A Kiwi In India

Namaste!

I've just got back from a 3 week trip in India travelling with my girlfriend Amanda, who's currently volunteering in Jaipur. And WOAH. What an experience. Quite difficult to put it in a words. Three weeks with Amanda was wonderful. We saw lots of different places, met lots of different people, and ate lots of different food. Difference is a key word here. India is really different from what I - a westerner from New Zealand living in Paris - would call 'normal'. Coming home I definitely appreciate just how lucky I am. Just the idea of going home from the airport in a train which is reliable, fast, and clean is actually an incredible thing! Something I take for granted. But it's a difficult thing to make work. And the intense poverty, social, cultural and political restrictions, the pollution, and massive population all make a lot of things difficult for the people of India. It causes a kind of all-for-themselves mentality, a constant fight. And this at times causes desperate behaviour. Nevertheless, there is a lot of joy in the country. People in general are very friendly and generous and despite the difficulties, India is totally alive and absolutely full of energy.

THE TRIP

Our itinerary (anti-clockwise starting at Jaipur)

FLIGHT

Flight from Paris to Delhi was a few hours delayed due to snow and fog (the plane got sprayed with this 'Ghostbusters 2' pink goo) but eventually we took off. Arrived in Delhi, went to get my Visa on Arrival (feeling the pressure to get to my connecting flight to Jaipur) and had my first experience of the much slower pace that India is famous for. I was one of two people who were at the desk to go through a process that really should take about 5 minutes, but due to chatting, and a chai break, little distractions and a general slow place it took a good hour. But that was okay. Then went through customs to find out all the bags on my flight didn't make it to Delhi, fought my way through a large bustling angry crowd politely yelling "excuse me I have a flight to catch!" in order to get the documentation I needed to get my bags back (FYI: I didn't get them until I checked in to fly back to Paris on the last day of my trip...terrible...never flying with Air France again!!)

I was actually surprised by how cool I was about all of these disruptions. I took Emma from Gaulier's advice: 'Shanti Shanti'. Go with the flow. There's no point fighting against it or you'll just burn out in frustration.

THEN went to the domestic airport to discover my flight had been cancelled and I had to buy another much more expensive flight (here I got my first taste of the lack of communication and coordination in India) but eventually got on another flight where I arrived in Jaipur! Only 20 minutes later than scheduled! Phew!

JAIPUR

Reunited with Amanda. It's been nearly three months. Which was a bit strange at first, but lovely. Then straight into the chaos. Rickshaws swerving and beeping (you beep to let obstacles know you're coming)...cows strolling on their own free will...monkeys on rooftops...painted elephants...camels pulling carts...beggars...street performers...touts...everybody wanting you to come into their shop...the pollution...the sounds...the smells...the colours...

We went to Amanda's workplace: RNP+ (Rajasthan Network For People Living With HIV/AIDS),

had my first cup of chai, strolled the streets, visited some forts and temples

Amber Fort

And bought myself a few items of clothing - a muslim long shirt and pants, some Ali Baba's, and undies - which I ended up wearing for the next three weeks. Oh! And got a haircut which cost me 40 rupees ($1.20NZ)!

OVERNIGHT TRAIN TO UDAIPUR

Really cold (you go through the Rajasthan desert at night). Met a cool guy from Australia.

UDAIPUR

We instantly fell in love with this place!

The streets are really cute - small and windy - quite European - and it's surrounded by beautiful lakes. They call it 'The City of Lakes'. It's also the setting of 007: Octopussy, thus, we stayed in the hotel's special 007 room (which had a spa) and watched the movie on a rooftop restaurant.

We also went to some random festival which we initially thought was a total let down but it got better and better. This is because of rickshaw driver dropped us off at the end gate as opposed to the start... And finally, we did a cooking lesson with a woman called Shushma.

Shushma making stuffed Paratha.

OVERNIGHT TRAIN BACK TO JAIPUR

My worst fear came true: We're not sure exactly what it was (maybe festival food, maybe cooking class food, maybe water), but I was sick on the train all the way back to Jaipur.

DAY IN JAIPUR

A day in bed - slightly delirious. At one point I alerted Amanda that we need to hang up the paper dresses on the washing line, before falling hard to sleep.

FLIGHT TO MUMBAI

MUMBAI

I was still fairly sick during our four days in Mumbai so we slowed down a bit. We actually stayed in our hotel room a lot (undoubtedly because there was a TV and room service...) but we did explore too!

