'No one realises how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow...' (Lin Yutang)
Hi all! Before I start, I just want to say a massive thank you to you all for taking the time to read these blogs. I know they're a tad lengthy - once I start I can't stop - but I try to make them as relate-able and as 'me' as possible - the whole point of doing this was to relay my experiences, not reel off a list of sights we've seen. I've had some lovely feedback so far, so ta very much! India has opened my eyes in so many ways and I think it's fitting, in the last installment from India, to talk about the weird and wonderful things I've observed along the way. I can only imagine how boring it would be to read, in depth, about the in's and out's of each temple that we've been to so we'll go with a more 'general' theme!
So, to pick up where we last left off, we jetted in to Delhi from Goa. After a hectic 3 days (including a day trip to the world famous 'Taj Mahal' which, despite the rain, was stunning), we were to embark on a 10 day tour of Rajasthan; Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Pushkar and finally Amritsar. The plan was then to train it back to Delhi from Amritsar for the night before finally swapping the naan of India for the noodles of Thailand. Sounds nice and simple, right? Well, observation one: things NEVER go to plan in India. Ever. You could be the most organised person in the world (aka Me) and things just happen that are way beyond your control. Take our trip to Rajasthan - rather than try and navigate our way to each of the cities, we decided to book a tour with a tourist office. In doing so, we'd avoid the hassle of booking public transport, hotels, sightseeing... it was all included. Happy days. And do you know what? It was going SO well! Dev, our driver for the week, was a legend - he did the hard part of driving 6/7 hours a day while we snored away contentedly on the back seat. He took us to all the sights, some even off the tourist track, and always knew when it was time to stop off for a quick cup of (Masala) tea! His English wasn't the best (this is the norm. You ask an Indian a question, and the reply comes in the form of a head tilt - the equivalent of a shoulder shrug - so you never really know what's going on), but he did come to a halt on several occasions - one time he actually REVERSED on the motorway - just so we could catch a glimpse of some of the local wildlife. Bless him, maybe he thought that we didn't have cows/goats/deer in England?! Anyway, long story short, we never actually made it to our last destination, Amritsar, due to the bloody company not telling our Dev what time to get us to the train station. So, there we were, after a 10 hour car trip, stranded in Delhi for 3 days until we flew to Thailand. Fuming wasn't the word. I'm absolutely gutted we didn't make it to Amritsar to see the 'Golden Temple' and to witness the Indian and Pakistani soldiers strut their stuff at the daily procession at 'Wagah' on the border. At the same time, it's an excuse to go back in the future, so all isn't lost (apart from the sodding train ticket money!) The tour company finally put us up in a hotel for 2 nights, at our request, but refused to reimburse us for the train we'd paid for as they claimed it was 'our fault' that we'd missed it. What a joke. What you notice in India is that businesses are completely money orientated and customer service falls to the wayside, but given the state of their economy, do you blame them? It's the norm here for westerners to be charged more for entry to tourist sites too - I was shocked at first, but again, you just get used to it.
In order to get from city to city, we had some EPIC car journeys, I'm talking 6 hours a day at least. It was during this time that I stared out of the window, a lot, and saw some things that you wouldn't believe. I may have touched on the whole 'peeing in public' thing before, but it still completely astounds me. You'll see all walks of life 'unzip and drip' roadside here, from the homeless to men in suits. I've even seen the odd woman squatting in broad daylight. Now, at home, you may see the odd car pulled over on the hard shoulder of the M6, normally with a small child hanging out of it. Fair enough, if a kid needs to go they need to go! However, if a grown man is caught short, then SURELY you can hold it until the next services? (By the way, services here are a hole in the floor, if you're lucky). The smell of piss, coupled with the piles of rubbish accumulating roadside, is, then, an OBVIOUS location for the homeless to pitch their tents and set up their little businesses. I mean, I know they don't have much choice as to where they decide to reside, but personally I'd prefer some sort of field and at least have some greenery to look at, rather than traffic! I read somewhere that the poverty in India is 'borne with a kind of stoical resignation'. Poverty is a huge problem, there's no denying it here - within minutes of driving into Delhi, beggars were shoving their hands through the taxi windows. Give them their due, they are persistent. I consider myself a giving person, but I'm of the mentality that if I help one, I have to help the others and this is physically impossible. Now, I'm no politics expert in the slightest, but surely by now someone of government status should be doing something to help? They rush to throw up these 5* complexes yet the 'rural poor' community accounts for 4/5ths of India's inhabitants, who undoubtedly have no access to clean water. It's an absolute joke.
