After months of following Kristen’s blogs from afar, I now have the good fortune to actually ‘live the blog’ with her. And I must say, traveling with Kristen is never dull. `Best of all is just being reunited after having much missed mother/daughter time while sharing these awesome adventures. Now she’s asked me to input some thoughts & observations making me a contributing editor of sorts I guess.
I’ll start, rather than end, with a brief summation of my thoughts. Before I came I had heard you either love or you hate India & I had already decided to love it. Now however, neither Kristen nor I have found it that way. It is such a mix of extremes & inconsistencies that we find we love some aspects & hate others. There are the vibrant electric colors, graceful saris, historic unbelievable treasures never known about, art, music, tasty exotic flavors & incredibly nice people who would do anything to make our stay safe & enjoyable. Then there’s the obvious poverty, dirt & grittiness, masses of pushy vendors who won’t give up, people on the make looking for an easy target, constant noise, etc. Always crowds & always challenges..
The bazaars are fascinating but it’s almost not worth the effort to pause while looking since that puts the vendors into a feeding frenzy. No such thing as looking & meandering. Going from Point A to Point B is an effort. No small feat to push through the crowds due to the sheer numbers on the streets -- & I’m not talking about just people, but sacred cows galore, goats, pigs, dogs, motor scooters, buses, trucks, auto rickshaws, human rickshaws, etc., etc. all trying to make their way through the throngs. Just when we think we’ve seen it all, some new surprise comes alone. A camel pulling a cart suddenly turns right in front & by the time I get my camera ready to shoot, it fills the frame with just its head & neck. It’s a ‘thrill’ to get squeezed between a motor scooter & a brahma bull while walking down a narrow street. At home no one would dare go into a pasture with a bull – too aggressive & would probably charge – but here, they’ve spent centuries co-existing with people & all seem to get along. They seem as common & accepted as pigeons At least the water buffalo are controlled.
We’ve laughed, been amazed, been shocked & have wondered at the complexity of human creation. India is sensory overload. There are so many UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India. We need to honor slaves, artisans & visionaries who created these vast intricate sites with the simplest of tools. Power & women seem to have been the motivating force.
The world’s oldest mountain range, the Aravelli, & the youngest, Himalayas are both in this country which seems to capture the extreme nature of India. It’s a developing country but for most of the people here life isn’t getting much better. Hopefully with time & a heightened sense of responsibility to its people things will improve for all. Fate, reincarnation & karma, I think, leave many thinking this is the way things are supposed to be. Not much to help the masses & of course the corruption.
In contrast to the pushy crowd, we also meet the nicest of people. Our asst. Manager in Aurangabad gave us his personal info & told us to call anytime anywhere while we’re in India if we needed help. And he would be there we know!!! Mohammed, a young Travelocity employee we befriended on the train. He was so friendly & helpful. A genuinely good guy who wanted the best for us. Several hotel staff giving advice & warnings about local things. Now we’re at our last stop on our own for tomorrow we move into the 2nd phase of our trip – 2 weeks being with Indian friends who are taking care of all plans & will host us in Delhi & Srinagar in the cool, gorgeous Himalayas. I’m sure things will change for Kristen & me in the most basic ways – vendors may back off & guys vying for attention will back off. John comes in 2 days which is exciting. Now we’ll have men along which will create new chemistry on the street. Whew. Nice to not have to figure everything out also as our hosts have done a wonderful job of planning for us. Maqbool comes to Fatehpur Sikri tomorrow noon (Apr. 30) with a driver & will whisk us off to Delhi. Kristen, John & I will go off with a driver for 3 days from Delhi to see Agra & do a quick safari hoping to spot a tiger but other than that we’re with friends from here on.
The surprising thing is how hard it is to travel here. We wanted to fly from Aurangabad to Udaipur but that required an overnight flt with changes so we took a decent 7 hr. a.c. busride to Mumbai to catch our flt. We expected to be able to ride ac trains at will but have found them either booked waaaaay in advance or not available for where we’re going even if it’s between 2 major tourist spots. “No a.c. trains go there.” Also luxury a.c. buses frequently don’t run between major tourist spots so we’ve had a couple of ‘less than enjoyable’ rides & then graduated to personal drivers. Much more expensive but sooooo worth it.
So I’ll close with best wishes from India. Kristen is an amazing traveler – doesn’t lose her enthusiasm to learn & explore. What a treat to share this with her. Sending good karma to all, Marcia (Mom)
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