones. I found the cremations particularly disturbing. I couldn't watch them and hated the public nature of them; boat-loads of tourists, both Indian and foreign, bobbing alongside the ghats (the steps that lead down to the river), so close you could feel the heat from the funeral pyre. I was in tears.
On the other hand, I had several magical experiences that will stay with me forever. The kite flying battle in Bikaner in one of them. It was exactly like the scenes described in the Kite Runner. As the sun began to set it seemed the entire town were out on their roof terraces flying paper kites. The sky was literally aflutter with them, as far as the eye could see. And they went high - higher than the average kite at home. The aim was to slice through the string of other kites, cheering as your opponent's kite suddenly lost altitude and drifted slowly to the ground. Sometimes you knew who your opponent was (we engaged in a particularly ferocious but good-natured battle with some locals on a neighbouring roof), but most of the time you had no clue. Finding a kite on the steps leading to my room made me happy.
And the Taj Mahal. Wow. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The guide books tell you that no matter how high your expectations are, the reality will exceed them. I was sceptical, but it was true. Not only is it a beautiful structure, but it was constructed with such love that just adds to the magic. (It was built by an emperor in memory of his third wife who died giving birth to their 14th, yes 14th, child.) And to think it was built in 1632 just makes the mind boggle: it's perfectly symmetrical; the Quaranic verses on the wall don't appear to decrease in size as they go up to the base of the dome because the letters were increased in size so that from the ground they appear equal in size and don't taper; its raised position means the only backdrop is sky; the minarets are not quite perpendicular but may have been designed to lean slightly outwards so in the event of an earthquake they fall away from the Taj. It's genius. And its beautiful too.
But yes, generally India has unsettled me. I have no real desire to return (well, I could probably be quite easily persuaded to venture to Kerala or Goa sometime...). I thought I'd get more from the country on a spiritual level, but I wasn't feeling it - the Pray part of my life wasn't to be found in India, or not in Rajhastan anyway. And maybe I feel that India is the first country to defeat me. But I'm OK with that. India 1, McRudders 0.
Some observations from my trip in no particular order, just the order in which I jotted them down while I was away:
- Women, saree-wearing women, can be seen doing hard, manual labour - building work often - alongside the men. These same women also benefit from a dedicated women only carriage on the metro.
- Men urinate wherever and whenever. Open urinals on narrow streets are particularly unpleasant.
- The station this morning was full of sleeping people; spread out on the ground on newspaper or sheets. Not homeless I don't think. Maybe just waiting for their early morning train.
- Some people live in abject poverty. Today I saw a family asleep at a very busy roundabout, lying on the concrete between four lanes of traffic. The youngest child had no nappy or pants on. That's hard to see, especially when we have so much.
- Curries in India are generally no better than at home, sometimes worse. That surprised me. I thought they would taste different - better - in India. Naans are only good when they've been cooked in the tandoor. Poppadums are slightly different to those you get at home - they're more like the spicy ones you can buy in the supermarket. There's no sign of bhajis on the menus in India.
- It's cold at home. Snow and frost are forecast in Newcastle. Difficult to imagine such extreme weather - it's currently 39 degrees here and it's 5pm... I love the heat though. I love eating outside and living outside. I love not having to think about what to wear every day or planning for varying weather conditions while I'm out. It's a very dry heat here which makes it much easier to cope with than the humid heat I experienced in Singapore and Saigon.
- If I came to India again I'd bring a nail brush. My nails are constantly filthy. I'd also bring some eye drops as the dust, dirt and pollution, as well as the aircon, make your eyes dry and sore. Otherwise I think this has been my most successful pack to date - I've used everything I brought and managed to travel light too, leaving plenty of room for my purchases.
As and when I feel the urge I may post some more about the specific things I did while I was away, but right now I'm off to have avocado on toast and I can think of nothing I want more right now! After being ill, it's heaven to be able to, well just eat for one, but also to be able to eat normal, familiar food - nothing too fussy or complex, just fresh and healthy. Interestingly I'm still off the coffee and alcohol though. Wonder how long that will last...
Lonely Planet describes it thus:
Bamboozling. No other word better captures the enigma that is India. With its ability to inspire, frustrate, thrill and confound all at once, India presents an extraordinary spectrum of encounters for the traveller... India will jostle your entire being, and no matter where you go or what you do, it's a place that fires the imagination and stirs the soul like nowhere else on Earth.
