Letters from India - The Pilgrim's Trail

India Photo Album

I left Vietnam on February 25 for another long, multi-stop series of no-frills flights for India. I am getting better at the very unglamorous routine of traveling budget airlines & finding ways to entertain myself in various airport terminals during incredibly long layovers. With my 6-month India visa in hand it felt great to be unencumbered by the series of 30-day visas I had in Southeast Asian countries. However, in Southeast Asia I was motivated to be on my way out before the really hot, humid weather was expected to begin in March. I had my sights set on the cooler weather in the districts northeast & northwest of Delhi; I figured I would see what I could see in about 2-months' time. I checked into Workaway volunteer options but the most common options for the eastern areas were yoga teacher or meditation guide - uhhhhh neither of those quite fit me. Other than farming, the options were limited.




Realities of Traveling in India

My timing was not great though as late winter is way too early for the northern mountains so I knew that I would need to explore some more of the north eastern areas, south of Himalayas, while waiting for the weather to warm & the roads to clear of snow before heading to Jammu-Kashmir. I think of myself as an experienced traveler, especially since in recent years I lived in Lesotho & traveled solo & independently through parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.  I felt I should be prepared to wing it, but was I really ever prepared for solo travel in India?

I thought I was getting off to a great start on the "new-in the last 9 years" Delhi metro until I disembarked underground at the main central station…but then the full frontal crush of India fell over me… so many meters below the city streets. The volume of people, platforms, exits, & options was really overwhelming. Not surprising it did not take long before a "friendly" "station agent" offered his assistance to get me to the rickshaws/tuk-tuks on the streets above. Though I'm used to touts & tricksters that prey on tourists - sometimes I find it just makes sense to get "caught" in their net & get pulled along, which in this case, if I hoped to ever get to the street, I figured would be the best option. The sad (but protective) thing is that I really can't tell, initially, if someone is being friendly & helpful or trapping me in a tourist scam. The result is that I'm generally distrustful of everyone.  But, better to be caught up & out of the metro than flopping around like a fish out of water. It never ceases to amaze me just how wide the tourist net extends. But, making it to the street was hardly any better than the chaos of the metro station. It still bewilders me how people can function in such a state of random motion & cacophony of sounds. The Indians just seem to take it all in stride, seeing the logic & flow so that they can weave along to their destination without much effort or angst.

My friendly "agent" found me a tuk-tuk (no tip required!) & I presented my hotel's address & directions - but the routine when a driver catches a foreigner is to take the tourist directly, "do not pass go", to a travel agent. Well, at least I was prepared for that & actually a bit relieved… after the experience in the metro, the reality of solo travel in India seemed daunting (just buying my metro ticket was challenge communication & crowd control). The end of this story actually worked out well for me.  After a brief explanation of my interests & timeframe I think the travel agent sized me up pretty well, or maybe he just offered up what the stereotypical older, female, solo traveler is looking for…a little bit of the "Eat, Pray, Love" experience. He took into consideration the time needed to elapse before arriving in the far north & he gave me a fantastic route that I would not have figured out so easily on my own. Sure I paid a commission but we do say "time is money" and for me it was "predictability versus chaos" and so far the itinerary the agent worked up for me has been perfect. He solved the problem of transportation by pre-booking my transportation on trains, buses, & flights, station drop off & pick up, & hotels.  I still travel independently & solo and I don't have to worry about figuring how to get from point A to B.  After 7, now 8 months of travel, it was easy to accept a break from all that day-to-day planning & struggle, and that was in significantly less chaotic countries (relative to Africa not Italy!). Since I have several overnight trains, one of the best features is that someone will meet me at the train station to take me to my hotel & again when I leave, I am driven back to the station. Most of the transport between station & hotel is quite far & mostly pre-dawn & late evenings. I'm not following the backpackers ethic but heck it's such a treat to be relieved of having to find & negotiate everything every day.  The upside/downside of the particular budget hotels that were arranged for me is that for the most part I am staying in hotels more typically used by Indian tourists & not in the usual backpacker/independent traveler hotels  that can be found in Booking.com & HostelWorld. The good news is that I meet a lot of Indian travelers - they are super friendly & love being tourists & traveling about their own country, the bad news is that I sometimes miss the socializing that comes from staying in backpacker places offered up in the commonly used Booking & HostelWorld hotel booking websites.


I'm now one month into my two month+ journey. I have managed to figure out the train stations fairly well - even when the electronic board listing trains & platforms is not working (not infrequent); the trains - knowing which end of the very long train my assigned coach will be located (the trains are super long); and the sleeper berths - how to manage sleeping in the top or the bottom bunk (the top always seems to sway more), & that I actually won't get sick if I order a chai (tea) with milk and a dinner that will be picked up along the way by the coach attendant. I have also managed to refine my techniques for ignoring or putting a stop to touts, tricksters, & hawkers.

