Indian Independence Day - My first visit... & Woodseys TR's

[BangBang]

It's a culture shock for some and for others it's just a way of life, My first trip to India was in 1990, it was a massive culture shock for me, I'd never witnessed so much poverty and wealth in such proximity.

My uncle held me by my hand and said "Stay close to me, as we walked through the market, it was rich with colors and people, literally chaos! I didn't know what to make of it, people were shouting and screaming at each other, it was a scary place for someone like me, it wasn't something I had ever been exposed to, people looked at me funny and I tried not to make eye contact with anyone. As we walked through I noticed the sea of people parted and let us pass but looked at me funny.. Over the weeks I was there, the chaos and insanity became normal and the funny looks turned into smiles. It was like I was learning a new language. That's the thing about India, it's not enough to be Indian and know the language, you actually have to become "Indian" it's a different way to live, the normal rules of personally safety, proximity, space and time are null and void in India and it's Brilliant...

It's a place that I fell in love with at an early age and I do my best to visit when I can.
Today marks 67 years of Indian Independence, to commemorate, I’ve listed some interesting facts about India..

India is the second most populous country in the world, with a population of 1,167,000,000

It has the largest democracy in the world

Hindus consider the Cow as holy, so in India you will see Cows freely wondering the streets and holding up traffic

For Tal – India is the birthplace of chess. The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers

The Indian flag has three horizontal bands of color: saffron for courage and sacrifice, white for truth and peace, and green for faith, fertility, and chivalry. An emblem of a wheel spinning used to be in the center of the white band, but when India gained independence, a Buddhist dharma chakra, or wheel of life, replaced the spinning wheel

And here I am at “Harmandir Sahib” commonly referred to as the Golden temple

Peace…
 

[Tal]

For Tal – India is the birthplace of chess. The original word for “chess” is the Sanskrit chaturanga, meaning “four members of an army”—which were mostly likely elephants, horses, chariots, and foot soldiers

Absolutely right.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaturanga

Quite a thing, just how similar the game is after 6,000 years

[Woodsey]

Good country India, pretty full on though with many wtf's to be had, I look forward to going back some day....

[bobAlike]

Nice write up BB. Happy Independence Day

[Longines]

Aha, so that's why nobody is online in Hydrabad today.

Enjoy the day Steve.

[BangBang]

Aha, so that's why nobody is online in Hydrabad today.

Enjoy the day Steve.

They'll be working later, Indians never take off full days lol...

Just like my comment about getting a job whilst on holiday at the Vic last night.. haha 

[RED-DOG]

When I see it on the telly, I'm blown away by the diversity of the place. So much stunning scenery contrasting with so much activity.

I know I shouldn't, but I find the lack of health and safety exciting. People working with old machinery, clinging to the side of a train, loading an elephant on to a pick up truck etc...


Bucket list destination for me.

I'm not going if Woodsey's there though.  

[BangBang]

Only place in the world where traveling on the roof of a train is considered a norm... 

[tikay]

Not quite, I think it is pretty common in Bangladesh & Indonesia too, where some of these photos were taken. Tom will like the "H & S" aspect.

I have a horrible feeling that the fifth photo may have been 'shopped.

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

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[BangBang]

Photoshopped or staged...

[Woodsey]

You've got my mind racing with memories now, here's a few stories from India.

-Many of the states are dry so officially no booze, we sat down at a little basic outside cafe for dinner, ordered whatever food and some water. The waiter gave us a quizzical look ' you sure you don't want beer? lol (beer was onviously not on the menu, we did look), er...yes 2 beers please. The food came, the drinks came, but we were served the beer in silver tea pots with tea cups and saucers to hide what we were having   The bill came, 2 curry, 2 rice etc and 4 'golden chickens'  

-We planned to see 2 England v India ODI games, 1 in Goa and 1 in Kochi. Goa was first, we had booked tickets in advance so we were guaranteed to get in. So off we went to the game, we got there and there were HUGE queues to get in, it wasn't a big stadium by Indian standards maybe 30,000. We queued and queued and then they just shut the doors wtf? lol. It then became obvious shortly after what had happened, they had sold about double the amount of tickets than they had room for, so they literally just rammed as many people as they could in and then shut the doors   Welcome to India. Many of people outside (99% Indian fans) started to get disgruntled and started to kick off, then the police stepped in and started hitting people with their big sticks they carry lol. Anyway you live and learn and we just shrugged our shoulders, all part of the experience in these countries the scams that you get from time to time. The second game went to plan in a huge 80,000 plus seated stadium, great atmosphere, we lost but the experience was superb, want to do it again.

-Varanasi was my favourite place, it's proper old India. It's on the Ganges and the holiest city in India for Hindus, many come and go in the water there to 'cleanse' themselves or however they term it. Loads of people go into the edge of the water for their daily tasks, washing clothes, bathing, kids playing etc. I will never forget seeing all next to each other no more than 10 feet apart in total from each other doing the following....1 was washing her clothes, 1 was brushing his teeth in the water, and the other was blatantly taking a dump  

-I didn't really get into any conversations about the British colonizing them, but I remember 1 comment from this very old guy who ran a shop fixing old motorbikes. He said hello as we walked past so we stopped to chat for a few minutes, he asked where we were from and he said 'Oh when British here everything work' lol and gave us the thumbs up  

So many other stories too, I might have a look for my pics later.

[Woodsey]

lol sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread, it just brought some good memories back that's all 

[BangBang]

lol sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread, it just brought some good memories back that's all 

All good... We're here to share... 

And some brilliant stories.. lol

[CHIPPYMAN]

That time when I watched the movie "Slumdog Millionaire " and I say to myself thus bod if the best movie I ever watch . The movie wasn't shown in the cinema yet that time , when Wadee had a copy of it . Brilliant and watch it 4/5 already