Thread: India...

The Indian are a proud and individualistic people.

Which is why it's such of fresh air after being in most other Asian countries.

That's the thing that will strike you right away.

I had an experience in Calcutta which will stay with me and provides a good insight into how to approach (and in this case not approach) the Indian experience.

When I first arrived in Calcutta, a few years ago, I wanted to have a look at the famous slums.

So I hired myself a taxi, it was black and quiet long, maybe an old limousine. Asked the driver to take me to see the slums.

Really blew me away. Here were blocks upon blocks of folks living in cardboard boxes and all shitting down at the local lagoon.

As my taxi drive slowly (actually much to slowly) through the area , the slum folks starting giving me looks that i couldn't descrribe as friendly. At one point two men banged and the window and screamed "what are you doing here." I was trapped and the taxi was having to move at a crawl.

My lesson there was that there are millions of people like this in India and the last thing they want to see is some white face in the back of a stretch taxi, sightseeing.

Needless to say it was a remarkably foolish thing for me to do (in retrospect I shudder)

Many Indians are poor, but they sure as hell don't want to be seen to be be disadvantaged. They are an exceptionally proud people.

India was a humbling experience for me.

I was so emotionally overwhemed at times that I cried. Very very unusual for me.

India basically changed the way I viewed my life. It taught me humility. ( though i admit to not always coming across as being very humble on the forum)

Apart from all the beautiful physical scenery, I believe is a must if a person really wants to test their comfort zone emotionally.

There are thousand of stories of folks who go out of their hotel room the night after arrival and can do nothing other than get on the fastest airplane out.

Hope you make it Robbi.

I'm gonna have to tell you about the time I ingested some of the local cookies out in Rajistan and then ran into a for real group of German skinheads resplenent with swaztika's and iron crosses.

If you try the milkshakes try to do it in a non-Israeli zone.

Honest

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

India basically changed the way I viewed my life.

It does that. It definitely has that effect.

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

Hope you make it Robbi.

Cool, I've been there before though. i was in Nepal and much of the north for about 4 months. I landed in Calcutta as well. What an introduction to the country! Beggars everywhere, goat sacrifices going on , general Indian madness x 1000.

Originally Posted by Cyrille

Yes, you won't be far away enough from one for much of your trip, I'm afraid.

Oh dear, that's what I was afraid of.

Very nice areas to visit.

Enjou.

Palolem gives lie to the notion that Goa is a waste of time. good call.

India is very love-hate. Commonly people find every day is filled with countless ups and downs. It's exhausting and you might wonder why you are there at times, but you will look back on it lovingly. Really though it is such a wildly different place that there's not much that can be said to prepare you for it. 'Roll with the punches' I guess might be a good attitude to have.

Edit: Anyone who wanted to know good places to go, I'll offer quick snapshots of the places I went.

Delhi: I personally enjoy Delhi - it's an absolute hellhole but... I dunno. Something about it. Not somewhere most people want to spend much time.
Rishikesh: Beautiful. Pretty jammed for a small place, with thousands of domestic pilgrims doing their thing in the Ganges. I thought it was a great first place to go.
Pushkar: Really liked Pushkar, very chilled out. Hire a bike and go to meet Aloo Baba (a holy man who subsists entirely on potatoes and ganja) at the Shiva temple he is constructing. Friendliest guy.
Jaisalmer: HOT. A desert city, it is charming, and really gives you the sense of having traveled back in time. But the heat was way too much for me, the only place I have been on earth where the temperature really got in the way of having a nice time. Hotels will not have functioning air-con because the electricity is all used up heating the water for the showers. Indian logic, don't ask.
Udaipur: Not much going on in town, but there is some nice countryside around and a palace to see.
Pachmarhi: This was a random one. A small town right in the jungle... not entirely sure why we went there but let's just say it was interesting.
Orchha: Pretty nice, more of a chilled out backpacker vibe, kind of like Pai in Mae Hong Son if you've been there.
Manali: Awesome. My favourite place. Scenery is outrageous. If you have become sick of Indian food, Tibetan cuisine makes a really nice change.
Leh: Be careful getting here - if you do not fly, it is 2 or 3 days in a jeep from Manali. You do not know fear until you have spent 3 days in a jeep teetering on the edge of a Himalayan mountain road. The place is actually a bit 'meh' I thought, though there are loads of activities you can do out of the town.