I'm baaaack! Where from you ask?

OR....India in written form, Part I.

Just in case anyone has actually noticed my absence from the blogging world...No? Oh well...I was away, now I'm back, just fyi :) So we've cleared that up, ok cool...

So where am I back from? Travels! Again! Lucky me :)

Where to this time? India. It had to be done really. Pretty sure as an Israeli citizen, if I hadn't gone to India that at some point my citizenship would have been revoked. It's just one of those things, one of the travel destinations that Israelis sort of must do. It's on a kind of generally accepted, unwritten list of things that Israelis must do, or know how to do. Like playing Sheshbesh (backgammon), or knowing how to barter, or being really good at arguing and pushing in, even for those of us who may not actually like doing it, but the know how is there. INCIDENTALLY, knowing how to barter and argue and push in turn out to be good skills to have if you go to India. So yeah...back to that. For anyone that may actually read this blog, I'ma tell you about my Indian adventure right about....NOW.

Let me just preface whatever comes next with saying that I absolutely loved it. That must be said cos it is a crazy, chaotic country so if some of what I say sounds like maybe I didn't love it, well then let it be known that I did. And I am dying to go back....and I WILL be back. Hopefully with a more resilient stomach next time, but I'll get to that later.

So....India. Why, how, where?

WHY


Apart from the obvious, "why not?", I actually had an amazing opportunity come up, so I decided to seize it, perhaps somewhat irrationally. Irrationally, cos what I should have done at the time I made the decision to go was pursue stable employment, pay off debt, acknowledge I'd already done my annual overseas trip for the year, and yeah, be like all responsible and shit. But in hindsight it all worked out well, so I'm happy with my decision, and 'meh' for rationality.

So what was the opportunity? Well, I had heard about a trip that was being organised for Australian young professionals by The Joint Distribution Committee; An organisation, that while little known (at least by my generation) in Australia, I was certainly aware of, more in an Israeli context because of their historical involvement in my home country. It was the first trip of its kind to be targeted at an Australian audience, for 10 days in India. I was keen, I applied and I got in. So far so good, hurray.

The purpose of the trip was to learn about, and engage with the local Indian Jewish community. Sounded interesting since admittedly, apart from having two good friends in Sydney with an Indian Jewish background, I knew very little about this community, so different from my Ashkenazi (IE Eastern European) Jewish background.

HOW AND WHERE

Ok, fast forward. Off we went to India. I decided to extend my stay past the 10 day program and spent a month in total in 'incredible India', as their tourist campaigns so aptly call this truly incredible country. Myself and two friends arrived 4 days prior to the start of the program, and did our own exploring for those days. We landed in Mumbai on the west coast, the mid-point between the distinct North and South regions of India, and what has been described as India's most cosmopolitan city.

So, what's Mumbai like? People say you either love it or you hate it. Me? I'm a city girl through and through, live it, breathe it, love it and so I loved it. What can I say, compared to other places I've visited, it's completely nuts. Not nuts like New York City, or Vegas, or Tel Aviv (none of which I'll even try and explain, here's hoping you've been there or have your own image of these anyway), but just nuts in it's own special way. Firstly, it's heavily populated. 22 million people leave there. That is, all of Australia's population living in the one city. So Aussies: That means no Aussie dream here of a stand alone house, it's all built up. Apartment buildings and a high rate of population density, much as you'd expect from the second most populated country in the world really. FUN FACT: Amongst all of this, Mumbai is actually home to the world's most expensive home. 27 stories, built for a family of four, though uninhabited because it doesn't conform to the Indian principles of vastu shastra (read: Indian Feng Shui) - fascinating!!

Secondly, the roads. Oh. My. G-d. Marked lanes? Meh, let's form our own. Road rules? Yeah, that's optional. Walking into oncoming traffic? That's cool, the cars will stop for you eventually. Seat belts fitted in cars? Overrated. Side view mirrors? Nahhh, those will be clipped off in an hour, max. Rear view? Yeah, no,  you just look out for the car in front of you, the cars behind you will do the same for you. AWESOME. Somehow, it works. Rule #1 about India: Don't question, just surrender to the madness, accept and enjoy.

Then of course there's cows, this relates to all of India of course. Poking their heads into stores? Sure, what, they're not allowed to browse? Perched on a hill that you yourself barely made it up? Makes perfect sense. Bumming on a Goan beach? Why should humans alone have all the fun? In the middle of aforementioned busy  roads? Hey, they're holy and they'll do what they want, get it yet?

