After almost 5 wild and wacky months I have left India and will be starting my new adventure touring around SE Asia. Leaving India wasn't easy. The date approached quickly, without really giving me much of a chance to realize that I would soon my boarding a plane on my way out. It didn't seem real that I would actually be leaving India, and it still almost doesn't.
My last few days in India were spent in a French colonial town in south India called Pondicherry. Here I met up with my easy going Kiwi friend, Jules, where we rode scooters out to visit an interesting society called Auroville, shopped for last minute items and ate chocolate croissants. Just yesterday we boarded a local bus, hot and sweaty as always and took off to Chennai, a large city where I would be flying out of that night and Jules the next morning. I had to get in one last yummy yummy Indian meal. So of course I ordered a veg curry and garlic naan... mmmm. But when Jules' iddly came out (fermented rice cakes served with various coconut chutneys and yummy soupy mixtures) I got jealous and ordered that as well.... so I had TWO last meals!
Then it was time to figure out the train system to get to the airport. After standing in line for about 15 minutes I was informed I was in the wrong line and was sent off to the other end of the tracks to get my local train ticket. So there we are standing on the platform waiting for my train to arrive and me to be whisked away to the place that would take me entirely away from India. As I started to have feelings of sadness about leaving India, I said to Jules, "I don't know what it is about this place", she agreed. Neither one of us could quite put our fingers on what has made us love India SO much. As we were pondering this, the train started to wizz by, so Jules and I gave our typical backpack to backpack hugs, wished each other well in our next adventures and hoped to see each other sometime in the future, whenever our paths may cross again. Now I had been a little bit sad that up until this point I hadn't seen any trains completely overfilled with people to the point of them spilling outside the doors and just short of having people on the roof. I realized I have not ridden enough local trains out of big cities! I got pushed through the crowd of people and squeezed myself and my second person of a backpack onto the train settling in for the half hour trip to the airport. As I sat down (I know... I got a seat!) I looked around the cart at the faces staring curiously and creepily at me and the ramshackle space called a train. Then the rain started... not quite monsoon yet, even though it was suppose to have started... but i realized it's just simple times like these that I love India, it's just so India!
Some may hate it... the noise, the touts, the way you get ripped off and cheated.... And while that's not all that much fun, it's part of what makes India India. Maybe it's the people, the culture, the food, the spirituality or the ability to feel completely free. India allows you to be you, with no judgements, there are to many people for anyone to care what the person next to them is doing! Maybe it's the endless opportunities that India gives to try something new, different, challenging and often outside your comfort zone. Maybe it's those moments where you sit, people watch and see the most amusing/ confusing scenarios taking place. Maybe it's those quick interactions between strangers that leave you smiling and wondering what exactly just took place. Maybe it's the ability to look around you, realize that nothing you see seems typical to you, and then you remind yourself you're in India, and that's as good enough of an explanation. I don't know what it is. India is a feeling, a feeling you can't describe or create, it just happens. When you visit India, and you get that feeling, you know. I know I fell in love in India, with a massive country and about 1.3 billion people.
As my plane took off my eyes did well up with tears as I had expected they would, but not out of sadness surprisingly. Instead, as I thought back to all the life changing experiences and lessons that I have had over the last 5 months, my eyes got watery out of happiness. I'm so amazingly thankful to all the people and places that took me in along the way allowing me to grow and learn new aspects about myself. It also made me realize how lucky I am to have been given this opportunity to experience the places I have been experiencing. And for this I am thankful for all my friends back home who have been so supportive along the way, my siblings who I miss terribly, but have been there to offer words of encouragement to keep me from getting homesick, and above all my amazingly loving parents. They have raised me in a way to be curious, to question, to be independent and smart and without the attributes and morals they have instilled in me, there is no way I would have even begun this amazing journey 8 months ago. So thanks.
Now looking forward to see what new experiences, challenges and "ahhhh" moments SE Asia will be offering.
My last few days in India were spent in a French colonial town in south India called Pondicherry. Here I met up with my easy going Kiwi friend, Jules, where we rode scooters out to visit an interesting society called Auroville, shopped for last minute items and ate chocolate croissants. Just yesterday we boarded a local bus, hot and sweaty as always and took off to Chennai, a large city where I would be flying out of that night and Jules the next morning. I had to get in one last yummy yummy Indian meal. So of course I ordered a veg curry and garlic naan... mmmm. But when Jules' iddly came out (fermented rice cakes served with various coconut chutneys and yummy soupy mixtures) I got jealous and ordered that as well.... so I had TWO last meals!
Then it was time to figure out the train system to get to the airport. After standing in line for about 15 minutes I was informed I was in the wrong line and was sent off to the other end of the tracks to get my local train ticket. So there we are standing on the platform waiting for my train to arrive and me to be whisked away to the place that would take me entirely away from India. As I started to have feelings of sadness about leaving India, I said to Jules, "I don't know what it is about this place", she agreed. Neither one of us could quite put our fingers on what has made us love India SO much. As we were pondering this, the train started to wizz by, so Jules and I gave our typical backpack to backpack hugs, wished each other well in our next adventures and hoped to see each other sometime in the future, whenever our paths may cross again. Now I had been a little bit sad that up until this point I hadn't seen any trains completely overfilled with people to the point of them spilling outside the doors and just short of having people on the roof. I realized I have not ridden enough local trains out of big cities! I got pushed through the crowd of people and squeezed myself and my second person of a backpack onto the train settling in for the half hour trip to the airport. As I sat down (I know... I got a seat!) I looked around the cart at the faces staring curiously and creepily at me and the ramshackle space called a train. Then the rain started... not quite monsoon yet, even though it was suppose to have started... but i realized it's just simple times like these that I love India, it's just so India!
Some may hate it... the noise, the touts, the way you get ripped off and cheated.... And while that's not all that much fun, it's part of what makes India India. Maybe it's the people, the culture, the food, the spirituality or the ability to feel completely free. India allows you to be you, with no judgements, there are to many people for anyone to care what the person next to them is doing! Maybe it's the endless opportunities that India gives to try something new, different, challenging and often outside your comfort zone. Maybe it's those moments where you sit, people watch and see the most amusing/ confusing scenarios taking place. Maybe it's those quick interactions between strangers that leave you smiling and wondering what exactly just took place. Maybe it's the ability to look around you, realize that nothing you see seems typical to you, and then you remind yourself you're in India, and that's as good enough of an explanation. I don't know what it is. India is a feeling, a feeling you can't describe or create, it just happens. When you visit India, and you get that feeling, you know. I know I fell in love in India, with a massive country and about 1.3 billion people.
As my plane took off my eyes did well up with tears as I had expected they would, but not out of sadness surprisingly. Instead, as I thought back to all the life changing experiences and lessons that I have had over the last 5 months, my eyes got watery out of happiness. I'm so amazingly thankful to all the people and places that took me in along the way allowing me to grow and learn new aspects about myself. It also made me realize how lucky I am to have been given this opportunity to experience the places I have been experiencing. And for this I am thankful for all my friends back home who have been so supportive along the way, my siblings who I miss terribly, but have been there to offer words of encouragement to keep me from getting homesick, and above all my amazingly loving parents. They have raised me in a way to be curious, to question, to be independent and smart and without the attributes and morals they have instilled in me, there is no way I would have even begun this amazing journey 8 months ago. So thanks.
Now looking forward to see what new experiences, challenges and "ahhhh" moments SE Asia will be offering.
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