Out of This World
March 8th, 2008 | Published in travel | 17 Comments
You’d never guess where this is. I spend so much time travelling, and when I’m not travelling, I’m looking at or reading about travel. It’s hard to bowl me over these days. But… this. Every once in a while you come across something truly exceptional like this.
Hint: it’s in my favourite country. The country I unconsciously refer to as my country, sometimes.
Uttaranchal, India, where the Shakti group has created an amazing Himalayan hideaway in the form of the gorgeous 360 Leti. I don’t want to tell you how much this is, but let’s just say it’s more than how much I’d spend travelling through India on first class trains and planes and nice hotels in maybe six months (or if I travelled India the way I do, maybe that money could even stretch to 9 months.. which both means that this place is as expensive as it looks, incredibly, as well as that India is incredibly cheap). That it’s very very expensive is not the point. The point is: an amazing place exists like this, and that India really is Incredible India, because travel in any direction out from any Indian city and you’ll find a completely different world. Desert, beach, hill station, the Himalayas, the Andaman, the backwaters. You’re in a different world in another state, where the food is different and they speak a different language a few hours out in any direction. I keep saying this and I’ll keep saying it — the chaotic Indian cities you see on TV isn’t all India is about. It’s an amazing country that can be very beautiful, in parts, if you’d just give it a chance.
Don’t miss, if you can: the deserts of Jaisalmer, the Himalayan beauty of Uttaranchal, the amazing biryani of Hyderabad (world’s Biryani capital!), the tea in Darjeeling (duh) and its Nepali culture, the Tibetan gompas in Sikkim, the remote Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the makhania lassi of Jodhpur (Sardar Bazaar! Near the clock tower.. Sree Mishrilal, remember that name), the spectacular, untouched Northeast (Meghalaya, the “Scotland of the East”; the tribes of Nagaland, where people are more Southeast Asian than Indian, and Southeast Asians like us fit right in), the food and vibrance of Mumbai, the annual Bob Dylan festival in Shillong (yes, you read right!), and that’s just scratching the surface. It’s not nearly as unsafe or hard to travel as you think! (Quite easy, if you go with the right frame of mind. I could do it with my eyes closed now!) Go to India. At least once. And if you can master the inner workings of Indian Railways, the world’s largest employer, you can do anything. And pack Shantaram, Maximum City and City of Djinns for the train rides that could change your life.
The Indian government needs to give me honorary citizenship now, but a consultancy role with the Indian tourism board might do fine: I may have sent more people to India, especially people most unlikely to go to India, than Incredible India campaigns ;) Oh my Bharat Mata, I miss you so! I read my friend Jamie’s blog Out There Somewhere, it’s a salve when I remember that I won’t be going back for a while, contrary to the pattern in the past years. Jamie, I like to tell people, sold his stuff in the UK and just lives in Asia, mostly India and Nepal, just travelling these days :) As we speak he’s entering Tibet overland, at the moment, something I’ve always wanted to do. Did I also mention he’s a damn fine writer?
The next time I go to India, I’m heading straight for the Bob Dylan festival in Shillong. There’s a special place in my heart for the Khasi Hills, and the beautiful Khasis of Meghalaya (after all, they only just excommunicated a politician for using his father’s surname: challenging the dominance of women in this matrilineal society is possibly worse than apostasy…). I’ll never forget the day I huddled under a big umbrella in the rain, in the world’s formerly wettest place, during the monsoon, chewing a betel nut (with lime, yuck), coal all over my face after crawling through a coal mine in Laitrygnew with the coal miners of Laitrygnew, talking about Bob Dylan with the kiln workers and wondering if I should tell them: did you know that everywhere else in the world but here (and a few other places), you men… rule the world?
Mujhe Bhaarat Maata se Pyar hai!
March 8th, 2008 at 7:25 am (#)
miss adri, how come u feel more indian than i do? is it the place that u love or the people.believe me when i say it pisses u off when u r treated as a foreigner when u come from the north-easternern part of india.
all the negativity aside loved ur blog.kepp up the good work.
March 8th, 2008 at 8:30 am (#)
@Sehkho No idea, I just grew up very close to Indian culture and no other place makes me feel like it. :) Well… believe me when I say I think I know what you’re talking about! When I’m there most people think I’m from the northeast, and that’s an image I keep up myself (minus the black eyeliner). I get the sense that a lot of them look down on northeasterners, or at least view them with askance: especially the NE girls (that I’m supposed to be), and also you know, and treat NE girls outside the NE as ‘foreign women’ (and you know what that involves), sometimes assuming we’re all prostitutes because of the colour of our skin. The NE is maybe my favourite place in India. And of course it doesn’t feel like it’s in India at all. The NE has always welcomed me with open arms maybe because it thinks I’m one of them (I’m supposed to be from Manipur). The rest of India I love too, but in a different way. I’m sure it’d be different if I was actually a NE-er myself though!
