Incredible India! — Patti Part Two

We all have events in our lives that change us. Having children, running a marathon, losing loved ones and now visiting India are a few of the big ones for me. India was everything and more that I expected. It is overwhelming and awesome. It’s people and noise and smells and history and chaos and something to see every minute of every day. I want to capture it all and remember it forever and do it justice so I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. I’m also dealing with a 10 and a half hour time change so that might be why I’m feeling overwhelmed! So I think I’ll just dive in and see where this goes.

First off a general framework of the trip. My dear and adventurous friend Cindy and I decided after much input from friends that had been to India that going as part of a group was the best idea. That was reinforced to us just about every day of our trip. I’m very comfortable going most places on my own but India is a different situation. Just getting from place to place could be overwhelming and as two women traveling safety was important to us. So we joined a tour put together by Collette and it was wonderful. Their groups tend to be smaller and that gives you a lot more flexibility to do some things that a larger group couldn’t do. Our group was a total of 12 people and a guide, which was pretty much perfect.

Let me introduce you to our new travel friends!

Starting at the top left and going clockwise: Sylvia & Howard (Raj) from Wales, Vince & Donna from Florida, Annie & Vic from Florida, Maureen & Bruce from Michigan, and Claire & Gary from New Jersey.

A great group of very seasoned travelers! They have been everywhere and then some. When we asked how this trip compared to their others the most common response was that India would be the most challenging to explain to people, and that makes total sense to me now, but I’ll try my best.

We had a great guide. Our fearless and amazing leader Ajay! He gave 200% everyday to make sure things went as well and smoothly as possible. He was unbelievably knowledgeable and did his best to not only give us so much information, but to help us understand the culture and history too. He has a deep love and respect for his country and admiration for what they have accomplished in the short span of 70 years of being a democracy. And now I do too!

Ajay! Smart, funny, energetic and organized. We couldn’t ask for a better leader.

And last but far from least is my amazing travel companion, fellow adventurer and dear friend Cindy. I can’t think of a better person to have had this adventure with!

Traffic -

In a nutshell it’s insanity. They drive on the left side - somewhat. Usually it seems they drive down the middle of the road except where it’s super congested which is most of the time and then everyone just drives anywhere they want honking their horn the entire time. And when I say traffic that includes cars, buses, motorbikes, trucks, rickshaws, tuk tuks, bikes, donkey carts, camel carts, horse carts, people with hand carts, cows, goats, dogs, pigs and people walking. Even in the largest cities I don’t recall ever seeing a traffic light or even a stop sign. At times it’s total grid lock but the most amazing thing is that no one ever gets angry or yells at anyone. No road rage. And even though there is a constant sound of horns it’s not in anger. It’s more of just letting you know they are next to you or behind you. I’ll never forget one four hour bus ride we were on between cities where our driver was driving down the middle of the road with vehicles coming right at us and vehicles passing us on the right and cows sitting in the middle of the road and he was honking his horn the entire time. We were hanging on with both hands and I remember thinking it was like being on the Indiana Jones ride at Disney for 4 hours! Exciting! And more than a little terrifying!

Top right is a tuk tuk. Bottom left is a family of 4 on a motorbike. The record was a family of 5 on a bike! Bottom right is Cindy and I in a rickshaw.

Animals -

Are there really animals wandering all over India? Actually yes there are! The first couple of days I was mesmerized by every cow I saw, but then I just got used to it. Upon returning to the states I kind of miss it. Not only cows everywhere, but goats, pigs, dogs, donkeys, camels, monkeys and quite a few rats😳 We asked Ajay about why cows in particular are so revered, and he explained that cows are really essential to the existence of the people. Not so much as a god but more as a mother, so they are really protected and given free rein of the land. They seemed to love sitting either right on the road or very close to it and he told us that a study was done as to why that is, and they determined that the cows get high off the fumes, so they are basically stoned😂 That explains why they are so mellow.

The school kids all wear uniforms. And yes we even saw elephants!

