India is a vast country with great opportunities for travellers. Whatever you want to do, be it mountaineering, trekking, visiting ancient monuments and Maharadjas' palaces, riding a camel in the desert, unwinding at the beach, enjoying lush tropical vegetation or finding yourself with the help of an Ashram, India has it on offer.
With a dense railroad system, the trains can get you nearly anywhere you want to. And if you strive for visiting even the remotest places off the beaten track, a statebus will take you there. However, bear in mind that as India is huge, it will take some time. Further, the many stops trains make and the very bad road conditions will take their toll to your journey time. You may find yourself travelling for a whole day in order to visit a sight for two hours.
However, I have to admit that what I experienced in this country fell short of my expectations with the following biggest disappointments:
It is impossible to have a genuine talk with Indian people. Conversations rarely go beyond the stage of asking about your good name, your good country, your good profession, and whether you are married. Most of the rare lucky times I had a decent conversation inevitably ended in the Indian wanting some of my money or selling the most unusefull things.
India is not a spiritual country. Although, religion is extremely important to the culture, I had the impression that all religious tasks (prayer, worship, pilgrimage) are mechanically fulfilled without thinking. It is done because it has always been like this. I often saw people answering their mobile phones while worhipping in temples. It somehow reminds me of those Austrians, who visit churches on Sundays, but have never thought about the true meaning of their visit.
Indian food is nothing to rave about (except for Keralan and Goan cuisine). Most of the food I got in India was either bland or so hot that I was unable to taste any other spices.
The all-time highs of the country have been:
* Downtown Mumbai
* the Taj Mahal
* the historic remains, bizarre rock formations, and lush vegetation of
Hampi
* watching people bathing in the river Ganges at sunrise
* the 1,000 temples of Palitana
* having dinner and a decent conversation with Shiv the painter in Bikaner
* watching an Indian movie in an Indian cinema
* sunset on top of the roof of a curch in Diu island (with full moon on the
other side)
* eating steamed fish with thick coconut cream wrapped in a banana leave
in Kerala.
The things I didn't do but are worth a try for my next visit:
* Kolkata, as it allegedly has as many heritage buildings as downtown
Mumbai
* drinking Bangh Lassie to get stoned without having to smoke
* having an AIDS test done, siging up at the Osho Ashram, and shagging
like a rabbit
* going to Darjeeling to see its wonderfully, romantic, mountain scenery
and tea plantations
FURTHER LESSONS LEARNED
Montezuma lives in Mexico. Forget the bad stories about Indian food and what it does to your body. I ate fresh ice cream, brushed my teeth with tap water and washed my fruits under the tap. I ate salad, drank my milkshakes with ice, and ate meat. But the shits stayed away from me.
The subcontinent of India is the largest public toilet in the world. It's fun to piss around town, use any wall, any tree or use no shelter at all. Ease youself whenever you fancy to do so. It creates a great smell and everyone loves it! Sorry, if you are a girl, you have to be a bit more reserved. But a public park or the gardens of a historic monument are always a good place to fertilise the grass!
The subcontinent of India is the largest garbage dump in the world. Don't carry your waste with you, there is always a nice grassy area, which you can use to dispose of your litter. Preferrably plastic stuff, aluminium foil and all non-rotting materials!
Goa is not Ibiza. If you want to have a party, go to Ibiza. The Mediterranean island is perfect for this purpose, whereas in India the spelling of this word is generally unknown. In Goa you can find hippies who obviously stayed there since the 60s and probably think that the time didn't change. However, party is nil (this lesson is at least valid for the season 2004/2005).
Be a cow to cross the road. If you want to cross the road, disguise as a cow. All vehicles will stop for a cow whereas pedestrians are considered the weakest link and run over.
Don't take too serious what other people say. Prepare yourself for the trip, just try to forget everything you heard about it from other people and move on to visit India.