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Things are just about coming to a close for me, so this will be my final blog 😞
In a nutshell my last few weeks took me down from the snowy heights of the Himalaya down towards dusty deserts of Rajasthan.
Admittedly my timing is abysmal, deciding to hit Rajasthan as temperatures here soared to over 40 degrees C (when I could have gone in March!). A lesson painfully learned when your body screams for a simple cold shower and all you get is hot water!
This is Jodhpur, and its very hot indeed. The city is dusty, polluted and not without the standard malodorous city scent. Yet in spite of the crippling heat and the manic chaos Jodhpur still has a great deal of appeal.
The rickshaw ride into the heart of the city gives you the best introduction, albeit one that gives you an intensive smack around the senses. Amid the haze, traffic lurches in all directions manoeuvering cows and camels, assaults of smells and deafening noise everywhere, it's utter chaos. Completely disorientated you're helplessly whisked, bug eyed through the phantasmagoria of exuberance and vivid colour that make up the bazaars and sidestreets. Trying to take in
Jodhpur
Is mostly available in blue everything at once can result in sheer bewilderment, (or nausea) so once again all I can do is surrender to India and hold on tight.
So my timing was dire, and now I pay for it in sweat. But ending my trip in this place seems right, somehow. I've stopped playing the tourist and in place of sightseeing I've become a sort of cultural sponge. I'd rather just wander around town and soak it up. A week left on the clock tells me my time in this place is fleeting, and so I'm more receptive than ever to the world that surrounds me. Perhaps then, its for the best that I finished here in Rajasthan, which feels like the most 'Indian' state. Its rich aftertaste -fortified by intense heat- lingering in my mouth as I leave.
More boring details then; from Jodhpur I took a detour to nearby Pushkar staying at the 'Doctor Café', crazy place where I spent a week doing diddly but feeling very shanti-shanti (this is good). Made some friends and the house brewed us a 'special' lassi, well it was pretty special alright(!) Then on to Udaipur, a breezy whitewashed city by a lake.
Omelatte
Very trendy Egg and Coffee cocktail. Expect it in Starbucks soon. A welcome departure from the melee of downtown Jodhpur, I whiled away the last of my days in this seductively charming city until it was time to return to big ol' Bombay.
I feel like some sort of summary is needed, so here it goes. I've had an exhilarating time. 'Exhilarating' being the culmination of alot of experiences, not all positive, but it's good to experience every experience as a friend of mine once said. Yes, I can vouch that I've often found myself completely frustrated, baffled or just plain lost many times in my visit, common symptoms of travelling in India and I think now I know why. We Occidentals like to be in control. We like to know what's going on, when where how why, and what we don't know or don't understand can make us feel uncomfortable or angry. So much of India is a mystery, a place where Western values just won't apply, and if you attempt to do so you usually end up looking like a fool. So as I said before, you just have to surrender. Surrender control, preconceptions and a little pride, and after you do that, things seem to start swinging
in your favour.
And I could leave it at that, oh what a great personal experience it's been, but uncomfortably I think there's more to say. European traveller goes to India and takes out what he or she wants before returning home fulfilled, it almost sounds sadly imperialist. Maybe the real picture isn't quite so cynical, but how can we come and gawp at the majesty of India without acknowledging the many problems that afflict her people? As wonderful as I found my time there, I know fully well how rose-tinted my experience was. As a westerner (or presumed wealthy Japanese in my case) I was treated with respect by nearly everyone, even more so because I was male (although one particular man challenged this). Mass scale, institutionalised inequality is all around, an inequality I ashamedly benefitted from. In a country that is proud of its growing success and advancement on a global scale, outdated tradition is still woven solidly around its core. The billion people who when born into this land all played a game of genetic dice where the caste and class you are born into become your inescapable life-long status. There seem to be few opportunities
to rise above your fate, and the best opportunities that exist are for high castes and men.
In the conservative areas, women will be completely subjugated, hidden away under the veils of purdah with little freedom for autonomy. I didn't speak to many Indian women at all while I was there, I certainly didn't have a conversation with any. Poor attitudes to women are sadly ingrained deep into the culture. Fellow female travellers made it very clear how much rougher a time they were having. Alot of the time I know I'd rather not think about it, because I don't see it being a man, but they get the direct treatment. I know I'd rather not stain my rosily tinted picture, a picture where some of the most earnest and affable men I met would not have been quite so endearing had I been female.
This isn't nearly the end of it, but I don't want to leave on a bitter note. Everywhere has its problems and like I said, it's good to experience every experience, not just the good ones. I'm starting to think about home, and the little creature comforts I miss. I'm actually pretty sick of
Abnormally huge goat
Big enough to kill a man. I ran. the food here and will be glad to get my teeth into some familiar grub. Yesterday I had a daydream I was wandering around Sainsbury's; it's that bad.
So my thanks are to everyone who cared to pay interest in my humble blog, who endured my self-indulgent ramblings. I really appreciated all your comments and many messages that staved off the homesickness.
Thanks for reading, and I guess I'll see you all in the UK!
Kim
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