In India…
We have been in India a week shy of two months. 7 weeks in these vast and intense lands, 53 days of experiences and emotions. And make no mistake, every day of life in India is an adventure! Every moment a new stimulation and a new reaction! In the Land of Contrast, our beliefs and ways of perceiving the world are constantly challenged, and so often beaten into submission. And we’ve loved every sweaty, confused second.
What you read in this blog is no more than what few minutes we scrape together to write a piece! We cannot possibly tell of every interesting thing that happens, every crazy situation we’ve found ourselves in. We cannot even tell halforaquater of what we see and experience. So we try to pick some of the biggest ones, the ones that mean the most to us, and the ones we hope you’ll enjoy reading. Nearing the end of our stint in India, we can see the changes this country has had inside us, the memories of joyful pleasure, and the scars of our continuing education.
To give everyone who’s been keeping up on our travels the slightest clue as to the sheer quantity and colour of our trip, here is a a short list of things not included in the posts. By no means exhaustive, these are a few things that spring to mind. These are a sample of our Indian lives, in no particular order or importance.
In India we were…
- Tempted to jump off a moving train to take a pee
- Cheered by young boys for our imitation of the Bollywood hip-thrust
- Invited home to sample an old man’s daughter-in-law’s roti-cooking skills
- Hypnotised by the lightning storms over Sarnath
- Rubbed vigorously with male genitals in a wedding parade
- Offered the sexual services of an old man by the romantic glow of a campfire
- Exhilarated while inching towards a sunbathing crocodile
- Humoured by the raunchy flirtations of a Eunuch lady-boy
- Wired for a full night from eating one Indian sweet
- Chased off a balcony by evil monkeys
- Serenaded by an old beggar-woman
- Disarmed by the friendliness of the Tibetan people
- Exasperated by the idiosyncrasies of Indian queuing
- Infuriated by the mosquito’s uncanny ability to get inside our fly-nets
- Impressed by the life-threatening surgeon-like skills of a street barber
- Deflated by the wonder that is the Taj Ma’small
- Entertained by a waiter’s animated description of slapping ungrateful customers
- Pelted by paint during the Holy festival at Varanasi
- Horrified by the floating corpses next to the bathers in the Ganges river
- Captivated by the discussions of Buddhist philosophy
- Appalled by the rudeness of so many tourists
- Enthusiastically spat on by a paan salesman eager to show his wares
- Childishly eager to spin the prayer-wheels in Mcleod Ganj
- Mildly battered when a crazed rickshaw driver clipped off a passing scooter
- Successfully intimidated by a male camel’s displays of masculinity
- Suitably awed by the vastness of the Himalayan foothills
- Disturbingly close to being involved in a white-vs-Indian brawl over train tickets
- Slightly unnerved by the stories of bear attacks on Mount Abu
- Nearly obliterated when a thoughtless Irishman dropped a boulder down a mountain
- In hysterics when a young Korean breaks into the “orc-dance” from WOW
- In a stand-off with a docile holy cow
- Headbutted by a not-so-docile holy cow
Filed under: India | 3 Comments
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it needs three to tango…
at the beginning, all three of them are outside,
two of them, one from either side, pulls one the sides of a hole,
the third pops in
so we have
two on the outside, one on the inside
one from outside and one from inside pulls a hole wide
second one from outside pops in
finally we have
one on the outside, and two on the inside
two on the inside pulls and opens a hold wide
last one from the outside pops in.
That is how the infuriating mosquitoes get inside the nets,
(that is my belief how they do it :) )
I have been captivated by every stolen moment you found to write on this blog. I read an awful lot, almost addictively, and this was one of my favourite fixes – I’d log on and cross my fingers and toes that there was a new entry.
I know its impossible to ever truly share experiences like the sort you’re having, but though the blog and the photos you’ve both brought us as close as we’re ever going to get to the real thing. Thank you, and keep writing.
And little Indian, I completely agree with the Mosquito Theory Of Three. That has to be the way the little buggers do it.
love
Riona, itching all over from those team-working menaces.
Hi Paul!
I hav read all the comments so far… they are all well written and give the good vibe of your trip! Well done!
Also the photograps are very very good!
Keep up posting!!! And have a good time in continuing the trip!