On India - Final Thoughts

In this blog: final thoughts, the India awards, and India insights

If you only read one of my India blogs, make it this one which sum up the whole mad experience (but get a cup of tea and sit comfortably first).

My route through India over 4.5 months. Interactive map here.

FINAL THOUGHTS
India was quite the travel experience. So much so that having now left the country after spending all that time there, I thought I'd bring together my highlights and insights on this weird and wonderful country.

I'd planned to spend about six weeks to two months there - I thought that would be enough. Somehow this turned into four-and-a-half months - that tells you something about both how relatively easy India is to cope with (after a bit of adaption), and how endearing it is to visit. It's probably the first country I've ever been nervous about visiting beforehand, you hear so many stories and everyone has an opinion, and it certainly took a while to get used to. I had total culture shock at the start but was so comfortable with it by the end that I struggled to leave, and now every comparison, story and reference I make ends up being about it.

They say you either love or hate India, and I'm a lover. It certainly takes a while to understand it, and I wouldn't blame anyone for disliking it if they only stayed a couple of weeks, but over time you learn to tolerate the bad things and enjoy the good. As masochistic as it might sound, I genuinely enjoyed my time in India more than Germany. Travelling in India is exciting - you never know what's going to happen next. It's raw - there's no gloss. The people are ever curious and friendly, the sights interesting, the cost of living unbelievably cheap, the food fantastic. It's often so old fashioned, and a trip back to days gone by in the developed world, what with the regular sight on the streets of hawkers, shoe shines, hot-coal clothes ironers, street typists, and ear cleaners. One of the things I like most of all about travelling around it is the feeling of freedom - the western world is so full of laws, conventions, rules, social norms, but in India you can do what you want. Jumping onto moving trains then hanging out the open doorway, walking across someone else's land without worry, or buying anything from a pharmacy without prescription. Sometimes the country feels pretty lawless and often it is a bit, it's often a bit sad, the way things work often isn't always right or normal, but as a traveller it's just fascinating to see.

India is a bubble. Despite outside influences and westernisation, they still often operate as if it's the only country in the world. Immigrants are minimal, they're fairly self sufficient, have their own way of doing things, many unusual traditions, their own style of dress, and a million festivals. It often defies logic, but somehow everything just about works, and I was quite taken with how developed it actually is. Though there's still a long way to go, and only by stopping government corruption will they finally get to where they deserve to be. 

Would I go back again? I have the route planned already. 
Might not be for a few years though.

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Indraha pass in the Indian Himalayas

THE INDIA AWARDS

So here follows the India awards - in a glitzy Oscars style manner, sometimes counting down and sometimes not, here's the best and worst parts of my travels through the country. You can follow the links to the updates they feature in:

Best Experience

5. The colour and energy of Holi festival

4. Being invited into many homes at the world's biggest kite festival

3. Following a wild Bengal tiger whilst sat on an elephant

2. Seeing a night sky full of thousands of Chinese lanterns

1. Winner: Without doubt, my highlight is hiking the Indraha pass in the Himalayas - sleeping in a cave with a dog, getting lost 4000m up the mountain, running short on food and plenty more, but the most exhilarating experience of my life.

Runners up: playing cricket with a group of psychiatrists, going skiing for an hour, nearly having my skin boiled off in a hot spring, cruising the backwaters of Kerala, Christmas Day at the Taj Mahal, Hassan literary festival parade, getting a free meal in a Sikh temple, going to a Bollywood cinema show, hanging out with Jodhpur locals, sea kayaking at Palolem, cycling around Hampi.

Worst Experience

Winner: getting bitten by a dog and having to have five anti-rabies jabs over a month.

Runners up: the freezing cold and rattly overnight bus to Manali which arrived at 4am, nearly being attacked by a pack of monkeys, loosing my credit card, multiple sleepless nightbus journeys, trying to organise a safari in Ramnagar, adopted dogs killing someone's chicken, getting ill in Udaipur, three bus breakdowns and one car breakdown.

Favourite Place Visited

5. Varkala

4. Munnar

3. Dharamasala

2. Galgibad beach, Goa 

1. Winner: Honey Valley, Coorg - a beautiful spot in the green hills of South India where the people and place combined to form somewhere beautiful, relaxing and interesting.

