The moment it hit me I was in India: mosque at Qutab Minar complex, Delhi 2005
It was six years ago today, December 6, 2005, that I landed in Delhi, India for the first time. It was Day One of my six-month odyssey; the start of my trip-of-a-lifetime; and the beginning of a new chapter in life, I hoped.
On my first morning in India, I stepped out into the warm December sunshine of my friends’ big, white, marble terrace in South Delhi and felt I had landed in heaven. It was warm, I was surrounded by a loving family and I was finally in India — a place I had dreamed of since childhood, but never thought I would ever see. I felt an immediate affinity with India; it was like going “home.” But I had absolutely no idea where the next six months would lead, what would happen, or what I would get out of the experience. (more…)
Dervla Murphy and her trusty steed, Roz
Me, Liz and the subcontinentBecause I travel in India and write about it, many people ask me if I was influenced by the book Eat, Pray, Love, and they try and compare me to author Elizabeth Gilbert. Here are the five key differences between my story and Gilbert’s.
1. I did not have a hefty book advance to subsidize my trip. My trip to India was not research for a book, and I had to subsidize it myself out of my meager resources. I sold 1/3 of my possessions, gave up my apartment, moved into a small room and scrimped and saved for a year. After I returned, and realized how much I’d changed, I went through a lot of financial instability. The whole experience was a “real spiritual quest,” in the sense that I threw myself into it without any attachment to outcome. A big part of my journey was about throwing myself off the cliff to find out IF a net would appear. Read on for the other four. (more…)
Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity
In my Travel That Changes You e-newsletter, and on my blog, I try and encourage people to breathe, dream and go. So, I cannot imagine a more perfect person to feature than Chris Guillebeau. Chris is the bright light behind The Art of Non-Conformity (AONC), the Unconventional Guides, the The Art of Non-Conformity book, a blog and online community. A prolific writer, a gifted speaker and an obsessed world traveler, he seems to have boundless energy for encouraging people to get off the hamster wheel and live life their own way.
And he leads by example. After publishing his book, The Art of Non-Conformity, he organized a very unique (and grueling) book tour that took him to every USA state and every Canadian province. When he got to my province, and spoke at the Chapters/Indigo store at the Manulife Centre in downtown Toronto, I went to hear him and interviewed him afterwards. This was stop number 58 on his tour, and he must have been exhausted — though you wouldn’t know it from his funny, upbeat and inspiring presentation. (more…)
Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
When I was 44 years old, I finally started pursuing my dreams. I had recently lost both my parents (mother to heart disease, father to cancer) and was floundering in a colourless depression. I threw myself into yoga as a way to recover, and the first dream I pursued was to become a yoga teacher — though I was the oldest and least flexible person in the training group. My second dream was to travel to India — to go on a real voyage of discovery, lasting six months, and with no real itinerary or expectations.
I had never really pursued my dreams before. I honestly didn’t know you could. It took years of therapy and yoga training and then a series of devastating losses (including the deaths of my parents) for me to finally wake up and realize: This is not a dress rehearsal. This is life. And life is meant to be lived, not feared.
So, deciding to go to India, and then going, completely changed my life. It started before I even left. The big change happened when I realized that anything in life is possible, including living your dreams; and that achieving them is based on making a decision and setting an intention. The power is not OUT THERE; it is within each of us. (more…)
Fires on the Ganges by Andrew Adams of Katha Images
By October 26, 2011 I am hoping to raise $2,000 for the fundraising project for Deepalaya through The Intrepid Foundation. For every $10 you donate, I will enter your name into a draw. So, for example, if you donate $50, you get five ballots. I will put all ballots in a hat and draw randomly. But the more ballots you have in the hat, the more chances you have to win!
To read more about this fundraising project, please read my post Help the street kids of Delhi — and send me to India. And see below for more information about Intrepid Travel and Deepalaya.
Here’s where you can donate online. And here are the prizes, below — there are 17 prizes so you have a great chance of winning! (more…)
A street corner in Delhi
I have spent more than a year traveling in India, and months living in Delhi. I love India, and I love Delhi. In fact, I think Delhi is one of the most under-rated cities of the world. It has incredible richness of culture, layers of history in the form of monuments, gentle foggy mornings and iridescent pink sunsets, a jungle of greenery, great food, a treasure trove of shopping … and children, living on the streets. You see them at traffic lights, skinny bodies, huge eyes, wearing shabby clothing, sometimes no clothing at all. They turn somersaults, cling to their mothers, sell toys, flowers and magazines. They sleep under bridges, on the railway platforms or in blue-tarp juggis.
The street kids of Delhi always tug at my heart strings, and I sometimes find myself dreaming of finding ways to help them. I dream of giving them proper food, clothing, health care and shelter, and of educating them and giving them a fighting chance to rise above their status and at least earn a living making handicrafts, driving an autorickshaw, selling chai … and who knows what else. There are stories of former street kids who, after earning an education, had successful careers, made money, and seriously challenged the stereotypes.
What would it feel like to know that you helped a child beat the odds? You can help by donating to the fundraising project for Deepalaya through The Intrepid Foundation before October 26, 2011. (more…)
Photograph of Mariellen Ward by Andrew Adams of Katha Images
It all started with the clothes. I knew I needed a really fabulous sari or lehnga, so I went to visit my friend Manish Mahtani at Nucreation, a large clothing store on Gerrard Street, in the India Bazaar, in Toronto. Nucreation has an entire upstairs floor devoted to wedding and party clothes — and the selection is dazzling. It’s a bit like walking into a fantasy land; a gorgeous room filled with flowing, glittering, colourful clothes fit for a princess from an oriental fairy tale. I will be writing another blog all about this store, and the family behind it, soon — with photos of a model wearing some of the fabulous creations.
Read on to find out how I was transformed – with the help of three talented people and of course a gorgeous sari.
Photo of Naga Sahdu, Kumbh Mela, Haridwar India 2010 by Jean-Pierre Muller
India deserves its reputation for being both the most potentially transformative travel destination on earth — and one of the most challenging to newbies. There is magic in learning how to be in India: how to deal with the chaos, crowds, seemingly inefficient methods, bizarre contradictions, extremes of every kind, lower hygienic standards, heat, dust, and feeling that you are a target for every con artist, tout, tuktuk driver and shyster in the country.
But if India was just a nuisance and a challenge, it wouldn’t be India. Because India is also full of joy, celebration, devotion, colour, spectacle, kindness, warmth, openness, trust and beauty. Many foreigners — myself included — go to India prepared for the difficulties, and then find themselves surprised by how much India moves them. If you let India affect you, as I did, you might “fall in love” with the people and the place. And you might find yourself radically transformed. Notions once held dear are abandoned. Fears once harboured set sail. Narrowness is replaced with perspective, and judgement with compassion.
The trick to being in India is to be prepared – but not TOO prepared! Read on to find out the number one thing you need to know before visiting India. And also about a free information session I am holding on September 14, 2011 in Toronto. (more…)
Tiffin-wallahs, Churchgate Station, Mumbai
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.
