The meaning of DiwaliDiwali in India is like Christmas in Canada. It’s the biggest festival of the year, celebrated all over India, with lights, firecrackers, flowers, parties and pujas. Diwali (or Deepavali) celebrates the return of Lord Rama and Sita from exile, and the triumph of light over dark. This year, 2010, it takes place on November 5, on the new moon night, so the sky is absolutely dark — the better to see the firecrackers that people set off in an absolute frenzy. If you are Canadian, you can celebrate Diwali by entering a contest to win a trip to India.
The upcoming year, 2011, is the the Year of India in Canada, and the good folks at IndiaTourism are sponsoring a WIN A TRIP TO INDIA! contest, along with Absolute Tours and my friends at Indus Travels — who are my partners for my BreatheDreamGo trips to India. By the way, the tours are closing in mid-November 2010, so if you want to go to India with me this winter, act now by filling out a booking form. (more…)
I felt a swell of pride and a wave of relief as I watched the truly gorgeous opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India on October 3, 2010. This is just a small portion, and not even the best part. You showed ‘em India! Jai Hind!
Lodhi Garden, Delhi, India
Commonwealth Games at a tipping point
In the days leading up to the 2010 Commonwealth Games, Delhi has been vilified in the western media for lack of preparedness, unclean facilities, unfinished and potentially unsafe stadiums (a bridge collapsed, injuring dozens) and security lapses. The international community called it a “fiasco” and is putting a lot of pressure on India to rectify the situation. I feel heart-broken about this because I know and love the city of Delhi; and it pains me to see that the western media seems to take particular glee in exposing the “filthy” conditions. Sports columnist Stephen Brunt in Canada’s national Globe and Mail newspaper wrote a very thoughtful column about the situation, a column that should have been in the front section of the newspaper: Huge shadow looms over New Delhi. (more…)
I love train travel in India. It’s a great way to see the country, meet people and generally slow down your trip. Indian Railways is the world’s largest employer and the train system is massive and complex. You can book online on the IRTCT site and find great tips on Figuring out India Rail Travel on the wonderful The Planet D site.
I have many memories of watching India’s sun-baked landscape slide by, but here are two of my favourite train ride stories. (more…)
Taj Mahal, India
India is a vast and beautiful country, filled with world heritage sites, throbbing megalopolises, sacred pilgrimage routes, tropical beaches and snow-capped mountains. But along with the ubiquitous tourist draws such as the Taj Mahal, the forts and palaces of Rajasthan and the intricately carved temples of Tamil Nadu, India is home to a very well-trodden backpacking trail.
In a recent blog entry, Authentic travel in India, I wrote about crossing the cultural divide and really getting to know the country you are traveling in. Sara C., who commented on that blog, said. “I spent two months in India in 2008, and by the second month of my trip people would routinely assume that I was an expat living fully within Indian culture. This was because I didn’t dress or carry myself like a backpacker and made an effort to learn local customs and connect with the people around me. Most of the backpackers act like backpackers – they aren’t really interested in getting to know Indians on their own terms or really connecting at all with the culture beyond platitudes.”
Read the rest of the discussion, including the comments!
This entry was inspired by Sarah’s comment and also by by a video I saw at TBEX 10, the travel bloggers conference in New York City. The video, We are backpackers, is a short snappy celebration of backpacking. You can see it on Nomadic Matt’s Travel Site. In the blog post about this video, called Why I’ll never stop, Matt says seeing the video “refreshed, renewed, and re-inspired” him to keep traveling. It had the opposite effect on me.
I get that backpacking is a great way for young people to see the world and the astonishing variety of cultural difference. But I don’t think immersing yourself in the backpacking culture, and sticking strictly to the backpacking routes and hangouts, as outlined in Lonely Planet and other travel guides, is the best way to get to know a foreign culture.
Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
Aside from the benefits of getting to know a foreign culture — such as increasing your knowledge, self-awareness and perspective — there may be other good reasons for taking the road less traveled. As I said in my Authentic travel in India blog post, the backpacking culture injects a foreign element, and the (usually) poor people of that culture morph around it because they know that, in spite of appearances, these young people come from rich countries.