I've never really given the saying 'kids do the funniest things' much thought. Until these car journeys. As well as pissing, obviously, favourite past times of the Indian kids living in rural areas seem to be rolling used tyres back and forward between them as a game at the roadside and jumping on the back and the top of moving vehicles and holding on for dear life. I'll never forget witnessing a small boy, no more than three, standing on his own with not a stitch on, throwing an empty crisp packet up into the air and catching it on the way back down. Literally, the next time a child you know complains of having nothing to do, please relay this story; it was actually quite a sad moment, when I think back to my childhood and the amount of toys I had and probably never used. Talking of tyres, we inevitably got a flat this one day. The state of the roads leaves nothing to be desired - I'm surprised I actually managed to sleep at all, what with the constant dodge of potholes/cattle/traffic. We managed to make it to a nearby town; while the lads got out to talk tyres, I decided to get some shut eye. A knocking on the window stirred me - three schoolboys were peering in through the window. I waved, they waved back. I wound the window down to have a chat - surprisingly, my new friends didn't really have that good a grasp of English. What they were more interested in was the contents of my day pack. I then proceeded to do a 'show and tell' of its contents, everything from the Ipod to my perfume! One took a particular shine to my Chanel, spraying it everywhere like it was deodorant; I didn't have the heart to tell him it cost a bomb! I then showed them my pack of personalized playing cards (a leaving gift from home) which they loved, especially once I pointed out that each of the 52 cards had a delightful picture of me on. They loved them that much that I gave them the 2 joker cards; so now somewhere in rural Rajasthan I may be something of a local celebrity!
During these car trips, when Mr Kindle, Laptop and Ipod failed me, I turned to my trusty guidebook of India to help me pass the time. So, apparently more than 80% of the Indian population are Hindu, and a good Hindu must follow 3 principles on their path to salvation - righteousness, prosperity honestly achieved and, finally, pleasure. Well, for starters, how is taking photos of Western women against their will in any way righteous? And I don't think Brahma would approve of his Hindu's harassing westerners for tips as a form of self prosperity: in Jaipur a guy followed us round a museum reading out the signs below the things we were looking at, and then had the cheek to ask for a tip! Does he not realise we can read?! And as for pleasure, well, I genuinely think the Indians who we came across enjoyed ripping us off! Twice we took an advantage of an airport pick up that failed to show, we got completely scammed for buying an umbrella at the Taj Mahal (they must have seen us coming!), and don't get me started on the 'holy' festival we went to in Pushkar. Good Karma? My a**e! I think the Hindi population we have encountered should take a leaf out of Gandhi's book. To be honest I didn't really know that much about him before we got to India but we managed to visit the spot where he was assassinated and the place where he was cremated in Delhi. Reading all the material there made it clear what an inspiration he is to world, not just India. On a completely different note, what I also found interesting is that the women apply red ochre to their hair parting to denote their married status. Now, seriously, what's wrong with a ring? Red is quite a tricky colour - it doesn't suit everyone - and what if you happen to tie your hair up and cover your parting one day?! Same with the saris - they are absolutely beautiful - but could you really be bothered getting all wrapped up in one everyday? What if you were just having a day on the couch?!
Having encountered many travellers along the way, I've noticed some differences between how people approach the notion of travelling and what they want to get out of the experience. So, we have the 'Party People' who are here to have an alcohol-fuelled good time. Every night. They probably don't see much of the city they're in as they'll sleep off their hangover during the day and get up when the sun goes down. Next, we have the 'Hardcore Hippies', those who walk around with no shoes on, dreadlocks, probably carrying some sort of instrument... They've probably been travelling for so long they've forgotten where 'home' is. We also have the 'Flashpackers' - they embrace the culture of each place ie get down with the local dress code, but still retain a sense of modernity by having a laptop and mobile phone. The 'Pretentious Posse' are a mix of all of the above - for example, they will see how a HH (Hardcore Hippie) dresses, decide that that's how they're going to look, but do it in such a way that screams they're trying too hard! And finally, we have the 'Laid Back Lids' who are genuinely so carefree they probably don't know what day it is, how much money they have or where they're sleeping tonight. I bet you all know someone that fits into a category, yes?!
I could go on for hours, but they are just some snippets into my insights of India. I surprised myself by loving it a lot more than I thought I would. Favourite places? Goa, for the beaches, and Udaipur, for the European vibe with its cobbled streets and everything centred around the gorgeous lake Pichola. Favourite food? Pretty much anything of the vegetarian variety - you haven't tasted Indian food until you've been here, the local takeaway really doesn't cut it (I've spent 6 weeks here and not once have I seen an onion bhaji on the menu). What I won't miss? Being 'papped' on a daily basis! Well, that brings India to a close, let's see what Thailand has in store! Keep tuning in to find out...
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