BootsnAll Travel Community

I just got done reading the article by Maria Argyropoulos about her experiance in India.

http://www.bootsnall.com/travelogues/ria/32.shtml

My question is: Has any other traveler felt like this?

Have they been overwhelmed by it all or have they reconciled with it by the end of their journey?

How did they cope with the attack on the senses?

Would they do it again?

Did all travelers go to 'find themselves'?

Any advice for would be travelers?

Definitely, at times.

i remember my first morning in India. Just sitting in a cafe on parhaganj in delhi, looking out at the madness of the hot, humid crowded monsoon-season street and thinking "do i really have to go out there?"

i would say - give it a little time. It's unfortunate that Delhi is most people's first glimpse of India, because it's awful. most indians i've met hate it, too.

get out as soon as you can. i love the himalayas, for instance. once you get into the rhythm of the insanity, it's a lot better.

of course, not everybody likes india, and that's fine. if you don't like crowds, india's not the place for you!

some helpful tips a friend gave me when i left for india (she spent 6 months in india and bangladesh - talk about hardcore!):
- get off the tourist path. you find a lot of con artists in the areas with lots of tourists. off the beaten path, you find a lot of great people.
- take a break when you need to. check into a fancy hotel with AC, or have a nice meal.
- but, don't spend your time there trying to make india like home. if you check your email every day and eat pizza all the time, you'll be miserable.

i think probably the best thing to do is to get yourself to somewhere relaxing right away (i went to manali, then leh), and then ease yourself into india from there.

as far as coping: just try to soak it up. try to maintain an attitude of "this is all crazy, and i'm here to experience this craziness." retreat when you need to (see above).

not all travelers go to india to find themselves, and they're not all obnoxious brats. you will meet some really exceptional people in your india travels.

i would recommend at least giving india a try. give it a few weeks. if you absolutely hate it, it's easy and cheap to fly to nepal or sout east asia!

I am glad that you raised this topic, holy thunder.

Some of the people I bump into, advocate that initially they should "wet their feet" in India, in a group, espc if they are doing the typical North India circuit. Yes, Delhi can shock, so can Varansai - I mean it even shocked me.

Then gradually, I guess one could move over to the other parts of India. Kerala is serene, have not heard any complaints of that so far. And I know that I am being biased but my current "home city" Bangalore rocks, with its large floating, cosmopolitian population that accepts anyone and everyone.

Great advice lunasol - spot on really. For me India was my fav place. But I was ready for it. Hoping on a plane froma western country and getting dumped off in Delhi is a bigtime shock to the senses.

I went overland over the course of months and it was not as bad...by body and mind and started to shift and be ready for it by the time I arrived.

My biggest advice - is R|E|L|A|X ! Just chill out when you can and if too many people are asking stuff and tryin to sell you stuff, just move on...just move on.

Dusty - sorry all my posts are following yours today...I am not stalking you, I swear!

Learn More About All the Stuff BootsnAll Does:
http://www.BootsnAllTravelNetwork.com

I think try to relax is the best bit of advice.

I've never been to India, but when I was in Africa I felt the same way. It was my first trip overseas, and I couldn't believe it. There were people watching us, trying to sell us things, swarming us when we got out of cars in non-"white" districts. I was so ready to get back on an airplane, but I forced myself to calm down and to step back, and to try to see it for what it was.

My mom had a different persepctive - she relied on the deep-rooted and prevalent belief over there that men were superior and whenever someone came to her she just sent them to my father, saying that he made the decisions.

"Never for me the lowered banner, never the last endeavour." -- Sir Ernest Shackleton

Hey some good advice here. So let me add my 2 cents to it.

I have always felt that Delhi/North India is the wrong place to land in, when you first go to India. Even natives fear those parts. Both Dusty and I would vouch for that. In my opinion, a better thing to do would be to land either in Bombay or Madras, do South India first, move up to Delhi etc and then end your trip in the Himalayas.

And what Dusty says is right. Bangalore is definately a good city to get your India initiation in. So is South Bombay for that matter.

Hope this makes sense.

Can't wait to find out for myself!!! Just a few more months.

Five bucks!

Hi, there are basically two type of ''firangs'',the first who comes to India and likes it soo much that they come again and again and the others are the ones who would want to take the next flight home never to come back again.

hey -
when i was in india someone told me that there was this old saying from the hippie days:
india stands for
I'll
Never
Do
It
Again

while Nepal stands for
Never
Ending
Peace
And
Love

So there is a rich history of travelers swearing to never go back to india.

however, there's a strange phenomenom: many people hate india while they're there, but once they get home, all they can think about is when they're going to go back!
go figure...

