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Destinations:
→ Mumbai
→ Jaipur
→ Agra (Taj Mahal)
→ Kolkata
(An interesting note that many of these cities were renamed in the last 25 years as India sought to cast off it’s British imperial naming… Bombay became Mumbai, Calcutta became Kolkata; Bangalore rebranded as Bengaluru and Benares became Varanasi. Caused me quite a bit of confusion as in my Dad’s journals he had all the British naming)
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A journey across four Indian states. Flight from Mumbai to Jaipur, Rajasthan to explore the golden triangle, then 14+ hour overnight trains to Varanasi & Kolkata
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😁High: Varanasi, the spiritual heart of India and holy site for the Hindus. Truly a bucket-list experience witnessing the religious and cultural heartbeat of India along the Ganges river. More on the visit in the Varanasi section.
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| Sunrise Aarti Ceremony over the Ganges |
🙁Low: The inability to feel comfortable the entire time I was there. It’s true, traveling to India (especially on a backpacker budget) is not for everyone. The crowds, incessant salesmen, insane streets and confronting poverty made each day feel like a constant battle. It’s a low - but not a complaint, because I added India to the itinerary for just this experience!
🤣Laugh: Riding the local trains in Mumbai. I absolutely loved the exhilarating experience hopping on and off the trains during my short visit to Bombay. Locals laughed at me loving it, smiling, taking videos. I was obsessed…until hearing around seven people die daily on the Mumbai train network.
Favorite moments:
- Spending a day touring the Dharavi Slum in Mumbai. Unforgettable and eye opening. One of those tours where your entire view on the definition of a slum changes.
- Spending a couple days in Jaipur with locals, driving to a village outside the city, eating exactly how Indians do (with hands, endless chapati and pork) hanging in the abandoned shoe shop
- Witnessing a cremation ceremony along the Ganges in Varanasi
- Visiting Mother Theresa’s grave and convent in Calcutta. Meeting Mother Theresa was a cornerstone experience in TC’s world tour, so I was excited to see the burial place and legacy of this incredible saint.
- The Islamic New Year festival in Calcutta. My travel-mate Matt and I walked the streets with tens of thousands of Muslim residents celebrating the festival with drums, food, and cardboard decorated mosque replicas - that they put on display to encourage fundraising for their mosque community. We stood out like sore thumbs as the only Westerners at the festival…and yes, that meant every group of teenage boys coming up to us to take pictures and show us around.
- Generally just observing the diversity of this massive country. From the obvious religious diversity noticed by attire, to watching locals even have difficulty communicating with others as they say the dialect of Hindu changes every 200kms you go.
Recap:
How to summarize an exhilarating three weeks in India?
Words that come to mind: chaotic, extreme, overpopulated, religious, kind, diverse.
I left India with fond memories yet also mixed feelings. I had always wanted to visit and wouldn’t trade a second for the truly unique travel experience it offered. Typing up my notes now months later will likely create a more mild tone, but I’ll never forget the relief I felt flying out of Calcutta after 18 days of trekking through the vast country. I’m sure a large contribution to the mixed emotions can be attributed to traveling on a backpackers budget and mentality, which I discovered took on a whole new meaning of “roughing it”. I experienced the grit of $12/night “4 star” hotels crawling with insects and cigarette-stained pillow cases, battled through a terrible bout of “Delhi Belly” (food poisoning) which took me out for two days, and constantly fended for my wellbeing on the streets.
Backpacking India was a shock to the senses, but it’s also the reason I traveled there. In my mind a world tour is not complete without visiting India!
With a population of 1.4BN that just overtook China, India’s economy continues to grow rapidly - and although I feel I see one of these stats every few years - India is on pace to become the world’s second largest economy in 50 years, and a large percentage (60%) is being driven from domestic demand. It was exhilarating to witness the hustle and bustle on the streets and talk with folks who lived down south about their booming IT industry.
