Aaron was ill - India ill and feeling terrible with stomach pain and nausea so after many many hours of travel it was a relief to settle in a beach bungalow where the sounds of the waves crashing puts you in a trance instead of bleating horns and screeching breaks. Quickly commandeering the "lounge" sofas we slept. After the very last and one of the worst bus rides back to Delhi we arrived at the airport 6 hours early for our flight to Goa. Well no, that's a lie, not nothing but more nothing of major interest. The past eleven days I have been doing absolutely nothing. The history and customs run deep within the veins of the people and as an outsider you could never understand what it is to be Indian but it's a place where you must go to observe the realness of survival and humanity. I don't think it's possible to understand India, rather it's just a place you accept. It's addictive and mind-blowing and devastating. India is raw and thriving and unlike anywhere else in the world. India's claim to the largest democracy in the world is a facade when women are bought and sold, children are murdered, and personal success is based on who your father or brother knows, rather then ability and skills. Although not openly talk of, the struggles of women, children and those of the lower classes is almost the same as it was hundreds of years ago. Details of belief and history are show from the way women wear their bangles and the colour sari they wear to the intimately carved temples.Ĭoming from Canada it's hard to understand how such traditional and suppressive history remains prominent today. But besides all the bustle and hassle and brutality, India is extraordinarily beautiful and colourful. India is a struggle to both foreigners and locals and I would like you to imagine having to shove and yell your way through a Safeway and barter to the last rupee for absolutely everything. Karma to most meant bringing coconuts and flowers to Shiva rather then charging a fair price for a handful of lentils. I met very few people who truly believed in karma outside a temple setting. Life is based on religion and religion is based on karma - which in everyday real India seems to take a back seat. India is the second most populated country in the world with numbers steadily creeping over 1.2 billion, yet India cannot employ or feed its people and the poverty of the country is an overwhelming and looming presence everywhere. And now, it seems that only in hind site do I realize just how great it really was. Half in the stone-age and half in the e-age, travelling India is one of the most frustrating and wonderful experiences I've ever had. Love it or hate it (and we all know I do both), India gets into your blood. While each country gave me something the others couldn't, India hit hard and deep as one of the most bazaar places I've been to. I travelled for 8 months and hit five countries: Hong Kong/China, India, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. Despite the pounding rain 24 hours a day and temperatures in the single digits (the single digits!) the comforts of home have quickly reminded me why it's nice to stay in one place for a while.
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