Reading that piece from Ria was actually one of my favorites reads. Now and again it just helps to be reminded - and hard - that travel ain't all enchanting and magical and all that shite. Some of it's hard and annoying, stressful and wearing down, and you might not like it.

Seeing all these notes about Delhi having me going "oh, great..." That's probably where I'll be flying into... and then I'll be heading almost straight for Varanasi. A double-dose of chaos in madness, after 26 hours of flying. hmmm. Maybe I'm looking at it the same way I look at swimming pools - if you wade in gradually, the water's always cold and you're shivering and going "what the hell am I doing here?" But if you just dive in you get a quick shot of chill, and then you adjust and things are fine.

Cheers, Anthony

Hmmm...Good analogy Ant. I could see that...the initial shock is sometimes a little overwhelming, but if you get through that, then the rest comes easy. Maybe easy isn't the right word but you catch my drift.

Good link highlight Jedimasterbooboo.

I found the Bna article amusing too.

my 2 cents...

my first city in India was Chennai / Madras (Coming from a week in Sri Lanka - which I enjoyed enormously). Contrary to the view of an earlier poster...I do not believe this is a good first stop.

(Also re-emphasized by a good friend and his wife who were there a little earlier than me on a group tour before meeting relatives from a friend in the US. The tour company was thinking of changing the first city from Chennai due to the chaotic shock nature of it)

Arriving at Delhi (By airport anyway) was a cakewalk. As the airport is in a rural area the drive to hotel, etc..is peaceful. In Chennai, as soon as you leave the airport area you enter total chaos...ehh...freedom (to create chaos). There are more tricksters in Delhi by far though I feel.

India has alot to offer...just not in city planning, mgmt, or sanitation skills in large cities. Unfortunately we an exploding population the lack of such skill is exacerbated all the more.

Adapting

Frankly...yes we (as humans) can adjust to places like India. But is this a good thing in the long run? After all..humans are adaptable to many situations. Being dis-satisfied/not happy can bring actions that result in a better place. Continual complacency...well that is (one reason I believe) why India has a lot of great monuments from the PAST. Fading glory....faded. I won't attribute all this to only the people's attitudes directly. After all...like the earlier post...there is the weather to contend with. That has alot to do with things I think...

Altitude

Look at Bangalore (Inundated with traffic now - again lack of foresight/city planning..no wonder companies with foreign investment are moving to other cities now...Pune/Jaipur)...why are they more successful? - well it is higher in altitude....cooler...heat does make you crazy....a careful look at the places and countries which have advanced more economically around the globe will reveal alot. Now with air con things are different, but still...

Right now we are having freak thundershowers in Bangalore COL. BTW I love your name and avataar. I so agree with your view - Many will travel the world, few will see it for what it truly is.

Ok. I am going to be the odd-one out here. I just travelled in India for about two months after I came from Russia overland through Central Asia and Pakistan. After two months I had enough and had to go...

...but not because I was overwhelmed by the attack on the senses. I left, because I thought it to be a holiday-making country filled with over-bearing wanna-be hardcore travellers. Everyone keeps telling you that, if you have travelled in India, you can travel anywhere. That's just pure and utter nonsense. India is extremely easy going on the traveller. Sure, there are plenty of people, it's loud, it's stinky and the taunts are rickshaw drivers are a pain in the neck. But appart from this, the traveller is very well cared for. The infrastructure (hotels, restaurants, shops etc.) is plentyful, transportation works fairly reliable, one always finds a local who speaks English and there are other travellers literally EVERYWHERE where it's beautiful.

I got so pissed off in India, when I got that I-am-a-hardcore-traveller-because-I-survive-India line (it's such a stereotype, I wonder who was the first to bring it up) for the one kazillionst time. I know a few places where I could send these 'tough guys' to and then we'd see how they deal with being alone, having no 'tourist entertainment' (nice beaches, tours, sights etc.), bearly finding somebody to speak to because no one speaks English (not to mention YOUR language), where getting the right bus/train is an adventure itself, where there is no public transportation whatsoever, where there is not westernized food, where there is no places to sleep and so on.

The reaction on this line of thinking is usually, people telling me that this 'way of travelling' is not everybody's business. Sure. Fair enough. But then don't give me the 'I am so tough' BS.

