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A relaxing vacation up North, NAAAAAAT
If Kerala and its pristine neighbours are
what represent India’s beauty than Delhi, Agra and Jaipur represent India’s
colour. A very useful result of our mistakes is the high horse presented to you
to post mistakes, and from that high horse the ability to warn others and
instruct others on how they should act and how they should choose to venture
from the warm, pineapple-flavoured bosom of Cochin’s shores and up to the
hectic North.
Lesson One: Bring your resolve! In Kerala
you may be pestered for money just a little whilst you are parading the shops
and the stalls; in the North, you are constantly being sold something, or being
convinced into believing that you’ve brought something for someone. For
example: at every tourist attraction you’ll be approached by a man waving a
laminated card in your face with the declaration: “I am your OFFICIAL tourist
guide”. He is your NOT your official guide, and after half an hour of your
refusing his services, he may just leave you alone. Others may demand money for
such trivial tasks as taking your ticket from you, opening or guarding a gate
you walk through, or even photo-bombing a picture you have taken. It is
important to be stingy and pedantic with whom you give your money to and why.
Lesson Two: (Usually) what is expensive is
cheap and what is cheap is expensive. What I mean by that is that it is near impossible
to enjoy Northern India on the cheap. (Respective to the money that you would
spend in Kerala.) Book a cheap hotel and you will end up having to buy toilet
paper, pay for shower usage; if you book an expensive hotel and you can be
expected to be fully covered.
Lesson Three: Immerse yourself into the
culture and embrace the experiences no matter how silly or short changed you
may feel. Travelling isn’t supposed to be going from one place to another and
peering through a window on sights and different faces. You have to throw out
the tour book and get you feet dirty, literally! Take a stroll through the
busiest bazaar that you can imagine. Breathe in the smoke and dust filled air,
the smells of the flowers, waste and the sizzling street food. Get covered up
and walk barefoot around the largest mosque in India, while looking the hunch
back of Notre Dame, lie in a field and watch the children play, marvel at the
majestic Taj Mahal, Gaze out over a place over a lake donating the last of your
funds to the holy priest for the health of your family, take the long way home,
a two minute tuk tuk ride can turn into a 2 ½ hour walk through the dirt back
roads and become a memory that you will never forget.
Don’t plan just go!
Love James Markham and Ashley Pavitt
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