India. In Pictures

India. In pictures.

"How was India?" "What's India like?" "India, wow, how was that?"

India is, pardon my language, a clusterfuck. It's got good things, it's got bad things, it's got great things, it's got horrible things. And every state in India is different- traveling from Darjeeling, in the east, to Kerala, in the south, is like traveling from Nepal to Sri Lanka. The states and cities can be as different as foreign countries. And I will say, in all honesty that I disliked vast portions of India. Some people there were so rude that it just irritated me to no end. Granted, there were plenty of good people, but the incessant honking and shoving and CONSTANT attempts to cheat me out of my money just soured me on the country. I could complain more, but y'all won't read it. You just came for pretty pictures.

My trip in India. 

I started off in Calcutta, which was ok. It's a surprisingly wealthy city, nothing too crazy, and things are quite cheap. Some friends and I volunteered at the Mother Theresa house. We cleaned beds, helped prepare food, did some washing. I was surprised when they asked me to shave beards. These were men who were either physically or mentally incapable of taking care of themselves, for any number of reasons.

One of the men started drooling while I was feeling his face and checking for stubble I'd missed. I just worked through the feeling of warm saliva and told myself I was helping another person. Overall a great experience.

DARJEELING & NEPAL

Next I went to a place called Darjeeling, which is far eastern India. It’s sort of between Nepal, Bhutan China, and Bangladesh. The official language here is Nepalese, and a few people mistook me for a local and started talking to me in Nepalese. I got a kick out of that. 

I went on a really rough, 3 day hike through the Himalayas. I got to see Mt. Everest, but it didn't look so special from a distance. Our hike took us along the Indian and Nepalese border, and we were constantly crossing the border and had to sign in at check points manned by guys with ancient AK-47's. Pretty sure I saw a few World War 2 era M-1's. All faded wood and worn metal.

The first picture here is me standing in Nepal, and looking across the border and into India. The second is me standing in India and looking into Nepal. 

I went to a zoo the day before the trek and saw what kind of wild life was in the park. Leopards, cobras, and bears- oh my! I really wanted to see a wild snow leopard, but am also kinda glad I didn't.

The view while hiking was like nothing I could have imagined. It was so powerful, and lonely, and menacing, and terrifyingly sublime- seeing it was almost spiritual. We hiked in the winter, which no one does, because of the extreme cold. The mountain was almost empty. Over three days we saw two Koreans, one Spanish guy, three Indians, and a woman from Europe . And that's it! Three days of hiking and those are all the other climbers we saw.

The weather was so cold that while eating, my body went into such a fit of shivering that I almost threw up my food. No hot showers in the mountains. I wore: 2 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 2 jackets, gloves, 1 hat, and I was still FREEZING.

If you find yourself in Darjeeling and fancy a hike, I HIGHLY recommend this guy. I used his company and loved it. His wife runs the restaurant, he runs the tours. Use him.

VARANASI

After the Himalayas I went to Varanasi, one of the holiest cities, and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities, in the world. Varanasi is where all Hindus want to die, because they believe that in dying there, they can exit the reincarnation cycle and reach heaven. The Ganges River runs through Varanasi, and seeing it is really something to behold. The river itself isn’t so special, but seeing the people around it- wow…

Bodies, wrapped in white cloth, decorated with red and gold tapestries, and adorned with flowers, are burnt along the river all day and night. A sacred funeral flame has been burning for 3500 years. The male head of the family, which can sometimes be a young boy, has his head shaven at the riverside, and starts the fire that will consume the dead family member. Members of the untouchable caste, the lowest of the Indian castes, clean and prepare the fires.

 

Children, pregnant women, lepers, and snake bite victims are not burned, and instead are just tossed into the water to be taken downstream.

Cows and goats eat the flowers and cloths, which are spared the flames; a dozen or more cows stand idly while bodies are burned. Children play in the distance, sometimes downwind of the fires, paying no mind to the smoke and ashes in the air. I'm told that Aghoris (holy men) lather themselves with the ashes of the dead. I saw one covered in ash, but couldn't tell you if it came from a funeral fire. People bathe about 20 meters from where the bodies are burnt. Really intense stuff and it's all out in the open. No pictures allowed though- how would you feel is some tourists showed up at your grandma’s funeral to take pictures.

I also saw a snake charmer, and paid him 20 rupees (30 cents) for a picture. 

Varanasi has a number of back alleys with delicious food. It's also a lot of fun to hire a boat and watch the sun rise. Boat drivers will try to rip you off though. 600 rupees for a two hour ride is a fair price, you could do better or worse. Keep that in mind as you haggle.

HAMPI

Next I went Hampi, another spiritual hub for Indians. It's an ancient city that is all ruins now and being there feels like something from Indiana Jones. It's a hot desert with a river running through it, and the tiny town is really IN the ruins. At the peak of its time, around 1500 AD, it was the second largest city in the world, only smaller then Beijing.

 

KERALA

Next I went to Kerala, a state in the south. Kerala has the highest literacy rate in all of India, somewhere around 95%. A popular attraction there is the back waters- miles and miles of tangles canals that cut through jungle and farmland. It is common knowledge in India that St. Thomas (doubting Thomas) came to Kerala in 50 AD and began spreading the gospel.

 

I stayed with my amazing friend, Appu, and his wife and son. He and his wife are doctors and they’re the best people in India. Yes, over a billion people, and I found the best ones.

MUNNAR

After Kerala I went to a small city called Munnar, famous for its tea fields. I had a lovely time there, and accidentally wandered onto a private tea plantation. Security was not happy about that. Munnar was relaxed and fun and everything that the insanity of the north was not. For an escape from India's more overcrowded and 'clusterfuck' cities, visit Munnar. 

 

After Munnaria I went to Madurai to fly to my next destination, Sri Lanka. But the airport was closed. I ended up sleeping on the ground outside the airport. India just didn’t want to let me go, huh…