No Journey Too Far Incredible India!?? Not this time round.

[Shankranthi]

Too all chinese and also for some who are in mission to earn cents here

Liberate yourself from Oppressive CCP and then talk as a free men, otherwise this world will not care for slave voices.

India is incredible and progressing, we are on the move. Sorry to burst your bubble but CCP is hiding the credit crisis after talks with USA.

When you know these are 50 cents propaganda posters why do you let them get to you ? Stop giving them so much importance. Seriously.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Once ruled by the Whites，forever smitten by the Whites？

Not nearly as much as China.

Falling rupee makes India travel haven, but rape cases a roadblock | Firstpost by FP Staff Sep 3, 2013

"Incredible India" time to shine, show the world what you make of

Check Post #2 Chini boy. Learn to read

 

[Srinivas]

These guys are specialized in abuses and are also excel in posting dirty pics related to India as in china they do not have them.

Hypocrites and most of them do not have any good logic levels to debate.

Some even do not know what they are talking, but will definitely post reply to increase their post count.

Read my comment, I am not debating them rather I am avoiding them.

When you know these are 50 cents propaganda posters why do you let them get to you ? Stop giving them so much importance. Seriously.

 

[Shankranthi]

These guys are specialized in abuses and are also excel in posting dirty pics related to India as in china they do not have them.

Hypocrites and most of them do not have any good logic levels to debate.

Some even do not know what they are talking, but will definitely post reply to increase their post count.

Read my comment, I am not debating them rather I am avoiding them.

They are paid to abuse and do anti India propaganda. Google up 50 cents army. Don't waste your time reading their posts or responding to them.

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

This is the beauty who complaint that Indians were staring at her boobs. ....... they would have been staring at her cause they would never have seen such a fat women in their life ! ..... no wonder the only good thing she could say was about the FOOD. LOL.

I don't know if I should laugh or cry at her post.

The funny thing is that much hotter Western women visit India and have a gala time. Case in point-



Notes on traveling alone as a woman in India | The Great Affair

“Let us make one point, that we meet each other with a smile.”

― Mother Teresa

I met them the first day I moved into the Delhi neighborhood of Kishangarh, two 20-something brothers who ran a small shop owned by their aunt and uncle.

It was only my second week back in India last year and they instantly made me feel at home with their warm eyes and kind smiles. Although they were not twins, they bore a remarkable resemblance to each other and if one of them hadn’t worn glasses, I would never have been able to tell the two apart.

Their shop was thirty seconds from my apartment, making it easy to run down in the morning to pick up two eggs for breakfast, or a one-rupee packet of Tide detergent – rose-scented – when I wanted to do my laundry, or – on days when Delhi belly forced me to a liquid diet – some Maaza mango juice and a yellow Maggi packet of tomato soup.

I was hardly at that apartment, between jaunting around with The Adventurists and field visits with the NGO, but whenever I was arriving or leaving, I always made a point of stopping by their shop, to either say goodbye or, better yet, “I’m back.”

They would teach me phrases and numbers in Hindi – bīsa for twenty, tīsa for thirty – but most importantly, they taught me what kindness looks like.

India general store

* * *

You may have seen a certain CNN article making the rounds on Facebook last week, one with the title, “India: The story you never wanted to hear.”

It was written by a 20-something woman named Michaela Cross, a student at the University of Chicago, about her experience studying abroad in India for three months – an experience that resulted in her having a public breakdown in the US this spring and then being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In her account, Michaela describes being groped, stalked, and stared at; she talks about being filmed by a group of men while she danced at a festival and hiding out in a Goa hotel room after a staff member tried to rape her roommate. There is no question these things are wrong and horrific to have gone through.

But as I read her story once and then a second time, I confess that something about it didn’t sit right with me. How is it, I kept asking myself, that I spent ten months in the same country and didn’t have nearly the same experience?

Michaela writes:

“When I went to India, nearly a year ago, I thought I was prepared. I had been to India before; I was a South Asian Studies major; I spoke some Hindi. I knew that as a white woman I would be seen as a promiscuous being and a sexual prize. I was prepared to follow the University of Chicago’s advice to women, to dress conservatively, to not smile in the streets. And I was prepared for the curiosity my red hair, fair skin and blue eyes would arouse.

