And then I went to India

"Advance, and never halt, for advancing is perfection." (Khalil Gibran). India is growing everyday, she is growing and she is learning and she is progressing. Very soon, India won't be a third world country any more. I am proud of India and I am proud that my forefathers belonged to her, I'm proud of them too for making that great decision to cross the sea to unknown lands and start a new life - without which I would not be here. The slums of India make you realise the strength of human perseverance, determination and the will to live; while the high rise buildings illustrate precisely India's will to reach new frontiers; her palaces and forts remind you that even in the modern world we live in, nothing can replace beauty. 

Mumbai greeted me with its smoggy sunlight, and the minute I laid eyes upon the bustling streets and felt the pulsing atmosphere wrap itself around me in the twinkling city lights at night, I fell in love. Blending Gothic, Victorian and Art Deco architecture into one city, Mumbai makes you feel like you're living through the ages - a medley that  theoretically shouldn't work, and to a degree creates some chaos in the city design, at the same time seems almost fitting. It's a city that never stops; motion is like it's second nature, forever weaving itself into new rhythms and tapping out new beats.

While Delhi may have been the capital city, and Mumbai only the economic capital, the contrast between the two was immediately evident to me - Delhi was the man you always see at the bus stop every day that you pass by, but you never stop to find out where he's going, and one day you think about it and realise that you don't quite care either. I spent my New Years Eve at the Kingdom of Dreams, just outside Delhi, and the difference was palpable almost as soon as we crossed that invisible line to the next state - New Years Eve is now a blur of laughter and colour, flashing lights and a vibrating crowd, a Gypsy Prince, vibrant fireworks, coloured confetti and dancing dancing dancing till the end of the world. Oh what fun, what absolute fun to be an Indian!

I stayed in a palace too! Neemrana Fort Palace, where Veer Zara and Eat Pray Love, among others were shot. What a feeling, to roam through it's narrow passageways and stroll across it's courtyards, I felt as if I was a character in an age-old story! It was beautiful; the palace was enthralling, peaceful. I could have spent days there among the mountains. The air cut my skin, numbing it and waking my lungs. The buildings had me reliving the old world I'd only read about in books and seen dancing across the silver screen. I loved it!

The Pink City - Jaipur was a shock to me (somebody who detests that colour!). To see the buildings iced in that horrific shade had me nauseous (though the dusty air probably had quite a bit to do with it too). Setting aside my pink prejudices though, Jaipur was...intriguing to say the least. The city palace, like all the Moghul's palaces we'd visited thus far, was a beautiful sight.

"Tiger Tiger burning bright, in the fires of the night,", it's what I whispered to myself, when out on my first safari in Ranthambore National Park, an adolescent tiger stalked past our geep. Such a majestic creature! It disappeared into the straw coloured grass on the other side of the road, and I felt my heart brimming with awe, it was so still I forgot it had to be beating for me to be breathing. I shouted after my Sharekhan, "what immortal hand or eye, could frame thy fearful symmetry?" almost in delirious glee...his tail didn't even twitch in response. I made new friends there too - the staff. One day, I'd love to go back to that place and spend even more time there: enjoying the sights, the sounds, the delightful food!

I saw the Taj Mahal for the first time through a veil of mist. It was like a mirage. Agra itself is a filthy, chaotic place, but the Taj Mahal is an oasis in all of that - it's easy to forget what it is: a tomb. The architecture was not something new to me, after visiting Humayuns Tomb in Delhi, but the marble work and sheer, unequivocal fascination it holds for the world over, made the Taj Mahal unrivalled in it's splendour. It was sad too, it was just a tomb after all. 

I've read Shantaram, Eat Pray Love, Q&A and so many others to boot - and NOTHING could have possibly prepared me for the overwhelming embrace of India: because that's what she does, she draws you out and pulls you in and squeezes the breath out of you, whispering sweet nothings in your ear amid a cacophony of disorientation, even as you look over her shoulder at the threshold of human suffering she's spinning you about to show you the most amazing sights you never thought could exist!