| Travel Journals XXIII: Fellowship of the Road There are certain signs that you've been in the Subcontinent for a long time. For example if you've started thinking of places like Mumbai and Delhi as calm and reasonable rather than large or intimidating, or if you've stopped having any concept of time shorter than three hours, its likely you've spent more than a month here. As i prepare for my flight on Sunday I'm only thankful that I'm leaving before I've stopped looking around for the garbage cans (there never are any). It will be a bit hard to leave. I have grown very fond of India. I love the landscapes, the pace of life here and the culture. I think I'll actually be really disappointed when i can go into the same restaurant twice, order the exact same thing and actually get it. Undoubtedly the thing I will miss the most is something which i have yet to write about, that is the ease and speed which travellers can make friends with one another. Literally my first experience in India was hanging out with a Scottish backpacker and two Russian circus clowns in Mumbai Airport while we waited for our connecting flights. Almost every day since I have made at least one new friend. the people who i have met travelling are a collection of some of the most extraordinary people from all over the world. this travel journal could very easily been a series of biographies instead except i could have never kept up. I've met everyone from England's top ranking slam poet to an Iranian shoemaker and everyone in between. I think it's probably because those who travel are open and ready for new experiences and that it is a relief to see someone in the same situation as you that such a strong bond can form between strangers in a matter of minutes. You find yourself waiting for a bus together or sharing a cab to save money, or possibly sitting near one another in a cafe. you smile at each other and say hello. The next thing you know you're comparing stories and talking about home or politics or some other topic. sometimes you part company shortly afterwards with a cheerful "farewell"and "travel safe" glad to have spent a while in each other's company. It's just as likely tough that you'll find yourself travelling in the same direction or living right near each other and then you wind up booking into the same guesthouse or going sightseeing together the next day. it may even turn out that you know the same people. when time finally comes to part company, you exchange e mails, embrace like old friends and promise to keep in touch. One of the most wonderful things that can happen when you've settled in a new place is to hear your name called and when you turn around there's someone you met in Goa or Hampi. you may have only parted ways a few days ago, but your reunion always feels like meeting a dear friend from school after years of separation. When I left Arambol, I intended to see the cave temples of Ellora and Ajanta. I shared a cab with a few friends to the train station. they were on their way to Jaipur so i expected to catch a separate train. as it turned out we were on the same train as far as Mumbai and there were a few more people we knew on the platform. i upgraded my ticket so that i could share the train car with my friends. we then met a bunch of other people in the same car who came over to share food and play music with us. it took a very short time to convince me to continue on with the group to Pushkar. i once again changed tickets wandering around the train we bumped into still more westerners who joined our merry band. by the end of the two day journey there were at least 20 of us travelling together, helping each other with the luggage, sharing food, and helping one another book the transfer tickets to Pushkar. I wound up sharing a guesthouse with four of the group, none of whom i knew before that train ride. They were a big part of why i enjoyed Pushkar so much. Random side notes: Only in India ! -Earlier this week i watched a crew of men hauling a cement mixer up the very steep steps of upper Bhagsu. there were at least fifteen guys pulling it up with ropes and two or three behind the machine pushing it up. it was an impressive spectacle. The crew of workmen and the attendant crowd were all having a great time shouting back and forth and bursting out into meaningless arguments. i got the feeling however that whatever the job was, it would have been far simpler and less time consuming to mix the concrete by hand - There is a rumor floating around that Indians feed the bees here sugar to make the honey sweeter. doing this simply would never occur to anyone else on earth. I don't know if it's true but it sounds likely, especially once you've tasted what passes for honey in most of the restaurants - Someone told me that the full translation of the most commonly used Indian phrase is as follows: "Anything is possible but some things are not possible" again i don't know if this is true but it sounds about right. it explains a lot about India. |
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