Visiting India

Namaste (welcome) Here are my notes from friends on traveling to and around India.

Topics this page: Guidebooks  Around India Dress  Culture  Foods  Sadhu  Mumbai  Maps  Itinerary  What to Bring 

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Guidebooks

• Languages of India: Hindi, etc.
• Call the India Tourist Board
• eIndia.com Portal
• Yahoo
• Expedia
• article April 25, 1997
• Lonely Planet features informative essays on the history and literature of India. tips from readers,l such as this gem:

  To avoid “shoe shine” wallahs, don't wear leather boots. Wear sandals instead. But then you'll get “Stitching, you need stitching”. I decided to fool them once and for all by walking barefoot down a street known for it's shoe repair wallah's. By the end of the street I'd been offered several pairs of shoes on sale! You can't beat India.

• Suzanne Barrett - your About.com Guide to: India
• Map & desciption of Counties. Activities in each locale. Map showing areas of tranquil isolation
• rates and calculator. The most widely accepted travelers checques are Thomas Cook and (especially in dollar denominations) American Express.
• Travel time from various cities in the world Trains have a tourist quota - seats put aside exclusively for tourists - pursue this strongly if you are told the train is full.
• Inet India Travel Network - Tourism departments, hotels, tour operators, travel agents and special attractions.

Around India

India has played a major role in the history of religions and philosophies. 

Taj Mahal in Agra (125mi south of Delhi in the North) is arguably the most extravagant monument ever built for love, has become the de facto tourist emblem of India. The Rs 500 entrance fee for foreigners includes Agra Fort on the same day. For Rs 150/day, hire a cycle rickshaw designed by the US Agency for International Development. 

The drivers get paid commission by shops to bring people in.

Colonial literature

Rudyard Kipling's Kim and Plain Tales from the Hills,

EM Forster's A Passage to India

Jungle Book

Indian Food

A clue to the predominance of vegetarian food (Bhaaji) are the plaques to differentiate between “vegetarian" and “Non-vegetarian" foods offered in buffet spreads.

Indian food terms translated

Anglo-Indian Dictionary

I brought home a box of barfi — a traditional gift of dessert made from milk that has been cooked slowly to a fudge-like consistency. It's literally has a silver lining (Varak).

• pakora — Hindi word for an Indian dish of chopped spiced vegetables formed into balls, coated in batter, and deep-fried.

• tikka — meat that is marinated in yoghurt and spices and cooked in a clay oven.

• samosa — a Hindi word for a small deep-fried triangular spicy meat or vegetable pasty.

Dishes

Ingredients

 = ginger
 = garlic

Preparation

“No Black Shorts"

"At the Jain temple at Ranakpur, Rajasthan, you are not allowed to wear anything black." my guide warned me.

"The people to your left are from Hindustan (Northwest India) The people to your right are from Channai (Southeast India)," my guide said.

"You can tell just from looking at them?" I asked in amazement.

"Hindustani women wear the brightest sari's." my guide said quite matter of factly.

Another cultural stereotype being passed down. "No wonder people have prejudices. Tourists get their attitude from guides." I thought to myself. One example:

Despite the high humidity, I wondered aloud why most Indian men I saw wearing long pants.

"Shorts are only worn only by the lowest levels of society." my guide told me.

So as I'm panting up the hill, I'm ask myself "who am I trying to impress?"

As I adjust my pants so they don't stick to my legs, I'm thinking "is this worth not standing out"?

But then I realized something. The rest of the time there, I wear shorts. "Now maybe the street urchins will leave me alone." I strategized.

Watching music videos on Indian MTV, I notice that women wore traditional sari's -- even while riding on a motorcycle. But young men usually wore western clothes, even when dancing with women in saris. Why is that?

Indian music explained

Mumbai, India

One of the most densely populated cities in the world. of billion people in India -- and growing at 2% per year. It's New York's Manhattan island, Hollywood, and Miami Beach rolled into one place.