I recall a similar entry into my Dad’s journal when he entered India in March of 1990. Then, India’s population of 870 million was growing exponentially. I’ll have to paste the journal entry in here but I recall how amazed he was to learn India would become the second country to hit a billion people (China claimed the title in 1982 and India reached a bil in 1999). In his same journal entry he had the math on just how little money the average Indian lives off of. Today, the minimum wage in India is just $2 per day or $65 a month, with the average wage being higher at $4-5/day. It was such a confronting experience to truly witness the “day to day living” mentality of so many hardworking people in India. Shaking my head in disbelief of locals complaining to me about the difficulties of paying $150 in monthly rent. My daily expenditures were insanely low….$7 for a hotel, $2 for dinner, even $3 or 250 rupee for a 30 minute rickshaw (taxi) ride.
Although I felt in a great groove after just completing six weeks backpacking solo, trekking through India required a new level of alertness. Often, it felt more like survival. The public settings of the streets, airplanes, busses and trains were undoubtably the loudest I’ve ever experienced. Quite a difference from China! I had to operate in these public settings as what I’d consider a bully. Forget any semblance of personal space, I had to quickly learn how to shoulder my way through crowded spaces, push back and speak up when trying to be cut in a queue (well, actually, lines didn’t really exist in India in the same capacity)….be prepared to elbow back on “my space” of the armrest when my arm was quite intentionally pushed off. Crossing traffic? Just throw your hand up and walk right across. It feels like you’ll get hit, but you wont. Probably will get the same outcome if you were to just close your eyes and walk right across. Getting sold something from an opportunistic vendor and being followed after already kindly saying no? Just turn around and tell them sternly that you already said no and to stop following, and they say “no problem my friend” and will likely try one more time to get you in their shop - HAH!. The most amazing part of this is that I found I had to act this way. No one takes offense to your dominance in public in these examples, it actually felt expected and a way of life. It’s almost like they expected me to push their arm off an armrest, cut them back, because when I did it - it went unnoticed and just a way of life. After weeks, it became exhausting; so many interactions that I would expect to be relaxing became a constant battle.
I traveled India overland via the (in)famous Indian train network from Jaipur to Agra to Varanasi, ending after a 14 hour overnight in Kolkata. It was a unique, authentic experience to say the least that I will likely never indulge in again! It doesn’t take much Googling for foreigners to complain about how insane it is booking train tickets in India and my experience wasn’t more true. After about 35 cumulative hours on India trains, 4+ hour delays sitting at the station until 3AM, I certainly got my local taste into the way millions of residents travel. Witnessing families moving with their whole lives in bags on the train, the middle class heading to domestic vacation destinations in 1st or 2nd class coach and those of more modest means in crammed-non air conditioned 3rd class sleeper cars. Eye opening. Often it felt like a living room, for example, my travel mate Matt and I’s bunkmate on our 14 hour journey from Varanasi to Kolkata in 2nd class coach was a older gentleman coming home to Kolkata after a vacation in norther India. He spent the first three hours of the journey listing loudly on speakerphone to some news show. I started conversing with him - in hopes it would get him to turn the speaker down, but he just started to explain to me he was listening to the opposing Indian political party and turned the volume up further!
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| Still smiling 14 hours later! |
Mumbai
I loved Bombay (former name for Mumbai)! From the blend of culture, the rich & poor, to my first experience witnessing the Indian religious diversity, I had a wonderful four days in the “New York City” or Bollywood capital of India. Staying down south in Colaba, its easy to spot the British influence as a former integral port city on the Arabian Sea.
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Colaba Causeway. Tens of thousands lined up to watch the sun set and stare out at the Mumbai skyline
 | | First observation: people everywhere! |
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| Taj Mahal Hotel (left) and Gateway to India monument |
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| Mumbai local trains |
Dharavi Slum Tour
Nearly half the population of urban India lives slums. Dharavi slum, home to over one million residents, is one of the largest slums in India, if not the world. It’s also the backdrop to many scenes in Slumdog Millionaire and located in the heart of Mumbai.
