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Published: January 7th 2015
It is easier to cover our feet with sandals than to cover the earth with carpets... ~ Indian Proverb
Namaste people!
So it’s 2015 and we are celebrating the New Year by getting on a big plane (well, two big planes and one small plane) and flying to India. To say we are happy to be travelling again is a massive understatement.
We’ve been asked ‘Why India?’ many times in the last few months. There are a vast number of things that draw us to India, but in a nutshell it would be because of the history, architecture, culture, spirituality, colour, vivacity, diversity, and most importantly – the food. The questions about why we would travel to any particular country baffle us more than any other. Every country offers a different and new perspective on life and the world, and every single location in the world intrigues us. Unless there was a war or epidemic sweeping through a country, we don’t see why we shouldn’t travel to that country. However, in all honesty, Andrew is much more excited about the Indian trip than Ren is. Ren has trepidations about coping with the sheer mass of humanity we are sure to face.
As usual we have been trying to immerse ourselves in all things Indian; we’ve tried
nearly every single Indian restaurant in Hobart and watched every single Indian film we could get our hands on. Ren has also re-read every book we own that has an Indian theme to it. 😊
More than most countries we’ve travelled to, we feel we know a little bit about Indian food and culture due to it being widely spread throughout the world via centuries of trade and immigration. There are some similarities with Sri Lankan food and cultural attitudes, which also gives it a sense of familiarity to us. However, we have no doubt that there is a vast world of Indian-ness that we know nothing about, and that’s what we are really looking forward to getting to know. Ren has been trying to teach Andrew the Indian all-purpose ‘affirmative’ head wobble so he can blend in with the locals. Ren is clearly a crap teacher. 😊
Here is a quick snapshot of India: it has a population of around 1.3 billion; the capital is Delhi; and the currency is the Indian Rupee. The official national language is Hindi, but each state is also able to nominate regional official languages, so there are about 20 official languages;
and English is widely used too. The southern and northern regions of India are divided into different climatic zones by the tropic of cancer. The south has a predominately tropical climate (with the inland hill stations being exceptions), and the north lies in a temperate zone. January is technically winter / cool season in India, and we should experience bearable temperatures of less than 30 degrees and very low humidity in the south; while the north is expected to have chilly overnight temperatures of 5-10 degrees but daytime temperatures of about 20 degrees. We have packed as if we were travelling to two different countries! We are not expecting rain as the southwest monsoon doesn’t begin until June; and even though the northeast monsoon should have already finished in December, we have packed our raincoats at the bottom of our backpacks…just in case.
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We are all packed and ready. Jasper, Oliver and Mia have already gone to their respective holiday retreats, so the house is eerily quiet tonight. We are one sleep, a 45 minute drive to the airport and three flights away from our destination in India! Ren can finally stop spending her evenings and weekends pawing through the India Lonely Planet Guide. 😊
Travel is happiness!
Ren and Andrew
Films that set the scene for this trip... Gandhi, directed by Richard Attenborough (1982);
Monsoon Wedding, directed by Mira Nair (2001);
Elements Trilogy – Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005), directed by Deepa Mehta;
Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee (2012); and
Lunchbox, directed by Ritesh Batra (2013).
Travel reading on this trip... Lonely Planet Guide India;
Gandhi by Arvind Sharma (Andrew);
India After Gandhi by Ramachandra Guha (Andrew);
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Ren);
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Ren);
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Ren); and
White Tiger by Aravinda Adiga (Ren).
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Deb bulless
non-member comment
On the plane again just can't wait to get on the plane again!!
How quick has this trip come around!! Jasper looks happy in the photo but am sure in his little mind he knows what those backpacks means!! Have a wonderful holiday ,stay safe and enjoy all that amazing food you will encounter. Look forward to settling down each evening and reading your addictive blogs Love you lots and take care xx Deb ✈️