Travel

Chaos abounds! In every way, Indian cities are collages of clashing elements. It seems that everyone is a merchant, whether they sell from a storefront or a nomadic basket and lawlessness engulfs all aspects of life. Traffic lacks order and food is entirely unregulated, leading to questionable choices in nearly every moment of day-to-day existence. This is, of course, much of what I love about this country; it is raw and real, daring you to test the limits and taxing your comfort constantly. And then there is Chandigarh. The capital of both Punjab and Haryana states, it is the only…

We are traveling in a vast and varied cultural and physical landscape. Planning this trip was frustrating because there were too many places we wanted to visit in too little time, so we decided that we would divide it into two weeks in the South and two in the North with specific locations to be determined. We arranged a flight from Goa to Delhi at the midpoint and then, knowing we would end our trip in Delhi, hopped on a train headed towards the legendary Rishikesh; a small town straddling the Ganges River as it flows out of the mountains.…

Our friend Martin grew up in Vermont and attended Middlebury with us but he was always seeking something beyond his New England upbringing and in his post-grad world travels, he found what he was looking for in India. He settled here a few years ago and built a house in Gokarna in the state of Karnataka. We adapted our itinerary to visit him for a few days and confirm that he had indeed found a special little corner of the Earth. Gokarna is a small town on the Arabian Sea and a sacred site for Hindu pilgrims. There are several…

Animals are everywhere. Dogs, cats, goats, ponies, pigs, chickens, cows and others roam the streets at will. Domestic animals are wild and live with the people; they are tolerated in some cases and revered in others. I have seen some stunning birds and today I watched a monkey climb onto our hotel balcony, pick through an ashtray, chew on butts, then toss the container on the floor. Some animals need separation from humans, and they have recently gained some protection in the form of National Parks and Reserves. Our travel style has always been highly improvisational, inspired by whims and…

Elephants charged us!

Tea Plantations in Ooty

Travel is exhausting; just sitting in a seat can be mentally taxing when large distances are being covered. This is especially true here, where you can be packed into a vehicle that is literally overflowing with people and the appalling road conditions lead to bags and people flopping on top of you while the incessant honking assaults your ears and putrid smells you could never have imagined existing penetrate directly into your stomach and trucks heading dead on towards you tense every muscle in your body and make you want to scream STOP! Our trip is short and we want…

I have done a fair amount of traveling in my young adult life and almost everywhere I go, I experience some form of hassle and harassment. It happens in Europe where my skin tone blends better with the locals, but it tends to happen more in countries where I am obviously a foreigner. I don't blame these people who can instantly tell that my wealth vastly exceeds their own for asking/pressing/begging me to share it with them in exchange for whatever goods or services they offer, often at grossly inflated prices, and I was prepared for this in India, but…

India is a land of extreme wealth and abject poverty. On a global scale, the richest and the poorest coexist and the contrast is stunning. We wanted to experience all aspects of the country and as middle-class American tourists, we have felt very rich at times and out of our league in others. We flew from Mumbai to Cochin in Kerala where we had made a reservation at a super deluxe Taj resort that had been recommended for its superior class and service. While the price was cheap by Western hotel standards, it blew up our budget quickly. When we…