But I wasn’t prepared.

There was no way to prepare for the eyes, the eyes that every day stared with such entitlement at my body, with no change of expression whether I met their gaze or not. Walking to the fruit seller’s or the tailor’s I got stares so sharp that they sliced away bits of me piece by piece. I was prepared for my actions to be taken as sex signals; I was not prepared to understand that there were no sex signals, only women’s bodies to be taken, or hidden away.”

It was only while reading these paragraphs a third time that one line in particular truly struck me: “I was prepared…to not smile in the streets.”

Because if there’s anything I feel really helped me connect with the men I met in India – and possibly even kept me safe in certain situations – it was a smile. It was looking them in the eye. It was taking the time to say hello and ask their name.

There were times when I would board a train, find my seat in the sleeper class, and realize that all seven of my fellow passengers in that compartment were men. There would be a moment as I sat down – normally out of breath, my scarf no doubt tangled in the straps of my backpack – when we’d all sort of stare at each other, silent, the wall between us high and wide. This moment never ceased to intimidate me.

How were seven Indian men and a tall, blond, fair-skinned foreign female going to pass the next 20, 30, 40 hours to wherever we were heading?

But that’s when I would smile. I would try to break the stares and meet one of their gazes, maybe waggle my head to one side, and say, “Namastē. Āpa kaisē haiṁ?” I would do whatever I could to take down the wall between us, one brick at a time.

To hear Michaela say she was prepared to not smile, to in a way keep herself closed off from interacting with those around her, seemed entirely opposite to my own philosophy in India.

* * *

It is of no credit to my memory that I cannot remember the names of my friends in Kishangarh– and as I’m in DC for the weekend and my notebooks are at home, I can’t look them up either – but I will never forget those two brothers.

I have no photos of them either – as much as I insisted on taking one before I left for the final time last December, both brothers had not shaved that morning and were thus camera-shy.

But I do have photos of other men I am grateful to have met in India.

Men who took the time to tell me about their flower business, or refused to let me pay for a cup of chai, or prepared a bowl of noodles for me on a Tuesday afternoon – men who never once treated me as a sexual object or made me feel uncomfortable.

And in light of Michaela’s story, I feel compelled to share them here, and briefly tell you their story. To generalize an entire population based on the actions of a few is a dangerous thing, as one of Michaela’s classmates, Katherine Stewart, wrote in her own response on CNN, titled “Same India – Different Story”:

“So why should all Indian men be subjected to judgment for the rapes that some men have committed? [Michaela] does not address the fact that there are warm and honest men in India. When we do not make the distinction that only some men of a population commit a crime, we develop a stereotype for an entire population. And when we develop a negative stereotype for a population, what arises? Racism.”

I am of the belief that there is nothing quite so powerful as a name and a face, so much so that this has become one of the main drives behind my love for travel writing – that by illuminating the story of an individual, we might better understand the whole.

Here are a few of the individuals I met in India, men who indelibly shaped my love for the country:

There was Tara Singh, a kind soul in Delhi whom I will forever think of as “the man who boiled my noodles.” I had been down and out with Delhi belly for three days, bought a packet of ramen noodles, and asked the owners of my guesthouse where I might find hot water. They sent me to the hotel’s rooftop kitchen, where Tara Singh proceeded to not only cook my noodles, embellishing them with fresh coriander, onions, and tomatoes, but also taught me how to make chapatis and showed me photos of his family and friends.

Indian cook in Delhi

Noodles in India

There was Chotelal, a flower seller in Kishangarh. It was all too easy to miss his stall on the side of a busy road, but once I discovered it, I returned to him several times before leaving Delhi. The time and care he would give a bouquet of just three flowers, asking if it was for “home or gift,” carefully wrapping it in patterned plastic, and securing the bundle with a curled ribbon from the ring of ribbons hanging by his shop, was incredibly moving.