India was an experience and it did jostle my entire being. I'm pleased I went and I enjoyed parts of it a lot but I was really pleased to get home last Saturday. More pleased than I've ever been to get back from a trip actually. Normally I'm wishing I was staying away a wee while longer. Admittedly, this was due in part to the fact that I was ill for the last week of the trip and still wasn't right when I arrived home. Being ill is never great. Being ill for a week in India was like a living hell, especially when you have to spend three days in Varanasi, a town on the Ganges where people go to (publicly) cremate their loved ones. I found the cremations particularly disturbing. I couldn't watch them and hated the public nature of them; boat-loads of tourists, both Indian and foreign, bobbing alongside the ghats (the steps that lead down to the river), so close you could feel the heat from the funeral pyre. I was in tears.
On the other hand, I had several magical experiences that will stay with me forever. The kite flying battle in Bikaner in one of them. It was exactly like the scenes described in the Kite Runner. As the sun began to set it seemed the entire town were out on their roof terraces flying paper kites. The sky was literally aflutter with them, as far as the eye could see. And they went high - higher than the average kite at home. The aim was to slice through the string of other kites, cheering as your opponent's kite suddenly lost altitude and drifted slowly to the ground. Sometimes you knew who your opponent was (we engaged in a particularly ferocious but good-natured battle with some locals on a neighbouring roof), but most of the time you had no clue. Finding a kite on the steps leading to my room made me happy.
And the Taj Mahal. Wow. It's one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The guide books tell you that no matter how high your expectations are, the reality will exceed them. I was sceptical, but it was true. Not only is it a beautiful structure, but it was constructed with such love that just adds to the magic. (It was built by an emperor in memory of his third wife who died giving birth to their 14th, yes 14th, child.) And to think it was built in 1632 just makes the mind boggle: it's perfectly symmetrical; the Quaranic verses on the wall don't appear to decrease in size as they go up to the base of the dome because the letters were increased in size so that from the ground they appear equal in size and don't taper; its raised position means the only backdrop is sky; the minarets are not quite perpendicular but may have been designed to lean slightly outwards so in the event of an earthquake they fall away from the Taj. It's genius. And its beautiful too.
But yes, generally India has unsettled me. I have no real desire to return (well, I could probably be quite easily persuaded to venture to Kerala or Goa sometime...). I thought I'd get more from the country on a spiritual level, but I wasn't feeling it - the Pray part of my life wasn't to be found in India, or not in Rajhastan anyway. And maybe I feel that India is the first country to defeat me. But I'm OK with that. India 1, McRudders 0.
Some observations from my trip in no particular order, just the order in which I jotted them down while I was away:
- Women, saree-wearing women, can be seen doing hard, manual labour - building work often - alongside the men. These same women also benefit from a dedicated women only carriage on the metro.
- Men urinate wherever and whenever. Open urinals on narrow streets are particularly unpleasant.
- The station this morning was full of sleeping people; spread out on the ground on newspaper or sheets. Not homeless I don't think. Maybe just waiting for their early morning train.
- Some people live in abject poverty. Today I saw a family asleep at a very busy roundabout, lying on the concrete between four lanes of traffic. The youngest child had no nappy or pants on. That's hard to see, especially when we have so much.
- Curries in India are generally no better than at home, sometimes worse. That surprised me. I thought they would taste different - better - in India. Naans are only good when they've been cooked in the tandoor. Poppadums are slightly different to those you get at home - they're more like the spicy ones you can buy in the supermarket. There's no sign of bhajis on the menus in India.
- It's cold at home. Snow and frost are forecast in Newcastle. Difficult to imagine such extreme weather - it's currently 39 degrees here and it's 5pm... I love the heat though. I love eating outside and living outside. I love not having to think about what to wear every day or planning for varying weather conditions while I'm out. It's a very dry heat here which makes it much easier to cope with than the humid heat I experienced in Singapore and Saigon.
- If I came to India again I'd bring a nail brush. My nails are constantly filthy. I'd also bring some eye drops as the dust, dirt and pollution, as well as the aircon, make your eyes dry and sore. Otherwise I think this has been my most successful pack to date - I've used everything I brought and managed to travel light too, leaving plenty of room for my purchases.
As and when I feel the urge I may post some more about the specific things I did while I was away, but right now I'm off to have avocado on toast and I can think of nothing I want more right now! After being ill, it's heaven to be able to, well just eat for one, but also to be able to eat normal, familiar food - nothing too fussy or complex, just fresh and healthy. Interestingly I'm still off the coffee and alcohol though. Wonder how long that will last...
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