Before coming to India, I had few expectations. I had heard so many different things that I didn’t exactly know what to expect. After being in India for almost a month, I know that almost everything I had heard about India was true even though most of them contradict each other. So far I’ve seen mansions and shacks, beaches and jungle, rich and poor, new and old, healthy and deteriorating, Muslims and Christians, Sikhs and Hindus, the happy and the hopeless. The fact is that India is a country full of contradictions and I think that’s what I like most about it.
The first three weeks we spent in India were on the beaches of Goa. Coming from Nepal, it was a complete shock. Everything was different; the weather, the people, the houses, the money, the food, everything. I hadn’t even noticed that we were living under a rock in Nepal and I had no idea just how different India was. After a week of doing pretty much nothing in Colva, we started to evolve to the new environment. One night we decided to bus to Panjim, the capitol of Goa, to go to the International Film Festival. After bussing for two hours, we were told that tickets were only sold during the day. Of course, we decided to try to sneak in. On our way to one of the back doors, we ran into the head chairman of the film festival and he ended up giving us free passes. For the first time in almost four months, we sat in an air-conditioned movie theater and watched random Hindi, American and European movies. It’s crazy that something so normal back home felt like an incredible treat after Nepal. A couple nights later, we heard about a “Silent Rave” in Palolem and decided to check it out. After driving our mopeds for two hours and getting severely lost (although my dad won’t admit it), we came to a bar filled with people wearing headphones. After paying about $10, we walked into the “Silent Rave” and it was literally just that, a rave that was silent. There were three DJs playing up on a stage, each with a certain color in front of them. All of the people there were wearing headphones that were wirelessly connected to the DJs on different color-coded channels. We ended up having a great night dancing around or taking off our headphones and watching other people dance to complete silence. The second place we went to was Aranbol. So far in India, Aranbol has been my favorite town. The town itself is the perfect size, you can walk from one side to the other comfortably, but there is still much to see. The people we met there were amazing. For the first time in almost four months, I hung out with people my age, who also happen to be American. Although it’s been great learning how to converse with people of all ages, it was so relieving to be able to talk about stupid teenage stuff instead of things like the meaning of life or how sick society is.
After nearly three weeks of swimming in the ocean and relaxing in the sun, we decided it was time to move on. My sister, dad and I split off from the group and took an overnight train to Fort Cochin. Although it was dirty and slightly crowded, the train ride was fairly exciting. We slept on small bunk beds with six to a compartment. Every few minutes a chaiwalla would come through offering the delicious tea that I’ve quickly become addicted to. Half way through the night I woke up and looked down to see two men curled up, sleeping on the dirty floor and another two men on a single, miniscule bed. I felt racked with guilt looking at my enormous backpack taking up half the room on my own bed, but I don’t move it. After about 12 hours, we arrive in Ernakulum and take the ferry to the island that Fort Cochin is on. Fort Cochin is a complicated place with a simple life. There are beautiful old temples, mosques and churches everywhere. The history of the island is filled with religion. There lived Jews who escaped persecution, Portuguese Christian missionaries, as well as followers of the more native religions of the country such as Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. One night, we decided to go to Ernakulum to see the newest Mission Impossible. I had no idea that Ernakulum was a big city until I found myself on a massive street with malls, tall buildings and streetlights. It wasn’t until then that I realized just how long I’d been traveling. Everyday things like sidewalks, real stores and streetlights now seemed foreign to me. After that I couldn’t help thinking about how foreign Seattle will feel when I go home in only a few weeks. That’s one of my favorite things about traveling for such long periods of time. The foreign becomes ordinary and the ordinary becomes foreign. The longer you travel, the more and more you get used to abnormal things.
