margsgapyear: 2015

This post is taken from a letter I wrote to my family at the beginning of November after the Intrepid tour finished and before I headed for Gujarat.

Make yourself a cuppa, this is a long letter. If you don’t feel like reading it all, don’t feel at all obliged.

I’m sitting in the 2^nd floor lobby of Hotel Perfect in Delhi (where the wi fi code is “all is perfect”). (Very Marigold Hotel) We’ve finished the 21day tour of north India and it has been amazing.

Don’t think I have words for India. Amazing fits, wonderful doesn’t, good doesn’t, incredible does. Confronting sure does. Overwhelming too probably. That might be what I feel most at present – overwhelmed.

India feels like Laos multiplied by 10.

In Laos and other parts of South Eash Asia, there are poor people. People who struggle to make ends meet.

In India. this is so “in your face”. Partly because there are just so many people, 1.4 billion isn’t it?

I’m not talking of the beggars.

I think of the cycle rickshaw drivers, the people who collect rubbish on the streets, the men who clean shoes or offer to re-sole your shoes and the men at the tourist attractions who offer to sell you things like postcards, books, replicas of statues etc. A small wooden chess set for 20 rupees – 33 cents. They had to buy it in the first place so how much do they make out of it? And they sure don’t sell many.

I’ve taken a cycle rickshaw 3 times and felt embarrassed each time.

The riders aren’t necessarily young. Carrying well fed and well padded tourists around. They probably look way older than their years. And the fumes they are riding in all day must greatly reduce their life expectancy. In Varanasi, our man who took us to the old city obviously had hip damage in the way he rode and he was carrying 2 westerners. We felt great embarrassment at this poor man having to transport us. All members on the tour did. We would rather have walked, but then that would have denied him the $2.00 fare. Our guide Naveen pointed out that this was 10 times what Indian people would pay for the same distance so the rickshaw drivers were always pleased to have our custom.

I believe you sometimes see desperation in these people’s eyes. It’s not that they are sitting back and can’t be bothered working. Often they are working very hard physically and my sense is their survival may be tenuous. I find it so confronting.

And things happen like seeing 2 cycle rickshaws parked behind each other at traffic lights. The one behind holds on to the one in front so that when the lights change, he is being pulled along by the one in front. The man in front looks around to see what the problem is and flashes this brilliant smile at the joke that’s been played on him.

I cant understand so much of India, it is out of my realm of experience.

India and Uzbekistan initially may not seem to have a lot in common, but coming here after there is a very logical progression. Both were part of the silk route so various goods and designs have moved from one country to the other. The Mughuls also invaded India and brought architecture especially, and Islam. Babur, Tamerlane’s grandson is known in both countries. The history is fascinating.

Tonight I fly to Amedabad, which is the capital of Gujarat. Gujarat is one state in India most known for textiles. I’ve been doing lots of reading and know just where I want to visit. There are truly some amazing textiles there and many are still completed by women in their homes. Cooperatives have been set up so women are paid reasonable prices and like many countries, the money they bring in can make a difference between having enough food and not, or being able to send their kids to school or not.

My favourite textile Ikat is probably the reason why I went to Uzbekistan. Well there is also Ikat in Gujarat. I believe there are only 2 families left in the world who do double Ikat and they are in Gujarat. I couldn’t even try to explain what double Ikat is, it is beyond my comprehension and I have never seen it. It is also, and rightly so, VERY expensive, so I don’t expect to bring a souvenir home.

I remember my uncle who has long ago died recommending Eric Newby’s “A Short Walk In the Hindu Kush”. That’s where I’ll be. I will now try to read it.

After that, it’s back to Laos. I am really looking forward to going back. After India, it seems so small and quite and calm. It is a Buddhist country, there are monks on the street all the time. It has been surprisingly easy to build a small network there. At least 4 nights a week I go to the chanting in my local temple. It is so meditative.

It seems funny that because Buddhism started in India, so many people “come to India to find themselves”. Buddhism isn’t really here any more. Like Elvis, Buddhism has “left the building”. Hinduism is the dominant religion. There are historical Buddhist sights, but Buddhism as a way of life isn’t part of everyday life.

To me Hinduism is far more “out there”. Possibly just because of the large population. It is a religion that is lived on the streets as much as in the temples. There are cows and temples everywhere, and paintings of gods, Ganesh especially, on many houses. We have been to holy sites and stayed in the old parts of towns, so have witnessed the processions. With something like 900,000 gods, there are festivals most days.

And Hinduism is loud! This coming week is Diwali, the Festival of Light. Apparently it is beautiful. For Hindu’s, it is like our Christmas. Shops have “happy Diwali” signs and Diwali sales. People try to be with their family. Because it is the festival of light, fireworks are for sale in many places. I’m going to witness it very safely from the rooftop of my hotel.

If you’ve got this far, thankyou for listening. I think I needed a bit of a debrief about India. I did have a plan to go south to Kerala, but that will not be for this trip. I hope this letter doesn’t sound all negative, I feel so grateful to have come here. We have seen and done amazing things. The textiles, especially the sari’s are stunning. I think as I said, I’m just overwhelmed at present. Part of this letter may appear in a blog post. Now that the tour has ended, I plan on having time to update the blog.

Having spent a bit of time around Land Rovers, courtesy of Peter, when I arrived in India, I suddenly started seeing all these jeeps that to me looked like old Land Rovers. They are called Mahindra's.

I wondered if this was something left over from the British Raj.

So I sent some photos to a couple of "the boys" and Gianni's response is below.

And the Enfield is the bike at the end.