The Streets of India

Street life in India

India! You either love it or hate it. One thing is for sure, it will be a cultural shock. I must say I love India. A truly fascinating place. I have been to India quite a few times. Not quite sure how many times! I just know that last year (2017) I was there three times. All of these trips have been work trips and I have really spent very little time seeing the main tourist attractions. What I have seen of the more tourist side of things have been amazing and each of the sites, like the Taj Mahal, Jaipure and Humpi are well worth posts on their own (which I will do). I have also been to two of the nature reserves and I have posted a blog on looking for tigers in Ranthanbor National Park. The other national Park was Jim Corbett tiger reserve. This will also be another post

My trips to India have all been very busy. Sometimes, I feel a lot like a WWE tag team wrestle, except I do not have anyone to tag in! There are normally one or two local people with me and they stay with me for a few days, then they are tagged out and replaced with another one or two, fresh bright eyed people and we carry on. The programs are normally very full and involve a lot of travelling around the country. The normal activity is to have a seminar or meeting in the evening. These are meant to start at about 7 in the evening, but seldom start much before 9. I then do my talks and after the talks, there are "snacks and drinks". Whiskey is the standard drink. Plateful after plateful of wonderful (but spicy) snacks are brought in. Most of the hosts in India soon picked up on the fact that I can handle spicy food, so they do not make any "special" less spicy food for me. If we are lucky I get to bed at around 1 in the morning. Next morning it is normally up very early to head out to the airport to get a flight to the next destination. If I am lucky, we get to the next hotel at about 4 in the afternoon and then get ready for the next "show". This goes on pretty much for two weeks. Saturdays are often regarded as work days in India, so no break and Sundays (which should be a day of rest)   is normally reserved for travel to the more distant destinations as we would not have a seminar in the evening. Normally then at least the Monday morning can sometimes be a little slower.  India is referred to as a "sub-Continent". It is big and some of the internal flights can be long! Now you understand why I say I feel like a wrestler in a tag team match, without anyone to tag me out!

Wash day

Street cart selling fresh juice

Motor bikes - one of the main means of transport

Busy street 

Thinking about life

I have, on these trips been to many parts of India which are not on any of the main tourist routes. This is a wonderful opportunity to really see the country and get to know the country. One thing which is pretty much the same, no matter where you are are the streets and street life. Everything happens on the streets in India.

Traffic in India is crazy. No, it is way beyond crazy! In Delhi, I was playing a game on one of the trips (to get my mind of the crazy traffic) and I was looking for a car without a dent or scratch. Must say, I could not find one. Not that there was any shortage of cars. Main traffic rule in India appears to be "the bravest has the right of way". You cannot really explain the traffic to anyone who has not been there. Even on videos, you do not get an idea of just how close the truck was that just missed you. This is not a special one off close encounter. Every truck, car, bike, scooter, person and cow is a close encounter!

Stalls along the road

Everyone is selling something

Local stall, pig and all

Typical oxcart

The streets are lines with food sellers. There are millions of fruit and veg stalls along the road. Then there are the small chicken abattoirs. Not in you face, the killing is done in the back, but the stalls with chickens in is in the front of the stall. Apart from the many fruit and veg sellers, everything else which you might need is available in a small stalls next to the road.

Bananas anyone

One thing there is no shortage of in India is people. the roads are packed with people. The woman are in very colourful outfits which tend to make nice photos. Most of my photos from India have been taken from the window of a moving car. If you get the shutter speed on the camera just right, this is doable and you can get some nice photos.Of course there are a lot of flops, but that is what is great about digital camera. You can just delete the flops.

The street life in India is a buzz. After so many trips to India, I must say that I am getting used to the vibe on the streets of India and I now am starting to find it quite "normal".  It is anything bust "normal" for someone from a Western culture. A trip to India should be on an serious travellers bucket list. The tourist sites which I have seen have been amazing and just the vibe and life on the street makes a trip to India a must do.

Chicken for sale

Your local blacksmith