It is 2000 posts at LPTT and I feel like saying my piece. Travel drew me to LPTT and that is how it shall remain. My interaction here on LPTT is slightly colored with a particular shade ,but then it is a shade. The light rules and here is my piece on LPTT about the light that appears unsaid in my presence here to date. Hopefully this light will dominate from now on!

Contact between two cultures is ever so fascinating. Like all good things it has its course. When I first met tourists in India , I was delighted. To interact with different cultures when young is a fascinating experience, more so because one is ever so excited and willing to meet new people and be friendly !

I consider myself blessed to be exposed to tai-chi, tarot cards, feng shui, the stiff upper lipped Englishman, the korrekt German, the seemingly naive American as well as the lovely French. Classical Western music as explained by a master of the subject who stayed three years in my city is an experience that I could not replicate even when I lived overseas ! A western astrologer making a living with Indian clients is amazing. An Austrian who had himself certified insane to be eligible for 25,000 schillings a month turned out to be someone afraid of women but a genius at research. Someone from an east European country stayed here ten years because his father wanted him to eat meat ( * what, eating vegetables? are you a man ? *) and there was communism in Poland. He learnt yoga and is today revered in his country as the founder of yoga. He also has the first vegetarian restaurant in his country and might actually set up a chain of such restaurants now !

Then there was this Englishman who begged for money in India to make a mockery of his parents. The Austrian who wanted a hedonistic lifestyle but was forced by his parent to study priesthood( India and Goa , here I come ...) . His experiences left me and my friends goggle-eyed at 17 ! The American who landed up and paid fifty rupees for one papaya in 1982 ! One was goggle eyed at 18 to meet the German who ran a prostitution ring for politicians using various itinerant women of the world. Then there was the Canadian who while having an affair with a Japanese woman in the throes of excitement said , " God forgive me for what I am doing and my wife who is probably doing the same ! "

Over the years one learnt to recognize the nationality of a person based on the few words he had spoken. The accents were unmistakable as well as the way a person behaved. The Italian is naturally gregarious and oh so much an Indian when it comes to backstabbing. The Germans are the Parsis of India, the Americans the Punjabis and Tamilians combined, the French the sophisticasted Maharashtrians and the Nordics cold and unapproachable. Japanese are unbreachable but then I met a gregarious Japanese and what an insight into the Japanese life! I took care of this man when he had jaundice - he is a lifelong friend to date! Eastern Europeans are less sophisticated or capitalistic than their Western counterparts and so easy to get along with ! Australians are uncomplicated and friendly.

Foreigners come to India for many reasons but they stay on for one reason - to experience the spirituality. Some odd ones leave some interesting impressions behind. There was this Dane who insisted on wearing a tanga at the beach and smoking himself to death. His contention was that a country that had the Khajuraho temples and sadhus who smoked charas and ganja should understand that as a poor Dane he could enjoy his lifestlyle on the various beaches of India only. When a cop finally nicked him in , he said, " No country in the world can understand me".

Larissa from California left many of my friends goggle eyed. She lived in a backpackers lodge and had come ostensibly to study yoga as well as
do a course in Sanskrit at a university. The guys were amazed to see her kissing and hugging a new man every other day. At the end of a fortnight and possibly ten men later ( *all of whom raved about their experiences to the lads*), the lads were raring to go. But then they did not speak American and did not know what , " i have this muscular pain in the lower back" meant. They remained goggle eyed and Larissa went home ! Fifteen years down the line Larissa is still a legend. She is married to a psychologist and has two kids. None of the women from her country since have impressed the local lads. The latter year women at the lodge , of course did not understand the vague references to Larissa nor were they flattered by the comparison when they came to know about Larissa.

Foreigners in India are a great source of new fashion and goodies. The first ten band Sony radio of excellent quality I saw in 1982 with Tom , a Canadian who had escaped a messy family situation back home. A gift of a camera , my first Pentax , from my Japanese friend led to all round attention in the neighbourhood. Though it was second hand, it was prized by everyone and I was the official photographer for all and sundry in the neighbourhood. It was a gift that opened a new world back in 1978 when color film out of India had to be developed overseas ! Bell bottoms I saw for the first time among some acid rock afficionados in the early eighties. Midriff baring dresses for western women were popular even in the eighties and I understood why Western fashion was all about undressing a woman with her clothes on ! Indian fashion by contrast bewitches with the clothes and make up - the figure always was a secret! Tape recorders and walkmans I saw for the first time with travellers as well as portable alarm clocks and hair dryers! What fun! Even today , I see an Mp3 player for the first time in my life with a foreigner on a train to Mysore !

