India Travel Thought

India Travel Thoughts

Top 5 reasons one should drag family in its entirety for vacation destinations instead of lounge around at home when on India trip:

1. Vacation in India is never really that. You could be home all the time and still come back thankful to be back, and, well, exhausted. Add to that sitting around while the world goes on as usual for rest of the junta, brother off to work, mom visiting ill friend [who you don’t know] and back, dad’s attempts to hold on to government banks while planning his trip around which days they ARE open. Better to make everyone have a vacation no?


2. Most parents don’t take trips unless someone is a) marrying or b) delivered a kid or c) has bought a home. And hey, most parents would love to see the sights they hear of only from their friends or broad-minded neighbors. Granted there will be withdrawal symptoms from mailman fights, but mentions of renewed energy and promises of curd rice availability everywhere should do the trick


3. Lets admit it, there is NOTHING one can take from here that they wont get a better form of, in India. Sponsor parents’ trip instead—they will probably even learn to make the trip sound cooler than a “oh this? My daughter got it from the U.S”


4. You will never come back from India plumper this way—granted there will be atleast one bout of stomach issues if you plan to travel 60% of the time in India, within India. But hey, stomach issues=cant eat. Cant eat=cant even see food. Cant even see food=lassi and lemon juice diet for two days. Which equates to slender you and well-rested tummy. It adds up ya know!


5. Moms can never make all that they want to. It’s a fact of life. But this way, they get the break they so deserve from kitchen duties. And hey, nobody says “so does your daughter cook well?” and expect a demo. Wheee!!

Speaking of India trips, my next one will be aimed at Corbett National Park. I would personally prefer to go to good ole Mudumalai [spent a number of childhood summers there] but am intrigued by the tourism developments within India. They, frankly, blew my mind away. Recent Rajasthan trip was solid proof—Fantastic highways and reliance sponsored restrooms on the highways made for one helluva comfortable trip. Kerala, no less [yeah yeah, I hear your ‘commercialization!!” screams. But face it, if done well, tourism industry DOES have a lot to offer to the state in general]

Airports excepted—Man, for all the fantastic journeys I had on this trip [I did flights, auto and trains during the trip] the airport at Mumbai on the way out was fantastically, unbelievably horrible. As it is, I HATE the Mumbai international airport. One  just needs to see how the Jet terminal in the domestic terminal is, to realize how much worse the international airport is [The Jet terminal is very much like the SFO airport actually]. After toiling hours to stand in line and get baggage checked in, my visit to the restroom was the last straw. Sleeping on the floors, near the restroom entrance AND near the washbasin, were the cleaning ladies. Self literally had to ask them to wake up/move to inch my way to the washbasin. To that end, am hoping the airport revamp does some good, inspite of all the controversies.


Belated India travelogue,
Peps