January 15, 2013 - Thoughts Before My Trip

I leave for New Delhi tomorrow for a year. I’ve never been to India before.

I’m a preparer. I always think there is little I cannot handle as long as I’m adequately prepared. At the same time, paradoxically, I know that I cannot really prepare for anything.

Except the possibility of chapped lips or being without my favorite deodorant

So I settle for the happy medium of being less likely to be sideswiped by something stupid. Although I’m beginning to realize that I enjoy myself more when I don’t prepare as much, I can’t help myself. So I read and watch and absorb the wealth of information available to me.

I’m almost through Delirious Delhi, a humorous blog-style book about a man and his wife living in New Delhi who seem almost as paranoid as me when it comes to food and water-bourne illnesses. Lots of great tidbits and advice about how to bargain for rickshaws and which markets to go to. I also read Living Abroad in Delhi, which had lots of good living-in-Delhi info and about the infamous FRRO card I’m required to get, that involves navigating a maze of Indian bureaucracy in the one place where they ironically don’t speak much English: the foreign registration office.

I’m also reading Speaking of India, a so far excellent book about office politics in India. I started Delhi: Adventures in a Megacity, which is good, but I think I’ll like it better after I’ve lived there for some time. It has less advice, more funny encounters. I also have a book on Hindi and have pored through a few websites on the written language so I arrive somewhat literate.

The best book I read was on the flight(s) over called Enjoying India: The Essential Handbook. Like Living Abroad, it was written by a single American woman living alone in India, which provides a particularly useful perspective for me. This had the best combination of tips and went into great detail about things most guidebooks just touch on, if they mention it at all. I love that she had a whole section about the plumbing! Seriously, the number of guidebooks that don’t tell you when you are in a country where you maybe shouldn’t put toilet paper down the toilet…

Themes I’ve come across:
One book said that India is the most extreme cultural experience a Westerner can have. You see beauty and horror side by side. It’s incredibly diverse. India cannot be described in one word. I’ve watched several Bollywood movies and TV shows (like An Idiot Abroad) and, on top of photos online, have seen many images of India. I watched The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel and Slumdog Millionaire. Phrases I’ve come across: “A crush of humanity”, “disgusting”, “dirty”, “assault on the senses”, “smelly”, “heart-wrenching poverty”, and one traveler who went four times describes it using the acronym “I’ll Never Do It Again” though admitted he is planning another trip.

Many years ago, I went to Little India in Singapore and found it slightly uncomfortable. There were a lot of people. Men in moustaches staring at me from the street corner. And I didn’t feel safe. But wow, the temple in the middle of it all was the MOST AMAZING temple I’d ever seen and prompted the urge to visit India, even though it simultaneously prompted the intimidation.

I think, no matter what, it will be intense. Every single westerner I talked to that has visited India agrees on that word. But until I’m there, I won’t really get it. Until I see the dirt, feel the stares, hear the horns honking, smell the fumes, witness the poverty and luxury next to each other, I won’t really GET it. Alternatively, until I am surrounded by colorfully dressed populace, witness the organized chaos of the roads, taste the deliciously spiced chai, stand before the most incredible temples and mosques I can imagine, appreciate the patience and resilience of the population, and am treated to the most decadent meals imaginable by a very warm-hearted community, I won’t really GET it.