Travelling is a passion for me.. I first got on a plane at the age of two and haven't really stopped moving since. I did spend a good 18 years in Toronto, Canada (I did have to study and gather up the funds to get going again) before using what I had learned to keep going. My goal is to step foot in all the continents by the age of 30.. so far I have managed to reach 4 (North America, Europe, Australia, Asia) of the 7 and I have five years to go to reach my goal.
I've moved:
http://advtraveladdict.blogspot.com/
Check me out here.. and leave your comments!
... full info
was in india 2008 Dec and i had the most wonderful time
true it comes with negative things as hotels even claim to have stars are not that great! but i guess it was best
i was in pondicherry and then went to hyd
all most a month and it was best at pondicherry :)
Nice Post A nice and well thought out post by you.
But as a Indian let me clearify a few points:-
~Skin color or beauty is a major parameter for personnal sucess in every part of the world including India. So in this sense India is not different.
~Student are ask to mention their caste because backward class enjoys about 50% reservation.
Thanks
very nice commentary ~ time and again i read the blogs from India on this website and usually i'm disappointed by the trite comments and the 'surface-skimming' observations of the travellers so it is very nice and refreshing indeed to run across your blog ~ danyavad or, in Tamil, nanri ~
''Even other travellers fail to acknowledge me ..... I never expected my experience to be different simply because of my skin but it's a rude awakening to how the world really is.''
I am not so sure it is because you are brown. I think, it is more that if you look Indian, travellers think you might be about to pester them. When I am in India, there are so many demanding my attention(because of my skin colour?) that I just want to hide(or scream sometimes). I met some Indian looking travellers when I was in India, and felt so relieved when they announced that they are from the UK or the US, because I knew then that they would be like other travellers, rather than too curious about me, or trying to sell something to me.....
But, surely you encountered skin colour prejudice, before you went to India? Some peolple I meet in the west who are of a non white race say they encountered enough of it, that they can barely tolerate it anymore.
Not sure Indians are quite as simple minded, as you describe. They do question the government. For example: There were riots in the streets of Mumbai last year, because they felt the government did not do enough to protect people from terrorists.
Nice blog! :)
I guess you are right about people assuming I'm Indian. It's funny because the Indians knew I was from the west by looking at me while the other travelers sort of ignored me and it left me to be so puzzled for a while, sort of about where is it that I really belong. Alas, it's a learning experience. But I didn't mean just in India. I felt I encountered that prejudice mainly from other travelers in most of the countries I visited in Asia.
Living in Korea of course people stare at me but not the other foreigners. But I think it's a really different situation here. Being Canadian in my mind, I don't actually realize how 'different' I am I guess. but that's why I love the travel.. it really gets you out of your shell to self-examine what you thought you always knew.
I just checked out 'Shantaram' on Wikipedia. It looks like an excellent read. I sure hope I come accross it. When I go to bookshops looking for specific books, they rarely have them, unless they are recently published. Thats for the recommendation. :)
anonymous
non-member comment
was in india 2008 Dec and i had the most wonderful time true it comes with negative things as hotels even claim to have stars are not that great! but i guess it was best i was in pondicherry and then went to hyd all most a month and it was best at pondicherry :)