Apart from that, Mumbai is colourful, diverse and very very interesting. It has a mix of Indian traditions, along with colonial landmarks and modern western influences. You'll see beautiful women clad in the traditional Sarees, Punjabis and others which on a complete side note I cannot spell right now because Wikipedia is down (I could cry...), alongside men & women in all the latest western fashions. The same applies for everything else. In case you had any doubts (I didn't..) all the modern luxuries are available here, although we did notice that apple products are not as popular here, which suited me fine as a stubbornly anti-apple-fangirl personally. Oh yes, and another thing about India: everyone really is obsessed with cricket (*yawn*), much more so than Aussies I reckon. Hockey is also quite popular there apparently. The sport that is, not Joe Hockey (ewww...)

Mumbai highlights for me:

1. The sea is always a highlight for me. I can't say it's the cleanest (pollution levels in India are pretty awful...you can never rid yourself of the pollution induced dirt under your fingernails, I gave up), but it's still pretty to look at. On our 4th day in India prior to the JDC program starting we took a ferry from the Gateway of India to Elephanta Island, an hour long boat trip, very serene and calming, and especially beautiful on our trip back to the mainland as the sun was setting.

2. Mani Bhavan - Where Gandhi had lived, currently a museum. I learnt a lot about his character, actions, the quit India movement and India's quest for independence there. As a political enthusiast I was fascinated, and as a humanist I am completely awe inspired by the man. What struck me the most: there was a copy of a letter Gandhi had sent to Hitler, pretty much on the eve of World War II appealing to him as the man capable of preventing the war. As we know, that didn't *quite* help so much, but as the granddaughter of holocaust survivors I certainly appreciate the gesture. Particularly given it originated from a man in a country with its own problems to deal with and quite removed from the situation. This was however, just one of many things I learnt about Gandhi, with relation to his visions on issues like women's rights which were well ahead of his time, and generally his humble, forgiving and humane approach to all. Really inspiring stuff.

3. Food - Ok so yes I did get food poisoning. Pretty much everyone who goes to India does. But I still love Indian food and it was very very yummy. Even if I can't stomach it at all right now and probably won't again for a while....And Mum, if you're reading this: YES, I ate the street food. YES, I know everyone advises against this. SURE, I could have been more careful than I was, I KNOW my stomach is not conditioned to it etc etc etc. BUT....I didn't get sick from street food. Against advice given to me, I didn't eat only steamed food. I didn't eat only in places where I could see the kitchen. I did eat fried foods. And that was all fine. The food there is fabulous and delicious. Ultimately what we estimate and what others have since told me about their travel experiences is that you need to be more careful of western food because chances are restaurants don't know how to properly preserve western food they prepare = a recipe for getting sick. Anyway, forget all that. Food = two thumbs up.

4. Shopping - Anyone who has ever being in my room knows this is an illness for me. I have wayyyy too many clothes/shoes/jewellery/bags/stuff (internet readers....please don't rob me :p) already. I promise I was good. I didn't go crazy. But shopping is hella cheap. And there's a lot of beautiful stuff. So who can resist??

5. Mumbai trains - they are crazy! People jump on, people jump off, the train is still moving, personal space - what is that anyway? But, it's fun! The city trains have male compartments and female compartments, and the female compartments are wayyyyy more fun. And either way, Mumbai traffic is so crazy that a train is MUCH faster than catching a taxi, even if for tourists catching a taxi is still so cheap compared to home, definitely compared to stupidly expensive Sydney taxi fares. Anyway, tacking onto highlight no. 4, travelling in the women's compartment means the prospects for more shopping! I didn't actually buy anything, but you can probably buy ANYTHING on the train if you want. The men's compartments are always way too full for that. But for the women, if unlike me, you're not too busy creepily admiring how pretty all the women's sarees and stuff are and once you move past the jealousy of how bloody good they are at making crazy colour schemes work, and accessorising with awesome scarves you can do a LOT of shopping on the train. You can buy wallets, handbags, nail polish, hair accessories, random toys and sometimes even food (if you dare). It's pretty fun going through the stuff all the sellers have to offer, some practical, some completely random, and I also really liked how they just pass it all around for people to browse and noone steals anything, there's a complete trust thing going on, and it works.

So yeah, let's call that part I. When I next have a streak of motivation I'll move on to part II - The JDC program and Jewish India. Stay tuned and I hope you enjoyed reading :)