A Sense of India - Through Sight

Upon arriving in India at 1:30 in the morning after about 28 hours of traveling and being on three continents, I must admit I did not see too much until much later that morning. When I was conscious again about noon, I made my way down to the restaurant. The first thing I noticed was the amazing colors in the food. The buffet was a rainbow of Indian delicacies. From lentils to rice, vegetarian and non-veg entrees, and the desserts. Oh, the desserts. The gulab jamun in its rich, rose water sauce quickly found its way to my plate.

The silks and the saris were every color imaginable. It was everyday wear for the women. On the street, in businesses, even in schools. Our group went into a sari shop and it was shocking to see the colors and designs. I only wish I had been allowed to take photos in the store. No photographs are allowed because they see their work as art and do not want it duplicated.

I saw big cities and small towns that looked like any other urban area around the world. Tall buildings, bright lights, reflections on the water in the early morning hours before I had caught up with the 12-and-a-half-hour time difference.

Green. Lots of green. In my mind, based on limited information of movies and television, I imagined India as an air-polluted, barren country void of much greenery. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the air was clear and there was plenty of green spaces in both the urban and rural India. Delhi surprised me the most with its tree-lined streets and city parks.

Rice fields and sugar cane was everywhere in Southern India. Birds of all kinds from crows to herons, storks and egrets filled the skies and dotted the landscape.

And of course, cows. I had heard there were cows all over. I thought that was an exaggeration. Nope. Cows were everywhere. From city streets to rural villages. Highways to hamlets. They were literally everywhere. No one seemed to notice. The locals simply slowed down or went around, or patiently waited for them to move on. We tourists, however, took pictures of every cow we saw. At lease on the first day. And maybe the second. After a while, they began to blend in as a natural part of the scenery. Nothing new. Nothing out of the ordinary. A typical sight in India.