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Lucy and Rankine, Berlin Station

India was amazing and extraordinary but Ive got to say its great to be back home, and I'm 3kg lighter - even after 5 days feeding my face with my brother and sister in Berlin. I really do understand now why I was warned about going alone and without a fully worked out plan because it really was the toughest trip I've ever done. Nevertheless I am so glad I did it that way - it was wonderful. The thing about India the way I encountered it is that it is full on and in your face the entire time, a constant stimulation almost all at once of  all of the senses , every  colour and smell and  taste and sight and sound, and every emotion,  whether it be surpise, anger or elation or horror or delight, disgust or amusement or frustration and every physical sensation from exhaustion and perspiration to cramping stomach pain to satiation after a lovely meal, - my experience of India  at any moment was a random permutation of several or  all of these, and it changed almost by the minute.

I have already said it but it remained true the entire time, that the thing that delighted me most of all were the animals, and especially the cows. They always brought a smile to my face because of their wonderful calmness, their complete indifference to everything erupting all round them and the surprising places they always turned up in. I have been used to cows being very wary of people but in India the cow hardly notices when you squeeze between it and a TukTuk to get along a narrow street, and it would continue to camly chew the cud while sitting down in a chaotic roadway with streams of cars and trucks and buses and motorbikes and people  rushing by all round. Indian people treated them lovingly in the main - I remember watching a shopkeeper trying to get a cow to shift from in front of his doorway in Pushkar, settled down under all the shirts and skirts that were hanging off his awning and blocking access to everything - he made a couple of feeble attempts waving his hands and tugging gently on its tail but it didnt budge so he gave up! I never saw a driver of any vehicle express frustration at his way being blocked by a wandering cow - he just waited for it to move off or went around it. Eventually I couldnt resist patting any cow I came across. But the donkeys were sweet, it was always delightful to watch the antics of  monkeys scampering across rooftops and leaping  about the place,  it was always great to see a few camels  going by or buffalo wallowing in a pond and of course almost out of this world to see an occasional elephant being ridden down the street in Delhi and other places : the locals barely noticed them but all the tourists stopped in their tracks! Is there any other place in the world where this sort of  intermingling of the lives of people and animals is so deep? One evening I walked along a roadside and a solitary goat walking in the same direction gradually caught up to me and carried on past me as if it was heading for the shop like I was! I half expected it to say something to me.Crazy!

The temples and forts and palaces were amazing of course, quite magnificent structures, all ancient and in the case of Temples still very much a part of everyday life in Rajasthan, but isnt it the people that really are what make a place alive and memorable? The children I encountered were all delightful, as they are everywhere, but many were so poor and so deprived and so underprivileged it was heartbreaking - in Udaipur every day I crossed a bridge several times going to and from Dream Heaven and somewhere along it, usually near the middle if the cows hadnt already taken the spot, a wretched scruffy man would sit with a tiny girl, I suppose his daughter, and they would beg for money. The girl I am sure was less than 5 but was there all day doing nothing else, walking from one end of the bridge to the other to  pester passes-by for help.Once, when the bridge  was deserted except for them I watched from a distance as she hurried 30 feet along the bridge, squatted for a pee and then went back to her dad. They got used to seeing me, and I always gave them something : one day I was in a streetside cafe and I heard someone say "Hello" and I saw that little beggar girl peering at me between the wooden railings - not  begging just saying hello and smiling.

As for the grown-ups in India, firstly , women are barely visible, and almost impossible to talk to, whereas the men, especially younger men are eager to chat. Whereas the women are quiet and demure and coloufully and often beautifully dressed, the men are usually loud, often scruffy, blowing snot out of their nostrils through an open bus window, hoiking and spitting everywhere, and you can never be certain if its just baksheesh that theyre really after. I remember a backpacker saying "How can people who are so religious just lie to your face?" - and I thought the same thing, remembering the respectable well dressed earnest middle aged man at the Delhi railway station who advised me that the Tourist Ticket Office was definitely closed for the Commonwealth Games and I would need to go elsewhere, or the guy who came rushing out of the shop I had just left after buying something, shouting as he ran and waving a fake 100 rupee note  saying I had just given it to him  and demanding another one - I yelled at him angrily and told him he was a crook and to get out or I'll call the Cops. He  gave up and went back to the shop without a word!

Pushkar Sunset

Now of course I realise the backpackers mistake - its to think that being honest - virtue- is an end in itself - which it is in western ( ie christian ) religion, whereas to a Hindu virtue is a means to an end, and the end is more important than the means. Being religious in the Hindu sense is all about you, its not about the other its about doing whatever it takes to get you closer to being able to escape the cycle of suffering and birth and rebirth, and enter a state of eternal Bliss. And looking at all the misery and squalor thats the lot of so many millions of Indians , is it any wonder thats what they want to do? Making money and bettering yourself materially is definitely part of that religious duty - and as I mentioned before is why Ghandi, though  hugely admired, is generally  regarded as a highly atypical Hindu, having turned his back on all that.

Several times I heard tour guides warning their group of  American or British tourists climbing down from their airconditioned buses, to watch out for thieves and pickpockets. I must say I never met anyone who had been robbed or had thier pockets picked and I never felt threatened or in any danger though I wandered into many out of the way parts of towns and cities, past slums and heaps of rubbish being picked over by beggars, and through massively crowded bazaars and public spaces like the railway stations. I dont know if I was just lucky but my experience of people out on the streets in India was mainly either curiosity or indifference, and many people were really friendly and  chatty, though language barriers prevented me from having  any serious conversations with anyone other than people in the tourism business at one level or another. Apparently middle class Indians speak quite good english but I only ever saw them cruising past in airconditioned cars, paying scant attention to beggars tapping on the window - they certainly don't frequent the streets, cheap restaurants and other places Backpackers and the like hang out in , except perhaps for Connaught Place , the trendy CBD of Delhi, a place from which Cycle rickshaws are banned.

The Lovely couple running Krishna Palace in Jaipur

I have been asked already would I do it again and would I do it the same way again? The answer is "Yes" and "No". There is still lots of India to explore and every part seems to be vastly different from every other part, so I realise I have only tasted one small bit. I think in the future I would still travel independently but I would try to plan ahead a little more, knowing what I know now about the popularity of train travel, and the Sleeper berths. I would try to travel in the daytime rather than overnight because then you see the country and dont miss out on sleep, and you dont have a day feeling hungover. I still wouldnt do a small group tour but I imagine it could be a reasonable alternative because the intensity of  reality in India is such that it couldnt be easily filtered out. Nevertheless much would be missed.


A Family on the move




Local Colour

The Indian Tourism slogan "Incredible India" is exactly right. The little bit that I saw, as a tiny taste of India revealed it to be amazing and really beyond description - though I have tried anyway! It is at once beautiful and horrible, elegant and shameful, ancient and modern, spiritual and worldly, tranquil and chaotic, hostile and friendly, intimate and uncaring, shocking and delightful, filthy and pristine, admirable and despicable, a country I am sure like no other.

Udaipur Sunrise

Writing the Blog has been fun and a great way to make me reflect on what I was experiencing every day.  I hope nobody has been upset by anything I have written, and to my wonderful friends from India who know it and love it for the complex and awesome place that it is, please make allowances for my ignorance. I welcome any and all feedback, and to all those who offered help, advice, support and feedback along the way : Thanks so much! I know I have only scratched the surface, but still my Visit to India was extraordinary and unforgettable.