There is a dark side to backpacking in developing countries. Drug use is one issue, and all the negativity it attracts. And there’s another, which my friends and family in India have brought to my attention. Some poor people in developing nations feel conflicted contempt for backpackers who wear dirty clothes and stay in cheap hovels because they think they are experiencing the “real” India or Thailand or wherever. They won’t express it directly of course, because these are usually the same poor people who are trying to make a living off of foreigners. Which is why they’re conflicted.
I feel sure the poor people of these nations would give anything to have the wealth and opportunities many backpackers were born into in their home countries of Canada, Sweden, Australia. So they don’t understand why rich young westerners want to come to places like India and pretend to be poor. In fact, even the poorest of the poor in India take pride in their appearance and would never let themselves look like some of the slovenly backpackers and hippies I have seen.
If the only local people you meet while you are traveling are the people serving you beer, you are not really getting to know the people of that culture.
Shore Temple, Tamil Nadu, India
Finally, there is perhaps another even more ominous reason to get off the beaten path: an editorial in an Indian newspaper following the German Bakery bomb blast in Pune in February 2010 suggested that terrorists might be consulting popular travel guides when planning attacks. During the Mumbai attacks of November 2008, the popular tourist hangout Leopold’s Cafe was targeted.
I try to see everything in life as a learning opportunity – what is this event or experience trying to teach me? And for me, these attacks on Leopold’s and the German Bakery are confirmation of something I already felt, which is a growing aversion to “traveler’s haunts” as I call them – places like north Goa, Pushkar, Hampi, Manali, Dharmasala and Pahar Ganj in Delhi.
The longer I spend in India, the more I prefer to find the places that are less affected by the influx of tourists. And maybe that’s part of the process, and part of the magic, of travel. The more you go, the more you want to know.
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Me, during Diwali puja in the family prayer room, Delhi
Authentic travel in India
I have been thinking about the concept of authentic travel for the past few days, ever since seeing the 76-second Travel Show with Robert Reid on this subject. He actually filmed one shot for the show at TBEX, the travel bloggers conference, and I was one of the audience members loudly saying “no, it’s not” in response to his statement: all travel is the quest for difference and the more exotic the better. But even though I went along with the gag, for the video, I do think a lot of people go to India because they perceive it to be so different and exotic. (more…)
It’s Video Friday on BreatheDreamGo. When I was in Delhi, India in February 2010, I attended a truly spectacular Sufi Music Festival at Humayun’s Tomb, one of Delhi’s three UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was a magical night and I wrote about it on my blog post Delights of Delhi. This is the Janis Joplin of Sufi Music, Abida Parveen. She is a mesmerizing Pakistani singer who was the main draw for the thousands of people camped out under the stars that night. Enjoy!
It’s video Friday on BreatheDreamGo, and today you get two videos — both of Holi, the Festival of Colour. This is a huge festival in India, celebrated all over the country, to mark the start of spring. People throw coloured powder and water at each other and drink bhang lassi to really get things going. I’ve been in India three times for Holi. I took thse videos in Delhi at a private club. Much fun was had by all.
I took this video the evening I went to the Ravi Shankar Centre in Delhi, India (February 2010). Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar were hosting a dance and music festival in honour of George Harrison’s birthday. He would have been 67 on February 25, 2010.
In the park, Delhi
Delhi often gets a bad rap, especially by tourists (and Mumbaikers!). But if you live here, or stay in one of the nicer areas and take time to get to know the city, you will find that Delhi has many lovely green spaces, excellent restaurants and cafes, shopping opportunities galore and a rich cultural life (not to mention a plethora of historical sites, five-star hotels, spas, universities, spiritual centres and much more). Delhi is, after all, the capital of India and home to the diplomatic community. It is a sophisticated city full of possibilities – once you get past the heat, air pollution, crowds and chaotic traffic conditions, of course. (more…)
On the morning of April 14 approximately 10 million people streamed into the sacred town of Haridwar in north India to bathe in the Ganga on the most auspicious day during the 2010 Kumbh Mela. I was one of them. Find out how I found myself alone, and at home, at the world’s largest spiritual gathering.
In Varanasi, where the veil between life and death seems very thin, a boat ride on the river can become a journey to the other side. Come along with me on a boat ride on the Ganges River in India’s oldest, holiest city and pierce the veil.
The Ganges / Ganga River is the Mother of India. The River speaks in many voices as she travels from the high Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. At the source, her song is joyous, full of the the jubilance of youth, the rush of fresh mountain streams, the sincere chanting of pilgrims and the excitement of the onward journey.