Worst Place Visted

Winner: Delhi - a schizophrenic city of two halves, not really fitting of a capital city. The old half is extremely overcrowded, dirty, noisy and a wild experience.

Runners up: Agra (away from the Taj Mahal, a dump), Srevenbelagola (underwealming).

Most Dangerous Episodes

Winner: bus journey up the Rohtang pass - going up a snaking single-lane mountain road, set into the cliffs with a big drop to one side, no barriers, on sometimes unsurfaced roads, with a driver who drove very fast, overtook everything in sight, and chanced it round blind bends. Terrifying. 

Runners up: having rocks thrown at me by a teenager, hiking Indraha pass, jeep journey to the flood disaster zone in the Himalayas, high-speed bus journey from Kumily to Kottayam, getting bitten by a dog, walking past a large Indian Python in the wild.

Most Shocking Moments 

There's no winner. In most cases these were the first time I saw such sights, the next time was often less shocking but no more right.

• Seeing a homeless man sleeping face down in the dirt, Jodphur
• Driving past destroyed homes in a huge flood disaster zone, Himilayas
• Passing through extremely overcrowded old Delhi
• The first time I saw cows eating from a rubbish bin, Kalka
• Walking past a young guy passed out from glue sniffing, Kanyakamuri
• Witnessing hundreds of people defacating by the railway tracks, Agra
• Seeing a whole family living on a pavement, Jaipur
• Finding out that ten people a day die on Mumbai rail, Mumbai 
• Cycling past farm workers living in tarpaulin tents, Pune
• Finding out the most firecrackers are made by kids, Pune
• Indians throwing stones at a bear in the zoo, Jodhpur
• Hundreds of people sleeping on and around train station, Ambala 
• The first time I saw wild monkeys, Dharamsala

Most Bizarre Moments

There were so many. Winner: Going to the home of a crazy prince in Udaipur

Runners up: 

• Going for a beer with a mad professor in Kochi
• Being blessed by an elephant
• Seeing a peacock eating out of a wheelie bin, Delhi
• Sleeping beside a dog in a cave
• The monkeys of Shimla running between rooftops
• Walking round a lake in socks whilst jumping over goose poo in Pushkar
• Registering at a hotel with my thumbprint
• Seeing a pavement full of tattoo artists sat cross legged
• Waking up to hear laughter yoga 
• Cows and ear cleaners on the beach
• Seeing a 450 year old corpse in a glass box
• The one-armed beach poet
• Meeting George Osbourne's drug dealer
• Visiting Galta monkey palace - a valley overrun with thousands of monkeys
• The constant stream of people taking my picture because I'm foreign

Best Accommodation 

Winner: Green View Hotel at Varkala. Spend a bit more, get a smart clifftop hotel, brilliant.

Runner up: Pearl Palace, Jaipur, homestay at Kumily

Worst Accommodation

Winner: Panchayat Bhawan hostel, Chandigarh - a huge sterile white room with dirty walls, no curtains, a window pane missing, no hot water and a nasty hallway. 

Runners up: Lahesh cave 3274m up a mountain (or was it the best?!), sleeping on the floor at the doctors hostel of a Delhi mental hospital.

The Most Lost I Got

Winner: hiking from Rishikesh to Kunjipuri temple - with no decent map available and only a rough idea of the way, I hiked a hill bigger than Ben Nevis and got extremely lost on the way.

Runner up: hiking at Indraha pass, roaming backstreets of Jodhpur 

Lowest Prices

Winner: 3p bus journey. OK it was only for a mile or so, but I couldn't believe my ears when the conductor quoted me this price.

Runners up: 4p boat ride, 50p hair cut, £2.10 a night guesthouse, 30p train journey for 4 hrs, 45p meal.

