A few days before I was to depart Fiji in 2019, I met a high school friend who had just returned after studying in India. I felt her insight would be useful as I prepared to navigate a foreign land.
What she told me resonated and remained my mantra from the day I landed to the day I departed. “Don’t believe everything you see in Bollywood movies,” she told me. If you’re reading this, and wish to know whether or not you should choose to visit, my advice would be to take everything you’ve known and heard about India with a grain of salt.
Yes, there’s traffic, there are people, there are cows, and it’s loud. You might have to haggle over items if you think you’re being overcharged, and yes, vendors usually do if you are a foreigner. And yes, some areas are more conservative than others.
However, that is just one side of the coin. The country is extensive, sprawling across miles of land and ocean mass where each state is as different as the next. There is diversity in culture such as food, language and lived experiences.
My experience in Goa will be completely different than someone who has lived in Delhi. Therefore, it will be unfair of me to talk about places within India I have not visited.
So, I will take you on a brief journey to the two places I did visit and both of which form core memories of my stay: Mumbai and Coorg. The only other place I had seen of India prior to 2020 was Mumbai.
The city overwhelmed me at first. It is truly metropolitan, and personally, a contradiction of sorts. You have the slums on one end, and the glitz and glamour of the rich on the other. Skyscrapers and shacks.
Street food and Michelin star restaurants. Rickshaws, train stations and world-class airport facilities. Everywhere you look, you will find parallels. Mumbai though, has its charm.
From museums, libraries, sanctuaries, to Government agencies, cinemas and shopping malls — it is truly a feast for the senses. The magic of travelling in Mumbai, however, is not as a tourist but as a local.
Public transportation is extremely affordable because a city of its stature cannot function without it. Trains and buses connect almost every station, and you can purchase tickets at either the rail stations or buy directly from bus conductors.
Of course, if you prefer a more comfortable or private option, Uber or Ola is there for you. Be prepared though, your wallet may feel a bit lighter depending on where you wish to travel to. Mumbai is an oasis of food.
The city is filled with immigrants who have influenced the array of tastes already available locally. Iranian, Goan, South Indian and North Indian cuisines are all popular, and you can bet your top dollar you will find a hole-in-the-wall eatery that provides the best bang for the buck.
If you are lucky, you may just stumble across a celebrity signing (or sighting!) as the city is famous for housing a plethora of Bollywood celebrities. And no, as I’ve told numerous friends, and I’ll write it here as well.
I didn’t come across any celebrities (much to my disappointment). All in all, Mumbai proved to be quite an experience. It is a dynamic city, and I’m sure if I visit again in the next five to 10 years, it will offer me a different experience altogether.
As far as travel goes, what you see and gauge as an individual traveler differs from what you share with other people. And now to Coorg. You see, since my first year in college, my local friends and I made ambitious plans to traipse across the mountains in Manali and explore the backwaters of Kerala.
But the onset of COVID-19 put a stop to all our plans. That is my only regret in three years — not having the time to visit some of the distant states alongside my friends. Our only silver lining came once the lockdowns eased and inter-state travel was permitted.
Immediately, my group of about 10 close friends decided to journey to Coorg, a hill town located in Karnataka. Being broke college students, we looked for the cheapest ways to travel, which was via train.
So for two months, we saved every rupee to purchase our train tickets to Mangalore, the nearest train station to Coorg. After this stop, we chose to hire cars and be on our way to this next destination.
Situated in the mountains, Coorg has an almost eerie, untouched feel. It’s cold, remote and yet, so beautiful. The city centre is a small hub of economic activity where locals and tourists alike flock to.
The main produce that people here usually purchase is coffee, and chocolates. There is a stunning monastery catering for the Buddhist population, a sanctuary for elephants (which we did not visit due to the weather), old forts and temples where kings who ruled empires centuries ago are buried, and there are trekking trails that lead up to the up mountains where the landscape merges with clouds.
On the day, we almost missed the train back but managed to make it through, tired, but with fresh memories of an exciting time. As I write this, I wish to convey my heartiest gratitude to the Indian Centre for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for the opportunity.
There have been some hiccups along the way, some disagreements when things didn’t work out the way they should’ve, but the overall experience has been a lifechanging one. What I am most thankful for is the friendships forged along the way.
Yes, the experiences of a new place are things to be cherished. It would be remiss of me not to mention the incredible group of friends whom I consider my ‘bilateral support group’, who stood alongside me through thick and thin.
India, we’ve had our ups and downs, but I’m looking forward to visiting you again one day!