Met Indian businessman dealing with foreigners. What ghastly souls ! I was and remain a nuisance to them. Some malign me , some spread stories. However, none dares overcharge a foreign friend. A slight markup to reflect higher purchasing power is okay with me( on items where even the Indian has to bargain) , the downright rapscallion nature of many is not. And yes, they treat the Indian friends of foreigners so badly.
Wonder how young Indians wanting to meet " the world travelling at their doorstep" manage today ! Went abroad for the first time and bearded the lion in his den. Amazed at the coldness of the place as well as the downright unfriendliness of the social life. However, life is about gathering knowledge and making the most of a place. Discovered excellent public systems, libraries, food, music and natural beauty of the landscape. Learnt that there is more than one way to live and India does not have all the answers to the art of Living , although it can claim to be doing well on that score. Also realized that I had imbibed so much about the world just meeting travellers back home in India - I was hardly a stranger in foreign lands.

The outside world is good to make money - I earned enough to buy a flat and make some investments. The newness had gone out of the foreign lands - one had also learnt to say enough and nyet to more and more money; home is sweet as home only can be and one was back !

LPTT when I came aboard has been a rude shock. As the realities of LP sink in one loses interest ! But then the LPTT suggests, that yes, India also welcomes the sick and the mentally disturbed in her welcoming arms and these guests are not necessarily friendly. I also learnt that attack is the best form of defence as is tolerance and the art of ignoring ! LPTT also reminded me that yes, travelling is about making friends and so many fellow travellers on LPTT have sent me pm's saying they like what I put up as much as they wish me well. Thanks and good wishes to my new friends. Beggarhere, edwardseco, fondonzella, nepali_ann, hawki,midnite_toker,barbi deserve special mention and i ask my other friends to forgive me if I have not mentioned them.

More recent fun with foreigners - on a beach, I encountered two Danes. They were listening to the latest Hindi film music barely ten hours off the plane. We had a rollicking couple of hours. Archits went home satisfied, delighted he could give them a list of great music to buy and with an introduction to two jazz musicians who had cut their own Cd's. Met an Englishman into Indian architecture and we decided we would give it a
shot and see if we could organize their three day annual European conference in India rather than in Europe. Hopefully, this would mean that the spouse could come in free and after the conference they could continue a vacation ! I hoped that at the end of the conference I would hopefully get passionate about architecture and could thereby learn all about architecture in three days. If it works out , you are all invited, too !

Meeting Chaitanya Hari the gifted musician was another pleasant experience. His music continues to remain outstanding and only such a gifted person could blend the East and the West in what for me is one perfect example of how the East and West can meet with enchanting results ! Living in California now - he is rich but still dissatisfied with his work. He wants to do more and an Indian can only say, yeh dil maangey more !
Was unhappy to meet this American woman at a railway station - she carried on a conversation ,but her heart was clearly not in it. After some time she revealed that in a crowd in Mysore a man had lunged at her breasts ! Archits remained dumbstruck and Larissa is no excuse for this behaviour, I say. On the other hand Archits took a woman to a bangle shop in a traditional market of town. The bangle seller did his business ( to Archits satisfaction) but then gifted a dozen lovely bangles the lady had left aside for lack of budget. There were moist tears all around and yes, this is the real India.

Travelling broadens the mind. Archits is older. Met a nice German couple recently. After one hour , as we said goodbye they said, " We shall certainly remember this as our most engaging experience in India. We learnt so much and we were amazed that you know so much about our world. " Life has come a full circle . Travellers were "my experience" , now to some of them , I am "their experience in India". The world is a stage. Each person has his role and some are travellers. To travel round the world catch a plane. Else catch the other show - "the world travelling at your doorstep". Be tender and kind to the stranger ; he or she is alone and perhaps afraid. Be gentle and you may have a new
friend or a new experience. Finally , as the bangle seller demonstrated, let it be business with a human touch. There is a place for commerce in travel. But let the heart rule.

If one can remember a foreign friend with a moist eye, if one can reach across to a frightened stranger ,life has won ! If I look back at my experiences, the heart swells and moves. There is happiness and joy. There is also a great sadness at the friends who have left and left me with a moist eye as they went home. This piece is in their memory - the countless friends who gave me so much and made me so rich! Come back my friends sometime , I miss you - I miss you, oh so much.

Peace!

wot , no comments ? i am speechless.....

[jjacquemain]

Archits,

Your post was very profound. I left you a note in your PM letting you know how much I enjoyed your writings.

Thanks for making me miss India more than I thought I did.

