I have numerous plans. Volunteering in Kashmir (fingers crossed), interning in Delhi, traveling around India. No, wandering, wandering around India. This latter is pretty much what has kept my spirits up all of today.
I was sitting with friends in a coffee shop planning out summer (because they want to visit this country I keep talking about) when I struck upon an idea for wandering. I guess I was planning to not be too planned.
For an entire month (July 2011, I'm thinking), I want to wander throughout a part of the India that I haven't visited. Which is a lot. The possibility of seeing an entire new aspect to my country is the most exciting thing possible right now.
So, my plan is to journey from Kolkatta to Delhi in the span of a month (with friends of course). Yep, this can take 2 hours by flight and a day by train but the idea of doing it in a month makes me so excited. I've already begun looking up possibilities for things to do, places to stay, people to meet. Most importantly, I want to volunteer throughout the journey and do homestays or work with WWOOF (which you must check out, because it's extremely interesting to volunteer with them). There's a system of madrassas throughout West Bengal that has actually been in the news for a while for their secular curriculum which would be a great place to volunteer.
Kolkatta fascinates me. A communist state consistently mired in poverty and corruption, a socially active community, a literary hub, the capital of British India, home to one of the biggest brothel scenes in India - to me Kolkatta seems like an enigma.
And then there's Shantiniketan and the Sundarbans to go to and little villages that I have yet to identify. Next is Jharkhand (I'm not quite sure where yet), then Bodh Gaya, Varanasi, Allahabad, Lucknow, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Badrinath and Kedarnath, Dehradun, Mussoorie and Dalhousie, Shimla and Manali, Amritsar and Chandigarh, and finally New Delhi (where I plan to intern).
Wouldn't this be amazing?
I would love suggestions and ideas, tips and recommendations. No negativity please. :)
P.S. I also read something about Nehru today. He honeymooned with Kamala in Kashmir and during his long stay there, he took off to Ladakh and climbed its mountains with a cousin of his. He wrote,
'the loneliness grew; there were not even trees or vegetation to keep us company - only the bare rock and the snow and ice and, sometimes, very welcome flowers. Yet I found a strange satisfaction in these wild and desolate haunts of nature: I was full of energy and a feeling of exaltation.'
And with this quote that so beautifully articulates my own experiences in Ladakh, Nehru convinces me that I'm not astray...it's reassuring (albeit I do recognize the absurdity) to feel connected to a dead person who restores my faith and guides me through life.
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