I wrote about it being such a unique experience because who the hell provides tours (I booked on TripAdvisor and took a pic with my guide below) of slums, and who would want to go on one? Well, looking back, it was eye opening and one of my favorite days in India. It was one of those days where your understanding of “slum life” takes on a new reality and you go to bed that night in awe of the day you just had.
The tour lasted two hours and I explored for hours longer - getting lost, looking left and right in amazement, and exchanging smiles with the hard working people of the slum. You quickly learn that the slum is a substantial economic center of the city, contributing 5% to Mumbai’s GDP through mainly the clothing (leather) and recycling industries. Sarah, if you’re reading this, it’s where your leather fanny pack is from!
It’s hard to describe the amount of people that just wanted to shake my hand: old, young, Muslim, Hindu. Some would come up and walk with me just to say hi and converse. Others just to shake my hand and smile, or to ask if I needed help or directions. The kindness was incredible! I had three people separately make sure I knew how to get where I was going. I was never alone. A boy in 10th grade to walked up next to me to say “hi my name is Amer, where are you going” to the middle-aged man laughing at me in utter shock at the traffic jams, which then we both proceeded to speak about the Dharavi slum as he ran his trucking business out of it.
Insane facts about Dharavi slum:
- There are only public toilets. I used one of them, and became one of the 700 people on average that use them daily
- The typical home for a family of four is 10sq meters
- Due to high demand there are two school sessions, morning and afternoon
- An Indian billionaire is trying to convert the slum into a “modern hub” whatever that means
Although it was spitting rain most of the day in the slum, it started pouring, monsoon-esque rain in the afternoon. I stopped into a gentleman’s spice store and waited the rain out. After about 10 minutes I bought some assorted nuts from his store and we both stood there without speaking just watching the chaos ensue outside: a semi truck taking 20 minutes to turn around in a tiny alley way and everyone honking non stop. People running to escape the rain, children playing in the puddles, cows eating the trash.
…I could spend days exploring Dharvi. Still doing my best to forget about the food poising I experienced the day after. Maybe wasn’t the best idea eating a lamb dish inside India’s largest slum.
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| My tour guide Balaji, 34, resident of Dharavi |
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Dharavi Streets
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| Making saris |
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| Trash right outside the homes. Usually you’d see dogs or cows picking through it |
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| An even crazier pic of the trash |
Jaipur
It was now time to venture up north to the Indian state of Rajasthan, known for it’s old traditions and heritage. Many first time visitors like myself do the “Golden Triangle” in Rajasthan, visiting the cities of Delhi, Agra (Taj Mahal), and Jaipur. My first stop was Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, and holy cow! Cows, people, mopeds everywhere.
Unfortunately half of my time in Jaipur was spent battling off a bout of food poisoning, or Delhi Belly as they call it. After feeling a bit better towards the end of day two, I let these Tuk Tuk drivers convince me to let them drive me around. Although I could see right through their sales tactics, they were nice dudes and I wasn’t feeling well enough to go negotiate elsewhere. Funny how things go as I ended up spending the next few days with Raj and Samir, riding around Jaipur bumping Indian tunes with my guys, fixing a flat tire on the street, and renting a car to drive a few hours north to a local town.
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| Samir and I enjoying a Kingfisher at a local beer store |
We had an amazing night hanging in the room next to the textile shop drinking Kingfishers, talking about Indian culture (boy do they like to argue), eating chapati and chickpea dish sitting on the floor, as mice ran along the floor and we put our cigarette butts out on the carpet. Interestingly, Samir never went to school but can speak perfect English - but if I asked him to type an address into Google Maps, he’d remind me that he can’t read or write English. Raj on the other hand, was their “smart friend” who went to college and runs a tuxedo shop out of Jaipur and Bangkok.
There was a small (size 4-5) earthquake in Jaipur overnight during my stay. I slept through it and fortunately there wasn’t much damage to the city, but the next day the streets were insane gossiping, everyone telling their story about running into the middle of the street with their families.
