Hotels are fine, but homestay is an ideal way to experience travel in IndiaHotels are fun, and even cheap hotels have their charms. But sometimes, you have to dig deeper. Indian hospitality is justifiably famous — captured by the slogan, Atithi Devo Bhava, which means The Guest is God. To fully experience this philosophy in action, and to really get to know the culture when you travel in India, you have to stay with an Indian family. But what do you do if you don’t know anyone?
Well, you could try booking through a company like Mahindra Homestays. They are India’s most well-known homestay company. I asked Japa Ghosh, head of marketing at Mahindra Homestays, to fill us in about the homestay option for travellers to India. Here’s what you need to know to find, book and enjoy a homestay, including etiquette tips. (more…)
Judi Dench in Jaipur, Rajasthan
These are the words of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel narrator Evelyn Greenslade, played by the luminous Judi Dench. She is one of seven British retirees who travel to Jaipur, Rajasthan, India to live in a restored “luxury” hotel for the elderly. Predictably, their expectations are not met — the hotel is a shambles and its future in doubt — and just as predictably, the characters who take up the challenges thrown at them find a new, unexpected life.
“What do you like about this country? What do you see that I don’t see?” asks unhappy Jean Ainslie (Penelope Wilton), who recoils in India and retreats into seething negativity. (I’ve seen this reaction among people quite often in India, unfortunately; and I’m sure other experienced India travellers have too.)
“The light, the colours, the smiles. The way the people see life as a gift, a privilege — and not a right. All life is here,” answers retired high court judge Graham Dashwood, played by Tom Wilkinson. (more…)
Travelling to magical Jaisalmer in RajasthanAt the western edge of India, in the middle of the world’s second-largest desert, the fairytale kingdom of Jaisalmer appears, as if by magic, like a golden mirage in a desolate landscape
Despite the chaos of unmarked coaches, the train left the sodden grey bedlam of New Delhi Railway Station on time. But it still took more than 21 hours to reach the far side of Rajasthan, India’s largest state. Stuck in a cramped compartment, with nothing to look at but flat desert terrain, I had plenty of time to think about the heavy heart I was dragging from Delhi; and wonder if the long journey to Jaisalmer would be worth the effort. (more…)
Lake Palace Hotel shimmering on Lake Pichola in the centre of Udaipur, Rajasthan (2009)
In honour of the opening of the new film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel — which is set in Rajasthan and was filmed on location in Udaipur, Jaipur and several other glorious Rajasthani locations — here’s a photo essay of some of my fave pics of Rajasthan. I have probably taken 2,000 photos of ”the Land of Kings;” these are just a few. To read about the actual locations used in the filming, click here: On location in India with The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. (more…)
Yoga Ashram India series on TravelWireAsiaI write a regular ‘column’ for the TravelWireAsia website about India, yoga and travel in Asia (my favourite continent for travel!). Recently, I published a three-part series on How to “do” a yoga ashram in India. Here’s a synopsis of each post — to read the full article click on the link provided.
HAVE you considered going to an ashram in India? This is a 3-part series on where to go, what you need to know and what to expect. (more…)
Lake Pichola, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
The hand prints of women about to commit sati; an off-duty Naga Sadhu; a dish inspired by the last dinner on the Titanic … just three of my 7 Super Shots. I’m highlighting seven photographs in a game of blog tag. Thanks to Kit Whelan of Seek New Travel for tagging me to participate in 7 Super Shots from HostelBookers. I have never met Kit, but I am convinced we are related as my grandmother’s maiden name was Whelan … and because I would WANT to be related to Kit!
So, without further ado here are my seven super shots. I hope you enjoy viewing them even just a seventh as much as I enjoyed taking them! (more…)
Travel to India is like going through the looking glassWHEN I TRAVEL, especially in India, I feel like Alice in Wonderland; I feel like I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole, or stepped through the looking glass. I lose my bearings and everything is challenged, including my sense of self in the world and my ideas about how life and people should be.
And the experience of being in the alternate universe of a foreign country has helped me become more aware of myself and of the role perception plays in shaping reality.
In India, I meet other foreigners who tell me they think Pahar Ganj in Delhi is “the real India,” and who say the only way to travel in India is by staying in 150-rupee-a-night hovels. I also meet Delhi-born Indians who tell me they think Pahar Ganj is a ghetto and wouldn’t go near it. They prefer Delhi’s five star hotels and the shopping malls of Gurgaon.
When I live with my partner’s Indian family in Delhi, I am accepted into the family and I live as an Indian. But when I travel, I am seen as a foreigner and as if I know nothing about the culture. What’s the truth? (more…)
In December 2011, I started writing a bi-monthly “column” for the Travel+Escape website — which complements the new Canadian TV channel — about immersive travel. To find out more, read my first round up, What is immersive travel? Here’s a synopsis of my most recent columns.
I’m lying on a heavy, teak table with my eyes shut, smelling herbal-tinged oil as it heats on a nearby burner and listening to the unfamiliar murmurs of two young women speaking Malayalam. Together, they slap the warmed oil onto my skin and, in perfect rhythm, massage both sides of my body at once. And as their voices begin to sound like Indian Ocean waves lapping the beach, I slip away into a South Indian version of paradise; an oily, wood-scented, tropical state of bliss. (more…)
Last fall I was on the Kickstarter website — thinking about running a fundraising campaign of my own — and I came across an appeal from three young filmmakers in the USA, Jim Goldblum, Adam Weber and Josh Cogan, who wanted to raise $40,000 to return to India to finish filming and editing a documentary about a magicians colony in Delhi, India that was about to disappear. The film is called Tomorrow we Disappear and this link will take you to the Kickstarter description. The slum area the magicians live in is going to be razed to make room for new buildings — hence the title.
I was intrigued by the project to make a documentary in India and also by the rewards they offered. Rewards are a key ingredient of a successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign. They need to be fun, valuable and manageable. These guys had great rewards at almost every pledge level, but I chose to make the $10 pledge and get a magic ring in return. (more…)
Shantaram and Eat, Pray, Love are not the only books about India: Here are 10 of my favouritesThere are two types of people in the world: those who think Shantaram is a great book; and those who think it is a spew of virulent air, driven by the criminal mind and maniacal ego of its Australian pseudo-writer. I guess you can tell which type of person I am. This post is 10 suggestions for books about India that are better than Shantaram.
I tried to read Shantaram when I was living in Delhi, but ended up literally throwing it across the room. I thought it was poorly written and more about the fevered imagination of its writer than about India. In fact, it offers very little insight into India, if you ask me; and the longer I spend in India getting to know it, the more true this statement becomes.
Since that time, however, I’ve read lots and lots of book about India, by Indians and foreigners, and almost all of them are much, much better. Except Eat, Pray, Love. If you actually want to know something about India — rather than about an ego-driven writer — I suggest the following 10 books, in no particular order. (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.
