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Published: April 20th 2011
Bear Hugged in the Punjab – Khajuraho, Varanasi, Amritsar, & Delhi – India Hey guys, I just realized that I’m sitting in Aqaba, Jordan and I haven’t still haven’t written about my last two weeks in India, so I’ve decided that I’d better throw something together before I forget everything that happened. So to get back up to date, I thought I’d share just a few small highlights and then wrap up with a few comments on India in General.
Kama Sutra Temples – Khajuraho For those of you who like to look through my pictures, you’ll notice that the first set of photos is just a wee bit scandalous. The pictures are from the temples at Khajuraho (sometimes known as the Kama Sutra Temples). These temples highlights some of the best (and certainly the most risqué) sculpture work in all of India. Now, I’m still not sure why they have such a keen focus on passionate love and sex, but my best guess is that it was their way to get adolescent boys excited about going to church!
Varanasi I definitely have to give credit to Lonely Planet for this one – the guide book
did a great job describing Varanasi as an “in your face” kind of city. There really is just a special kind of shock when you walk down to the river and suddenly come across a burning body (there are no pictures, so don’t worry)! Now, for those of you who don’t know about it, Varanasi and the Ganges River which flows through it is one of the holiest sites in India. Those who die there have their bodies bathed in the river before being creamed on funeral pyres in certain places along the river’s edge – this is supposed to ensure an escape from the cycle of reincarnation. Also, for those who are still among the living, they can bathe in the river and wash away their sins.
Bear Hugged in the Punjab – Amritsar Okay, I have a new “friendliest people / place” for the trip, and it’s Sikhs from Amritsar and Punjab. I spent three days hanging around the Golden Temple – the holiest place for Sikhs – and community there is just amazing. Anyone visiting the temple (Sikhs and tourists alike) are provided with free meals if they’d like, and they are provided with blankets
and a dry place to sleep (usually outside under an awning). The place I stayed actually had a dorm where foreign tourists could stay for free! On top of this general mood of giving and kindness, the Sikh visitors themselves are just amazingly outgoing and friendly. They all stopped to ask me where I’m from and if there was anything they could do to help me. And, more often than not, when I went to shake hands and say goodbye, I would get pulled into a surprise bear hug. Heck, there were even a few times where an older gentleman would just randomly walk up and say welcome and hug me. And when you're hugging a Sikh man, it really is like hugging a bear. On average they're a good 4-6 inches taller than I am with an extra 50+ lbs and beards that would make Santa Clause jealous. You just feel like you are going to get crushed! It was just such an amazingly welcoming place!
Border Crossing Bangra Party – Atari / Amritsar While in Amritsar, I took one afternoon and went to the town of Atari to attend the India-Pakistan border closing ceremony. And it
was totally nuts! For starters, each country has installed permanent bleachers for observers. It is definitely no overstatement to say that there were 5000+ in the bleachers on the Indian side, and they were nearly full an hour before the border closing procedure started. For the hour leading up to the actual ceremony, there were kids running up and down the street waving big Indian flags, and the street filled up with a serious dance party. Both sides even had MC’s to get the crowd riled up! It was definitely a different a trip!
Indian Wrap-Up – Some General Thoughts Okay, now while I had a GREAT time in India, I have to admit that it’s nice to be in Jordan now. I really needed a breather after six weeks in the subcontinent. There’s something about India that just keeps you on your toes 24/7, and you never really get a chance to relax (at least not in the parts where I was). Every time you think you have things figured out (buses, trains, hotels, etc.) something unexpected happens and you have to try to recalibrate your thinking. For example, as a tourist, you get used to being
hassled by rickshaw drivers, and you get very accustomed to saying no or ignoring them. So one day I was walking around Delhi, and I walked by four rickshaws in a row (all right next to each other). Each one of them gave me the same spiel asking if I needed a ride and it got kind of annoying because they could all hear each other and they obviously knew I didn’t need a ride after I talked to the first guy, but then they still asked me anyway. And then, right as soon as I got by all of them, a random guy on a motorbike pulled up and asked if I just wanted a lift for free; he just wanted to be nice and help. So you get these amazing gestures of kindness amidst the hassles, and it almost makes you a little bipolar. In general, though, I’ll say Indians are right at the top of the list of my “nice mete” for the trip.
Human Bumper Cars Traffic in India is even crazier than you are likely led to believe, and since sidewalks are generally too full of motorbikes, cows, and street vendors, pedestrians are
usually forced into the street to play the local version of bumper cars. So, in my 6 weeks there I was actually hit by two cars and a bicycle rickshaw! Luckily, they were all just small love taps (around 5mph or less). One of the cars backed into me while another winged my funny bone with his side view mirror. The bicycle rickshaw one was the funniest because the guy somehow managed to pedal into the back of my leg even though I was walking in a line of people. I really don’t know how he managed to do it, but he still decided to give me a stare like it was my fault.
All the Single Ladies! One of the really memorable things from the trip so far has been the global obsession with cell phone ring tones. Everywhere you go, everyone has something different from Happy Birthday to Auld Lang Syne to Bhangra Music. And of course there are all of the popular songs from Katy Perry, Maroon 5, and more. As I was travelling through India, though, I noticed that "All the Single Ladies" was REALLY popular. I heard it probably 8-10 times over the
course of just a few weeks. And the best part was that every time I heard it, the person holding the phone was middle aged (40-60) with graying hair. I laughingly imagine they all have teenage daughters who set it up for them and they have no idea what the song actually is.
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Evan
non-member comment
Where can I get one...
of those solid gold temples? As an aside, red really brings out the white in your eyes.