Why India?

I volunteered in a class I'm attending to try to shed some light on a discussion we had on why people travel to certain places (it started off with Bali, supposedly an easy going destination) that are very demanding to travel in, not very relaxing, that confront you with poverty and dIsease and other such things that many peole don't really want to know about first hand.

One student in our class said that she really dreamed of going to India for some obscure reason that she couldn't put her finger on, while others said they would never go there from what they had heard. 

So all you India travellers out there - why India? Why not somewhere "easier" like Australia, or even Thailand?

Thanks for any input

1. ...

Oh well, India has everything that one can want.

2. why not?

In one months time I'll be spending my first night in Mumbai. I don't know what to expect because I've never been to India but I do know that it will be a million miles removed from where I am now....and that's the whole point.

It's a cliche but you do only get one life and it isn't a rehearsal. I want to see and do as much as I can, while I can. In a world that's changing as rapidly as ours I think we should all do our utmost to broaden our horizons and maybe gain some insight and understanding of other peoples cultures. Whether those people are villagers in India or surfers in Oz.

As for things like disease and poverty. I'm afraid I have no answer for problems of that scale but I don't see that as a reason to avoid them.

Besides, everybody has to see the Taj Mahal at least once...don't they?

Travel light and often...take nothing but memories, leave nothing but footprints.

3. no pain no gain

doing the tourist stuff can be harder, but india is one ov the easiest & friendliest places(maybe one ov thee last) to get "off the beaten path" & loose youself totally in a radically different culture.

4. India

We have been to India twice and woudl go back there tomorrow if we had the money!
We travel to India (and the rest of Asia for that matter) because it is cheap, it is hot (except in the mountains of course), it is different.

You know you are alive every second of every waking hour. For just £1 you can get a wooden hut on an impossibly beautiful beach and spend the day swimming in the sea, walking on the sand and eating good cheap food in a restaurant. Surely that beats getting up in the dark, going to work for 8 hours, going home in the dark, cooking tea, watching some uninspiring TV, then going to bed!

We have been to Australia and New Zealand (somewhere easier) and we would have to say that it is a beautiful country and we would like to return there one day.

But Asia - especially India is something altogether different. Australia is an easy place to travel, people speak the same language, the culture (not of the aboriginals but of the white people) is virtually the same but more than anything else - the cost is the same (maybe slightly more!) When we are travelling India, we spend about £10 per day for the 2 of us. In Australia it is maybe 3 times that amount. We love travelling wherever it is but when it is cheap, stunning and a bit different then it is truly irrestible.

I will quote Anne Mustoe (superb author and a true inspiration), "India is not a comfortable country. It is overwhelming in its size, beauty and density. There are palaces and temples, but their backdrop is poverty and the cardboard shacks of the slums. The noise, dirt and beggars, the staring crowds and the bureaucracy of petty officials can fray even the strongest nerves. Yet the atmosphere is never threatening. The eyes spark with interest and humour, never with hatred and or resentment. At times, I longed to escape - but once I was back home in the sanitised West, the vibrant colours, the smiles, the scent of spices and jasmine, and the swish of silken saris in the dust haunted me until I returned. Love it or hate it, India is the ancient, fascinating, complex, irritating country that everyone should visit at least once in a lifetime."

Hope this helps in your class! Please contact me at loujulowry@hotmail.com for more travel rantings!!

5. .

india just has something about it
it is very different in culture to western countries, more so that other asian countries i have been to.
there are always strange things to see like pink cows in the center of a large city with no-one paying any notice, extreme poverty, spirituality (temples, pilgrims etc..) and its a very large and densley populated place so their all all sorts of different landscapes, languages etc... the people are both amusing and intriging

6. Why? SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT

India is the opposite extreme to how we live in the Western world. And to complete a trip there gives you a great sense of achievement. My first 3 weeks there, I really 'didn't get it' at all. I was sick of the dirt, the spitting, and the constant questions from locals.

But that is all part of the charm and culture of India, and the beauty and diversity of the country has such an impact on you that it far outweighs and negative offerings. Doing it the budget way gets you as close to the culture as you are gonna get. Anyone can pay £000's to fly long-haul, stay in a 5* hotel with airport transfers and arranged tours. But you could be anywhere and not learn a thing about the country you have visited. It seems the poverty stricken countries around the world are those that maintain their beauty. Surely there is something to be said for that.

7. Why Travel?

I have traveled to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, India(doing it now..),Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand,Fiji. They all their own individual magic. They are all different in in its own ways. The food, the people, the travel, the sights....

One thing that i have realized is that one should never pre-judge about anything. One should not also follow other peoples experiences. You need to be your own explorer. If money,time and God permits, one should see the entire world and be a much more enriched person.

Never make/expect the place of visit interesting. You need to be interesting. There was this time when we had a flat tyre in the wee hrs of the morning in Kerala. While the driver was fixing it, we just woke up the street kids and played a game of cricket. That was an experience!

Once at Penrith rail station, Western Sydney, an aboriginee shared the story of his ancestors. It was really spiritual and full of magic.

While traveling from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain over this massive road bridge over the Red sea, we stopped in the middle of the road, and looked down at the sea below and we saw thousands of jelly fish migrating.

An i cud go and on and on...so its not a question of why bali? or why india? ...why travel? Find the answer to that and you will love every plave that you go to..

See ya
u can talk 2 me abt my travel in india at manomanoz@yahoo.co.in


Renunciation without aversion is not lasting.

8. Poverty

People in the west get incredibly complacent. That is why it is so important to see places where poverty, disease etc are rife - it puts everything in perspective, and that makes you realise the value of life

9. My obsession

I have had an obsession about India for a number of years. I was thinking the other day about how it started and I think it was when I read Vikram Seths A Suitable Boy. I am hoping to go for the first time in March to Tamil Nadu for 5 weeks and then go back again in October.

10. Full circle

We long for what we don't don't have. I have been in India all my life and I am actually discovering India through channels likes Discovery, National Geographic, pages LP, internet and why, when TT. While I would give my right arm to see 'overseas', almost every other person on this TT would also do the same to see more of India. Reading your travelouges, I am inspired to discover my own country, before I attempt to see some 'phoren' land.

11. why india?

India is beautiful, has amazing scenery, history, buildings, languages, food and people. But the reason I love India is that it is so frustrating, so much is difficult. All those things that we just take for granted - posting a letter, getting to the movies, taking a hot shower, buying a train ticket, standing in a queue - that we just do without even thinking in India require vigilance, patience, and thought. So many times each day you are forced to confront that the things you think are "common sense", and "just the way things are", are in fact culturally constructed. Our way is not the only way. And while it's easy to "know" this at home, you are forced to actually live it while in India.

It's also having to be constantly alert and it's the sensory overload. In India, you realise that so much of your life at home is lived with dulled senses, acting without thought. Some people really like that, and they travel places "easier" where they can put their energies into other things.

It's the challenges that I go for. But I don't always know that until after I am home, until I look back and realise that the day spent trying to post a package was more rewarding than the day at the temple, even though at the time the temple was more beautiful, peaceful and photograph-worthy.

But the India pull is also from those brief experiences of connection with others, with the land or with moment of history.

I just love it; every frustrating, exquisite moment of it.

 

12. Thanks everybody

for sharing your thoughts! Really appreciated