Welcome to India my friend

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Delhi

My first impression was: this is exactly like Egypt or Morocco. And the truth is, although obviously there are many differences between one and the other, you can still find the exact same characteristics of an undeveloped country. The dusty roads, the lack of bins hence rubbish everywhere, the masses of people wandering around, the clothes that don't fit properly, the mix of traditional clothing and western fashion from a few years back or a combination of the two.

The erratic driving is fun to watch and I must admit that I found it pretty funny when I first noticed that the vast majority of cars have the external rear view mirros either taken off, pressed against the side of the car or simply ripped off due to the proximities and speed at which they drive. This did however explain the constant and annoying honking that is going on all the time. Since they can't see if there is someone behind or next to them, they have to hear so. I continue to stay amazed at how no accidents have occured yet in my presence, specially since here the rule does not seem to be ´the bigger vehicle wins´ like in Morocco but everyone just swerves around you and eachother in what seems an elegant and precise choreography. I have seen few people with such a good feeling of the available space outside their vehicle.

The thing that most impacted me is the pollution. You can literally smell the uncleanliness in the air. I have made the decision to only breathe through my nose as the inconvenience of having to put up with all the other (lets call them strange) smells is not as bad when compared to the damage of the air going into the lungs without any sort of filter. It also explains why all the indians are constantly coughing or pulling up flem and spitting it out.
In Delhi I didn't even spend 24 hours. I arrived at midday on Monday and after having checked into the hotel I went for a walk. This is where I saw a sign offering trips to Agra and since this was my next stop in my rough plan anyways I decided to find out more. I should have known or at least imagined how good salespeople these guys are. I came out having agreed to go to Srinagar the next day, that'll teach me for going into India without a decent plan in mind just to stay flexible along the way.

As it turns out it was probably the best thing that could happen to me.

Srinagar

First things first: Srinagar is a city in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J &K, here all he states that have two word names are abreviated), the most northern province of India that borders with Pakistan. It is also a bit of a conflict state as both sides kind want to claim it as theirs while most of the Kashmirians themselves just want to be left alone and wouln't be too bothered if they were independent. On top of this, I arrive on the day before Repul¡c Day, on which the government fears that the Kashmirians will riot or strike and wave Pakistani flags. So the whole city and roads are packed with soldiers that stop us every 200 meters just to wave us through when they see that there is a tourist in the jeep.

The city Srinagar is made up of a part on land and another built up on the lake. Some of these houses on the lake are normal houses built on plots of land slightly larger than the house itself, houses built on wooden stilts or houseboats. I had reserved a houseboat, and a luxurious one at that. To be honest, I am really glad I was willing to pay a little bit extra because it is freezing here. I mean there is snow outside and this accommodation has an excellent wood burning furnace. I was also immediately equipped with a fernh, which is a poncho with sleeves that everyone wears. Underneath this poncho, pretty much everyone carries a kangri, or firepot to heat them up. Most of the time you don't even realize they are carrying one because you normally walk around in it without using the sleeves unless you have to.

To make the most of the day I go on a boat tour in a sikhara (like the gondolas in Venice but with oars with a heart-shaped paddle) and was shown around the lake having everything explained to me with history, facts and personal stories of my guide and host Abdul. Back at the houseboat I met the helper of the host Washim, and Abduls son who, in the absence of his father or Washim tried to make me give things away to him. "I really wish I had new shoes, your shoes are are really nice, I like them, I wish I had shoes like that", "I don't have a mobile phone, everybody has a mobile phone, thats a nice mobile phone, I wish I had one like that" and even "I just need 500 Rupees more then I can buy myself a phone, you could probably give me 200 Rupees". Well Adil, I could but I am on a tight budget myself, plus you're a 13 year old in what is considered a 3rd world country, you don't really need a camera phone.

