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Published: June 25th 2017
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Farewell Smiling India
I will miss the freely given smiling face, like this one, the most. When I asked a traveller I met years ago who had just spent six months in India how be would define India, his reply was that India defies definition. It is what it is, and does what it does, without concern about perceptions others might have.
Having spent six weeks in the country, visiting parts of the east coast, south India, and the west coast of India before taking on the beauty of Kashmir and the craziness of the densely populated North, I cannot agree more. India is India: immense, busy, noisy, overpopulated, pristine in some areas and entirely filthy by any standards in others, it is a country of extremes and paradoxes. It is unlike anywhere else I have travelled.
To help keep the sensory perceptions vivid and clear - for India is nothing if not an overload of sensory stimulation - I have compiled a random list of things I will miss, and a much shorter list of things I will not.
What I will miss about India . . .
I will miss the color, particularly the women with their vibrant Saris flowing by as they pass on their moto-scooters, or those simply walking elegantly down the street under their umbrellas.
I will miss the countless colourful fruit and vegetable stands.
I will miss the dogs sleeping everywhere, but always in the middle of any road.
I will miss the sound of Buddhist monks chanting or Hindu Brahmins singing.
I will miss the sound of the Muslim call to prayer.
I will miss the colourful flower garlands on all modes of transport, public or private, land or water.
I will miss the inspirational positive messages that adorned some of the tuk tuks.
I will miss the cows everywhere, acting as if the world is theirs to rule, which in this country, it is.
I will miss the oxen, the goats, the sheep, the horses, the elephants, the camels, and all the other animals who share the streets and highways with the motor vehicles.
I will miss the morning cacophony of bird song.
I will miss the colourful transport trucks, all displaying the message "Honk Please" in some artistic fashion across the tailgate.
I will miss the people on the streets, always.
I will miss the family-of-four outings on motorbike.
I will miss conversations struck up with people in the nearby tuk tuk or bike while waiting to move.
I will miss the passenger bikers conversing with other passengers while moving through traffic.
I will miss the slow pace at which traffic moves.
I will miss the slower pace at which everything moves.
I will miss the people you see riding on top of a bus, or sleeping on top of a load of moving cargo.
I will miss the exhilarating energy that seems to pervade everything.
I will miss the greetings from merchants on the streets, inviting you to "come, please, into my shop; not buying, just looking."
I will miss watching yogis practice their sun salutations on the beaches.
I will miss the Ayurvedic massages.
I will miss the vast diversity of people.
I will miss the seemingly bottomless well of patience, calm, and tolerance that I observed constantly in traffic jams and train stations.
I will miss the extra lengths people always went to to assist us, whenever we asked.
I will miss the interest and attention we were always given as foreigners.
I will miss the eagerly offered return waves we always got from people as we passed by.
I will miss the brilliant return smiles of the Indian people.
Things I will not miss about India . . . I will not miss the garbage, particularly in the North, in Delhi and Varanasi.
I will not miss the endless horns in traffic.
I will not miss the bureaucracy.
I will not miss waiting for trains in hot, noisy, dirty train stations.
I will not miss the aggressive tuk tuk drivers at every train, bus, and airport terminal.
I will not miss the aggressive taxi drivers at border crossings.
I will not miss the parting gift of illness that she gave me as a going away present.
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marsha
non-member comment
Hey! Thanks for the phonecall, hard to believe it seemed so CLEAR, and you are so very far far away. Good to know you are relaxing and enjoying some 'down' time. That 'train-ride-wait-delay-test-of-patience' takes time to recover. Gawd! It
did me in! xoxoxo