Travel Along With Me

I sat down and jotted down all the thoughts that came to my mind about our recent trip to India (Nov-Dec 2007). They are:

1. Filth, Pollution, Dirt everywhere - nothing like America.

2. Indians are curious about westerners - especially Kali (my daughter). Liked to take photos of us.

3. Indian clothing is beautiful and colorful.

4. Cows roam around everywhere.

5. There are beggars everywhere. They do not know when to leave you alone. Many continue to tap on you, talk to you and stay in your face.

6. Indian men are not shy to pee anywhere. The smell of urine is strong in the streets.

7. There is little familiar food. When something is found on the menu that is made in America it is served with the Indian spices.

8. There is poverty everywhere yet most people seem to have cell phones.

9. Everyone drives crazy yet no one seems bothered by it - it is some kind of organized chaos. Pedestrians do not have the right-of-way, no one seems to stay on their side of the road - everyone passes each other, blows their horn and swerves even on turns.

10. Baths are taken everywhere: river, buckets, outside spicket, etc.

11. Spirituality is number one: cab drivers have bells in their cars to ring when they pray while driving, shop keepers have their shrines set up in their shops, chants/prayers play in restaurants/businesses.

12. Women carry things on top of their heads.

13. Laundry is done in the Ganges River and laid to dry on the rocks or hung.

14. Many kids wear uniforms to school.

15. Many of the poor children do not go to school but beg, work with their parents or stay with their parents at their jobs.

16. There are many beautiful mountains in India.

17. Most women have nose rings.

18. A lot of Indians know English.

19. Most of the Indians we met were very polite, gracious and kind.

20. In our trip to India we met people from Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Europe.

21. Most children we came in contact with made up games to play with things like rocks, sticks, etc. since they could not afford toys.

22. Many people had flip-flops or no shoes.

23. Monkeys were everywhere.

24. Lots of stray dogs/puppies.

25. The Ganges River was graceful and peaceful. (It had more of a current than I expected)

26. Toilet paper was not readily available.

27. Most of the buildings were old. Made of cement and old brick.

28. Most Indians I saw seemed to live with ease and peace amongst their poverty.

29. Restaurants had many flies in them. Many of the restaurants did not change the table cloths between customers.

30. Many places we went there was a fee to use the public toilets (2-5 rupees).

31. Bottled water was readily available at most stores.

32. Trash cans were hard to find.

33. Many of the Sadhus want paid for the blessings they give.

34. What India considers “Clean” and what America considers “Clean” are very different.

35. Men were very affectionate with other men in public though men and women did not seem to show much affection.

36. We rarely saw Indian families all together. It was usually the mother and the children - the dads work very long work days.

37. Weddings are HUGE events and celebrations that last days. There are lots of music, colors, food, traditions, etc.

38. Horns are blowing constantly. Everyone uses the road at once (cars, buses, bikes, rickshaws, motorcycles, horses, cows, people, monkeys, etc).

39. Many of the men stared at Kali and I and would follow us around. I think it was the blond hair they were fascinated by.

40. I did not notice disrespect between the economic classes.

41. There is discrimination in prices with tourists (i.e. the entrance fee for the Taj Mahal is 750 rupees for foreigners and only20 rupees for Indians).