Wow, i never thought i would be returning to India. Exactly one year to date I landed back in the country that i began this crazy journey in. As my plane took off flying out of Sri Lanka north bound for Chennai, I closed my eyes to think about about my last Indian experience, the heat, humidity, poverty, and millions of people swarming the streets in Mumbai, the tropical monsoon i was engulfed in, in Goa, the extreme pushiness and haggling that went on in Agra, the baffling train travel that at one point led me to a locked door and an armed guard asking me to take my seat when clearly i had to wait for the train to stop to exit and move around the locked door to find my assigned car, i smiled when thinking about how impressionable i was at the time. Fresh out of New York, fresh out of the USA blazing a trail as fresh and new as the ancient countries i was visiting.
With my eyes still closed i thought a bit harder, overall remembering the confusion, the heat, the immense pollution, and the light, the light which was experienced in Delhi, staying with a friend, being led by my hand, and spoon fed India in tolerable doses. I opened my eyes and smiled again because i knew no matter what i experienced this time around i would always have Delhi and a friend to smile and laugh with about all the stupid things i may have stepped in while slowly meandering back to his home a year from the last time we met.
Less impressionable, a bit more weathered, and most of all ready for what i was getting into i stepped off the plane in India September 4th 2009 in Chennai, a new city, in a new part of India. I was heading to a chef's house, i had a meeting with a food journalist, as well as a tv/radio food personality, i had a restaurant opening/food tasting to go to, this was India far removed from what most people experience. I walk out of the Airport a bit cocky blowing past barking autorickshaw drivers offering ludicrous prices to the fresh meat that stumbled off the planes, bursting with perspiration the second they hit the humid Indian air. I walked straight for the local train, purchased my 5rupee ticket (10 cents) and was off to meet my contact.
Chennai was brilliant and the contacts that i had acquired made my time there as special and amazing as you would have expected it to be, meeting locals in the food industry, picking fellow chefs brains on local food and technique was something i was starved for and only teased with my last trip to India.
Chennai, Darjeeling, Sikkim, Varanasi, and Delhi were the cities and states that i visited this time around. My experiences all positive as i wandered the small but LOUD streets of Darjeeling high up in the tea country in the foothills of the Himalayas, heading farther north to the kingdom of Sikkim where a separate visa and stamp is needed (although it still remains part of India), a 25hr train to Varinasi a few days of wondering this mystical pilgrimage sight followed by one last 15hr train and a travel weary 8am hello to my good friends the Soni's as i returned a year from when i said good bye last.
After re-reading first email i posted on India I take nothing back. India is still a place of extremes, but for me my second time around was handled with much greater ease. Avoiding Mumbai and it's chaos is trend i think i will continue, wearing shoes and not flip flops to safe guard my feet from the leavings of many/any living creatures is another trend i particularly like, eating a huge plate of rice or a ton of bread before a long journey to assure no unnecessary visits to a bumpy, loud, wet, and smelly 50mph sleeper train squat toilet is NOT a trend, but a way of life.
My stronger, harsher feelings towards India have faded with time, my tolerance for this still confusing but mostly peaceful culture has increased but i attribute this only to the miles i have covered and the overly accepting life style i have forced my self to live. India for a new comer is no cup of tea, hearing stories of people leaving as quickly as they have arrived is not uncommon and doing India alone is even harder. A huge country filled with so many extremes in both geography of the land and sea to the people, cities, towns, and villages they live in. A country one must see first hand and will never understand by reading about it or seeing it on tv.
With my eyes still closed i thought a bit harder, overall remembering the confusion, the heat, the immense pollution, and the light, the light which was experienced in Delhi, staying with a friend, being led by my hand, and spoon fed India in tolerable doses. I opened my eyes and smiled again because i knew no matter what i experienced this time around i would always have Delhi and a friend to smile and laugh with about all the stupid things i may have stepped in while slowly meandering back to his home a year from the last time we met.
Less impressionable, a bit more weathered, and most of all ready for what i was getting into i stepped off the plane in India September 4th 2009 in Chennai, a new city, in a new part of India. I was heading to a chef's house, i had a meeting with a food journalist, as well as a tv/radio food personality, i had a restaurant opening/food tasting to go to, this was India far removed from what most people experience. I walk out of the Airport a bit cocky blowing past barking autorickshaw drivers offering ludicrous prices to the fresh meat that stumbled off the planes, bursting with perspiration the second they hit the humid Indian air. I walked straight for the local train, purchased my 5rupee ticket (10 cents) and was off to meet my contact.
Chennai was brilliant and the contacts that i had acquired made my time there as special and amazing as you would have expected it to be, meeting locals in the food industry, picking fellow chefs brains on local food and technique was something i was starved for and only teased with my last trip to India.
Chennai, Darjeeling, Sikkim, Varanasi, and Delhi were the cities and states that i visited this time around. My experiences all positive as i wandered the small but LOUD streets of Darjeeling high up in the tea country in the foothills of the Himalayas, heading farther north to the kingdom of Sikkim where a separate visa and stamp is needed (although it still remains part of India), a 25hr train to Varinasi a few days of wondering this mystical pilgrimage sight followed by one last 15hr train and a travel weary 8am hello to my good friends the Soni's as i returned a year from when i said good bye last.
After re-reading first email i posted on India I take nothing back. India is still a place of extremes, but for me my second time around was handled with much greater ease. Avoiding Mumbai and it's chaos is trend i think i will continue, wearing shoes and not flip flops to safe guard my feet from the leavings of many/any living creatures is another trend i particularly like, eating a huge plate of rice or a ton of bread before a long journey to assure no unnecessary visits to a bumpy, loud, wet, and smelly 50mph sleeper train squat toilet is NOT a trend, but a way of life.
My stronger, harsher feelings towards India have faded with time, my tolerance for this still confusing but mostly peaceful culture has increased but i attribute this only to the miles i have covered and the overly accepting life style i have forced my self to live. India for a new comer is no cup of tea, hearing stories of people leaving as quickly as they have arrived is not uncommon and doing India alone is even harder. A huge country filled with so many extremes in both geography of the land and sea to the people, cities, towns, and villages they live in. A country one must see first hand and will never understand by reading about it or seeing it on tv.
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