The cold is really the biggest problem here. My room had to be heated up by agas heater 2 hours before I went to sleep and stayed on for the whole night. I was actually paranoid abot the flame going out and me dying in my sleep of gas poisoning. The next day I actually got a scare, the gas had run out and so had the flame hehe. Also I was to fall asleep under 7 blankets and with two hot water bottles.

The next day was Gulmarek or Sulmarek, they kept changing it on me and aparently the translation is the Way of the Shepherd which the manager kept calling Sheferd hehe (English is a pain with its spelling and pronunciation). I was to see the glacier that remains the whole year round which I dont believe is as impressive a feat to prove during the winter. The trek however was really nice and I was impressed at the unspoiled view of the valley. I could also imagine how amazing this place must be during the summer when everything is green, although according to everyone it is then packed with tourists which I guess would take a lot out of the experience although I can't know for sure.

Thursday was a key day. Here I got my first digestive problems of my travels. Anything that had been ingested the days before was converted to cold sweat, shivers, nausea and diahorrea. I was naive enough to believe that after going to the toilet once before leaving the houseboat I would be fine until at least the evening. Oh, how wrong I was. Half an hour in the jeep and I was asking Abdul if we could stop to buy toilet paper just in case. "Yes, no problem" was his answer, but the stop never came except to have some chai. I was getting desperate when we reached our destination where I was intructed to ask the pony man where I could do my buisness. The problem in Kashmiri winter is that the cold renders the water pitpes useless as the freeze up so the only other alternative is to go behind a tree. Thats right, and the only equivalent to toilet paper is ... snow. Snow that is a few days old and slightly icy. But enough details about my bowels. The rest of the day was naturally constantly affected by this problem but I ws determined to go through with the programme. So I saw a very boring ruin of a temple and two gardens which would probably have been pretty amazing if it had been any other season but winter where there was no chance for flowers of any kind. Also I was dragged into a rug shop and where naturally i was tried to be talked into buying a rug or a shawl.

I was so glad when I finally got back to the houseboat and had my peace and quiet ... and my toilet bowl. I was able to have a hot shower which really helped me recover.
The next day was another adventure. What lay ahead of me was an 8 hour jeep ride to reach Jammu. The ride was bad enough with the paranoia of my stomach wanting to empty itself all of a sudden, but on top of this came enless curves (which to be fair wasn't that bad) and a constant inhalation of exhaust fumes of lorries we were overtaking. My tissue was filled with black snotby the end of it. At one point we were stopped at a checkpoint where we were patted down and the bags unloaded off the jeep to be inspected. i wonder what would have happened if they had found my pen knife...

I had 5 hours to kill at the train staition which proved really easy since I was approached my a friendly military guy who invited my to meet the rest of his regiment by a den they had made out of boxes destined for Srinagar. i was even invited to food his wife had made him for the trip. The interaction was ended abruptly when I was made aware of my train arriving at the platform 45 minutes early. Suddenly everybody was rushing hecticly for the doors and I joined in the frenzy and nobody would tell me it the train was about to leave 40 minutes early or what. i finally found my carriage completely out of breath and in the presence of bewildered looks of locals.this turned into bemused looks as it turns out that the train actuallhy would stay in the station until the designated time and the reason for thehectic on the platform was by those indians who hadn't reserved a seat and didn't want to stand for 15 hours.

The good side of this experience was that it brought me together with a group of students that were attending the university in Agra. I was given all sorts of advice and was invited to their meals. I was treated really well and they seemed fascinated about my stories of Europe and my impressions of India. I gave them some of my pound coins which they really enjoyed and I couldn't use in India anyways.

On Saturday I arrived in Agra, but that is for another blog 😉


y el resumen en español:

Delhi

A mi me parece igual qu cualquier otro pa'is del tercer mundo. Entre la scalles sucias, la basura por todas partes y la ropa que no va bien ajustada ni limpia, ni a juego. Lo más divertido de observar es el caos que es el tráfico. Los retrovisores desmontados si no estan arrancados son un buen indicador de lo pegados que pasan los coches cuando se cruzan o adelantan. esto tambien explica por qué están constantemente tocando la pita: ya que so se ven, se tienen que oir para no atropellarse unos a otros.

