Traveling through India, we could hardly imagine the country beforehand. Now, after 3 months of criss-crossing the country, we know this is an intensive adventure.
Many
The multitude of landscapes, the enormously rich culture with countless expressions of religion and spirituality, the exceptional architecture and construction, the exceptional economic growth that the country is experiencing, all aspects that throw us from one surprise to the next time and again.
But above all, the Indian people, there are many of them and they love a lot. A lot of traffic in the streets of the cities with many mopeds, tuktuks, cars and trucks. A lot of noise, in traffic with a lot of honking, during religious celebrations with loud music from the loudspeakers or loud singing of the many thousands of believers.
Many people also mean a lot of diversity. Diversity in expressions of faith, in way of life, but also in prosperity. In rural areas we see that people live together, sometimes with little to offer, but in harmony and relatively good health. In the cities, poverty is sometimes dire and we find it difficult to have to reject the many beggars.
Culture
The multitude of culture is overwhelming for us. We enjoy the architecture and construction of the dozens of temples that we visit. They are beautiful, very refined sculptures on a scale that we have not experienced before. Here and there this sculpture is enriched with colorful paintings that make the images even more vivid.
Yet we always have the impression that we are also part of this culture, we are approached several times a day with the question whether we want to be photographed and often we have to literally keep people away from us.
Distance
The distances in India are enormous, this country with the most inhabitants in the world still has a lot of space between the mega cities. A lot of that space is taken up by agriculture and in the enormous valleys of the Ganges we see one brick factory after another and other industrial development. Here and there we also find nature parks, the tiger 🐅 for example has several areas that are completely protected and virtually inaccessible to humans.
The endless forests in Rajasthan and the surrounding states give us hours of quiet driving in the green. Incidentally, Rajasthan is still, together with Kerala, one of our favorite states, with the deserts that remind us of the Middle East and the space that still exists here between the cities and villages.
Ganges
We are now preparing for the Himalayas. At the foot of this mountain range we find centres of spirituality in Rishikesh on the massive streams of the Ganges.
Here the climate is still warm, the end of March means summer in India and for us the relatively mild heat of more than 35°C is really very intense.
The Ganges is considered a holy river by Hindus, at various places along the river believers bathe in the holy water. The temples along the river are numerous, but the river also provides fertility. In the valley grains and rice are grown and the countless holy cows provide milk, curd and cheese. The clay in the valley is raw material for brick factories and potteries and offers fertile soil for plantations of bananas, papayas and mangos.
Wat ontzettend mooi omschreven en na 1 dag in India al zo herkenbaar. Wij beginnen nu aan onze reis door Rajasthan. Heel veel plezier in de Himalaya.
Hallo Diana,
Dankjewel voor je reactie, fijn om te lezen dat onze blogs ook gelezen worden.
Veel plezier op jullie reis door India.