I think I am getting used to things in India, though some things I doubt I ever will. The smell is at times overwhelming, a choking, gagging sensation that makes me breathe through my mouth most of the time. The constant noise is incredible and the heat is stifling. Horns honking from every vehicle, big or small, people screeching at each other in their high pitched voices, shopkeepers shouting at you for attention. At night, thank goodness, it is blissfully quiet and we have had some lovely evenings sitting on top of rooftop restaurants eating amazing food and getting to know one another. It is very hot - I'm thinking high 30's, and I am told that it is still quite cool by Indian standards...this area can get up to 50 degrees in the summer! As we head further south, the heat will get worse. Most of us have bought some of the baggy trousers to wear because you need to cover up your legs in public (out of respect), and also because it helps keep the sun and any lurking mosquito from getting at you. On this style of group travel we travel as the locals do using public transport and staying in 1-2 star hotels which are comfortable, clean and tend to be in the centre of the town, close to all the action. Our guide gives us an orientation and walking tour of each new place, showing us the main attractions and suggesting good, but affordable places to eat. He then leaves us on our own to do as we wish either with group members or on our own. He also helps us arrange extra things we might like to do in the area.
India is at once a stifling, dirty, vile, fantastic, colourful, richly vibrant and deeply unsettling place. You are faced at one moment with rich culture, festivals, forts, palaces, architecture, temples, beaches, music and then thrust suddenly into the deepest poverty and human filth. It is indeed a place that begins to take hold of you in a way you never expected, in a way that most certainly will change who you are and what you think about the world. I embrace the challenge and the opportunity to once again, permit myself a departure from what is comfortable and safe. My world continues to broaden.
