Incredible India

Incredible India

Recently CNN World has been running these “Incredible India” tourism spots. The star is a guy who reminds me a lot of Dave Matthews circa 1993 when he was still playing dive bars in Baton Rouge, LA. So that could be part of the reason I packed up the family and headed to the land of tigers, sacred cows and elephants for our April Break. It was a quick beach-y vacation of only 8 days, but I have a few thoughts to share.
Everyone knows of the poverty of India and I have written about poverty before so I am gonna skip it this time. Suffice it to say that besides Nigeria, India is the poorest, dirtiest place I have seen in a long time. But no one wants to hear about that, so lets talk about Incredible India instead.
Walking on Calagute Beach in Goa, India on our first afternoon there was a wonderful heart lifting experience. I love how Indian men have so much simple fun in the ocean. They scream and laugh and try to dunk each other. They seem to let lose and enjoy it the way I have never seen Western men (or women actually) enjoy it. Koa and Nai’a were right there with them. It reminded me of the years we spent living in Salvador, Bahia when we would enjoy long afternoons at the beach. That began a great week of intense beach time, delicious eats, some diving and overall great relaxing.

The food in India is two very important things: amazingly wonderful and amazingly cheap. We had platters of seafood for $6! The kids enjoyed fresh fruit lassies (like a milk sake) every morning and I have to admit, we did eat way more pork products than is healthy for any human. Maybe because we can’t get it in Doha, but man those English sausages were tasty! Ryder was partial to the Cantonese chicken and our friend Amanda tried butter chicken and fell into a deep love affair that required us go back to our favorite local place almost every night. I don’t think that one meal we had was more than $25 USD for our family, including not-as-cold-as-I-would-have-liked Kingfisher beer. Koa noticed a funny thing about Kingfisher… they sell beer AND water! Dehydrate you and rehydrate you!

We saw those crazy sacred cows India is famous for all over the place. Some are even decorated with cloth and bangles and colorful designs. Men walk around with huge bullhorns and these glamor Nandi bulls, which I was told, is some sort of tradition. Looked more like a traditional money getting ploy to me. The elephants that wander the streets are also decorated with colored chalk. We saw Nai’as (dolphins) and huge sea turtles. We even saw a few eels, which you better believe cut my snorkeling trip way short. Koa and Nai’a loved the snorkeling and the para sailing! Brave girl Nai’a tried para sailing first and then shamed her brother into going a few hundred meters in the air.

After a day at the beach, we all (we were traveling with 5 other Canadians- oh no, Canadians :) would go back to the not-as-air-conditioned-as-I-would-have-liked beach house. India this time of year is hot, hot, hot. Monsoon season is about to start and you could feel the mounting barometric pressure. But it was nice to be able to wear all the sundresses and shorts that we don’t feel comfortable wearing in Qatar. I love wearing only my Hawaiianas for a week straight and getting that sandal tan. Reminds me of summer in New Orleans, LA.

Other fun India things: powdered Colgate toothpaste, whole families on one moped, cheap knockoffs (Nai’a, Koa and I all got “krock” shoes for a total of $7), fresh, delicious fruits of all kinds for sale on the beach for $2, too many dogs, Masala flavored potato chips (local snacks rock!), and the quintessential poor country sight - kids rolling old tires down the street for fun.

I know I said I would not talk about the Not-So-Incredible India part of India, but we had two funny experiences I can not in good travel experience conscious, leave out. As many of you know, we have a few “World Worst Airports” in our family. CDG (Paris) is up there with its snotty security hommes and 4 Euro muffins. Don’t get me started on ASU (Asuncion) whose workers are probably a few thousand dollars richer after “liberating” camera equipment and jewelry from our bags. So, please do not take this lightly when I saw that the Mumbai airport is the worst airport I have been in in last 10 years! I know, big claim! But let me just tell you the TIP of the iceberg: after our flight arrived in BOM (Mumbai) from Goa we were all given a lottery ticket number for a shuttle. After waiting for a few hours in a room about the size of my kitchen we were allowed on a bus that drove us back around … wait for it… TO THE FRONT ENTRANCE OF THE AIRPORT!

So Nai’a is five years old. Granted, a well-traveled five year-old, but still five. And she leans over and says, “Mama, I think the bus driver took us to the wrong place!” So then we all get off the bus and restart the entire check in/security procedure all over again, like we have just arrived at the airport! What? Did they think we would be tricked into thinking we just arrived? Three hours later, we barely make it to our next plane. Ahhh… the joy of travel.

Ok, and WHO thought serving full cups (not shots, full cups) of whiskey on a 3 hour plane ride was a good idea? I mean seriously? On the second cup, Ryder and I could tell that the man in front of him on our flight from Mumbai to Doha was wasted. And yet, the friendly Jet Airways people decide to give him yet another cup. Would you know it, 20 minutes later the man is vomiting ALL OVER. All over his friend, all over the floor, all over the aisle… and loudly too! He then proceeded to pass out until we landed. BUT wait, the whiskey strikes again on the bus ride to the terminal! Just as Ryder was telling the story to our mates, we heard the familiar yakking sound and the man threw up all over the bus! He just stood there, in the middle of the bus throwing up all over himself.

All of the sudden, Qatar’s very strict liquor laws seem quite genius….

I had two “aha” moments about traveling while I was India.

The first one came while Koa watched a local boy about his age get water for his family from a small well by the side of the road. Koa was enthralled with the process and the boy could have cared less about Koa. It made me think about how I have to believe that even though my kids will probably not remember many of the details of all these trips we take, these experiences will somehow shape them as people. If it is as simple as Koa realizing that not everyone walks over to the chilled water dispenser to get their drinking water. Or that Nai’a can play with any kid, anywhere even if they don’t speak the same language. I like that they are learning that in some parts of the world seven year old boys probably have no idea about a Wii, but they do know about work hard and have big responsibilities. And that this makes them great, even if they can’t play video games.

The second “aha” came when a taxi took us to on a ride to explore Goa. I was nervous because it was just the girls and my kids. I did not know this driver. We were in an open jeep thing and he was driving fast. I had no idea where we were and it made me a little nervous. Not crazy scared, but I would say a 6 out of 10 on the anxiety factor scale. After about 45 minutes he turned off on to a dirt road that led us to the ocean. We walked over the hill and there was the most amazing open, almost deserted strip of glittering Arabian Sea and fine white sand. It took my breath away. While I watched the kids play in the water I started thinking about why I love traveling. I think it is because traveling often puts me in situations like this. Where I am insecure, uncomfortable, a little scared and unsure. Because feeling like this gives me the chance to step it up. To take a chance. To trust a stranger. To not be embarrassed to make cow noises so the waitress in Xi’an, China knows I want to eat beef. To ask for directions. To be able to laugh at myself when I walk into the wrong bathroom in Nairobi, Kenya.
To surprise myself.
To be strong.
To be brave. Because really... how often, as adults do we get a chance to do that?