Incredible India!

Well, we've been back in California for over a month now, and I have clicked my way through the 4000+ digital images of India I shot. Several times. I deleted over 1500 photos -- duplicates, triplicates, blurry shots, and missed shots. I then sorted them into subjects: people, animals, places, etc., hoping to make the job of writing about the trip easier, but so far, that hasn't worked very well.

Perhaps I should begin by saying, the main reason I wanted to go to India was because Rick Steves (European travel expert and our travel guru) wrote that when asked, he always responds that India is his favorite country, and explains by saying, "India rearranged my cultural furniture. My confidence that I understood such basics to life as time, joy, love, pain, and music was shaken. I was humbled in a way that made me a better person... If you enjoy culture shock, India is pure decadence."

I couldn't agree more. My "cultural furniture" has truly been rearranged after spending three weeks in what turned out to be a country of extreme contrasts. When friends and family ask me what India was like, I hardly know how to begin.

Let's see... it was ugly, dirty, smelly, and yet, absolutely beautiful. The cities are noisy, overcrowded, polluted, but sometimes quiet, peaceful and pristine. Some people were annoying con artists, but more often they were kind, charming, and forever smiling. Certainly there is overwhelming poverty, but Indians are very resourceful and hardworking, and generally seem to be pretty happy and grateful for what they have. Amid the dusty grays and browns of concrete and dirt, there is color everywhere! The women wear brightly colored saris and scarves all the time, whether they are out shopping or working in a field or on a construction site. Many of my photos practically look like black and whites, except for the brilliant, sometimes almost fluorescent, colors the women are wearing.

If you asked what I liked most about India, I would have to say its people. Everywhere we went, their smiling faces greeted us, and it was not uncommon to have locals ask us to photograph them, just so they could see the image on the screen. Sometimes young guys would have a friend take their picture standing next to Sam, or someone else in our group. Our guide told us that they will show those photos to their friends back home and say, "This is my American (western) friend!" So funny! 

The family in the photo below (pilgrims from southern India visiting Varanasi for a special festival called Maha Shivaratri), stopped us as we were descending the steep steps, or ghat, on the river bank, and asked us to take their picture. When we offered to send them the photo, they shrugged off the idea. I guess they just wanted their pilgrimage to be documented.   

With the next few posts to this blog, I hope to give you a little better understanding of what makes India such a unique and fascinating place to visit, and why I am looking forward to exploring more of it in the future. 

Namasté!


(Click on photos to enlarge, and links for more information.)