The French girl with the phenomenal English vocabulary spoke as rapidly as a New Yorker and used slang as comfortably as I would. She told me that for her, learning English was like putting together puzzle pieces in her head. One phrase led to another, one idea to the next and by her early 20s, she was not only speaking English, but loved it.
She's traveled to Ireland and America. She doesn't like to speak French when she travels. It just connects for her.
A few days prior, we met. Norwegian guy named Axel also in his early 20s who spoke English like Burl Ives. Lively, fluent, intelligent with a hint of Irish Spring freshness that he got from when his mom took him traveling to Ireland as a child. He has American and British friends. English and the Anglo culture that goes with it somehow resonates with him.
I understand this. Thai was easy for me just because the building blocks fit together. My mind could grasp it. French I love despite that it didn't come as easily - a lot of it was my high school French teacher pounding it into our heads. It wasn't until college that I decided I really enjoyed it and made it my own. Perhaps this happened because much earlier, I came to like French history and culture.
Language, in my opinion, is a reflection of culture. We express our thoughts through language and its rules and structure have everything to do with our outlooks. Some of learning a language has to do with talent for language learning. But there's a key element of connecting with the culture and the ideas that are valued and expressed.
People come to India for all sorts of reasons. As Emily and I have settled into working at the rooftop restaurant of the guesthouse across the street, we find ourselves observing and talking with the people who pass through. Sometimes we're reminded of who we were eight years ago. Other times, we see people with very different agendas and motivations. Along our travels we have met so many people with different purposes and views.
In Region 1, people traveled to each place for fairly obvious and consistent reasons. You go to Israel to connect with religion, history and links to identity. In Greece you go for either ancient civilization or to chill out. In southern France, it's all about the sea, the sun, the lifestyle, the shopping and the Frenchness of it all.
India is different. Some come to see the sights. Taj Mahal - snap photo, check. Delhi Red Fort - snap photo, check. Udaipur Lake Palace - snap photo, check. Eat real Indian food - so brave! snap photo - check.
There are the business travelers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Calcutta participating in the promise and excitement of "The New India". While they seem like the most boring type of visitors, they are vital to India and the progression of its story.
Some people come here for completely opposite reasons. They seek themselves. They imagine there's a guru who knows the way or some aspect of Hindu that will lighten their path. Some come for yoga which of course has its own spiritual values if you want to partake.
Others come for Ayurvedic healing. From the bile in their guts to clearing their acne to the wounds in their souls, they want to see if a holistic Eastern healing philosophy might have the answer. Sometimes it does.
There are the young backpackers who choose India as their place to escape and feel the euphoria of being free in the world for the first time. Get a tattoo, try some drugs, sleep in some armpit of the universe guesthouses, drink cheap beer, skip some showers, and wear clothing that looks local and ethnic - but really isn't because they make it to sell to young backpackers.
Why not?
In the end, the backpackers discover more about who they are, gain self-confidence, expand their worldviews, and come to appreciate home and the people they love a little more. This is the typical life cycle of the young backpacker.
People like our friends Yvette and Hugh come because of their love affair with the cultures of India. The art, dance, colors, sounds, dress - they revel in it. They love the celebratory aspects of Indian life and find pleasure in the color of the chaos. Their love of India works like the French girl's puzzle pieces fitting together.
Theirs is the best reason to come to India.
Then there's us. We don't seek anything. We want to see the sights - kinda' sorta'. We prefer walking around and absorbing the way of life. We take longer in each place than a tourist. We have no business to transact.
We are doing exactly what Emily tells her grandmother when she asks, "Why are you there? What are you doing there?"
"Just looking, Grandma."
It's true. We pass through. We look around. We aren't buying. We just want to see India's wares and offerings.
Emily finds a little more connection to it all than I do. That's largely because she has the same love affair with Nepal that Hugh and Yvette do with India. Of course there are similarities - particularly in northern India where customs, cultures and even language overlap. Emily picks up on certain Hindi words and can recognize certain behaviors and traditions - particularly things related to religion.
Nonetheless, India is different. Our path, purpose and method seem different than the others we meet along our way. We are absorbing our experience and of course it affects us. It's just different.
India differs from anywhere else I've traveled because of its extremes. Order and chaos. Development and degeneration. Incredible wealth and absolute destitution. Beautiful compassion, incredible indifference and shocking cruelty. Intense pursuit of spirituality and mindless idolatry. Unabashed classism and progressive outlooks.
None of these things are unique to India. In fact, every society I've ever encountered - including my own - has all of these contrasts. It's just that India has the greatest extremes and has no self-consciousness about it. It's just how it is.
I try not to judge. I try not to come to any great conclusions. I have an unshakable bias about the caste system. I have trouble seeing it as anything but negative - but even with that, a barber made me think about how it benefitted him even though he is toward the bottom.
After today's visit to the local post office, I feel justified in concluding that the post office is barbaric. I have never seen such shoving, chaos and steel-hearted competition as in the local post office. It was like a pack of Bengal tigers with letters to mail. I can't help judging - no one benefitted there.