Food -

Normally when I travel I write and post about a lot of food that I’m eating. Well that will not be the case this time. I expected to be eating a lot of Indian food - cause I’m in India! But the reality of eating Indian food morning noon and night was more than I could take. I like Indian food in moderation but not for three meals a day! I’m sure it’s my fault and my palate is just not sophisticated enough to discern the subtle differences of curry dishes - because it all tasted the same to me. And it all looked the same to me. I thought about posting the same picture ten times but that would be disrespectful. You can pretty much count on getting Naan bread, rice, lentils which is called dal, either chicken, mutton or goat in a curry sauce, and maybe some potatoes. That’s for breakfast too, although luckily we were staying at very nice hotels and they would make us eggs for breakfast if we wanted. I wanted!

We went to lots of really pretty restaurants, many of them in beautiful outdoor gardens. And we ate Indian food there😊

We went to a Tandori restaurant and had food on skewers. That was different and tasty!

Our last night in Varanasi where we were learning about Buddhism we went to a beautiful restaurant that served a satvik menu. Satvik means pure and is food without onion, garlic or meat. Buddhists try to live with moderation in everything so this diet is meant to not cause anger (from onions) or garlic which is an aphrodisiac. Lots of vegetables so I really liked it. Plus it was so cool how they served it in separate little dishes.

I can’t begin to tell you what everything was but I liked at least 70% of it.

We discovered one of our hotels had pizza - it was like a lottery win! It tasted like the best pizza ever. Claire who was in our group never travels without Lipton cup of soup and she was nice enough to share with Cindy and I. That was delicious, and now I’ll never travel without it either. Cindy brought Halloween candy and I will confess to eating a Reese’s peanut butter cup for dinner on more than one occasion. I didn’t go to India thinking it was going to be a great culinary experience so it was really all fine. But in that respect at least I’m glad to be back home eating salads! The good news is that we didn’t get sick. Delhy belly is pretty common but we were very careful eating only cooked food and drinking bottled water. Success!

People -

They were incredible! Almost everyone we met was so nice and really went out of their way to do what they could for us. When I was in Europe recently I wrote about how many times we had been told NO. India was the exact opposite. Anything you asked them the answer was always Why Not? And they tried to make it happen. They were warm and welcoming. When we asked if we could take their pictures they always said yes with a smile. I love how they wear such colorful clothing. They said it makes them happy. It made me happy too. The children especially are so beautiful and sweet. They are all very family oriented - living usually with multiple generations in one home.

I felt like a Martian with my blond hair. People asked to take pictures with me often, and I said Why Not?

Of all the amazing things I saw in India I think what I will remember most is the gentleness and sweetness of the people.

Religion -

I learned a lot about religion - mainly Hinduism and Buddhism. Yoga too. That’s kind of a religion in India - literally everyone does it as part of their day. Maybe that’s why they are all so patient and calm. We got to take a yoga class early one morning with a great teacher outside overlooking a beautiful lake. Cindy and I were the only ones that showed up for it so it was really a private class - amazing!

I learned a lot about the gods in Hinduism - Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shiva the transformer and my favorite Ganesh, the god of good fortune and remover of obstacles.

Ganesh - always symbolized by the elephant.

We also went to were Buddhism began in Sarnath. The site where Buddha gave his first sermon.

And we got to be there for Diwali- the Festival of Lights. It would be the equivalent of our Christmas with the exchange of gifts and everything strung with lights, and lots of fireworks - or as they call them - crackers. Ajay bought a bunch of crackers for us to shoot off that night so we could be a part of the celebration - he was so great about extra things to make the experience great. When we were riding the train a few days before Diwali everyone we talked to was heading home to be with their family.

Beautiful flower arrangements made with all petals. These guys worked on this at our hotel for hours!

Another post coming soon where I’m planning to share some of the highlights of each place we visited. Each was so unique - from Royal Bengal tiger sightings to the Taj Mahal. Check back soon for more about incredible India!