Travel: India

I’ve travelled a lot. Travelling brings out the adventurer in me and often leaves me fearless and crazy excitable.  However India, to me, was f&^king scary.  My first two weeks I was alone seeing the country.  My itinerary was Mumbai, Udaipur, Jaipur, Varanassi and then to my ashram in Rishikesh.  Before leaving Korea, I had all my train tickets and hostels booked, something out of characteristic for me but mandatory for this trip.

It’s so difficult to discuss India with a single view.  Yes, it was wonderful and, really, I think my experiences made me a more honest and up-front person but the harassment a western, single female receives is completely overwhelming.  I view the harassment from two viewpoints:   1. India is a male dominated society dripping in misogyny.  2.  I am a western foreigner and therefore have amble money to give to poor Indians.  These two ideologies shaped my entire experience.  I could not eat alone in any restaurant; I was harassed every single time.  Men would come up to me daily, and often hourly, telling me what I could and could not do without explanation, “You cannot use your camera.” “You cannot enter this shop” when the opposite was very true.  Nothing I did felt pure.  I was stressed and overwhelmed by who would come up to me next, what I was doing, where and how I could eat my next meal.

Simultaneously, India was mesmerizing.  The skylines, the colors, the chaos, the cows, the people at hostels!  Finding beauty after being stressed has a way of entering your body and bringing you peace and stillness.  There are moments in my mind of glorious skylines on my 18-hour bus ride from Mumbai to Udaipur after my train ticket was randomly cancelled and I had no backup plan.

 Things changed greatly after arriving to my ashram, Rishikesh Yog Peeth and Roshan, my instructor, became a great friend to everyone there.  There were loads of Indian men in Yogic training all whom we developed sweet friendships with.  I’m simply stating that the harassment comes for the poorest members of society.  And unfortunately, the poor are so immense and so poor that it’s in avoidable.

 Every time I left the ashram to ventured outside the harassment started.  Our ashram was tucked away into a hill but once we were out and in the town, person after person, family after family were in your face wanting something.  Pictures were among the most popular.  I couldn’t walk anywhere without getting countless requests to take pictures with me. The reason?  So people can claim they have a Western friend and therefore are wealthy enough to have good English and, thusly, are better than their friends and family.  However, if you said yes you were pulled, tugged and used.  No one was actually interested in talking to you.  This wasn’t a culture experience for everyone involved it was only to benefit the person with the camera.  You can only take so much of this before you devise a strict no pictures rule, buy a big hat and start walking with you eyes on the ground  (btw, this was when you were alone.  Being in a group was definitely different).

The stress of India was too much.  I didn’t have had that amazing, captivating experience you usually look for in an adventure.  I want to go back, but with my boyfriend, who’s tall and manly, and re-experience so many things; walking down the busy chaotic streets, eating in real restaurants (not always at my hostel and often alone in my room), being spontaneous and climbing into a rickshaw and going somewhere to drink a beer (when respectable) and watch the sun set.

 I went to India to experience the culture and I did!  Unfortunately, the poverty is so immense and prevalent it can’t be escaped.  For the most part, the people I met who weren’t immensely poor were fine and nice.  All my hostel owners, excluding one, were generous, informative and presented safe and relaxing environments including some wonderful conversations over long dinners.  It was a bittersweet journey.  I don’t regret anything I did but I learned loads and will go back much more prepared and with a better understanding of how India works and exists.