Travel is fatal to prejudice…

travel is fatal

This is more true of India than any other country I have traveled to thus far. Which is why one day I hope to return to the great sub-continent and delve more deeply into her mysteries and nuances. I wish to return to other parts, possibly in the south, to the Tamil Nadu or Kerala regions and experience the unique ways, cuisine and customs of a people who once populated this great land mass many centuries before the countless waves of invasion and immigration that created the modern day India that we all know today.

But that is for another time, until then however I have the extensive memories of my time in Rajasthan, from the elephants and pink forts of Jaipur to the poverty-stricken slums of Aggra, from the splendour of the Taj and the riches of the City Palace to the street kids that were just about everywhere.

India is the greatest paradox on this planet and that is why it is so alluring and beguiling, and that is why I know that one day I must return.

The first condition…

Quotation-Rudyard-Kipling-country-understanding-Meetville-Quotes-63968

This famous quote may well be very apt considering I travel to India in a little over three weeks time. I imagine the smells that I may encounter will be a mixture of the most incredibly intoxicating aromas, and unfortunately at the other end of the spectrum of the most unbelievable foulness.

Of the gladest moments…

Sir Richard Burton

Of the gladest moments in human life, methinks is the departure upon a distant journey to unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of habit, the leaden weight of Routine, the cloak of many Cares and the Slavery of Home, man feels once more happy. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood….afresh dawns the morn of life…

Journal Entry (2 December 1856) – Sir Richard Burton