Had Christmas day together strolling along the waterfront with ice cream, we watched the thousands of Cricketers at The Oval on Sunday, we had lunch at Leopolds (which is features heavily in the book Shantaram) and we went and saw a Bollywood movie!

'Tees Maar Kaan'

Really cool music. Featuring big Indian stars. It was fantastic! When they appeared for the first time, or sang a song, the audience would hoot, cheer, and whistle. These stars are huge. They're like what I imagine stars were like in America in the 50s. They are in all the movies, they act, dance and sing (or they at least lip-sync), they endorse every product imaginable, they're constantly on talk shows... The movie itself was fun. A kind of Robin Hood secret identity love story. Long, with an interval. But very immature. It seems like a lot of Indian movies are stuck in their teen years. They're like the movies and TV I watched when I was 14. I was told by one Indian guy that the movie was a mega flop - still, we had lots of fun.

OVERNIGHT BUS TO GOA

Bumpy bumpy bumpy. Lucky my sickness was mostly under control!

GOA

We liked Goa a lot! Undoubtedly because we literally lay on sun beds on the beach drinking cocktails, eating fresh fruit, going for swims, and reading books for four days straight.

We also met up with Amanda's good friends Emerald and Ben!

On New Year's Eve there was music pumping from all the shacks (restaurants/bars) along the beach. We planted ourselves at a candle lit table in the sand and drank cocktails and ate various meals whilst meeting curious and friendly visitors throughout the night. At midnight there were fireworks and bonfires. We got up to dance but unfortunately the ratio of men to woman (a major issue in India - inequality between genders) was overwhelming. I'd say for every one woman there would have been two hundred men. In other words, 'Too Many Dicks On The Dancefloor'. So we got out of there pretty quickly as being that one woman in the crowd is not so fun.

I also read three books whilst in India! That's a record for me! One a week! I've totally caught the reading bug now. It's fantastic. I especially like it because it engages the imagination so much.

I read three Malcolm Gladwell books: The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers.

The Tipping Point - about social epidemics and mass change - got me thinking about how to apply the idea of making a subtle change to marketing to 'tip' the popularity of Theatre.

Blink - about snap judgements and decisions - got me thinking about trusting my instincts, about the relationship between my conscious and subconscious mind (as an artist), and the preparation and practise I need to be able to make smart decisions in a 'blink'.

Outliers - about success and successful people - got me thinking about how lucky I am to have the advantages and opportunities open to me in this world. How lucky I am to be white, male, tall, relatively handsome, relatively wealthy, to have had a safe and happy upbringing, and a good education. These features (arguably) make the world a whole lot easier to operate in. They effect my world view, my confidence, and others' judgements of me. I'm not trying to say I'm perfect. I'm saying that traditionally people that have the features that I have tend to have an easier path in the world. So I'm fucking lucky. And I need to really take the advantages I've been given and do something good in the world.

OVERNIGHT BUS BACK TO MUMBAI

This time Amanda was sick. Bumpy bumpy. There was a big TV on the train showing another very similar and predictable Bollywood movie. Forced to watch as they refused to turn on the reading lights!

FLIGHT TO DELHI

DELHI

It was cold here! Not the nice 30 degree temperatures of Goa and Mumbai. We caught the metro and explored a few areas. Had a day of western junk food which was a scandalous moment for us. Stayed in the Jain Book Depot for an hour or so collecting a bunch of good books to read. (They were super cheap too. In India, there is luxury tax on things like restaurants and movies, but no tax at all on things like books. So savings galore.) And we enjoyed our last few days together.

DAY TRIP TO AGRA

We paid 650 for a 'registered' taxi for the day who we told we just wanted to take it easy and not see all the sights but he ended up convincing us (we gave up) to at least visit three important shops (the ones he gets a commission from).

And of course saw the Taj Mahal. Such a beautiful big building with a wonderfully romantic (but slightly morbid) story behind it.

FLIGHT HOME

So after literally about 100 phone calls to Air France India Baggage Dept. I find out my bag has finally arrived in Delhi. So I get it when I check in for my flight home. Typical! At least I got it back though! Stink to say goodbye to Amanda now. It's 6 months till I'll see her next. But that's okay. We had an amazing holiday together with plenty of unforgettable moments.

Dhanyavaad India!

You taught me about patience and trust (the world will do what it needs to do and there's no need to get worried or pushy about it because you'll just burn yourself out), about difference, and about how lucky I am in this life.

Namaskar!