Incredible India! Northern part

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October 8th 2007

Published: December 15th 2007

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Autorickshaw episode

Cycle rickshaw ride to Arti

Arti ceremony at the Ganges 1

Arti ceremony at the Ganges 2

Hanging with Anne

Monument of love

India India beloved India- the lonely planet described this country as overwhelming and full of contrast. It means nothing when you read that, you cannot imagine what that really is until you are there...

Unlike many foreigners coming to visit this country, I did not go in search of spiritual enlightenment, but I sure as hell learnt a lot about myself there! Under 45 degree heat, with SO many people, so many poor people, cow shit all over the streets, the compulsive honking of vehicles and with constant watchout for the gropers, I was tested. My patience, my sense of smell and touch, my tolerance for chaos and noise, my non-existant street smarts- ALL were tested. But throughout all that- I was struck by mysterious beauty and awed that what I found to be illogical in the western world made sense here.

I decided to book an organized tour for the first 2 weeks in India. I chose the "comfort" tour and glad that I did because I was exhausted at the end. Most of the time, we were riding in our own air-conditioned bus on bone-shattering roads, but we took an over-night train that marked me for life.

Street traffic

We waited 2 hours in the Delhi train station the night that India won the Cricket World 20-20. I was sweaty and tired and our group were the only foreigners there- you can only imagine the staring. Sitting in first-class, I shared the compartment with the local tour guide. There were no doors to separate the bed compartments- only a curtain and there were 4 beds in each compartment. Too many of my friends watched "Amazing Race" and so I was scared of getting robbed or worst, groped in the middle of the night. After refusing to use their blanket (probably never washed) and climbing in the top bunk, I froze all night with the air-conditioning right on top of my head, I did not sleep because people would get on and off during the night, turning the lights on to find their beds, talking and laughing with no regards that it was the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT! Apparently, I was lucky, because other tour members had rats to concern themselves with and were assigned beds right by the bathroom on top of what I had experienced. Yuck.

All 14 of us had snapped at one point in the

Mosque in Delhi

trip, but they were due to different circumstances. One girl from New York was being harassed by children trying to sell whatever in one of the Hindu temples- she snapped and screamed, "I am trying to have a spiritual experience and you are ruining it for me!!!!!" She went bonkers a couple of times and people later joked that Shelly went "New Yorker" on someone. HAHAHA!

My snapping point- seeing a floating dead body in Pushkar's florescent green polluted lake as my group members recited Hindu mantras after having to walk barefoot in shit in the Brahim temple ..yeah.

My favourite place without a doubt was Varanasi- the city of the old- where the lucky Hindus come to die by the Ganges river:

We went to see the Arti (ceremony to celebrate the Ganges river). There were so many people! It was so chaotic- we had to hold hands like school children to avoid getting separated! There were women half-naked bathing or washing their saris, kids playing and splashing around and men bobbing up and down in the water-washing their souls of their sins.

The tour was great. We rarely saw any other foreigners, spend half