The street beggars are a different story & I think I'll never feel untouched by the many poor souls I see. It's possible, in many cases, to distinguish between the professional beggars who live on the street from those who seem genuinely destitute, hungry, often disabled, & in need of a handout - there is more than you would imagine of each. There are just so many street people here without the family structure in place to care for needy relatives. Wheelchairs are rarely seen - it's not only an impossible expense but the streets & buildings just are not set up for them. I can't get over seeing the disabled who are incapable of walking due to injury or birth defect, scooting themselves along the ground using only their hands. Only rarely have I seen fortunate ones who have a little wheeled trolley to help maneuver themselves about.  The elderly & mothers with their tiny, skinny little babies are especially heartbreaking for me. I try to give a little something or a lot depending on what the circumstances are. For every "yes, I'll help", there are so many more that I have to say "no" to.  Certainly I know that there are many beggar scams - fake wounds dressed up in bandages covered in fake blood & children sent to work for money, & alcoholics just asking for change to "eat".  But really - seeing a little child that is clearly undernourished - well, that's something just too impossible to ignore.

The mothers who beg for their children, especially the babies & toddlers, will ask you to buy milk not just give a few rupees; they are so aware that we tourists are skeptical of scams. There was one mother & child so far, likely there been more, who particularly touched me. I did not quite understand at first - but then once she made it clear by coaxing me to follow her to a street vendor to point to powdered enriched milk - I realized I could help her at that moment on that day. The vendor tried to sell me milk for a child over 12-months. I looked at the child & said no way - you must give us milk for a baby under 12-months. A passerby stopped to help & asked the mother how old was the child - over 1 year said the mother. I could not believe this scrawny little baby could be that old - wasted little body, light as feather, thin little face with big eyes. Heartbreaking. I bought the milk, the mother thanked me kindly & we both wandered off separately.  I did not know if that mother would sell the milk or give it to the baby - but I had to hope she would do the right thing. A little later the mother found me to show me that she had prepared the milk & the baby was drinking it from a small bottle. I believe she really wanted me to know that her need was genuine & that she was a good mother.  Following that though came the next plea - she tugged at the babies dirty t-shirt, the only thing he was wearing - would I buy him some clothes.  At that point I had no problem - "let's go". She pointed to a clothing store. We started to enter & the shopkeeper shouted at her to get out (whether it was because she was a beggar or a lower caste - I did not know). I had to show him that she was with me. Our clerk was rude but we managed to pick out an inexpensive top & shorts for the little guy. Both mother & baby were smiling - again we went our separate ways, only I was followed by yet another mother asking for milk, but this one I did not help. It's really hard to order a cheap lunch or snack when I think about the hardships people here face. But - it’s all the more easy to offer some of what I buy, an orange or a snack, to someone looking like they would appreciate it.  I do see a few people giving money or food to the beggars - maybe they are less fearful of being scammed or robbed, or because they see, there are just too many & the need is so great. 

This type of poverty is far less than I have seen in other countries; in India the volume is just so overwhelming & the level of need so deep; the truly needy, mothers with infants, elderly, disabled, may just be faced with no other alternative but to beg. It is an aspect of traveling in India that makes the inconveniences of travel here pale. It's something one just has to accept as part of the experience and we each have to find our own way of making peace with it. The poverty & disability people suffer is a fact of life here - it is not invisible, nor are the people. I find that as difficult as it is, I have to accept it as a condition of India - it's this sprawling stifling majestic dirty impressive colorful magical tragic place that draws you in & pushes you away all at the same time.

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Pilgrim's Trail

I can characterize my first month in India as the Pilgrims' Trail as I have visited some of the many sacred & revered  Sikh, Hindu, Jain, & Buddhist sites in this part of India. Each place has offered some unique opportunities to learn more about India & its people, but I'll try not to make this any more of a travelogue & just mention a few of the particularly interesting events that I encountered.


New Delhi 


Sikh temple & center for learning. Interesting for me to learn that the devout come to honor & listen to the words of their prophet, Guru Nanak, that are contained in books that are at the center of the temple. The "word" rather than icons, images, or statues are revered. The prophet's teachings are read aloud every day & the devout come to listen & contemplate.





Orchha, Madhya Pradesh 


Ancient Hindu temples & tombs. This small rural town is an important site for weddings & people flock to the Hindu Ram Raja Temple to get married. On some days there was a steady of weddings from morning until dusk. There is a great deal of fanfare for each wedding; family & friends create a procession, drumming & dancing all the way to the temple & afterward until the early morning.









Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh 


Jain temples & tombs famous for intricate Kama Sutra carvings (yes some of which are those sex & sexually charged poses you have heard the Kama Sutra is famous for!). There is a lovely park at the main temple site. 

After visiting all the temples, I spent the day reading in between frequent interruptions by Indian families wanting "selfies" with me (this happens all the time!). I always wonder what the heck they do with those photos. Khajuraho is surrounded by beautiful farmlands & small villages. 