Flower seller in India

Flower seller in India

Flower seller in India

Flower seller in India

There was a soldier named Pappu Kumar on the train to Guwahati. We chatted for an entire afternoon during that 42-hour journey, and I’d look on as he bartered and bantered with hawkers, like the woman selling water bottles full of honey. When chai wallahs passed by, I soon learned I wouldn’t get very far insisting on paying for my own cup of tea.

Soldier in India

Chai in India

There were Surin and Suresh in Mumbai’s Dadar flower market, who have been in the business for nearly twenty years. They gratefully explained the use and significance of many of the flowers for sale – from bundles of rose petals to bright green tulsi, or holy basil – and I couldn’t help but laugh when they teased a friend of theirs one stall over [photo below].

Flower sellers in India

Flower seller in India

Flowers in India

And there was Ajit in Cochin, who ran a small stall by the Rickshaw Run finish line. He now lives in Dubai, but works at his family’s shop whenever he’s back visiting. We would talk about life in his new home away from home as he’d mix up yet another fresh lime soda to keep me cool in Cochin’s brutal heat.

Drinks stall in India

Drinks stall in India

Fresh lime soda in India

* * *

I am all too aware that bad things happen in India – we need look no further than the gruesome gang rape that took place in Delhi last December. I am aware that just because I was never groped or stalked does not mean that it doesn’t happen there every day, both to local and foreign women alike.

But I am also aware of the intense warmth and beauty of the country, and it breaks my heart to see it stereotyped and generalized in such a way.

I don’t say this to see the world through rose-colored glasses, but for me it ultimately comes down to a choice – do we choose to focus on the bad, or do we remember the Chotelal’s and Tara Singh’s and Pappa Kumar’s who changed us forever, and for good?

Women – be smart, be sensible, be safe, but please do not stop going to India.

Taj Mahal, India
Making friends at the Taj…sometimes all it takes is a handshake and a smile.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No wonder then , that in spite of all negative reports in the media , tourism keeps increasing. Individual experiences should never be taken as indicators of a society . Tourism is increasing which means most people are loving it.

 

[Srinivas]

They are paid to abuse and do anti India propaganda. Google up 50 cents army. Don't waste your time reading their posts or responding to them.

A little fight is good for health .....

 

[Shankranthi]

A little fight is good for health .....

Its like fighting with a brick wall. Pointless. Still your choice.

No wonder then , that in spite of all negative reports in the media , tourism keeps increasing. Individual experiences should never be taken as indicators of a society . Tourism is increasing which means most people are loving it.

Ugly people see all that is ugly around them.

Beautiful people see all that is beautiful around them.

 

[Spring Onion]

Ugly people see all that is ugly around them.

Beautiful people see all that is beautiful around them.

 

[kbd-raaf]

Its like fighting with a brick wall. Pointless. Still your choice.




Ugly people see all that is ugly around them.

Beautiful people see all that is beautiful around them.

I was going to reply to this post whilst echoing the same sentiment.

Yesterday I met two female friends who just recently came back from a trip around India. One of them is Indian and the other Afghan, both are very attractive. They only have good things to say.

I can't think of a single reason why this fat, ugly woman would be singled out from the many beautiful Indian women as an object of admiration. This looks to me like a case of an attention-seeker looking to cash in on the recent trend of India bashing.

 

[naveen mishra]

from other eyes

Double Bay Meditation Sydney: Meditation Retreat in Rishikesh, India - February 2011

 

[Spring Onion]

I was going to reply to this post whilst echoing the same sentiment.

Yesterday I met two female friends who just recently came back from a trip around India. One of them is Indian and the other Afghan, both are very attractive. They only have good things to say.

I can't think of a single reason why this fat, ugly woman would be singled out from the many beautiful Indian women as an object of admiration. This looks to me like a case of an attention-seeker looking to cash in on the recent trend of India bashing.

Because she is jealous of Indian beauty and progress

 

[naveen mishra]

 

[kbd-raaf]

Because she is jealous of Indian beauty and progress

Wut?

 

[naveen mishra]

BBC News - The foreign Hindu monks at India's Kumbh Mela

Baba Rampuri zealously guards information about his past life
Amitava Sanyal reports from India's Kumbh Mela, the world's biggest religious gathering, on the stories of three foreigners who have become top Hindu monks.