Most Hippies Spotted

Arumbol, Goa, closely followed by Rishikesh

Most Remote Place Visited

Kandara village, Himilayas

Most Pain Encountered

Trying Yoga in Rishikesh 

Most Humbling Moments

Tibetan guy telling me about his parents who were killed by the Chinese army

Visiting creches on building sights, Pune

Helping to give out blankets on a trip to a flood disaster zone

Best things about the country

6. Fresh produce grown locally

5. The relatively low carbon footprint (not by choice)

4. How tolerant and patient people are 

3. Beautiful scenery in Himilayas and Western Ghat mountains

2. The feeling of freedom you get as a traveller

1. Very friendly, curious, helpful people

Worst things about the country 

6. Architecture - everything is a painted concrete box

5. Poverty - still a huge problem

4. Slums

3. Pointless beaurocracy 

2. Litter (how even educated people overlook litter)

1. Child labour

Most memorable food

Poori bhaji, Vagator

Veg jalfreizi, Manali

Parota bread, Mumbai

Chicken tandoori, Pune

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INDIA INSIGHTS

You've probably read enough by now, but for anyone still interested, here's my personal insights into different India as a country. They're not extensive or necessarily well written, but it gives an idea.

The Streets

Everything seems to be done on the street - making, selling, chatting, eating, drinking, urinating. And they're completely dominated by men. I'd say on average only one-in-twenty people you see in a city are female, as traditional roles dictate that women should stay at home and perform household duties. Of course amongst younger women, and particularly in cities this is beginning to change, but right now it's certainly a man's world.

Era

Travelling through India is like a journey through time; I constantly tried to work out what era I was in, and there is no true answer. When you see people breaking rocks beside the road, wearing traditional robes around them, you think you might be in Medieval times. When you pass a man driving a bullock and cart along the road, maybe you're in pre-Victorian times. When you're on the streets with all the moustaches, side partings and tank tops you think you're in the seventies. And when people drive past in a brand new VW Golf, talking on the latest smartphone you know it is 2014. But to generalise, in terms of development, fashion, motorbikes and architecture, the seventies constantly come to mind for me personally.

People

Indians have character coming out their ears, a refreshing contrast to the often dull and conformist population of the Western world. Diversity is the key word - in terms of religion, levels of wealth, types of dress and everything else. They're overwhelmingly friendly and curious, as you might have noticed from my writings, and few would hesitate to chat with me. 

They're extremely tolerant people - we could certainly learn a thing or two from them. Occasionally this is a bad thing though as they're sometimes too tolerant to noise, filth, bad habits, discomfort, poor hygiene, rudeness, corruption, danger and so on, rather than demanding change, thus leaving things more stuck in the past than it should be. Violence and aggression doesn't seem to be in their makeup, of course you see arguing but I only say one mildly violent skirmish the whole time. I guess when there's so much noise and chaos all the time, you have no option but to be pretty mellow, they'd have killed each other a long time ago otherwise. 

Both sexes take great pride in their appearance, no matter how rich or poor, always wishing to try and look smart. The women generally dress in wonderfully bright patterned sarees, though in more affluent areas you see more tunics and trousers, and amongst the younger generation the odd female wears western clothing. The typical man conforms to the 'Side parting and neat moustache' look, often with a pen in his short pocket. Most men wear a shirt and trousers for both work and leisure even if they do very dirty stuff, but you commonly see them wearing everything from orange robes, to white linen outfits, to what looks like bedsheets. 

As a nation they are extremely conservative and old-fashioned, with exceptions of course. Couples rarely hold-hands in public and kissing is certainly never seen, not even in movies as it's considered behaviour for behind closed doors only. A bizarre flip side to this is that you often see men holding hands in public, or with an arm around each other, maybe even stroking each other's shoulders - it's not considered gay, but an act of brotherhood. So yes, men and women can't hold hands, but men and men can - It's a little odd to an outsider I must say.

Manners

Eh? Huh? What? The concept of manners barely exists in India, except among the more privileged and affluent minority, and certainly isn't generally seen in day to day life on the streets. Staring, spitting, touching people, being nosy, queue jumping, weeing in public, beeping, shouting, invading personal space - there is no issue with any of these. Please and thank you certainly don't get much use.

On the flipside, you never eat or pass things with your left hand (the toilet duties hand), and their lips never touch a drinks bottle that's being shared.

Religion 

India is the world's most religious country. Religion is not just something they do, it's an inseparable part of the fabric of being an Indian, and people are extremely proud of that. It's everything, and everywhere - many businesses have religious names, people pray as they pass a temple on a bus, everyone has shrines at home, at work and even in their cars. Whilst there's sometimes a little segregation and the odd tension, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and the other minorities all seem to get along and mix together remarkably well on the whole. However when it comes to Muslim dominated Pakistan next-door, I have heard the odd mutter between the first two - Pakistan and India are defiantly not a love match made in heaven. 

