India is a land of such extremes. Everywhere that you go, there is something new to see that will put you outside your comfort zone. I’m not going to lie, when I first arrived in India, I was not excited at all. I was completely exhausted from the hike to Everest Base Camp. I was sad because I had really loved my group in Nepal and I was sure that my new group would not be any good. This was the only point on my trip where I ended one tour in the morning and started a new one the same evening and it really took its toll on me. All I wanted to do was sleep and instead I had to put a smile on and meet my new group. Maybe I could learn a little something from this guy!
I think it took about 3 days for me to really start enjoying India. It is just so overwhelming some of the time, I didn’t have the energy to take it all in. I walked around Delhi and Jaipur in a dreamlike state. Our second night in Jaipur I was finally woken up after a night of drunk teenagers, power outages, insect repellant and getting to share the big bed in the honeymoon suite with the roommate I had met two days before. Fun! Once I was back in the real world, the next few days were wonderful. We went to a Bollywood move, which was much different than I expected it to be. There was all kind of short shorts, crime and sexy dancing, not a saree in sight! So odd. We ate lots of naan, korma, butter chicken and vegetable curries, I loved every bite of it. We spent one afternoon at the house of an Indian family, where they made us lunch and we got to play a little bit of dress up, Indian style. I think I could totally pass for a native, what do you think?
Once we got to Agra we got to see what I was most excited for – the Taj Mahal! It is the 6th wonder of the world I have seen, with the only remaining one being the Great Wall of China. I really hadn’t given much thought to the Taj, I just knew it was a beautiful building in India. Being there, you hear some of the history about the building – it was built by a man in memory of his favorite wife after her death. He spent so much money and so many years building a fitting memorial for his wife, which is why so many people say the Taj represents love.
After visiting the Taj, we went a bit more off the beaten path. We spent one night in this old, dilapidated fort. It would have been the perfect place to film a slasher movie, so we spent the whole evening planning out the script. Who was the serial killer, how would we escape and who would be the survivors at the end? Definitely not related to India at all, but a great way to just relax in a country that is so serious. The town surrounding the fort was quite small and when we walked through it, it seemed like we were stepping back 50 years in time.
The next town we visited, Alipura, was very similar. We stayed in a palace, and to this day the local maharaja still lives in the top floors of the building. However, once you left the walls of the palace, you see how the local people live. When we walked through town, everyone knew the tourists were in town. The children would come up to you and say HelloPen and HelloMoney – they immediately expected you to give them something, which was very sad to me. They’ve been raised to view foreigners as only an opportunity to get something for free. I’ve been told in many countries not to give the children anything because as they grow up they will continue to beg, then teach their children to do it, which creates a whole cycle of this, but let me tell you – when they look up at you with their sad eyes, it is so hard to say no. Once they finally realized we weren’t going to give them anything, they simply followed us on our wander of the village. At one point I think we had about 20 kids following us! Of course, we couldn’t resist taking pictures of their sweet faces and this completely changed everything. Most of them have rarely seen a camera before, so when they realized we were taking their pictures, they wanted to see them immediately! You might have 3 kids pulling on the camera strap and another 3 touching the lens and the screen – you had to hold on to your camera with all your strength so they didn’t get too excited and break it. It was one of the most innocent, heartbreaking and genuine experiences I’ve had in my whole time traveling.
One of the things that you notice about India is the complete lack of inhabitations people have. They are more than willing to go to the bathroom in the middle of town and not care who sees them. I saw more men peeing than I could possibly count! You also see the poverty everywhere you look. There are women wearing the brightest, most beautiful colored saris and they are sitting in the middle of a dirt road. There are people sleeping on the side of the road and it’s just so sad to see. It’s not like home where they have sleeping bags or boxes or carts full of belongings – they literally just lie down directly on the pavement and sleep. There were some corners where you would see 20 people lying there and you just wonder if they will ever be able to do anything different.
Our tour ended in Varanasi. The roads in Varanasi are crazy – we got around mostly by bicycle rickshaw. But there are really no traffic laws – people drive wherever they want to, not caring about who is coming the other way. There will be busses, tuk tuks, horsedrawn carriages and bicycles all fighting for the same space on the road – and then you realize there’s a cow in the middle of the road and they are all just detouring around him – it’s the most organized chaos! The main thing to see in Varanasi is the Ganges River. It’s a believed to be a sacred river so people often go on a pilgrimages there or they go there to die so they can be cremated on its banks. They do not believe in cremation for children or pregnant women so they simply wrap their bodies in a white sheet and place their bodies directly in the river. We saw people being cremated which was incredibly hard, but at the same time it was amazing to see because you were able to see all the rituals that they perform on the person before the light the fire. I was incredibly honored to be able to see such a spiritual moment.
They also believe that it is a cleansing and healing river, so many people go to the river banks and bathe in the river. You see people praying and families relaxing there and it is crazy to me that just up the river, they are putting ashes and dead bodies in the water. It was so unsanitary, but they just don’t think about it. Their beliefs are the most important thing and nothing else matters. Who am I to question someone like this woman who has such faith?
It was amazing to see how it changes color during the sunrise. After taking all my pictures I found a bench with a great view of the Taj and just took some quiet time to reflect on such an immense love. I felt peace and happiness wash over me and at that point I realized the place really is magical. I am so appreciative that I’ve had the opportunity to travel the world and see all of these incredible places.
The next town we visited, Alipura, was very similar. We stayed in a palace, and to this day the local maharaja still lives in the top floors of the building. However, once you left the walls of the palace, you see how the local people live. When we walked through town, everyone knew the tourists were in town. The children would come up to you and say HelloPen and HelloMoney – they immediately expected you to give them something, which was very sad to me. They’ve been raised to view foreigners as only an opportunity to get something for free. I’ve been told in many countries not to give the children anything because as they grow up they will continue to beg, then teach their children to do it, which creates a whole cycle of this, but let me tell you – when they look up at you with their sad eyes, it is so hard to say no. Once they finally realized we weren’t going to give them anything, they simply followed us on our wander of the village. At one point I think we had about 20 kids following us! Of course, we couldn’t resist taking pictures of their sweet faces and this completely changed everything. Most of them have rarely seen a camera before, so when they realized we were taking their pictures, they wanted to see them immediately! You might have 3 kids pulling on the camera strap and another 3 touching the lens and the screen – you had to hold on to your camera with all your strength so they didn’t get too excited and break it. It was one of the most innocent, heartbreaking and genuine experiences I’ve had in my whole time traveling.
One of the things that you notice about India is the complete lack of inhabitations people have. They are more than willing to go to the bathroom in the middle of town and not care who sees them. I saw more men peeing than I could possibly count! You also see the poverty everywhere you look. There are women wearing the brightest, most beautiful colored saris and they are sitting in the middle of a dirt road. There are people sleeping on the side of the road and it’s just so sad to see. It’s not like home where they have sleeping bags or boxes or carts full of belongings – they literally just lie down directly on the pavement and sleep. There were some corners where you would see 20 people lying there and you just wonder if they will ever be able to do anything different.
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