No amount of time in India is ever enough! 4 months have flown by in the blink of an eye! India truly has my heart! People always ask me why I love India so much and I could name a million reasons - the food, the people, the culture, the colors, the chaos, my relatives, and so much more!
The food in India is incomparable to anywhere else. I grew up eating Indian food so that is the food I will always love. Sure you can get Indian food anywhere but it will never taste the same. To my cousin's annoyance, I always insist on eating Indian food for every meal, even when we go out. It's so flavourful and if I am lucky, nice and spicy too! My favorite cuisine I have decided is Goan! I love the recheado masala and could eat Goan food everyday all day. It is that good!
The people in India are all very hospitable and whenever I go over to anyone's house they always insist I have something to eat or drink. I have also realized that a lot of people in public are willing to help you so long as you just ask. I think I once asked directions to somewhere at least 10 times from 10 different strangers just to make sure I was still in the right direction! Another instance of how friendly people are is how my work colleague Tanvi showed me how to use the Mumbai local and would wait with me until I learned how to use the train.
In my time in India I have been lucky enough to witness several festivals - Ganpati, Visarjan, Navratri, and Diwali. I was most excited about Diwali but I realized that most people spend the holidays with family and I was in Goa so I missed all of the fireworks. On the other hand, I did get to experience Narkasur in Diwali which was very unique! My favorite festival was Ganpati. I loved going around to witness how elaborately decorated each pandal was. Plus, I had never seen or been a part of such a massive street parade. It was a completely different experience for me and I loved it!
For 3 out of the 4 months I was in India I completed an internship at Eastern Travels, a luxury travel planning company. I learned how to prepare client itineraries, make welcome notes, and make reels with content other than my own. I enjoyed the work and carried over some of the skills to curating my own travel itineraries and making them much more detailed. Of course it was not long before I longed to just travel full time!
The biggest thing about doing an internship I learned was independence. While living at Maria's place, I took a cab to work and while living with my grandma, I walked to the train station and took the Mumbai local. The Mumbai local was an adventure in itself as there was always something going on the local whether it be a fight or so jam packed you get a free massage. It allowed me to fully embrace the Mumbaikar life. I enjoyed traveling by the local as it gave me a lot of freedom of where I could go. Initially, I even got bitten by bed bugs but I am glad to have moved past that.
I traveled more than expected which is always a highlight! I went to Hampi, Mahabalipuram, Bangalore, Goa, Jaipur, Delhi, Nashik, and all over Mumbai! My favorite place was Jaipur as I instantly fell in love with all the palaces and royalty! Traveling allowed me to see new parts of India and opened my eyes to just how big India is! I have so much more to explore and India has almost every terrain possible - jungles, forests, deserts, beaches, mountains, safaris and cities. So much to see yet so little time. Good thing the travel bug is still so strong!
I have always longed to live and work in India and these 4 months were a test drive for me. I thought I would get tired and want to leave, but despite the good and bad, I still love India and would move in a heartbeat. The only thing holding me back is the financial implications. In the meantime I know I will be back in India very soon!
Comments