Humble India

I was humble when I announced to friends and family that we were traveling to India.

Everyone was shocked.

They thought I was crazy for actually traveling to a place that was overpopulated and dirty.

Yet it’s one of the most incredible yet humble lessons I have experienced of my life, I will hold onto those memories until I am an old dying woman!  And thankfully I will have thousands of images to go back to and look at.  We will live there one day too!

After jet-setting all over Rajasthan.

Rajasthan is in North India and borders Pakistan.  Its palaces and forts are magnificent, and historical, and entertained us for 4 days.  The history, the people, the colours, everything was perfect.  Not once was I unhappy. 

Our last three nights were in Varanasi.

In Varanasi the holiest city in India, many Hindus gather to bathe in the Ganges, where they cremate their loved ones. I learned such humble lessons on this journey!

And of course, I planned to bathe in the Ganges, it was on my bucket list.  For some of you, bungee jumping is? When I arrived and witnessed what goes into the Ganges.  I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea.  Then a bloated dead goat came floating past, although I knew I had enough medical aid to airlift me wherever I needed.  So I didn’t touch the Ganges.  Even when it sprayed onto my face from the countless boat trips, I would use medical & alcoholic swabs to clean my skin. Eventually, I wore a buffer in case it got into my mouth.

Varanasi 

Varanasi took my breath away in so many ways.  We walked the streets at night, we were offered dope, hash, heroin, and cocaine.  Yet we felt safe. We walked around with an excellent guide who made the trip and took us to the best places and local hangouts.  And took us to the best Indian sweet shop, while we were tasting the sweets, the funerals in the streets would pass you, dead bodies covered in a beautiful material, singing, and bells, literally every ten minutes, it became normal. Humble lessons!

Then the constant burning of the bodies on the pyres along the Ganges. As their family sat with their dead, mourning, celebrating, and just being together.  I suddenly realized we Westerners are pretty uptight.  We all need a lesson in just being humble.  I took it in and understood it, I felt such compassion and happiness in my heart that they could sit next to their loved one for 7 hours while they burnt to ash.  After the body is burnt, they take their ashes, along with a lot of previous bodies’ ashes, like seriously there isn’t an ash checker or anything.  It’s just simple and peaceful.

Out of respect, I never took many photographs of the burning pyres, but I took images of the faces in Varanasi.  As you can understand, it’s hard taking pictures of people, as firstly I would have had to have been rich and so rightly so, they would ask for rupees for the picture.  But I learned that would be posed and the arguing and the negotiations were just not worth it.  So, I had to try my best to capture it as naturally as I could.

Learned so much.

I realized, that it does not matter what you look like. You are the same as the person next to you. You are walking the same path, yes of course sometimes it’s easier for you, but for most, it’s harder and life has not been easy.  I learned to have empathy and accept that what I have is more than good.  It taught me to be grateful for who I am, and where I come from and although my road was not an easy one, it is much better.

I learned that giving, touching, hugging, and being kind to all types of people will not kill you.  You will not die.  You will live and you will feel better about it. 

A place where my heart will always be. Such a humble experience. Here are more photographs to show you my experience.