Recently there was an interesting discussion on NE India with regards to the idea of India, on Mutiny.
http://mutiny.in/2008/03/06/did-you-read-the-morung-express/
Where in the NE are you from? I really want to go back as soon as I can.
March 8th, 2008 at 12:45 pm (#)
I am from India and I have never traveled to the NE. Although, the place does hold a certain kind of mystery to me, the one I would like to unravel sometime. Your writing in someways has piqued my curiosity. Nice.
I have been reading your blog for quiet some time now and I am glad to have done so.
March 9th, 2008 at 5:54 am (#)
Adri nice to see that u commented back on my comment.But u haven’t answered my Q which was Do You Like The Country Or The People?
U Talked about being close to indian culture but u r chinese right? And by indian culture which culture are u really talking about? i mean each community has their own unique & diverse culture.u might even have more first hand experience of this diversity having travelled more than the average indian.Each culture though diverse are Indian on their right whether from the north,east south,west or central.
March 9th, 2008 at 6:02 am (#)
Hi Rachna, I hope u do take the chance to explore NE India. You’ll surely have a wonderful time.But u don’t need me to tell u that or do u?
March 9th, 2008 at 6:09 am (#)
All things aside, How’s your grandpa doing?I hope he’s doing fine.
March 9th, 2008 at 4:47 pm (#)
Hello! I know I must visit India before I die, specifically Nepal. Your article is a very nice read. The north-eastern part of India sounds very intriguing.
I’m doing my own research on visiting India, in the terms of trekking and if I can do it, mountain-biking. :)
Your travel tales are fantastic adventures by train, bus, etc!
Cheers!
March 9th, 2008 at 9:04 pm (#)
omg, this is the lux version of trekking! :))
March 10th, 2008 at 5:00 am (#)
Diane this might come as a shock to you that Nepal is not a part of India.
March 10th, 2008 at 11:28 am (#)
Hi Sehkho, I’m not shocked, I’m just ignorant. :) That part of the world is more attractive than Europe in my opinion. Cheers!
March 11th, 2008 at 1:08 pm (#)
I really enjoy your posts about India. I myself have been in awe of India since I set foot onto it the first time last year. Was up in Sikkim and Darjeeling. Amazing. Am planning to go up explore the area, trek a little around to the hot springs . I never thought I would want to go back there again.
March 12th, 2008 at 5:24 pm (#)
I’m back from Tibet now, Adri; Giardia and Bronchitis-ravaged but happy and smiling. Best trip I’ve ever done in my life - wonderful people, the best scenery in the world bar none and an interesting glimpse into how an oppressed people still manage to live their lives in the way they have for centuries despite the Chinese occupation.
Tibet’s the most thought-provoking country I’ve ever been to.
You would, as if it needs to be said, absolutely love the place.
March 16th, 2008 at 10:40 am (#)
Hyderabad (world’s Biryani capital!
I am Hyderabad (India) but never thought of it as Biryani capital! I have to admit, though, that Hyderabad has some of the best biryani places out there. After biryani, if you still have room for dessert, I highly recommend double ka meetha. Yum!
March 16th, 2008 at 10:42 am (#)
Hyderabad (world’s Biryani capital!
I am from Hyderabad (India) but never thought of it as Biryani capital! I have to admit, though, that Hyderabad has some of the best biryani places out there. After biryani, if you still have room for dessert, I highly recommend double ka meetha. Yum!
March 17th, 2008 at 12:44 am (#)
well.. you don’t know what you’re missing out on, until you leave india and realize how it’s nigh impossible to get a PROPER biryani.
March 19th, 2008 at 2:13 pm (#)
Ten beautiful road in India, http://geniusharish.rediffiland.com/blogs/2007/08/30/Ten-beautiful-roads-in.html
surfed this on the web, think maybe you have visited some of them.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:41 pm (#)
Eeeks. Everytime I read your posts I’m like - daaYaaaam I need to get my ass over to India NOW! - and then start planning in my head and realize I’ll probably need a year to cover everything. At least. Liddat how?!
BTW, when you end up in NYC you need to check out my current hood. Jackson Heights - most diverse place in all of NYC; with a substantial Indian/Bengali/Nepali presence. Whenever I walk to the train I have to battle hunger pangs from the smells of the curry and the sight of the chaat. And resist dancing to the Bollywood beats. And the only Tibetan food street vendor in NYC!