The India confusion

beach

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sam371

Bravo! Great post!
More, more, more!

bijapuri

Bravo! you put so many insightful comments in your post, I am hugely impressed!
(so here comes the "But" . . .lolol)
While you are quite right about the diversity of India, there is a "feel" that almost anywhere in India has from The Dauladhar to the Coramandel. Like the judge in USA said once about pornography, I cant define it, but I know it when I see it.
So, anyone have any examples of "yeh India, baby" might be?
headwobble, for one . . . .
Chai
English

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rahul

Hi Beach
Great post....Loved it....I do a family (yes you guessed it right ...I am Indian...and everything is around a family ..even when we are in the USA...it irritates me sometimes but majority of the times I love it ) newsletter. I was wondering if I could use your write up on it. Please let me know...I loved it and would like to share what you wrote with the other members of my extended family. Next issue will be out in February.
I will send you the url on posting.

shanshas

Great Post! A lot said in (relatively few) words.

To add to bijapuri's list

Cricket

An aesthetic appreciation for grey (or is it green) eyed ladies, more so if such ladies also happen to be the winners of international beauty pageants.

SHIMLA

Excellent observations, beach !

Am sure that after going through your post, those on the brink will decide in favour of an India visit, rather than against it.

The majority will, anyway !

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Tomi

Beach, my soulmate!

It's interesting that the people who will eventually go to India and enjoy it are those attracted by the challenge. I can tell them about the dirt, the lack of politeness, the touts, whatever the bad stuff is, and it makes them all the more eager to try!

I also agree with Bij that India is India, no matter where you go, because there's something more powerful than the regional differences. To use another analogy (less pornographic ), Neruda's poem Ode to the Cat says that a cat is cat from whisker to tip of tail.

Alan D

An excellent post Beach, and a worthy addition to your previous posts for the newcomer to India.

Forget the guidebook blurbs - this is about the real India.

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dreamsyndicate

great post, great sentence :
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The most valuable currency you need to enjoy India in total is patience.
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Which is so comfortable & natural in less-visited places, and so difficult in the 'top spots'.

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beach

Well. I started the ‘The India Confusion’ with a ‘disclaimer’. I agree that my posting mainly focused on the problem aspects of India travel. And I didn’t bother much about to praise the plus points. Probably the positive things and the charms of this country has been written in countless number of postings. And all the positive things have to be experienced directly with a surprise (like a climax in a bollywood movie!).

Bij & Tomi

I liked your metaphors. There is something fusing the whole of the India. You can feel it but difficult to explain what. Social scientists explain this with a ‘salad bowl’ theory. Every piece in the salad is unique and distinctive. But all together it makes the fantastic salad.
Nothing elucidates this better than the Indian saying “Unity in Diversity”

indiawise

Now i have a printer and i shall make a copy of your excellent post and the replies from the forum and put it on my hotel pin/notice/entertainment/information board and i think quite a few people will gain considerable mileage from yr. post.(including myself)
cheers....

villavic

And since I'll be a "novice tourist" soon, it fits perfect to me.

However I (again) realize India is very similar to Peru on those points. Maybe the topics you mentioned are stronger in India than Peru, but here you may find a raw welcome too, since the airport arrival.

Peruvian culture is also a mix, in terms of region, races, social classes. People are different in every place or term.

Looks like I'm already prepared, but being in a foreign country is an adventure anyway. I'm very excited, I'll figure it out soon!!!

bijapuri

I have been in India and Peru, and Peruanos should have no problems in India, but they are very different.
when are you going to India?

villavic

I'll be arriving to Delhi on march 22. I'll visit Rajasthan and Agra.

Yes, we may be different from India people, but form what I read there are similar situations for tourists. I guess for an USA tourist the impact is harder than for a peruvian.

Thanks

Bloem

I have been to India three times now, and it is true, with every trip you enter a new stage of India-awareness. You recognise an India-virgin a mile away, and they make you smile as you weave your way through the crowd to help them out.
India is a way of thinking, a way of being. And nothing is ever the same again.
You sit at your desk, and stare out the window, and think, I could be in the Himalaya right now, or on the beach at Gokarna, being hugged by Amma, or in the middle of the jungle near Madikeri. I could be having tea at Darjeeling, or meditating below the Bodhi Tree. I could be in India right now... if only.
And it's this longing that keeps life interesting. It's this longing that keeps it fun. For if I did not long for India, I would not enjoy the flight overthere. I would not have the sweet memories, and cherish them like I do.
India is like a quilt. Every segment is different, but one knows it's a quilt, and the similarity between the segments tells you of their origin, while the difference tells you their separate identity.
India is a country torn between the east and the west. It is a country ripped apart by violence, but held together by a universal peace and understanding. The government may have some interest in fighting, the people do not. So nothing happens.
Many people ask me what attracted me at first, and what attracts me now. There is no answer to this question, India just pulls at me. I have seen her beauty, now I cannot live without her. She is like a wounded woman, struggling for life, battling for recognition. She is home to all who need shelter, and offers us all a place to be ourselves. India brings out the best and worst in people, it confronts one with oneself, but if one gives it all one has, one will emerge a better person. I have gone in as a young girl, insecure and doubtful of my abilities, and have emerged a woman, strong, self-assured and up to anything the world can throw at her. I have travelled through India alone, unscathed, I have listened when needed, sat down and waited when that was what had to be done, stood up for myself if the circumstances asked for it. I have lived, I have seen enough images to last several lifetimes and I have so much life yet to come.
India changes herself, and you. You cannot change India, but you cannot prevent her from changing you.