Back From India

jennyg

Well I am back from India and I am wondering how you all deal with going back home and facing reality again. The real world. I only spent 4 weeks in India and I know that is NOT enough time, but in the short time I did spend I fell in love. India is so great and I will go back. But in the mean time I need to pay off some debts and save more money. Before I went I read this forum everyday preparing and wondered why everyone was so in love with India. Well now I get it. I guess I will just try to focus on when I can go back. But at least not for a year. How am I supposed to deal with that? 4 weeks only left me wanting so much more because I know there is a whole country to see still. It sucks being home.

SHIMLA

Great !

Time flies; and before you know it, you'll be back in India !

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Kanbe

ah ha...you have been INFECTED !

ColinT

I've also just returned from India Jenny. But every time I leave, I see it this way: I'm only leaving in order to go back again and my departure is actually the beginning of my next trip back - the anticipation, planning, build up and finally the flight back to India. I see it this way because I ALWAYS end up going back.

I suppose I regard it like this because I've been back so many times and I'm able to see it this way. Anyway, it always helps if you put a positive gloss on things!

john.sw

I have been back from India since 9th March and am flying back on 14 April.

My friends are already taking bets on when I go back again!

The smart money is on June!

jennyg

yeah I guess I will just start planning my next trip. Because that was half of the fun. The anticipation of going, its so sad when its over. And even more sad when the whole thing is over! I wish I could afford to go back right now but I cant. How do you people do that? I am jealous!

Merchant

You know the science fiction motif of the traveler who visits another planet and comes down with a strange disease--nothing his doctors can do will reverse its effects. It turns out his very DNA is being re-written, so that he actually becomes one of the aliens, body and soul. India is like that. You're being re-wired.

AllanM

Enjoy the reverse culture shock, it can be entertaining. The ride home from the airport after getting back from my first trip was almost as entertaining as the ride from IGI to Connaught Place.

And people think it's a joke when they see threads like "Addicted to India". Welcome to the new you

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machadinha

It took me a couple of weeks to get used to things like people at bus stands not asking you crazy questions and generally doing their best to ignore one another.

You'll get over it. Drink enough and find other infected ones. Other than that, there's always Indiamike.

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Indojingai

should have taken the blue pill ... the non tech Matrix has you!!

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dzibead

We come on IM every day! It's kind of like methadone for a heroin addict. Not the real thing, but as close as we can come until we can get our next real "fix."

I love your post. It expresses exactly how I feel, and obviously how so many (all?) IMers feel, who aren't actually in India at the moment.

Sadly for me, I was well into middle age before I went to India for the first time. It had just never been that high on my list of places to go (I haven't even been to PARIS yet, for Pete's sake!). But I went at the invitation of a friend who's an "old India hand," and once there, the bug bit me BIG TIME! I was definitely hooked, infected, addicted, etc., and when I came back, I spent (and still spend) a lot ot thinking about India and when I could go back. Went back last fall, and it only whetted my appetite for more. Haven't even scratched the surface of the tip of the iceberg (how's that for metaphor overload?)

Yep, you've got the bug too, and I think once you've been bitten you're infected for life! But I can't think of a better disease than being "India mad"!

soulfood

Ha ha! Exactly my toughts. You're back in the Matrix after experiencing the real world. When you come across people who don't get India...just remember these words:

Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.

Auntyji

Nice post, jennyg. I miss India so much these days (made the mistake of not going back for two years), I find myself doing things like spreading out my saris and staring at them,listening to bhangra when I really don't like it all that much (don't shoot me)...guess this can only be cured by a visit.

Merchant

Jenny, now that you have returned, you should change your screenname to "jennyji." And if you know why, you know all you need to know.

kiamcai

Merchant is right.
I was also there only for 3 weeks, and when I came back I was a totally different person (reprogrammed without me knowing it). I wish everyone would get India, but no one does.
Can't believe how I can hate and love a place that much.

-kc-