Road Transport

Chaos - the roads summed up. The standards of driving are fairly poor, road discipline is terrible, people don't always stop for red traffic lights, and everyone is out for themselves - there's never any courtesy. The roads are full of a mixture of buses, cars, lorries, auto rickshaws, cycle rickshaws (in the north), and people with pushcarts, all vying for space. There are some big and fairly well built dual carriageways between the big cities, but the rest of the time roads vary considerable and occasionally on smaller roads the surface to turn to gravel for a while then back to dirt, or exist as permanently unfinished roadsworks. In the Himilayas, the roads are generally pretty terrible all round. Buses vary from the quality and order of the south, to the battered bangers of the north, and the same applied to the quality of roads. Buses rarely stop fully, you often jump on as they move. 

Rail

The railways work surprisingly well though the trains are often late. The booking system is unbelievable confusing, the trains often fully booked, but the standard of carriage in the AC classes surprisingly good, and more than comfortable enough. One of the biggest biggest problems as a tourist is actually getting a place on a train, as they are regularly fully booked on many routes, sometimes weeks in advance. The cheap classes are great fun for shorter journeys which in Indian terms means six hours or less in my mind, with an eclectic range of passengers and feature everything from ladyboys, chai sellers, beggars, and fruit sellers to keep you amused.

Architecture 

Dreary concrete boxes, poorly maintained, and sometimes painted garish colours is the norm. This isn't always just due to economics, often just a lack of taste or a desire for quality. Only in places like Mumbai do you see the odd cutting edge building which is a shame, as people are a product of their environments, and concrete doesn't make anyone smile.

Landscape

On the route I travelled, the Himilayas in the north were amazing, as were the western ghats in the south, but the scenery between the two was on the whole fairly arid and dull, save for the odd area like Hampi. The beaches are Goa were however beautiful. 

Food

Just fantastic. I ate Indian food three times a day, pretty much every day and loved it. That's over three hundred Indian meals my my rough workings! The food often isn't nearly  as spicy as you expect; a vindaloo is much spicier in the UK for example. I only had one meal I really didn't enjoy, and just two or three fairly average meals the whole, and whilst I started the trip avoiding meat entirely, after a month slowly weaned myself back on with no problems. I did eat western food as a bit of a break maybe every couple of weeks and a little more often for breakfast, but that was it. The only spot of illness came from, I think, eating some street food that had been sat around for a while - I should have known better. The standards of hygiene were a little questionable at times, and it was sometimes the case of what you don't see you don't know, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. 

Drink

Chai - Indian milk tea made mostly with milk instead of water, some masala spices and a whip ole lot of sugar is national drink and found everywhere, and I was an addict. Fresh fruit juices are both popular and cheap and a favourite, as was freshly squeezed sugarcane, though beer more heavily licensed and expensive than at home.

Waste

One of my biggest bugbears with India. Litter is everywhere, and people drop it with no thought whatsoever, no matter how educated they are. It seems to be a mixture of a lack of education, the assumption that it will rot like fruit and veg does, and the guess that someone else will pick it up which generally they don't.

Poverty

Still a big issue, and quite apparent in the slums in big cities. I made some insights into real life through the volunteering work, wandering from the beaten track, and getting invited into a few houses, but life is pretty basic for many. There was less people sleeping on the streets than I expected, but it still happens. Beggars are a regular sight, but generally not that persistent.

Language

Two things surprised me on this front. Firstly just how commonly English is spoken - there's more fluent English speakers in India than Britain, and it's rare that language is a problem, even if one guy did say to me on the phone 'I'm sorry, I can't understand your English accent!'. The second surprise is that there are so many regional languages - most states have their own language - Hindi, Malaylam, Karnataka to name just three. English is the universal language, and used as standard in politics and business.

Infrastructure 

On the one hand, India was much more advanced than I expected, on the other hand there's still a way to go. Power cuts are a big issue and away from big cities places get cut off often daily - many people have batteries and inverters, or a generator to see them through - a huge waste just cause the government can't get its act together. There's not always enough water either, and water tankers sometimes do the rounds delivering direct to houses.

Arumbol, Goa