The owner of the hotel where I stayed invited me & another hotel guest to his home for dinner. He made an incredible fresh chutney of minced ginger, green onions, & green mango to go along with the home-cooked all veg dinner.  One of the other guests was his friend, also a hotel owner who ended up befriending me & taking me on a couple of motorbike tours of the surrounding area, his family's farm, & the small village where he grew up. In the village he showed me examples of the types of homes associated with the different castes & we had a long visit with a family who farms his land. The homes are made of mud & dung bricks that are plastered over by a smooth dung mixture that is painted white. Each home has an entry that opens onto a small terrace bounded by work areas to dry grain, weave, & create tools; small rooms; & a cooking area. Every week it’s the job of the females to resurface the flooring of the terrace & rooms.  They coat the flooring with a dung mixture, smoothing it out until is as slick as a tile floor & then painting decorative edges in white. The walls & flooring don't smell at all & they create a smooth heat resistant surface to help cool the compound. While the rest of the family are working n the fields or gathering water, the matriarch & perhaps one nursing mother will remain at home to work. They seem always busy - drying & sorting grain, preparing meals, & cleaning & maintaining the compound.  On another day, one of the staff of my new friend's hotel invited me to his sister's wedding - an incredibly lively celebration with drumming & dancing & great food. The partying starts in the evening & goes on before the wedding which takes place in the wee hours. I skipped the ceremony so the family could party on without worrying about me.












Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh


 Ghats (broad step structures that extend for blocks along the river bank), crematories, & Hindu temples along the sacred Ganges (Ganga) River. This large city is amazing but over the top!! I limited myself to walks along the narrow cobblestone lanes just along the river in the oldest part of town. The number of cows, bulls, & dogs that wander along these narrow streets (wide enough for one motorbike in some places) is incredible; people just step over or around the animals & all that they leave behind (watch your step!).  This is a very important religious site & hosts thousands & thousands of pilgrims. Life just happens along the river. In Varanasi, wealthy noblemen & rulers built impressive gates & multi-stories temples & palaces along the riverbank. Along the ghats people are praying, bathing, shaving their heads to mourn their dead relatives who will be cremated at the river's edge, attending sessions with gurus, meditating, eating, celebrating, oh and doing laundry, eating, boating, all of life just happening on the riverbank. I had a sweet little room with a window looking out on the Ganges - fascinating from dawn to dusk.







Rishikesh, Uttarakhand 


Located north of Varanasi, also  on the Ganges, the center for teaching yoga & meditation in northern India with dozens & dozens of ashrams & schools. It's a lovely (as in Indian-lovely) small town with lots of foreigners, many on a spiritual  quest. I participated in daily yoga sessions that were held at my hotel. I happened to be there during the last week of a month long teaching event by the Guru Mooji Baba - Moojiji for short. A native of Jamaica, he lived much of his life in England but now has a center for teaching & meditation in Portugal. He has a large & growing following and his daily sessions in Rishikesh were attended by over 2,000 people. The sessions were quite comfortable & personal in spite of the number of people; I attended 3 days of 2-3 hour sessions - all very interesting. His message comes from a holistic perspective incorporating many religions & spiritual sources. At its simplest is (as I interpreted it) - let go of those things that are interfering with your happiness & ability to live at peace: jealousy, insecurity, hate, fear, narcissism, pride. Be in the moment with a clear head & heart. Easy message, common sense - hard work! He is a very charismatic teacher with a simple straightforward style of communication who appears genuinely interested in helping people achieve a more peaceful, "awakened" state of mind.   It was great to see this amazing little town that brings so many people together who just want to make a better life for themselves - some wounded, some recovering, some actually enjoying life (I put myself mostly in that later group).













McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh 


Set in the foothills (6,000 ft. in the "lowlands") of the Himalaya, it's the home of the Dalai Lama & the spiritual & administrative seat of the exiled Tibetan Buddhist community. Such a fascinating place! McLeod Ganj, just outside Dharamsala, is the center of the Tibetan community & a small town clinging to some very steep mountain cliffs. The general area brings lots of Indian tourists - more than foreigners - who come from all over India; perhaps because it is relatively easy to access the cooler temperatures of the Himalayas. There is an important, very old, Hindu temple honoring Shiva, the Buddhist monastery, & a waterfall but not much else. Most people come for one night & then move on. I was here for a week so had plenty of time to make a routine of visiting the Dalai Lama's monastery where I could enjoy the sun & the mountain views while reading my book.  I felt so lucky as one day I was able to see the Dalai
Lama returning to the monastery after attending a conference in another city. I was among a small crowd who had gathered to watch him pass by as his car drove him slowly past the compound's gate. Many of the Tibetan devout held prayer flags - I believe His Holiness was blessing us as he drove past with his hand raised & a very sweet grin for us. 





The first half of my trip has taken me across 1,300 miles. The second half of my trip, another 1,700 miles, will take me northward & deeper into the mountains!

Kullu, Himachal Pradesh > Manali, Himachal Pradesh > Amritsar, Punjab > Srinagar, Jammu-Kashmir > Leh, Jammu-Kashmir.