Where's Bollywood?

In Bombay, the Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange main office can be found at DN Road which is in the Fort area of Bombay.

Sadhu Sundar Sighn

“As a Christian, you should know about Sadhu Sundar Sighn" my guide said.  He claims that “Christianity is the fulfillment of Hinduism."

He was born into a Sikh home.  That's why his last name is Singh. All Sikhs have the last name Singh. 

He visited Britain, US, and Australia in 1920 and Europe in 1922, in the saffron rob of a sadhu (wandering holy man). 

He became a sadhu after being visited by Jesus, much like Paul had experienced on the road to Damascus. 

Sundar wrote “At the Master's Feet", which was translated from Urdu in 1922. In 1926 he published his visions of the afterlife. His parables includes a contrast between the mystic asceticism of Hindus and Christians:

“The Indian seer lost God in Nature; the Christian mystic, on the other hand, finds God in Nature. The Hindu mystic believes that God and Nature are one and the same; the Christian mystic knows that there must be a Creator to account for the universe."

The sadhu disappeared in 1929 while traveling to Tibet on foot with no money.

Consumingfire notes that “even though he never heard the later vogue-word 'indigenisation,' he had done more than any man in the first half of the twentieth century to establish that "Jesus belongs to India." He made it clear that Christianity is not an imported, alien, foreign religion but is indigenous to Indian needs, aspirations, and faith."

The Sadhu differentiates true knowledge of God from pantheism: 
1. "God is our Creator and we are His creatures; He is our Father, and we are His children." 2. "If we ourselves were divine, we would no longer feel any desire to worship." 3. "If we want to rejoice in God we must be different from Him; the tongue could taste no sweetness if there were no difference between it and that which it tasted." 4. "To be redeemed does not mean to be lost in or absorbed into God. We do not lose our personality in God; rather we find it." 5. "Pantheism does not admit the fact of sin, therefore we often find immoral conduct among its followers."

Luke 9 (NIV) When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them "Take nothing for the journey--no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic."

Other well known Indian mystics include:

• William Carey (1761 -- 1834)
  Born in Paulerspury, Northamptonshire, Central England, UK. Was (with John Thomas) the first Baptist missionaries to India. Founded the Serampur mission in 1799. In 1809 preached the first sermon at Lall Bazar Chapel in Calcutta and made contributions to Agricultural science. From 1801 to 1830 he was Oriental professor at Fort William College, Calcutta.

• Ravi Zacharias has a radio ministry in the United States.

• John Hyde, who spent most of his adult life in India in prayer for the nation, is featured in the book "Praying Hyde".

  Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ....what? (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) A super calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis. (You've got to have seen the Disney movie Mary Poppins to appreciate this)

  Webveda.com

Itinerary

Leave Los Angeles and fly 8 hours following the trade winds East over Iceland to London Heathrow (LHR) or Frankfurt.

From London, it's another 8 hours to Mumbai.

Saturday

1:20 pm Arrive Mumbai
• Getting out of the airport: Having a driver waiting for me is not a luxury here. It's necessary to avoid the "touts" offering rides and hotels.
• Check into hotel:
  • Leela Kampiski Hotel near the airport -- an institution built by Colenel Nair 15 years ago and maticulously maintained.
  • Le Meridien also near the airport.
• Have dinner in the hotel
  • Chinese is popular.
  • Indian restaurants in the Leela and Orchid feature musicians and dancers.

Sunday

Weekdays

• Fridays are free days in Delhi's Red Fort and other sites.

What to Bring

• water bottles. Provided at the better hotels. Be beware of refills with tap water.
• mosquitoes when I go to Delhi. Someone recommended Dettol soap
• drugs
• beef jerky in case you have carnivores desires. But to avoid offending hindus, be discreet by putting it in an unmarked opaque bag and pulling out small pieces.
• Electrical converters to 30-240V, 50 HZ (from the 110V 60 Hz electricity).