[Sudheer Poppa]

I am finding people around the world madly in love with India, in the last three years online as well as over the last few months in person with people around Europe..

So what is your story? How did you get trapped in this India love ? What was your first image of India? Did it change ? It it changed, why? What did you feel like when you first landed in India ? How did it feel like when you returned to your land ?

So on and so forth... what is your story ?

[Indojinguy]

sudheer, on Oct 15 2006, 12:58 PM, said:

I am finding people around the world madly in love with India, in the last three years online as well as over the last few months in person with people around Europe..

So what is your story? How did you get trapped in this India love ? What was your first image of India? Did it change ? It it changed, why? What did you feel like when you first landed in India ? How did it feel like when you returned to your land ?

So on and so forth... what is your story ?

I had the same observation Sudheer. Its especially notable in the span of last 4 years or so.

My own irrational as always thinking says this is because of:
- It feels that way because people who we are around think so.
  In reality not everyone has the same interest in India.
- There is growth in the Indian economy, people outside India now see a country that
  can do/generate growth for itself. And not just reject any outside product or concepts.
- Outsourcing.
- Dis-association of India = Hindu.
- Bollywood.
- Indian nuclear tests.
- Indian girls winning some beauty contests.
- The (buyer beware) BRIC report.
- Reliance/Tata and such big private companies.

There is growth taking place in India, but ... miles to go before it sleeps.... there is caste system (conversions) making rounds on newswires this week.

Though my answer to your question is: being born there.

Aside: How is Poland?

[Serena]

The question in the title: "why?" ........really I don't know.....still searching an answer.......probably I'll find it in my next trip? ;-)

[Snowcrab]

I fell in love with India because of the people. While I was there I began to like myself better. Compared to us Indians are far more comfortable inside their own skins than North Americans are. It's kind of contagious, I just find myself relaxing and accepting myself as being ok just the way I am, feels delightful. Hate having to come back and deal with all the negative jugemental attitudes, most of it unthinking and irrational, very stressful. Hope someday not to have to come back to it at all.

[WonderWomanUSA]

>> What did you feel like when you first landed in India ? <<

I felt like I was finally home.

[iwanttogoback]

the bustle, the colour, the random juxtaposition of old and new, the completely alien nature of it (ie, it's nothing like oz ), the curiousity of the people, the sheer puzzle of it all.

[kullukid]

yogagal, on Oct 17 2006, 04:13 AM, said:

1.  I had come home

2.  I don't belong here.  

I started planning my second trip within a day of coming home from the first one.

You took the words right out of my mouth Yogagal!
Actually, I didn't fall in love with India, She fell in love with me, I was playing hard to get    But you know what a temptress she can be, now She's got her claws into me she won't let go.....Luckily!  KK

[Judi]

kullukid, on Oct 17 2006, 12:32 PM, said:

Actually, I didn't fall in love with India, She fell in love with me, I was playing hard to get    But you know what a temptress she can be, now She's got her claws into me she won't let go.....Luckily!  KK

Me, too.  My husband had been really keen to return to India, after having spent a couple of years there as a child.  I went along - not reluctantly - but rather thinking that I would find it all very interesting.      I cried on the road from the airport in to Kolkata (in the pouring rain, and cold - having been told to expect dry weather about 22 degrees C   ).  It was soooo dirty, soooo squalid, soooo alien.    A sleep, a hairwash and a gin&tonic made me curious again ....... and after only a couple of hours I realise Cupid had shot the fatal arrow

I can't put my finger on why - the people, mainly , I think ..... but I only hope I will never recover.  I would rather spend the rest of my life longing for India when I am not there, than knowing I would never like to go back again.

[priya]

On reflection.....different feelings at different times.  Today it would be something too personal to even put into words because the ache to get back is too great.

