Some Indian Impressions

A head's up: blog entry subjects and locations will not be in sync with Facebook posts.  Hotel WiFi, time, energy and luck all have to have their stars aligned in order for a post to occur.

Typing and editing on this tiny phone keyboard is a challenge to say the least. Format inconsistencies are the norm.  I'll just be happy if I don't lose anything as has happened a few times.

Smells: Traveller's accounts had prepared me for lots of unpleasant smells.  So far, this has not occurred but it's still early days.

Begging:  Either I'm getting better at not being a target or we've been lucky. Probably both.   Here's where my obsessive research and the experience of last year's Peru trip to the Amazon and Machu Picchu has helped. Do Not Engage.This is where any kind of reply, even a 'no' means 'yes.'  I saw it in Peru and I saw it when shopping for tunics in Delhi. The people who said no, or anything else for that matter, were pestered continuously.

It also helps to know that the money usually goes to a third party, who takes their cut and leaving the begger little better off.  Also, giving enables a bad situation without helping to solve the underlying problems.

The Law of Stuff:  Whole essays could be written about this subject but suffice it to say that it's never, let me repeat, never where it's needed. It's the cosmic joke of travel.

For example, I got down to the lobby before our departure to the YSS Kendra last night. I had already turned in my room key when I realized that now was the time to pull out one of my numerous mosquito repellent options (Deet, no Deet natural, spray, hand wipe) only to realize that they were all in my room, none in my shoulder bag.  Craig came to the rescue, passing around some non-cancer causing natural bug spray. That plus putting my shawl over my head and neck while doing the EEs on the roof at dusk saved me.

Geography:  India, so far, reminds me of what we see around California at Convocation in that there's no ground cover, just sand interspersed with trees and bushes.  It's just very dry and dusty here, much like Mexico or parts of Latin America, which makes sense, since India is about the same latitude as Mexico.