Reflections: India

India was never a country that was high on my too do list. It wasn't that I didn't want to go there, it's just that there were other places I'd put higher on my list of 'to do's' (like: Brazil, Patagonia, Cambodia, Vietnam, wildlife safaris in Africa, Victoria falls, Mongolia, Morocco, the Trans Sib, etc etc).

India is the quintessential Backpacker destination and the one place that people seemed surprised that I hadn't yet been to. So, when I was having a bad time at work last year and Louise (who I'd met a couple of years earlier in Lima, Peru) posted on Facebook some question about whether anybody wanted to come to India for a few months I said yes. I started planning, quit my job, and rearranged my life (sold and/or gave away almost everything). I bought a one way ticket and figured I'd keep traveling once I'd finished with India.

About India.
India is a complete assault to the senses. All the time.

It's dirty:
There is little facility for proper rubbish disposal and people often throw their household rubbish on the street and their travel rubbish out the bus or train window. Try to change this and the person you are trying to coach often shrugs his or her shoulders: 'I am one of a billion, what can I do?' (My response: 'well you have to start somewhere; be the change you want to see in the world')
Rivers and streams are so polluted that it would frequently bring tears to my eyes. (I feel that nature doesn't deserve this).
Hotels and restaurants were cleaner as I went into the areas with more foreign tourists but many times a hotel room simply hadn't been cleaned. Even if it had been cleaned, one shouldn't look too closely: behind bathroom doors are mostly dirty, there's old water splatter on the bathroom mirror, there's likely to be past guests rubbish under the bed, and if they mopped the floor the corners hadn't been bothered with for years. Funny thing is that if you said No, I'm going to look for some clean accommodation they'd say 'This is clean! ' or 'I clean this for you'.

It smells:
As there isn't proper rubbish disposal some people attempt to clean up by burning the rubbish. Since cows are everywhere eating what they can (the organic waste plus cardboard boxes), a lot of plastic is being burned in the streets. At least in many tourist areas plastic bags have been banned and in some areas you can pay for a water bottle refill (I often requested this... gotta start the thinking), so there are some attempts to improve things.
Old buses and trucks are also adding pollution to the streets.
Men don't want to pay even a single rupee to pee so they urinate on the street, everywhere. Stale urine (it was dry season so it wasn't being washed clean) spiced with the spicy diet. It reeked!

The food:
I enjoyed the Indian food, be it the fabulous Dosa's of the South or the curries of the North. But it is spicy, and relentlessly so. In the tourist areas you can get a rough estimation of something westernized, but otherwise it's spicy 3 times a day. In the state of Tamil Nadu it seemed especially difficult to get anything that wasn't spicy. My lips frequently burned from the chilli. But I did enjoy the spicy food, even at breakfast.

It's loud!
OMG! There is constant noise in India. Horns of buses, cars, trucks seem to make up most of it. Add it to engine noise and screeching brakes. Then there is the constant nagging of people trying to sell you their wares or services. "Hello Taxi". "Mam, rickshaw" (like I was somehow oblivious to all the ones I had just walked past). "Yes!, mam, please look; looking is free" (I didn't understand the yes and found it kind of crude). And from Indian tourists: "Mam, one snap/photo please".

It's colourful.
The southern landscapes aren't so colourful but the women wear beautiful saris which is wonderful to see. It the north the landscapes become more spectacular. It would be a beautiful country if they'd stop littering it.

One more sense: feel/touch
Well... the public transport. The buses are rough and a distance of 100kms will take about 3 hours of sitting cramped and being jolted along (whilst listening to the blaring horns, and screeching brakes). Trains are okay if you get a seat, but I more enjoyed the sensual assault of the buses (yep, I'm a bit strange); from the bus window I saw the daily goings on of the people. I always had earplugs for the buses.

So that's the senses covered but there's one more thing that bothered me... Safety.
I travelled first with Louise, then alone, then with a few women, then with Jon. I survived it alone, but I wouldn't recommend it, not even in the super touristy Rajasthan. I just didn't feel safe enough. The best was travelling with Jon. With him didn't get hassled. They'd even give my change (when I paid for something) back to him (!). So, find a guy if you can: one that you trust to hand your change back to you.