Sophia (who is the one who by the way invented the travelling coffecan) said in a chat recently (when i mentioned that I may have lost my sense for aesthetics in India): India is actually very aesthetic. In a sense of "baroque-esk, overwhelming lunacy". Well, i am sure she would come up with a better translation ("auf eine barocke Wahnsinnsart"). In german this sounds really fine. Here are some examples out of my humble camera (please click the pics to enlarge them).
There are more to come later.
Dharamsala: crazy rainbows at Triund
Oldmanali: Dylans Cafe
Arambol (Goa): Who is going to eat pork tonight?
Manali: sleeping drugdealer with dog
(working to much?)
(working to much?)
Delhi: tripping white Sadhu
Varanasi: ghats
Manali: Snake shaker
Patnem: sunset
Delhi: Boy with kite, Metrostation Paharganj and Cows
Candolim: Shop with the true indian spirit
Rohtang: 1000s people coming to touch the (globalwarmed) snow
Margao (Goa): Blue Movie-Cinema
Hyderabad: Film-star-promotion
Hyderabad: capitalism
Auli: view from my hut
Candolim: best bookshop in Goa
Hyderabad: Family bike
Ramoji: filmicrap
Himachal Pradesh : cows, trucks,
“frist aid box” and “complant book”
“frist aid box” and “complant book”
Delhi: 20 seconds horrotrip in Appughar (funpark)
Vashisht- Hindu-Wedding: groom
Rohtang: Bollywood- ice figures named after a movie
Trivandrum: Book exhibition
Candolim: goanesque funart
Joshimat: typical indian shop with useless stuff
See? India is both crazy and beautyful. And as many others I still don’t understand why I actually want to go there again next year. India sometimes seemed to me rude and very tough and ugly and under-educated and mindwashed and basically un-official. And totally free… and everything is possible. Most of my friends started to ask me if I can recommend to travel India and I said no. Absolutely not. You must be crazy to go there. Tourists are basically treated like shit. And its not so cheap as you may think. You will pay also with your energy. And if you are unlucky you pay with your life. If you are extraordinary lucky you will have a nice bombblast in Banaras and go to heaven directly (but make sure you are dying on the good side of ganga. If you are dying on the wrong side you will be reincarnated as monkey!).
And the distances are so big. Roads are a mostly very bad (cause of the corruption-- as Manmohan Singh pointed out). Bus-company-employes will promise you everything just to ensure you are booking with them and (in most of the cases) nothing will come out to be true. And Busdrivers are sometimes not even able to fill fuel and you may be stucked in the middle of nowhere some hours. Crazy!
Delhi: Me, waiting for the bus 6 hours
In the middle of Nowhere: out of fuel
Why is capitalism not working in India? I don’t get it. Maybe one of you can explain it to me. Why is everything corrupt? And why are there thousand of laws and nobody who make sure that the laws are executed? And how comes that people still bribe each other when everybody knows that it nearly all the time will lead into a vicious circle? Why is there no revolution? Why is India staying in Pre-postmodern- times… And how do they manage to make everything that is new look very old?
Shiny new Metro-Logo in Delhi
(the metro, although, looks really shiny and
is one of the best places to be in Delhi)
(the metro, although, looks really shiny and
is one of the best places to be in Delhi)
It may feel strange to you reading questions like this in times where everybody speaks about the fast development of India. Well, this is, anyhow, my point of view.
5 comments:
Lovely pictures and good questions. I hope people with more experience than I will write in with ideas.
I experienced almost none of the problems you mention - but I was very sheltered, too, and never had to make any of my own hotel or travel arrangements (except rickshaws around town). But I can't wait to go back!
Ah! I see that u were here at Trivandrum as well, for the book exhibition at VJT hall!!
:)
ohhh- The Trivandrum book exhibition was awesome. Only problem was to get a hotel in this town. Cause some don´t accept white people...
@beth. you tell me first in case you are rocking india again. i meet you there and participate of your good india-karma.
Anyway i will have a more detailed schedule for my next india-journey and will plan more befor going-- though it is somehow a very sad thing for me to do so.
@Uma...
They didnt accept white people in hotels in Trivandrum???????????????
Are u sure ur tour promoters werent taking u for a ride>>>?????????? Or did u get to hear it first hand from the hoteliers themselves??? If u did, cud u by any chance remember the names of those hotels?? I wud really like to know, coz thats news to me..
Tourists are basically treated like shit :
We basically need some time to get used with Tourists--In coming time i promise ,u will be treated more better :)
And how comes that people still bribe each other when everybody knows that it nearly all the time will lead into a vicious circle?
This is a good one ...and my answer is if u give me a magic wand and ask me to eradicate corruption i would prefer not to ....coz Indias corruption cannot be vanished @ an instance--- India needs time...
we are just 60 years old ..
A small example : before in Andhra there was huge corruption for Driving licences... This has been tried to stop for 10 years and now suprisingly when i took my Licence ,i did not bribe anyone and the thing was smooth :)
There is change in India ..Patience is a Virtue...
But i really beleive that in coming times India will become Strong.
Bus-company-employes will promise you everything just to ensure you are booking with them and (in most of the cases) nothing will come out to be true.
best thing is plan properly...coz i planned for 3-4 colleages and they had great fun --It works for someone and vice versa-- :(
And Busdrivers are sometimes not even able to fill fuel and you may be stucked in the middle of nowhere some hours. Crazy!
This i cannot answer coz its typical desi Style as u already know i guess ;)
hey wenn du willst , ich kann eine Presentation an India weiterleiten..gib mal deine email adresse , wenn du lust hast :)
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