I have been
back from India for just over a week. I’m still trying to sort out in my head
everything that I experienced and I should sleep on it some more, but people
keep asking what my time was like and I’m looking for a good answer. I keep
thinking of two quotes that I mentioned in
this post seven years ago after our
first month in South Africa. I think they describe how I feel about my brief time in India.
“Traveling is a strange business. To have been in Khartoum is somehow more poignant that being in Khartoum. Being there involves dust, dirt, discomfort, noise, suspect food, dicey water and being homesick. Having been there is amazing. Memory, learning and mind weave together a cloth more fabulous than the indifferent roar of its traffic.”
“If anyone tells you African travel is easy, tell them they know nothing.
If they tell you it's not worth the effort, tell them they still know nothing.
If they've crossed the Nubian Desert pay them due regard."
I had moments of great enjoyment and sheer
amazement and a few moments where I had had enough. At one point I was quite
ready to return to the US – something I have rarely experienced when traveling.
I always want to stay longer and not return. But now that I am back, I find
myself looking through my India guidebook, dreaming and scheming about what I
would want to see when I return. Note that I said when I return. India’s siren
call is beckoning.
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| Sign at the airport |
And to be
honest, I really didn’t see much of India at all (it’s such a large country it
is often referred to as its own continent.) I didn’t see any of the
sights that most tourists go to India for, but, I did see India. For a few
days I was back home in Asia. I was able to live and breathe the air, the warmth, the chaos, the sounds, the food...the incessant honking…
So here are
a few highlights.
The main
reason for going to India was to attend a wedding. Aroha and Peter were
Andrea’s classmates at Duke and who also live here
in DC. After attending
Beth and Vincent’s wedding in Switzerland on our nine
month wander around the world, we decided that if ever we are invited to a
wedding overseas we will go. Unfortunately, this is Andrea’s busiest time of
year at work and she was unable to go. So I went to represent!
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| Peter, Aroha and Aroha's dad at a pre wedding party |
But wanting
to justify flying away and leaving my wife at home, I was also able to spend a
couple days working at my company’s office in Bangalore which is where I began
my trip. While there I stayed with another of Andrea’s Duke classmates,
Shailesh, and his wife Rohini who were so hospitable and welcoming into their
home. I had not spent that much time with Shailesh while in Durham and not ever
met Rohini, but I am very privileged to count this couple as dear friends now.
I loved listening to them and learning from them. They put up with all my
questions and helped me navigate a few places in town – as it seems like I had
a string of bad luck getting taxi drivers who did not know where they were
going. Anyway, highlight # 1 – Shailesh and Rohini. Rohini has just
written
Seasons of Trouble, a book about the Sri Lankan civil war that has received critical acclaim around the world.
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| Rohini and Shailesh at the wedding |
Highlight #2
– Meeting and spending time with my Workplace Options colleagues. Again, in
addition to the work I needed to do, I was able to spend time just listening
and learning, finding out about their situation and what life looks like for them. A
special shout out to Vijeth who fed me lunch every day!
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| Vijeth and lunch |
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| View of Bangalore from WPO's office |
From
Bangalore, I flew up to
Dehradun (a smaller town of about half a million people about a five hour drive north
of Delhi.) The plane landed briefly in Delhi and most people got off while the
few of us continuing on to Dehradun stayed on the plane while it was cleaned
and prepped for the next leg of the journey.
Aroha’s family generously put all of us out of towners up at a nice
hotel for the festivities.
Highlight # 3 was meeting
Peter and Aroha's family and friends who had come from all around the world to celebrate
the occasion. Peter’s family and
friends all went out for dinner the night we arrived in Dehradun and I just
remember feeling so happy to be a part of a special group of friends and
family. Those of you who know me, know that I am not a big dinner party kind of
guy – but this group of friends and family, just clicked. I’ve been to enough
dinners and get-togethers where there is a lot of silence and awkward moments –
this was not one of them.
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| Peter and family and friends |
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| Always time for a little cricket... |
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| ...until you need to set up for the wedding! |
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| Peter and his family that came from the US |
Highlight #
4 – The Main Event. The wedding itself. While there was a party and reception the night before the wedding as well as other pre-wedding ceremonies
for both Peter and Aroha, the main event began Saturday evening when those of
us representing Peter were driven a few blocks away from the hotel to where a
white horse, a brass band, and an incredibly loud PA system was waiting for us. Our task was to be the parade and dance down the street
announcing Peter’s arrival to the guests waiting at the hotel. To be surrounded
by the band, loud music, and drums - oh and fireworks -was deafening and
totally cured me of any residual PTSD that I carry with me. How the horse does
it, I don’t know. I think it went deaf a long long time ago. And so we danced
and moved ever so slowly to the hotel where the entrance to the lavishly
decorated grounds was packed full of guests waiting for the groom's arrival. We
pushed (or were pushed) through the crowd, being welcomed and blessed by one of
Aroha’s family members and made our way down to the wedding site. And there we
joined with hundreds of other guests, young and old, beautifully dressed in
colorful saris of every shade, surrounded by pulsating music, lights,
flowers and we waited for the bride's entrance. Eventually the music
changed and Aroha walked in under a canopy of roses and went and met Peter up
on a raised platform. I have never been a part of something so…I don’t even
know the words to use. Needless to say it was amazing. Incredible. Spectacular.
Truly.
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| Bracelets at the cocktail party |
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| Bracelets and Henna |
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| Pre wedding ceremony |
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| The groom is dressed and ready to go... |
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| ...get on his white horse for the procession |
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