Why do you love india?

You should be happy that you were not there this year.

hmmm! A ridiculous waste, let us advocate on their and all the needless deaths thus far, for the de-militarisation of the Siachen zone.. Is it doable soonest?

a nice thread to revive because it contains the IMers who were around when I first joined, but who are no longer here or no longer comment...for whatever reason....

Don't worry, Sama, if they truly love India, they'll be back...and the rest of us won't be going away very soon or for very long!

I love India because you feel more alive there than anywhere on the planet. As if you are neither above or below anyone, but part of one another. Is it the people? Of course! Is it the natural beauty? Absolutely! Is it the ancient way of doing things? Yes, all this and so much more! It is your spirit recognizing something in the spirit of a certain place or a person you feel you have already known a thousand years.

It is the one thing you just cannot name, a mystery that draws you back again and again. It feels more like "coming home", even if you never called India home, in this lifetime anyway. It is something of which dreams are made, and often realized in surprising ways.

And the best part about being here on Indiamike is if you cannot get back so soon, it's like having another family, or a place to go where everybody understands you and speaks your language, whatever that may be at the time.

India may not always be so easy to love but she will always woo you back to her in that mysterious haunting way that only she knows. That is why I love India.

Dani, you put so beautifully into words why I love India. Living there changed me, profoundly, and for the better. She's calling me home and this time won't let me go

someone asked me about India for a story they are writing and she asked me: " What makes India unique?"

I said, "It's a country of amazing contrasts all happening at the same time.....
India has her hooks in me like an old lover — an old lover who you’ve told yourself that you never want to be with again but who keeps re-appearing like a hungry ghost tapping on your shoulder, and no matter how fast you run you can never escape him because he is a part of you forever. You know this and you hate it but you love it all at the same time."

This comes purely from a travellers perspective.

I was thinking about this just today. Having just resolved to make my third trip to India, someone said to me "why India? You were there for ages last time, why do you want to go to the same place again so soon?"

India as a country just fascinates me. I love its diversity, its colour, its culture. As a history buff, I'm excited by the fact that, more than perhaps any other country Ive visited, India has collected thousands of years of history, like a rolling stone, and blended it all together into its modern day culture. There are still intoxicating links to the past, yet an openness about the future.

The people are, overwhelmingly from my experience, friendly, accommodating and charming (if inquisitive - but that's not a bad thing!) I like how it seems possible to strike up a conversation with anyone: at home it just wouldn't be the done thing!

Sometimes, as a traveller, the country throws you curveballs (that landslide did just block your path, that hotel reservation did get conveniently forgotten, that train did get cancelled, etc. etc) but it's somehow all part of the fun!

From my experience, you're one of three types of people when you visit India:
1. Find it a nice trip, but don't have a major desire to return
2. Hate every minute of it and struggle to cope with the culture shock
3. Fall in love with it and want to return again and again.

I'd class myself as number 3. It gets under your skin and into your head. Like a previous poster said, it feels like a home away from home: when you step off that plane, you just 'know' you're back in a place that feels right...

4. Only place to offer Masters degree in XYZ Yoga - Important back home to
get more clients
5. Only place you can chill cheap chillum with much fear as opposed to death penalty in some of neighboring places.
6. Live for six months at a time on a buck a day - And swear it's for sake of Moksha and the wonderful people you've fallen in love with !!!
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98. To listen to original CDs of Tibetan Chants eating wonderful challah bread
cooked with ganges water.
99. Better odds in doubling your money moving Gems from Jaipur to Jamestowne
100. Energy Stones are better here!!!!!

I tried to think of alot to say, but perhaps it can be summarized by this:

You can sit in a train station for hours on end and never be bored.

because its a heaven full of if only there was enough saw dust to covert it to manure we'd have a garden of Eden again, until then I'll just hop around and dream of the apples !

This is really great!