The trouble with India

When I first arrived in India, there were aspects that drove me to the end of my tether—the crowds and the music. I’m not referring to the Ravi Shanka sita, bita genre, but the Bolly, Kolly kind that belted out of radios at top volume with those high pitched female squealers. They were enough to drive me to toddy.

Last beach stop

In Goa, we stayed in Panjim for two days, then Calangute Beach for six. This was our last stop before an epic six-hundred-kilometre, twenty-five hour train ride back to Mumbai where we’d fly out of India to Thailand.

Cochin

I was dazzled by Cochin.  Lush green coconut palms fringed waterways. It was hard to escape the sea and Chinese fishing nets that swish into the waters. 

At the very tip of India

On the southern most tip of India was Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari. I visited this wind swept pilgrimage destination before the rows of souvenir stalls were constructed. I sheltered under a stone structure erected near the ocean but was interrupted by hawkers selling bottles of sand. Chanting like mantras, they claimed the bottles’ contents came from sand by the three seas—the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean which converged at India’s southern point.

India’s southern cities

I like the sound of Bangalore and Mysore. Sadly, I remember little about these south Indian cities I visited. My only recollection is asking a man in the street if he knew about a particular institution. What an odd memory to hold when I’m sure these cities had a lot to offer. 

The Sun Temple of Konrak

We entered the 13^th century Odisha complex, and the first image I spied was a wheel that was part of a giant sculptured chariot. I had seen a replica of the wheel duplicated at the entrance to the Oberoi Hotel in Delhi. Beyond the wheel were sculptured people in different sexual positions along the walls. 

Placid Puri

After a long train journey from Delhi and being inland since leaving Mumbai, I welcomed the ocean. Puri, in Odisha state, wasn’t a large town when we visited. Most hikes we took were over sandy lanes or along the beach that stretched well past the town. But it was relaxing after the buzz of Delhi and Agra where it seemed impossible to avoid crowds.

Chai wallah

Before I went to India, I’d never tried tea or coffee, but it didn’t take long for the addiction to set in. Not only was I fixated on the blend of aromatic spices that went into masala chai, but I was mesmerized by how the chai wallah poured the liquid to cool the hot brew into a glass.

Agra’s famous building

We arrived in Agra on what felt like the fastest train we’d experienced in India. Like every traveller to Agra, we were there to see the Taj Mahal—a structure I had avoided on my previous two visits to India.

Delhi Hai Meri Yaar

Or so the A.R. Rahman song goes, but Delhi never felt like my friend. The part of town we stayed in was cheap and crowded, and that didn’t help. But the buildings left from the Moghul era were stunning with arches, domes and red tones. It was the traffic, the crowds, and grime that was unsettling.