My last full day in India, My 3 months in India spanned more than 6000 km 7 states, and close to two dozen cities. I crossed from the south to the north and have been here longer than I have been anywhere outside of North America.
I felt like a door had opened and I saw a different world. India is as frustrating as it is amazing. The wonders are unique, the region’s history spans millennium, empires, kingdoms and colonies.
Her riches are vast, her heart created through a person who saw non violence as the answer. It is also a country that is creeping under the weight of corruption, who as a young nation has an old soul full of a culture that has existed in some form for longer than I can understand, her modern people are still finding balance between their past, the present and the future.
I saw the Taj Mahal, briefly rode the backwaters, got lost many times, shattered my phone, saw a fort that still breathed life and wasn’t the home of ghosts. There were palaces, beaches, most dirty but a few were clear.
I’ve seen more showrooms than I ever thought possible, had at least a few people a day try to sell me scarves, candles and whatever else they had on hand. I bought too much bottled water, had a samosa or two daily, the lassi was divine, the coconut was a pleasure and the sweets could be found on every corner.
I’ve met many who love India, and many that wanted to leave, she is a conundrum, the contrasts are extreme. To get to the glory you have to go through the frustration, she is a contradiction in so many ways and it’s what gives her people and culture life.
The Gods are many, the people are diverse, the problems are clear and the pollution an avalanche that could bury the beauty underneath a mountain range of trash but that’s why she is mighty, that’s why India is something to see.
My eyes were not closed but I don’t think they were open, now they see more than I could have ever known before, and for that I thank you India, I’ll see you again, to walk the unseen roads, into places I’ve yet to dream but whom I seek in this life or the next.
I can’t say I fell in love with India but I was allured by her charms, intrigued by the possibilities and could see her beauty as I wandered her roads. I shall come again to go deeper, to get beyond the surface, which I saw in glimpses but must be immersed to really understand