So, if you head to India the first time. Just take it easy. Don't believe the romatiziced tales from others. It's just another South East Asian country to travel to. Like I said, over-crowded with all the effects that come with it. But not the 'toughest thing on this planet'. See it as it is....

Adrian

elAdi, what parts of India did you visit?

I had composed a message to Ria however her mail bounced back so I am posting it over here as this seems to be an appropriate place .. if she still visits this forum and if any of you know her mail, do send this over to her if possible.

Hi Maria,
Very interesting travelog indeed. I got to this link this saturday after a night in a bar and coming home fiddling with my Nikon D200, and reading on Peru - I am planning a trip there in the coming months. I read your entire travelog -all the 34 entries that you have made.
I am extremely sorry you had such a tough time in India. I was wishing as I was reading your travelog hoping that you would have a great time in India, however I do not blame you for feeling a bit rough and edgy about India.
I was born in India, I moved to Africa as my father was in the army and then moved to Bhutan for a while and was finally back in India, I completed my education in engineering in India and worked for a while before coming to the states for my Masters and eventually my PhD. I have been working in the states for quite a while now and my heart is enamoured as I read your description of your experiences about India, not because I do not agree with them. But on the contrary that sadly I have to agree with them. India is a rough place and can be quite rough for a lone young white female traveller. The tale about smells sights and the mass of humanity is particularly true. Its just that the country has too many people - many of who are not educated enough, there is a developing gap between the rich and the poor. I do find it interesting at times that even the most poor of people sometimes are very happy in India. I wish you would have visited the hills of Kumaon and Gharwal and trekked there in the Pindari and Kafni glaciers and met some mountain folks who are quite generous. I cant claim to have travelled a lot in India, however I have had my fare share of travels in India, I have trekked in the Indian himalayas and they are gorgeous.

However there does remain a stark contrast between the west and India, where the average salary is nearly 400x lower than that in the west it does impress amoung the service community - i.e. taxis etc that every one in the west is rich and it is there right to cheat them. I could not disagree with this view more. Sometimes you have to choose to ignore the masses and head your own direction, my advice to travel in India would be to research, research, research. Get hold of someone who is from India if possible on tips, (afterall indians are practically in every country in the world and most get excited if you talk about going to India - I do).
India is a place that hopefully gave or added to your perspective in life. Life is often not about clean cities with people having fresh water every day to drink let alone warm water to bathe. I hope that this perspective is something that you will carry with you and in your darkest hour you will reflect on a wretch in India or a street urchin in tatters with not even a days meal in his/her belley but with a 100 watt smile. While this is the more optimistic of my outlooks I hope that there will come a time when all men (and women) in this world have two meals every day, where no one dies because of lack of medicines and no child is left behind unable to attend school because he/she has to work to survive.

India can be pleasant, I hope I knew about your upcoming trip and I could have directed you to some friends that I had in India, who could have helped you.

Once again I wish you well and hope that your next trip to India will be a more pleasant one, or if you never summon the courage to gather forces for another trip - to India, hopfully you have learned something positive from this trip that you had recently which you will carry with you, while memories may not be fond hopefully the edification and knowledge gained will be.



PS This was a message written to Ria but her mail bounced back hence am posting it over here.

I live in Bangalore. I don't think you can avoid the negatives of getting into a major hub like Delhi, Mumbai or Chennai, but I definitely recommend that you try and get away into the countryside asap. Life is simpler there, and so are the people.

If you're coming into the north, try the smaller towns in Himachal Pradesh. If south, Kerala is relatively stress-free and clean. Then once you have (ahem) acclimatized yourself to the food and culture change, you can work your way towards the more crowded cities and take on the city slickers. Or you may just decide that you like it where you are and see the real India!!

As I've traveled, I realize more and more that some of the unnecessary pressure I've felt is from the idea that I have to come back with "cool" stories to tell friends.

But entirely contrary to the implicit assumption that these 'stories' matter, regardless of intellect/standing/whatever, most people I tell about my travels are only fleetingly interested...and I don't fault anybody for that, especially since nobody is the universe's center. But it just goes to show that pressure to "do, do, do" and build some sort of amazing movie-like story, even if it's for yourself, is unnecessary.

Going there and doing your best to live amongst the people, pampering yourself when you need to (nobody's strong all the time), knowing when to let go, and let things slide (it's not home...)...this is what's most valuable, and in the end, a 'real' experience is a story in itself.

(But this isn't to say that crazy, wild, and/or fun stories won't happen all on their own! haha)