On the crowded roads without any women shadow at Kolkata, and if you are a woman/girl, you will need a hand to survive among those burning eyes from the men; and need a shoulder to lean on when witnessing a scene of incinerators on Ganges river; and need somebody beside to be petrified for the immortal love symbol of Taj Mahal.
Burning glances in Kolkata
Even if you are a seasoned traveling/backpacking experienced girl, you cannot imagine traveling alone in India. Right after going out of Kolkata airport, you will immediately feel like a fish out of water.
There are a lot of men everywhere with big black eyes staring at you, ready to let out a string of insistent invitation with the voice of power. The city is too large and heterogeneous for you to know where to locate. In fact, when you decide to travel to India, you need even more than a man. It's better to go in a group of more than 4 to 5 people, because you will soon realize that it is the country where women's rights are something so luxurious. Whether you want or not, you have to accept this rules when entering to this country: power is in men's hand.
Men are everywhere.
Men with glossy hair by gel, carrying bag and wearing black shoes are walking in a hurry on the streets. Men drive auto-rickshaw/ taxi/ three-wheel taxi which have odometer. Men sell scarf and women sell clothes on the pavement. Men line up to withdraw cash at the ATM - and a policemen stands near by. Men properly go for a pee at some public toilet without doors built "proudly" like bus stop. Even the public toilet does not have places for women.
A "mish-mash" in Kolkata
On the street, walker - taxi - auto-rickshaw everything for itself. From an old building - vestige of colonial times, a man in a sophisticated suit carrying a handbag goes out. He put his leg on a ladder; immediately another men who is chatting with his friends comes with a woody box, kneeling down, taking a small towel and a brush to clean the sophisticated man's shoes.
A smelly urine stinks strongly from a smeared wall of a public toilet at the corner of the streets; beside it, a man coolly eat a kind of cakes like doughnut.
You will be definitely surprised with a strange scene. A policeman holds a head of a rope as big as biceps, another way of the rope is tied at a pillar on the other side of the road. There are loads of men standing behind that rope in a ready position; when the traffic light turns into green, the policeman drop the rope down to the road, and the crowd rush through the road.
The hostels in Kolkata for the backpackers are placed deeply behind doors opened on a narrow front. Outside, there are a lot of broker-men. They will guide you to the hostel in the area, dividing room and carrying your stuffs. One hostel adjoins another hostel, like a maze. Those brokers also help you to gather sufficient number of rooms; and of course, you have to give them a little tip - about 5USD.
Never think about the cleanliness of the room with 8.2m square and the price of 7 - 10 USD per night; because you will easily see the smeared basin; and you had better not to see the lavabo.
Discover India cuisine
India has a special street food which is milky tea. Hot milky tea is poured out to a wry cup fired thinly and lightly, you can even see sediment at the bottom of the cup. But the price is really really cheap (like you buy for nothing). After drinking, you should break the cup or else the seller will use it again to sell it to another guest.
There is indispensable food in India restaurant which kind of cake made from fried wheat flour, curry, cheese, or a thick mixture made from milk. If you cannot eat vegetarian food, you can choose chicken. But for sure you will love eating the cake mention above and curry cooked with chicken and cheese.
Train in India
There is one thing you should experience in India is going by train. With a heavy population, in India, people have to book for train ticket before a long time. However, at the train stations in India, there is always separate area for foreigners. If you can find that place, you only have to give the ticket seller your passport and you will have a prior ticket.
However, it is only in the case that you can find that area, because the train stations are often very crowded, and there is no English sign in each area. Therefore, there are a lot of brokers around you. When you are "visited" by the broker, they will tell you many reasons to let you be desperate with the prior ticket for foreigners such as "this area is under construction" or "it is torn down" or "it is burnt", etc, but they still have ticket for you. Of course, you will have to pay the prices for that ticket double or triple higher than the real value.
The best way for you is to go directly to any room, meet a person who you think it is an employee working there, and ask he/she to show you the place selling tickets for foreigners.
There is a notification that the train station in India is always crowded with passengers and beggars. Many people impersonate as the disabled to panhandle.
Train in India is not very new. Even you buy a ticket for the first class - in a air-conditional lying hold, you cannot avoid the shaking.
Ganges is here - Regenerate day by day
At the beginning of the year, the weather in Varanasi, in the Northen of India, is cool in a day and cold at night and in the early morning. Therefore, you should bring a long with light blanket (airline blanket) in your baggage.
The people here mostly have low income. There are many small and zigzag lanes. Sometimes, you can meet small stores selling scarf, fabric, and nice accessories for girls, those stores are like a miracle for girls here.
Thread the way through many deep lanes, the Ganges appears under the magnificent sunset. The river and its banks deep in the tender sun light of the sunset.
The kids play football are laughing in one corner; another corner, there are some Indian girls talking about colorful fabric and amazing accessories. Some house-wives are washing clothes nearby the river. All the scenes are so beautiful under the peaceful sunset. There is a house where they do cremation - many old decrepit people who think they cannot live for longer live at that house, waiting for the time they return to the sacred river.
Along the river banks are majestic city walls, extending endless. In the evening, people come out from many small lanes. The men quickly prop some long plates towards the Ganges. People put on the plates small woody table which is covered by a yellow fabric and decorated by some big shells, flowers, candles, and censer. On each plate, they put some relief shaped like a cobra. People gather around a circle to start singing, and the girls dance. A hundred metre far from the crowd, there are many tied bodies put on the firewood estrade. The cremation begin.
However, the next morning, the river is likely to regenerate. In the bright dawn, young and old people go to the river to have a wash. The ladders are painted colorful, which make the river looks more fresh.
Lovely Agra
If Varanasi is fierce, Agra is lovely and tidy. On every road of this small city, you will always see the Taj Mahal image looming under the fog. The Agra people are the kindest and most decent that you may see in this country.
You don't need to pay 20USD to see Taj Mahal closely. There is a secret place behind the main gate which is on the other side of a ditch. The poor people can see the beauty of Taj Mahal everyday here, behind the barbed wire fence without paying any fee.
Jaipur - a pink city
Small Jaipur - clean and romantic, so that there are many tourists choose to stop and take a rest here. The reason why they call it a pink city is that in the past, queen of king Jaipur really liked pink color, so he decided to paint the city pink.
Jaipur is also famous for gemstone, and it is also the heaven of bags and scarfs. You will be welcomed like a queen in any stores on the streets. The seller often call you "Madam, madam"and invite you to go into the shop and show off a lot of bags, purses, and scarfs.
You have to learn to be brave to bargain and avoid the simulated desperate eyes of the seller,s because then you can buy a lot of things with cheap prices (around 2USD - 3 USD per stuff) while the sellers are thanking you a lot.
SOME SMALL TIPS FOR YOU:
- Traveling to India is really great, because the trip will be really challenging. The trip help you to know a lot of things about the relationship between person and person and mankind. Any cost is also really cheap.
- Remember that the thief/robbers in India are considered "professors in pickpocket".
- New Year Eve in India is in the middle of February. In this occasion, people will throw ball containing multicolor paints at each other.
- If you want to discover Tibet, it is not necessary to go to China. Dharamshala in India is the capital of Tibetan exiles.
- Bargain, bargain and bargain with everything! Be brave to choose the right price because prices for stuff in India is really cheap.
- When moving, you should choose to go by bus rather than by train. The bus is warmer and more convenient and faster than the train.
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