[Serena]

yogagal, on Oct 17 2006, 03:19 PM, said:

when I took my first step outside the Chennai airport and saw all the Indian faces and heard all the noise and felt the midnight air slap me in the face like a wet towel...I knew in my bones that this was what I waiting for my whole life.  The feeling was primal.  The feeling was as if I was stepping backwards into another life.  My signature says it all and as I told a friend the other day.....I need to go back to India every year as much as I need the air to breathe.

You are right yogagal.....I agree with you, this is what I feel everytime..... I haven't any other word to express my feelings and it's so hard to explain when someone simply ask you: Why?
Yes, I can answer: I like people and their attitude; I like art and history; I like the great variety in the land, and so on....... Probably I have to go to the psychoanalyst, he may have an answer for me!  

[Somerset]

When? Shortly after midnight on a December morning in 1992, although I didn't know it at the time. My first trip was during a lull in the Babri Masjid riots in Bombay. Walked out of the airport to try to arrange my flight down to Bangalore the next morning (there was an IA pilot strike at the time), and India hit me head on. No queue at the IA desk, just a mob into which I disappeared.
On the way to the place I was to sleep that night (cousin by marriage in Chembur), the city seemed alive even at 2 am. Great hospitality at my new cousin's, even though they couldn't understand a word of what I said (...but we're all speaking English, aren't we?). The scene at the airport the next day was maddness; everyone needed a ride, and IA was still on strike. Eventually made it to Bangalore, but it was quite an introduction.

India forces you to live in the moment, unlike any other place I've yet been.

Edited by Somerset, 18 October 2006 - 02:36 AM.

[vandy]

Apart from being born there, the DIVERSITY of the place just Blows Me Away.

Love the People & Love the Place.   

BTW the Food is also out of this world.

[willsmiller]

I like India because of its music. My girl friend, actually, is the biggest fan of Indian music and she gave me some cds of Indian music. Those songs were splendid and mind blowing. I dont know the right pronunciation of those artist but the more impressive one was Atif. Now, I am also one of his fan  

[jyotirmoy]

Glad to know that you liked Indian music. Try listening to Indian classical music and I hope you will love it.

[gautam]

Vandy,

Where are all the places and regions you have eaten? Which regional food(s) or cooking style most appeals to you? BTW, you have yet to taste Jyotida's cooking yet: talk of being blown away! Tho' never partake of any liquid refreshment offered! Carry your own water, even, to be safe!!!

[vandy]

Good Day Gautam,

Considering most of the meals I had were in Hotels, with the Occasional Home cooked meal from time to time.

I would definetly Prefer the Home cooked variety, anyday. However the Variety offered by Hotels with regards to their Buffet's is Excellent.

Personally I Loved the food in Kerala for its variety & flavours, Veg & Non Veg Thalis, Seafood, Biriyanis,Chinese.

I had a Pork Vindaloo in Goa and found it to be very salty in taste,also had a Seafood B'bq,just OK,nothing compared to the Aussie B'bqs I've had.

One of my Favourites is the Karti Roll,spiced meat with fresh onion & chopped green chilli wraped in a Paratha, just heavenly.Famous in Kolkata.

I thought the food in Kashmir was OK but nothing special.Had some very good meals in Delhi whilst staying at Imperial Hotel,long time ago though.

In saying all this, I big on Roadside snack stalls,Pani Puri being my Favourite followed closely by Fresh Punjabi style samosas, another interesting
Snack I had was in Munnar(kerala) this guy had these big light green chillis which he would dip in a pakora batter & deep fry,real yummy.The chillis
were not very chilli hot but had enough bite to them. Can you tell me the name of this roadside food I had whilst in Bangalore,very tasty,loved it.
It was some sort of Spiced finely ground meat served on a piece of bread.See picture.

I am also pretty big on Indian sweets, also kulfi ice cream,best kulfi I've had was at the Lalilitha Mahal Palace Hotel in Mysore,Fantastic lunch there.
I also a big fan of Wholemeal Rotis, Garlic or plain Naans & Pooris,Masala Omellete & 2 pooris for breakfast, just Heaven. There's a Indian Restn't
here in Perth that makes a Fantastic Goat Birriyani.

