Tue 5 Jun 2007
This is a live Google Map so click & scroll away! (Created with My Maps Plus)
NOTE: This is my final post about my month of traveling - if you want to skip the chatter & JUMP STRAIGHT TO THE PIX, CLICK HERE - there is a SMALL set of PIX & a COMPLETE set of pix.
Also, if you want to see all my travel posts to this point click HERE.
As many of you know I just got back from almost a month in the Olde Country - India. It was a big and fascinating trip - and there was a lot I liked about it & honestly some big things I *really* didn’t like about it. There was both much fun and much not fun. Some of that had to do with India & some of that had to do with the fact that I was LARGELY BY MYSELF FOR AN ENTIRE MONTH. If you ever want to drive a hyper-gregarious, hyper-talkative person suicidal, send them to a large, fascinating & difficult country by themselves in the non-tourist season FOR A MONTH. Sit back & watch the fun! Anyway, it has been a week since I got back & now that my super-powers are returning, it is time to write up my impressions…
Before I get into what I liked & disliked about India it is important to understand that the key part of any trip is having resilience, curiosity and a good attitude. Normally these qualities are a strong suit of mine. But this trip, “curiosity” was the only one I could consistently muster. A variety of things combined to cause the others to come & go. As I said, the biggest factor by far was that I only had people to really talk to for maybe 4-5 days combined out of my 3.5 weeks in India: NOT GOOD FOR OUR HERO.* So I guess that means maybe if the circumstances of my trip were different my impressions would skew differently…
But that all being said, what follows are my impressions of India such as they are, for better & for worse. Here is the quick list for those of you skimming - feel free to click on just the items that seem interesting. (damn this is a long post! Did I mention I had no one to talk to for a month?)
- Transaction as Argument
- Constant Honking
- Indians Trashing India
- Cheating Strangers Is To Be Expected
I should also state up front that I’m more curious and more demanding of India than I would be of many other places for a variety reasons. Obviously, being my genetic homeland, I’m going to be pretty curious, but also there are many people in my life (my immediate family for starters, but others as well) who expect that I SHOULD have a strong connection to India: “India is your home!” or “You just don’t understand that you ARE Indian” etc etc. This all leads to a closer scrutiny on my part.
Anyway, without further ado, lets get to the superficial impressions that I will attempt to pass off as facts. (hey look! “hubris” - I AM returning to normal!)











