India, My Love

Day three in Bankok after yet another incredible month in India.  It is crazy to think that I could miss a place so much.  Waking up this morning was infinitely more lonely with no roommates or Indians outside serving their morning chai.  You can never be lonely in India and being in Thailand amplifies this feeling.  It will be another year (hopefully less) until I return to India once again.  I feel such a strong connection to India and the culture.  There is nowhere else in the world where the people are so open to invite you into their lives.  There is never anywhere else in the world where you can hate it yet love it all the same.  I want to hold on to the memories of India before it fades away so dearly. 

• Ravi’s smile lighting up the brass figures in the shops
• Ankit’s completely honest descriptions of our looks (“You look fat... and 30 years old”)
• Stories of Raj’s kidnapping experience in Goa by a bunch of jealous locals
• Dancing with Ankita and Mama after our morning chai
• Walking to the cemetery and climbing rhododendron trees with Ravi
• Watching Bollywood soap operas with the Jains… and the whole family’s reaction to the death of a character
• Wedding crashing in India… always such an adventure.
• Breaking my sunglasses in the middle of the street and a man walking past yelling “Oh my god!!” (He was more upset about it than I was)
• Having a shop owner show me his entire life on his phone… with the highlight of it is a video of him drinking a beer in Thailand
• All of the Indians walking around with jackets, beanies, and scarves… With the weather probably 85 degrees…
• Once again, having everyone be completely confused by my ethnicity (I guess Vietnamese people don’t really travel)… JAPAN, NEPALESE, TIBETAN, CHINA, and even INDIAN (teehee yes!)
• Walking along the Ganges River and making up dubstep remixes to the various ways boat owners say “Boat, madame?”
• Singing “Rivers and Roads” in the Taj Mahal (it has the best acoustics… an empty dome of marble)
• Singing “Rivers and Roads” to Dr. Jain’s school… and having them be so confused as to why there is only three chords in the song
• The constant sounds of Bollywood hits blaring from lo-fi cell phone speakers (Rani tu mein raja… my favorite song)
• Almost overdosing on chai everyday by invitations from locals
•  Oogling at the beautiful Kashmiri men in Dharamsala
•  Oogling at the beautiful women in their saris everywhere
•  Getting proposals from parents (“You want Indian boy? My son very good.”)
•  The famous Indian head nod… I might get neck arthritis
•  Taking a 4 hour detour because our jeep drivers needed to avoid checkpoints because they don’t have licenses
• Sitting in a bus for an hour outside of Agra because our driver forgot the hotel he was supposed to bring us to (India logic…. )
•  The “No Problem-isms” of India…. Never a problem in India
•  India Time
• Charging rupees or gifts for photos with me.  Don’t judge, I’m copyrighting this face!
•  Sleeping in a cave in the Himalayas
•  First world travelling problems (“I look pregnant because my money belt is too full of money”)
• Charlie paying our bicycle rickshaw drivers… and having random dudes pretend to be the drivers come into the commotion
•  Dance party behind the Saraswati Puja car with Ankit
• Indian food: “Party in my mouth, hangover out of my ass”
•  Rolling up on the train stations… and having my nose hairs singed off with the pungent and lovely smell of millions of human feces
• Rhododendron chutney.  It’s as delicious as it sounds.
• Group cinnamon roll hugs.
•  Protesting in the Tibetan Uprising Day… a momentous day of solidarity.

 Saraswati Puja, Sarnath, India

 Saraswati Puja, Sarnath, India

 Sarnath, India

Ankit Jain, Sarnath, India 

 Agra, India

 Meghna Jaradi @ Taj Mahal, Agra, India

 Amritsar, India

 Amritsar, India

 Lotan, March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

 March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

 March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

March 10th Tibet Uprising Day, Dharamsala, India

As I sit here enjoying the comforts of Thailand (good smells, good food, relaxing people), I can’t help but miss the complete and utter discomfort of India.  Life is infinitely more interesting when you’re always on your toes.  There is an intensity of the place that mirrors my inner intensity.  I will return.

Peace, love, and good vibes to all the fellow dreamers out there.

J.