I have mentioned it before somewhere here that my Parents have allways been of the opinion that the Muslim Cooks in India were hard to beat.

Gotta to Go, Starting to Druel.

vandy

Attached Files

•  Kerala_031.jpg   640K   7 downloads

[gautam]

Hi Vandy,

We should switch this conversation over to DelhiMeetups 2008 where we have posted a lot of the food scene in various cities. Or better yet, visit us in Meals thread, or in GourmetIndia.com where Jyotirmoy holds court as well.

Re: Muslim cooks, they certainly cook Muslim foods the best and also a certain style of meat preparation, plus a highly developed culture of open market sales of meat cookery. The counterpart would be vegetarian cookery in the rest of indian society. So, I am not surprised that an Australian palate, highly attuned to good  meat, should nominate Muslim cooks to be the "Best".

There are several different styles of pani puri, quite dissimilar from each other in terms of filling and flavor of the dipping liquid: you may find some more to your taste than others

mumbai
delhi
rajasthan
kolkata
places i don't know about

Similarly, kathi kababs, and kathi rolls in CCU have their own styles and fans; some go for Nizam's in New Market: double egg, double mutton

I don't know what your spiced meat  mince on bread in bangalore is called : keema pao is a "similar" dish served in Mumbai Irani cafes, but i have no idea of what the local specialty is called in bangalore.

You could begin a regional exploration of food: Kerala, you have done, kashmir too. Delhi lies ahead, a more thorough hunt, then Bengal, Bangalore etc.

[Farhana]

This love, and sometimes hate relationship to India is so extreme amongst travelers and expats to India.  I would even go to say it applies to the Non-Resident Indians as well.  

I came to India 5 years ago and have been based here now for the last 4.  It's intense.  It's full on.  Those first moments don't really fade actually.  The experiences with rickshaws or drivers continue, but I don't really react the way I did in the past.

I truly believe that a lot of people come to India in search of something.  Some people call themselves Seekers and come in search of an experience...yoga, meditation, exotic flavors, shimmering colors, gorgeous bronzed-skin women, shacks by the sea... and some come because India has this sort of mystery about it.  It has an element of the 'unknown' about it.  It's like even the Indians would not know everything there is to know about India.  Like it's not possible to know everything about India, because it contains so much.

I first came to India in search of that something.  I had been searching for a long long time, from Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, Bali, Japan, Shanghai, Manila.  I ended up in India.  

I ended up finding an amazing woman, a Seer, in India called a Maharishika, who totally changed my perspective of who I am and what I am about.  I ended up transforming faster that I ever did in all those years, that decade of trying so many different things.  Clothes, friends, cities, projects, relationships, language...  

I finally found IT.  I found someone who could answer all those questions I had in my head that no books, courses, people I had met along the way could answer completely.

It was sheer luck, coincidence, blessing, whatever you want to call it to find what I've found.

A woman who sits in quiet anonymity who sometimes meets with people over a weekend.  I've been iwith people coming from as far as Belgium to ask her a question.  And it's just mind-blown me that it's so not like all the other spiritual courses.  No holier than thou attitude.  No talk about Moksha.  Just simple everyday questions that have been on the minds of the people who come.  And the answers have been beautifully simple.  

For me, coming from a truly mixed heritage, I had and probably have more questions than others, but I would say it's a truly a not to be missed experience if one comes to Bombay.  She can be found in Kashid which is about 3 hours away.   There are weekends organized every so often.  They call the weekend PRESENCE.  I found them through a friend who passed me their email contact.  I hope by posting this up, it doesn’t mean that it turns into a full on thing.  I really love the fact that its so low key actually.  But before I change my mind, it’s presencedesk@hotmail.com.

And that thing that I found?  
Myself…  This female ‘Seer’, showed me myself.