Julie

[Rossinm]

Archits- I think I read your post on Lonely Planet right after it was posted and I immediately logged on to reply (I never reply to posts anymore) on that web site but no words I typed seemed to convey what I felt. Again, here at Indiamike I tried- but no words came. Its like trying follow up a Yehudi Menuhin performance with a beginner violinist. I can honestly say that my heart wept at having left India when I read your post and I immediately was transported into that space within my heart where all of the lovely friends I have met on my travels reside. I, too, have lost contact with so many of the people who have affected my life on so many unforseen levels. I miss my friend Linda who spent a magical night bicycling through Madhya Pradesh with me and pondering the universe atop one of the older runis of Khajuraho. I miss my friend Phil from Alaska who gave me the wizened advice of an older intrepid travleler at the Kumbh Mela. I feel blessed to have met S.K.Sharma and Tashi Tsering who are still my very good friends as well as a score of other beautiful people. I miss them all for their beautiful and unique energy but the energy of our brief interactions informs my daily life years later and the richness of these experiences has made me realize how very blessed I am. Quite honestly, your post was quite simply so eloquent I think it spoke for many of us wandering souls. I've been asking myself for two days how to reply to "What was your experience" and I've had no success. My experience defies words in so many ways. It's like trying to answer the question I'm often asked about "Why India?" or "Why do I love to travel so much?". India haunts me with its colors, its smells, its religion, and the pulsing vibrancy I sense underneath its surface. Traveling takes me outside of myself. It humbles me and it makes me confront all of the superficial social masks that I hide behind when I'm home. My experience is so vast that I can only skirt the issue with insufficient words. Probably the only thing I can say to answer that question is . And this smile is the smile I used to term the "deadhead smile" the knowing smile that says "Yes, I have been there and it's wonderful". Because in spite of all of its hassles and harshness- the ecstacy of that purest of highs says it all. So, thank you Archits for being able to put your smile into words. Although our response was inaudible I'm sure we all walked away from our computers with that pure smile.

[Alan D]

Great post archits!

Straight from the heart - like a cannonball!

[sudheer poppa]

There was a question here on what happened to him.. Seemingly the poster removed the question. So for those who wonder check the below.


http://www.indiamike.com/india/showt...1048#post11048

[usha]

Archits,
Wonderful writing.. i am speechless.

[indiansitar]

Very nice post ,Archits. A masterpiece.

[snowcrab]

Genuine and beautiful.

Is it copyrighted?

an excellent read !!

but somethings arnt quite so odd though :

Classical Western music as explained by a master of the subject who stayed three years in my city is an experience that I could not replicate even when I lived overseas !

nothing to be surprised about. zubin mehta is neither brazilian nor the only non westerner who mastered it !!!

A western astrologer making a living with Indian clients is amazing.

again nothing to be surprised. chiro, benham and alan leo all came, and learnt a significant part of their trade in India, as did many others.

An Austrian who had himself certified insane to be eligible for 25,000 schillings a month turned out to be someone afraid of women but a genius at research.

gifted researchers are often crackpots. i have known a few personally.

He learnt yoga and is today revered in his country as the founder of yoga.

there are probably more yoga experts per square kilometer in california than anywhere else in the planet. i am not so sure that they are given credit for being the "founder of yoga" though. maybe its because of polands closed (iron curtain-ed) past, that the citizens know precious little about other places.

Then there was the Canadian who while having an affair with a Japanese woman in the throes of excitement said , " God forgive me for what I am doing and my wife who is probably doing the same ! "

happens all the time in the west. instances such as these, are a dime a dozen.

the Nordics cold and unapproachable.

always ??

Foreigners come to India for many reasons but they stay on for one reason - to experience the spirituality.

i have known quite a few foreigners who are as much into indian spirituality as i am into kung fu. one stayed back to do her phd in an indian language, some stay back cos they fall in love wth india and her way of life. i know of foreigners in bhubaneshwar who have stayed behind to learn odissi dance and now to teach. i suppose such dance enthusiasts are there in other indian places too, which have a classical dance form (tamil nadu with its bharat natyam, for example). many stay behind cos charas and bhang isnt cheaper or more widely available elsewhere. ginsberg hung around cos he liked the "adda / gossip" scene in calcutta, and was friends with the city's intelligensia. gillan right's reason is somewhat different. as is the french guy's (i know of) who learns sitar in india. so not all stay back for for the "spirtuality" except maybe the spaced out folk, the sort one sees all the time in rishikesh and varanasi and such like. Many, many of them, come back just cos of the scenery, be it that of himalayas or goa or kerela or the jaisalmer desert. Some are the sorts, who's needs are matched only by goa, hampi, (kathmandu) and khajuraho


When a cop finally nicked him in , he said, " No country in the world can understand me".

people on the lunatc fringe of (their own) soceity, for some baffling reason, often manage to make it to india. their facination with india isnt unlike that which criminals have with "revelations" in the bible, if you ask me. they justfy their madness/criminal act, by taking refuge in some arcane concept from India / "revelations".

[nomadelmundo]

hey, memories are what makes us unique... i agree with you "archits" no better way to acquire new ones while traveling! oh, dude, that was also some deep stuff you wrote, awesome!

[sky888]

It motivates me to work harder towards my goal - to travel to more places !

Though I do not completely comprehend the initial posting, but I do appreciate you honest words.. good luck my friend..

[indiansitar]

can we delete the posts by sudheer and bengal tiger here ? and this one too .

namaste.