Sir James Mallinson is perhaps the only baronet to wear dreadlocks.

The fifth baronet of Walthamstow started growing his hair around the time he first travelled to India in 1988.

He had enrolled to study Sanskrit at Oxford University's St Peter's College because his only other option, Chinese, came with a "boring introduction".

At the end of his trip to India, he "fell in" with a group of Hindu monks in Kashmir and became fascinated with their way of life.

Sir James Mallinson
James Mallinson was renamed Jagdish Das by his order
In 1992, Sir James was initiated into a Hindu order with the monastic name of Jagdish Das at Ujjain in central India.

"I was kidnapped by some competing monks who wanted me as their student. Finally it was Ram Balak Das who got me initiated," he says.

Sir James received his doctorate - on a critical translation of a 14th Century Sanskrit text on yoga - in 2002 from Balliol College, Oxford.

In India, when not with Hindu monks, he runs a paragliding business in Bir in the western Himalayas.

Sir James was ordained a mahant, or abbot, of a Hindu religious order in early February at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad.

His friend from Eton, actor Dominic West of The Wire fame, had wanted to make a documentary on his work in India.

When Sir James offered his guru some money for the film crew's fortnight-long stay, he was offered the post of mahant.

"The word translates more as a military commander than an abbot," says the Sanskrit scholar.

Valery Victorovich Mintsev had an experience at the age of six that he could not quite articulate.

But it was inspiring enough to make him stand on a rock and tell his puzzled young friends "the ways of the universe".

It took the 46-year-old monk, who is the son of a Ukrainian typographer and Soviet Communist party member, another 10 years to "find the right words".

That was when he came upon the texts of Shankaracharya, an 8th Century Indian philosopher and Hindu revivalist.

Valery Victorovich Mintsev
Valery Mintsev met a Hindu monk in 2006 who reinforced his ideas
While studying Cold War politics at the Kiev Higher Naval Political School, a belief that Russians and Indians are descended from the same Aryan ancestors became stronger.

"Why else do we have old Russian places named after Indian deities - like Ram and Sita lakes or Narada mountain?" asks Mr Mintsev.

A 2006 meeting with Pilot Baba, a Hindu monk who got his name because of his former career as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, reinforced his ideas.

Three years ago, Mr Mintsev was initiated into a Hindu order with the monastic name of Vishnu Dev.

Later this year the Russian monk is planning to put up a Chinese-made, 18m (59ft) bronze statue of Dattatreya, the presiding deity of his sect, at his 1,000-acre retreat situated 600km (373 miles) east of Moscow.

Why did he choose to be a Hindu monk? "I have searched for freedom all my life and I got it in Hindu philosophy. It must be a great connection from a past life," is his explanation.

Baba Rampuri guards his personal history - his life before he came to India from the United States in 1970 - with a fierce zeal.

Not even those who have known him for decades know his real name. What is known is that he came from California.

But when asked to comment on reports that he is the son of a Jewish plastic surgeon, he laughs and says, "maybe I was his daughter who had a sex change."

Hindu naked holy men take part in a procession to the Sangam at the Kumbh Mela in Allahabad
The Kumbh festival is the world's largest religious gathering
Whatever his antecedents, Baba Rampuri is today one of the most successful Hindu monks from the US.

Part of his popularity flows from being one of the first Westerners to be initiated into the secretive Juna order of monks, the largest of the 13 powerful sects that control religious affairs at the Kumbh festival.

The publication of his book Autobiography of a Sadhu: A Journey into Mystic India, later added to the mystery.

In 2010, Baba Rampuri was made one of the three abbots of the order's international chapter and today he is one of the very few Hindu monks raising funds through internet-based social media.

He derives his monastic lineage from Keshav Puri, a monk buried outside Multan in Pakistan who is also called Multani Baba or Shamshad Tapa Rez.

"He is called a pir, a Sufi saint. And Muslims wearing black sit with Hindus wearing orange at his memorial meetings," says Baba Rampuri.

So possibly there was an undercurrent of commonness between the faiths that we deny today."

The belief is shared within his order but, like Baba Rampuri's own past, the real history is shrouded in mystery because of a lack of verifiable evidence.