Heart of India - OAT trip

Visiting India is not something to be undertaken lightly.  It is an experience that assaults all the senses – sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch.  This is not bad but the traveler needs to be aware of what is happening around him/her. We had a great group of very experienced travelers and a wonderful local guide, Ashim.  The topics of discussion ranged from politics, to religion, to population, to just about everything else you can imagine.  The trip from the US is long and, at least for me, was tiring.  We launched right into the trip as we came from the airport seeing over-crowding everywhere.  The most interesting thing is that street markings and signals are useful only as general recommendations and no one seemed to pay much attention to them.  So much humanity and it all seemed to be moving at the same time!! Sidewalks, where they exist, are used for everything but walking; walk in the street and prepare for the noisy blare of many different horns telling you or others of the crowds to move out of the way. Roads have a similar issue --- park wherever you like and let folks go around. 

We experienced many wonderful sights from the markets of Old Delhi, Taj Mahal, and a tiger on a kill in Ranthambore plus many, many more.  We saw cremations on the ghats in Varanasi as well as the ritual bathing in the Ganges.  We experienced many different modes of transportation from private van, tour bus, train, open safari vehicle, pedaled rickshaw, tuk tuk, hot air balloon, boat, and camel.  A disappointment was no elephant ride was included or even offered, although we could have easily taken these beautiful animals in at least one location.

If you like Indian food, you are in heaven as it was everywhere and tasted to me like Indian food in the US…with probably more variety of dishes.  It is not my favorite food choice but there is ample less-than Indian food for those like me.  It does take a little getting used to  not have beef (assuming you partake) readily available.  Much chicken and lots of vegetarian options are available

Animals (dogs, pigs, cows) roaming the street and beggars were apparent almost everywhere.  Hawkers at some sites were pretty aggressive but simply pretending not to see them helps…my mother would not approve of ignoring people, but was necessary unless you wanted to buy something. Visits to various temples – Muslim, Hindu, Sikh introduced another opportunity to learn about the culture.  The home hosted dinner and a Day in the Life school visit was also interesting. 

 Should you take this trip?  If you are in reasonably good shape, can walk unaided over fairly rough terrain, and are not afraid to experience a really different culture then this is a great educational experience.  My wife and I would not have felt our travels were complete without a visit to India.  The people are friendly and welcoming. We definitely enjoyed it and see a great potential in the Indian economy and people.  Even though westerners cannot readily drink the water, India is beyond the moniker of developing country.  Maybe not as developed as the US but so much potential is there…folks from the West need to see it.