India

 

 After 25 days, 2 countries, 3000 km traveled by train, bus, car, auto-rickshaw, foot, and camel, 1 bronchitis, 1 cold, 1 thrown out back (between the two of us), 1 huge culture shock, much confusion, fun, surprise, and curiosity, we're finally back at home. And even though we did our best to prepare the trip, as I mentioned before, NOTHING could have adequately prepare us for this.

I'm going to split the trip up in two posts because India and Nepal are so different and I couldn't do both of them justice at once, so let's start with the obvious one: India.

When I say "culture shock", I actually mean more "shock" than "culture". I had traveled to many countries before, including in Africa, but nothing resembled India even closely. It's one of those things you just have to do and dive in head first because it will be different from what you expected anyways. In my case, this resulted in a panic attack and my instant wish to return home - I think I phrased it more like "I cannot stand this, please I want to go back home and never return to this hellhole" but thankfully Thomas managed to convince me to maybe sleep off the jet lag first before taking any such decision.

My first impressions were mainly the noise, the crowds, the dirt, the smell, the smog, the traffic (!!), and the general level of human misery that unfolded right in front of my eyes in the middle of the street. Nothing could have prepared me for the homeless families living on the pavement, the begging children, the persons with disabilities without any support, and the old people who were just left to fend for themselves and literally lying (or dying, not always sure) in the gutter. Wow.

Makeshift housing directly oppostite Agra Fort

Waste disposal in Old Delhi 

The Ganges in Varanasi

Children begging near Jaisalmer

Smog and air pollution in at the Taj Mahal in Agra

But after a few days I started to see things in a bit more nuanced way and I could notice and appreciate the details: the beautiful architecture, the vibrant colours of the saris, the amazing food, the general buzz of life in the streets (including the cows which never ceased to amaze me with their zen-like behaviour) and the funny school kids who were asking us for selfies all the time. By the end of the trip, I had fallen in love with India and decided that we have to come back!

Of course there are still a few things I don't like and that make traveling very difficult, one of them being the extreme air pollution which my asthma didn't respond to very well - I ended up in bed for 3 days with a bronchitis and had a cough basically the whole time until we got to the mountains in Nepal. Also, those extremes with poverty being all around are difficult to accept for me if at the same time a hotel room in one of those fancy heritage palace hotels costs 600 € a night! I had already an incredibly guilty conscience for buying a pack of rice cakes which cost the astronomical sum of 4 € just because I felt like it while other people are starving. But then again, as a good friend said to me: poverty is always there, even in Europe, it's just not that visible. And we accept that, too. Is it better to just ignore it?

Then there are the endless attempts of guys trying to sell you stuff and the hassle of negotiating prices with taxi/rickshaw drivers. You wouldn't believe all the different stories, questions, remarks, and conversation starters Indian business people come up with just to get your attention. Some are more persistent than others but all of them finally gave up after our firm policy of "No, thank you" to whatever they would say. "Where are you from?" - "No thank you". "What are you looking for?" - "No thank you"."Do you need a guide?" - "No thank you". And so on. However, I have to say that the taxi drivers were surprisingly reliable in sticking to their price and even though sometimes the haggling was tough, they never tried to cheat us afterwards. I also loved the brutal honesty bordering sarcasm that one street vendor tried on us: "Please, sir, give me a chance to rip you off!". Still chuckling when I'm thinking about that.

Bike rickshaw in Delhi

Waiting for clients

But apart from the sellers, there were also just plain friendly and curious people who asked a lot of questions just because they were interested. We mainly met those on the trains and at the stations and it was funny how they usually cut directly to the chase with the most important question being "Are you married?", sometimes followed directly by "Arranged marriage or love marriage?". Although the answer "boyfriend and girlfriend" also seemed to be acceptable, usually followed by some giggling (if it was school girls) and a request for a selfie (by everyone).

There were surprisingly few "Western" (aka white) tourists around but of course many Indians who were traveling in their own country. It was interesting to chat with them and ask where they were from and to exchange views with other fellow travelers.

School girls in Lodhi Gardens in Delhi

Fellow tourists at the Red Fort in Delhi

What I realized when we were travelling the more than 2000 km in India was how huge this country is (I guess they call it sub-continent for a reason) and how many people there are. 1.3 billion is really not a number to joke about! Especially in comparison to Nepal I understood that India is much more self-centred and focused on itself rather than looking outwards to other countries, simply because it is so huge that they can. It has its own diverse culture(s), rules, and belief systems and only by traveling a very small part of it we could see this diversity.

Especially in terms of religion, India was a total eye-opener. I loved the fact that in many places you had Hindu temples, Buddhist shrines, and mosques right next to each other and you could hear the call for prayers as well as the bells being rung from the temple, being the most normal thing in the world. I know that the religions don't always co-exist so peacefully and there are many tensions especially between Hindus an Muslims, but it is fascinating to come from one of the more secular countries in Europe and then see how religion (any religion) is so much part of everyone's daily life!

Train travel in India is an adventure in itself

Actually less crowded than expected but unfortunately just as late as its bad reputation promises

Happy travelers in 1st class

To all the people who are thinking about going to India I can only say: go! You won't regret it! But maybe take a few days to adjust, choose your first hotel wisely, and don't forget your inhaler in case you have respiratory problems.

PS: And to everyone who is afraid of the infamous "Delhi belly" I can say that we didn't have any problems with the food at all. Of course we took the necessary precautions and didn't drink tap water, no peeled fruit, etc. but this proves that it can be done (just swap your tummy problems for a bronchitis instead) :-).