India…an Extra Sensory Experience.
I’m still processing our recent trip to India, trying to use words to describe our experience and going through over a thousand pictures. India…on the other side of the world…right now 11 ½ hours difference in time. We went to visit our son and his wife and two children, to get a glimpse of their lives in India and it was an amazing trip.
First impressions of India is it’s chaotic and crowded. 1.5 billion people live in India, a country the size of five Texas’. The traffic…unbelievable…no rules on the road… just go! And honk! The noise level with the honking is constant. There can be cows in the streets, and wild dogs, people, cars and more motorcycles than cars. There are no sidewalks to take a leisurely stroll except in some gated communities. There are extremes…the wealthy and the poor. The outsides versus the insides…outside looking dirty, inside can be a whole different feel.
There is public art everywhere…on bridge pillars and buildings and bridges…not graffiti…but apparently the government pays artists to paint in public spaces. It’s nice. The electrical systems one sees exposed looks like a bowl of spaghetti…how anyone can figure it out is beyond me. There is garbage all around.
The people are beautiful…darker skin tones, women in beautiful, and colorful saris and Kurtis, men with their full head of black hair. People living like us; folks with jobs, families they love, shopping, eating, their children in school and sports, parents going to practices and games…And that is what we enjoyed most of our trip…being a part of our son’s family activities, to see a slice of their lives in India, along with traveling and discovering other parts of India with them.
The foods are tasty and spicy and inexpensive. On our trip to the state of Kerala in the SW part of India we ate out a lot because we were traveling. At their home was a mixture of more traditional American fare or Indian.
I anticipated heat and humidity, and smog, but we were pleasantly surprised with mild temperatures, low humidity and many sunny days without smog for three weeks (one day of rain). Our son’s house had a second-floor balcony where we could sit outside and drink our morning coffee every day we were there. It was delightful.
I’ll stop here for this first post…much more to come.