Lo que sí es muy molesto es la contaminación que hay no solo por parte de basura en la calle sino en el aire. No se puede ver a más de 500 metros y lo mejor que se hace es ignorar lo mal que huele y respirar por la nariz para un mínimo de filtro para los pulmones.
Admito que no llegué a pasar 24 horas en Delhi ya que me consiguieron convencer ir a Srinagar el siguiente día.


Srinagar

Lo primero que hay que saber, y de lo que me entere más tarde fue que Srinagar está en el estado de Jammu y Kashmir: un estado conflictivo en el que unosse consideran pakistaníes, otros como parte de India y otros más quieren ser independientes. Esto significa que hay una presencia militar massiva para evitar que surgieran problemas el día 26 que es un dia festivo nacional y querían evitar revueltas o protestas.

La ciudad en sí está compuesta por dos partes: una parte sobre tierra y la otra construida sobre el lago y se divide en casas sobre trozos de tierra, casas sobre palos de madera y barcos casa (houseboats). Hace un frío increíble así que aparte de llevar puesta toda mi vestimenta de abrigo me tuve que poner un poncho debajo del cual se lleva una cesta con carbón para calentar aún más.

El mismo día di una vuelta en las barquitas tradicionales y la verdad es que fue un alivio poder volver a entrar al houseboat y al calor. Mi cuarto tampoco se salvaba del frío y me tocaba dormir con7 manatas, dos botellas de agua caliente y un calentador de gas en la habitación (y aún así me salía el vaho por la boca).

Al día siguiente había organizado una caminata al monte donde naturalmente estaba nevado. Eso sí, fue muy muy bonito y me puedo imaginar sin problemas lo impresionante que tiene que ser la cosa en verano cuando todo esté verde.

El jueves fue mi peor día hasta ahora. Y yo que me sentía confiado de que no me iba a tocar nada de problemas digestivos. No solo fue diarrea sino tambien nauseas, escaloríos y sudores. Así mi día de montar a caballo, ver templos poco impresionantes y gardines sin vegetación a penas fue interrumpido por tener que renunciar a baños y volver a los origenes en la naturaleza y limpiarme sin papel, sino nieve. No hace falta vivir la experiencia para saber que no es agradable.

De vuelta al houseboat pude gozar de una ducha de agua caliente lo cual me hizo sentirme mucho mejor para dormir y estar con suficientes fuerzas para enfrentarme al día siguiente. Éste constió en 8 horas de viaje en jeep, respirando el humo de los camiones delante nuestra y con el miedo constante de que me entrase de nuevo la diarrea.

Llegue sin más sustos que un control de policia que por suerte no encontraron la navaja que llevo en mi equipaje aunque lo más probable es que solo estén buscando drogas. En la estación de tren no llegue a aburrirme durante las 5 horas ya que se me acerco un chico militar y me llevó a presentarme los demás de su regimento e invitarme a su comida.
El último susto del día me lo llevé cuando me dijeron que mi tren ya había llegado y ver como todo el mundo salió corriendo para subirse. Pensando que iba a salir 40 minutos antes de lo previsto (yo que se como funcionan las cosas en la India?) me apuré y me subí, encontrando al final mi sección y asiento donde conocí a un grupo de estudiantes de Jammu que estudian en Agra. Me explicaron que el tren no salía hasta la hora prevista y que los demás que estaban corriendo eran los que no tenían asiento reservado y se tienen que pelear por los buenos.

Estos mismos chicos me invitaron a comer y desayunar durante el trayecto y me trataron muy bien en general y estuvieron fascinados por lo que les contaba sobre Europa y les encantaron tanto las monedas de libras que saqué que se las regalé.

Entonces llegué a Agra y eso es para otro capítulo 😉

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