After a few days of exploring the fort town, we caught a train to the Amma Ashram. The Amma Ashram is a place where people from all over the world come to explore spirituality and to be in Amrita Singhs’s presence. An ashram is a place filled with positive energy where people can meditate, contemplate, become yogis, etc. The Ashram is in the town where Amrita was born, who is more commonly called Amma, meaning mother in Hindi. Amma is an incredible woman, there is no doubt. She is a celebrated humanitarian and has helped people all over the world but she is more famously known for her hugs. Three times a week, Amma gives Darshan for eight hours at the Ashram. During this Darshan, Amma hugs lines and lines of people. She is known to be able to give such a Darshan for up to twenty hours without a major break. You would think that a woman who has hugged over thirty million people would be brisk with her hugs, or be constantly agitated, but from what I say, Amma gives special intention to every single hug and is happy to do so. Her message has spread all over the world to people of every religion. Many people consider Amma to be an enlightened being, here to lessen the suffering of the world. Many believe that meditating in the presence of an enlightened being is a sort of shortcut to becoming enlightened yourself, thus many people live at the ashram for months, working towards enlightenment. These “students” spend their time meditating and doing daily chores to keep the Ashram running. They all dress in white clothing, typically traditional saris or Indian tunics. My time at the ashram was enjoyable, and I could see how people could live there a long time because of the positive energy surrounding the place. Personally, I find myself closer to happiness when I’m out trekking or exploring a foreign place, so I doubt I will ever live there but I have great respect for Amma and her work.
While we were in Aranbol, we heard about a place called Hampi that we could not miss out on. After a few days in the Ashram, we decided to get on a train and spend Christmas there. Personally, I hadn’t heard a single thing about Hampi except something about rocks, so I was quite surprised when we got there that it was literally a desert filled with enormous boulders. By the river there is a small town and tree groves. If the scenery weren’t enough, there are also dozens of ancient stone monuments that have begun to crumble in the most beautiful way. To me, Hampi is like the rock formations of Cappadocia in Turkey or Utah, jungles of Laos, and the ancient temples of Cambodia. You can’t look anywhere without being impressed. The best part is that you’re allowed to explore all of the monuments. If Hampi were in the states, each ancient building would have barbed wire fences surrounding them with trespassing signs forbidding you to come anywhere near them. So far in India, Hampi is by far the most beautiful place I’ve been. Christmas day we decided the best way to explore would be to rent motorcycles and drive wherever we could. My dad and I ended up driving around for five hours and we still hadn’t seen every monument. Later that night, my dad, sister and I climbed up to the Hanuman Temple, which lies on a mountain of boulders, and watched the sunset. The Indian sun is an incredible thing. Instead of lighting up the whole sky and being a central region of an especially bright color, the sun is an enormous circle of solid orange or pink. So far I have not been disappointed with a single sunset, and the one that evening at Hanuman Temple was especially impressive. Not a bad way to spend Christmas in my books.
Although India and Nepal are neighbors, there are an incredible amount of differences. For example, Nepali’s are almost always either Buddhist or Hindu. In India, all religions combine. As history shows, this has created many violent battles, but in every town and city I’ve been in here, there seems to be a peaceful coexistence. Also, one of the very first things we noticed about India was the fantastic infrastructure. After being in crumbling Nepal for three months, we were stunned to see fully paved roads, street signs, stoplights, modern buildings, highways, etc. Of course, not all India is like this but it seems that most of the major towns and cities are incredibly developed. But nothing is more different between the two countries than the people, specifically their attitude towards foreigners. Every time I walk down the street here, people step in front of me and immediately ask my name or what country I am from. In Nepal, it is usually a simple “Namaste” or “how are you?” In India, I have struggled with appreciating the attention that sometimes feels invasive. Another subtle difference is that many financial transactions seem to be much less appreciated than in Nepal. Almost every single time we purchased something in Nepal, the salesman, etc. were very happy to receive the money, even after you haggled with them and gave them less than they asked for. Here, no matter whether you haggled or not, it often seems that they are not satisfied with the amount given, as if we cheated them. Also, getting change is nearly impossible here. If you pay for something that was 85 rupees with a 100 bill, they will often grumble about it, make you go and get change, or even not give you full change back because they don’t have it. I have struggled even more so with the staring here. In Nepal, the locals tend to watch your every move but as soon as you look over at them, they go back to their business. Here, no matter what face you pull at them or how long you stare back at them, the staring is constant and merciless. With all of these things, I constantly have to remind myself that it isn’t wrong, simply different.
With all these differences from Nepal and America, it is only time that can help you evolve to appreciate it. I cannot possibly change the way things are done here, nor would I if I could. The intense dissimilarities are what make traveling so interesting and addicting. The world is a massive place and we need to remember that our way of doing things is certainly not the best or only way. It’s because of this that one cannot possibly start to appreciate the versatility of life without first making themselves incredibly uncomfortable in a foreign place.
