Back from India

Please note this was originally posted in Jan 2007 on my other blog site. Please see:
http://lulu-ahimsa.zaadz.com/blog/2007/1

The first month of the year is at it's end, and I have yet to write in my blog!! So here goes…

My girlfriend and I just returned from a three week trip to India. It was an amazing trip despite all the horrible things that happened. Violent food poisioning, crazy train experiences, and getting stuck in the north when all of the clothes we packed were for the south (and the beach) are just a few of the “low-lights”, but despite that, the trip was great. A friend of mine from Kazakhstan who went to India (not with me, but with her friend), lives in a village in Kazakhstan. She has almost nothing, but after India, said that she will never again be anything but greatful for what she has. She made me realize how much I myself take for granted. When I was in India, I was beyond annoyed at all of the people who tried to take from us - rickshaw drivers who would take us to the wrong place because if we buy something at a certain shop they get money, or guys on the street who tell you your hotel is booked up, but they happen to know of a place…. we never got scammed, but the very fact that every person we met was literally trying to take money from us, well, it got tiring. You can not walk in the bazaar without people yelling, standing in your way, even grabbing your arm and trying to pull you into the 700th store in a row that sells pashminas…But when I think about the people we saw living on the streets, literally, I realize how blessed I am. And the people trying to “take” from us may not have been living on the street, but they were trying to make a living. I can be philosophical about it now, however, because I am not dealing with it every second of the day…

Our guidebook told us that giving kids money on the street actually encourages them to beg instead of going to school, because they can make more money beggin than getting an education, but that they never then get out of poverty. So we tried not to give money. Instead, we would give food we couldn't eat. They were never very happy about it, but if we gave money to everyone who asked, not only would we never have any money, but we wouldn't have had time to do anything else. It goes against my feeling to have to turn and refuse to give money to someone who is obviously starving, but I think that there is not really any other way. The poverty was definately the hardest part of India. But that is the hardest part of Los Angeles, too. The best part? Sunrise at the Taj Mahal. Pink sky, fog and mist rolling in, obscuring the view of the (dirty) river below, very romantic to stand at this monument to love with the woman i love in the gorgeous light. I have to tell you, seeing a picture of the Taj Mahal is not the same thing as seeing the Taj Mahal. Really. Words can not describe it. After that, every other monument, fort, building, palace, is kind of less glamorous. I kind of wish it was the last thing we saw and not the first thing…

I also saw Durga's temple in the holiest city in India for Hindus, Varanasi. It was pretty interesting. Varanasi is packed and crazy. Lots of temples, lots of tourists, lots of rickshaws…

Would I go back to India? Yes. I want to see the south. But I think I am going to head to other places first. I need a break from the craziness that 1.2 billion people plus tourists create….