the end

i’ve been back for a month now, and everytime i met up with friends, they will ask this without fail. so how was india? i would always pause for a few seconds, searching for the right words (even after being asked so many times) and then finally utter something generic.

because honestly, i do not know how to fully describe the entire experience in a few sentences. hell, i can’t even cover half of my trip in a single teh tarik session. i’ll say that it was great fun, but it certainly wasn’t. there were shitty days, both literally and not, days that i just felt like taking an early flight home. there were so many times i felt aggrieved and angry, i was unknowingly rude, ready to start a fight with whoever was looking for one. there were days i felt so tired and travel-fatigued, i was sure india had nothing more to offer me.

but i was always wrong. for every moment that something went wrong or bad, i found positivity just around the corner. there were architectures and landscapes of astounding beauty, beauty that i’ve never even come close to experiencing before (maybe except angkor wat). there were people so friendly and nice, who gave and didn’t expect to be given, and it would always make me feel guilty for not treating them in the same open manner from the start.

for everything bad, there was something lovely, and this is just how india was to me. but as time goes by, the bad will either be forgotten or remembered as stories worth telling and laughing about. the lovely parts however, will always be etched in memory.

i’ve learnt quite a bit in this three months, although the lessons aren’t the tangible sort that can be listed in a content page or subdivided into finer points using bullets. i guess traveling had taught me a great deal so far, from payatas to the first month long thai-lao trip, various shorter ones and now this. i’ve always returned with new perspectives and slightly more appreciation for singapore. this is probably one of the reasons why i like to travel this much. call it a spiritual journey, widening of horizons, personal growth or whatever, but its like what the smart chinese dude said, ‘to travel one thousand miles is better than reading ten thousand books’. coming to this point, i’ll encourage everyone to go out and  travel for a bit. just pack your bags, take a few days of leave and go. you’ll find it at the very least, memorable.

india was never easy to travel in. everything comes to you in a sudden rude jolt (often in electrifying colors) but she had always proved to be interesting and fulfilling. it is a land of never ending contradictions, a country moving forward in a frightening speed, where technology and money are the new kings. but yet she remains heavily steepled in religions, gods and mysticism. it is a place of diversity in all aspects; landscapes overlapping one another, people so cultural diversed coming together to form a big human jigsaw puzzle. it is a country of rich history that saw the birth of three major religions and the rise and fall of many mighty empires – from the Mughals (who invented briyani & built the taj) to the British EIC. in short, there’s never a dull moment.

india has her own set of problems though. in fact, she has a whole chunk of them. from the recent mumbai terrorist attacks and kashmir’s delicate standoff to internal issues like racism, caste strafication, religious bigotry and poverty. i can go on and on for hours, take a rest, drink some water and continue again for another few more sets. but i’m a hopeful spectator at the stands quietly cheering on for her progress, for india has all the potential and ability in the world to lift herself up to become the next great nation and world power.

in these short three months, i’ve experienced quite a bit of what india had to offer. this had been the longest trip i’ve ever traveled on and the most distance i’ve ever covered, over 10,000km on land, crossing mountains and deserts and freezing in cold snow and cursing in scorching heat. i’ve met people from all walks of life, different levels of society and made friends from all over the world. been sick, shitted my guts out, fallen out of a moving mumbai bus but also seen some of the loveliest sceneries and had some pretty memorable experiences. it had been a beautiful three months but i guess it was time for me to return home.

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hmm. next up, mongolia?