alright, i realize i was just in india less than a year ago. i do. this trip, however, was made under the auspices of research for my thesis. who am i kidding, though. i don’t need a reason to go back to india. i fell in love with it right away and knew it was only a matter of time before i came back.
stepping out of the delhi airport was a different sensation from our first. i can still vividly remember the sense of walking into an oven, the summer heat immediately enveloping us. this time our experience was rather different – arriving on an early morning in january, everything was a bit darker and rather chilly. yet there was that unmistakable sense of india. some places just have a certain scent. honduras smells like dirt, ripening bananas, and smoke from the occasional piles of burning trash. india’s smell is something like a mix of dust, exhaust, and incense. just breathing it in, i was already glad to be back.
having already been here once before, and, in fact, visiting some of the same places, i won’t go into detail about each aspect of our trip. instead i’ll just share some impressions i’ve had this time around. second impressions, if you will.
what stands out most to me in india are snapshots. i don’t just mean pictures i take, though i do try to take as many as i can. i mean remembering images - moments in time or little snatches of daily life. driving over 1000 kilometers through various cities and villages, there were no shortage of those..
..people packed on top of trains and trucks. women expertly carrying enormous bundles of sticks or pots of water on their heads. monkeys protecting their babies or variously swiping food from unsuspecting picnickers. men sitting at a dhaba, engrossed in a TV movie. girls selling fruit on the side of a small road. old men sweeping away the constant layer of dust. vibrantly painted trucks stacked high with rocks or bricks. women getting water at the local pump. boys’ energetic shouts over a game of cricket. cows, some with painted horns, wandering the streets. twenty people piling out of an auto rickshaw. a man saying his morning prayers in the growing daylight. herds of goats invading the roadway. kids in uniform carrying their books to the local school. truck wallas napping on cots in the sun. marching bands announcing a nearby wedding procession. two boys reading sitting on a wall, sharing a newspaper. women in bright saris dotting emerald green fields. kids sandwiched in between their parents on mopeds speeding around the city. dogs endlessly scratching a perpetual itch. men bundled in mufflers and blankets piled on to tractors to go to work.
these are the memories i’d like to carry with me of india. of course i love visiting the monuments, eating the food, and shopping for beautiful goods. but more than anything it is these recollections of india that will stay with me for much longer.