All I can conclude is that India is not like the other countries and we are not like the other travelers. Like India, we have our own paradigm. This more than anything makes the adventure colorful and marvelous.
She's traveled to Ireland and America. She doesn't like to speak French when she travels. It just connects for her.
A few days prior, we met. Norwegian guy named Axel also in his early 20s who spoke English like Burl Ives. Lively, fluent, intelligent with a hint of Irish Spring freshness that he got from when his mom took him traveling to Ireland as a child. He has American and British friends. English and the Anglo culture that goes with it somehow resonates with him.
I understand this. Thai was easy for me just because the building blocks fit together. My mind could grasp it. French I love despite that it didn't come as easily - a lot of it was my high school French teacher pounding it into our heads. It wasn't until college that I decided I really enjoyed it and made it my own. Perhaps this happened because much earlier, I came to like French history and culture.
Language, in my opinion, is a reflection of culture. We express our thoughts through language and its rules and structure have everything to do with our outlooks. Some of learning a language has to do with talent for language learning. But there's a key element of connecting with the culture and the ideas that are valued and expressed.
People come to India for all sorts of reasons. As Emily and I have settled into working at the rooftop restaurant of the guesthouse across the street, we find ourselves observing and talking with the people who pass through. Sometimes we're reminded of who we were eight years ago. Other times, we see people with very different agendas and motivations. Along our travels we have met so many people with different purposes and views.
In Region 1, people traveled to each place for fairly obvious and consistent reasons. You go to Israel to connect with religion, history and links to identity. In Greece you go for either ancient civilization or to chill out. In southern France, it's all about the sea, the sun, the lifestyle, the shopping and the Frenchness of it all.
India is different. Some come to see the sights. Taj Mahal - snap photo, check. Delhi Red Fort - snap photo, check. Udaipur Lake Palace - snap photo, check. Eat real Indian food - so brave! snap photo - check.
There are the business travelers in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Calcutta participating in the promise and excitement of "The New India". While they seem like the most boring type of visitors, they are vital to India and the progression of its story.
Some people come here for completely opposite reasons. They seek themselves. They imagine there's a guru who knows the way or some aspect of Hindu that will lighten their path. Some come for yoga which of course has its own spiritual values if you want to partake.
Others come for Ayurvedic healing. From the bile in their guts to clearing their acne to the wounds in their souls, they want to see if a holistic Eastern healing philosophy might have the answer. Sometimes it does.
There are the young backpackers who choose India as their place to escape and feel the euphoria of being free in the world for the first time. Get a tattoo, try some drugs, sleep in some armpit of the universe guesthouses, drink cheap beer, skip some showers, and wear clothing that looks local and ethnic - but really isn't because they make it to sell to young backpackers.
Why not?
In the end, the backpackers discover more about who they are, gain self-confidence, expand their worldviews, and come to appreciate home and the people they love a little more. This is the typical life cycle of the young backpacker.
People like our friends Yvette and Hugh come because of their love affair with the cultures of India. The art, dance, colors, sounds, dress - they revel in it. They love the celebratory aspects of Indian life and find pleasure in the color of the chaos. Their love of India works like the French girl's puzzle pieces fitting together.
Theirs is the best reason to come to India.
Then there's us. We don't seek anything. We want to see the sights - kinda' sorta'. We prefer walking around and absorbing the way of life. We take longer in each place than a tourist. We have no business to transact.
We are doing exactly what Emily tells her grandmother when she asks, "Why are you there? What are you doing there?"
"Just looking, Grandma."
It's true. We pass through. We look around. We aren't buying. We just want to see India's wares and offerings.
Emily finds a little more connection to it all than I do. That's largely because she has the same love affair with Nepal that Hugh and Yvette do with India. Of course there are similarities - particularly in northern India where customs, cultures and even language overlap. Emily picks up on certain Hindi words and can recognize certain behaviors and traditions - particularly things related to religion.
Nonetheless, India is different. Our path, purpose and method seem different than the others we meet along our way. We are absorbing our experience and of course it affects us. It's just different.
India differs from anywhere else I've traveled because of its extremes. Order and chaos. Development and degeneration. Incredible wealth and absolute destitution. Beautiful compassion, incredible indifference and shocking cruelty. Intense pursuit of spirituality and mindless idolatry. Unabashed classism and progressive outlooks.
None of these things are unique to India. In fact, every society I've ever encountered - including my own - has all of these contrasts. It's just that India has the greatest extremes and has no self-consciousness about it. It's just how it is.
I try not to judge. I try not to come to any great conclusions. I have an unshakable bias about the caste system. I have trouble seeing it as anything but negative - but even with that, a barber made me think about how it benefitted him even though he is toward the bottom.
After today's visit to the local post office, I feel justified in concluding that the post office is barbaric. I have never seen such shoving, chaos and steel-hearted competition as in the local post office. It was like a pack of Bengal tigers with letters to mail. I can't help judging - no one benefitted there.
All I can conclude is that India is not like the other countries and we are not like the other travelers. Like India, we have our own paradigm. This more than anything makes the adventure colorful and marvelous.
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