Travel is not just about going to new places or revisiting an old favourite one. It’s also about the people that one meets along the way. It’s not about forming lasting friendships but about ships that pass, bump into one another; nod, chat a while or simply move on.
One thing I’ve noticed is that foreigners usually smile and say ‘hello’ when they cross other tourists and Indians don’t. Maybe it’s a cultural thing or maybe there are just too many of us to go around saying ‘hello’ to.
When it concerns tourists, I make no secret of my dislike for the noisy, litterbug variety. The very sight of those large buses, bursting at the seams with my fellow humans makes me shudder. The buses then proceed to disgorge these chattering hordes at a site, where they swarm all over the place, frenziedly clicking pictures, taking selfies (# 1 on my hate-list), talking loudly and gesturing all the while. After some time, at a secret signal, they all trot back to the bus and head for another site to do the same thing all over again.
Contrast this with the elderly Bengali couple we saw at one of the temples at Hampi, sightseeing by themselves, at at their own pace. They walked in a leisurely manner, stopping wherever they liked, the wife waited patiently for her husband to finish his coconut water before they continued on their way. They seemed perfectly content to be on their own and not ticking off places from a checklist.
Or the family of four staying at the same hotel as ours. The father seemed to be the one in-charge of the two sons. We crossed them at various sites, it was father and sons striking out together, while the mother followed, more relaxed and unruffled. At one spot, when the menfolk rushed ahead, down a rocky path to the river bank to check out the monuments there, she didn’t even quicken her steps. She merely strolled along, probably enjoying some precious ‘me-time.’
We also struck up a conversation with a couple of cheerful and friendly youngsters from Germany. They were students, travelling after the completion of their courses. Apparently, once they started working, they would never get such an opportunity so they were making the most of the break, and had an exhaustive list of places all lined up- from Mumbai to Hampi to Varanasi, Kolkatta and then off to Thailand and Vietnam. We envied their carefree joie de vivre and they asked us whether we too did the typical Indian nod/shake of the head. We didn’t. Or did we? Hmm…
Two interesting revelations (for us) came up in the course of our conversation. I asked them why they had selected India as a place to visit, when there was so much to see in all of Europe. They replied that:
- Firstly, India was cheaper, more budget-friendly and they were students on a budget.
- Secondly, and I quote “After a while, everything in Europe starts to look the same, but here it is all completely different.”
Which got me thinking- we live in a land of such amazing diversity that even when we cross from one state to another; the landscape, language, food and lifestyle, all change to some extent. Case in point- we were there during the five days of Diwali and heard fire-crackers only ONCE. The only way we knew that it was Diwali was because the fronts of all the houses in the village were freshly laid with cow dung and decorated with ‘rangoli’
Now, I would dearly love to travel through Europe and discover for myself whether it all looks the same (although I have my doubts, we humans are notorious for not appreciating what we have), but it would be a waste if I didn’t do the same in my own country as well. Where most states are the size of a small European nation anyway!
The fascinating part about travel is how striking cultural differences and similarities can be. It’s up to us to accept what is different and appreciate that which is is not.
And if in India, about other states too!
Bucket list, here I come…
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