Words
- by Roberto Rocha
- published from India
- on 2010.10.21
India tests your patience
I understand now why India is a major innovator in mediation, patience, and inner peace. You really need it here.
After one week in India, I’m still waiting for the payoff.
So far, three cities in, I’m not seeing many reasons to stay:
The cities are congested, filthy, and stifling, with few redeeming features.
The ancient temples I’ve seen pale in comparison to Hindu monuments in Cambodia and Java (maybe I should have visited India first?)
The food is lovely, but not many measures better than what I can get at Indian restaurants in North America.
Rarely has the service been memorable. Mostly, the onus has been on me to not displease the person I’m paying.
There has been one bright spot: some people I met in Chennai who showed me a level of warmth and hospitality rarely seen elsewhere. But they were highly Westernized young Indians who rebel against tradition.
So what is the point, I’m tempted to ask, of staying?
I’m entertaining two theories:
1. India is for those who enjoy the things India exports: yoga, meditation, smoky incense mysticism, bearded gurus, pink elephant gods, Bollywood dancing. Nothing I’m passionate about. Hence my disappointment.
2. India is an acquired taste. You have to sample it several times, grimace at the initial bitterness and learn to discriminate its subtle delights. It’s a country that rewards those who give it time.
For the moment, I’m willing to err on theory #2.
We’ll see if my patience is rewarded later on.
Comments
You might want to try taking the train from Delhi to Bhubaneswar, Orissa ($45 usd one way). It was a very nice train ride with plenty of nice meals. We did this in 2005 and it was wonderful. The temples there are wonderful, some 2,500 years old. From there try Konark with the Sun Temple and Puri with the Jagannath temple. There is less interest in tourists because there are less of them. More to see, less cost, less fuss. We loved Orissa (formerly Kalinga).
Welcome to India
I would sort of agree that India is an acquired taste but then I am living here and have a lot of foreigner friends who came here and thought they didn’t like the country at all but once they got the hang of things, now they are dying to return 
So my advice would be, ‘hang tight, India is gonna blow your mind’ 
Theory 2 is pretty correct. You do have to get used to the way India ‘works’, but i think if you take the time you really will start to see the other side of India (not just the yoga and meditation). We are currently in Southern India and have found that the people are very different to the northern India. Kerala was a great state to explore.
I agree to what Elise says. And I am a ‘north India’ geographically. people down south are a lot more polite. We in the north might seem rude but if you need help, plenty of us will go out of our way to help you (and for no returns).
Thank you all for sharing your thoughts. I’m currently in Madurai, heading to Kanniyakumari. I will give India another week or two and see if she grows on me.
If not, it wasn’t meant to be. Tajikistan is just upstairs.
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