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| Amer Fort, remains from the pre-British Mughal Empire in N. India |
An aside on the Indian street business world:
I found it comical the countless layers of commission before you get to the true cost of what you are buying. For example, I bought a suit in India (probably a bad Idea to get measurements after losing 10 pounds in a month): The Tuk Tuk driver gets 1% for bringing me to the textile shop, the sales guy inside 2% for actually selling the suit, and even the hostel gets 1% for allowing the Tuk Tuk driver to park outside for potential customers! I wouldn’t even be surprised if the Tuk Tuk owner renting the vehicle to the drivers gets a cut! I started asking around as the guys were constantly asking how much I spent on the suit to calculate their commissions, otherwise they feared they might be stuffed. It was also interesting to see how acceptable it was to profit off of friends in the “joint venture”. Dog eat dog world out there, especially reminding myself the monthly wage is how much I’d spend a hotel room in a US city.
Even the government workers at Taj Mahal were trying to make a few bucks as they gestured for money after shouted in the central tomb for an impressive echo!
The home of the Taj Mahal, Agra was a quick one night visit on my way to Varanasi.
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Le Taj. Ever wonder how much you are loved? The Taj Mahal was built in memory of a Mughal Emperor’s wife
 | | Yet another high school gang asking for a pic. We posed hard for this one |
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| Wandering the streets of Agra to have dozens of children come up to me desiring to take a photo. Cuteness |
Varanasi
As the spiritual capital of India in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi is a pilgrimage holy site for the 1.2BM Hindus worldwide. Described by Mark Twain as “ older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together” Varanasi is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. As the holiest sacred sight of Hindus - Mecca to Muslims, Jerusalem to Christians, Varanasi saw 72 million domestic and international visitors last year! I called it a “bucket-list” experience in my above summary as everything about the city, the ceremonies and the people put me in awe of the culture.
Hindus believe that if you die in Varanasi, you’ll be reincarnated. And if you can’t make it there before death, your ashes can be immersed in the Ganges for salvation. When my Dad visited here, it was still legal to just dump un-cremated bodies in the river! - the practice has since been banned. No I, didn’t submerse myself into the river.
I extended my stay twice and ended up spending nearly a week in Varanasi. I was lucky enough to be there during the holiday month of Shiva, which meant more ceremonies, celebrations, and yes, people. There were probably low- hundreds of thousands of domestic tourists there, and many who were unable to afford anywhere to stay just slept in the street, down by the river in massive groups. People were everywhere! It was quite a sight. Even pulling into the train station after a 15 hour overnight train that was delayed four hours due to the historic flooding in Northern India this summer, there were thousands sleeping at the train station.
The streets of Varanasi were like no other. Another one of those ancient cities before cars, the alley ways and tight corners reminded you of circumventing an old city like Prague. Only in Varanasi, you had to remember to dodge the cow pies, stray dogs and goats roaming the streets.
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| Poking his head in for some breakfast! |
For a couple days I’d awake at 4:30AM so I could catch the sunrise Aarti ceremonies over the Ganges river. The spirituality of these celebrations with the sun rising over the river was spectacular.
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Aarti sunrise ceremony
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| Guru |
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Probably need a “Viewer Discretion” on this one - but a part of the natural scene at Varanasi. The family allowed us to take pictures of the cremation of their aunt as Matt and I watched them dance and pray around her body. Insane
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| People sleeping everywhere in Varanasi. At the train station |
Formerly Calcutta and known as the “City of Joy”, Kolkata is India’s third largest city in the West Bengal State. While Varanasi may be the spiritual capital, Kolkata is the cultural capital, especially during the British rule, as it was the capital city of former colonial India. Kolkata is also the birthplace of Mother Theresa’s mission.
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| Streets of Kolkata with cabs from the 80s |
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Mock-stick fighting ceremony in the streets of Calcutta
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| Islamic New Year Festival in Kolkata |
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| The mosque replicas. We saw dozens, and learned the festival votes on the best mosque replica design and the winner gets increased funding for their local community |
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| Squad of high schoolers that were so excited to talk to us and show us around the festival |
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Modest entryway to convent
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Mother Theresa’s tomb
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