A voyeur in India

As I was looking down upon the rooftops of Bundi, I realised that India is a voyeurs wet-dream. In India life takes place outside, simply because many people can't afford the luxury of privacy. They bathe at the ghats, rivers or at a water-pump, they do their laundry outside, they cook outside, they relieve themselves behind a small wall or a bush or just in a gutter and some even sleep outside. And all this within the watchful gaze of everybody else. Of course it is so normal that most people don't give it a second glance, it is only us travelers that are fascinated and mesmerized by the total openess of it all. And so I looked from my vantage point down at the women hanging their freshly washed laundry out to dry on the rooftop. Below me a family was cooking chapati's for breakfast. On another rooftop some children were fighting with each other, the smaller brother started to cry, an old father came running up threatening the bigger kid with a stick and admonishing him. Further down, men were bathing at a water-pump on the street.

Because India shows all, nothing is hidden. Which means you see the squalor, filth, poverty and disease in India. It isn't shoved away like in so many other countries. India is honest and open about everything, the good, the bad and the ugly. Most people get shocked when they arrive and see all this. But this is because they only see one side of it all; those same people who live in poverty and are filthy and live on the edge of society can be seen laughing and smiling, joking with each other and having fun. They endure and they find happiness in each other, if not in what they have. Often I have looked at the women or men who are doing back breaking jobs like breaking up rocks with a hammer into small chunks to make gravel for a road. I know they do this every day for perhaps 12 hours or more in heat or in rain and probably earn less than a dollar a day on this, and yet besides all that, they are happy. They are laughing, and talking and having fun.

As I moved from Bundi to Pushkar I came into a different world, the one where backpacker meets India, where spiritual, meets materialistic. And here I watched as a priest did his rounds on the ghat trying to coerce unsuspecting tourists to have him give them a blessing. But unbeknownst to them, after the blessing a hefty price is asked. This too is India, the corrupt is laid bare and it isn't shunned. And I watched the colorful parade of travelers walking through the narrow lanes, in baggy trousers, shawls and everything else that goes with the look, while bargaining for bags, trinkets and perhaps hashish. Meanwhile sadhus and merchants vie for our money in equal measure, as do the beggars. And the cows stroll the street, uncaring about all this, safe in the knowledge that here at least they won't end up as a steak on somebodies plate!

Once my eyes had seen enough I moved on to Jaipur, which I found too big and noisy and not to my liking. But I quickly concluded that this was not Jaipur's fault. The problem is that in a sense I am finished with India. I am walking around but not seeing or enjoying anymore. After two years of returning to India the glass is full and I have reached the point where I feel I need to move on. When a country stops exciting you, you know it is time to leave. But India has done well to keep me enticed for two whole years. That is no mean feat and is a testament to the diversity of this country.

And now I am in Rishikesh, my final destination in India. It is one of those travelers ghetto's. The ultimate in voyeurism. From here we can sit at our road side cafe's and eat our apple struddles and watch India go by a stone throw away. It is like Shimla was to the British Raj, a retreat. But while the British retreated from the heat, we come here to retreat for while from India. That doesn't mean this isn't India, it is and that is the best part of it for those who come here. It is like watching an interactive television show. While you are in the cafe or rooftop terrace you are sort of outside the place, but as soon as you step on the street you are back. It is funny to note that there are no Indians except for the staff in traveler cafes, and mostly no Indian food is served either. Here people come to talk about India, its spirituality, its rights and its wrongs and of course about their experience of it, while at the same time looking at it from a distance. But the best part of it is that the Indians come here to watch us as well, as we sit on in our lofty cafes, watching them watching us!

Of course Rishikesh is more for many people. They come for the spirituality of it all, the meditation, the yoga and all that. But in the end I find that is just window dressing and the real reason is the comfort of home and like-minded people while pretending to still be in India. Of course the spiritual thing is important to them, but as important is the fact that they can talk about it and discus it with others on their level. And as important too is that they can watch India from a safe distance here. Because there are loads of other places to be spiritual or meditate but where there are none of those comforts; places where you are constantly surrounded by India and the Indians, and yet, for some reason nobody goes there to find themselves or search for the answer of life, the universe and everything. Instead everybody comes to places like Rishikesh and Dharamsala or Pushkar, where they can enjoy the pleasures of both worlds. And they go to find wisdom with wise men who sit in caves and under trees and occasionally will share their wisdom with those who seek it.

At least those are my thoughts on it, and most likely they are wrong. Its probably just that I am a cynic, and this is what cynics do. Neither am I spiritual and I never went to India to find myself or find answer to certain life altering questions. I only came to India and at long last to Rishikesh to see what all the hubbub was about and because it was on my way. Now I have seen what the hubbub was about and I am happy for those who seek knowledge and find it here, seek themselves and find it here and seek happiness and find it here. To each his or her own.

Tomorrow I leave India for good with a happy feeling and a glad heart. I would like to thank India and the Indians for having me for the last two years and putting up with me... I enjoyed it! Now the circle is complete in a certain respect as I will leave India in the same way I entered it, at another border crossing.

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Part of trip: The great journey east!

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